Lincoln Calling thrives on featuring bands just before they break, while showcasing a diversity of genres, artists, and artistic disciplines along the way. Lincoln Calling is a chance to see Nebraska’s best artists sharing the stage with national acts. Past lineups have featured Charli XCX, Future Islands, Angel Olsen, Real Estate, Domo Genesis, Cloud Nothings, Beach Fossils, John Moreland, Screaming Females, Ceremony, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings, BOY, Ivan & Alyosha, The Hood Internet and Tilly and the Wall, among more than 1,000 others. And while Lincoln Calling has varied slightly in length and venue participation in its lifetime, in recent years it has consistently offered in the vicinity of 100 performances.
Lincoln Calling is particularly cognizant of the need for visibility of performers in the LGBTQ community, performers of color, and female performers; this year’s festival boasts 50/50 representation between male and female artists at a time when, on average, only 15% of performers at national music festivals are women.
OSHUN
Hip-Hop
OSHUN is an independent Hip-Hop / Soul duo and the sonic manifestation of Afrofuturism. Using digital and acoustic sounds, heavy drums and bass, and ambient harmonic textures, OSHUN connects with the spirit of their ancestors to manifest a sweeter tomorrow for us all.
MYKKI BLANCO
Hip-Hop
Mykki Blanco, the artist persona and stage name of Michael David Quattlebaum Jr., is an internationally renowned musician, performing artist, and LGBTQ+ activist. While their self-titled debut Mykki album wasn’t released until 2016, they were the creative force behind mixtapes such as Cosmic Angel (2012) and Gay Dog Food (2013); these groundbreaking mixtapes along with Blanoc’s other early releases defined the “queer rap” genre and paved the way for the possibility other non-heteronormative and gender-nonconfirming artists to break through.
BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT
Indie Rock
My name is Katherine Paul and I am Black Belt Eagle Scout. I grew up on the Swinomish Indian Reservation in NW Washington state, learning to play piano, guitar and drums in my adolescent years. The very first form of music that I can remember experiencing was the sound of my dad singing native chants to coo me to sleep as a baby. I grew up around powwows and the songs my grandfather and grandmother sang with my family in their drum group. This is what shapes how I create music: with passion and from the heart.
ADULT.
Electopunk
Over the course of the last two decades, Detroit’s ADULT. (Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller) have been perhaps one of the most fervent proponents of a dark, dance aesthetic that harnesses the perverse aspects of the late ’70s analog dystopian post-modernism. Every song the duo constructs is a strenuous exercise in claustrophobia, anxiety and bleak humor expressed through raw synthesizers, ridged beats and the haunted voice of Kuperus. The melodies twist off their tonal centers and grind each other in dirty, unspeakable ways.
MADAME GANDHI
Art Pop
Madame Gandhi is an artist and activist whose mission is to celebrate gender liberation. She has toured drumming for M.I.A, Thievery Corporation and most recently Oprah on her 2020 Vision Stadium Tour with morning dance party Daybreaker. She has been listed as a Forbes 30 Under 30 member and is a 2020 TED Fellow. Her uplifting music and talks have been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, Billboard, NPR and more.
KISSISSIPPI
Indie Rock
Zoe Reynolds, who performs as Kississippi, can turn a sweet song sour with a sudden, razor-sharp line turn. Harnessing self-empowerment to overcome hardship, Reynolds imbues her songs with hope in the face of grief and heartbreak. Now, she’s turning her eye towards pop music as the ultimate cartharsis. – Caitlin Wolper
ARQUESTA DEL SOLSOUL
World Funk
Arquesta Del SolSoul is a six-piece Kansas City-based music collective of African futurist genre benders. Their sound brings an innovative multidimensional eclectic fusion of Rock, Hip-Hop,
R&B, Afro-Latin percussion, and Spoken Word. Inspired by their founding musical ancestors,
they decolonize and time bend indigenous sounds of the Caribbean, Latin America, West,
Central, and Southern Africa.
DEF-i
Hip-Hop
Hailing from Albuquerque, NM and emerging from the underground indy rap circuit, Navajo Nation (Diné) artist Def-i’s eclectic repertoire has provided him with much success and opportunity; MC, Producer, Artist-Educator – Def-i has been featured on Sway in the Morning, NPR, BBC, Van’s Warped Tour, PBS and more. His performance styles range wide from hip-hop and spoken word to contemporary native-american acoustic.
DOMINIQUE MORGAN
R&B
Mx. Dominique Morgan, born in Omaha, Nebraska, is a Black, queer, non-binary community activist, educator, organizer, musician, and the National Director of Black and Pink. After the end of an 8-year incarceration in 2009, Morgan emerged from prison with a renewed sense of passion for life and fighting oppression, and is now one of Omaha’s most celebrated R&B recording artists and community activists.
PLACK BLAGUE
Electronic Dance
Nebraska’s elusive Leather Band, PLACK BLAGUE, has been on a rampant path of sex, destruction and electronic leather mayhem for over a decade. PLACK BLAGUE’s sound emits a vile combination of primitive Industrial noise, sadistic Body Music, and throbbing dance beat party vibes. The live performance is a “must see” spectacle of homoerotic Leathersexual delusions of grandeur mixed with muscle flexing tantrums of harsh noise and electronic disco.
CJ MILLS
Soul/Hip-hop
As a Philly transplant, CJ Mills has redefined her sound as a singer-songwriter and producer. Her raw and candid lyrics have grabbed the attention of many audiences. This multi-instrumentalist has used her style to tap into future soul and hip-hop with elements of electronic R&B.
WIFE PATROL
Indie Rock
Sifting through ’90s grunge and alt-rock, ’80s pop and new wave, and ’70s punk, Indianapolis trio Wife Patrol distills everything its members love about rock with none of what is obsolete. Live shows range from Sabbath-esque riffage to Mazzy Star sweetness, while the group’s tight chemistry keeps everything identifiably its own.
LA JONES
Indie Soul
LA Jones is a soul-pop band from Kansas City, Missouri, featuring a wide variety of instruments and members including a three piece horn section, keys, bass, and drums. They blend a style of contemporary pop music with vintage soul, drawing comparisons to Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, and The Revivalists.
PINK FUZZ
Rock
The music on “Speed Demon” is a showcase of how far this band has come with their song writing. Sludgy riffs, ripping guitar solos (think your favorite track off Smashing Pumpkins “Mellon Collie” meets QOTSA’s “Era Vulgaris”) and driving rhythms are still a large part of this band’s sound. What is setting them apart is their ability to balance that with beautiful melodies and a wide array of dynamics. – ULTRA 5280
Also featuring: Miss Mikey, Kiera Marshe, Rocky Suave, Drag Feature: Jennifer Love, Poetry: Tunette Powell, Poetry: Pastor Darryl Brown
ARTHUR HENRY FORK
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
JAMES SCHROEDER
Omaha/Lincoln, Nebraska
STACEY BARELOS
Omaha, Nebraska
MIGHTY VITAMINS COLLECTIVE
The past & outerspace
Also featuring: Chirag Solanki (Vadodara, India), Paula Munoz Inclan (Queretaro, Mexico)