Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
Riffs! Solos! Choruses! Dudes! Sweat! Bang Camaro!
Bang Camaro brought their army to Allston. These were their people. This was their crowd. This was their music. They love it loud. Nobody’s going to change them, ’cause that’s who they are.
What a crazy, crazy night…
Sidewalk Driver at Brighton Music Hall is always a good idea. Friday night was no exception. These glam-poppers played a nice mix of recent tunes* and songs from FATBAG. They debuted a fantastic new song called “My Face” that found Tad confettiizing in ways previously unknown.** They even busted out a cover of The Turtles’ classic “Elenore.”*** Gee, I think Sidewalk Driver is swell…
* They opened their set with “Kidnapped.” It’s probably my current favorite Sidewalk Driver tune. That’s like picking a favorite guitar, though. They’re all special.
** “Confettiizing” is a real word. OK, it isn’t.
*** Boy Wonder used to cover that song. I had flashbacks during Sidewalk Driver’s rendition. Happy-happy-sing-song-sing-along flashbacks. What a great tune that is. Between this cover and their recent take on The Monkees’ “Star Collector,” Sidewalk Driver is sending me to ’60s pop heaven.
Space Cranes
“Apricot One”
2011
Synthy falsetto goodness! Space Cranes (aka Chis n Kate) have a single out called “Apricot One.” It sounds like The Bee Gees, Bananarama and Beck throwing a party in your basement.* This is the song that gets played a little later in the evening, when everybody’s head is spinning but no one is ready to call it a night. It’s a well crafted pop song with a mid-fi aesthetic.** The high-pitched vocals float along on top of a retro-syth drum beat and a slightly fuzzed out bass line. Throw in a distorto-freakout in the middle and a couple of heavily processed dialogue samples in the outro to put the whole thing over the top. I can’t wait to hear more.
Where to get it:
* Or maybe at Moe’s Lounge in Radio’s basement, where the duo can often be found holding court as part of the He Said She Said series.
** In that way it reminds me a bit of The Folk Implosion.
The Fagettes are awesome for a lot of reasons: They have great songs, they sound like rock ‘n’ roll, they’re fun to watch and they have a name that was edited on the Brighton Music H*ll website.
After Friday night, I have a new favorite reason to love The Fagettes: They reminded me of something important. Just because you don’t care about people liking you doesn’t mean you can’t try to win them over.
* I hope to see the d*y when The Fagettes h*ve enough pull to get their n*me up on the club’s m*rquee.
The Daily Pravda brought a touch of glam-laden Britpop to Somerville. They closed out a night at Precinct that celebrated the release of their new Dead House EP.
There has been a lot of Parlour Bells coverage up on the site this week. We had a live video from their recent Precinct show of their noir-pop gem, “You Don’t Wear That Dress, The Dress Wears You.” We also had photos from the show. Now it’s Parlour Bells Bonus Time.* Here’s a video of their set closer, “O Holiday.” The sound is a little crispy at times on this one, but it’s such a vibrant performance it deserves to be shared.
*Patent Pending
The Dirty Truckers
Tiger Stripes
2012
Has it really been four years since the last Dirty Truckers release? Dang. No matter. The important thing is that The Dirty Truckers are back with a new EP, Tiger Stripes.
The ‘Truckers manage to pack all of their trademarks into this 18 minute collection. Guitars run ragged, driving bass lines and lyrics that hit a little too close to home can all be found within these six songs. “Stranger In Disguise” kicks things off. It’s one of those barn-burners The Dirty Truckers do so well. “Human Contact,” “Feedback” and “Arms Length” trade a little bit of the opener’s rambunctiousness for bigger hooks, proving it’s not all about being rockingest bands in the land.* “Not That Into You” and “Just Run Away” mine the alt-country territory the band often flirts with. The former is nicely augmented by some well arranged backing vocals and a subtle organ part. The latter features a Vibra-Slap. You can’t go wrong with a Vibra-Slap.
Where to get it:
* Their recent show to celebrate the release of Tiger Stripes suggests their still in contention for that title.
Parlour Bells’ first show since their fantastic Rumble appearance did not disappoint. The band brought the same spark that impressed so many people during last month’s main event into Precinct last Friday night. A couple of quick notes before we get to the pics…
* The band posted their “Bachelor Hours” performance to YouTube so you can hear for yourself.
Here are Parlour Bells melting the walls at Precinct with a smoldering rendition of “You Don’t Wear That Dress, The Dress Wears You.”*
*It’s almost as if Parlour Bells and Eddie Japan were having a longest song title contest at this show.
The dapper gentlemen of Eddie Japan put on a wonderful show last Friday. Their timeless lounge-pop numbers played well against the red-curtained backdrop of Precinct (check out this video of “You Will Find Me Dead In My Comfort Zone” for proof). Of course, their timeless lounge-pop numbers play well just about everywhere.
