STEPTALK:
community music drop
A place for weirdos, fans, photographers, and musicians to share their voices, their love, and their work.
how does it work
Fill out the form.
Express your intention, share your favorite band, your own music, that one upcoming show or album release.
Then, attach your links or files, and send.
If it fits community guidelines, it will be posted on the website.
Engage with each other’s content (below).
Maybe one day this will be a live-chat. But that looked confusing and expensive and I’m super worried about people being mean.
community guidelines
The idea for the Community Music Drop is simple. This is a place to share music, whether it’s your own or that one earworm you can’t shake.
I ask you to be your own music critic, give a hand at show-journalism, album reviews, or just share super fun ideas or wax nostalgic about why you love music.
You can be honest, but cruelty is not allowed; unnecessary anger or rage baiting will not be shared here. So here are the rules, so far, and these may change.
Don’t be a jerk
If possible, share an MP3, or link to the music, the band’s social media/ contact information. This is to highlight music first and foremost.
local idaho bands
creating and inspiring hope
within our community
Recently, just down the street from Big Unc’s house on Cole and Northview here in Boise, another member of our community was detained by ICE. It was a cruel reminder that not only does it feel like white supremacy is winning here in Idaho, but that it continues to creep closer to our hearts and homes—if it hasn’t completely done so already.
Those of us caught up in the daily grinds, weighed down by the demands of surviving another day, well, I want to tell you it's ‘ok’ to be overwhelmed. Personally, I need that to be true. But we should be pissed. I feel like so many of you have probably heard me say that before.
I write this as my small contribution to the collective hope we're all trying to hold onto. And it’s not a foreign idea, using our precious spare time and our community gathering spaces to bring us joy and hope. To create emotional and physical space where we can still create joy while raising awareness and money that directly impacts our community. A way to support the families and homes already devastated by this so-called government.
So I write this to myself and to you, simply in hopes of getting more people to create fundraising events that incorporate local creatives. Specifically, to come to a great show this upcoming Friday, in one of my favorite community spaces. We should be doing this as artists, patrons of the arts, and members of a community fortunate enough to be worrying about the systemic grind instead of systemic hate. It’s hard to know what to do or what to say, but I do say this at the end of many of my shows: turn to your local punks and weirdos when you want to know how to help your community.
Trust that the outliers, queers, and marginalized members of our community are already doing something. Trust that some down-on-their-luck artist somewhere near you is doing something to better this town. Someone out there feels they have to give their time, talent, and energy to bring people together, not just because they can, but because effort and the expression of art and music are all they have to offer. And, if you are urged to say something, anything, especially if it is to show people where and how and who they can help, please comment below.
Mutual Aid Benefit Show
for Idaho Familias Assistance Fund
@Visual Arts Collective,
friday june 12th
Featuring lobo lara, play dead
Calvin Pineda & the Antacids, Ultra Small Ocean
IFAF and friends December 2025
In this post-COVID world, I find many of my peers struggling to feel purpose in a world on fire. Joy is precious in our life, and so much terrible things have just continued to keep happening. We do need to work to create joy more than ever before, and then you remember… yes, but we also still have to be pissed.
So, I find joy knowing that small sparks of rebellious hope are still popping up exactly where you'd expect them: in underground music communities. So consider this my call to support those weirdos. Attend their shows. Ask when the next rally is. Be curious about where nonprofit dollars are going.
Back in December, a group of weirdos once known as Papas asked similar questions and found one of the clearest answers in Idaho Familias. With their help, and the help of fellow artists, we raised more than $4,000 for families directly affected by ICE raids. Their volunteers helped make it a magical night that now feels far away, especially as more people continue to be detained and affected by this taxpayer-funded hate.
I ramble, but that event mattered. It was a beautiful night, and one I'll remember forever. The money went fast, though, and the number of people in need has only grown.
That's why I was moved when local indie weirdos Ultra Small Ocean reached out to tell me they were planning another event with Idaho Familias. Despite their own struggles, they're bringing people together for good.
This Friday, June 12, at the Visual Arts Collective, I challenge all of us to show up with our hearts, ears, and pockets open. Come listen to local cumbia, heartfelt indie rock, and punk from stalwarts of Boise's DIY scene. Let's raise even more money this time. And if you want to help but can't donate, please reach out.
If I knew that my attendance at a show meant I was doing more than just convincing me to network with fellow musicians or catch good rock and roll shows… well, wouldn’t that be the bee's knees? It feels safe to say that as someone who falls somewhere between the daily grind and struggling artist bracket; that I would go out more if I knew that the little money I can spend towards music also satiated that “I need to do more to help” nerve that has been constantly strung since 2020.
I am inspired deeply by people in our community who are at the helm of some of my favorite local rock acts and resources. They've convinced me that more local shows should include some element of fundraising or awareness. It's unrealistic to expect every musician to donate their fees, but I'd love to see more merch tables doubled as voter registration tables, more pamphlets about women's healthcare, and more donation jars or QR codes for organizations like Idaho Familias.
Then there is also the ‘grind me’, this exhausted middle-aged punk with a teenage stepson who refers to me now as “Big Dog,” (who is also a walking reminder that joy and hope and frustration can coexist as one overpowering harmony of feelings). That everyday person in me needs help in knowing how to be a better ally. I need the kids to see that I cared, that I tried, and that my voice was heard among all the bullshit that is going on in this world.
ultra small ocean
The struggling artist in me knows how important it is just to show up for other artists, and I do want to go to more shows; but money is tight, and the world is increasingly more expensive and exhausting… and damn, am I tired.
People talk about ‘flickers of hope’, and my hope is a bit more like a pilot light waiting to ignite this tired punk rock spirit I know I have in me. Maybe this is why I'm more likely to attend smaller events when they're rooted in community fundraising. Sorry, dudes— a better me would attend all the shows, but it so much easier when artists use the literal stage and microphone they have to empower the people around them.
