If It's Too Loud...

Rebuilder Photo by Ken Sears The past few editions of Boston Calling have had what appeared to be theme days. Friday had a country theme, and Saturday was more of an early 00's emo and pop punk vibe going. However, there was a lot of going, and we took in some pop punk as well as electronic, folk-pop, indie rock, experimental pop, and vintage blues rock! Sofia Isella Playing during the heaviest downpour of the day, Sofia Isella opened the Green Stage and was the first artist playing Boston Common on Saturday. Stylistically, Isella doesn't sound like anyone else playing all weekend. It was more of an electronic/dance music vibe that made me wish she had played later in the day than 1:30 pm. Ever since first hearing her song "Hot Gum" on the Boston Calling Spotify playlist, I knew I wanted to see Isella live, despite her sound not being something I typically seek out. Live it sounded like Aphex Twin decided to try out drum and bass and recruited Poe to be the singer. I...

After watching some wild speculation the last few weeks on Reddit, Boston Calling has announced their 2025 line up, and, dare I say it... it's pretty great! The headliners are Luke Combs and Megan Moroney on Friday, Fall Out Boy and Avril Lavigne on Saturday, and Dave Matthews Band and Vampire Weekend on Sunday. Personally, I'm most interested in Sunday's headliners, more out of curiosity than anything else. After that, we've got quite literally something for everyone with legends like Sheryl Crow, TLC, The Black Crowes, Sublime, Public Enemy (!!!!!), Tom Morello (playing the same day as Public Enemy, so I think we need a collaboration...), and Spin Doctors, along with newer favorites like Thee Sacred Souls, Lucius, and more. Once again they've outdone themselves with local bands that include Latrell James, Megan from Work, Battlemode, Rebuilder, sidebody, Pinklids, and Vivid Bloom! This is the strongest Boston Calling line up in years, and we're thrilled for th...

Artist : Lucius Album : Second Nature Quick Thoughts : We've been fans of Lucius around these parts for some time now, and it's continually great to see them get more and more notice. This latest album is a wonderful, polished effort with some heavy hitting guest spots and a lot of gorgeous harmonies. Longtime fans will find plenty to love here, as will folks finally getting to jump on the bandwagon. Songs of Note : "Next to Normal," "Dance Around" Artist : Wet Leg Album : Wet Leg Quick Thoughts : Wet Leg is probably the buzziest new band to hit the scene in years, and for good reason. "Chaise Longue" is a hit in every sense of the word, and the overall presence of the band is one that feels extremely natural and experienced. For me, Wet Leg is odd because this album feels like it is trying to make 25-year-old-me their new obsession, and they hit a lot of nostalgia triggers for me. Wet Leg is basically what you'd expect middle schoo...

It got way too busy, so here's some quick hits. Must Listens : Lucy Dacus - Historian : Believe the hype. This is not only the best album of this week, but maybe of 2018 so far. It's a brilliant record that combines the best of Margaret Glaspy, Sharon Von Etten, and a ton of our favorite singer-songwriters lately to bring a raw, compelling album that just sticks to your guts. I loved it on first listen, and I put it back on earlier today because I wanted to and it just has so many great layers. Don't miss out on this. Tracey Thorn - Record : If I’m being honest with myself, I’ve liked but haven’t loved Thorn’s solo work. That changed considerably with this latest effort, which feels more essential and urgent than anything she has put out since her Everything But the Girl days. I’d expect things to not be this way given Thorn’s lengthy career up to now, but there are just so many songs on this record that are rock solid. If you’ve jumped off the bandwagon, now i...

The summer music festival season keeps creeping earlier and earlier every year. Some announcements just started popping up yesterday, and one of them has us ecstatic. Shovels & Rope have put together a weekend festival in their hometown of Charleston, SC (well, NORTH Charleston, but close enough) and the line up might be one of the best of the year. Besides the obvious choice of Shovels & Rope to play their own festival, they're also bringing along some of our favorites including The Avett Brothers, The Shins, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Dawes, Lucius, Margo Price, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Deer Tick, JD McPherson, The Suffers, Matthew Logan Vasquez, The Deslondes, and more! If you've been a regular reader of this blog for any amount of time this is pretty much a dream line up for all of us. It's going to be a challenge for any other festival, particularly Americana and roots based ones, to come close to matching High Water this yea...

A solid week on a whole. Album of the Week : Artist : Aurora Album : All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend Quick Description : Gorgeous, addictive Nordic synthpop. Why You Should Listen : Straddles the line near-perfectly on traditional pop and strange synthpop. Overall Thoughts : I first learned of Aurora via "Running With the Wolves," and this has been a long-awaited full-length from her for me. I'm liking where the style is going, here - it's very accessible, but doesn't try to push the pop angle too too much. It means that it doesn't work 100% of the time, but when it does, it's memorable. This won't be for everyone, but those who love pop music will find a lot to love here. And she's only 19?! Recommendation : Best release of the week, so it's worth a spin. Artist : Lucius Album : Good Grief Quick Description : Second album by the throwback band. Why You Should Listen : Lucius likes to ape certain musical eras, and they ...

