Slift is a band that, until last night, I was only moderately familiar with. I had given their albums a couple listens, but nothing in their recorded output particularly grabbed me. A couple days ago, BKOH guest contributor Josh Burke expressed astonishment that there were still a few tickets left for their show in St. Paul, as he'd seen them live before and they always put on an excellent show. So I decided to join him at last night's show, and I'm very glad I did. Josh is right about this one: Slift is a top-tier live band. 

Editor's note: My pal and dedicated concert traveler Josh Burke was in Austin, Texas recently and caught a small chunk of the 2026 edition of Ripplefest while he was there. Below is his recap of the Magnetic Eye label showcase. You can read some of his previous Ripplefest coverage here. 

Last night, Chat Pile kicked off their tour in support of their new album, Who Loves the Sun, at First Avenue in Minneapolis. As you can see in my unimpressive photos, it was a barebones performance, with the band performing in front of a black curtain - no graphic backdrop, no fancy lighting, no other gimmicks. That says a lot about where Chat Pile are as a live band at this point - the music is all they need to keep an audience enraptured, and they know it. 

Editor's note: My good friend Josh Burke travels to far more festivals than I do, and he contributed his review of Post Festival in Indianapolis in early August. More recently, he traveled to the UK to attend the ArcTanGent festival, and he was once again kind enough to share his thoughts on his experience. This is actually Josh's second trip to ATG and his second time sharing his thoughts on the festival. You can read his recap of last year's festival here. 

Read his take on it below on this year's ATG below!

Editor's note: My good friend Josh Burke travels to far more festivals than I do, and he was at Post Festival in Indianapolis while I was at Fire in the Mountains in Montana. He was kind enough to share his thoughts about Post in the writeup that follows. Please give it a read - if he gets a warm enough reception, perhaps he'll also grace us with his thoughts on the upcoming ArcTanGent festival!

By Josh Burke

Post Festival 2026 has come and gone. In what has been a weird (and, frankly, terrible) year in so many ways, the core of what makes Post a can’t-miss festival remains. There's great music of course, but also great people. It feels like a cliche to call any festival a “family,” but it’s well-deserved here. I’ve met and gotten to know a lot of great people in the three years that I have attended, and reconnecting with them has become almost as important as the music to me. I know a lot of festivals say that and mean it, but I haven’t found a festival with a more accepting vibe. That matters more than ever these days. That vibe comes from everyone - the organizers of the festival (the tireless, amazing, delightful Sean, Nason and Derek), the bands, and the people who travel from all over the world to be in Indianapolis for the weekend. Everyone is hanging out, digging the bands, and chatting with everyone else all weekend. There is nothing cooler than hearing Phil from Caspian say that they would not be a band if it weren’t for The Appleseed Cast, and then seeing him packed into the small room with everyone else watching The Appleseed Cast, bobbing his head and singing along.

I've been trying my hand at writing about music for about a year now, and I'll admit that recapping the concert experience still feels like a weak point for me. Take, for example, last night's Tomahawk and Melvins show at First Avenue. The main question that any concert review show answer is if the performances were good or not. If you're reading a recap of a Mike Patton project's show, you already know it was good. The man simply does not phone things in. The same can be said about the Melvins - Buzz Osborne is an old pro, and knows how to deliver live. So yes, both bands were great last night, but if you read on, I'll try to deliver a few other takeaways that are worth your time. 

At Fire in the Mountains, I slept poorly and was constantly dirty and hot. It was always a gamble if you’d be able to wash your hands after using the porta potty. More than once, I wished that the crowd surfing would stop so I could look forward at the stage rather than backwards towards oncoming levitating bodies. Our tent was decimated by intense winds that left it only passably usable for the last three nights of the event.

I’m getting the negative stuff out of the way so that it doesn’t seem like the festival is paying me to write a glowing review.

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My experience at Fire in the Mountains (henceforth frequently abbreviated as FITM) was beyond simply enjoying an impeccably produced music festival. It was that, yes. The lineup was expertly curated, and across the board the bands were excellent. If that were all there was to say, I’d be perfectly happy with my experience. But there’s so much more to FITM, and these other elements are what made it so impactful.