The music that Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones creates really and truly exists in a realm all its’ own. Not necessarily indescribable but more a genre unto itself and with each new outing, the collective corner some new facet of music and make it their own. And that’s the case on latest single, “Bye Bye Sunday Afternoon”, a breezy Dee-Lite meets The B 52’s groove out bolstered by Andrew Padua’s big bass bounce, a bigger vocal presence from JoEllen Saunders Yannis and Linda Pardee, and some Rawk violin courtesy of Jonathan LaMaster!
[Read more…]Singles! Happy Little Clouds, “I Don’t Suppose”
In our humble opinion, the greatest bands are the ones that exhibit a chameleonic-like nature with their sound. That’s not to say that you put out a Black Metal song and follow it up with a Country one (Although, that could work…) but more shifting seamlessly within a range of styles but still retaining what makes you, well, you. Make sense? David Bowie is a prime example going borderline Industrial late in life with Outside, Techno/Dance on Earthling, then to a sort of Art Pop on Hours within a 3-album cycle. But probably closer to Happy Little Clouds’ brand of soulful post-grunge would be Soundgarden who in arguably their biggest record to date, Superunknown, crafted these massive radio hits (“Fell On Black Days”, “Black Hole Sun”), crushing riff beasts (“Let Me Drown”, “Mailman”), and straight up experimental excursions (“Head Down”, “Half”) alongside a full on dirge (“4th Of July”). Get us now?
[Read more…]Singles! Michelle Forziati, “Stranger”
What better way to break up the monotony of Horror-related film reviews and Metal records than with some profound Alt Rawk meets R&B radness from local artist Michelle Forziati! With “Stranger”, the Medford native follows the trend that last year’s “Familiar Face” and “Echo To Me” started delivering a kind of Pop with purpose anthem that seductively sashays into your headspace and sticks around for a great while.
[Read more…]Amiensus Return With Devastatingly Dense Opus Reclamation: Part 1
Dense! It’s what’s for dinner! And we can’t wait for the rest of y’all to devour the diabolically delicious sounds that Amiensus is cooking up for your earholes when their latest arrives on April 26th through M-Theory Audio.
[Read more…]Arrows Of Athena Bring Revivalist Mentality To The Alt-Rawk Renaissance Of The Ghost Archives
Don’t call it a throwback, it’s been here for years? Okay, couldn’t help ourselves but the sounds emanating from the speakers whenever Arrows Of Athena is playing gives us all the nostalgia vibes. Not a retread by any means but more a renaissance when handled by the Boston-based duo of Jac-Lyn Gibson and Scott Lerner who prepare to pounce on their upcoming debut full-length packed with powerful prose and profound pieces of music.
[Read more…]RNRF X Rock & Roll Rumble: Week 2 Preliminary Round Live Recap
Welp. We kinda backed ourselves into a corner doing a Week 1 Rock & Roll Rumble live recap (Read it here) and thinking it was possible to skip doing the same for Week 2, right? Look, we’re not going to sugarcoat it for you. You missed some gems if you decided to stay home when the Preliminary Rounds of the 2024 Rock & Roll Rumble from Boston Emissions wrapped up, okay? And that’s alright since you have us looking out for you in a grand way with this live rundown of what happened across Nights 4, 5, & 6 of the annual Rawk Fest. So with that, sit back, relax, and let us regale you some more of what went down over at Middle East Upstairs in the hopes that you’ll be purchasing your tickets to the Semis at Sonia as soon as you finish reading! Do we have a deal? And again, links to our preview posts in the corresponding headers so you can grab all the pertinent music and more from these killer local artists.
[Read more…]Singles! DiabloGato, “Lost Highway”
Boston + Rockabilly= Amazing?!?! Who’da thunk that? Well, obviously DiabloGato did with their robust Rawk that astounds by aurally awarding your earholes with the sounds you’re treating it to! Did that make sense? Well, neither does David Lynch to many which is quite the coincidence as DiabloGato has chosen that particular auteur to pay tribute to in their latest video for the aptly titled “Lost Highway”!
[Read more…]RNRF X Rock & Roll Rumble: Week 1 Preliminary Round Live Recap
We were initially planning to go all loosey goosey (An actual official term, by the way) with live coverage of this year’s Rock & Roll Rumble which basically amounts to a maybe we will/maybe we won’t mentality following our annual preview pieces of the Boston institution. Then we took some time to process what we witnessed and thought “Oh, fuck it!” and decided to dive in with one big mega post of all of Week 1’s treasures (Hyperlinked headers to our preview posts so you can find all the pertinent band links and music). So enjoy? And SPOILER ALERT: We will be mentioning the winners here (Dubbed in the appropriate regional dialect as “Winnahs”) in case you haven’t had a chance to catch up on your DVR yet.
[Read more…]Singles! Jennifer Tefft & The Strange, “Going Out”
From the moment we heard “Caffeine”, we were intrigued by the type of Rawk that Jennifer Tefft & The Strange were bringing to our ears. Timeless but tantamount to the ’90’s in a grand way at times, Tefft and company create a sound that’s both cathartic and crushing for a new Alternative that continues on latest release “Going Out”.
[Read more…]Singles! We Demand Parachutes, “Cheerful Coping”
Bad Pop Punk songs, in our opinion, are probably one of the most throwaway and interchangeable kinds of music ever. How many bands emerged during the bigger boom of the genre during the mid-aughts and since and just delivered paint-by-numbers Pop Punk? Lots! Not naming names because we ain’t got time to negativify (Not a word) the already aggrieved parties but in terms of meaningful and memorable it’s rare that stadium-ready Rawkers like Green day, blink 182 or even Turnstile to an extent are even a thing much less thrive to this day.
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