Formed in 1982, Live Skull is considered by many aficionados to be the quintessential New York noise band. Together with Sonic Youth and Swans, Live Skull defined the term "noise rock" in the 1980s, spearheading the post-No Wave underground music scene in NYC with a series of legendary live performances and eight groundbreaking records released over the course of that decade.

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The Giraffes are a cult band from Brooklyn that has been leveling crowds with their signature mixture of heavy rock, punk, metal and surf since 1996. A well-earned reputation for mayhem has followed the band from the start. Their guitarist was shot in the leg outside of a White Castle late one night in Brooklyn after being accosted by an off-duty fire marshal with an itchy trigger finger. The bullet is still lodged in his knee. Their singer has suffered multiple Sudden Cardiac Death events. He has a defibrillator implanted in his chest which has erroneously shocked him on stage. During a show at Chicago’s legendary Double Door, it sent 700 volts directly into his heart 3 times in 30 seconds. He finished the set.

They have toured with Local-H, Eagles of Death Metal, The Vacation and Skeleton Key, sharing the stage with Interpol, Fishbone, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, the Strokes. They have played Amsterjam, Voodoofest, Monolith, SXSW, Bonnaroo, CMJ, Northside and more. Giraffes music can be heard in the video game Guitar Hero and the 2017 Sundance Festival winner movie “I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore”.

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Fronted by poet Karen Schoemer, Albany NY’s Sky Furrows combine influences from krautrock, NZ bands the Clean and theVerlaines, the Minutemen, Sylvia Plath and early Sonic Youth. Schoemer collaborates with bassist Mike Watt in Jaded Azurites, and with Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby. Eric Hardiman, Mike Griffin and Phil Donnelly are members of psych rock unit Burnt Hills.