Music
by James Heflin | May 27, 2010 | Music
Among the perilously drifting banks of emails that pile up in my inbox every day, a question recently struck me like a spotlight. It said, “Hertz: Music Industry’s New Star Maker?” The taste that hit my tongue upon reading those words was rather like...
by Gary Carra | May 27, 2010 | Music
As frontman Mike Bean explains, it was literally the arrival of sons—and daughters— that spurred a years-long live hiatus for his band Jacob’s Son. “Some of us in the band were adding to our families, and it just made shows a back burner item...
by Matthew Dube | May 28, 2010 | Music
When most folks think of New England, thoughts of bucolic landscapes, elite institutions and lefty politics abound. Not for local black metal purveyors Katahdin. “New England is home to ancient mountains and wild beasts,” says singer and lead guitarist...
by Gary Carra | May 28, 2010 | Music
While it would be deliciously ironic if the Crawler could say a little birdie tipped him to Sister Sparrow, the truth is, it was his six-foot-two rugby-playing buddy Dan. Apparently, Rugby Dan had first caught the band at the Moe-down festival, where the patented...
by Advocate Staff | May 28, 2010 | Music
Cindy BlackmanAnother Lifetime(Four Quarters Entertainment) Another Lifetime, from drummer Cindy Blackman, celebrates the music of the late Tony Williams. In order to properly pay tribute to her mentor, Blackman assembled several lineups, the most successful of which...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
Chris Rea and Ray Keane see the birth of Keane’s son the morning after their first jam session as a positive omen in their band Fiesta Brava’s formative days. It’s proven lucky so far, as the group—augmented by drummer Matt Snow and bassist...
by James Heflin | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
Fans of Wilco can get a healthy dose of the band (and related side projects) when it comes to the Valley this summer for the Wilco Solid Sound Festival, but the roster includes plenty that’s of musical interest besides the roots rock staple. In fact, the latest...
by Michael Cimaomo | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
The only music festival in Massachusetts that also features hot air balloons (and balloon rides) returns to Greenfield. The Green River Festival features a variety of music on two stages with a special kids’ stage added this year by 93.9 The River. Concert...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
Rolling StonesExile on Main Street (Rarities Edition)(Universal Music) Record producer Don Was listened to hundreds of hours of tape from the Exile on Main Street sessions in order to cull eight songs that hadn’t made it to the album, and two alternate takes to...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
Summer is a time of infinite possibilities, of taking winter’s cabin-fever-induced dreams out into the air to see how they feel against the backdrop of reality. For the last bunch of years, Springfield musician Mark Mulcahy has teamed up with New York cartoonist...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
WireRed Barked Tree(Pink Flag) Wire is one of the few bands whose new efforts can stand unashamed alongside their classic work. They’ve convincingly morphed from punk pioneers to post-punk chameleons to electro-rock avatars. For their latest, Wire slims down to...
by Tom Sturm | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
Some people think that our Hawaiian president just isn’t American enough. On the other hand, Hawaii is where one of the most iconic of Americans spends most of his time. Willie Nelson has been a rebel from day one, and, in fact, traces his ancestry all the way...
by Gary Carra | Jun 3, 2010 | Music
It has been whispered, prophesied, and all but demanded by those who experienced the proverbial salad days of Northampton’s punk/rock scene some quarter-century ago. Now, on the heels of the recently reissued In The Cool Room and a week shy of Hampshire...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 4, 2010 | Music
Lady Sasquatch sounds like a band that likes to goof around in the studio. Unconstrained by any one musical genre, the Feeding Hills quartet—Brandon Godbout, Mike “Figgy” Ferrigno, Dave Reynolds and Jordan Welner—layers samples atop organic...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 4, 2010 | Music
Dead RiderThe Raw Dents(Tizona) It’s rare to get a recording that’s as interesting, experimental and well-produced, all at the same time, as The Raw Dents. The album is simultaneously strange and seductive, addicting in a deeply voyeuristic sense. The...
