We are getting there folks! We just uploaded the full list of artists nominated for our Best of New England 2011 Poll for Emerging Artists. It's in the right column on this same page and also HERE, where you can actually vote. Some bands in the list were selected through a submission process and some others were picked by our jury of local scene-makers, who could freely choose 3 bands each in order of preference. Points were already assigned to each band according to how well they did in the selection process. Now the readers' and fans' votes will also influence the final chart. Each vote will count!
Boston-based rock quartet A Do knows how to rock—hard. Their self-titled album features plenty of hard-hitting rock songs with dark undertones. After listening to the entire album, it became quite clear to me that the band must listen to a lot of Queens of the Stone Age. No – the third track off the album – is a prime example of this dark, QOTSA-inspired sound. Lead singer Adrienne Bel provides her own backing vocals on this song, taking a page right out of Josh Homme’s playbook. Guitarist Derek LeDoux’s performance on this track is quite excellent as well, adding various licks and unison bends throughout the song.
Bel’s vocal performance is the highlight of this record. Her voice is powerful but not too harsh, a trait that is hard to come by in the realm of hard-rock/grunge singers. Her strong voice is enhanced by high-energy guitar riffs and a rhythm section that knows how to hold down a song.
A Do is currently in the process of preparing a new album that is set to drop this year.--Daniel McMahon
Newton, Massachusetts-- a suburb of Boston-- has repeatedly ranked as one of the nation’s safest and wealthiest cities of its size. It also happens to be the spawning place of one of the most hilariously diabolical bands in the nation, or even the world, although that ranking may be harder to prove statistically. The village pride of West Newton, Anal Cunt was led by the late vocalist Seth Putnam from 1998 until 2011, with an ever-changing lineup and a hiatus or two along the way. In June, 2011, Putnam died of a heart attack at the age of 43, but toward the end of his life, he put together what would be Anal Cunt’s lattermost, fully authorized set of recordings.
The Old Testament is a collection of the noisy grindcore band’s most archaic material along with rare and live recordings, released by Relapse Records in November, 2011. Released as a two-disc set, the collection includes their very first demo, which was recorded in April of 1988 but went unreleased until now. Also included are the 47 Song Demo (1988), 88 Song EP (1989), 5,643 Song EP (1989), Another EP (1991), Unplugged EP (1991), and Live EP (1991). Live recordings include shows in Germany and Indiana, and there is also material from several of their 7” splits as well as from The Masters of Noise compilation album. The set also features original liner notes by Putnam.
Anal Cunt are not family friendly, and they’re in your face about being politically incorrect, but in a way that is equal parts metal, awesome, and chuckle-worthy. They grabbed attention with their offensive song titles and lyrics, but these traits mostly appeared in their works after what is included in The Old Testament. Songs included in their early EPs are untitled and lack lyrics entirely, but the band still fit the humor into: Sporadically throughout TOT recordings, Putnam will shriek “Eeenie meenie minie moe,” which also happens to be some of the only decipherable words uttered during a song. And at the beginning of their Schwäbisch Hall, Germany live set, Putnam calmly announces “We’re The Beatles,” before launching into the first noise orgy. Also, listen for an incredibly brief MC Hammer cover in their 7” split with Psycho.
The many albums featured in this set are filled with songs that come as very brief, assaulting blasts with little semblance of form or rhythm. Songs often begin with some heavy, slow chords, and soon after explode into hellish chaos accompanied by Putnam’s varied guttural noises. This may last for around thirty seconds, and then they’ll launch into another one that’s basically indistinguishable from the last. But that’s the point: to make songs that are anti-everything that would typically constitute a song. If there were ever a sudden-death match between a dinosaur and Satan himself, the 5,643 EP might be what that sounds like. Anal Cunt’s early-day material is the most turbulent and cacophonous of their already extreme catalog, whereas later on the band began to incorporate more structure, riffs, and lyrics into their songs. While it is definitely an acquired taste sort of band in general, The Old Testament provides an extensive display of the infamous band’ most deviant and raw works-- you know, before they got all soft in later years.--Sarah Ruggiero
Tonight kicks off Lilia Halpern's Monday night residency at PA's Lounge this month. A veteran of the Boston music scene and founder of the band Incinerator, Halpern sat down with me last week for an interview.
