Well, The Fort tried its damndest to break my spirit on my very first venture on down to the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, but nevertheless I persisted. Yes, a heat rash on my leg day 1, a dirt/sunscreen combo in my right eye rendering it unusable/forcing me to go pirate style with a face towel wrapped around my face for most of day 2, and a brand new Tommy Bahama chair snapped in half roughly 1 hour into day 3 could not stop me from having a good time. Maybe that’s the magic of the fest, or maybe it was just all the free sugarless colas I was sipping on. in any case it was an eventful and utterly unforgettable weekend.
First, the bad: Personal calamities aside, the thunder and lightning storm on Friday did force me to miss sets from Geese (cut short) and Jessica Pratt (cut entirely) that I was eagerly anticipating, but overall I do believe the fest acted accordingly and that’s just summer in New England, baby.
Now, the good: I was told regulations force the alcoholic revelries to take place in designated areas somewhat far from the stages, but to be honest the infamous “beer pier” as the Newport cognoscenti lovingly call it was actually a nice respite from the crowds. Plus, the sound carried awfully well down there while giant screens pointing in the general direction ensured you never felt that far from the action while imbibing. As with any music festival I had my must-sees this year, but I always try to leave at least a slot or two in the day for acts I’m less familair with in the hopes that I’ll be won over. Being admittedly more of a folk-adjacent listener at the damn folk festival ensured I’d have ample opportunity, but I must credit the curators for stretching the very definition of the term. Folk is certainly a big tent here to include things like the “afro-psychedelic future pop” of South Africa’s BCUC (a wonderful wake-up on the final morning), the slippery dancehall-inspired grooves of London crooner Obongjayar (legit pop star soon if there’s any justice in this wicked world), and the vividly diaristic koans of North Carolina’s Jensen McRae (honorary Bostonian imo).
That said, it’s worth noting just how much indie rock fit the bill in 2025. You’ll read more about most of these sets below (guilty), but Friday night anchored around a four set block that ran from MJ Lenderman (easily one of the most attended and buzzed about sets all weekend) to Kim Deal to Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Jack Antonoff (well-known 90s indie rock head) leading a star-studded “talent show” (which featured, among many heavy hitters, Hayley Williams). Saturday featured The Lemonheads, Waxahatchee (still a DIY lifer at heart), and (a largely) more subdued, emotional set from country radio killer Luke Combs featuring quite a few numbers that would slot well with the likes of say Vic Chestnutt, Sparklehorse, or even Songs: Ohia. He did play the “cold beer never broke my heart” one though, that’s a fun little ditty. Sunday kicked off with AP faves Nova One and also featured Dehd, Hurray For The Riff Raff, and Jeff Tweedy. So, yeah, indie rockers were in the house tonight, everybody just had a good time.
Read on for Emily’s fantastic photos and more about my fave sets below.
FRIDAY
Friday afternoon really got cooking for us a little after 12:30 when New Orleans party-starter Big Freedia side-stepped some gear issues and burst on stage with energy that hit better than any of that free mushroom coffee they were giving out by merch. Freedia’s bounce music finds room for gospel, house, jazz, big room EDM, hip-hop, hell any kind of music that makes you shake ass and we were glad those that wandered out of the chairs and into the pit were willing to do just that. A solemn and poignant call for a ceasefire and the end of Gaza’s suffering mid-set was a sobering reminder that none of us are free until we all are. And then it was back to the jams. Alex G was among several artists that played up the Newport of it all, stripping back to just guitar, piano, and string accompaniment and cracking wise about shit he saw in “the Bob Dylan movie.” The quieter takes on material off his latest LP fit the more domesticated vibe the G man has been aiming towards for some time, but it was on some of the “weirder” more studio-driven older numbers that really showed off just how sturdy his songwriting has been from the jump. Kim Deal meanwhile sorta did the opposite if were talking addition by subtraction, blowing up the arragements of her solo material as well as some Breeders bangers with a 10-piece (!) band that added a lot more subleties than they did extreme volume. What a treat it was to see a Massachusetts original (no matter how hard she reps Ohio) do her casually brilliant thing where a song can be both so plain-spoken and yet also devistatingly precise. Shout out to John C. Reilly who watched every minute of it sidestage, too. (e.d. want to mention that Cameron Winter pop-up set on the Bike Stage too, which was crazy and also easily the one thing I was asked most about on insta – Dillon)
SATURDAY
Well of course we’re gonna highlight The Lemonheads. The long-running Boston crew somehow just made their Newport debut on Day 2, with Evan Dando opening solo with a few acoustic covers and a Smudge song before plugging in and being joined with his latest band members for a medley of hits from Ray and Come On Feel. Would have been nice to hear something off the long-gestating new record, but anytime time in The Lemonheads’ shaggy, (somewhat) edgy sonic world is time well spent. Waxhatchee played the main stage as the sun started coming down and man was that beautiful. Mostly sticking to tracks off her two latest more alt country leaning LPs the material feels both lived in and still achingly gorgeous. MJ Lenderman came out to sing harmonies on several Tigers Blood tracks as well, what a vibe. Public Enemy closed out the Quad Stage with feverish energy, clearly relishing their chance to bring a little fury to this typically buttoned up affair. But you know what, to the Newport crowd’s credit PE was met with glee from virtually everywhere on that field. They also brought out Mavis Staples for her first of several guest appearances which was insanely cool.
SUNDAY
“Gay Band from Providence” (that’s a direct quote by the way to be clear) Nova One kicked off the main stage on Sunday morning and their space age girl group/dream pop hybrid sounds great with a little extra space outdoors to really float. All dolled up in matching rose gold wigs, the four-piece attacks on the heavier material and lays it down smooth for the reverbier ones that call for a slow dance. Big Nice bands are as a rule, our favorite bands. Chicago indie poppers Dehd are such a sight to be seen. Stripping down pop songs to their barest essentials, those bone dry drumpads and basslines leave plenty of sonic space for the group’s duel trashing vocals and guitar violence, not to mention plenty of actual physical room onstage for Jason Balla to trash around with his bright green hair metal guitar. Hurray For The Riff Raff played an equally-charged set on the same stage later on in the day, calling out the wicked ways in which our government tortures the most vulnerable and delivering a performance that stood among the most stirring all weekend. The material off last year’s The Past Is Still Alive LP worked even better in the shady environs of the Harbor Stage, with its tightly packed walls giving some natural echo and warmth to the group’s tightly-coiled attack. The festival closing “Songs For The People” mega-jam as hosted by John C. Reilly was also a hoot in that virtually everyone we saw at Newport came back for one last goodbye, and a few pointed jabs as well.
