Spring has sprung! Holy hell, ambulance it’s actually warm out! NO PANTS. Sorry, generic got ahead of myself there. But in all seriousness, April in Boston means one thing: the Rock N Roll Rumble. This is year number 35, and the lineup is stacked.

There’s a shitload of cliches running around about the Rumble; you’ll more than likely hear the words “unpredictable,” “random,” and “eclectic” thrown around, and that will most certainly get annoying. Don’t worry, it’s a normal reaction. But still, the nights are incredibly varied. You’re going to hear punk one minute, then electro-pop, and wonder if you took some acid or someone spiked your beer (hint: take the mystery shot at the bar at TT’s!). Let’s check out all the nights!

Night One

Rebuilder: Sorry, I just had to make sure I wasn’t listening to the soundtrack for the first two Tony Hawk Pro Skater games. Remember the original Playstation?? Anyway, Rebuilder are the best kind of in-between from hardcore punk and early 90’s skate punk. Bigass hooks, singalong choruses, gritty palm-muted guitars…go do a kickflip, break your wrist, and go to a Rebuilder show in your cast. That’s how it should be.

Key track: Everything I Hate

Tigerman WOAH: On a stop in Nashville on their way to SXSW, they met Dave Grohl. If that’s not an omen of good things to come, I don’t know what is. Omen or not, the Boston Calling Saturday openers are serious contenders, with their dark, swampy, drunken pentecostal bluegrass providing some evil-sounding dirty country growl.

Key Track: Shaman

Sinnet: Sinnet take indie pop and give it a much-needed shot of rock, going in the direction of Vampire Weekend, but without being overly precocious or pretentious. Slapping straight-ahead rhythms on top of high vocal melodies, and mixing light, chiming guitars with lightly-overdriven rhythm guitars, Sinnet toe that delicate line between pop and rock with ease.

Key Track: Year of the Whale

Guillermo Sexo: Giving shoegazey post-punk a much brighter, pop feel, Guillermo Sexo layer echo on echo on echo, providing an increasingly dreamy soundscape that doesn’t lull you to sleep; instead, it heightens the senses with shimmering guitars, snare-heavy rhythms, and Siouxsie Sioux-style vocals.

Key Track: Meow Metal

Night Two

Emma Ate The Lion: The wildest of wild cards, Emma Ate The Lion is, in the best sense of the word, a sonic mindfuck. Honestly unpredictable, the four-piece gives a big ol’ middle finger to regular time signatures and any notion of the idea of “single genre.” Just on the track ‘Balloons,’ there are vaudeville-style piano parts, organs, screamed lyrics, falsettos, distorted-as-hell guitars, and clean guitar leads. Even I don’t know what to think, but it sure as hell is intriguing.

Key Track: Balloons

Goddamn Draculas: Booming drums start of the single ‘Don’t Be Afraid,’ and it’s a pretty good inclination of the volume and power that glam-punks Goddamn Draculas are going to bring to their night of the Rumble. Video-game/ballpark-style organs provide an eery background to the angry growl of the vocal attack and single-note 80‘s-metal riffs.

Key Track: Don’t Be Afraid

When Particles Collide: Powerhouse drumming combined with bigass guitars bely the fact that this is a damn two-piece. The Maine duo give some serious OOMPH to Night Two, with Blondie-esque vocals taking on a much more rocking, dirty tone on top of loud-ass power chords.

Key Track: Not What I’m Under

Doom Lover: A dash of spooky-sounding theremin adds some extra sonic ghouls to pop-infused guitar rock. New single ‘Under The Alders’ is a clever mix of clean, jangly lead guitars, gritty rhythms, and some gorgeous harmonies from Jeffrey Vachon and Nikki Dessingue in the verses before building to an explosive pre-chorus, before turning the dynamic down in the chorus

Key Track: Under The Alders

Night Three

Barricades: What I’m drawn to immediately about Barricades is the incredible clarity of their vocal delivery, both on lead parts as well as harmonies. It’s a tough thing to pull off, but it really suits their style of softer dynamic pop rock. Despite their clear pop aims, they know how to get down and dirty with the hard rocking. There are plenty of up the middle rhythms to balance out their dancier tunes, as well as stuff that leans more to the side of the power ballad. Nice and uplifting, what a way to start night three!

Key Track: She’s Got A Way

Airport: This is an airport I can actually get excited about. No lines, there isn’t a dude coughing behind me while I order at McDonald’s; I guess the only thing they have in common is the name. Airport take their cues from the twangier side of Americana indie rockers Wilco and the occasional country style of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I’m drawn to their swampier, bluegrass inspired material though, harkening back to some old CCR. ‘Go Up’ is just that track, incorporating some pedal steel and brushes instead of drumsticks to give it that lighter feel.

Key Track: Go Up

ZL: Man, do I love lo-fi guitars and bass. ZL is chock-full of them, with their downtuned, echoey brand of rock blending psychedelia, shoegaze, punk, and grunge into one low-end heavy trio. ‘Bat Child’ sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a car chase, complete with Mad Max dragging a dude along by a chain.

Key Track: Bat Child’

The Life Electric: Possibly the one band that will get me dancing this year, which is a feat in and of itself (and also not a hoped-for outcome; I dance like a crack addict on figure skates). The Life Electric live in that great middle ground between math rock, dance rock, and classic rhythmic alt-rock. I’ve seen guitarist/keyboardist Ben Leang shred before, and damn, is it something. Pay attention for material off their ‘Calico’ EP as well, with scratchy guitars providing a great understated backbone for Joe Chehade’s vocals.