Boston’s By The Throat’s four-song EP Riders of Boards provides standard fare for the mischievous skate punk. While they are self-advertised as hardcore punk, they can’t quite be categorized under the same umbrella as other current hardcore punk bands. Rather, their style is defined more by hardcore punk roots of the seventies and eighties-- they cite Minor Threat, Black Flag, and early Replacements among their musical influences.
But without getting too wrapped up in genre-labeling, rowdiness outweighs heaviness on Riders of Boards. The title track could very well be the theme song to a cross between Rocket Power and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with its rampant, testosterone-pumping urgency and skate manifesto lyrics like “And if there’s a bowl we’re gonna carve it / And if I get air I gotta method.”
Besides shredding, their songs go into subject matter such as beer, challenging the status quo, and getting even. Indian Summer Revenge takes advantage of catchy guitar fills, but when the band members shout “We want revenge!” in unison, it doesn’t sound as viciously convincing as it could.
The biggest strength of these four tracks is in the band’s straightforward punk aggression, but there’s still room for them to go louder, harder, more distinct. While the lyrics seem a bit generic and under-developed, the three-chord energy works for them. The band members-- who go under the names of Biff, The Muscle, Brat, and Dimwit-- convened in 2010, bringing with them experience from various other punk outfits including The Dimwits, The Acro-Brats, Buried in Leather, and Blood Vessels. Riders of Boards is the follow-up to their self-produced EP One Good Night.--Sarah Ruggiero
I'm always impressed when I hear a band that knows exactly how, and when, to play their instruments. That may seem like an odd statement, but I'm sure everyone has heard those groups that feature three-minute mediocre guitar solos and a slightly off-time rhythm section. Lowman's newest release, EP!, reflects expert musicianship and a knowledge of that elusive art of knowing when -not- to play. The lead guitar knows exactly how to complement the overall sound of the album, while also recognizing when it is appropriate to wail for a few seconds. I particularly enjoyed the opening track, "Balloon Boy," with its Spoon/Ben Folds piano-driven influence. Two other versions of the same song are included on EP!, "Balloon Boy (reprise)" and "Balloon Boy (full length)." I thought that the full length version was the most dynamic, with an extended guitar solo bleeding into total chaos at its conclusion as the entire band enters into full-on freak-out mode. Overall, I found Lowman's EP! to be quite an entertaining collection of songs. If you like hearing bands that really play as a cohesive unit (as opposed to four or five guys separately rockin' out), you'll love what Lowman has created. --Daniel McMahon
Interview with Lilia Halpern (Incinerator) by Chrissy Prisco
Tonight kicks off Lilia Halpern's Monday night residency at PA's this month. A veteran of the Boston music scene, Halpern sat down with me last week for an interview.
Braving the nearly-below zero windchill, the two of us met up at The Independent in Somerville's Union Sq. With Tom Janovitz (brother of Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz) dj'ing the night, we were happy to hang out and talk music.
I asked Halpern how it all started with her band, Incinerator. "Well," she replied "our first show was on David Bowie's birthday in 1993." Having moved to Boston to attend college, Halpern got sucked into the Boston music scene early on. Attending shows at the Rat and Middle East, she quickly became enamored with bands like Helium, Flying Nuns, Fuzzy, Apollo Landing and Tackle Box.
"I didn't publicly play any music until I had been around it all. There was a kind of mystique about playing in a band, I realized music was a way to express myself," rememberd Halpern. "I wasn't aware of the 'chick rock' scene until that point."
After their first show on Bowie's birthday, Incinerator (the only band Lilia has ever been in) went on to play shows around the area, touring to the mid-Atlantic. Although there weren't many shows, by 1996 the band decided to hit the studio and record a self-titled EP. After that, the band went their separate ways.
