Sometimes you are lucky enough to have those moments when you realize that all of the things that you’ve held tight have evened out to something even bigger than you could have ever imagined. Providence’s Twin Foxes unraveled the feeling with “Own Eyes”, a track off of their upcoming split with Darklands.
“The song is about taking an honest look at yourself after spending years in the DIY/punk community. When you get to a certain age, you realize this immersion has made you who are for better or worse. Darklands are definitely people we connect to on that level,” Jared Mann (vocalist/guitarist) said.
As Twin Foxes gears up for the release of their first full length album later this year, we look forward to sharing this thoughtful track.
Pre-order the Twin Foxes/Darklands split and check out Twin Foxes at the following shows:
4/27 @ Boston, M.A. (Elks Lodge) with Darklands, Dan Webb and the Spiders, Angus 4/28 @ Providence, R.I. (Aurora) with Darklands, Burglary Years, Gertrude Atherton 5/12 @ Pawtucket, R.I. (The Met) with Beach Slang, Alcoa, Notches
Allston Pudding is pleased to premiere Heavy Pockets and Charles’ split 7″, two bands that heavily influence the Newmarket, New Hampshire area. Collaborating earnest wishes and infectious choruses, this split is layered with thoughtful odds and ends.
When I first stumbled upon The Owens at a basement show I didn’t know what to expect. They wore all black and I couldn’t even see into the lead singer’s hoodie. Iassumed they were brothers but the only vibe I got was from that documentary, ‘The Wolfpack’. However, once the band started to play, all my middle school judgements dissipated immediately. Their songs felt gentle yet powerful and intensely profound. They played tightly and didn’t miss a single beat. Filming the session with them was no different. The two brothers, Larry and Randy, have a chemistry you can’t look away from. At times I couldn’t stop myself from panning between the two back and forth as the song broke down. Even one of our light fixtures going down (seen at around 3 minutes and 8 seconds) couldn’t stop them. Bottom line, The Owens are just nice dudes who make great music.
A few months ago, Dad Jeans released a video for his song “Tendencies” with Haasan Barclay. Now, Dad Jeans is back with a trippy video for new track “Stately Palms,” a much more experimental endeavor, both musically and visually. In his desire to explore all aspects of music, visuals included, Dad Jeans has shown a penchant for the psychedelic. While the video for “Tendencies” felt like a Sunday afternoon smoke sesh in the park, “Stately Palms” is more of a head-trip.
The video – directed by Liv Slaughter, Haasan Barclay and Dad Jeans himself – features a lot of green screen trickery, showing a close-up of the singer’s face against a backdrop of changing scenery drenched in bold, phosphorescent color tones that include beaches, flowers, palm trees and more. His face must also have some green paint over it, because these images play out over his features. If it weren’t for his red lips and hair, viewers might have a tough time determining where his face ends and where the screen begins. Interspersed between these moments, we see shots of the singer sitting in a chair in an alley, watching the other footage on a small, cardboard TV.
Musically, the song reflects the video well. Built around a choppy R&B-styled beat, the other instruments wind themselves up and release in ways that defy more conventional pop methods. Dad Jeans isn’t concerned with making a typical club banger; he wants to keep you on your toes, and with dramatic changes – like a deconstructed bridge or a bass drum breakdown before a detuned guitar solo – he’s able to keep you guessing as to what’s going to happen next. It sounds like King Krule doing a David Bowie impression over a drum machine that just got the news Skynet went live.
This year’s slate of new material is in anticipation of “Save Yourself,” Dad Jeans’s album due in the coming months. Expect more music and trippy visuals soon!
There are shows, and then there are SHOWS. Sometimes you go to a show for nostalgia, catch an intimate glimpse of your musical heroes and start to question your life’s decisions. We were all young once and knew that eventually we’d grow up and get stuff figured out, but here we are, years later and…These are the guys that made the music that helped us carry on throughout our formidable years.
On Thursday April 20th, a room full of veteran punk and emo fans eagerly packed the venue on the corner of Harvard & Commonwealth Ave known as Great Scott. Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio/The Falcon) and Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids) performed acoustic songs from both of their bands as well as current solo material. The duo also played songs together and released a split 7″ this year on Asian Man Records. Joining Matt on stage for accompaniment on a few songs was his daughter Lily. Joe Michelini (American Trappist) opened the show.
The event, initially scheduled for April 29th at the Vila Victoria Center for the Arts, has a new date and location. At The MassQ ball you’re guaranteed to have an “inter-generational, cross-cultural exhibition of the arts”.
