Portland’s Nug are a group of four friends with wildly differing tastes in music, which can be heard in each track the band produces.  They tend to lean into post-punk, shoegaze, math rock, psychedelia, and garage-tinged pop-punk. Coming off of a 2025 West Coast tour with Being Dead and showcases at SXSW 2026, Nug continues to bore deeper into the beautiful, boundless Portland music scene. In the summer of 2026 they released a split 10” EP with local legends and up-and-coming art-punk rockers Buddy Wynkoop. Nug has been described as a jam band for people who don’t like jam bands. The band’s live show blends unhinged guitar solos, irreverent lyrics, and moments of cacophonous energy bound to make you say “WHAT??!” Come see for yourself.

Portland, Oregon’s How Strange It Is is the soundtrack to untangling a ball of yarn. Or living your life. Whichever scenario best describes your current situation. Their latest work, “THERE IS NO EVIL,” (Disposable America/Pleasure Tapes, 2026)  follows the band as they wander around lush, layered, slowcore-tinted soundscapes while still always keeping their indie rock sensibilities about them. Swapping from spacey and synth-driven to fuzzed-out, driving guitars at the drop of a dime with ease they expertly weave a modern, post-punk thread through winding ’90s- inspired riffs.   The group includes Jordan Krinsky on vocals and guitar, Caleb Ballard on guitar and clarinet,  Annie Miranda on bass, Annie Fifer on guitar and backing vocals, Kyle Gordon on drums and a variety of others that join the live band when they’re available.

Bonus Room is a five piece nugget from Portland, Oregon. Angular riffs, danceable rhythms, and memorable melodies. For fans of Parquet Courts, LCD Soundsystem, and IDLES. They are a band that only comes out at night, mixing sonic elements of post punk, indie rock, psych rock, and electronic. The band formed as a mix of contrasting influences that collided in a shared basement studio known as the Starlight Underground. On stage they deliver a strategized, energetic, performance that makes you dance and feel the feelings