Loren

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene … Read more

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene … Read more

Here in Scene Point Blank Land, I sometimes get lost in the inbox of endless submissions and new music. I find things I like, but the great digital expanse still makes the records feel, well, a little too distant. Music is supposed to be personal, even if I'm not standing in the front row of a dimly lit room soaking … Read more

It was about a year ago I discovered Unseemlier, shortly before the release of I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere. It's a wordy title and a somewhat unwieldy band name -- and I’ll use that “a lot going on in a little space” metaphor even further to talk about the band's "heavy emo / soft punk" sound. It's singsong at … Read more

The less I say about 2025 the better. Well, except to say that Scene Point Blank's 2025 Year End coverage is in development so, actually, I'll be talking about the year a lot. Search/Play/Repeat is a sporadic playlist feature that's just about sharing music though, instead of hitting some topical … Read more

It's been a while since I put another playlist up. I actually had this 99% done a couple of months ago, but everything went haywire and the list went on hold. This edition of Search/Play/Repeat is a quick play, running about 30 minutes in total. Enjoy! Read more

Visual Learner, BlackDots, City Mouse, Couch Potato Massacre Cloudland Theater Minneapolis, MN May 7, 2025 I’m embarrassed that I haven’t covered any shows at Cloudland for SPB previously. It’s a relatively new addition to the Minneapolis scene and a welcome addition that feels as much like a community space as … Read more

Sometimes I get all introspective and ask myself why I do this. Not very often, but the answer is always because I like music. It's that simple. I like to discover new stuff and I like to share it. Every year, the staff at Scene Point Blank sink a ton … Read more

Irish post-hardcore band DazGak has a new EP out next month with 6 songs in 18 miutes. The record is called Stimpy, out on Floodlit Recordings in the UK and Smithsfoodgroup DIY in the Netherlands. Members of the band also play in God Alone. Calling themselves "math pop," Stimpy marks … Read more

Agriculture is set to take last year's The Spiritual Sound album on the road this fall on a month-long journey with Uniform and Pure Hex. Dates below. Read more Agriculture on tour: Oct 29 San Diego, CA — The Casbah ^ Oct 31 Pioneertown, CA — Pappy & Harriet's ^ … Read more

PJ Harvey shared a single called "Voyager," available as a 7" from Partisan Records now. Meant for her next album, English physicist Professor Brian Cox invited Harvey to write a song for his "Emergence Tour." Accordingly, she put the song to tape, recording with a full orchestra. Harvey adds: I … Read more

Squid Pisser just announced the August 29 release of a new "full-length EP" called Throat Slave, coming via SKiN GRAFT/Sweatband Records. Read more A single is out now: Read more