Dinosaur Jr. cranked the volume up to 11 for their second Massachusetts show of the week, first in Deerfield and again on Friday, July 18th at Roadrunner in Boston. The co-headlining tour also features Maryland’s finest, Snail Mail, with Detroit rockers Easy Action opening.
Natively from Amherst, Dinosaur Jr. has claimed all of Massachusetts as their home turf since the ‘80s. With the announcement of their summer co-headliner, fans were pleasantly surprised (or maybe not) to see the tour was hitting both coasts of MA in the first couple shows. Despite the fact that neither headlining band has released new music since 2021 (excluding a couple covers from Snail Mail), fans still showed up and were greeted to some nice surprises of new music from Snail Mail and guest appearances during Dinosaur Jr.
Known for their egregiously loud sets, it was somewhat surprising when J Mascis started the show as if they were at a band practice and people were not quite sure if they were starting or not. Slowly, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph joined in to the beginning of “Severed Lips” from their debut record Dinosaur, from before they added the Jr.. Each member seemed to be off in their world until suddenly everything clicked when Mascis stepped away from the microphone and kicked on the overdrive. Everything preceding that moment was mere setup for the main act: Dinosaur Jr. absolutely ripping at insane volumes. “Feel the Pain” and “Freak Scene” were highlights of the set, with a special encore of two covers: “Just Like Heaven” by the Cure (Dinosaur Jr. regularly covers this song) and “T.V. Eye” by the Stooges featuring a guest appearance from John Brannon of Easy Action (and Negative Approach fame).
Dinosaur Jr. and Snail Mail continue their tour through early August, and stay tuned for a new record from Snail Mail soon.
Boston indie rockers Clifford dropped “The Band” and started getting serious. Well, they’ve always been serious about the music, but nearly two years into the process of putting together their debut LP Golden Caravan, it’s clear that the four-piece means business. Seeking to drive a through-line between the terse, nervy post-punk and the freer flowing folkisms on which they’ve built the brand, this record feels both like a culmination to those who’ve been paying attention, and perhaps a proper introduction to the as-yet uniniated. Out today on Sipsman, it will surely stand among the finest collections of rock music you’ll hear out of Boston (or even the country) this year. We sat down with Clifford a few days ago to chop it up and snap a few pictures in the garden, so hit play on the stream, and please do indulge us below.
Allston Pudding: So this album has been in the chamber for a while, what took so long?
Miles Chandler: Well we all have jobs, and life gets in the way as does perfectionism. Recording it took a really long time, probably around a year.
Nate Scaringi: It’s been a year since it’s been done though.
Miles: Maybe on previous releases we’ve sacrificed some things for expediency, but this time we strived to do the best we all could given our collective capacity to do stuff, which took a little longer. We went for quality this time.
Nate: I don’t remember any gaps where we stopped making progress, like it was pretty consistent and that was how it was always going to be. It was a slow, incremental pace and a lot of that was based on our ability to use The Record Co. space just one day a week when we had access. We also made this record for free, which was huge. I work over there so I had access to the space, and Mondays are “staff days” so we’d go over there and chip away it every possible Monday that we could, typically breaking it up into “drum” or “guitar” days, squeezing in vocals in bits and bops as time allowed. That took a little over a year.
Miles: The process of shopping it around was a little convoluted as well. We we’re quite sure what we wanted out of a label, since we’re kind of in a twilight zone between not wanting to sacrifice any professionalism and not really having the time to a real full-time band. PLus, touring consistently has never really been in the picture, so we needed a very specific sort of institutional backing to pull it off. Self-releasing was definitely on the table, but we reached out to a bunch of smaller indie labels, all of whom either didn’t have a lot of capacity or were backed up. Then randomly we got an email frome Mike (Caulo) of Sipsman (e.d. what’s up Mike) which was kind of terrifyingly coincidental as he had been working with a different group we’d played a show with and had access to their email and our album was in their inbox and he found it, played it, and really liked it. Mike sort of advised for a while about label shopping before we mutually felt like it was a really good fit for him to put it out on his own label.
AP: How much have the songs changed in the time since they were initially written?
Nate: Not a whole lot. There was some stuff where we’d go in and conduct ourselves differently within parts, but the arrangements haven’t changed much, but our playing may have a little. I know my bass parts have change a bit over time, but they’re still pretty true to form. And you know you play shows and you play new songs and they change over time, slowly but surely and then you listen to a demo from over two years ago and it doesn’t sound anything like the song anymore.
Ben Curell: I feel like there were several songs on the album that we were just learning how to play as we recorded them, so consequentially they felt a little less comfortable in the studio versus now when we’ve performed them a bunch. I remember “Gifthorse” in particular feeling that way on drums, it was towards the end of a session and we only had about 20 minutes left to get something on tape, so I was just like “let me take a shot at this” and well, that’s the drum part on the record.
Miles: The tones are excellent, though.
Nate: Same thing happened with “Golden Caravan” too if I remember correctly. We had recorded drums for the song, but everything else just wasn’t cutting it, so we redid the guitars and bass a lot to shift it into place.
Danny Edlin: But that’s about as dramatic as it got. We definitely are more of a “parts” band than the average. I feel like we are really trying to execute something with our recordings and we have that fairly planned out.
AP: I feel like a big theme in this record is about being present in whatever it is you’re doing. Do you feel like that is reflected in your playing as well?
Miles: Totally. I like thinking of the riff as something for the body, chords for the heart, and lyrics for the soul. I think that’s a nice hierachy to set up. The riff being for the body is so fundamental, There’s something about like plugging in a guitar really loudly and just playing a really harmonious riff really well. I think that’s like that’s kind of what keeps me doing this. And that’s very much about being present.
