{"id":23214,"date":"2025-11-03T12:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23214\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T12:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:38:10","slug":"5-local-pittsburgh-bands-with-newish-albums-you-need-to-hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23214\/","title":{"rendered":"5 local Pittsburgh bands with new(ish) albums you need to hear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh may not be as well-known for its music scene as some other cities, but that gets closer to changing with each passing day. Our concert calendar is full<\/a>, and local artists are releasing new music on streaming platforms, vinyl and CD. <\/p>\n

A few times a year, we\u2019ll let you know of some new releases from local musicians.<\/p>\n

Artist: M.E.L.T.<\/a><\/p>\n

Album: \u201cInnervate\/Obliterate\u201d<\/p>\n

Band members: James May, Joey Troupe, J.J. Young, featuring Kat Polaski<\/p>\n

Produced by Nate Campisi<\/p>\n

Stream on Spotify<\/a>, Apple Music and more. Vinyl available at Bandcamp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis album is about duality in the world around us and how you react to it,\u201d according to the press release. The songs on side one, Innervate, focus on reflecting and internalizing. The songs on side two, Obliterate, are about \u2014 not surprisingly \u2014 destruction and chaos.<\/p>\n

Check out: \u201cTranquilized,\u201d definitely \u201cSabbath-indebted,\u201d as noted in promotional material, and \u201cMass Grave,\u201d the album\u2019s first single, up-tempo and possibly danceable track.<\/p>\n

See them live: Brillobox, Bloomfield on Nov. 22.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Bealtaine offers a new mix of Celtic traditional music, labor songs and original tunes on this album. Album cover image courtesy of Bealtaine. <\/p>\n

Artist: Bealtaine<\/a><\/p>\n

Album: \u201cFactories & Mills, Shipyards & Mines\u201d<\/p>\n

Band members: George White, Conor Freeland, Andy Morrison, Dylan Rooke and Bill Buchko<\/p>\n

Produced by Jake Hanner and Bealtaine<\/p>\n

Streaming on all sites, including Bandcamp, Spotify<\/a>, Apple Music, etc. CDs and download cards available at shows or on the Bealtaine website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With this latest release, Bealtaine (pronounced Byal-ten-uh) offers a new mix of Celtic traditional music, labor songs and original tunes. The album title comes from a line in \u201cThe Workers Song\u201d by Ed Pickford, one of 10 songs on the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Check out: \u201cGrafton Street,\u201d a mid-tempo paean to Dublin\u2019s street of shops and pubs, featuring composer Rooke\u2019s Springsteen-esque vocal and some lovely Uilleann pipes from Freeland; and \u201cThe Ducks of Dublin Town,\u201d written by White, about combatants in the Easter Rising who would stop fighting each day on St. Stephen\u2019s Green and allow the park keeper to feed the ducks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See them live: Cork Harbour Pub, Lawrenceville, second Friday of the month; J. Gough\u2019s Tavern, Greenfield, monthly session (next one, Nov. 20)<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"See Bill Toms and Hard Rain perform the new album \u201cIt\u2019s All We\u2019re Fighting For\u201d in November and December at a few different venues. Image courtesy of Bill Toms & Hard Rain. <\/p>\n

Band members: Bill Toms, Tom Breiding, Steve Binsberger, Stephen Graham, Tom Valentine, Bernie Herr, Eric Kurtzrock and the Soulville Horns (Phil Brontz, George Arner and Stephen Graham)<\/p>\n

Produced by Rick Witkowski<\/p>\n

Streaming on Spotify<\/a>, Apple Music, etc. and the band website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe band is ready, a little worn and tired,\u201d sings Toms on \u201cCome Saturday Night,\u201d one of 10 songs from the new album. It doesn\u2019t sound like it: Toms, who wrote all of the songs, is in fine form, Hard Rain (and especially the Soulville Horns) are in the pocket. To quote the press release, \u201cThrough the eyes of an aging rocker,\u201d the album \u201ctries to make sense of uncertainty, without letting go of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out: Title track \u201cIt\u2019s All We\u2019re Fighting For\u201d\u00a0is hard-driving and romantic, and \u201cFreedom Rider\u201d mixes social commentary with funky blues.<\/p>\n

See them live: All over town, including the Kollar Club, South Side, on Nov. 8 and Moondogs on Dec. 13. The 18th annual Bill and Joyce Toms Benefit Concert for Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR) happens Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 26, at City Winery, Strip District.<\/p>\n

Members: Masai Turner and Akil Esoon, featuring DJ Qbert, Daru Jones and Cam Chambers<\/p>\n

Written and produced by Masai Turner and Akil Esoon<\/p>\n

Streaming on Spotify<\/a>, Apple Music, YouTube<\/p>\n

The album is described as \u201cthe essence of what it means to see with your soul when the world goes blind to truth. \u2026 It\u2019s a soundtrack for grown thinkers.\u201d Turner handles most of the lyrics while Esoon\u2019s the producer. It\u2019s straightforward boom bap hip-hop done well.<\/p>\n

Check out: \u201cMirror rorriM:\u201d Chambers\u2019 soulful singing and Turner\u2019s rhymes are a nice combination; \u201cPromise\u201d is both dreamy and right to the point.<\/p>\n

See them live: Grxwn Fxlks joined Nash.V.ILL for a double album release party and live recording on Oct. 25 at the Sanctuary at Mr. Smalls. They don\u2019t have any future shows ready to announce yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"The Pump Fakes latest album cover. Image courtesy of the band. <\/p>\n

Band members: Patrick Maloney, Wil Kondrich, Darren Hammel, Jack Breiding, featuring Rob James, Vinnie Q, Rocky Lamonde, Joe Munroe, Kevin McDonald, Jeff Schmutz and Willie Franklin.<\/p>\n

Produced by Sean McDonald<\/p>\n

Stream on Spotify<\/a>, Apple Music and more.<\/p>\n

Maloney writes and sings lead on all eight songs. \u201cOverall, they are songs about loss, regret, bad decisions and acceptance,\u201d he said. Americana fans might hear influences including The Drive-By Truckers, American Aquarium, maybe Dave Alvin. There\u2019s lots of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll too.<\/p>\n

Check out: \u201cYou Beat Me To It,\u201d a hard-driving rocker with a great bridge; \u201cOut of State Plates,\u201d with its Skynyrd opening and great Maloney vocals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See them live: With the Clarks at 123 Pleasant St., Morgantown W. Va., Dec. 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh may not be as well-known for its music scene as some other cities, but that gets closer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15425,73,13091,15426,75,74],"class_list":["post-23214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-live-music","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-artists","tag-pittsburgh-concerts","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}