Girl Haggard
Album: Country and Eastern
Released: September 2010
From: Providence, RI
Joke-name bands usually leave me cold. I bullied my way past the silly name and was handsomely rewarded by Girl Haggard‘s Country and Eastern. If the Dropkick Murphys are punk rock’s answers to Celtic music, Girl Haggard are its answer to country music. Mandy Allan’s vocals are equal parts Loretta Lynn and X’s Exene Cervenka. Come to think of it, it would be fair to describe Girl Haggard’s music as a mash-up of the two as well.
Computer At Sea
Album: Palace of the Lightbulbs
Released: March 2011
From: Portland, ME
Think The Postal Service or Owl City. Computer At Sea is best described as "bedroom electronica". Much of the music sounds as though it was composed from samples of early-Eighties video game soundtracks. The vocals sound very much like those two guys from They Might Be Giants. An odd combination to be sure, but much fun nonetheless.
The Susan Constant
Album: Rayonnement
Released: March 2011
From: Brighton, MA
The Susan Constant‘s debut EP, Rayonnement is a pleasing, three-song introduction to their classic Eighties Boston rock sound. Their straight-ahead delivery brings to mind the college rock of Boston-scene originals, Scruffy The Cat and Dumptruck.
-George Dow