Danny: eah, I think an overlapping part of all of our musicianship is like liking when something isn’t just challenging for the sake of being challenging, but having a part that is challenging for a purpose. To me that can be a great way to access a present state of mind because it it takes all of your attention, and I think a nice thing about playing this music is that it demands your attention to play it.
AP: Another theme that I think comes up in the lyrics is gentrification and displacement. How do these things sort of play into and affect an arts community?
Miles: I think structural violence is something I was like chewing on a lot in the thematic content of this album. Ben and I were tenants at the Sound Museum in Allston and that was like a really protracted affair when it got torn down. I think Ben was a longer time resident so he can speak to that.
Ben: Yeah that kind of coincided with the whole recording of this album. So we’re trying to piece together this record while simultaneously getting moved around to different spots in Boston just trying to find a place to practice, which was especially a pain in the ass for me as a drummer. Because the Sound Museum got demolished in 2023, and then we moved to 55 Morrissey in Dorchester which was a massive pain in the ass to get to as everyone can attest to.
Nate: Yeah I dunno it took me 10 minutes to get there.
Ben: Obviously there were a lot worse things going on in the world, but it felt a lot harder to pursue our crafts in Boston and be able to like practice regularly. Now luckily we have Danny’s basement so a lot of that’s been solved.
Danny: It’s crazy. The basement setup I have at my house, I feel like maybe six bands regularly rely on it for practice. It’s just a huge need.
AP: What is a golden caravan? Is it an actual thing? What is sort of its significance and influence on the music and the album?
Miles: That’s a question I’ve never asked myself.
Nate: I kind of imagined it as this hulking, gilded thing that doesn’t really have any brakes that is just careening towards something awful. Yeah, it’s kind of like a…it’s very much a metaphor for America.
Miles: It’s like the gravy train, right? Except you can’t necessarily get off and nobody is driving it. It’s definitely symbolic of excesses and wealth, and this unbounded ambition towards excess that so many people don’t really ever achieve. It’s not an attainable goal. Or a sustainable goal. And it’s a pretty image, which is also important.
AP: Your music thus far has kind of shifted between more visceral, heavier stuff, and softer, more folky material. What draws you to either, and how do you sort of decide what mode in which you’re going to write a Clifford song?
Miles: Well, ideally there’s not just two kinds of Clifford songs. I think maybe there’s two poles because those two sounds are very far apart, but I also think maybe my favorite thing about this record is it gets closest to my goal of combining those sounds in a way that’s functionally a new thing, or its own thing. I think I started doing that because I grew up both as a punk, like I got American Idiot for my sixth birthday and played it until like my parents ears were bleeding and refused to play it in the car anymore. But I also grew up on Lucinda Williams and Hank Williams and the classics of Outlaw Country and also the Grateful Dead. There was a lot of twang circulating in the house as well, is what I mean, and I think those things maybe scratch different itches, or I’m writing songs with different emotional affects will fit better into one sort of box than another. But you know we’re all complex emotional beings and I think trying to trying to blend those things together is a really fun project. It kinda seems like something that a lot of people are trying to do these days.
Danny: Something I think about when I’m playing this kind of music on guitar is that the musical language is very similar across those styles, like the micro-techniques required to play math rock are very similar to Neil Young licks. It’s a lot of open strings, it’s a lot of pull-offs, it’s a lot of hammer-ons, and that comes out in older songs of ours like “White Hat” and “Fistfight”, and it comes out on the new record, too. I think it’s also just a part of Miles’ particular guitar language, too, and it’s bound to rub off on all of us.
Miles: “White Hat” is a funny thing to bring up, that song, to me at least, I play it like a fucking bluegrass flat-picking song, and it’s very much about right hand technique on the guitar, almost like, you know, maple leaf rag or some shit. The genres really aren’t that far apart technique-wise.
Ben: Even like country-style drumming, there’s a lot of, well obviously, the dynamic level is a lot lower, but I think there are a lot of parallels there.
Miles: If you look at the history of those players, Johnny Cash was punk as fuck. A lot of those people were way more outlaw than the people we consider to be punks, and they just maybe cleaned up for the day, or for the performance. So yeah, both are quintessential parts of the Americana tradition. There’s a record label out of Chicago called Bloodshot that I grew up listening to a lot, and they’ve been like keeping that ethos alive for a long time.
AP: Every time we see this band it’s a different show (in a good way). What goes into deciding what kind of Clifford show is going to happen on any given night?
Ben: Other bands on the bill for sure. As Nate describes often, we kind of have a Jekyll-and-Hyde situation, or we have historically at least, where we have our louder, more metal-leaning progressive rock stuff, and then the chiller, folkier stuff. We usually cater the balance of those two sectors of songs to what the other bands on the bill are like.
Miles: Also I think it’s about the bill, for sure, because, as a performer or as an opener, you’re showing up to support. Supporting is a functional verb that I take very seriously. I want a night to go cohesively, unless there’s like an explicit reason to make it not go cohesively, which is also fun sometimes. you also have to think about the room you’re playing in. Like if you’re playing a big concrete box, then playing super loud is not going to translate really well, so it might be a nice night to play some of the more ambient, echoey stuff. It’s also sometimes based on what mood we’re in. Sometimes you don’t really have the energy to, you know, throw hands, or like get really active on stage. That might be a good night to play some more soulful songs in response to the emotional state you’re in.
Danny: Pragmatically, it’s like what songs do we have ready to go? Especially if it’s been a while since we’ve played. We do have certain songs that we never need to practice that are always ready to go and there are a couple of those always in the mix to make us all feel a little more relaxed on stage. What’s been nice about getting the album ready for our upcoming tour is that the whole album is ready to go live and so that gives us a lot to choose from for the set.
Ben: One of the great things about this album, in my opinion, is there’s a lot of tunes on it that do bridge that gap effectively, which is something we’ve been aspiring to do to keep our catalog a little more cohesive. I think Spirit Was was a big influence on this album, with the country and doom metal synthesis helped a lot in terms of us presenting both sides of Clifford in a single package.
AP: What inspires you all as musicians?
