Deli: Have you finished recording the new album?
Ghost Box Orchestra: Well we’ve just started actually. This will be the second full-length record.

Deli: When is the projected release date?
GBO: As of right now, we don’t have a particular time frame in mind. For our proper album releases, we tend to work on things until they feel done. Which is why, in the meantime, we put out the tour cassette this Summer. The tape has all new material on it: jams, demos, and bits from radio shows that turned out nicely. We found ourselves informally capturing these great moments during practice..

Click here to read the rest of the interview with Jeremy Lassetter of Ghost Box Orchestra.

Ghost Box Orchestra plays the Deep Heaven Now festival Saturday, August 6 at 8:30 pm at Precinct.

–Chrissy Prisco

The latest offering from Boston’s 28 Degrees Taurus (28DT), Ecstatic Black Static is a quick shot of frenzied psychedelic noise. Across the EP’s 5 tracks 28DT roam the nether-regions of late-60s San Francisco psychedilia, early-70s space rock and SST-era Sonic Youth. They strike an odd combination—maintaining a frantic pace while at the same time stretching out into extended jam-rock noise, both within the same track. Their wispy breathey vocals, whether delivered by Jinsen Lui or by Karina Dacosta, will remind you of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon.

If you are expecting the noisy pop of 28DT’s 2010 release, All The Stars In Your Eyes, you won’t find it here. Ecstatic Black Static is a much darker outing that explores a completely different side of the band. You will still recognize Ecstatic Black Static as a 28DT record but for this outing you’ll hear them brooding and contemplating the nature of their existence.

Check out the Ecstatic Black Static EP, along with the entire 28 Degrees Taurus catalog on their Bandcamp page. 28 Degrees Taurus will be the headlining band at the Deep Heaven Now IV music festival Saturday, August 6.

–George Dow

It sits behind an unassuming green door a short walk from Downtown Crossing. The entrance to the UNRegular Radio studios gives away nothing of what awaits inside. I heard many tales of the herbal shenanigans purported to take place here, but now it was time to pull back the curtain and see how the myth stacked up against the reality.

I was here mainly to observe the Boston Pot Report’s musical guest for the day, Friday, July 15, Shoney Lamar and the Equal Rights, but it would be disingenuous of me to suggest that I wasn’t curious as to the actual goings on at Boston’s hottest new internet radio station. I assure you, no one had to ask me twice to attend.

Click here to read the rest of the review by Andrew Jeromski.

A couple years back, an enigmatic, redheaded boy named Dom surfaced on the blog circuit making synth-y bedroom tunes in Worcester, MA with a friend or two. The songs were pretty good, but never made a huge splash outside of local circles. Then Dom recruited more band members. Then the new group, under the monosyllabic name of its frontman, made an EP — and a lot of people liked it, including writers from Pitchfork, SPIN, and the Guardian. Then the band landed a spot at SXSW, and totally killed it, with some observers even touting them as “the band” of the festival.  

Now Dom has a new EP, and it does not slump a bit from the group’s trajectory, either in quality or energy.

Family of Love is very similar to its predecessor, Sun Bronzed Greek Gods, in sound. It’s the type of layered 80’s glam/60’s pop riffing that is so “it” right now that it can make it difficult to listen to a participating band for what it’s worth, rather than making needless comparisons right off the bat. Indeed, Dom’s music immediately recalls Best Coast, Girls, Ariel Pink, and Passion Pit, among many others. But what makes Dom illuminate beyond those bald comparisons is their consistency, in both quality and attitude. Every song on the first EP was great, and every song on Family of Love follows suit. Together the new EP’s five songs are such an explosion of ideas that they require a few listens to digest, not for difficulty (they are as poppy as anything, and infectious), but to catch a breath, since there is no low point whatsoever: the exuberant energy just plows ahead from song to song. All the tracks are at once danceable and singalong-ready, which should say something about the band, and why you probably would like them.

And if the first EP’s highlights (Living in America, for one) smacked a little bit of the kind of fun pop that will get stuck in your head but loses luster after too many listens, when it becomes evident that the hook was all it had going, Family of Love shows the band growing in complexity of composition, with denser songs that still brim with energy, but offer more and more as you repeat listens.

–Alexander Pinto

Burlington, Vermont’s Myra Flynn is a testament to the new music industry. With fierce independence she embraces (and frankly, attacks) not only the role of singer/songwriter, but also of manager, promoter and marketing director. The results of her relentless drive can be seen in full effect when her new album, For The Record, which drops in early August.

For The Record finds Flynn revisiting the folk-meet-soul territory of her 2009 debut, Crooked Measures, but with a self-assured sense of commitment and what seems like another lifetime of reasons to sing.

Her vocal influences have as much in common with Ani Difranco and Shawn Colvin as they do with Rihanna and Jill Scott.

Emergency appears early on the record and finds Flynn mining her poppier sensibilities. It’s a wonderful piano rocker that pulls out all the stops—bringing in the full-band treatment and layering crunchy vocal effects into the production for a track that could easily find its way onto the playlist of a forward thinking independent radio station.

Title track For The Record is a beautiful, soulful piano ballad and realist’s view of love. “Love isn’t joy/Love isn’t pain/Love just takes time.” Adding to the intimacy of the track is its tinkling, music box intro which breaks out into a tear jerking account of relationships in the real world—complete with arguments that no one wins and the tedious yet surprisingly tender moments of a day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year relationship with a soul-mate.

