The vibrant effervescence that beams brightly from Parks’ catchy up-tempo track, “Sweater Weather,” is the kind of warmth that supersedes any other Boston-based band trying to find their place in the sun. Packed with bucolic arrangements and delightful vocals, ‘Weather’ serves as a precursor to the inevitability that frontman Brian King is on the verge of becoming an indie pop savant. The catalyst to King’s flourishing creativity is rooted in the power of reinvention. More
On Valentine’s Day, Jason Dunn of the Boston band The Luxury broke his ankle while trying to get one of his cats to come in from the cold. In the idle months that followed, he needed something to keep him busy while gimping around the house. So he did what any enterprising musician would do after a Valentine’s Day accident — set up 30 “dates” for 30 bands to play each other’s songs. And so “Boston Does Boston” was born, which is now a double-disc CD compilation of Boston artists covering other Boston artists with three shows this weekend featuring 16 of the 30 acts over three nights (Friday at Brighton Music Hall, Saturday at Great Scott, and a grand finale Sunday at Brighton Music Hall). More
Halloween brings one of Boston’s coolest local music traditions, with bands taking the stage (sometimes in costume) as a more famous/often hilarious musical act. You may be particularly intrigued this year in the week leading up to ‘ween, particularly if you have an appetite for pizza, Green Day, or EDM. If cover sets aren’t your thing, there are plenty of Halloween-themed shows, including RadioBDC’s Retro Halloween Ball at Ned Devine’s on Oct. 31. But wherever you go, make sure you dress the part. Nothing is more embarrassing than not looking like a total idiot at a Halloween show. Here are our picks for Boston’s best cover sets this October. More
One infallible truth remains at the close of 2013’s music festival season: Geography’s a bitch. Events like South by Southwest or CMJ Music Marathon, which started last week in New York City and wrapped on Saturday, drive this point home at 80 miles per hour, as rushing to every set you want to see results in some maniacal game of venue hopscotch into the wee hours of the morning on a Wednesday. It’s tough and gets better with practice, but at the end of the day, a successful CMJ experience is one where you were able to discover new favorite bands while revisiting your favorites, where you walk away with an iPhone full of notes to yourself, lyrics you found inspiring, or a new act from Australia you’ll keep tabs on until they roll through the US again. These are a few of our favorite things from CMJ 2013, and they were well worth lapping between Brooklyn and lower Manhattan over the course of the past few long, loud days. More
CMJ Music Marathon kicks off in New York City tomorrow and Boston is reppin’. Hard. You’re probably like, “Why would I go all the way to New York to see a band that I could see here whenever?” Think of it like rooting for the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium (although New Yorkers hopefully/likely won’t boo Boston bands). Here’s the go-to guide for the best local bands making Boston proud in enemy territory.
