We could fill up a month of Saturdays with the excellent Live happenings going down in and around Boston tomorrow night, featuring a legion of Ash Gray Proclamation endorsed acts. Firstly, Grass Is Green, Ovlov, and Fat History Month are playingBeerfest at O'Brien's Pub, Butterknife will celebrate the release of their new EP, Do The Needful with assistance from Boston's inventive noise rock concern, Guillermo Sexo at The Middle East and Young Adults, Chandeliers, BDRM Eyes, and The Living City at The Box Fort In Allston (go to the FB event page for further details/address).
Lastly tomorrow brings the 4th installment of The Boston Underground Submit, presented by Bodies of Water. 10 bands and a few pa's, with each band taking turns playing one song after another. Once each band has played a song, the loop repeats until the songs run out. Boston's rising dream pop trio Night Fruit, who recently released their terrific Dark Horse 7" will play as well as Mmoss and The Needy Visions, plus many more.
We plan on taking in as many of these shows as time and logistics will allow, we recommend you do the same. Choose wisely.
New Haven's noise pop heroes are coming! Ovlov are coming! O.K., O.K., I'll calm down for a minute, but not for long, because ever since hearing the bands 2011 superlative EP, What's So Great About The City?, we've been waiting for a chance to hear these infectious and sleezy pop songs in a Live setting. Of course, we've had a few chances over the past year but we foolishly squandered those, but now it looks like (pardon the cliche) the planets are aligning in our favor. Recently, Chris Villon of our beloved Young Adults, reached out to Ovlov after one of the bands scheduled to perform with YA at Gay Gardens this Saturday was forced to drop off the bill. For more info on that show check out the FB event page. Ovlov will also return to Boston on January 28th for a show at O'Briens, before heading into the studio to record new material in February.
Austin, TX shoegaze titans, Ringo Deathstarr have donated a cover of Bad Brains', Sailing On to help raise funds for the family of Esme Barrera. Barrera an early fan of Ringo Deathstarr and an ardent supporter of Autin's vibrant music community was found murdered in her home on New Years Day. The band is asking it's fans to donate $1.00 to assist the Barrera family in the wake of this senseless tragedy.
Please go to: forouresmeb.blogspot.com to make a dontation. You will receive a high quality MP3 download of the new track.
When not running an ice cream shop in East Tawas, Michigan, Martin Brummeler writes and records fuzzy and melodic pop songs under the moniker Mass Solo Revolt. Recently Brummeler decided to jettison the full length record route and release his hook heavy, post-punk tracks at various states of completion to the interweb. Mass Solo Revolt are in cahoots with the excellent N.C. anti-label, No More Fake Labels, so we're hopeful that we may see a full length follow up to Bummelers 2009 set, Bend In Time at some point in the not too distant future. But for now, we're thrilled to have a new track from MSR. If It's Not Love, is a fatalist lo-fi anthem, that we're happy to pass along to your head holes.
Glasgow's menacing noise quartet United Fruit, released their full length debut Faultlines last spring, so shame on us for taking so long to write about these Scots. United Fruit posses the ferocity of early...Trail of Dead as well as Allston's Young Adults with the melodic charms of British Sea Power. Let's face it, the record industry is a bit of a f#%king mess these days, save for a few exceptions. Which forces young talented bands like United Fruit to eschew the label route out of necessity and turn to sites like Bandcamp to get their product out and available to it's fans. Not only does United Fruit deserve your attention, they're the rare kind of band that can make you want to dust off your old guitar, plug in your pedals, and make a racket . Now if we could only get them to change their name.
We were given our proper introduction to England's rising fuzz poppers , Fear Of Men last winter through their Hanna Schygulla Demos release. The band currently splits their time between Brighton and London and consist of two men and two women, no ABBA comparisons please. Based on the bands previous releases it's safe to assume they have an impressive collection of C86 cassettes in their flats. Comparisons aside, Fear Of Men create moody landscapes utilizing touchstones of lo-fi and shoegaze with impressive pop hooks. Last month we saw a flurry of activity from FOM (as they'll now be known) with the release of the bands echo drenched cover of The Chills classic Pink Frost as well as the band debut single wich was released this week by Italian Beach Babes Records, Ritual Confession b/w Spirit House. All of their releases are available at their Bandcamp page.
Lastly we feel the overwhelming need to tell all about the cracking debut full length from Dublin, Ireland's garage pop phenoms, Squarehead. Yeah Nothing finds the Irish trio delivering a set of taut and jagged guitar anthems with a generous helping of pop hooks . The album was recorded in their hometown atK9 Studios with Shane Cullen and digitally released on August 15th. The LP will get the physical release treatment on CD and 12" Vinyl as well as bundled packages on September 15th on The Richter Collective.
Last year when we heard the demo from Young Adults our jaws were on the floor. A true eureka moment for sure. That 5 track demo sounded as if it could have been recorded in a shipping container, not in a dingy Allston basement by the brothers Villon, Chris and Kurt respectively with Dimitri Swan. That was part of it's charm, lo-fidelity raucous post-punk and dirty riffs with a propulsive rhythm section. Back in November Young Adults delivered their full length debut, Black Hole via Prague based Amdiscs. Black Hole features the re-recording of the five demo tracks as well as five new compositions. With a little more focus and the trios ragged wall of noise Young Adults owned one of the most impressive debut in recent memory.
Over the past week we have been conducting an interview with Young Adults fronter, Chris Villon via email. Due to the band being in a state of flux with the departure of their bassist, Chris thought it would be best not answer those questions related to the current state of the band just yet and we completely understand that and respect his decision. However Chris did give us some insight into his bands new recordings as well as what we can expect from Young Adults first Boston show with new bassist Daniel O'Neil. So without further delay we're proud to present part one of our interview with Chris Villon.
