If It's Too Loud...

I've been a huge fan of Hilken Mancini, Jen Trynin, and Mary Lou Lord's for roughly thirty years now. I've seen Mancini in her various projects countless times, and even though it's been a while, I've been lucky enough to watch Lord perform a number of times. Somehow I've never seen Trynin, but for the album release for Hilken Mancini Band's excellent self-titled album all three were playing, so I obviously needed to go. It just took a little extra time after the original November date was rescheduled.  First up was Mary Lou Lord with a short five or six song set. It was a delight to see her perform after all these years, and she still sounds amazing. One personal highlight was a cover of Lucinda Williams' "Metal Firecracker," which I've always loved. She brought out her daughter, Annabelle Lord-Patey, for a few songs, and even had her sing her new unreleased single. It was stellar (and if you're reading this, be sure to send it to us o...

Friday night's The Dollyrots show at Sonia in Cambridge had one of the oddest vibes of any show I've ever been to. First, there were signs up everywhere in the venue saying that there would be moshing at the show, so dance at your own risk. I've never seen these signs at any show at Sonia or The Middle East, so that was a bit odd. It might have been because when the show was advertised as all ages, they truly meant all ages. The crowd went from grizzled, graying punks to preschoolers wearing Bluey shirts. There was a high contingent of elementary school aged kids at the show, and maybe because of that, there was no moshing.  With or without moshing, The Dollyrots put on a killer show. Their blend of punk and garage rock leans quite heavily into the pop side of the genres, and their live show sounds even better than their recordings. Maybe it was because a good chunk of the crowd skewed much younger than a typical rock show, but there was a charged energy missing with most s...

I didn't really know what to expect with English Teacher's first Boston show. I tend to live in my own pop culture bubble unaware of what is known or popular. There are bands I think are obscure that end up playing the House of Blues, and other times I'll be shocked a band is playing a place as small as The Sinclair and they end up only half filling the venue on a Friday night. I had no idea how known English Teacher is, so I didn't know what the crowd would be like on a Wednesday night. They might not have sold out Sonia for their Boston area debut, but they came closer than I would have thought they would. I entered the venue about half an hour after doors opened and half an hour before the music started. Typically there might be one or two people right in front of the stage with most of the crowd milling about towards the back or by the bar. Wednesday night there was no indie hipster half circle in front of the stage as the audience was right up front in anticipation...

Part of the great thing about the return of the Rock & Roll Rumble is seeing bizarre four band bills that end up working perfectly. I doubt we'll ever see the likes of Tysk Tysk Task, Kooked Out, One Fall, and Not Bad Not Well all playing together again, and that's a shame. Sometimes the most oddball groupings of bands make the most cohesive shows. Tysk Tysk Task opened the evening, and I was a bit nervous for their performance. Their regular drummer was unavailable that night, and they had to use a fill in drummer, which is never ideal... unless that drummer is Cutty from Paper Tigers. With only five days of practice, the show should not have gone well at all, but five seconds into their set and all trepidation I had was gone. Cutty seemed to inject a new sense of excitement into the band, and Samantha Hartsel and Amy Gee seemed to up their game to match that excitement. Plus, turns out Cutty is a phenomenal drummer. Tysk Tysk Task's songs are ever evolving, even from ...