Miles: I grew up as an Audioree kid in high school, finding indie rock, and especially local indie rock, and the people who were just barely getting some recognition through media, at least enough so that a kid sitting in his living room could watch YouTube videos of them. I think those groups were really core to me developing my identity, and so I hold that culture very near and dear, because it did so much for me and has done so much for me, so now it’s really fun to contribute back to it. If you’re pulling water out of the well, you should put some back in It’s cool now being at a point where like we’ve come to know some of those folks that inspired me. I was a huge Ovlov head, and I feel like a lot of the bands that came out of the Boston music scene and the DIY scene in the Northeast when around the 2010s were like really influential for me. So getting to know some of those people and then having like them give us the thumbs up feels really good. That deep sense of community I think is really redeeming.
Nate: Yeah, the community aspect is really big. I also think just playing is so endlessly rewarding that that’s enough for me, personally, just because I do a lot of it. I try to do it any chance I get. So, you know, playing, combined with having friends around knowing like “oh we’re gonna tour through these cities and we’re gonna see these people and play with these bands” continuously comes back to being the most rewarding and and inspiring thing about what we do.
Ben: One of the things that inspires me most as a musician and as a listener is being able to hear amusician’ signature imprint, or their personality come through on the part they’re playing on a given recording. That organic quality of being able to say “that sounds like a nasty Nate bass part” on “Inkblot” both from the actual execution of the part, and the tones that are coming out as well. That’s one of the coolest parts about music in my opinion, getting to hear everyone’s personality in a given song within their individual parts.
AP: What does the Boston music scene mean to you?
Nate: It’s the petri dish because it’s stinky! It smells like shit! No I mean it’s because Boston is small, and most people know each other, and I think a thing that I think ends up drawing a lot of criticism is that it’s so segmented, but I really like that there’s so much different stuff that you can go see. One night you can go here and see an indie rock show, and then the other night you can go there and see a hardcore show, and then the next night you can go to a really weird rave in a basement, and that’s awesome. Those shows will all be within two miles of each other and you’ll end up seeing some of the same people at a lot of those different shows, and it’s taught me how to be in a community like this, and the etiquette, and how to support your friends and the people around you. It feels good to be an active and contributing community member in a place that is pretty, on the grand scheme of things, isolated from the rest of the country being up in the northeast.
Ben: The DIY scene and the experiences I’ve had in basements of these various famous DIY venues in Allston and Brighton, that’s what really encapsulated my experience in the Boston music scene. I feel like there’s just this resilience baked in, too. I’ve been in Boston since 2019 when there was a whole different slew of house show venues pre-Covid and then everything obviously got shut down, but then a whole bunch of new venues kind of like blossomed up as a result. Even my old house on Ashford Street once had a stage down there. It’s just the phenomenon of these DIY venues, like they inevitably get shut down, but then new ones always seem to crop up. Also, as we get older, seeing the rotating cast of people showing up to these shows, there’s always a new influx, or a new generation of kids in these basements and that’s inspiring. Boston’s obviously a revolving door for a lot of students, but seeing the next generations of people also getting to experience the DIY scene and knowing that the cycle is just going to continue in perpetuity in some degree? That is very inspiring for me.
Danny: I think we all cherish this scene, and it’s a little bit different for all of us, and to everyone else. One thing I find special about the Boston scene from my limited sense of other music communities, is that it’s just a tiny bit of a higher bar, partly as a result of Berklee kids being everywhere. The level of musicianship is high around here. I remember when I started going to shows around here, maybe it was because I hadn’t been to a lot of different kinds of shows, or just the kinds of bills we were on, and just thinking “the average band here is really fucking good.” I’m not trying to be shooting for Berkee kids or whatever, but I think we do take for granted that you can just go to a basement show and people are fucking shredding. I don’t really glorify all that, but I’d rather have that kind of proficiency around than not, I guess.
Miles: There’s infinite layers to peel back, like at this point Idon’t know what the fuck’s happening in the house scene in Allston anymore because I’ve lived away from there for two years, and it does turn over so much. And the cops are on people’s asses, but it’s not like people are going to stop making music. They’re going to find some fucked up corner of a basement or something to go be loud in and be productively violent and joyous, and I think that’s sick. I grew up in Syracuse and the music scene there was a lot angrier, a lot more violent, and a lot less safe than what I see here. I’m sure you can find that here.
Nate: Haven’t been to the right shows, brother.
Miles: That was really eye-opening when I got here. There are a lot of people that are really talented at music and studying it because of that, but the proficiency that gets me excited is the types who will go to a show and pick up on something and then go home to their own pen and as part of their own personal art practice create something exciting. Even if it’s just a hobby or a side gig or something. I think the excellence bleeds far beyond the conservatory folks. I think they’re inspiring and they keep other people sharp, and they also make a bunch of weird noise that is interesting to experience. But then that’s just one element of this ecosystem. I guess I was sort of expecting to move to Boston and have, like, a billion Dropkick Murphys spinoff bands playing in shitty bars. I’m sure that’s there is that if you want it, but that’s definitely not what I think of now. For a city of its size, Boston definitely punches above its weight in terms of diversity and cutting-edgeness of what’s coming out of it.
Coming in hot off of a successful year following the release of their debut album Your Lacuna, alt-rock outfit Viruette have already released two new singles this year both with accompanying visuals. Kicking off with the lead single for an as-yet-untitled future album, “Deadtooth” was released back on May 2nd along with a lyric video/visualizer. This was followed by the release of “Punktured” on June 24th, which marked the first collaboration for the band with Boston pop icon Layzi.
Unveiled alongside a music video directed by Mallcops’ Jimmy Del Ponte, the latest single recounts two separate perspectives on the same Friday night. Exploring the anxiety, anticipation and energy required to venture out into the unknown which can brew feelings of uncertainty anddanger. “That’s where the song begins and ends. It’s very straightforward in that regard, obviously it’s all wrapped up in metaphors and 10 cent words, but really, that’s what the song is about,” explains vocalist Harry Burgess. “The male perspective is a little weary, a little numb, that’s where the song title comes from, and the girl is more sad. It’s an attempt to sort of psychologically profile both of these characters’ anticipatory energy for the Friday night that lays in wait for them.”