The Ash Gray Proclamation: Back in May a new song, Stasis found it's way onto YouTube, that track seems to offer a hefty upgrade in aggressive sonic textures, even more so that those found on Black Hole. Is there intent to push the bands sound into a heavier direction or is Stasis just one color from the bands changing canvas?
Chris Villon: There has always been the intent to keep our band heavy in some way, so Stasis is really just par for the course. But yeah, that one is particularly aggressive. We need that energy to keep ourselves going!
AGP: You've been part of the close knit Allston scene since the band formed in 2009, what can tell us about how the things have changed in your backyard since starting Young Adults.
CV: Boston/Allston's scene is always changing and taking new shapes. This past year saw cool bands both new and sorta-new making moves: Quilt, Arvid Noe, Skimask, MMOSS, Girlfriends, Doomstar!, Thick Shakes, Soccer Mom, Night Fruit, just to name a few.... There has been good support for touring acts as well. I saw Brilliant Colors (from SF) the other week in an Allston basement and they rocked my socks off. Great Scott continues to be our favorite venue for independent music, and Brighton Music Hall is doing a good job getting the 'upper-tier' indie acts to come and play in Boston.
AGP: With appearances at Deep Heaven Now and last winters round-robin style, Underground Summit, your band has a strong connection with DIY scene in Boston/Allston. Can you tell us how you came to be involved in those worthwhile events?
CV: I can trace both of those events to two passionate individuals: Jinsen Liu of 28 Degrees Taurus who as far as I know singlehandedly put together the DHN fests for the past couple of years, and Dan Shea of Bodies of Water Shows who has contributed to a plethora of amazing shows and fests. Both Jinsen and Dan are fans of the band and we deeply appreciate their support. Passionate, selfless, energetic people are what keep scenes alive and help them flourish. Boston would not be the same place without these people! Props to Sam and the Boston Counter-Cultural Compass too!
AGP:What bands do you tell your non-Boston friends that they must go see when visiting?
CV: In addition to the bands already listed, Neptune and Helms need to be seen. Hopefully Helms is at work at a new album as we speak.
AGP: We were immediately drawn to the band based on what we thought we heard, Husker Du/Dinosaur/Mission Burma and how the band transformed those influences into something unique. How have those influences (and others) shaped the sound of Young Adults?
CV: Bob Mould helped shape a lot of other bands' guitar tones and I am no exception. It's so true. As I went along playing louder and louder music, I kept thinking "Bob Mould, Bob Mould." Haha. All of the 80s and 90s indie bands that came from hardcore and punk roots are definitely in the DNA of our music, no doubt. We owe them a lot to not just ape their sound. We want to contribute in anyway that we can to the awesome legacy of American indie rock. AGP: How did the Young Adults/Ringo Deathstarr pairing come about?
CV: I've been a fan of theirs ever since I saw them play at Tufts University with the Psychic Paramount years ago. Amazing show. Loud as fuck. I couldn't stop listening to their first EP and I desperately wanted them to come to Boston again. Fast forward about two years and we ended up playing right next door to them at SXSW! I asked Daniel, the drummer, to please stay for our set and check us out because I felt that he'd get us. He was psyched after our set and I told him that I'd stay in touch. This show is pretty much for Ringo Deathstarr.
AGP: What can we expect from your performance at Great Scott this Saturday?
CV: It will be our first Boston show with our new bassist. It's gonna be loud as fuck all over. Come out!
Check out this performance of Wasting Time with new bassist Daniel O'Neil recorded just last week during the NYCTaper/Pop Tarts Showcase @ Northside Fest 2011. This entire set can be downloaded over at NYC Taper as of today!
Young Adults performing a new track, Stasis @ Pianos in NYC on April 30th .
Young Adults play Great Scott on Staruday July 2nd with Ringo Deathstarr, Thief Thief, and The Vandelles. Grab tickets here. If you haven't already done so, download the bands demo here and order Black Hole here.
Thank you to Chris Villon and Young Adults for being gracious with their time. Stay tuned for part 2 of this interview sometime in the not too distant future.
This Weeks Short Bursts: Deep Heaven Now & In Case of Evacuation Record Release
Somerville's Union Square will be rocking this afternoon, due to The Deep Heaven Now Festival going down at both PA's Lounge and Precinct. Deep Heaven Now gathers the finest east coast purveyors of ambient/Psychedelic rock for one glorious event. 10 bucks gets you admission to both stages and as bonus the Somerville Rock and Roll Yard sale will be held just out side of Precinct, where you will find a truck load of vintage vinyl & arts and crafts. 10 bucks for 19 bands, including The Hush Now, Young Adults, and the reunited Abunai! If that wasn't enough to get you there, the first 100 people get a free beer from Narragansett. The event kicks off at 2PM at Precinct.
This Just in: Young Adults set has been cancelled according to their myspace page, but don't let that keep you away from this great event.
On Sunday, Exploding In Sound takeover Church for a record release party for their In Case of Evacuation Compilation, 2 discs worth of new music from some of Boston's finest as well as some national acts as well, offered to you as a free download. The album features music from Black Helicopter, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and Doomstar! to name but a few. The record release will feature a few of Boston's up and comers included Grass is Green,The Dirty Dishes, and Ribs, as well as Washington D.C.'s Solar Powered Sun Destroyer. Tickets are just $7.00, it all kicks off at 8PM.
For more info or to download In Case of Evacuation pay a visit to Exploding In Sound.
