Archive for the ‘boston live’ Category

“This is nothing less than hard-hitting classic ’70s punk rock at its best. The Acro-Brats rock hard, hit hard, and do so with a style that can most aptly be described as lean and mean. These songs cut to the chase and waste no time getting to the point, which is to rock with wild abandon. If you like the Ramones, The Runaways, The Downbeat 5, The Plimsouls, and The Neighborhoods, you’ll want this EP for your collection and you’ll want to play it loud and often. The production on this is tight and poppy without sounding overly slick or commercial. The songs arecatchy and concise. This album couldn’t make three chords more interesting or exciting or fun. Make more music soon! (Joel Simches)” – The Noise

“There’re two types of punk rock. One comes from politics, spitting at power with naked disdain. The other is pure fun, designed to get turn the mosh pit into something like a pogo party. The Acro-brats are very much the latter. On their new EP, their spiritedness is exemplified by the excellent syncopation of the title track, or the “¡adios muchachos!” at the end of “Be My Guest.” They’re a wickedly tight outfit altogether, but the most essential element is the lead vocals from Chris Brat, who has a smarmy, young growl that any self-respecting punk rocker should emulate. “Hey, Medusa!” he and his bandmates call out. “What you done to Read the rest of this entry »

This Blue Heaven is female-fronted power pop bursting from the heart of the Boston indie rock scene. Catchy but never canned, the quintet’s rich, melodic offerings, delivered with brazen innocence by frontwoman MacKenzie Outlund, beckon you into a vibrant world of shimmering guitars, hooky synths, and driving beats. In three years together, the band has drawn comparisons to Cyndi Lauper, Death Cab For Cutie, and U2. But among fans who crowd clubs across New England and beyond to join the colorfully clad group in their signature handclaps and whoa-ohs, the response most echoed is simply, “Your music makes me happy.”

The group’s latest project is Spinning and Shining, a five-song EP produced by Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, Pixies) and released in August 2010. With this dazzling collection of tunes about light and love, This Blue Heaven has proven once again their power to melt the coldest heart, to remind you of all the reasons you love being alive, to make you see that their world and your world are one and the same.

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courtesy of Joe Turner

Another subtitle: “a collection of Rare Demos recorded in Pete’s home Studio“. Surprisingly good quality – quite good stereo separation in fact – but at least one mislabelled song, as seems to be the norm. (How can you be such a fan that you’re pressing a bootleg, but yet you don’t get the names of the songs right? I’ve never understood that.) Here, what would become “Milgram’s 37 (We Do What We’re Told)” is just “Instrumental #1″, and “Instrumental #2″ turns out to be a version of “Bully For You”, which PG cowrote with Tom Robinson and which appears on the TRB2 record. “I Go Swimming” sounds like a song Devo would have loved to put out as a single; PG only ever played it live, in fact, and the much more organic live version appears on the “Plays Live” release. “Seascape” doesn’t ring a bell in terms of being reused as another song; a true “unreleased track”, I guess…?

MATALON is a Boston-based hard rock quartet writing and playing straight-out, ass-kicking rock ‘n roll – big thick riffs from dual guitars, heavy-ass bass and drums, great lyrics and strong vocals….and ripping, wailing lead guitar – it aint metal, it aint punk, it aint grunge – its HARD ROCK and we f’n love what were doing and we’d rather be dead than doing anything else.
We’ve been workin our asses off laying down tracks for a new recording and making a new video for the Jesus song, and we’ll keep updating you all with new tracks as they are done, and posting roughs and more for ya!

MATALON is fronted by Scott Matalon (daisycutter, squid, modern art!), with his brother Craig Matalon (daisycutter, perseverence) on drums, Jay Gardner on guitar (landsdowne, Highgate) and Chris Eskola (the newtz,deadlikedeath)on the bass. Scott is the owner of Stingray Body Art, Boston’s best tattoos, piercing and permanent makeup shop and works there with his brother Craig, and the rest of the guys slave away at one job or another makin’ just enuff dough to do one thing; rock their asses off makin’ music!

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Three piece from outside Boston, formed in 2008. Danny and Noelle are siblings who started making music as preteens and were tour veterans before they were able to buy cigarettes. Recently a line up change occurred and they quickly chose to call upon an old friend. Mikey is a solid addition to the sibling duo. He generally plays guitar in hardcore bands but gratefully accepted the invite into stoner pop county.

Noelle was in Damone, a Boston rock band who signed to RCA then Island records. They made it to Asia and Europe several times and across the US innumerable times with bands such as Sum 41, The All American Rejects, Butch Walker, Buck Cherry, The Wild Hearts, Valient Thorr, The Ataris, Less Than Jake, etc. She has also shared the stage with Bon Jovi at The Boston Garden and has rocked Iron Maiden’s Donnington Festival.

The 9 track album ‘Sleep When We Are Dead’ was recorded in the summer 2009 in a small studio outside of Houston TX over the course of 3 weeks. The songs convey strength and determination. They are heartfelt pop jams with colorful imagery and a keen sense of wonder. The drums are a solid platform laid out to support crunchy guitars, singing solos, catchy melodies and a voice that belts out epic choruses.

Dubbed “the poet laureate of the lovelorn”, Ad Frank follows a long tradition of brooding, hyper-literate curmudgeons that includes Leonard Cohen, Lloyd Cole and Roddy Frame. His wry, self-deprecating lyrics tell familiar tales of a life and loves that did not go as planned. Stopping just short of morose, Ad offsets his darker side with wry musings like, “Is it too late to be good, or is the answer obvious? The best of what was left went to a stripper in Providence.”

Together with his band, 70s-influenced powerhouse The Fast Easy Women, Ad and company deliver a sound that evokes late glam and early new wave. Now in his third decade as a songwriter and performer, Ad has shared bills with his idol, John Cale, jazz legend Mose Allison, Vic Chestnutt, American Music Club, and The Bravery. His music has been featured on “One Life to Live” and NPR’s Marketplace. Ad has performed live and on record with The Dresden Dolls, the Willard Grant Conspiracy, and Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys.

A critic’s favorite, his 2005 album, The World’s Best Ex-Boyfriend, “bursts with love-lorn desperation” according to the Boston Globe. The Weekly Dig declared its flagship anthem, “Lucky,” to be “an introspective crooner, a ballad just this side of stadium-sized, just dripping with heart and brimming with clever, poignant turns of phrase.”

Ad’s fifth and latest album, “Your Secrets Are Mine Now,” was completed in late 2008 and is due out on Archenemy Records (Freezepop, The Elevator Drops) on November 3. This album examines the lifecycle of longing, love, betrayal and Read the rest of this entry »