If It's Too Loud...

2026 is a rough year for festivals with many of our favorites either taking the year off or calling it a day after 2025. Nice, a Fest took 2025 off, which had us a little worried, but they are back for 2026 and returning to Davis Square! This year's edition will run from July 24-26 and take place at The Rockwell, Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theater, and Dragons Lair. Of course, the important thing is the music, and Nice, a Fest once again have an amazing all local line up with many, many of our favorites. It will feature Battlemode, Class President, Coral Moons, Downtown Boys, Evan Greer, Gymshorts, JVK, Landowner, Mal Devisa, Meg Elsier, Perennial, Pinklids, Rick Rude, and a ton more! This is always one of my favorite musical weekends of the year, and attending is strongly recommended! Nice, a Fest takes place in Davis Square, Somerville from July 24-26. You can get more information and tickets here .

Massachusetts based punk band PINKLIDS are back with new music. "EYE-CATCHING SILVER" is a retro-futurist freakout clocking in at under two minutes. It's noisy and disjointed, with a foreboding guitar riff throughout. The song sounds like New Wave gone wrong, with electronic elements desperately trying to get a party started. It's a mixture of bands like Gang of Four and DEVO with the noise and chaos of Sonic Youth. "EYE-CATCHING SILVER" doesn't sound like anything from 2026, but it doesn't sound like it's from a specific period of time, either. The song sounds and feels out of time. PINKLIDS have seemed to explode in the past year, and this song shows exactly why. PINKLIDS say of their latest single: "EYE-CATCHING SILVER taps into an increasingly familiar modern tension: the urge to project desire, control, and fulfillment onto something imagined rather than real. Through its retro-futurist lens, the song plays with artificial connection, i...

I was extremely excited for the Weakened Friends show Thursday night. As each band playing was announced, I got even more excited since I love all three bands that ended up playing. Weakened Friends, NOVA ONE, and Pinklids are all bands that we've been covering for a while now, and watching grow as artists, and it's been great to become a bigger fan of them and see them evolve. We first covered Weakened Friends back in September 2015 when they released Gloomy Tunes . Back then, they were pretty much the house band for when a 90's band came through town, particularly at The Sinclair. Thursday night saw them headlining The Sinclair on tour for their excellent new album Feels Like Hell. They took the stage like conquering heroes, with an adoring crowd screaming along to virtually every word of every song. The focus of the show was obviously the songs on the new album (some of my personal favorites were "NPC" with Jared Egan of Sidewalk Driver filling in for Buckethea...

Before crushing the Orange Stage at last weekend's Boston Calling, Pinklids released a brand new single, "Sax." This new single captures everything we loved about the Wareham band's performance. It has that New Wave meets No Wave sound, and the song is an unhinged sounding two and a half minute burst of noise punk that sounds barely under control. It's intense yet fun, and abrasive yet melodic. Plus, there is an amazing breakdown at the end before the song fully spirals out. The saw draws inspiration from "Sacks," a chapter in Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love , and depicts "... a crumbling relationship through the eyes of a son." Pinklids are sure to be making waves here for a while, and expect huge things from them. The band says of their latest single: “Falling in and out of love is a real thing. But that doesn’t make betrayal forgivable. Sometimes you have to name it for what it is.” You can watch the video for...

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...

I first discovered PINKLIDS way back in January 2023 at a live show, and have been anticipating hearing an official release from the Wareham, MA band ever since. Last month they finally released an official single with "JUNKY GARDEN." After their live show, I had commented that they refused to adhere to a single genre and their sound was all over the place (in the best possible way). "JUNKY GARDEN" continues that vibe, mainly sounding like a cross between The B-52's and ? and the Mysterians. It's a crazed and fun version of New Wave mixed with vintage garage rock. But it's also heavier than that, with some elements of punk and thrash sprinkled in. We've been waiting two years for an official release from PINKLIDS, and it was completely worth it. In a Bandcamp post, the band explains the meaning behind the song: "Skater dude has an existential crisis when a sheet of LSD seeps into his skin after getting caught outside in the rain. RIP." You ...

Last year I discovered a new appreciation for DIY venues. As more and more small venues close in and around Boston, these are becoming an absolutely vital space to see smaller bands. I've known about Worcester's Firehouse for a while now, but haven't had a chance to get out to see a show there. I've also been meaning to see Perennial for over a year now, but haven't had a chance despite how often they play in the area. Wednesday night everything finally aligned and I got a chance to do both. Perennial opened the show and just set the tone for the evening. Their very specific version of punk rock that is loud, and noisy, and just a fucking blast was everything I wanted it to be live and then some. This is a band that absolutely loves what they do, and that joy was contagious. Vocalists Chelsey Hahn and Chad Jewett had a seemingly impossible amount of energy as they jumped and danced around as much as their instruments would allow them to. They even threw in a cover o...