Well, Missoula, it’s sure been a weird AF winter so far, but that hasn’t stopped musicians from across the state from gracing us with a grand heaping of wonderful new tunes.
From stoner metal to lush ambient drones, freak-folk to eccentric pop compositions, we’ve rounded up some of the best new under-the-radar music from across the Treasure State so you can give it a spin when you’re hiding from the smog and savoring every single indica strain this town has to offer. Buckle up, enjoy and let us know what we missed!
Help Me, Helpless — “Nightlife”
I suspect that if I wandered into an instrumental LCD Soundsystem cover band set at a satanic rave in a cave in eastern Europe, it would sound something like this absolute banger from Billings’ Help Me, Helpless (#paradox). Do yourself a favor and play it loud.
Vandolah — “Weldge”
As Vandolah, the Butte-based musician Anthony Sutton spins understated and hypotonic songs out of his Walkabout Dulcimer—a guitar-ish hybrid of a dulcimer and a bouzouki—and his velvety voice. The slowly unspooling “Weldge,” a highlight from Vandolah’s brand-new Grasslish EP, paints a picture both pastoral and ominous, bringing to mind weirdo-folk luminaries like Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective in their Prospect Hummer era.
Goblin Demos — “Ivyyy”
On “Ivyyy,” the opening track from the latest release in his Better with Headphones EP series, Bozeman’s Goblin Demos (aka Harley Larson, bassist in Goochslam and Hot Milk & the Flower Pallets) throws shimmery guitars, clattering percussion and R&B-tinted guest vocals from une femme mysterieuse, identified only as McClain D’aoust, into a sonic blender. Out comes an outré pop gem.
Scavenger — “Feral”
Big Sky’s Scavenger describe themselves as stoner metal. As the title track of their brand-new Feral EP makes clear, they don’t employ the term lightly. Guitars land heavier than X-ray blankets, drums pound like there’s no tomorrow and the whole thing makes me want to run into the woods on all fours and never come back.
Sophia Schindler — “Northland”
I don’t know much about Sophia Schindler, except that I think she wrote this murder mystery that takes place in the wake of Edgar Allen Poe’s death. Schindler’s ambient/electronic music is similarly mysterious. But I love the atmosphere it conveys: lurching synths and slow rolls of sound that make me feel like I’m two hot toddies deep on a ferry crossing the Aegean Sea at night, the lights on passing islands twinkling and puppies running around the deck and everyone is cheery.
2 Dolla Will & jdmasters — “OceanGate”
On “OceanGate,” the A-side from the two-track The Gruesome Twosome, the first release of 2024 from the cartoonishly prolific 2 Dolla Will, the Butte rapper nods to Jay-Z’s “Heart of the City,” and checks all the boxes I’ve come to expect from the libidinous weirdo: making love to someone’s mom, throwing shade at a Montana city (in this case, Belgrade) and smoking that glorious Montana ganja. The lush production from 2 Dolla’s bestie jdmasters adds a thick glaze of grandeur to the whole show.
Poverty Porn — “False Allies”
Anyone who’s had the pleasure of seeing Missoula punks Poverty Porn perform live knows that the trio does not shy away from ear-busting volumes or full-throttle attack mode. (H/T to PP for their killer set at last summer’s Power Strip Festival.) “False Allies” pushes their muscular energy and tight musicianship to the brink, an optimal vessel to convey the group’s position on white saviors. (Spoiler: PP is not on board with white saviors.)
BMG Castro — “malibu nights”
It’s late on a Wednesday. Your friends are playing pool at TITS, but the prospect of crawling out of your den into the humid, smoggy night is too much to bear. Put on “malibu nights,” a lush highlight from the Bozeman beatmaker’s January full-length palisades, let the sonic Vitamin D wash over you and feel your FOMO drift away.
Scuba Steve and the Sharkz — “BROKE MAN BLUES”
Billings’ thrashy mainstays SS&S bring their A-game to this live album, recorded at the hallowed Filling Station in Bozeman. On “BROKE MAN BLUES,” they distill their manic energy and endearing chaos into 68 seconds of unbridled punk euphoria. To anyone who was there for this spectacular performance: color me jelly.
Magnetic Vines — “A Lake Slowly Freezing Over (solo piano version)”
Bigfork’s Magnetic Vines describe their sound as “a soundtrack for tending rooftop gardens by moonlight.” I can’t say that I’ve ever partaken in nocturnal horticulture, but if that’s a euphemism for smoking Grandaddy Purp and hiding under a blanket, then, OK, we’re on the same page. Some tracks on MV’s Freezing and Thawing Variations surge with layers of glacial synths and epic drones in the vein of Icelandic standard bearers Sigur Ros, but on “A Lake Slowly Freezing Over (solo piano version),” those sonic waves recede to reveal a delicate acoustic instrumental that soothes while piquing the ear.