The event will take place on April 30, 2017, from 6:30-10pm at Hibernian Hall [184 Dudley St, Boston]. Come explore this unique exhibition of artistic expressions from Boston’s communities of color in a shared appreciation for arts, culture, and our collective humanity. Here’s a chance to get some live MassQing and dance to some dope performances from several artists and organizations from the community…oh and food, a cash bar, and dance party never hurt anybody. Join artist, Daniel Callahan to enjoy some Japanese Taiko drumming, Black Classical music, and much more this Sunday!
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Sun, April 30, 2017
6:30 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
$20 EARLY BIRD special online only through April 19, 2017 (after which tickets can be purchased for $25 online)
$10 Children 12 and under/Seniors 65+
Artists include:
Daniel Callahan, transmedia artist
Castle of our Skins, Black Classical music
U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo, Zimbabwe poet and spoken word artist
Odaiko New England, Japanese Taiko drumming
Kréyol, Haitian haute couture fashion
D.iRvin Photography, photography/film
Hyde Square Task force, youth Latin dance ensemble
The words “We’re all in this together” formed the backdrop to the stage at The Sinclair on Tuesday night. That proved to be the thesis statement for the evening, as Hurray for the Riff Raff kicked off a two-night run at the Cambridge venue.
Hurray for the Riff Raff’s set leaned heavily on cuts from The Navigator, which was released last month. The album truly feels like an instant classic. These songs are heartfelt, profound and contain just the right amount of activist spirit that 2017 needs. Bandleader Alynda Segarra’s music has never strayed away from political messages, but The Navigator is formed around them. Performed live, the songs took on a new life.
Segarra is a Nuyourican, a term that refers to descendants of Puerto Ricans living in New York City. She grew up in the Bronx; a lot of the songs on The Navigator confront that upbringing and the turmoils she, her parents and her ancestors faced. The concept album is written from the point of view of Navita, a fictional character. In an interview with NPR, she described how she came to write this album.
“I think it took me until about this age to really decide that I needed to learn about where I’m from and where I fit in my lineage of people,” she said. “It was a very healing experience.”
“Fourteen Floors,” a piano ballad, was among the most heart wrenching statements of the set, describing growing up 14 floors up, but knowing that it’s really the 13th floor — and how much work it took for her father to make it there. She sings: “Well he said, that it felt like, a million years/ Oh, just to get here.”
“Rican Beach” was another standout song from the set. Segarra sings: “First they stole our language/ Then they stole our names/ Then they stole the things that brought us fame/ And they stole our neighbors/ And they stole our streets/ And they left us to die on Rican Beach.” It also takes on the politicians who “squawk their mouths” about building a wall. Still, she promises that she’ll “keep fighting ’till the end.”
But the pre-encore set closer, and album highlight, “Pa’lante” won the show. The song title translates to “move forward,” and was the name of the newspaper from The Young Lords, a nationalist group out of Puerto Rico. Segarra dedicated the song to immigrants. The song builds to a call to arms of sorts. “To all who lost their pride, I say, ¡Pa’lante!” With each “¡Pa’Lante!” Segarra put her fist in the air, defiant and powerful. The crowd joined in. We’re all in this together.
Joining Hurray for the Riff Raff was Ron Gallo, which is both a band and a person. Gallo’s set was fuzz-soaked and visceral. Gallo’s music is full of humor and confronting the absurdity of the world with irony. His latest record is called Heavy Meta. Perhaps there’s really nothing to say more than just the title.
Gallo and fellow bandmates joined the band for the encore. The ensemble closed out the evening with a rollicking cover of CCR’s “Fortunate Son.”
See pictures from the show below. Hurray for the Riff Raff next stops by the Boston area for the Newport Folk Festival, which was announced at Tuesday’s show by festival director Jay Sweet.
The tight-knit friendship between Stephen Pierce of Western Massachusetts shoegazers, Kindling and Chad Peck of Nova Scotia’s Kestrels has spanned years and miles. It is only right that the two would share a seamless split EP.
Each band contributed an original track, as well as a cover. Kindling were giddy at the opportunity to play out “Can’t Hardly Wait” by The Replacements and Kestrels sprawled out an upbeat version of My Bloody Valentine’s “Thorn”. Kestrels’ original track, “Octavio” stands as an outtake to their 2016 self-titled LP, but its pronounced urgency rises as a stand out anthem.