So, why now? What brought Halpern back to the music scene after all these years? "Well, in 2010, I signed up for Ladies Rock Camp to learn drums. I had begun to record and play music at home after having my son. My interest was renewed in music after singing to him."
Although Halpern was slowly getting back into music, she says she was not involved in the scene at all until Billy Ruane's memorial at the Middle East in late 2010. "I played Dolphins, a song by Fred Neil which Tim Buckley made famous." That same night, she met Karina DaCosta (28 Degrees Taurus) who would immediately light the spark under Halpern to get back to playing music.
"I was most surprised, in having met Karina and discovering what the music scene was about now, at how supportive it was" says Halpern, "Back then (in the early 90's) it was tough because of gender issues. If you were a woman playing guitar, you were a 'woman guitar player' not just a guitar player."
Last Spring, Halpern hit the studio and recorded new songs at Q Division (she cites Q Division's Ed Valauskas as being a major source of motivation and support to her as well) "The people at Q Division were instrumental in me making music again," she stated.
With the hopes of a new EP and a full-length in the near future, Halpern is happy to be back. "This past year," she says, "so much of making music in a satisfied way has been because of the support of the community."
The band started off as a Ben Garrett solo record. I hired Scott initially to produce the record and play guitars. We needed session musicians, so I recruited some friends. These were folks who I’d played with in various groups in college or after college, plus our original drummer Tony who was Scott’s friend from another group. it was basically an all-star line up brought together for a one-off recording project. That project eventually resulted in Waves Crashing on Face the album. But it took a while, and somewhere in the middle of the process we got bored and decided to play a few live shows for a change of pace. We also did some stints as a Marley cover band and an ‘80/’90s cover band just for kicks, because we were waiting on one thing or another for the record. Somehow, over like a year or so, Waves became something of a live act phenomenon in the Boston area, packing small and midsize clubs, keeping the flurry of cover songs in the repertoire to the delight of local hipsters and popsters alike. We also cater to nerds, as I’m a scientist, and nerds rule. We’re currently working on our second album, to be ironically named later.
The band started off as a Ben Garrett solo record. I hired Scott initially to produce the record and play guitars. We needed session musicians, so I recruited some friends. These were folks who I’d played with in various groups in college or after college, plus our original drummer Tony who was Scott’s friend from another group. it was basically an all-star line up brought together for a one-off recording project. That project eventually resulted in Waves Crashing on Face the album. But it took a while, and somewhere in the middle of the process we got bored and decided to play a few live shows for a change of pace. We also did some stints as a Marley cover band and an ‘80/’90s cover band just for kicks, because we were waiting on one thing or another for the record. Somehow, over like a year or so, Waves became something of a live act phenomenon in the Boston area, packing small and midsize clubs, keeping the flurry of cover songs in the repertoire to the delight of local hipsters and popsters alike. We also cater to nerds, as I’m a scientist, and nerds rule. We’re currently working on our second album, to be ironically named later.
Where did the band name, Waves Crashing on Face, come from?
It’s funny, because everybody in the band seems to have a different theory on this: Zach says “We’ve had to stick with a variant of our original name Waves Crashing on Face or Waves for short. The name likely came to Ben in a dream or some other fit of anxiety, along with a list of a dozen others, and it was selected from a pool of other not-so-worthy options. Ben tries to change our name every couple of months, but we all like Waves, so we go through the rigors of tying him down and making him submit via tickle tortures of various sorts so we can just keep our name and identity.” I always thought it was how I described the chorus of our song Lost Feeling.
Truthfully, the name was kind of a running name for the project and due to the nature of how we started playing out and became a band it just sort of stuck. It originally came up when I was discussing the demos with a friend in another band. He was like, “So what does it sound like?” and I was like, “Like waves crashing on your face!
What are your biggest musical influences?
