We Speak Alternative

Brooklyn’s Book/Spirit Open Their Album Season With “Badger,” Out November 3

Published

1 hour ago

October 29, 2026

Photo: Rachel Mishkind

Brooklyn indie rock band Book/Spirit are about to have a season. The four-piece opens the run to their second album with “Badger,” a new single arriving November 3, carried by a do-it-yourself music video the band made their own way.

A second single, “Fusion,” follows on November 17, and the album itself, “Catastrophizer,” lands December 1 on Mint 400 Records, one of New York’s most respected independent labels. A long European and United Kingdom tour follows in early 2027, taking the band’s biggest year well beyond their home borough.

Formed in 2018, Book/Spirit build their sound from a deep record collection: the melancholy of second-wave emo, the shimmer of nineties dreampop and shoegaze, the jagged slant of post-punk, and the improvisational looseness of krautrock and jam bands. It sounds like a lot on paper, but the band pulls it into songs that stay melodic and hook-first even when the writing turns dark.

Co-lead singers and guitarists Pete Ferrari and Mike Susa share the lyric writing with bassist Micah Evans and drummer Garrett Troy, building every song from the ground up together. The new record leans inward, circling anxiety, depression, and religion, the kind of themes that sit with a listener long after the choruses fade.

For a taste of where the album is headed, the band’s live take on “Hammock,” an album track filmed at a Brooklyn show, shows the whole machine working: twin guitars, shared vocals, and a rhythm section that never sits still. Fans of Pixies, Fontaines D.C., and Modest Mouse will find plenty to hold onto here.

“Badger” arrives November 3, “Fusion” follows November 17, and “Catastrophizer” is out December 1 on Mint 400 Records.

Photo: Rachel Mishkind

We Speak Alternative

Twenty One Pilots Play the Biggest Show of Their Lives at a Sold-Out Ohio Stadium

Published

4 hours ago

October 29, 2026

We Speak Media

Twenty One Pilots came home and made history. On October 17, 2026, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun headlined Ohio Stadium in Columbus — the biggest U.S. headline performance of their career — packing out the Horseshoe with a sold-out crowd in the city where it all started, with Death Cab for Cutie opening the night.

The duo marked the occasion with the longest show they have ever played: a career-spanning 38-song setlist spread across three stages, complete with a drone display. They opened with “Goner,” the closing track from 2015’s Blurryface, used as a show opener for the first time, and delivered the live debut of Clancy fan favorite “At the Risk of Feeling Dumb.” Deep cuts got their due too — “Isle of Flightless Birds” received its first full performance since 2014 — and longtime collaborator Mark C. Eshleman joined them for “Robot Voices.” Joseph and Dun even revived their old skeleton hoodies, a nod longtime Skeleton Clique members caught instantly.

The hometown tributes kept coming. The Ohio State Marching Band’s drumline joined the band on stage for a cover of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” and the pair entered the stadium riding big-wheel tricycles — the same style used in their “Stressed Out” video, filmed years ago in a Columbus neighborhood. Dun at one point crowd-surfed with his drum kit across the floor. Reviewing the night, the Columbus Dispatch wrote that Ohio Stadium has hosted bigger stars, but none put on a show like this one.

The stadium date effectively closes the book on the band’s Breach touring cycle, which took the Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic duo around the world behind the Clancy and Breach albums. It was also a return to the same building where they performed during the NHL Stadium Series in 2025 — this time with the whole night belonging to them.

Next month, Joseph and Dun return to Mexico for further dates before their touring calendar clears. Whatever comes next, the standard is now set: two musicians from Columbus sold out the biggest room in their hometown and played until there was nothing left in the catalogue.