by Tom Sturm | Jun 4, 2010 | Music
Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne (pictured in his “man-sized plastic bubble”) may be one of the oddest creative personalities going. Having idolized all manner of story-driven musical narratives, from The Who’s Tommy to Miles Davis’ A Tribute...
by by Advocate staff | Jun 10, 2010 | Music
Sweet Talks The Kusum Beat (Soundway) The Soundway label is renowned for its first-rate compilations of rare African music from the 1970s, but this Sweet Talks release offers something slightly different. Instead of a careful selection of key tracks from the 10-piece...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 10, 2010 | Music
Ah, mercurial youth. Northampton-based Lux Deluxe are so early in their musical journey that they had the temerity to change their band name in the week between the interview for and publication of this profile. (For the record, their previous moniker was Sugartown.)...
by James Heflin | Jun 10, 2010 | Music
The Australian rock band Rudely Interrupted provides, in a way, a journalist’s dream: a story with a fascinating, unexpected complication at its heart, a complication that’s emotionally compelling. For Rudely Interrupted, that complication is that all of...
by Gary Carra | Jun 10, 2010 | Music
Considering that his summer series is titled Watermelon Wednesdays in West Whately, it could be coyly suggested that Paul Newlin runs the seediest place in town. Newlin believes that it is the completely above board/artist-friendly fashion in which he runs it that is...
by Gary Carra | Jun 17, 2010 | Music
If you want to play Carnegie Hall, practice. If you’d be happy just playing/gigging with The Dropkick Murphys and The Mighty Bosstones, sharing stages with Cypress Hill and Bo Diddley, appearing on MTV and having one of your tunes on Dawson’s Creek, well,...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 17, 2010 | Music
Trembling BellsAbandoned Love(Honest Jon’s) Folk music seems to be in a process of continual resurrection. British folk is the latest strand to undergo a revival, with young musicians exploring both traditional songforms and folk-rock hybrids pioneered by the...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 17, 2010 | Music
Countless area bands have been conceived, lived and disappeared since former local impresario Mal Thursday (pictured above, second from right, with The Malarians, 1985)—also known, equally enigmatically, as J.M. Dobies—last stepped off an area stage....
by Michael Cimaomo | Jun 18, 2010 | Music
Known for their ear-bleeding volume and their flirtations with alternative rock stardom in the early ’90s, the Amherst-based trio Dinosaur Jr. return to the Pioneer Valley Tuesday. But this time the group’s show will be about more than just rattling the...
by James Heflin | Jul 22, 2010 | Music
There aren’t many musicians who’ve missed out on the phenomenon of playing to a place so empty they get acquainted with the lint beneath the chairs. As a longtime player in bands, I’ve gotten up close and personal with such lint more than once. Early...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 18, 2010 | Music
Chris Dooley is a one-man force of nature. The Holyoke resident has produced, promoted, played in and DJed hundreds of shows over the last several years in every kind of space imaginable: basements, bedrooms, warehouses, bars, art galleries, VFW posts—you name...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 22, 2010 | Music
Serena ManeeshNo 2: Abyss in B-Minor(4AD) According to lead singer Emil Nikolaisen, Serena Maneesh represents the “small, subtle elements” that make sound more powerful. What this means on the group’s second record is taking the time to record tracks...
by Gary Carra | Jun 18, 2010 | Music
His latest CD, Your Table Awaits… At The Rapa Nui Lounge, continues to sell out at Turn It Up! Records in Northampton. His current band, St. Mix (st.mix.com), has a June 17 engagement at McFadden’s in Haydenville. And as the mercury rises into the dog days...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 29, 2010 | Music
RangdaFalse Flag(Drag City) The avant-garde supergroup made up of Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls), Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and Chris Corsano (Bjork, Evan Parker) conjures all the torment and horror inspired by the Balinese demon-queen it’s named...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 18, 2010 | Music
Guitarist Adam Bosse’s initial idea for a band included three guitarists, two drummers, a bass player and horns. He ended up with one drummer, Eric Kenseth, period. End of story. And he’s okay with that. In fact, both Bosse and Kenseth are fine with the...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 29, 2010 | Music
Community Against Hate founder Maurice “Soulfighter” Taylor is a mountain of a man. He’s impossible to ignore, and impossible not to engage in conversation, exuding nothing but positivity and enthusiasm for whatever project—or, most likely,...