In planning for the new record, the band looked internally to reassess their writing processes, saying “we wanted to make something that was more immediate, more accessible, that had more of a beating heart to it. A lot of the subject matter, there are still similarities. There’s always going to be some stuff about yearning. There’s always going to be stuff about human relations and intimacy and exuberance and excess and sadness. But this time, I wanted to have more fun with it.” In keeping with the desire for more fun the band welcomed a collaborator for the first time, allowing Layzi’s Carissa Myer to hop on the track with her trademark dreamy bedroom pop. Punctuating the steady beat with a moment of ethereal levity, Layzi’s easygoing softness coupled with Burgess’ sense of urgency creates layers within what, on paper, is just another song about a Friday night.
The Layzi linkup came about thanks to a shared connection via drummer Andrew Ring. “He’s been her drummer since she started doing shows, so I’ve known Carissa now for three years. I’m always at her shows. She’s always coming to our shows. She digs us. We dig her. So this collaboration has been on the cards for some time now, I just didn’t want to force it,” Burgess’ recounts. “But this song, I really wanted to have a female perspective on it. I knew that she would be perfect for it. Immediately she came on to the studio and the second she’s in the vocal booth, she just nailed it. Her voice is so, so good. Being in the room when she was doing it, you’re like, “okay, this is why she’s considered hot shit. This is why she’s special.” I’m absolutely delighted to have her on it.”
When it came time to shoot a video for the single, it wasn’t a hard decision to ask Del Ponte to pick up the torch yet again. Having shot their music video for “Faceblind” which premiered last year, and having worked with Layzi at SXSW, the decision was a no-brainer. “I actually know Jimmy in a roundabout way through Carissa, because he was their in-house photographer. So he met our drummer Andrew and then started shooting us as well,” Burgess’ explains.
Viruette on set of the “Punktured” video. Photo Credit: Grace Capuccio
“Initially we had talked about a nightlife theme, like bar hopping, sort of like a montage. But it made sense that the video would amount to some sort of party with a ton of people. We have all these elements like the swagger that Harry shows naturally, so then I’m like, what makes sense? Like something needs to happen, but I’m imagining just movement. So I thought of somebody throwing a bag over his head, like a burlap sack. Then somebody’s abducting him and taking him where? Oh, a party! It was like, “oh shit we’re going with that,” Jimmy Del Ponte recounts of his process. “It sort of just organically came about. I feel like that was the best thing that could have happened. I think something similar happened with the “Faceblind” video, where we planned for something, and it was a very cool idea but from there it was just following the way things worked out. I’m so, so, so pleased with it.”
This idea of letting things land where they may might scare off other creatives, but for Del Ponte, it’s exactly the right process to breed new ideas and reach for deeper creativity. “I know what it looks like in my head, but no video has ever looked the way that I imagined to the full extent. I know what I want. I know what this shot should look like. I know how it should be composed. But it’s never gonna be perfect to your imagination. And I think that’s the cool thing about it like, “oh, we have this idea. Let’s go try to do it!” And you do it to the best of your ability and you can plan as much as you should, but that’s just the way it works out. Who was it that said it, there’s a quote that I need to find. I think it was Tom Cruise, which is actually hilarious. He was talking about his movies and his ideas, and how you can’t be married to an idea, because it’s never gonna turn out perfectly,” says Del Ponte.
“We always allow for a touch of serendipity, don’t we? Sort of allowing things to change and not getting too wedded to one idea because just one idea can’t work out. We just wait until inspiration hits Jimmy, because he’s something of a visionary, so I have a lot of implicit trust in his process,” Burgess’ admits. As a wise individual once said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. With the process crafted by Del Ponte & Viruette already resulting in two well crafted & thoroughly entertaining music videos, and how that same wise individual also says “third times’ the charm”, it can only be up & up for these lucky collaborators as they embark on their next journey.
For more information regarding Viruette, click here! To follow Jimmy Del Ponte, click here, and for all things Layzi, click here!
Sunday, July 13th, 2025. Still Woozy headlining the Style Stage at Levitate Music and Arts Festival. Photo by Samantha Davidson.
The 2025 edition of Levitate Music & Arts Festival took place on the sunny weekend of July 12 and 13. The popular Marshfield, MA festival underwent some notable changes since last year, with an altered physical layout and a reduction from three days to two for the first time since 2018. The lineup featured flavors of rock, jam, funk, reggae, folk, and pop for an overall familiar musical experience compared to previous iterations of Levitate. This year’s leaner version of the festival retained its triple stage format but with the noticeable change: the smallest stage that is typically sequestered in a corner of the festival grounds was relocated to a much more visible location directly opposing the large main stage.
Day one was a strong opening to the annual festival, headlined and arguably anchored by local reggae sensation Stick Figure, hailing from neighboring Duxbury. Also of note: Marshfield’s own popular reggae offering, The Elovaters, performed the first of two sets of the weekend on Saturday. No Levitate lineup is complete without at least one or both of those local mainstays, and they consistently draw large crowds. This year was no different, and tickets for Saturday sold out. Attendees from Marshfield and the adjacent towns in Plymouth County were everywhere, wearing Stick Figure merchandise and greeting neighbors and family. Familiar names on the lineup were not limited to locals however, with frequent flyers Ripe and Mihali both appearing on day one of the festival. Ripe’s sixth appearance at Levitate was not to be taken for granted though, as the band still bore the fresh scars from a golf-cart accident precisely two weeks and twelve hours prior to their set. It wasn’t a stretch to say that the crowd had few if any complaints about a lineup full of the usual suspects, given the sheer size of the day one crowd.
Clever festivalgoers knew the best performances could be found on the smallest stage, which featured up-and-comers Samantha McKaige, Maya Manuela, Hans Williams, and Autumn Drive. Their sets were short but sweet samplings of what they had to offer, and the prominent new stage setup provided each artist with an opportunity to catch new listeners who might have otherwise missed them. The new stage had another benefit that was unfortunately corrected by night two: after the New Bedford based rockers Autumn Drive closed out the last set of the night for that stage, festival-goers took the opportunity to commandeer it as an elevated viewing platform with a view of the main stage. With a huge crowd for Stick Figure’s headlining set amassed up by the stage, more casual viewers comfortably lounged as they watched from a distance. Which section of the crowd truly represented the spirit of Levitate: the ride-or-die fanatics of the hometown heroes jammed up front or the spaced out, shirtless dad-bods in back? There may be no wrong answer.
