PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Friday, July 16th – TT The Bears

An undeniably strong local indie pop lineup, set to a political theme. This bill is solid front-to-back, highlighted by Sidewalk Driver’s glam antics and Brendan Boogie’s so-catchy-its-scary assortment of hooks and harmonies. Popsters The Motion Sick and Leo Blais are sure to keep you bobbing your head and singing along all night – good luck trying to stay still! Added incentive: This is one of The Motion Sick’s final shows, this could be your last chance to see how energetic their live performance is and how snappy they dress, not to mention frontman Mike Epstein’s Mustache-to-end-all-mustaches (It’s so intense it needed to be capitalized.) The good part is that most of the band members are still kicking around town involved in other projects, but time is running out to catch them together as a full band!

The bands are calling this show “The Rock Primary,” and in conjunction with Killer Suit Media have created over a dozen campaign videos running the gamut from the traditional “vote for me” vids to scandal, intrigue, rebuttals, apologies, press ambushes and more. Seriously, take 10 minutes, head on over to The Rock Primary Youtube Channel right now and watch the entire series – highly entertaining and well worth your time! These bands obviously put a lot of time and effort into coming up with creative new ways to promote their shows – even if this go-around we’re not quite sure what office they’re trying to get themselves elected to! But hey, everyone loves a good smear campaign! (Just ask Scott Brown! heeeeyooooo)

9pm: Leo Blais

10pm: Brendan Boogie & The Best Intentions

11pm: The Motion Sick

12am: Sidewalk Driver

18+ / $10 / Doors at 8pm

Make your way to T.T. the Bear’s place on Wednesday night and you will definitely see some familiar faces, as this week’s trip over the hump will be filled with sounds in the air from some of the Boston independent music scene’s more prolific & industrious cast members.

Sophie Innerfield’s recently solo-only venture, Highly Personal Trash, allegedly won’t be so solo after all.  This siren’s stirring yet picturesque vocal melodies are rumored to be accompanied not just by her undulating modes on keys alone, but also by the multi-talented Chaetan Newell (St. Helena) on drums, thus further complimenting the mysterious drive of her otherwise haunting compositions.

Speaking of Newell, following HPT will be his personal outfit, Croquet, celebrating their CD release.   Newell’s self-proclaimed “inexorable right to do whatever he wants,” Croquet’s clean but involved guitar patterns shimmer and dance over active-to-pensive drumming while the dual-vocal fronting of Newell and sideman Thomas Parr tell the story.

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New Years Eve in Boston is always a great night for music, and this year is certainly no exception! Problem is – how the hell do you decide between so many great shows? Well, we can’t tell you where you should end up, but we can try to narrow down the list a little bit and give you our top 6 picks for the best NYE 2009 has to offer. Why top 6? Well, to be honest, I couldn’t narrow this down to a top 5. I had enough trouble getting to 6 from 10, give me a break here! Just check out the list and try to get out to any one of these shows – you will not be disappointed! Best part is, every one of these events will leave enough left in your wallet to ensure you’ll have plenty to spend at the bar and forget about all those nasty things 2009 did to you! Happy New Year everyone, we’re looking forward to plenty more PGB madness in the new decade!

The Upper Crust, The Gentlemen, The Motion Sick – Church, 69 Kilmarnock St. Boston

The Upper Crust blew our collective minds at the P-Town Festival earlier this year. Powdered wig and breeches wearing fops rocking your face off with aggressive rock riffs and clever Victorian-era lyrics? Yes please! These guys simply have to be experienced – no amount of writing will give their shows full justice. They don’t play out so much anymore either, so this is definitely a treat that they’ve put this show together – especially considering what a great lineup they’ll be accompanied by! The Gentlemen, who celebrated their 10th Anniversary in 2009, will also be bringing their nonstop jam-packed set to the crowd at Church. Here’s another example of a band that doesn’t play around here too often, as all of the members seem to be knee-deep in side projects and rarely have the time to come together as the original band. Rounding out the bill is The Motion Sick – Boston indie-pop at its finest. These guys have had an incredibly successful 2009 – music videos, Dance Dance Revolution notoriety, The Phoenix’s Best Local Rock Band award, mentions by every conceivable Boston press outlet – you name it! They’re currently hard at work in the studio but are taking time off from recording to rock out for the New Year!

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day of show. Get tickets here!

Forgetful Jones & Three Day Threshold – Olivers @ The Cask n Flagon, 62 Brookline Ave. Boston

Team Shred’s doing it up right for the New Year. The local super-promotions team is taking over Olivers in Kenmore Square for an incredible night of rock. Forgetful Jones has a clear funky reggae imprint on their hard rock style, whereas Three Day Threshold has more of a roots influence. These genres may seem like a bit of a clash at first, but rest assured the two bands work great together and will combine to give your ears everything they could have asked for this holiday season. (Well yeah, they asked for Q-Tips too, but your mom got you those for Christmas.) FJ has been a PGB favorite long before this website even existed, and 3DT’s New Years shows have been the stuff of legend in this town for years!

Feeling a little greedy this New Years Eve? A killer band lineup just won’t cut it for you? Well then, the party at Olivers will also feature a free champagne toast at midnight, a free buffet from 8-9:30, and drink specials all night. STILL not enough? How about some free hockey ticket giveaways going on all night? They’ve got tix for the Winter Classic at Fenway Park, the Legends Game, and the big BC-BU game coming up as well!

Tickets are $25 at the door. Tickets are no longer available online in advance, however there will be plenty of tix at the door if you want to just show up.

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The beloved Beantown bloggers at Boston Band Crush have put together a back-to-school bash that is sure to enrich your local-music education. Prepare to get schooled in all things indie rock by the likes of The Motion Sick, The Future Everybody, Aloud, Brendan Boogie and the Best Intentions, The Grownup Noise and a bunch more. This weekend long seminar (awesome concert), held at Church in Boston, features 10 bands and 7 comedians, and commences Friday night (9/18) at 9 PM. It also has a student-friendly price tag of only $10 per night, or $15 for both. Click here for all the info.

Friday Night-
The Great Bandini
The Motion Sick
One Happy Island
The Future Everybody
Sarianna and the Swell

Saturday Night-
Aloud
Brendan Boogie and the Best Intentions
Blizzard of ‘78
VulGarrity
The Grownup Noise

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Starting Friday, September 11th, the Boston (ähts) fest will be rolling all weekend long in Christopher Columbus Park. This annual event features some of the most stimulating visual and performance art in Boston. With offerings from rock, to ballet, to opera, this is sure to be a scintillating celebration of local music, art and culture. The lineup showcases some excellent bands that have been featured on PGB in the past, and some that are sure to be in the future, including Mean Creek, The Motion Sick, Cars on Mars and many more! We’ve got the full schedule below…

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Kinsgley Flood – It’s 8:36, and the job falls on Kingsley Flood to warm us all up for the night, and they kicked it off right with a slow, bluegrass-style ballad. The song, entitled, “Eventually,” featured frontman Naseem Khuri’s acoustic guitar and electric guitarist George Hall’s delicate-yet-shining lead lines, and the song had what I thought to be the best three-part vocals I’ve heard this side of the Mississippi.

For me what makes a great band is dynamics, and Kingsley Flood has it in spades. Consistently, for the first three songs, Hall’s guitar solos made the perfect transformation from background shimmer of noise and gentle countermelody into growling and blinding prima danseurs.

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