New year, new longmont tunes!

Greetings, fellow lovers of Longmont music! This promising new year of 2026 is already kicking off with a bang, and we're excited to bring you two VERY different releases to get you through the weekend.

First, we have a full-length album from ecosystems deluxe. We featured this artist's December release in our very first blog, but it turns out that was just a preview for this 45-track audio tome.

Yep, you read that right: 45 tracks, for more than an hour and a half of chopped and screwed samples, field recordings, and various other found sounds, fed through a woodchipper of effects and processing, and meticulously stitched together in a manner that is both compelling and deeply unsettling. If you're into Negativland, you'll feel right at home in Judith Tafoya's wonderfully weird world. The mastermind behind ecosystems deluxe herself says: "Here Is Now is an attempt to capture the slow decay of the American empire and the rot within which led to its demise." Listen here and support the artist by buying from Bandcamp. We recommend starting with "regicide" (track 22), but you do you.

Second, we recognize you might need a little something to wash down that bitter (if gloriously crafted) pill, and we've got just the thing. 5-Foot Betty just released a brand-new track, "Fairy Godmother Man," that is singularly silly, odd, delightful, and even a bit inspirational in all the ways that we've come to expect from singer, songwriter, novelist, polymath, and Longmont music community veteran Sharon Glassman. It's a song about connection, about letting people pleasantly surprise you, about finding heroes in unexpected places, and about relying on the kindness of strangers. Plus, it has a few musical quirks that'll have you backing up and moving forward like a car at a flashing red light.

By the way, a little credit where it's due: Sharon Glassman could be considered the fairy godmother of Longmont Loud. Way before other people knew Longmont was cool, she co-hosted a Longmont-centric podcast called Colorado Music Originals. The first episode of that podcast in 2011 featured Andy Eppler and Jessica Carson (who played together as the Prairie Scholars back then). Ain't Longmont great?!