In May 2015, housemates Judith Young and Will Mullany went to the Paramount Theater for a screening of Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, D.C. (1980-90). In the cushy theater seats, they watched how the early D.C. DIY scene unfolded, how now-legendary bands such as Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Government Issue and Fugazi […]
The last time I went on an online date, I found myself at Buffalo Wild Wings with a guy named Tony. It was 2010, and I was living on the New Jersey shore at the time. (He was actually the second Tony I’d gone out with, it being the Jersey shore.) I remember feeling…underwhelmed. Missing […]
Thee Oh Sees A Weird Exits (Castle Face) Led by John Dwyer, garage-psych wrecking crew Thee Oh Sees has churned out 15 albums, the latest being A Weird Exits. It covers familiar territory, though previous forays into jangly, poppy material have been obliterated. For the uninitiated, A Weird Exits is not an easy introduction; song […]
Over the course of two decades and 14 LPs, of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes has established himself as a bit of a sonic chameleon while usually covered in glitter. He swallowed up ’60s psych-pop, Prince-ly funk and glassy prog while morphing deftly between the personal and the fantastical. On the new record Innocence Reaches, the first […]
“There’s something compelling about taking something small and making it large,” says local artist Lou Haney, whose gouache on yupo paper paintings of larger-than-life fruit at various stages of maturity will hang at The Garage in September. “When an object normally fits in your hand,” she says, you have to reconsider your relationship to it […]
West Coast punk blasters Green Jellÿ began as Green Jello in the early 1980s, playing electrifying performances with rowdy crowds that eventually resulted in the band getting banned from some venues, and a Kraft Foods lawsuit that forced the name change. Imprinting itself on Hollywood’s underground scene, Green Jellÿ grew its reputation with the addition […]
All the performers in this variety show have been assassinated, except for Drew the Dramatic Fool, and the show must go on or he’s next. Drew attempts to perform every act, from juggling 36 balls to sawing someone in half, in a bumbling, comical examination of fear processed through stage antics established by royal jesters, […]
Unassuming upstate New York farm boy Sawyer Fredericks broke onto the national scene after winning star-maker reality TV show “The Voice,” under the guidance of coach Pharrell Williams. The contemporary folk singer won the hearts of fans with Ray LaMontagne and Neil Young tunes channeled preciously through his boyish, soulful style. Saturday, September 3. $20, […]
Back in 2005, Jewish-American beatboxer and rapper Matisyahu, heavily influenced by scat- and hazzan-style singing, joined jam band Phish on stage at Bonnaroo for two songs that turned into an improvisational display of lyrical gymnastics, and Matisyahu’s passion for full-band improvisation was laid bare. Now, more than a decade later, he’s formed a master improv […]
In the early ’80s, at the advent of the new MTV era, Peter Wolf led one of the most popular rock ‘n’ roll bands on the airwaves. The high-energy blues of Boston’s The J. Geils Band formed around John Geils’ guitar licks and the innovative use of rock harmonica, but it was frontman and radio […]