One thing that's great about the Boston music scene is how persistent it is. Small venues do unfortunately close, but places to see live music keep popping up. Breweries seem to be the heroes of this story, and thankfully they keep finding spaces to host live bands. Dorchester Brewing Company is the latest, and on Saturday night they hosted the quadruple bill of Nicoteens, Tysk Tysk Task, Nectarine Girl, and Wulfer in what appeared to be their brewing/storage room. It was unheated, so it was quite chilly, but still kind of better than sweating in a cramped, small club.
Nicoteens played first. They're a band that I knew more by name, and since I kept seeing their name on bills with bands I love, I knew I'd end up seeing them sooner than later. They play a unique mix of pop punk that delves into emo, but they also had a bit of a nu-metal thing going on, but more of the Incubus side of the genre. A song like "Wallace and Vomit," a name I both love and hate, had a bit of a punk rock power ballad sound, and they played a new song that ramped up the Incubus goes emo power ballad sound. Although I've referenced two songs as power ballads, the band was much heavier than you'd expect with that. Even the power ballads were on the heavier side.
Up next was Tysk Tysk Task. The Lowell woodland grunge quartet opened the show with the recently released "City Lights." If you haven't listened to that song yet, you truly need to. It's their most accessible track to date, but still keeps all the noise and chaos we love from them. Maybe it was that they were playing their last live show of the year, but Tysk Tysk Task seemed to be playing with a little extra desire. Their upcoming single, "Shrine," was definitely a highlight, as well as another new song, "Toadstool." The latter song fits the heavy shoegaze genre, but in a more punk rock way. They closed with their usual closer, "Flies," which somehow keeps slightly evolving into an even more solid track.
Nectarine Girl is another artist I know by name and have been meaning to check out. The artist's sound was the most poppy of the evening so far, but with a heavy lean into indie rock. Some songs were almost pure pop, some were dosed in a layer of sludge, and others had a more classic indie rock sound. Some songs cycled through multiple sounds. Plus, Nectarine Girl's vocals were absolutely captivating. Some vocalists are perfect for their genre, but hers could work with virtually any style, which may be why the band can cycle through so many genres in one set.
Another genre defying artist closed out Saturday night. Wulfer had a much more laid back style than the previous three bands. Their sound meandered between pop and sludge in such a way that even the sludgier parts were beautiful. There were times that the sound might have been a little too pop based for my own personal taste, but they always quickly sucked me back in with distortion. Wulfer had this interesting pop meets singer-songwriter meets noise style, with all three sounds represented equally at almost all times.
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