PLAYGROUND BOSTON

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A three-way marriage.

That’s legal in Massachusetts, right?

Well, that’s exactly what you get out of The Indobox’s Adventure Rock:  a three-way marriage of electric, electronic, and acoustic as they switch at will from the passionately organic to the grindingly distorted and onward to the pleasantly & head-bobbing-ly danceable.

That also means there’s no way to single out any one instrumentalist or even vocalist.

Quinn Ferree’s natural drums give way periodically to drum-machine sounds that ramp up and down in the backdrop of tracks like “Reading,” and “Part II.”  Guitars provide stabbing rhythms and monolithic chords in the background while bright synth lines decorate a track. At other times, those same guitarists take the front seat, dial on the delay, and swim their way into your ears. The vocal styles and sounds also change throughout the record thanks to multiple singers, making for a further varied experience.

There’re rumors of a “jam” aspect to this band, and I intend to investigate this at their live show at Harper’s Ferry on February 6th. Not being a big jam-band fan (locked in a miasmic studio during the Disco Biscuits’ Señor Boombox sessions was not exactly my idea of a good time), I still find that it’s nice to pick up an album and not just hear the same song played at different tempos (if you’re lucky) by a band. It’s similarly very refreshing to digest a different atmosphere every time a track goes by.  Some bands just play the show onto the tape, but The Indobox really seem to shoot for a superhuman experience that gives fans something different to enjoy on their own speakers and headphones. Be prepared to go on a minor journey during the electro-arpeggiated interlude midway through “Part II,” and transverse to a guitar-rock stadium at the finale of “The Deep.” Give yourself time to listen through the entire record -you’ll be well rewarded as “Cinema For Children” infects your brain with catchy guitar-chirps and more great vocal textures & melodies on your way out into the world.

That all being said….

What this album has:

- Great melodies from guitars and keyboards (be they punchy, swirling, or spacy) to keep your ears following new hooks in between vocal lines

- Great vocal sounds and the occasional lyric that sticks out in an ephemeral, “This guys gets me!” kind of way

- Grooves, grooves, grooves

What this album needs:

More songs that meld everyone’s talents together.  Making these flips from one flavor to another, one vocalist to another, from guitar- to synth-driven, and from ambient to raw is very unique, but I’d like at least one or two tracks to turn me on my head and collide all elements of the record together. This would make a more cohesive tapestry of all of the group’s styles and sounds….  a little like that rug that really ties the room together.

Boston-based fans of such bands as Primal Scream, Stereolab, and South will find themselves pleased at some of our own boys doing such a bang-up job of providing something more honest and tangible than just another over-polished, emo/punk/alt/rock/hop/dance single-after-single.

Want to check out The Indobox for yourself? They’re playing Saturday, February 6th at Harpers Ferry in Allston. Tickets can be purchased here, or click here to take advantage of the ticket giveaway we’re featuring on our site!

Buy Adventure Rock on iTunes or CDbaby

The Indobox

Boston’s very own hardcore legends, Converge, are a band that I have always felt very strongly about, ever since I discovered them about 8 years ago. Nearly a decade, 4 stunning albums, and 2 Converge tattoos later, I feel I can safely say this is not going to be a picture perfect review, full of unbiased statistics and facts on Converge, and their newest release, Axe To Fall. Converge cannot be explained in facts and numbers, they are so much more than that, so much deeper, and dare I say it, more soulful than that.

First and foremost, I should say that Axe To Fall was born into a rather large and daunting shadow. Over the years Converge have released albums that can be described as nothing short of legendary, from the absolute masterpiece that is Jane Doe, to the classics, When Forever Comes Crashing and Petitioning An Empty Sky. These albums are held in such high regard by Converge fans that any new album is thoroughly scrutinized, torn apart, and ruthlessly compared to the classic fan favorites. To be perfectly honest, and badly as I wanted to be objective and judge the album on it’s own personal merits, I nearly did the same thing.

