Chicago-based Djunah spotlights the talents of Donna Diane, who pulls triple duty, simultaneously playing guitar, singing, and pulverizing a Moog bass organ with her foot. Drawing a broad range of comparisons from Diamanda Galás to Melvins, Djunah (pronounced “JUNE-uh”) pairs her powerful, unrestrained vocals and abrasive guitar with punishing drums courtesy of Jared Karns (Their/They’re/There, Hidden Hospitals).
CVLT Nation called Djunah’s first album “an angular noise rock escalator run on power and beauty … a record that should be heard by all music lovers, no matter what scene you are a part of.” New Noise called it “an instant classic, like we’ve got a new Melvins on our hands.” Everything Is Noise raved, “Seismic guitar ... 100% pure emotion ... You gotta see it to believe it.”
Djunah’s newest album, “Femina Furens,” fuses influences from formal poetry (Gerard Manley Hopkins, Sylvia Plath, John Donne) and heavy music (PJ Harvey, Hum, Neurosis) to tell the story of Diane’s diagnosis and continuing recovery from the trauma disorder C-PTSD.
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NØ MAN formed in 2017, shortly after Majority Rule reunited to play a benefit tour with long time friends pageninetynine. The band includes all three members (Matthew Michel, Kevin Lamiell, Pat Broderick) with the addition of Maha Shami on vocals. Maha’s voice may be familiar to some as she was a guest vocalist on MR’s “Packaged Poison" back in 2002.
Upon returning from the MR reunion shows, the band swiftly wrote, recorded, and released “Devils Cast Long Shadows” in 2018 as an outlet to continue creating new music together. Since then, they’ve had the opportunity to tour with some incredible bands, including Portrayal of Guilt, Darkest Hour, The Hirs Collective, Entry, FAIM and more. In their follow up record “Erase,” the band solidified their sound, blending mean chaotic punk that occasionally comes up for air with haunting, melodic breaks.
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Rid of Me (Philadelphia, PA)
Heavy, melodic noise punk from Philadelphia featuring members of Fight Amp and Low Dose. Loud and quiet, raw yet honed, Rid Of Me strikes a nerve for anyone wanting to hear melody, emotion and punishing groove filtered through walls of noise and dissonance.
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Saffron (Washington, DC)
Saffron is an over carbonated can of seltzer that your “friend” put through a paint mixer before handing you. Use caution, this DC power trio could explode. FFO Bad Religion, F Minus, & Hickey”