Photo via Facebook Sometime in between recording vocals with just about everyone in the past year, Lucius is back with a brand new song, "Born Again Teen." The new song is almost electroclash, but in the fun, upbeat way you'd expect from Lucius. While most of 2013's Wildewoman was a great party album, "Born Again Teen" feels like the party went just a little too long and is now getting broken up. While it's melodic as can possibly be, there is quite a bit of dissonance throughout the song. It's the perfect kind of change you want for a sophomore album.  Lucius' second album, Good Grief , is due out on March 11. Check out the video for "Born Again Teen" below, and be sure to check out their website for more information.

As the Newport Folk Festival slowly starts rolling out there 2015 line up, and we sit under 4 feet of snow in the Northeast, it's a great time to look back at last summer's Newport Folk Festival. Suddenly, the absurd amounts of rain on Sunday start to seem quaint, and we start looking forward to this summer and this year's Newport Folk Festival. You can check out our Newport Folk Festival 2014 photo diary over at our Facebook page . Here's hoping to see you all at the Fort this year! For more information on this year's Fest (Friday tickets still remain), head on over to the Newport Folk Festival website . If you can't make it, there are some great Newport Folk Festival Presents shows coming up, mostly in Boston but also in Chicago, Nashville, Napa, and New York City. Check out these here .

Currently over at Noisetrade is a short EP of live songs from blog favorite Lucius titled Lucius Get Noisey . The live version of "Turn it Around" is great as well as the song they did for the Radiolab podcast. Check it out!

After missing Friday's edition of the Newport Folk Festival, I entered Fort Adams State Park on Sunday determined not to miss a single thing. Of course, with 4 official stages all going at once, such a thing is impossible, as I re-learn every year. Starting the day off at the Quad Stage, The Haden Triplets came on bright and early at 11:05 am. Considering the last time I saw Petra and Rachel perform live, it was at the Middle East in Cambridge with That Dog, the circumstances couldn't have been more different. Instead of 90s post-grunge guitars, they performed beautiful 3 part harmonies over classic country and folk songs. Dedicating their set to their father, the recently departed Charlie Haden, they covered classics like Bill Monroe's "Voice From on High" and The Carter Family's "Single Girl, Married Girl." After The Haden Triplets, I headed down to the Harbor Stage for John Reilly & Friends. Yes, it's that John Reilly of such films a...

In it's 28th year, the Green River Festival is one of the best kept secrets in the New England concert scene. It doesn't have the name recognition of Lollapalooza or the Newport Folk Festival, but that fits Green River just fine. Western MA has long had a mysteriously great live music scene, combining national touring bands with a small town feel. The Green River Festival has long been the centerpiece of the scene. This year will be no exception, and might just be the best line up Green River has seen yet. Saturday features Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Lucius, Puss n Boots (featuring Norah Jones), The Lone Bellow, Poor Old Shine, Grant-Lee Phillips, and more. Sunday is just ridiculous, with Josh Ritter & Royal City Band, Trampled By Turtles, Hurray for the Riff Raff, multi-national rapper Ana Tijoux, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (and you all know how I feel about her), The Deadly Gentlemen, and more.  Plus, there's the added extra of hot air balloons. You can ...

Photo by Brian Lima It's been a while since I've updated everyone with the Newport Folk Festival line up, and it truly just keeps getting more and more outstanding. Since I last gave an update, Newport has added classic musicians such as reggae legend Jimmy Cliff and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, established current stars such as a reunited Nickel Creek and Conor Oberst, to next big thing acts like Phox and Reignwolf. I'm particularly excited for Reignwolf, who sound like a more raw version of The White Stripes and The Black Keys. They've also added Rodrigo y Gabriela (somehow making their Newport debut), Puss n Boots featuring Norah Jones, Newport favorite Dawes (pulling double duty as Conor Oberst's backing band), Lucius, Lake Street Dive, The Milk Carton Kids, Gregory Alan Isakov, Lucero, Aoife O'Donovan, Willie Watson of Old Crow Medicine Show, and more! If you're planning on attending Saturday or Sunday and haven't bought tickets, you...

As we continue with our looks back at the year, my #8 album of the year is Wildewoman by Lucius. Lucius is really a band I only know because of Spotify. Sometime earlier this year they launched their often-hilarious discovery tool, and I can't remember at this point what band it compared Lucius to, but it did offer up an EP of theirs for me that I thought was decent. It didn't blow my mind, but I really enjoyed it. It had a fun lo-fi quality to it, and felt like a fun musical project more than anything else. Eventually, I tripped up on their debut full-length, Wildewoman , and I was shocked at the advances they made musically. Where the EP felt like a basement recording with a bunch of Casio keyboards, faux effects, and drum machines, the album was a far more ambitious affair. Lucius is a five piece with two female lead singers, and so the album definitely has a "this is what a modern girl group would sound like" vibe to it. Very dependent on full-sounding ...