Feast your eyes on the Brian Mercer poster below — oh golly, I hope they make t-shirts — and behold not only the art’s glory but also the know-your-shit gauntlet being thrown down by the initial lineup for Emissions From the Monolith 10, which will be the first edition of the festival in 19 years. And some of these bands are veterans of the event to be sure — Rebreather are the hometown staple, Solace, Stinking Lizaveta, Deadbird, The Brought Low, Disengage, Weedeater would’ve likely played, while Generation of Vipers and Telekinetic Yeti have come up in the interim. The message being delivered here lives up to what the returning festival said it would do in terms of blending the oldschool Emissions palette with newer incarnations of heavy.

I’m planning on going to this. I don’t know where I’m staying yet. I don’t know how I’m getting there — maybe a train? is that crazy? — but I knew damn well before this initial, more-to-come lineup was announced that I wanted to be there for Emissions 10. The bill thus far only makes me look forward to it more. No, it won’t be like it was at the Nyabinghi in 2006 when I got voted off the island (it was okay, I eventually got back on, but like a decade later) and the guys from SunnO))) were throwing hissyfits on the stage monitors. It’s been 19 years. But in addition to the reunion aspect of it, I can’t wait to see who else gets added, because Emissions From the Monolith‘s Greg Barratt has always had a very particular ear for sludge and heavy, and especially with the hints here in Telekinetic Yeti and Generation of Vipers, I’m curious to know who else makes the cut. Would Howling Giant be a fit? What about Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol?

Presumably it’ll be the New Year before the next announcement is made, but tickets are available if you want to come hang. We’ll sort out the details like travel and lodging later. Probably too late.

From social media:

Emissions From The Monolith 10

October 8–11, 2026
Westside Bowl — Youngstown, Ohio

Early Bird tickets
emissionsfromthemonolith.com

Deadbird
Disengage
Generation of Vipers
rebreather
Solace
Stinking Lizaveta
Sunrot
Telekinetic Yeti
The Brought Low
Weedeater

https://emissionsfromthemonolith.com/
https://www.instagram.com/emissionsfromthemonolith
https://www.facebook.com/emissionsfromthemonolith

Rebreather, The Line, its Width and the War Drone (2021)

Raise some money, give it away, rock and roll. With assorted players from likewise assorted bands, the ‘Something I Learned Today’ tribute to Hüsker Dü on Dec. 10 at Union Pool in Brooklyn will benefit the community-response charity New York Cares, which has its volunteer hands in a pretty vast swath of programs across the boroughs of New York, kind of going where and when it’s needed to do what’s needed. In December, in addition to whatever else they’ve got going, they run a program giving out toys. They do SAT prep. All kinds of stuff that if capitalism were dismantled probably wouldn’t be necessary in the first place. Nonetheless.

This is one show, happening one night, and it’s for a decent cause, but it’s probably not the kind of thing I’d usually write about. Just being honest. Benefit shows happen a lot. If I covered all of them, I wouldn’t have time for anything else. What’s different here is primarily that Ben Smith from The Brought Low is involved — anytime that dude picks up a guitar is a positive for the world — and he’s joined by the likes of Erica Stolz of Sanhedrin and Jason Alexander Byers of Disengage/Black Black Black, among the various others you can see below. Smith will be part of a backing trio with Jeff Kaplan and Aaron Pagdon, who also play together in the hockey-themed six-piece Two Man Advantage.

Maybe that gets you out of the house and maybe not, but it sounds like a cool night to me and you can’t argue with the cause or the tunes. Info follows here, as snagged from the Facebook event page (also linked):

Something I Learned Today: An All-Star Tribute To Hüsker Dü to benefit New York Cares

Dead Flowers Productions proudly presents Something I Learned Today: An All-Star Tribute To Hüsker Dü to benefit New York Cares.

Guest singers include Mick Collins (The Dirtbombs), Erica Stolz (Sanhedrin), Joey Plunket (Country Westerns), Anthony Roman (Radio 4), Eric Davidson (New Bomb Turks), Kevin Egan (Beyond), Sohrab Habibion (Obits/Savak), Michael Jaworski (Savak), Leah Beth Fishman (PMS & The Mood Swings/Habibi), Jason Byers (Disengage), Zach Lipez (Publicist UK), Zohra Atash (Azar Swan), Vinny Carriero (Action Park), and others TBA.

The band: Jeff Kaplan (Two Man Advantage/Too Many Voices), Aaron Pagdon (Two Man Advantage/Action Park/Federale) and Benjamin Howard Smith (The Brought Low/Sweet Diesel).

Plus: Moral Panic and DJ TomDash (WFMU)!

All profits to benefit New York Cares.

Event page: https://fb.me/e/2ZZUkgAZH

Hüsker Dü, “Something I Learned Today”