Music
Metallic Clouds and Pink Robots
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...
CD Shorts
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...
Behind the Beat: Electric Youth
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.)...
Getting Rude
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...
Nightcrawler: A Seedy Joint?
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...
Nightcrawler: Bollocks to Practicing
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,...
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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...
Not Quite Finished in This Town
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....
When the Volume Goes Up
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...Art in Paradise: The Art of the Empty Gig
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...
Behind the Beat: A Man of a Thousand Shows
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...
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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...
Nightcrawler: Last Chance To (St.) Mix it Up
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...
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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...
Behind the Beat: Two of a Kind
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...
Soulfighting Man
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,...
Herd About This New Venue?
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...
Behind the Beat: Back for a One Night Stand
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...
Live from Palmer
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...
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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...
Recess Rock
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...
Behind the Beat: Blues from Greenfield
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...
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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...
Nightcrawler: KISSing Up
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,...
Behind the Beat: From Ether to Earhole
“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...
Nightcrawler: Steamtrain Keeps A-Rollin'
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...Art in Paradise: De-evolution at Last
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...
Behind the Beat: Vinyl Junkie
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,...
CD Shorts
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...
Nightcrawler: Bus Stop
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...
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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...
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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 Any Other Name
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...
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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...
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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...
Nightcrawler: Doctored Vocals
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...
Nightcrawler: The People “Spoke”
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,...
Sounds Under the Stars
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...
Nightcrawler: Hallowed Be Thy Thane
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...
Behind the Beat: DIY, Together
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...
They Be Sometimes
“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...
In the Van with the Band
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...
Behind the Beat: Punching the Clock
“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...Art in Paradise: Kids' Rock for Haiti
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...
Behind the Beat: Paper and Fire
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...
Nightcrawler: Body Of Work
And you thought you had to wait until November to see a bunch people pretending to be something they are not. Unlike the elections, however, the Northampton Arts Council’s (northamptonartscouncil.org) annual Transperformance concert—wherein local notables...
Nightcrawler: The Lewis Expeditions
Staind frontman Aaron Lewis checked in recently to promote his upcoming benefit at Look Park Aug. 14. The interview that transpired will appear in full in a future installment of this column, but in the meantime, a quick Tivo alert for his fans: catch Aaron with...
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Ry CumingRy Cuming(Jive) From the album opener “Some Kind of Love” to the closing meditation “Home” (featuring Maroon 5’s Jesse Carmichael on piano), Australian-born Cuming crafts an engaging debut. He combines cascading melodies with...
Behind the Beat: Acoustic Alchemy
Magic. That’s how guitarist Joe Belmont and flutist Sarah Swersey describe the first time they made music together. The two musicians traveled far and wide and played countless shows with far-flung musicians before ultimately finding each other, right here in...
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Eilen JewellButcher Holler: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn(Signature Sounds) Loretta Lynn was the biggest star in country in the ’60s. Her glow faded by the time the 1980 biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter came out, but Jewell’s stunning tribute is sure to...
So Glad He Made It
In So Glad I Made It: The Saga of Roger Salloom, America’s Best Unknown Songwriter, the documentary about his serpentine musical journey, there are a lot of scenes of Roger Salloom walking. These solitary sojourns are designed to represent the Northampton...
Behind the Beat: Friends in Rock
Brian DiPippo wasn’t too sure he wanted to jam with co-worker Lynn Simonds when the two discovered they were both musicians. “She told me she was a singer/songwriter and I thought, ‘Ugh, no way. Another chick with an acoustic guitar. F that,'”...
Nightcrawler: Tongue Twisters and Waggers
There’s an old school of thought in music industry circles that says it doesn’t matter what anyone says about you as long as they spell your name right. “Forget about spelling,” laughs Ryan Quinn of the former Los Hijos Unicos. “It got to...
CD Shorts
Bill Charlap and Renee RosnesDouble Portrait(Blue Note) Getting 20 fingers to work together is no easy task. However, the husband and wife team of Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes does a darn good job of making it work. Double Portrait is an album of piano duets, and...Art in Paradise: Sustained Executive Achievement
People get upset when it comes to—well, call it “file sharing” or “music piracy,” depending on your point of view. When Springfield-based WRNX 100.9 FM recently announced that a new album from Ray LaMontagne (who owns an estate in...
Behind the Beat: Rock Therapy
In 2006, during his (second) battle with cancer, Matthew Larsen was stuck at home most of the time. Rather than sit around and mope, he set himself up at his beloved piano and started writing music again. The results can be heard on the debut album from Matthew Larsen...Art in Paradise: And a One and a Two
In the Pioneer Valley, there are a lot of folks who tell “coming out” stories. So it wasn’t all that surprising to be sitting in Millside Park in Easthampton, enjoying a nice Friday night free concert, accidentally overhearing one of those stories....Art in Paradise: A Silver Tone
When I first arrived in the Valley back in 1995, I promptly started looking for new bandmates. In that search, I came across singer/songwriters, some full of an earnest generosity of spirit, others whose work was inscrutable or even odd. (One of them proudly...
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AntibalasWho Is This America?(Ropeadope) Antibalas (Spanish for “bullet proof”) seem poised to leave the Brooklyn underground scene for greener pastures, riding a wave of critical acclaim from their musical involvement in the Broadway musical Fela! It...E-Edition
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