You know what I always say: “When it snows, I need to boogie!”* Well, it’s snowing, so I’m off to Radio for Brendan Boogie’s first-Thursday-of-every-month-until-the-end-of-time residency. The band is good great. The puns are bad terrible. It’s exactly what I had hoped for.
* I never have and never will say this. Never ever ever ever ever ever ever. Ever. Never.
It’s always exciting when the Rumble participants are announced. However, the fun really begins when the nightly lineups are drawn. That’s when you realize how crazy-diverse The Rumble is. Just take a look at the schedule below. You certainly won’t leave any of these shows complaining that all of the bands sounded the same. I’m tempted to point out a couple of nights that I think are going to be really special, but experience tells me they all end up being memorable. You might as well pick up a full-boat pass.
Only one of these acts will don the Rumble tiara, but they all get to play on a motley bill of genre crossbreeding. That’s what makes The Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble special. That’s why I can’t wait for April 7th.
You People’s noisy indie rock packs a wallop. They pull no punches on their scrappy debut EP. Listen enough times and you’ll see shades of Dinosaur Jr, Hüsker Dü and The Afghan Whigs in the bruise they leave behind. These songs will be ringing in your head for days.
Lifestyle is in The Rumble. That means they’ll be back on the TT’s stage in early April to do what they did there last Tuesday night: smash people in the face with sweet synth sounds and lavish pop hooks.
The 2013 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble participants have been announced! Looking down the list, it seems like we’re in for another good one this year. It happens time and time again. Every year 24 different bands remind us what a vibrant music community we have here in Boston. The depth of talent around these parts is astonishing. I saw 273 sets from area bands last year, yet I only managed to catch 11 of the 24 acts that will take the TT’s stage this April to vie for the coveted Rumble Tiara. That’s fantastic.
The nine night pass is available now. The individual show lineups will be announced Sunday night on Boston Emissions. In the meantime, here are some links to help get you familiar with your new favorite bands…
I have a history of thinking that there’s no way songwriter Brian E. King can top himself.* You’d think Parks’ debut single, “Sweater Weather”, would have taught me a lesson. I still had doubts. “Modern Fiction” should dispel that notion for good. I was pleasantly nodding along to the song’s vintage groove, particularly the “going crazy” part, when 2:35 happened. From that point on, “Modern Fiction” turns into a systematic dressing down of anyone who thinks that they know how to write a song. It’s masterful. The bridge perfectly contrasts with the parts that precede it before morphing into Super-Mega-Awesome-Reprise-O-Tron. Mind blown. I will doubt no more.
Aloud is one of those bands that kills it every time they take the stage.* Even when they play first on a Tuesday night.** What more could you ask for? A set full of gutsy pop hooks? Done.
* You know, a good band.
**Especially when they play first on a Tuesday night? Possibly. This is a band that does not take for granted that people came out to see them.
Velah continue to find the perfect balance between atmosphere and immediacy on their latest single. “Knotted” opens with a slightly off-kilter, circular guitar riff that would have been at home on Amnesiac. This entrancing guitar line is offset by Nick Murphy’s measured vocal. His voice is a calming force amid the complex rhythm patterns. “Knotted” is a Velah song, so we’re soon awash in haunting backing vocals, swells of saturation and layers of delay. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Knotted” is backed by an acoustic version of “Glass Heart” from the bands Black Olympia EP.
