The 2025 edition of Seventh Stanine Festival will take place on Saturday, June 14, at Rhizome in Washington, D.C. Running from 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM, the festival brings together a compelling lineup of avant-garde, experimental, and genre-defying musicians for an intimate celebration of independent music and creative resilience.

This year’s performers include Tyondai Braxton, Ben Vida, Lucy Liyou, Wendy Eisenberg, and Deakin of Animal Collective, alongside D.C. experimental pop stalwarts The Caribbean, described as “minimalist/drone/Philip Jeck by way of Carole King.”

The day will also feature DJ sets from Geologist (Animal Collective), Jonathan Williger (music writer), Paul Vodra (host of Hometown Sounds), and Lee Gardner (co-host of Essential Tremors).

Tickets for the festival are on sale now.
Seventh Stanine is gathering of artists who create not for fame or financial reward, but out of sheer necessity—because they can’t imagine a life without making art.

Founded in 2016 by D.C. band The Caribbean, the first edition of the festival took place at The Dew Drop Inn in Northeast D.C. on June 3, 2017. The goal was simple: bring together a community of friends, collaborators, and kindred spirits under one roof.

“I had long thought about having a festival in the smallest venue possible—literally like a tiny room,” said co-founder Matthew Byars in a Washington City Paper interview. Byars, also a co-producer of the NPR-distributed podcast Essential Tremors, has helped guide the event from that modest beginning to its current incarnation—now co-presented with Essential Tremors and featuring internationally recognized, yet defiantly underground, performers.

Previous editions have hosted performances by Water Damage, Susan Alcorn, Luke Stewart Trio, Bill Nace, Id M Theft Able, and Geologist (Animal Collective), among others—continuing the festival’s tradition of showcasing artists at the intersection of innovation and authenticity.

Seventh Stanine remains a celebration of the unsung, the uncompromising, and the uniquely essential voices that form the heartbeat of the underground.