Check out all of Greg’s photos from day one below.
Day two continued to bring the heat, both physically and musically. Fans in flowing skirts, tie dye shirts, and crocheted tank tops wandered the grounds, excited to see their favorite artists. Braided crowns from Peace Love & Halos were the must-have vendor accessory, with their endless options of colors and textures matching everyone’s outfits.
Josiah and the Bonnevilles backstage. Photo by Samantha Davidson.
Josiah and The Bonnevilles conquered the Stoke Stage in the early afternoon, delivering raw and aching vocals that built an ironclad connection with fans. Songs like “Six Dollar Check” chronicled his journey of leaving a major label and continuing to pursue music, displaying a vulnerability and admirable persistence. His mesmerizing guitar strumming and harmonica playing proved that an acoustic sound can still capture audience attention. Fans of all ages were emphatically singing along to each song, all the way from a toddler on their mom’s shoulders, to a woman in her 70s at the barricade. Soon after, standout act Linka Moja visited the Style stage. They cleverly kickstarted their set with a cover of the beloved song “Black Sheep” by Metric, grabbing attention from the crowd that transferred over to their equally hard-hitting originals.
Linka Moja backstage. Photo by Samantha Davidson.
Tracks like “Psycho” displayed their sharp lyricism and lead singer Emma Routhier’s grungy vocals. Routhier bounced around the stage, smiling ear to ear as she whipped her wolf cut around in the wind. They sprinkled in covers of “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People and “Kiwi” by Harry Styles into their set, effortlessly blending their sound with alternative, pop, rock, and high-energy genres. After escaping backstage, Routhier posed for portraits with Allston Pudding, letting the details of her outfit shine: bright candy apple red shorts and statement necklaces.
Fans wandered from stage to stage between sets, visiting a live art installation of giant wooden fish sculptures that painters were working on throughout the day. Mixed media formats like metallic recycled materials, fluffy spray paint, and traditional painting elements were strewn across the ground as artists went to work creating unique pieces that memorialized the weekend. Smaller fish were available for passersby to help paint, cementing those fans as a part of the festival’s history forever.
Lily Fitts backstage. Photo by Samantha Davidson.
Singer-songwriter Lily Fitts strutted onto The Levitate Foundation Songwriter Stage in denim and red and brown cowboy boots as the evening moved in. Fitts is a Massachusetts native hailing from Topsfield, but that doesn’t stop her from infusing an irresistible country twang into her music. Some fans at the front of the stage squealed and asked their mom to take a photo of them in front of her. She grinned and thanked everyone for coming before diving into emotional tracks that feel like she took a peak in your diary. Viral Hit “Brown Eyed Baby” displayed her raspy vocals as she strummed on the guitar and swayed to the music. Fans were left craving more Fitts, a hunger that can be satisfied on her first headline tour, which is stopping at The Sinclair on November 14.
The crowd sought shelter under colorful canopies, grabbing some delectable bites to eat before parking at the picnic tables. Loaded fries with vegan chili and pulled pork, giant slices of pizza, authentic street tacos, and yummy stir fry satisfied all flavor cravings. The Broccoli Bar, a stall featuring staff in broccoli costumes and a killer playlist, lulled fans to their truck all day.
Still Woozy delivered limitless energy during the final performance on the Style Stage of the weekend. His feet were barely on the ground as he scaled the stage throughout the duration of his set, displaying his stamina. Floral decorations, bubbles, and larger cartoonish flower sculptures transported the crowd into Still Woozy’s psychedelic world. Day two was headlined by the dynamic, genre fluid, Boston indie band Dispatch. They rounded out the final set of the weekend with an unabashed performance that highlighted messages of civil rights, social inclusivity, and self-reflection.
Check out all of Samantha and Greg’s photos from day two below.
Garage-punks Today Junior are back with their first new music since 2023. “If You Want To” is a surf-inflected ripper that clocks in at a little over two minutes, and it comes with a music video directed by Alex Ilyadis. In the clip, the band invites you into their lavishly decorated practice space where they watch Beavis and Butthead, take bong hits, and perform the track in full. Think an Architectural Digest tour but with a guitar solo in the middle.
We caught up with drummer and founding member Mike O’Toole to get the inside track on how the video came together.
You filmed this video in your practice space. What’s something you like about practicing there and why was it important to capture that for your video? Our practice space is like our own little safe haven. The walls are littered with our posters of our favorite bands and past Today Junior shows. We also keep a rotating collection of VHS and DVDs to watch while we are writing, practicing, and hanging out. That ranges from classic movies and TV shows we love, to 90s wrestling tapes. We wanted the video to showcase us as ourselves, so we chose our practice space because we think that it helps represents us and our vibe.
What was it like working with director Alex Ilyadis? Alex is a good friend of ours and we were excited to work together. He was really professional and filmed the whole video for us in under 3 hours. Alex came in with an idea and created a rad video that all of us are proud of.
Does the bong live in the practice space or does that travel with you? It occasionally takes field trips.
Whose Beavis and Butthead DVD is that? Ours! We bought it on tour when we were at a random Walmart in Ohio. We also bought a Rocko’s Modern Life Complete Series DVD.
What are some practice space etiquette rules you live by? 1. Pick a DVD or VHS to put on before any music starts 2. Take a sip or take a rip 3. No Big Lights Allowed, mood lighting only 4. No Stairway to Heaven
It was a raucous, hog-wild night on June 29th as British metal heroes Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs took over Brighton Music Hall. The band hit town to promote their fifth and excellent new album, Death Hilarious. It was the final night of part one of their American run, so the band left it all on the table.