When I first received my pre-order of Axe To Fall I popped it in my car’s CD player while I was backing out of my parking spot, and as the initial blast of bass and the rattling snare drum of “Dark Horse” pummeled my senses, I nearly crashed into the wall behind me. For whatever reason, one of my first thoughts was, “Dear God, this is epic… I wonder how it compares to ‘Concubine?’” (The opener on Jane Doe). Although slightly embarrassed by this arguably close-minded thought, I could never bring myself to follow up on it, I simply didn’t want to turn the album off. The unrelenting barrage of noise and aggression that followed didn’t even begin to settle until the fifth song on the album, filling me with the same nearly overwhelming rush of excitement, adrenaline, and aggression that I felt the very first time I heard Converge so many years ago (which coincidentally, happened to be the aforementioned track “Concubine”).

I felt as if I might either explode, or punch through a brick wall, and I realized that’s how you know Converge is doing their job. That feeling began to rise up in my throat throughout the opening track, dropping off at a perfectly determined point in the album, allowing the adrenalized and shredding guitars to settle and be replaced with the eerie bleakness of “Worms Will Feed” – a lull in the storm, no less powerful, but a slight break from the initial relentless force. The rest of the album continued in much the same way, trading off between driving shredfests, and pounding brutal contrasting lows. Axe To Fall finishes off in a very unconventional, yet very characteristically Converge way. “Cruel Bloom” and “Wretched World” may not be the type of songs that come to mind when most people think of Converge, featuring piano, acoustic guitar, and Mookie Singerman of Genghis Tron (not the first things people associate with the band’s style). However, the brooding epic drone that pushes along the grand finale of the album are classic Converge through and through, reminiscent of the title track off Jane Doe, the eleven and a half minute complete emotional release. The entire album feels wrapped up in this very complete, very cohesive package that cannot be described as anything less than epic.

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Converge

Hallelujah the Hills‘ 2nd full length album Colonial Drones was released earlier this week on Misra Records. It is a dense and hazy, lo-fi affair, driven by spiraling melodies and thumping percussion. A whirlwind of cello, horns, drowsy keys, crunchy guitar and rumbling bass, the 13-track disc bites, soothes, becomes unhinged and crescendos masterfully throughout.

On “Blank Passports,” the band steers straight through a 4-minute build, while “Oxus Pagoda” dances in and out of its halcyon melody. The song “Variations On The Grand National Championships” rides out most pleasingly on the steady waves of Mathew Glover’s rolling drums. Meanwhile, Ryan Walsh’s lyrics read like a vaporous cloud of dreams, politics and love, somewhere between poetry and a stream-of-consciousness journal.

With noisy production and far-away sounding vocals garnished with harmonies and whistles, Colonial Drones drips of all things indie (minus the irony), thus fitting snugly in the present musical vogue- an album truly of the late 2000s. A mix of bitter and sweet with a hint of earthiness, I see it being the perfect soundtrack for the upcoming crisp fall evenings.

Hallelujah Hills is playing their Boston CD release show this Saturday, 9/26 at Great Scott. They are joined by rising stars You Can Be a Wesley and The Big Big Bucks. Don’t Miss it!

Hallelujah the Hills
You Can Be a Wesley
The Big Big Bucks

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The Beatings have become local heroes – not quite as explosive but, in the same proud vein of Boston success stories Pixies or Mighty Mighty Bosstones, meriting rave reviews from the elders at The New York Times to the more community-friendly music enthusiasts at The Phoenix. This quintet’s new, and much anticipated, album is true to their alt-rock sound but with a little less noise. Think: Interpol with …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead. It was hard for me to think I could like anything after the shrieking flair of “Heavy Metal” on their 2001 full-length album Italiano. But, The Beatings have proven me wrong, first with Holding on to Hand Grenades, and now with Late Season Kids – due to release September 15 on Midriff Records.

Late Season Kids is a mature album that skillfully incorporates the raw power of their earlier recordings with a dulcet sophistication. Tracks like “Ways and Means” echo with moony and lulling vocals like those of Mazzy Star, but this steely track also has a subtle, dissonant drumming that seemingly draws from the early influences of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. “Scapegoats” offers an Ian McCulloch hazy croon that, despite The Beatings recent cross-over to domesticity in their personal lives (as their band blog so proudly states), would still appeal to fans of post-punk despondence. And, for those looking for a fix of the slow tempo waltz, low talking, and sweet melancholy of The Magnetic Fields, “Dreams of the Waking” is the cure (ha, okay, I didn’t even mean for that one to sneak in there).