by Gary Carra | Jun 24, 2010 | Music
How did Picadilly Pub’s Steve O’Brien get tapped to start booking live music for the popular West Springfield eatery? Well, technically, his boss just asked him to do it. But speak to O’Brien in greater detail and it certainly seems like he was...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 29, 2010 | Music
Fistah was born thanks to a naked ass. Back in 1994, Northampton’s legendary Unband—guitarist/singer Matt Pierce, drummer Eugene Ferrari, and bassist/singer Mike Ruffino—were at the height of their collective powers. Yet nothing could save the local...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 24, 2010 | Music
Palmer musicians and music lovers are a resourceful lot. Faced with a dearth of traditional venues, they’ve industriously produced events featuring local and national talent in empty storefronts, living rooms, bowling alleys and, perhaps the most revered former...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 29, 2010 | Music
Blitzen TrapperDestroyer of the Void(Sub Pop) From the opening notes of Destroyer of the Void, it’s clear Blitzen Trapper have added some new wrinkles to their rootsy sound. The title track offers a multi-part epic that blends Americana with glam-rock...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 24, 2010 | Music
Flywheel will be rocking, with folks of all ages bopping around to power chords and sing-along vocals, funky bass lines and power drumming. And it will all commence well before lunch—or nap—time. “Noon is the new midnight in the world of kindie...
by Matthew Dube | Aug 5, 2010 | Music
Shamus “S.P.” Hogan’s inspiration for playing the blues mirrors that of countless players before him: a woman. “The blues kind of took me by surprise,” Hogan says. “Sounds pretty clich?, but I found the blues because my baby left...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 24, 2010 | Music
The Feelies Here Before (Bar None) Here Before offers such confident songcraft and effortless chemistry that it’s hard to believe this is The Feelies’ first album in 20 years. The reunited indie rock legends have created a set of tunes recalling the...
by Gary Carra | Aug 5, 2010 | Music
They didn’t get lucky, and can never be accused of being an overnight sensation. Rather, Illinois-based indie faves The Academy Is (TAI) have been doing all the little things right for a very long time. From podcasts to blogs, street teams to their own TAI TV,...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 1, 2010 | Music
“Hell, yeah, we’re an actual conduit!” exclaims Conduit guitarist and singer Seth Allison. “From the ether to your earholes. That’s our job, and we take it seriously.” Allison, bassist Jeff Gagnon, and a few pals started “the...
by Gary Carra | Aug 5, 2010 | Music
It may lack some of the momentum it enjoyed a little more than a decade ago, when “local album of the year” and Grand Band Slam honors seemed to shower down with the frequency of Mel Gibson racist rant tape leaks. And it certainly doesn’t stop...
by James Heflin | Jul 1, 2010 | Music
Had anyone else done it, you’d have to call them crass: Devo, flowerpot-hatted heroes of early ’80s New Wave, irony-fueled purveyors of squiggly, robotic grooves, are back. Now they’ve embraced the notion of corporate leadership, having employed...
by Matthew Dube | Aug 12, 2010 | Music
Brendan Rule, aka DJ Andujar, is a music evangelist. The Holyoke-born Greenfield resident is one of those guys who gets way into a certain artist or genre, then happily invites you to join the ride. Through his blog, radio show, vinyl nights, musical events and bands,...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 1, 2010 | Music
JonsiGo(XL) The last few Sigur Ros albums offered diminishing returns on the Icelandic group’s glacially paced orchestral bombast. Anticipation wasn’t exactly running high for lead singer Jonsi’s solo debut, but from the first notes, it’s clear...
