Unstable Shapes

Unstable Shapes (James Taylor, Mitch Gustafson, Andrew Cahak, Kevin Hurley, and Ryan Jaroscak) write noisy songs about disappointment and romance, post-hardcore paeans to self-discovery and self-deception. Angular guitars echoing over an abyss of muscular bass riffs and kinetic drumming, punctuated with thunderous shouts and screeching feedback.

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120 Minutes

In the mid-‘80s, when the M still stood for music, MTV launched a show into the dead hours of the night between Sunday and Monday for showcasing the videos of obscure bands wasting away in light rotation. For the next 20 odd years, the two hours from midnight to 2 am would host new wave, punk, college rock, shoegaze, grunge, post-hardcore, Britpop, electronica, noise and any other genre from outside the box of mainstream music. This was when “underground” still meant something in music, and 120 Minutes (the band) pays tribute to 120 Minutes (the show) by delving into a deep back catalog of VHS cassettes for hits and rarities by bands from the ‘80s (R.E.M., Psychedelic Furs, Dead Milkmen, INXS) and the ‘90s (Weezer, Matthew Sweet, Hum, Fugazi, Nirvana).