Maybe its weird, when I spend money on the ‘big ticket shows’ or see a band for the up-teenth time it adds to this frustration that no one is doing enough.
Like, sometimes it feels self-indulgent to simply be entertained at a show, when what I really want is to be inspired to be better. I just know my best memories as both a musician and concertgoer come from that feeling.
So, in summary, let's all try to do better. Maybe we should meet up at a community space like the VAC and talk about it. Maybe we should trust the weirdos to show us the way. Maybe we can make this place a little better.
If you have thoughts about this event or this article, please comment below. The event is June 12 at the VAC in Garden City. If you want to know how you can help, ask. The first step is asking.
TRIPPY HEARTS
ALBUM RELEASE PARTY
Friday June 5th at the Shrine Basement in Boise Idaho.
This week local Boise rockers will gather from around the Treasure Valley to support an amazing local band, Trippy Hearts.
Their new album “Murmurations” is an exciting release coming from our local scene. Not only have Trippy Hearts instilled themselves as Boise-rock stalwarts through their involvement local music on and off stage; but their talent and intentional songwriting has always impressed. To put it simply, these are wonderful people, making wonderful music.
It is no wonder that this album release has support from fellow Boise musical institutions, Rodeo Screams, and Porcelain Tongue.
It’s another solid bill on the Duck Club roster, and exciting that it is pure local talent.I don’t think this will just be one of the best local shows of the summer, but a great family-friendly experience all around.
This show is all-ages. 7pm Doors, $15 bucks.
kim gordon
72, still the sickest beats in the game
Kim Gordon’s new album PLAY ME is the 2026 release from indie-rock-rock-n-roll royalty. Well, it might not be received as such. It is still raw and freaking amazing.
-Benjamin
comments
Raw, indeed. I think this review from @theneedledrop is pretty on point.
-Uncle Stepmom
surf green machine iii:
may the fourth be with you
One of Boise’s most ambitious and fun-loving bands is releasing their third record May 4th. In my favorite iteration of their line-up yet, this band is getting better and better, riffier and riffier. Their talent and camaraderie have steadily grown at impressive rates. Still, this is a group of skilled and silly dudes with a charming and endearing stage presence. They are a must-see local Boise band, for those who love classic-rock tinted indie rock, and want to have a fun night on the town.
Surf Green Machine clearly loves rock and roll, and I have always loved that about them. Frontman and future guitar-legend, Troy Branson, shared, “We’re dropping it on Star Wars Day, May 4th; and are playing Moscow and Spokane on May 8th and 9th.”
Catch their Treefort 2026 set, Thursday at 8:00pm at Humpin’ Hannahs.
-Uncle Stepmom
78 RPM 4 LIFE!!!:
AN EXCITING ADDITION FROM ONE OF IDAHO’S
MOST PROLIFIC VINTAGE RECORD COLLECTORS
Joe K, has added a hand-cranked Victrola XVI from 1913 to his already massive collection of vintage record players. From incredibly rare EPS from the turn of the 20th century, to the delicate players that played them, this local music nerd (near and dear to my heart) has amassed one of the most impressive collections and passions I’ve ever seen.
Joe states “It came from Idaho City from Ohio by wagon. The spring motor is weak, though… Needs a little more TLC.”
Thanks for sharing, Joe!!! Curious what is your collection looking like lately?
-Uncle Stepmom
comments
“ It's looking more sorted every day, hah! I have a ton of 78s (and Edison Diamond Disks). Literally- a ton (the collection probably weighs more than that, actually, LOL)! And to listen to those 78s... I have several fully functional hand-cranked phonographs ranging from the very early 1900s through the late 30s, including six cabinet-style players and four or five "tabletop" players (the portable-style player of time). There are also two working wax-cylinder players that probably deserve a mention, because "music sounds better on wax" :)”- JOE K
John Sturgill Simpson (aka Johnny Blue Skies) dropped his entire new album, Mutiny After Midnight, on YouTube earlier this week. Before the album’s release, in a letter to fans, he talked about wanting to make a dance album, and the album delivered on that promise; dripping with sex and antifascist sexiness.
In his opening song, “Make America Fuk Again,” he makes good on his promise by “Weaponizing my autism to shit out an opus” with the dance-hook chorus: “Things have been worse but I can’t remember when/Wanna start a revolution, watch it begin.
Fucking bangers. Waylon, Wind, and Fire.
-Conor O’Malley
Johnny blue skies & The Dark Clouds
I’m a little anxious that Wales based, The Bug Club, is already releasing a new album. The first single sounds good, but I thought that their last album, Very Human Features felt a little undercooked compared to their earlier stuff…it was giving me ‘label energy’…(their first SubPop release On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System was fantastic)… but is it weird to get anxious when your ‘favorite’ band releases new work?
They are such a tight-knit group, and they really have blown up over the last couple of years, but am I wrong for missing their more earlier DIY, scrappier work?
-Ali
Am I buggin? The bug club is at it again …
The new AudioTree live recording of UK duo GETDOWN SERVICES has confirmed that this duo is more than a good studio pairing. Are they as charismatic as I think they are? Or is it just because they’re English dudes who look like they’d be fun to have a beer with? Sure, they use their backing tracks and midis… but the live translation of their clean and energetic recordings is really cool. Let’s put it into the cosmos that one day they can do a full band version of this amazingly ‘cheeky’ music.
Is it just me or does is it giving Beastie Boys energy a little bit?
-Ali
getdown services really gets down
Get in Touch
Whether you have a question, concerns, an idea, or just want to say hello, feel free to reach out— I’m here to help.