We like a lot of different kinds of music. We switch genres on the album and during shows like nothing. We’re like the anti-Pandora. I think we can all agree we have some major roots in classic rock, Beatles, Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Who, all those guys. We also love Marley and roots reggae in general. A lot of different stuff, actually. We are children of the 80’s and teens of the 90’s so there is a big influence from those decades too. I guess we can cite big name bands that were also built on classic rock influences: Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Beck, Phish, Radiohead.
What artists (local, national and/or international) are you currently listening to?
We’re all listening to different stuff. I’ve been listening to stuff like TV on the Radio and the Fleet Foxes this week. Scott says he’s been listening to P-Funk, Sam Cook, vocal jazz from the forties, Miles Davis, Goldenboy and Porcupine Tree and locally, Comanchero. Adam is hearing Sons of Otis, Jucifer, Black Pyramid, and Blue Aside. Jim is listening to the O’Jays and Hot Chocolate. Zach is hearing Arcade Fire, Lee Family Curse, The Dodos and Paul Simon.
What's the first concert that you ever attended and first album that you ever bought?
My first concert was Duran Duran in the 90s, first album that I think I bought was Eddie Money, but I forget which one. Scott’s first concert was U2, first album, Europe's The Final Countdown. Zach’s first concert was Paul Simon in the Park in 1991, his first album De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising.
What do you love about New England's music scene?
I love that it’s really strong with a lot of quality music. It doesn’t suck. In Boston, I can go out in Allston or Cambridge or Somerville and not know who’s playing or what and just walk around and hit 3 clubs with really good local bands of all genres almost any day of the week. That’s just disgustingly nice if you like live music. Also, there's a real community of musicians out there in the Boston scene, which we dabble in and it's great to hang and see and support eachother's music. There are also cool rooms to play and many neighborhoods of music enthusiasts seeking inspiration.
What would you like to see change in the local music scene?
I’d like to see more people look to go out and see local bands, not only if it's their friends' band or whatever, but just as a night out. As I said, I’m constantly impressed by the awesome talents around our city, but you never know what’s what and who’s good until you go out to the clubs, and trust me you will not be disappointed when you do. But for non-musicians or enthusiasts, the scene needs more general interest. More small venues. We also would like to be able to play longer sets instead of being showcased sometimes, which always happens in town. But eventually, I think we’ll get that wish...
What are your plans for the upcoming year?
We'll be spending the first part of 2012 writing, arranging, and recording our new album. No shows. Its going to be a full band album, with input from all of us, and recorded live in one studio rather than multi-tracked in various places. We’ll still throw in some found sounds though, for sure. Then we’ll be back on the scene, playing more local shows and probably NYC and a few other major northeast cities.
What was your most memorable live show?
We have lots of good memories. Our first Middle East sellout last summer was super cool. I remember playing a couple of fantastic shows early on at random places, like a bar in Allston (The Draft) that I think we got banned from after for being too loud. (They no longer have live music). Some cool festival shows up in Maine and Vermont. Early on, some guy tried to sell me a trash bag full of clothes at our show. We have an archive linked from our facebook page where you can download a bunch of these for free. Also , Waves has had the chance to play for two of our bandmembers' weddings this past year. What's more memorable than that?
Is there someone who has helped your band grow through support?
We have many fans and friends who have been there along the way, and continue to stand by and listen to our work. Hear Now Live! deserves a special shout out, I think, for believing in us and keeping us booked and on stage. Our friends in Comanchero deserve a similar shout out.
Is there a piece of equipment you couldn't live without and why?
Scott: A three-way tie between my Strat, Jekyll and Hyde overdrive and my HeadRush delay. With that gear and any amp I can play the vast majority of our set. Zach: My Fender Rhodes 73 Suitcase Piano. Even though it rarely works anymore without constant care and expenditure, and even though it weighs 250 pounds and is a bitch to take anywhere, just knowing it's there gives me great comfort. It's unique vintage sound has been the foundation that I base all other sounds on. If I could, I'd always have it on stage with me.
Why do you read The Deli?
The Deli supports and highlights local music! We like to get introduced to local acts that we might not have otherwise become privy to.