See what all the fuss is about and do what you can to make it to Great Scott September 12 for The Beatings album release show.

The Beatings Website

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Since forming in the Summer of 2005, the Boston-based Britrock quintet The Luxury didn’t take long to make an impact on the local scene.  Now, following up their 2007 debut This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things with their newest, catchier and more mature release In The Wake Of What Won’t Change, they have once again dropped a bombshell on Boston.

The new album is seamlessly crafted from beginning to end, exploring every element a pop rock band would want to showcase – and then some! The album starts with a short intro track that flows into a whirl of crunchy/punchy guitar and bass, fluid synths, on-point drums… even horns and an opera singer. Furthermore, the complexity and diversity of the album is finalized and sincerely complimented by lead singer Jason Dunn’s soothing vocal harmonies.

The record touches on wide variety of musical ideas, from the brass-driven “Straightjacket” to the punchy guitar-led “Take It Back”.  Songs like these set this album apart from others in the genre by showcasing the bands experimental and progressive nature. It gives the listener a sense that ‘Yes, this is pop, this is rock, but it’s not just cotton candy and gumballs.’

Photo by Seth Drury

“Take It Back” stands out as their most progressive track, prefaced by a minute long intro, then led in by punchy drums, bass and squealing guitar. Just when you think it’s gotten too heavy for pop, the musical wave crashes and bursts into a verse/chorus/verse structure filled with harmony-laden vocals, offering you the option to (as Dunn croons) ‘Take it back, think it over slow.’ Several tracks later “Next In Line” displays the bands ability to create a song that could hop right up the charts, having a catchy mass-appeal sound without compromising the integrity of the album.

The coherence of the record is a welcome change from an average pop rock disc. You tend to find yourself not skipping track to track but allowing the album to play itself all the way through, curious to see where it goes next. It’s comforting, surprising and engaging all at once. Also, the production quality is excellent, benefiting from the expertise of Jason Dunn (vocals/guitar) and Stephen Foster (Drums), both qualified audio engineers, overseeing the full production of the album. In fact, the band had this entire album near completion at Dunn’s Mad Science Studios prior to winning the 2009 WBCN Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble, from which they were awarded studio time at several of the best facilities Boston has to offer. In light of this, the band re-recorded the entire record, making for even better production quality across the board that catapults this release up to one of the best of the year by any Boston band.

Photo by BIlly Korecki - www.calmovita.com

With its depth and mass appeal, In The Wake Of What Won’t Change has the ability to raise The Luxury to a new level- if it falls in the right hands. In a music scene where pop rock can be categorized as ‘all the same,’ it is refreshing to hear something that sounds new and different, yet somehow familiar at the same time. It’s a treat, hell, some might even call it a luxury nowadays.

The Luxury’s “Next in Line” off In The Wake of What Won’t Change was selected as the PGB Track of the Week #5 prior to the album release – check it out here.

The Luxury

“Why am I, still in Massachusetts/ State that I love and I haaaate, -ate! –ate! –ate! –ate!” While listening to the chorus to Refuse Resist’s “Still In Massachusetts,” I imagined myself at one of their shows—a gritty concert hall or bar, most likely last song, last call—jabbing one clenched fist in the air while holding a pint with the other, shouting each lyric in unison with my inebriated brethren in the audience until I can’t shout any longer.

After listening to Refuse Resist’s debut slab of hardcore punk, simply put, I need to see this band live.

Mind: Yourself packs 13 songs of fast and heavy hardcore, and in true punk fashion, seven tracks clock in at just under two minutes. After all, if you need a six-minute epic to get your point across, you probably aren’t a punk band. And for the uninitiated, Refuse Resist play the type of hardcore that rose to prominence in the early 1980’s thanks to the Greg Ginns and Ian MacKayes of the world (see: Black Flag, Fugazi, Minor Threat) not the type that relies on chug-chug breakdowns and usually draws those annoying karate kid wannabes in the pit.

Photo by Nicole Tammaro

Now that we got that out of the way, let me say that Shawn, the band’s singer, sounds like he gargles whiskey and broken glass rather than Scope, and his gravelly shout seems to come through the speakers and bash you in the head on songs like “Stop Them Now.”

