Bob Records is set to release a live cassette of Doug Wartman‘s earthy acoustic charm on March 21st, but you can check it all out digitally today on their Bandcamp, which you can find below.
The cassette features a few of Wartman’s performances within Boston and his home base of Philadelphia. The grounded, uplifting instrumentals serve perfectly in chasing away those winter blues.
We’re super psyched to share that Converse is bringing their Cons Project back to Boston. The “DIY Skate Spot” workshop is going to take place on Saturday, February 13th from 11am to 5pm at the Orchard Conservatory Skatepark in Allston for FREE.
The rad workshop will feature pros like Tom Remilliard and Robbie Russo, and will focus on teaching young artists and skaters how to build up skate structures right at the park. You can totally apply for a slot to hang with these skater legends at the Cons Project official website.
Andy Sadoway can usually be found drumming in Bent Shapes, but lately, he has been working on his second solo EP, Having Trouble Again. The EP will be released in May, but this week we are lucky enough to get to listen to one of the new songs, “I.O.U”.
This song, in particular, was recorded at Converse’s Rubber Track studio with ABADABAD’s Jeremy Given on keyboards, along with local engineer, Chris McLaughlin, mixing it all.
You can see Sadoway perform his solo project on February 21st at O’Brien’s alongside with BEEEF, Tall Juan, and Juan Waters.
It’s the day we harmony-obsessing indoor kids have been waiting for. Not to generalize Porches fans, but really. What else are you doing on this snowy day other than sitting on your bed listening to Pool?
The album’s twelve tracks are synth-driven and tech-handled but not in an artificial way. Aaron Maine’s voice, to no loyal fan’s surprise, truly belongs with what he pairs it to. The lyrics travel deeper into the identity of Ronald Paris, adding Pool into a line of albums’ past. It’s smooth, inventive (give Shaver a listen) and honestly just refreshing to hear something new from a much-loved artist.
Pool is out now on Domino USA.
We’re stoked to present our latest practice space invasion with one of our favorite new Allston bands, Stumpf! Most of you local rockers have seen these guys in one sweaty basement or another, as they’ve been actively playing out and making waves in the basement scene over the past year. Last fall, they released their first tape titled “barf radio“, and now they’re taking their sound on the road with a handful of tour dates listed below. We were fortunate enough to catch the band before they left at their practice space in Brighton, and they gave us a sneak peak of what they’ve been working on. Check out “Blue Fish” below:
WHOA, that intro scene was so cool right? how did they do that?? We caught up with director Adam Schaffer to find out for ourselves..
“There we were, in the dungeon-like recording space of Stumpf headquarters down at the sound museum. We were all throwing ideas out and Aaron said, “Why don’t we film the intro backwards?” We had our steadicam-op Ty follow them, while they walked backwards through the hall, catching cigarettes, clothing falling from the ceiling…”
Well there you have it, go see Stumpf live, bc they rule!!
Stumpf Tour Dates:
2.6 // Brooklyn, NY
2.7 // Montclair, NJ
2.10 // Baltimore, MD
2.12 // Oberlin, OH
2.14 // Chicago, IL
February Planetary Overview
Feb 8th 9:39 AM New Moon in Aquarius
Feb 13th 5:43 PM Mercury enters Aquarius
Feb 16th 11:17 PM Venus enters Aquarius
Feb 19th 12:34 AM Sun enters Pisces
Feb 22th 1:20 PM Full Moon in Virgo
Wtf it means:
Unconventional Aquarius touches just about everyone this month, in one way or another. The new moon in this sign will have us looking to the future, and what you accomplish on Feb. 8th could set up your next 6 months, especially in the realm of meeting new people and initiating relationships. Mercury, the planet of communication, will enter Aquarius on Feb. 13th and prompt out-of-the-box ways of problem solving. Planet of love, Venus, joins Mercury just 3 days later, and we may find ourselves attracted to more intellectually stimulating ~beings~. Virgo shows up a couples times this month, too. First, when Jupiter enters the earth sign on Feb. 14th, we’ll all be a little more analytical of people and situations. Perfectionism may get the best of us, especially as a full moon makes its way into Virgo on the 22nd. Sun in Pisces on the 19th— directly opposing Virgo’s full moon— will have us all feeling generally more empathetic than usual. And, trust me, this intuitive energy is MUCH needed to repair anything/everything that last month’s Mercury retrograde fuxed with.
Over the last fifty years, the list of classic American traditions has grown to include a slightly mutated, niche entry: the binge-watching of cult movies.
