Loren

For many years now, Scene Point Blank has taken the opportunity as the year ends to formally "pass the mic" to our friends on the other side of the mostly-imaginary divide between listeners and artists. This year is no exception as we ask a bunch of bands, artists and labels to tell us about their 2025. What music did they … Read more

Pure Joy The 23rd FEST in Gainesville, Florida recently wrapped up. Scene Point Blank has been to the majority of them over the past two decades, beginning at FEST 5. I've personally attended roughly half of them. And at FEST 23, I saw 44 bands in 3 days (an even 50 if you count the pre-shows I attended). I took … Read more

FEST 23 takes place later this month, from Oct. 24-26 in Gainesville, FL. Something like a billion bands are driving, flying, canoeing, and snowshoeing to the festival from across the country -- many of them for the first time and many come back to play nearly every year. Scene Point Blank has traveled to “over half” of them (we’ve lost … Read more

Are you ready for The Fest!? While we’re pretty sure you’re already counting down days until your trek to Gainesville, FL, we’ve got some Fest games for you to play, including a few samples from this year’s performers. Click here to play FEST LIBS -- like a fill-in-the-blanks word game about all things Fest! We have 8 different options to … 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

After a string of singles, darkwave project EFF will release debut album Zero on Dec. 8. EFF started in 2023, with the songs that comprise Zero were written after July 2024 and take the sound in a new direction that balances reflection with transition. To steal some perfect language from … Read more

A new book titled All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Punk and Hardcore is out now, officially available since Dec. 12. The book collects 14 essays about punk and hardcore ethos, personal experiences, and discussions about influential albums by the likes of Minor Threat, Talking Heads, and … Read more

The previously announced and unique live recording film, Alive in the Catacombs from Queens of the Stone Age is now streaming on YouTube. The 30-minute concert was filmed and recorded in July 2024 in the catacombs of Paris, FR and was released in conjunction with a documentatary fiolm by by … Read more

Overdrive/Invisible Records will be releasing a collection of rarities from Killing Joke entitled Extremities, The Albini demos and live beginnings '88. The collection includes a secret show that took place on Dec. 20, 1988 at the Holy Grail, plus demo sessions mixed by Steve Albini for the band's “Black Cassette” … Read more