New Fries - "Ploce"

Toronto's New Fries call their sound No Wave inspired. Their new single, "Ploce," might be the epitome of that description. The song is like New Wave stripped to it's very bare elements. Stripped down New Wave is an oxymoron, but welcome to "Ploce." There is a distinct groove throughout the song, although it's a groove that dares you to try to dance to it. It has some really accessible and almost mainstream elements, but it has even more that are too bizarre and discordant to be even remotely mainstream. It's almost like Blondie and Sneaker Pimps collaborated with Yoko Ono. For those of us that description appeals to, "Ploce" will be thrilling to.

You can watch the video for "Ploce" below. Is The Idea Of Us, the upcoming album from New Fries, will be out August 7 on Telephone Explosion. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on New Fries, check them out on Facebook and Bandcamp.

Liz Bills - "Mama's Song"

Photo by Isa Rose Photography

The week before Mother's Day is the perfect time to release a song called "Mama's Song." Enter Liz Bills. A song called "Mama's Song" could be dangerously sappy, and at times Bills's song can be, but Bills has this truly unique way to take a sappy song and make it completely compelling. "Mama's Song" has a conversational quality about it that turns it into a truly great song. Somehow Bills takes a quiet, stripped down folk song that sounds like a conversation while still being fun and light despite the heavy sentiment. That's no small task for any songwriter, so we'll be sure to keep on eye on Liz Bills for a while.

You can listen to "Mama's Song" below. For more on Liz Bills, be sure to check out her website.

Liz Bills · Mama's Song

Lesley Barth - "Nashville"

Photo by Harish Pathak

For a song called "Nashville," this one isn't very country. Sure, Lesley Barth's song has some country elements, but they are minimal, at most. "Nashville" is a gorgeously wrought indie folk song. It has a dark, intense feel that starts off with just Bath's vocals, a strummed guitar, and haunting strings nearly hidden way in the back. It builds almost impossibly slowly with drums and more strings joining.

Lesley Barth explains "Nashville": "I challenged myself to write 30 songs in 30 days to celebrate turning 30 (i.e. avoid thinking about turning 30), and this song came out of that.  I was still working at my corporate job at a tech company, and I ostensibly wrote this song about a guy my husband played with once, who had a great voice and presence and wrote good country tunes, but played in bars in New York City.  Of course, I realized later this song was about me and my feeling that I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.  I think we all have places, settings, jobs, that make us feel more or less comfortable in our own skin.  I’ve played this song in nearly every live solo set the past two years and it’s often a crowd favorite, so it’s exciting to share the full-band version.  I wanted it to have a bit of that neon cowboy camp, and I’m really happy with the unexpectedness of the production."

You can listen to "Nashville" below. Big Time Baby, the upcoming album from Lesley Barth, will be out May 15. You can pre-order a copy at Bandcamp. For more on Lesley Barth, check out her website.

Lesley Barth · Nashville

First Listen: New Releases for 1 May

It's been a brutal week and being a COVID shut-in got the better of me, so quick hits this week:

Make time for these:

* Brandi Ediss - Bees and Bees and Bees (Brandi is a friend, but her album is addictive and "Stupid Boyfriend" is a true treat. Genuinely great.)
* DELANILA - Overloaded (Solid weird indie stuff.)
* Hey, Chels - Everything Goes (A favorite this week, some grungy alt-poppish efforts.)
* Hala - Red Herring (A fun, multi-genre adventure.)
* V.V. Lightbody - Make a Shrine or Burn It (A solid expansion of her sound from her first album.)
* Johanna Warren - Chaotic Good (Interesting singer-songwriter work here.)
* Damn the Witch Siren - White Magic (Truly great modern-retro pop treats. I'm a big, big fan of this.)
* Diet Cig - Do You Wonder About Me? (A solid follow-up to their debut.)
* Car Seat Headrest - Making a Door Less Open (As compelling as always.)

Of note:

* Man Man - Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between
* Damien Jurado - What's New, Tomboy
* X - Alphabetland
* Ride - Clouds in the Mirror
* American Aquarium - Lamentations
* Austra - HiRUDiN
* Joan as Police Woman - Cover Two
* Caleb Landry Jones - The Mother Stone

Seven song albums:

* Rough Francis - Urgent Care

EPs:

* Ben Lukas Boysen - Mirage
* Grace Davies - Amsterdam
* Sarah Longfield - Dusk
* Molly Payton - Mess
* Annie Hamilton - Annie Hamilton EP
* Cayley Thomas - How Else Can I Tell You?
* Coco and Clair Clair - Treat Like Gold


Also out:

* JoJo - good to know
* Eelke Kleijn - Days Like Nights

Quarantine Age Wasteland: A Benefit for Boston's Small Venues

We've been seeing a ton of bands getting together and putting out compilations the past month. Recently, Quarantine Age Wasteland: A Benefit for Boston's Small Venues was released as a way to raise money to keep Midway Cafe, O'Brien's Pub, Once, and The Jungle able to reopen once it is safe to do so. Last week's closing of Great Scott just drives the need for such a benefit to exist even harder.

Quarantine Age Wasteland: A Benefit for Boston's Small Venues leans more on the punk side of the Boston musical spectrum and includes 30 tracks. It starts off with the folk punk of Mickey Rickshaw. Carissa Johnson donates the straight up pop punk rock song "So Far So Good." Skytigers bring the metal heavy thrash punk with "Affordable Garbage." Big D and the Kids Table provide the requisite ska song (and cover) with their version of "Freeze Up." The Stigmatics have a killer garage rock style pop punk song with "American Dream." The Prozacs have a gloriously bratty contribution with "Out Of Time." 

