By my count, 18 local acts play this year’s Riot Fest, including repeaters such as White Mystery, the Lawrence Arms, and Alkaline Trio. From among the festival newbies for 2015, Reader staff picked five favorites—and we tried to spread the love around, so no offense to suburban pop-punk band Knuckle Puck (who were subject of a recent feature story) or emo mainstays Into It. Over It. (who turn up in the paper plenty already). —Leor Galil
At some point 88 Fingers Louie became better known as the band that gave rise to Rise Against: guitarist Dan “Mr. Precision” Wleklinski and bassist Joe Principe left in 1999 to form that juggernaut of hardcore-punk sing-alongs (the latter isn’t part of this reunion). But before that breakup, 88 Fingers Louie were among the best exponents of the heavily compressed, melodic punk sound birthed by Fat Wreck Chords (though they released their full-lengths on Hopeless). They did it right: ridiculously fast one-two kick-drum rhythms, perfectly crisp off-the-beat crashes, smoking harmonic guitar leads, twangy bass, and vocals that would sound wholly disenchanted if they weren’t given a little pop tweak. This version of the band has been active for a couple years now, and they’re doing it right again. —Kevin Warwick
Brokedowns Sat 9/12, 3:30 PM, Radicals Stage