At seven o’clock on Marathon Monday, I thought Lansdowne St. would be cleared out by then, but after dodging many a stumbling and drunk Bostonian, I made it to the House of Blues. Tonight was the night; after countless years of holding PJ Harvey’s albums close, I was finally seeing her live.
PJ Harvey’s career spans decades, several albums, evolving genres, and all one could think was humanly possible. Polly Jean Harvey and her stellar band were the sole performers of the evening. Waiting for the show to start I wondered, “would she play my favorite songs?” Others seeing her for the first time were probably also thinking the same, but if that happened, we would be here all night and quite possibly through tomorrow.
The band entered solely with drums in a small marching band formation as a backdrop that doubled as an acoustic panel slowly climbed upwards behind them. Holding a saxophone, Harvey marched right with her band, blending in save for her elaborate blue outfit. She only popped out of formation when singing out her appropriate croons. It was a humbling performance routine that remained throughout the evening. Even the spotlight on her was faint at best. She showed off some interpretative dance moves with her hands but nothing outlandish. She blended in so well with her band even though we all know she’s the conductor running the show.
Harvey and her band jumped right into a few tracks from their newest album The Hope Six Demolition Project. Many of these songs were written on a trip Harvey took to Washington D.C. They serve as a criticism of gentrification and the demolition of public housing in the city. Between these songs and those off of 2011’s Let England Shake, most of PJ Harvey’s set consisted of political tunes criticizing both the U.S. and England. It felt very timely in Trump’s America and post-Brexit U.K. It’s hard not to feel heavy hearted listening to the band play these songs so close to the issues we feel at home. In “The Words That Maketh Murder” (off Let England Shake) she sings of soldiers being blown up and shot and asks, “what if I take my problem to the United Nations?” Whether a metaphor or not, it’s relatable given the turmoil in Syria and other Middle Eastern nations. We look to a higher power for answers whether they want to help or not. PJ Harvey remains relevant decades later: evolving her sound and staying in touch with the places she cares about most. The audience watched onward in a captivated trance with nowhere to place their attention but to the immaculate display of musicianship happening on the stage before them.
Later in the set, the audience seemed to wake up as the band erupted into the classic banger, “50ft Queenie.” I think I saw the semblance of a mosh pit and/or a group of heavy synchronized headbangers, surprising since the crowd was an average of 20 years my senior. After this song, which was just over an hour into the set, Harvey says thank you to the audience and introduces the rest of her band. The loudest cheers belonged to her longtime collaborator John Parish and prolific multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes. A few songs later, the band brings it full circle by breaking down just into drums as the backdrop slips back down off stage. They bow, walk off, and come back for a two-song encore after load cheers and desperate pleas from the audience. Our journey across the U.S. and England is over, and we return to the marathon and Red Sox game stragglers, beaming brighter than the faint spotlight on PJ Harvey and the lights over Fenway Park behind us.
Setlist:
Chain of Keys
The Ministry of Defence
The Community of Hope
The Orange Monkey
A Line in the Sand
Let England Shake
The Words that Maketh Murder
The Glorious Land
Medicinals
When Water Ether
Dollar, Dollar
The Devil
The Wheel
The Ministry of Social Affairs
50ft Queenie
Down by the Water
To Bring You My Love
River Anacostia
Guilty
Is This Desire?
Answer: These Boston based labels joining musical forces to put out new tunes together.
On May 25th, Connecticut based Crag Mask will release their first album Loom. The band was formed by Zackery Abramo (formerly of Vundabar), who brought on Gabriel Sciarra, Jason Rule, and Phil Lord to take his original songs onstage. The EP evolved into a grungy, sludge filled full-length that is laden with heavy bass and foggy vocals. The asymmetrical instrumental approach and mysterious lyrics give the band’s music a devious feel, and it’s a debut so unique that local labels decided to go splitsies on the release. Gawk, the label child of Vundabar’s Brandon Hagen, and esteemed and inclusive Super Wimpy Punch, will co-release the album.
This single, “Blue Snoot”, owns up to its odd title, though the creeping vocals and indiosyncratic bassline and drums make it more haunting than whimsy. For fans of Boston’s basement-dwelling grunge, this song will be a pearl. The grinding guitar gives away to choppy bridges, and every time the instruments pause or Abramo takes a breathe it’s only a brief, anxious moment of relief. The song’s fuzz is unrelenting, but as the guitar and bass swirling around each other as if down an inevitable drain, the discord is super satisfying. Check out the single below:
Loom is out on May 25th from Gawk and Super Wimpy Punch.
