Last week we introduced you to Petite Amie, one of two Mexican bands playing this year’s edition of Treefort Music Fest in Boise. But, as Yoda would say, “There is another.”
Son Rompe Pera — who, like Petite Amie, hail from Mexico City — will also perform at the festival, which runs March 22-26. The idiosyncratic band occasionally incorporates strains of traditional folk, rock and punk music. But Son Rompe Pera’s obsession with the marimba makes the band one of a kind.
Continue reading
One of the hallmarks of Boise’s Treefort Music Fest is that it doesn’t waste time rolling out many of the most promising acts on the bill. Set for the first night of the five-day event are Surf Curse, Covet, Rogê, Caitlin Rose and Orions Belte — and that’s just from 8 to 10 p.m.
But Treefort-ers would do themselves a disservice to miss, or at least not look into, another Wednesday night act: Modernlove. The bracing indie-pop quartet is coming all the way from Ireland to infuse the fest with its special blend of succinct, succulent melodies and hooks. If that’s not enough of a selling point, Modernlove’s Treefort set will mark their first at a Stateside festival.
Seven years after their formation, Modernlove have mastered the art of cutting to the chase. Their no-frills, no-nonsense approach manifests in instantly memorable tunes that burrow into the brain.
Continue reading
The greatest gift that a new artist can bring to table is, well, something new. Montréal-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Thanya Iyer is doing just that, crafting a luminescent variation of experimental pop — and even coming up with a name for it: “future folk.” It’s a sound as infectious as Iyer’s huge smile.
Iyer will have backing players onstage when they play Treefort Music Fest together in support of their new EP, rest. Iyer recently (and graciously) set aside some time from making music and making people happy to talk with The Bad Penny for our ongoing series profiling the record number of international artists playing this year’s edition of Treefort.
As expected, the latest entrant in the series beamed as she answered questions — and didn’t complain at all about the 36-hour drive that Iyer and company will take to get to Treefort.
Continue reading
Treefort Music Fest organizers looked north of the U.S./Canada border for this year’s installment of the music festival, reining in 10 artists by our count. They include arty instrumentalists Godspeed You! Black Emperor, new Sub Pop signee Debby Friday and Teke::Teke. But the organizers also turned their gaze past the southern border, locking down a couple of bands from Mexico.
One of those is Petite Amie, a psych-pop band that signed to beloved U.S. indie label Park the Van in June 2021. Petite Amie, whose new album drops later this year, seemed especially thrilled to play Treefort in part because one of their biggest influences, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, are headlining the five-day festival.
The Bad Penny recently caught up with Petite Amie for our ongoing series on international bands booked for this year’s Treefort. All six band members chimed in on what they’re most looking forward to at Treefort: catching UMO, eating delicious Basque food and making lotsa new friends.
Continue reading
No matter the size of your ears, you’d better have them wide open for psychedelic pop at Treefort Music Fest, lest you infuriate a certain Disney cartoon. Dumbo Gets Mad are Italy’s sole entry on the sprawling lineup, which includes more international artists than ever before.
To be precise, Dumbo Gets Mad currently calls Los Angeles home. It’s there that they’ll embark on a monthlong tour starting Friday, with Treefort smack-dab in the middle of the trek. Dumbo Gets Mad will surely perform some selections from their latest record, Things Are Random and Time Is Speeding Up, as it dropped in February 2021. But if we’re lucky, we might also hear some material from Thank You Neil, Dumbo Gets Mad’s 2015 record and tribute to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Continue reading
Born in Ghana and currently residing in Vancouver, Mauvey’s life story is as wide-ranging as tastes in music, which span alt-pop, hip-hop and soul. But there’s a through line to his story, and it’s a hideous one: “My whole life, I have faced the unimaginable torture of racism. It has been unyielding and suffocating,” Mauvey said in a statement while reflecting on his life.
While no one would want to shoulder that burden, what makes Mauvey a magical artist is his desire — and success — at molding the perfect response to hate. Rather than focus his art around the abuse he’s faced throughout his life, the artist counters hardships with positivity. Call it turning the other check, taking a stand or whatever you will — Mauvey uses his opportunity at the mic to create a rising tide lifting everyone who listens. Expect nothing less when he performs at Treefort Music Fest in a couple of weeks.
Continue reading
This year’s Treefort Music Fest in Boise will feature more international acts than ever before during its five-day stretch starting March 22. But as the Bad Penny learned while creating this lengthy series profiling most of those non-U.S. artists, we also learned that many of them haven’t even touched American shores at all.
Take, for instance, BIKE. The tropicália-tinged psych band hails from São Paulo, Brazil, and already played throughout that country and in Europe too. Plus, many years have elapsed since the four-piece group released its debut album, 1943. (Just to clarify, none of BIKE’s members are senior citizens; the record dropped in July 2015.)
But the timing couldn’t be better for BIKE to finally pedal their way to the States for a concert performance. The Portuguese-speaking band — which counts Danger Mouse as a huge fan — just announced a new full-length, Arte Bruta, due May 5. Fans of Black Mountain and other forward-thinking fans of psychedelic rock, take note.
Continue reading
When Sistemas Inestables arrive in the U.S. for the first time ever later this month, they’ll be toting — and touting — a mellifluous blend of electronic-heavy post-rock — and some serious jet lag, presumably. Coming all the way from Santiago, Chile, the band is an extra-special component of this year’s Treefort Music Fest.
Continue reading
Orions Belte will play Boise’s Treefort Music Fest later this month in support of one of the more fascinating music releases in recent memory. In November, they put out a box set under the name of Orions Belte — and yet it contains no music by the indie-rock band, technically.
Continue reading
Mother Sun are much more than just a cleverly named psychedelic rock band. Hailing from British Columbia, the quartet are hometown heroes, having helped firm up the province’s indie-rock scene through their participation in various local bands. Expect a lot of smiles in the crowd when they play two sets of killer, off-kilter — but certainly not off-putting — music at this year’s Treefort Music Fest later this month.
Continue reading
The Bad Penny (beta) 