First up was the equally-awesomely named Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, a doom metal trio out of Austin. The band’s moniker should tune in to the fact that they are not on the more serious side of the genre, but if that wasn’t enough, then know that they were touring in support of their 2024 album Big Dumb Riffs. Suffice to say, the band delivered those in a huge way. Contrary to many similar bands, Patrol pounds through very short songs, often two minutes or under, and in a set that lasted 45 minutes, they only took 2 or 3 breaks, opting instead to jam rapid-fire style through a whiplash of tunes. That said, the riffs were indeed relentless and gnarly, as the band ripped through 15 songs including recent tunes “Body Bag,” “Clowntown” and “1-800-EAT-SHIT.” It was a special show for the band, as singer/guitarist Leo Lydon announced that his father was in attendance, seeing the band for the very first time. It may have been loud and heavy, and it may have been silly, but it was a special set, too.
The vibes continued when Pigsx7 came out, preluded by a snippet of “Cheeseburger in Paradise” (probably a nod to the openers) and the entirety of “For Those About to Rock.” They opened with “The Wyrm,” one of the best cuts off of Hilarious. In total, the band played 12 songs – five from the new album, and seven older favorites including “Big Rig,” “Reducer” and “GNT,” one of this reviewer’s favorite songs. The band’s music has changed over time, as they have increasingly moved from extended doom metal jams into shorter, more psychedelic hard rock, so a set that pulled from four of their five albums made for a thrillingly well-rounded show. One thing that always remains common is riffs and intensity, and the band squealed through ceaseless sludge for an incredibly engaged crowd.
The set was not without its expected oddities, too. At one point, singer Matthew Baty noted that they were on album five, which puts them past many rock legends – namely, The Vengaboys. At another, he told a story of a fan in Poland who complimented the band but told Baty he was an arse and to step away. After that, Baty introduced the band, but only as pro wrestlers, swapping their names for the likes of Razor Ramon and Ric Flair, before Steve Austin’s music hit and Lydon came back out to interrupt. The moment seemed to genuinely catch Baty off guard and, given that it was the last show of the tour, it was probably unplanned. At the end of the night, the band scanned the audience and crowned Headbanger of the Night, a man named Dougie who then spent a couple of minutes crowdsurfing all around the venue. As they hammered through their closer, the classic “A66,” the band walked off as the speakers pumped, perhaps predictably, “We Like To Party.” The Vengaboys got the last laugh. All in all it was a powerfully heavy, but extremely fun night full of riffs, jokes and brutal metal tunes. The second leg of the Pigsx7 tour runs from mid- to late August on the west coast, and tickets can be found on the band’s website. Check out some photos from the show below:
From left: Mark Speer, Donald “DJ” Johnson, Laura Lee Ochoa
Thousands gathered at the Stage at Suffolk Downs to embrace the warm weather, the beauty of life and the serenity that is Khruangbin. Just one year after gracing the main stage at Boston Calling, the Texans returned to formally celebrate their fourth studio album, A La Sala.
Since their inception in 2010, Khruangbin has been shrouded with a sort of mystery, both in their personal and musical identity. Publications have long struggled to categorize what genre the band falls within and that’s part of the fun – they don’t concede to one single genre. In a world where a new band is formed every day that blends influences from dozens of various genres, Khruangbin has a signature sound that cannot be categorically defined. Guitarist Mark Speer and bassist Laura LeeOchoa use the blanket term “Thai funk” in their definition, but there are so many words and genres that can be applied that make sense; all that matters is that their sound is one in a million.
The cover of A La Sala is a simple, but clean image of a red wall and a window peering out to a cloud, and the stage design was directly modeled after this. Khruangbin prides themselves on elaborate and dynamic stage designs, and this stage seemed rather simple until the window screens were used to actively highlight moments of each song and how they are meant to feel. The album’s second single, “May Ninth,” was first featured with the album’s red and blue color scheme, each screen exhibiting a time lapse of the clouds racing past.
David “DJ” Johnson
Khruangbin is known for their taciturn performances, putting a heavy focus on the music instead of crowd banter. They find other ways to connect with the crowd through their movements and eye contact, which is somewhat remarkable considering the parts they play. The band remains locked in as ever, relying heavily on their drummer David “DJ” Johnson (pictured above), whom many refer to as “time’s metronome” due to his supernatural ability to stay perfectly on tempo. This ability serves as the anchor for Speer and Lee to fill in the spaces between and add the little embellishments that make each song and show unique.
Khruangbin has concluded the A La Sala tour in the US, but they continue on to the EU in August to play out a run of festivals.
Check out the rest of Cam’s photos below.For more info on Khruangbin and their current tour, click here!
From left: Shaq Druyan, John McNamara, Luke Vose and Ben Elder. Photo courtesy of the Crooked Coast website.
Coming off a run of shows down the East Coast as they tour their recent album Nothing Before & Nothing After, everybody’s favorite boys from Falmouth, Crooked Coast, won’t be taking a break just yet as they gear up for another Coast Fest in August. An annual festival organized by the band members themselves, it’s become a staple within their community, serving as a homecoming of sorts for fans, friends and family. Before the festival kicks off, the quartet will be playing a handful of shows while continuing to work on new material. We tracked them down in their tour van to discuss juggling opportunities, dream collaborations and a demand for smaller scale venues.
Allston Pudding: How’s the water, so to speak, before the tour starts?
Luke Vose: Feeling good, we just drove for like 12 hours, stopped and now powering up on Popeyes chicken and peanut butter.
John McNamara: You are, I’m eating real food.
AP: Nice, nice, nice. What song are you guys looking forward to performing the most?
Shaq Druyan: Our second song on the set. Pretty excited about it.
JM: Yeah, our new stuff from our new album, for sure.
LV: What is the song?
SD: New song called “Doomscroll.” That’s a fun one. It’s high energy, a lot of fun, and it’s a good way to kick things up.
LV: We’re gonna sub out. We’ll have, like, a couple new songs we do each night, and we’ll just kind of switch some night by night.
AP: As explorers of genre-bending, or people that find a bunch of different sounds in your music, are there any collaborations that you’d be interested in that people might not expect?
SD: A dream, like me being completely like, not realistic at all: Blink-182 I think would be up there for pretty much all of us.
JM: I thought you were gonna say Marilyn Manson.