“ All the people who hate this war/ Have you forgotten what you’re fighting for?/ Support your troops that are over there/ Stop the tyrants over here/ Stop. Them. Now!”

Besides touching on Bush-era politics (the album was released on Rodent Popsicle last year), the band urges computer couch potatoes to get off their asses and experience the real world on “Unplugged,” bitchsmacks pink-mohawked posers while declaring “punk is not a fashion show” on “Fashion Show,” and serves up another drinking anthem to get the weekend started with “Captain”—Morgan, of course.

There’s all the staples of a solid hardcore record here: gang vocals galore, powerful, straight-forward tracks like “Refuse Resist,” and “Don’t Get In My Way,” rapid punk drum fills and some furious guitar strumming with some tasteful solos to boot—by way of John on drums, Brendan on bass and Mike on guitar, respectively. It’s refreshing to see that bands like Refuse Resist are keeping Boston’s rich history of hardcore punk alive and well.

The guys will be tearing it up live in a matinee show tomorrow, August 22nd, at the Middle East Upstairs with cohorts The Midnight Creeps, Red Invasion, Suburban Showdown and The Sentence. Hurry up and catch them then, because after that they’ll be in the studio working on their follow-up Socialized, slated to drop on Thorp Records early next year. Doors at 1 p.m.!

Refuse Resist

Kevin Sirois

I’ve heard quite a bit about Magic Magic– from their Phoenix accolade to their international praise from press giant The London Times, they’ve gained significant recognition with the release of their self-titled LP. They’ve got the theatrics, harmonies, and infusion of orchestral detail like pop-glam band of Montreal, and have been consistently compared to a band actually from Montreal, Arcade Fire. The Baroque pop edge of Magic Magic make them an easy comparison to these bands, and groups like The Decemberists, that make a dramatic production of each song. However, in the way Brian Wilson used the theremin to create a dark and haunting mise-en-scène to the sunny “Good Vibrations”, Magic Magic is able to produce generally cheerful melodies aided by the xylophone and seemingly upbeat vocals while still beautifully chanting lyrics with a gloomsday glow.

I slip in the 9-track disc, and I find myself immediately confused by the very first track “Over Your Heart,” that begins like the opening to a Wes Anderson flick. Then, I’m entranced by the androgynous voice, pairing masculine words with a siren-like coo. I can’t skip ahead to the second song because I want to hear what will happen next. The narrative, for me, is not in the lyrical glaze, it’s in the poeticism of the orchestral layering. The glittering effect of what sounds like a sitar and bells with the melancholy of the strings, tell a story of grandeur.

The album continues with the theatrics, and I am only getting more invested as I continue to listen. They are self-defined as having a lounge style, but I’d say the cabaret is more in line with a variety show. While I do understand the importance of lyrics, my interest is held by the moving picture show in my head inspired by the sounds. I applaud any band that can use the creative talent of a painter to take me somewhere other than the ordinariness of Boston in 2009. While each of their songs gives me an appropriate dose of escapism, my personal favorite is the particularly dark and alluring “Jellyfish.” Without knowing the name of the track, I envisioned soldierly slaves marching in chains chanting “We’ve got the best of you” on a decrepit ship…in the middle of a storm, of course. But even after I learned what Track 6 was on my iTunes, I felt like this song moved like the free-swimming jellyfish (no, please, not to reference Jack Johnson), mimicking the movement of the gelatinous umbrella as it dances through the dark sea with chain-like tentacles. Though not all tracks seem to be as seriously ominous as “Jellyfish”, there is a great fluidity to the debut album released by the five-piece storytellers.

With Magic Magic I’m guided through a fantastic continuum of dark magic and space, war, and the romantic overtones of John Murphy’s desperately hopeful voice. If Wonka did, in fact, sell his candy company to Charlie for the price of a chocolate bar, and decided to open a music factory, I’m sure Magic Magic would be the sweet product.

Check them out at The Paradise on October 10.

www.myspace.com/magicmagicband

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I’ll be honest. When I first popped Higher Ground into my computer and fired it up in my iTunes, I thought it wasn’t really anything special, just alright. Turns out I was just way too focused on listening to the music and trying to pick different parts out of each of the EP’s five tracks to use as talking points in this review.

My bad.

