SCROLL TO FIND YOUR NEW FAVORITE BAND
⇩
YOUR NEW FAVORITE BAND
Discovering new music is hard
JUMP AROUND ⇩
Your new favorite band is on this page: choose from playlists, hand-picked artists, or music recommendations for busy people.
Riot Fest has always been about more than just the fest; it’s about the experience of uncovering new favorites so you’re not listening to the same crap you did in high school, when you didn’t know anything.
With tens of millions of new songs and even more ‘content’ coming out every damn day, it’s impossible to find new, good shit–which is where we come in…
Hand-picked artists
The Riot talent buyers are the authority on new music. It’s literally their job, or else we will all starve to death.
Name a band. They’ve heard it. Name a woman. (They can.) They even know the side projects. They’ve already listened to hundreds of bands you’ll never know, and they’re only picking winners.
Are you extremely lazy?
We’ll personally recommend a band and a show to see.
You read that right.
Give us a few bands you like, and we might even hook you up with free tickets. (If you’re not a dickbag about it.)
HAND-PICKED ARTISTS TO HEAR FROM THE RIOT FEST TALENT BUYERS
Right here on this very spot, we’ll highlight a few artists straight from the Riot Fest talent buying brain trust. How do they find these artists?
No idea. I’m almost too afraid to ask.
We’ve got new picks for you! Check them out below.
Don’t like our picks?
We are used to not meeting expectations, but give us a few bands you like, and we’ll try again.
Jake’s Picks
This Is Loreli – I’m All Fucked Up
This song is an absolute earworm! The album as a whole draws from a variety of influences and genres, but is consistently good regardless of which direction any particular song is pulling. You may also know This Is Loreli’s mastermind, Nate, from Water From Your Eyes, My Idea, and if you’re into some really dissonant sounding covers, Beetles.
Baby Combat – Calling Youth
Wild Pink – St. Catherine’s Street
Previous Picks
Sincere Engineer, Huge Euge, SPRINTS, Liquid Mike, Raue, Origami Angel, Gouge Away, Pinksqueeze, Dazy, Bilmuri, Spiritual Cramp, Jazmin Bean, Microwave, The Dopamines
Hannah’s Picks
Lola Young – Good Books
I like this song! Poetic pop music for fans of beabadoobee, Indigo De Souza, and the Marias.
Everything Everything – Cold Reactor
I like this song! Hailing from Manchester, Everything Everything takes an experimental approach to pop music, layering in their art pop and indie influences. Some Alt J, some Tame Impala, and even some Radiohead (the band is even named after the Radiohead song, “Everything in Its Right Place”).
Weakened Friends – Planes
I like this song! Some bands can get too focused on perfection at the expense of the human side of music. Weakened Friends doesn’t rely on any production tricks or pop clichés, and, instead, they just write great songs that mean something to them, which I think really comes through on “Planes.”
The Criticals – Adoringly Drunk
I like this song!
Previous Picks
Home Front, Cursive, Sweet Pill, Princess Goes, bby, Jackie Hayes, Hot Mulligan, Bilmuri, Winona Fighter, Death Lens, Jhariah, Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers, Death Lens, Mothé
Marc’s Picks
All of Marc’s picks are worthy of your time. Marc has been around the biz so long, that he probably booked all your favorite shows when you were a kid too, so be nice to Marc.
Lambrini Girls – Company Culture
What’s not to love. Cannot wait for the full album!
High Vis – Guided Tour
Their blend of shoe gaze and hardcore from this UK powerhouse.
Witch Post – Chill Out
Grungy indie rock. Hey on the reverb. Owe much to Sonic Youth and The Pixies. Magical.
Previous Picks
People R Ugly, Many Eyes, Ducks Ltd., Rosegarden Funeral Party, Frank Turner, MUNYA, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, SCAM LIKELY, Convert, Rustbelt, Militarie Gun, Kerry King, Yard Act, Scam Likely, Morta Skuld, Fontaines D.C., Drug Church, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Playlists Made For You
Upcoming Shows in Chicago + Milwaukee
Our concert calendar is filled with artists worth seeing, and the accompanying playlist gets 3 to 5 weekly updates. Check back weekly to hear new music from all of the bands. (Also on YouTube)
Under The Radar Artists + Bands
If you’re looking for unknown bands so you look cool in front of all your friends Under The Radar with Taylor Nicole AKA Gothsconsin has a playlist updated each month.
Good Bands Who Sent Us Their Music
Mo runs our TikTok, and when they’re not doing that, they’re Listening To Your Band Cause You Asked Nicely. Less than 5% of the artists submitted get featured. Listen to the 2024 artists below and 2023 bands are also on Spotify + Apple.
Weekly Playlists From Spotify Bots
If none of the above speaks to you, you can always look at the Discover Weekly (Apple) and Release Radar (Apple) playlists from the mostly-stupid-machine-learning™ over there at Spotify.
Release Radar updates every Friday based on our listening history, and the rarely good Discover Weekly updates every Monday.
UNDER THE RADAR
It’s 2024, and Spotify’s musical jungle is denser than ever with over 90 million tracks. (Yep, we counted. Sort of.) Trying to find the good stuff via AI-generated playlists is like searching for a needle in a haystack the size of a small planet.
But fear not! With Taylor’s help, we’ll pluck the pearls from the deep ocean of “meh” and serve them up on a platter of awesome that deserves your ear time.
THE STAFF PICKS… MUSIC FOR YOU
How it works
- Use the form below to tell us a few bands you like
We secretly mock your music preferences behind your back- Periodically, the staff will select one lucky person to get band recommendations from the whole Riot staff
- Recommendations will be based on what you sent us
- We’ll email you the picks, and publish them on RiotFest.org
- You enjoy the new band + possibly free tickets to see them
- Everyone wins!
