New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
JEFF killed it at Bonnaroo and now they’re back tonight at Exit/In, along with the ever-charming spectacle that is Diarrhea Planet. It’s going to be fucked up, and speaking of, Toronto-based punkcore group Fucked Up has come south to join the lineup. Show is at 8. Get there.
Shenandoah Ableman has the rare ability to turn any genre into a voluptuous experience. Comfortable singing in front of styles ranging from German cabaret to doo wop, her quintet Shenandoah & the Night are bringing sexy back… one sultry style at a time. The band’s new self-titled debut EP showcases this sensuality with deep confidence through a series of songs steeped in the tradition of American folk, but featuring a very un-American, almost overwhelming, nostalgic power – in the most literal and decadent definition of "romanticism". These songs ("So Fine" and "All The Beautiful Ladies" deserve a honorable mention) make us flirt with "dangerous" thoughts like the fragility of love, the desire for the lost past, the unreachability of perfect happiness, our vain but primary quest for beauty. They might not make us jump or feel happy – but the do make us feel alive. Can you afford to ignore it? – See Shenandoah & the Night live at Southpaw on June 30th.
Advant-folk musician Jordan Knecht has released a new split cassette with Utah’s Lake Mary. Jordan’s style is challenging, but the 18 minutes that these two tracks span are worth the time that you will put into them.
MMOSS and QUILT, two of Boston’s revered psychedelic rock n’ roll bands are touring together across the country this July. Both bands will be performing their new releases by Burger Records. Their tour kick-off is this Saturday, July 2, at The Lilypad in Cambridge with local psychrockers Herbcraft and the Fedavees.
MMOSS & Quilt Summer 2011 Tour Dates:
7/02 Cambridge, MA @ The Lilypad w/ Herbcraft and the Fedavees
7/04 Philadelphia, PA @ The Dream Oven
7/05 Baltimore, MD @ The Penthouse w/ Dustin Wong, Lands and People
7/06 Asheville, NC @ Bobo Gallery
7/07 Asheville, NC @ Houseshow
7/08 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
7/09 Murfreesboro, TN @ The Fortress of Solid Dudes w/ Harry and the Potters
7/11 Bloomington, IN @ Magnetic South
7/12 Detroit, MI @ Donovans Pub
7/13 Chicago, IL @ Warehouse Space w/ Nude Sunrise
–Chrissy Prisco
Boston-based experimental rockers, The Venetia Fair, released their long-awaited EP, The Pits this week on Red Blue Records. The band will be heading out on the Vans Warped Tour in support of the record, playing select July dates (see below).
A Lady And A Tramp, the first single off the new EP, doesn’t disappoint — building off the same deliciously outrageous cabaret-experimental-rock formula their debut album, 2009’s The Circus, received recognition for.
"We try to make music that is theatric, chaotic, catchy, and sometimes a little silly but not too silly because it’s also serious business. We have a lot of fun writing the music we write and performing the way we perform," says vocalist Benny Santoro.
The Venetia Fair – A Lady And A Tramp
Warped Tour Dates:
7/7 Noblesville, IN
7/9 Tinley Park, IL
7/12 Buffalo, NY
7/13 Mansfield, MA
7/21 Camden, NJ
7/22 Burgettstown, PA
7/24 Oceanport, NJ
7/26 Washington, DC
7/28 Charlotte, NC
7/29 Orlando, FL
7/30 West Palm Beach
8/2 Cincinnati, OH
–Chrissy Prisco
Boston-based rock quartet Mean Creek has released their latest single, The Land of Hopes & Dreams. The new single comes on the heels of the band’s self-released Hemophiliac EP and is the band’s collective statement on how they view living in America. The single can be downloaded for free through Mean Creek’s Bandcamp page.
The band has also released a music video for the single, directed by Kieran John Delaney and produced by Lunar Pictures, the video was filmed in Rhode Island over the course of a weekend and is a complimentary companion piece to the song’s searing message. Check out the music video below:
Mean Creek – The Land of Hopes and Dreams from Kieran John Delaney on Vimeo.
–Chrissy Prisco
As Nuda Veritas, Rebecca Kopycinski makes minimalist folk, with an emphasis on layered vocal melodies (all her own voice, on loops). The backing music is a melange of acoustic guitar loops, simple synth lines, and percussive vocal loops, sometimes including ambient conversational voices underneath everything. If you’ve listened to Cocorosie, you have an idea of the aesthetic.
Kopycinski’s lyrics are posted to her website, which is a treat because they are fantastic: constantly straddling the literal and the far-out metaphorical and hitting on homey domestic and relationship themes with a reflective tone that ranges from sad to tense to cathartic. Some songs on her new LP, Verses of Versus, are wordy, bookish songs in the tradition of folk music with something of a narrative. Others have very spare lyrics and feature lots of repetition and meditation on a single phrase or melodic idea. Both lyrical forms feel natural within the aesthetic developed on the album.
Kopycinski’s ear for a great vocal melody (Autonomy Isn’t Automatic has a hook that’ll give you chills) and knack for heart-wrenching lyrics keeps the album well within listening range for anyone who likes standard folk or indie.
–Alexander Pinto
Founding members of The Day Life, Alex Markovitz and Jason Oller might have met during little league, but their journey to adulthood certainly veered off in different directions as many childhood friendships tend to do. But after years of isolation and dreams of rock stardom, the two found each other once again (without the help of Facebook), and began a new journey that lead to the duo becoming a trio with the addition of learned drummer Carl Bahner. Their demos eventually managed to grab the attention of Grammy Award winner Scot Sax, who produced their latest EP Pick Me Up. Well, good fortune continues to shine on the fledgling band with their recent victory in our Featured Artist(s) Poll, and we had chance to catch up with The Day Life’s Alex Markovitz to get to know the up-and-coming band a little better HERE.
What do Typhoon, The Dimes, Loveness Wesa and the Bantus, Boy and Bean and Y La Bamba have in common? You can see them all for free when you check out Sundown at Ecotrust, Thursdays this summer. Ecotrust’s mission is to inspire fresh thinking that creates economic opportunity, social equity and environmental well-being.The event aims to bring like-minded, forward thinkers (who appreciate free valet bike parking) together to discuss sustainability and living responsibly and enjoy some of the best music Stumptown has to offer. Just head down every Thursday (starting tomorrow) until July 28th to the Natural Capital Center (721 NW Ninth Ave.) and get your dose of living deliberately and locally. Not only will there be booths and representatives from the "think tanks" and "do tanks," to discuss each weeks theme; the premiere week looks at water use, other weeks will explore food, energy and forestry. – Shelley Gaske
Whether you’re going for the music or the message, be sure to mark Sundown at Ecotrust on your summer calendar. For more informat about Ecotrust and to find when each band is playing, head here: http://www.ecotrust.org/events/sundown
Beige is definitely one of the colors least likely to be associated with rock music – and Brooklyn’s own Beige aren’t exactly a rock band. Their mostly electronic tunes blend the obsession for percussive, somewhat intricate repetition of the German Kraut Rock scene of the 70s with a more modern dream pop aesthetic. Playing with static arpeggios that serve more than one chord, almost fading their verses into choruses, Beige’s music is anything but assertive, but it’s consistent, wise, slightly abstract, definitely mystic – like the color that names them. See them live at Glasslands on Tuesday July 5th.
