A major part of what makes this all come together is Toubin’s close ties with NY’s DIY rock community - every artist playing comes via personal connections and a thorough, intimate knowledge of every nook and cranny of the overlapping micro scenes. We’d need a few extra newsletters to sum it all up, but here’s a sneak peek at the program.

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black is the primary musical outlet of performer/filmmaker Kembra Pfahler. A creative force-of-nature in the art world whose work has remained vital over four decades, Pfahler’s confrontational and lurid aesthetic finds fully riotous form in VHOKB. Her roots go back to the early ‘80s, when she was a major participant in the downtown avant garde and a key member of the Cinema of Transgression movement. Alongside peers like Richard Kern and David Wojnarowicz, Pfahler’s work explored the deranged and grotesque with unrestrained enthusiasm. The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black tied her early interests in radical subversion into a theatrical rock setting, and across three albums A National Healthcare (1993); Anti-Naturalists (1995); and Black Date (1998) she used the vessel of a swaggering rock singer as a mouthpiece for her explorations into the dark underbelly of American life.

Black Lips share a similar taste for vulgarity as Pfahler. Both cite the Viennese Actionism movement as a key influence, and Black Lips claim the notorious GG Allen (with whom Pfahler collaborated) as an inspiration. If that suggests an assaultive or unpleasant experience, Black Lips balance their confrontational streak with surprisingly sweet music. The band’s sound is rooted in scruffy garage rock and proto punk as well as early rock ‘n’ roll and its various tributaries. Their songs can harken back to late ‘50s/early ‘60s sentimental ballads, delivered with the ragged conviction of a true punk.

Newcomer cumgirl8 comes out swinging with perhaps the wildest alias on a lineup that’s full of them. Their rowdy, jangly post-punk is fused with electroclash neo-sleaze and marked by a yen for garish, sometimes goofy overload. It’s a perfect compliment to the more classically rocked-out work of their forebears, showing a spiritual alignment that transcends sonic differences. There’s a shambolic charm to their music, with an ultra-cool aloofness amidst the chaos; fans of the Au Pairs, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and even (if you squint) Chicks on Speed should do themselves a favor and check out cumgirl8’s unique update to the gnarly art rock canon.

There are many, many intriguing and cool cover pairings set for the Haunted Hop: Gnarcissists as the Butthole Surfers, Daddy Long Legs as Screamin' Lord Sutch and Tits Dick Ass as Nirvana all stand out. But if we had to highlight only one, it might be Flasyd as L7. The NY group holds nothing back - check their recent track “Shit Goes” - shit indeed goes hard. It starts off sputtering with virulient punk rage but then slows down for a swinging, hard rock groove that wouldn’t sound out of place on L7’s iconic “Smell The Magic.” The ‘90s alt/punk stars were beloved for their take-no-prisoners, booze-and-brawl feminism and their quintessentially LA, glamorously rough sound. Somewhere between Motorhead, Bikini Kill and Guns ‘n’ Roses, L7 set up shop and built something all their own. Flasyd is primed to take on the mantle.