The lore dictates that a token “trouble cousin” or, in my case, older brother takes you under their wing after the parents go to bed, puts on a worn VHS copy of something like Evil Dead or Sleepaway Camp in the total darkness of a suburban basement, and scares the ever-loving shit out of you. For some, the experience is a one time dive into campiness that never gets revisited, but for a handful, these movies become sacred, hallowed for their absolute commitment to a world of cartoonish human extremes.
Coming from a person that begged his dad from the age of seven to let him see The Warriors (but not the re-edited director’s cut because even seven year old me knew better), it’s easy to spot Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo as a fellow lover of campy cinema. Although Palomo referred to last year’s phenomenal VEGA Intl. Night School as his own “fucked-up, weird Troma movie”, Neon Indian’s set Thursday felt far more at home in the Warriors’ pulpy, midnight playground of New York than anywhere the Toxic Avenger ever frequented.
Opening amongst VEGA-inspired brick wall and neon sign facades, Brooklyn duo Computer Magic eased crowds through the queue into Neon Indian’s fantasy nightclub with their brand of dreamy synth pop. Donning an astronaut’s jumpsuit, producer/singer Danz Johnson definitely looked at home in VEGA‘s surreal world of dance, but Computer Music’s set felt like a better fit for star-gazing after the bars close.
In terms of representing the gleefully immature hedonism of b-movies, opening a set with a song dedicated to a bygone Italian porn magazine is about as dead center as a band could possibly get. Bringing the balcony to a woozy shuffle with “Dear Skorpio Magazine”, Palomo and a tightly arranged iteration of the Neon Indian band proceeded with a VEGA-heavy 14 song set. The VEGA band proved to be Palomo’s biggest asset, specifically his brother Jorge Palomo’s reggaeton-inspired bass work on highlights like “Annie” and “The Glitzy Hive”.
Despite the fact that much of Neon Indian’s blog-initiated charm (or, to some, weakness) rested on their warped pastiche of ‘80s AM radio music, revisits to Psychic Chasms-era tracks like “Terminally Chill” and “Mind, Drips” mixed in seamlessly long after the summer of chillwave set. Much like how VEGA operated best when taken as a syrupy party playlist though, Neon Indian’s live strength lies in its ability to feel more like a honed-in DJ set than a disparate collection of hits. Building to the nu-disco epic “Slumlord”, even Palomo found himself unleashing the kind of bedroom mirror dancing that only rears its head after downing a few gin and tonics in the bathroom line.
At the same time, that kind of unhinged joy is what makes this (re)incarnation of Neon Indian its most lovable. While a staple like “Polish Girl” is an undeniably pleasing encore, following that with the Prince-aping “News From The Sun” to close the set fully showed Neon Indian at its most immersive, colorful peak.
If only we all could be so inspiring after watching Poultrygeist.
For photos from the show, check out our gallery below.
Baby faced indie cult hero Ty Segall has premiered a new video to coincide with the release of his latest album Emotional Mugger recently released on Drag City. The fourteen minute long form music video shows Segall wandering through downtrodden Los Angeles, encountering police brutality, a prostitute, and eventually a deformed chill-sesh on a beach. All the songs for the video were retooled specifically for the video with even more buzz and fuzz by long time Segall collaborator and Emotional Mugger producer F. Bermudez. The video was directed by another Segall collaborator, Matt Yoka and can be seen below via Indiewire. Segall’s latest project, Ty Segall and the Muggers, which features Kyle Thomas, aka King Tuff, and Mikal Cronin is out on tour now with a stop in Boston at Royale on March 1st.
In case you didn’t hear already, one of our local favs Vundabar ran into some trouble while touring in Philly. While staying the night there, their car got broken into and $6,000 worth of equipment was stolen.
In order to try and make up the horrible cost of absolutely despicable thievery, the band has thrown together a gofundme and appeal to their fans to help them out. And in just a few days, over 100 people have already almost hit the goal. So, if you got a few bucks to spare, click that link and send the boys some love.
We were wondering when Converse’s Rubber Tracks Studio would get even more love and, thanks to Salem Wolves, we got it. The local garage-pop three-piece, who released their debut EP last year, comes out fists flying with their brand new song “Peach”. Produced by Dave Minehan who has worked with The Neighborhoods and The Replacements, Salem Wolves bobs and weaves together a punky anthem that knows when to be soft and when to be rock hard. Check it out below and make sure to keep your eyes peeled for more coming down the line from Salem Wolves.