by Gary Carra | Aug 12, 2010 | Music
As the lead singer of a multi-platinum-selling band, Aaron Lewis has spent a sizeable chunk of his adult life on buses, and some pretty nice ones at that. But while the doting father of three certainly wishes his princesses all the success he has had in life (and then...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 1, 2010 | Music
The FallYour Future Our Clutter(Domino) Your Future Our Clutter is something like the 819th release by The Fall. The cover makes it look destined for the cut-out bin, but Mark E. Smith and company have concocted a surprisingly energetic album busting with primal...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 12, 2010 | Music
Teenage FanclubShadows(Merge) You can count on every Teenage Fanclub album to deliver perfect power-pop nuggets, and Shadows is no exception. The Scottish quartet hasn’t radically altered its jangling folk-rock sound, but this batch of songs is noticeably...
by Gary Carra | Jul 8, 2010 | Music
What’s in a name? Well, some interesting back stories in the case of the 2010 Greenfield Rockfest, it appears. For example, while Saturday, July 10’s 6:30 p.m. performers Run For Your Guns may not yet garner any real name recognition, they’ll...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 12, 2010 | Music
WatcherEnd of Tomorrows(Mohawk Cat) Watcher’s musical aesthetic seems to fall somewhere between the mellowness of the Velvet Underground and the ’90s rock of indie bands like The Strokes or Franz Ferdinand (by way of ’60s Doors psychedelia). End of...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 8, 2010 | Music
HarlemHippies(Matador) Opening with the lyrics “Someday soon you’ll be on fire/ and you’ll ask me for a glass of water/ I’ll say no/ you can just let that shit burn,” the threesome that comprise Austin-based Harlem risk coming off as...
by Gary Carra | Aug 19, 2010 | Music
He spun instantly infectious, toe-tapping ditties like “Two Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” into Billboard gold as the lead singer of the Spin Doctors back in the ’90s. By decade’s end, however, a rare vocal...
by Gary Carra | Jul 8, 2010 | Music
Considering the thousands of people it has drawn into Springfield’s downtown each week since its inception a decade ago, one would think it foolish to fiddle with any component of the annual Stearns Square Cityblock summer concerts. But as Maureen Pinette,...
by Matthew Dube | Aug 19, 2010 | Music
Summertime in New England can be distilled down to a few core elements: sun, swimming, friends, camping, music, mosquitoes, putting the heat to meat (or soy-based meat alternative). Palmer natives John Boilard and Mike Swiatlowski, along with eastern Mass. mover and...
by Gary Carra | Jul 15, 2010 | Music
By all accounts, Thane Thomsen, best known for his work with seminal Noho notables The Figments, is a fairly reclusive guy offstage. So much so, in fact, that Brian Marchese—who has been involved? in no less than a half dozen projects with Thomsen through the...
by Matthew Dube | Aug 19, 2010 | Music
Don’t arrive fashionably late to an Ampere gig—you might miss them if you’re even a few minutes tardy, as most live sets clock in at no longer than a scant 15 minutes. You won’t hear a peep of disapproval from the Amherst punk band’s...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 15, 2010 | Music
“It’s weird. We don’t even have to talk,” says guitarist/singer Ernie Senecal of his partnership with multi-instrumentalist and recording wiz Jim Weeks. “We’ve got it down, how we work with each other, so we just come in and get to...
by Mark Roessler | Aug 19, 2010 | Music
They’d been driving almost non-stop since late the night before, heading for a gig in Lincoln, Neb. Finally, after his six-hour shift behind the wheel, it was Sturgis Cunningham’s turn to relinquish the driver’s seat to one of his band mates, and he...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 15, 2010 | Music
“Love is such an over-used topic in music, but I’ve never written love songs much. I’m interested in seeing if there is a way to do it that will result in something different,” says prolific Timecard main man Matt Medeiros about his latest...
by James Heflin | Aug 19, 2010 | Music
Like kids’ music in general, the compilation Many Hands offers a wide range of sonic flavors. Album opener “We Belong,” from Emily Curtis, is a straight-ahead tune based on acoustic guitar strumming and chock full of folk positivity and choruses of...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 22, 2010 | Music
For most bands, there’s a moment that comes, while jamming or writing or performing live, when things just click. For Valley band Paper Piano, that moment occurred during a benefit this past winter for Northampton arson victims. “Jason [Bourgeois] needed a...