SD: I mean, I’m down personally, but, yeah, I don’t know. Blink is kind of up there just because we all grew up listening to that stuff in our different perspective generations.
LV: There’s this guy, goes by the name DENM. He’s sort of in the scene we’ve been playing, and he’s doing pretty interesting, exciting stuff. That’d be a fun collab.
SD: Matisyahu would be cool, another guy in that scene who is just really into doing it.
AP: Luke, you had said this prior that there is a lack of an entertainment industry in New England, and I was wondering, what would you change, or what would you like to see in the industry in the future?
LV: I think there’s a lack of smaller clubs, which is too bad. I know Rockwood just shut down after being open for a year, which is too bad. There’s all these great big clubs, like Roadrunner, MGM Music Hall, but you know the scene kind of percolates out of the smaller venues. So I think that’s something that’s lacking is the smaller rooms, where people can try different things, you can see what’s working, what’s not, and grow into the bigger venues.
AP: That’s been a bit of a shared sentiment with some smaller bands and indie artists around New England. The house shows are, I think, getting a little too crammed and tired, and everyone’s looking for smaller-scale established venues to perform in. Which venue would you say has been your favorite to perform?
LV: Paradise is definitely up there. That’s just like a legendary venue. It sounds great. People who run it are awesome. It’s like a real rock club.
SD: That’s definitely up there. I think it’s kind of up the same vein, but Brighton Music Hall. To me there’s just, I know it’s kind of like a silly thing, but there’s a certain energy in that room that is very welcoming to artists that are our size. Yeah, it’s like a nice size, sound system’s cool, and I feel like, when you really pack it in, there’s a certain energy that comes with it.
AP: You guys have mentioned Crooked Coast taking on sort of like a separate reality, or an entity of itself, where it’s a place where you can kind of escape to. I think you had said that it’s sort of like your Twilight Zone. So, what does that place looklike? What does the Crooked Coast look like, if you had to imagine it?
Ben Elder: Somewhere like a mix between a hayride haunted house, but it’s also a dive bar in a seasonal community.
AP: Love that.
LV: You nailed it. Our music is coming from a haunted jukebox.
AP: What is the first thing you guys will do when this tour wraps up?
LV: We’ll start planning for Coast Fest [poster above], which is our big festival, down in Falmouth, Massachusetts. We produce it and headline it along with a team of people. We’ll be doing some one-off shows, but basically just getting ready for the festival on August 2nd.
SD: It’s all hands on deck for that when we get back home, full speed.
AP: Once that’s over, do you guys take a little break, or is it just going to be moving into what’s next?
LV: August will be pretty busy. We’ll be pretty much cracking through the summer and fall. Then, you know, usually in the winter, things slow down.
SD: Even when things slow down, it’s funny, like, I was thinking about it the other day. We still meet each other at least once a week. We’re constantly writing, there’s always something being brewed up. So even when we’re sort of on the down low, it’s still working time.
LV: We’re already writing a bunch of demos for a new record. So we’re just kind of cranking on new stuff as we continue unveiling the new stuff.
AP: It never never stops. The brain never shuts off.
LV: That’s for sure.
AP: What city or spot are you looking forward to the most on this tour? Is there a city you haven’t been to before?
JM: Chicago will be pretty cool, because we’re playing at the House of Blues, which I’m told it’s our manager’s favorite venue. Pretty psyched to play there. Besides that, I think Asheville is always cool to go to as well.
LV: Yeah, I think for me, The Pour House in Raleigh would be right behind the House of Blues. I’ve just heard about it for years, that it’s an incredible venue, so I’m excited.
Find tickets for Coast Fest at their website.Check out their new music video for”Moving On” feat. Joe Samba below!
It’s always a party when U.S. Girls comes to town, and that’s exactly what went down on Thursday, June 26th at the Rockwell in Somerville. For those unfamiliar, the moniker is ironic for two reasons, as U.S. Girls is the solo project of now-Canada-based singer Meghan Remy. She’s been going strong since 2007, and stopped by to promote her ninth (!) album, the excellent Scratch It.
Kass Richards opened the show, with possibly the most nonchalant entrance; she simply sauntered on stage with no fanfare and donned a guitar. This set the tone for her whole set, as Richards never had any accompaniment of any sort. Although fans continued to file in in between songs, everyone was so quiet during Richards’ set that you could hear a pin drop. Richards was captivating in her sparseness, just her beautiful voice and minimal guitar work. She did a cover of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” and dedicated her final song to the people of Palestine. She had a cute moment where she said of one song, “I wrote that song when my daughter was born, now she’s old enough to tattoo my hands” and held up some temporary tattoos. It was a soft, precious, and engaging opener.
But Remy was soon along to bring the volume up a bit. The beauty of her music is the way that she builds traditional pop songs with intentional quirks or rough edges baked into them. This is apparent on Scratch It, a mostly traditional indie-pop record that is permeated by an 11+ minute song. It was also apparent throughout the show, with Remy segmenting some fun music with some gallows or just bizarre humor. She was barely ten minutes into the set when she made a joke about what nuclear runoff would do to Boston. “Any welders here?” she asked unprompted, to predictably no response. These quips kept the mood light, even though the music held its own too. The room was packed but everyone spent the set on their feet.
Remy and her band – which featured Raconteurs & Dead Weather bassist Jack Lawrence – burned through 21 songs on the night, touching seven albums and one cover song. They played seven of the nine songs on Scratch It, with the highlight of the night being an extended jam on “Emptying the Jimador,” during which the band was joined by a surprise trumpeter while Remy danced through the crowd (and even caught this reviewer sleeping, as she stood next to me while I checked photos on my camera). Richards came back out for one song to duet with Remy, and even at the end of a tour the two were still having fun. A fan asked who was older to which Remy replied, “we’re both twelve.” The night ended with back-to-back renditions of fan favorites “4 American Dollars” and “M.A.H.” before everyone was released into the night. It was a hot night at the Rockwell, registering 82 degrees in the room, but it did not deter anyone from dancing and singing to Remy and her band for nearly two hours. Nine albums and nearly 20 years in, and U.S. Girls are still packing an incredibly fun, energetic and groovy show.
Photo by 