The double-dutch jump-rope chant of Say So is entertainingly incongruous given the song’s subject matter—a kiss off to a shallow lover. The song breaks out into a full-on indie rock jam before returning to its playground melody at the end.

What’s truly wonderful about Flynn is her desire to pursue her dreams her own way. With her vocal and songwriting chops she could easily churn out Top 40 R&B hits. She insists instead on delivering her unique and uncategorizable brand of indie-folk-soul-R&B, making her maybe slightly less marketable but certainly far more entertaining. When Flynn hits the big times it will be on her own terms—that’s for sure.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to catch Myra trying out her new tracks when she embarks on the For The Record mini-tour:

August 5 – Black Door, Montpelier, VT
August 6 – Spruce Peak, Stowe, VT
August 15 – Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
August 19 – Flynn Space, Burlington, VT
August 24 – P.A.’s Lounge, Somerville, MA (as part of The Deli Magazine’s artist showcase series)
September 14 – Rockwood Music Hall, New York, NY

–George Dow

Recently the Deli called Rhode Island’s Kid Chocolate a surf rock group that “shouldn’t be pegged as a retro act.”  If that statement disappointed the beach partier in you, then look no further than Boston’s Trabants. Their album Highwire Surfing is a coast through classic-sounding surf riffs featuring requisite saxophone and flute appearances and retro organ chord progressions — 100% instrumental. In true surf rock form, Trabants borrow melodic ideas from a variety of cultures, including Western cowboy music, Elvis-y tonk, country rock, Russian folk music, and Henry Mancini-like orchestral hooks (think Pink Panther theme). The group really pulls off the retro act, sounding every bit out of the 60’s, down to the last reverb adjustment.  (They deviate somewhat humorously from the act for a harder-rocking, but no less simple hometown anthem called Swampscott Stomp.) In all, a fun frolic of an album great for when you’re looking for a refreshing, un-ironic take on a sound from another era. 

–Alexander Pinto

This Sunday, August 7, Boston’s Thief Thief and Night Fruit open up for Chicago’s Joan of Arc.

Joan of Arc (with original member Tim Kinsella [Cap’n Jazz, Owls, Make Believe]) has been playing since 1995 and are known for their use of electronics and multi-tracking.

Boston’s Night Fruit (pictured above) mixes neo-shoegaze and post-rock to create beautiful multilayered songs.

Thief Thief is an experimental noiserock duo that delivers a loud and intense onslaught of unique guitars and heavy, fast drumming.

The line-up is as follows:

Thief Thief
Night Fruit
Joan of Arc (headlining)

Great Scott
Sun. Aug 7
18+/$10/9 pm CQ Presents

–Chrissy Prisco

After a brief hiatus, Boston’s instrumental surf-rock band Trabants will be playing this Sunday, July 31 at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge. Although the band has gone through several line-up changes, this show will feature Mikey Holland from Mean Creek on drums, Tony Leva from Jaggery on standup bass and Bryan Murphy from The Shills on Trumpet. Trabants are playing a short 15 minute set the night before, Sat. July 30, at the Somerville Theatre just before a midnight screening of Pulp Fiction.

Also playing is the "gypsy pirate polka" band Diego’s Umbrella, on tour from San Francisco, CA. Opening the night will be The Gobshites, who bring their own twist on Irish music.

Sunday’s show at TT’s is $8, doors at 8pm, 21+.

–Chrissy Prisco

On Monday, July 18, I met up with Bobb Trimble and his manager, Kris Thompson, at Zuzu in Cambridge’s Central Square. When I walked in, Bobb was seated at the corner of the bar in classic Bobb-attire: an American flag t-shirt, jeans, and a jean jacket. He had a cup of coffee in front of him and was coloring in fliers for an upcoming show at Zuzu.

Bobb was excited for the interview. Although he was a little apprehensive at first when I told him I would be recording the interview, once the first question had been asked, Bobb opened up and answered everything honestly and thoughtfully.

Here he talks about the real reasons he scrapped his album, The Crippled Dog Band, after its first pressing in 1984 and why now is the right time for it to be released.

The Crippled Dog Band is out today on Yoga Records. The official CD release show is this Thursday, July 28, at Great Scott with DJ Thundersun, Roland and Jane, and MMOSS. The show begins at 8pm, is $8 and is an 18+ event. 

Click here to read the interview with Bobb Trimble.

–Chrissy Prisco

Somerville’s Hot Molasses are an indie rock dance band.  They have frequent male/female duet vocals that can alternately remind you of the B-52’s and The Vaselines.  They also describe themselves accurately as jangly and bouncy. 

Their most recent EP, Frankly, starts out hot with a raucous dance track that features an unlikely combination of crunchy guitar and poppy, campy synth, and vocals that are heavy on the B-52’s influence (in the best sort of way). The EP then eases off for another four songs of straight indie rock that are less obviously dance-oriented, but no less solid. They run through a variety of styles within the general indie rock segment rather than sticking with a particular format, making the short EP a teasing ride that makes you wonder what else the band might have up their stylistic sleeves. Their sound is mature without being boring, and highly versatile. The eventual full length (if there’s one in their plans) should be interesting at the very least. 

–Alexander Pinto