Key Track: Gone Gone Gone

Night Four

Butterknife: Though an actual butter knife is dull, the band Butterknife are anything but. Their melodic, guitar-driven rock welcomed me back to Boston in November, and I was immediately taken by the striking contrast between their subdued verses and blown-out choruses, especially on ‘Goodnight Goodbye.’ Anthemic and raw, while also mixing in some cool harmonic guitar leads, Butterknife have a great understanding of pop sensibilities without getting caught up in sounding overly pretty.

Key Track: Goodnight Goodbye

Slowdim: Channeling the 90’s with the best of ‘em. Slowdim’s punchy guitar rock highlights singalong choruses while bringing in some seriously bouncy rhythms. There’s some shoegazey vibes here, but not enough to distract from their wonderfully anthemic choruses and shimmering lead guitars.

Key Track: Wishing Well

Gondoliers: Gondoliers are what happens when you raid the pedals section at Mr. Music, buy everything that says “fuzz,” and throw Devo-style drumbeats behind those guitars and synths. Give it a little Talking Heads/B-52’s attitude in the vocals (kind of a half-sung, half-spoken word vibe), and you have a recipe for a spazzy tornado of dance-punk madness. Just the shot in the arm some of us will need after the Wednesday day of rest.

Key Track: Man Next Door

Western Education: Electro-synth pop rock to make even the most awkward human dance, Western Education get fuzzy on guitars and use them as more keyboards with plenty of techno-style rhythms. Latest single ‘Rivals’ sounds a little more evil and dark than some of Western Education’s earlier releases, and sound like they could be in a European dance hall, but hell, we ain’t complaining.

Key Track: Rivals

Night Five

Feints: This hard-hitting four piece channels the 80’s like it’s nobody’s business. Vocal and keys are more than taken care of by powerhouse songstress Amy Douglas (she also likes whisky – a lot, so you know she’s a badass), while a hard-hitting, metal-tinged rhythm section hold down the fort for the face-melting leads and riffs of guitar player Dave Barron. They like to party, bring your A-game.

Key Track: Death Rattle

Petty Morals: Petty Morals are an all-girl band with more balls than most dudes. They bring a riot grrl punk attitude and mix it with some synth-heavy dance pop that turns any room into a boozey bouncy house. Just check out ‘Radio Action’ off their Lemonade EP to see what I’m talking about. Ramones-y drums and shitloads of power chords – it’s punk as fuck. But you can actually dance. Weird, huh? More like awesome.

Key Track: Radio Action

Vary Lumar: A soothing end to Night Five, Vary Lumar give the Rumble a spacey, trippy feel. Hyperactive, constantly moving drum parts give the tempo to fast-paced tracks that never sound like they’re too sped up (if that makes no sense…I don’t care). It’s gives a David Gray/Postal Service vibe, and translating that chilled-out progressive rock style to the stage will be interesting, to say the least.

Key Track: In Focus

Summoner: Comparisons are going to be an inevitable sin in any Rumble year (just see last year when everyone compared Twin Berlin to The Strokes). This year, the inevitable “drawn line” is going to be between stoner metal heavies Summoner and, duh, Black Sabbath. Frankly, I think there are worse things than being compared to the barometer for modern metal, but hell, that’s just me. Downtuned, two-ton guitars are the name of the game here, and the slow drawl of the drums and vocals fit perfectly with their ambient, desert-style metal, bringing back memories of some slower Kyuss tracks.

Key Track: The Prophecy

Night Six

Harris Hawk: Girl-fronted metal-tinged grunge? Yeah, I’ll allow it. It’s got a bit of a stoner rock vibe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if all the band members don’t have “Drop D Tuning” tattooed somewhere on each of their bodies. It’s dirty and melodic at the same time, and the transitions from one to the other are smooth and natural. The word “sludgy” is going to get thrown around then describing the guitar tones, but listening to ‘Sweetness,’ off their Feeder album, showcases this band’s ability to be articulate but at the same time keep the heavy vibes going.

Key Track: Sweetness

Await Rescue: These guys are just heavy, straightforward, ROCK. Their version of loud is a complementary mix of carefully-crafted melodies and ten-ton hooks that bounce and slam, hard. You can definitely hear some metal influences in there, and the occasional screams from lead singer John Cutulle are absolutely throat-wrenching.

Key Track: Forms of Flight

The Color and Sound: This band restores my faith in the ability of emo, punk, and pop punk to be blended together into something truly outstanding. Group vocals give them a stadium-filling, anthemic style. Having two lead singers would screw with the rhythm of most bands, but The Color and Sound have that balance down to a science. ‘Graves’ is possibly the most fun song I’ve heard in a while, bar none. If you haven’t noticed, I love smooth guitar transitions, and the balance between clean and grit in this band reminds me of some of my favorite classic emo bands.

Key Track: Graves

Yellabird: These guys are louder than any two piece has a right to be, but this is America, dammit! With a massive wall of guitar that comes from a single Gibson Les Paul, Yellabird get back into the garage with some heavy, bluesy riffs. Throwing some Southern-style grit in there for good measure, their new track, ‘Tired Eyes’ has hints of desert/stoner rock in there, and it’s got possibly the fastest, coolest intro of any rock song I’ve heard in recent memory. A very, very loud way to cap off prelims.

Key Track: Tired Eyes