Thing is, Cure for Static don’t play the type of highly-technical music that asks to be picked apart and studied like some kind of audio science experiment. All along I should’ve just taken the lead of Adam Kaufman (guitar/vox), Jarrett Clayman (guitar/vox), Brian Schon (drums) and Bill Batten (bass), and just sit back, relax, and let their wave of refreshing acoustic/electric rock wash over my nit-picking dumbass ways.

Recorded in 2008 when the band was known as Djatmaterra, Higher Ground is soaked with tranquil melodies interspersed with jazzy little tidbits to keep the relatively calm proceedings fresh and interesting. Ultimately, this stuff is great summer music, perfect for grillin’ in the backyard or lounging around at the beach.

Rough day at work? Throw this record on and relax. Had big outdoor plans, but Mother Nature screwed you over again? Listen to “71 + Clear” with the chorus of, “Finally the sun came out today, I say/Was losin’ my mind, but now I’m sane,” while flippin’ the bird to the heavens above from the comfort of your living room.

The boys channel their inner-Incubus on the track “Imitating Gravity,” which encompasses equal parts acoustic strumming and some funky electric guitar work. The hypnotic guitar harmonics that echo over the bubbling bass line intro to “The Line” immediately sinks its hooks in and doesn’t let up, leading up to an extended tribal drum jam with some very tasteful guitar soloing.

The standout track on the EP is its title track, “Higher Ground”. The guitars, bass and drums lay down a tense, storyteller vibe for the lead singer to weave a tale of love on the rocks. Soon the radio-friendly chorus hits like a cool breeze with Kaufman and Clayman laying down some great dual vocal harmonies while gradually elevating each lyric to new heights.

Apparently the guys are on a bit of a hiatus while they look for a new lead guitarist. Think you’ve got the chops to hang with the band? Get in touch with the gang by checking out their MySpace.

Cure for Static will be making their live return at Oliver’s at the Cask and Flagon on Friday, August 14th at the “Boston Musician Spotlight” show.

www.myspace.com/cureforstatic

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Self-Released

2008

Think back to the time when alternative rock was a definable genre. Bill Clinton was president, you just watched Reality Bites for the 4th time, you may or may not have thought that ‘Smelly Cat’ was a hilarious moment when sitcom meets pop music, and also MTV played rock videos. These are the things I immediately think of when listening to The Dirty Truckers’ 2008 release Loose in the Joints.

As has been pointed out by critics before me, The Dirty Truckers play straightforward meat and potatoes rock. The twelve songs on Loose in the Joints offer no real musical surprises – but they don’t need to, and the Truckers don’t presume to try. They offer solid hard-driving songs, mixing two parts Rolling Stones, one part country twang, and one part 90s flannel. In the end, what you get is a collection of gritty and energetic songs, each of which could fit snugly into the (now decade-and-half-strong) Empire Records Soundtrack.

Loose in the Joints features an array of guitar-driven riffs, projecting a range of rock n roll flavors from bright and shimmering blues-rock, to twangy, liquor-drenched alt-country. While the song “AM Stereo” cruises with buoyant energy, sounding tailor-made to blast from your car stereo during a joyride, the bittersweet “Boston Wrangler” sounds like a boozy, syrupy last-call anthem.

The songs on Loose in the Joints are smartly composed – staying short, sweet, and to the point. The longest track on the album, the aforementioned “Boston Wrangler,” clocks in at just over 4 minutes. As the Dirty Truckers prove however, 3 minutes is plenty of time to get their point across while even including, *gasp*, guitar solos – tasteful ones that don’t involve shredding or excessive wah wah.

Sticking to their straight-talk ‘what you see is what you get’ ethos, The Dirty Truckers recorded much of Loose in the Joints as live studio takes, with as they point out, “minimal studio overdubbing.” No fancy production tricks, no abstract supersonic synthesizers, just a band rocking out together the old-fashioned way. (Ah, Refreshing!) On Loose in the Joints, the Dirty Truckers don’t set out to reinvent the wheel, but they do take you on a worthy rock n roll ride.

You can catch the Dirty Truckers this Sunday, May 24th, at Harpers Ferry with the Supersuckers and Death and Taxes.

www.myspace.com/thedirtytruckers

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