You can listen to Skytigers's "Affordable Garbage" below. You can get your copy of Quarantine Age Wasteland: A Benefit for Boston's Small Venues via Bandcamp.

Tanya Donelly Covers The Pixies

In the latest edition of Tanya Donelly's Sunday Series of covers, she's chosen to take on The Pixies's iconic "Here Comes Your Man." For those of us obsessed with the 80's and 90's Boston music scene, this cover choice is particularly wonderful. Donelly keeps her version perfectly faithful to the original but still sounding like herself. It's a little more laid back than the original, but I think that would be expected. This is just a glorious cover.

Donelly chose this song as a birthday gift to a fan, Tom Wethern. She has sung it for him on his birthday before at Great Scott. This choice acts as a two-fer, since it is also a tribute to Great Scott, the legendary Boston club that announced it will not be reopening at the end of the COVID-19 crisis. Proceeds for this song will go to the staff at Great Scott and local musicians.

You can listen to Tanya Donelly's cover of "Here Comes Your Man" below. This week she was joined by some of her Band of Their Own mates, including Kay Hanley and Hilken Mancini. It's currently available on Donelly's Bandcamp. For more on Tanya Donelly, check out her Facebook.

Charming Disaster - "I Am a Librarian"

We've grown to love the music of Charming Disaster and their "... songs that tell stories about love, death, crime, ancient mythology, and the paranormal." It's definitely what we love about them. Their latest song goes in a (mostly) completely different direction. "I Am a Librarian" is exactly what it sounds like: an ode to librarians. It does make sense, since those of us that love "... songs that tell stories about love, death, crime, ancient mythology, and the paranormal" are going to be the type that love books and librarians. According to Charming Disaster, "I Am a Librarian" "... is an anthem, a love letter, a manifesto for the seekers, oddballs, and dreamers: a message of hope for all who are waiting to find their time and place. And of course a tribute to all of you librarians out there. We see you, and you're not alone." If you've ever wanted a cabaret style fight song done as a tribute to the librarian, you're in luck!

You can listen to "I Am a Librarian" below. The song is now available as a single on Charming Disaster's Bandcamp. For more on Charming Disaster, check out their website.

The Bobby Lees - "Drive"

This is the week that the new Jon Spencer produced album from The Bobby Lees should be out, but due to COVID-19 it's been delayed until July 17. At least we have a new song to listen to while we wait an extra two months. "Drive" sounds like the song that wants to be the hit. It's still the hyped up punk blues that we're coming to love from the Woodstock, NY band, but this one is about as pop friendly as we're going to get from them. It's undeniably catchy, but more mainstream music fans are really going to struggle through the discordance that's still pervading throughout the song (which we mean in the best possible way). Plus, there's an all too brief J Mascis style guitar solo that threatens to plunge the song into total chaos. Luckily, The Bobby Lees use some scream along vocals that do that job quite nicely.

You can watch the video for "Drive" below. Skin Suit, the upcoming album from The Bobby Lees, will be out July 17 on Alive Naturalsound Records. You can pre-order the album here. For more on The Bobby Lees, check out their website. Tentative tour dates are below the video.

7/17 Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY

7/18 Melody Inn, Indianapolis, IN

7/31 Lux, Rochester, NY

8/1 The Colony, Woodstock, NY

8/7 Schubas Tavern, Chicago, IL

8/22 Rumba Cafe. Columbus, OH

9/5 Muddy Roots Festival, Cookeville, TN

Linnea's Garden - "I Wanna Try On Yr Clothes"

Rising out of the ashes of PowerSlut comes Linnea's Closet, the new musical project of Linnea Herzog. Much like her previous band, "I Wanna Try On Yr Clothes" is a big rock song. It's just a huge straight up glam rocker, the kind we could all really, really use right now. The band's Bandcamp profile calls themselves "dance punk," and who are we to argue with that? Although we do find it a little bit more rock than that description would allow. It's fun, loud rock that takes itself just a little more seriously than PowerSlut did, but only a little.

According to the band: "Linnea's Garden's first recording, "I Wanna Try on Yr Clothes," is a response to the question: how can we make art when the world is shut down? The answer lies in borrowing gear from friends, bicoastal virtual collaborations, learning new skills, texts and calls, and not losing hope...oh yeah, and a little playing dress-up."

You can listen to "I Wanna Try On Yr Clothes" below. For more on Linnea's Garden, be sure to check out the artist's website.

Archers of Loaf Cover The Rolling Stones

Back in my hipster college years, if I had seen that Archers of Loaf were covering a Rolling Stones song, especially if it was a b-side, I would have assumed it was an ironic cover. Two decades later and my youthful snottiness has dissipated enough for me to recognize how great the Stones are, so I can accept Archers of Loaf covering "Street Fighting Man" for the greatness it actually is. I think the only surprise here is just how straightforward the cover is. Sure, Archers of Loaf go more 90's alternative than the original's psychedelia, but Archers of Loaf do bring some 60's style psychedelia in towards the end, just to show they can. Somehow, they even sound bigger than the Stones did, but middle aged me is completely fine with all of this.

You can listen to Archers of Loaf's cover of "Street Fighting Man" below. The song is available as a b-side to the previously released "Raleigh Days." You can get a copy here. For more on Archers of Loaf, check out their website.