Category: Bands/Comps/Splits
Boston’s The Noise reviews Matt Fraza, Junior Varsity Arson, Sick Pills, and Deadlands in the December 2014 Issue
Deadlands – Faceless Angels
Deadlands play dangerously close to a line that would put them into the schmaltzy bar-band blues category. What saves them from that awful fate is a skill for invoking the ghost of early ZZ Top in order to bring some character to their tracks. As often as the generic “Before You Were Born” and the “Mustang Sally”-baiting “Discotex” make me want to scream, tracks like “Bottom Feeders,” “Libby Prison Blues,” and “Fink” prove that there’s much more at hand with Deadlands than Thursday-night-dive-bar status. There are glimpses of real blues-rock genius on Faceless Angels. If you queue up those stellar moments and skip past the cheese you are certain to find something to enjoy on this record.
Junior Varsity Arson – Self Titled EP
Junior Varsity Arson is the musical project of four long-time New England rock stalwarts, Guy Benoit (Thee Hydrogen Terrors), Kraig Jordan (The Masons), Dave Narcizo (Throwing Muses), and Don Sanders (Medicine Ball, The Masons). What do you get when you throw these four guys in a room together? Not exactly what you would expect. Instead of heavy art punk, you’ll find something more akin to Devo or They Might Be Giants, as spoken/ sung by an odd combination of the guy from Cake and William S. Burroughs. If you have any taste at all you will agree that this is an oddly appealing recipe. The five songs that comprise JVA’s self-titled, debut EP roll by like some strange beat poet’s LSD-induced hallucination. “Her Parents Love Me” starts off quirkily with, “Her parents love me/ I’m such a big improvement/ over the white supremacist. Her parents hated him/ He ruined every holiday,” and continues on with a strange, American gothic love story. “Brown Jacket and Purple Keds” is a song about… actually, I have no idea what this song is about. There are references to shopping at Target, a museum, a Volvo, and shit-stains on the floor. I have to admit that I lost the story line pretty quickly. And so it goes for another three tracks of stream-of-consciousness lyrics spoken and sung over kitschy keyboards, guitars, and drums. Junior Varsity Arson’s debut sounds spontaneous—like a gang of accomplished musicians getting together on a Saturday night, simply enjoying playing together, all wondering what will come out on the other side. Thankfully, what came out the other side is utterly entertaining.
Matt Fraza – Let Trouble Go
As I’m driving down Storrow Drive one fall morning, I slide Matt Fraza’s new album into my player. The opening track is mellow folk melody that puts me in mind of a quiet house concert with a cup of coffee in hand, resting on a couch and surrounded by friends. It’s familiar, relaxing, like a stroll down the quiet roads I grew up on. Much of the lyrics lack a regular format, and have a more stream of consciousness feel to them, reinforcing the casual feeling I get when listening to songs like “Forever.” At first I was a little put off by this, but on the second third runs through the album, I think I get it—Matt, Kraig Jordan (bass, lead guitar), and Tom Chace (drums, keyboards, vocals, bass) have some stories they want to share, and it’s about the telling of the tale, not making sure it fits into a certain mold.
Sick Pills – Sickening
Classic-era punk, particularly of the UK variety, presented us with a lively alternative to bloated arena rock, and the best of its purveyors, particularly the Buzzcocks and The Jam, also offered up some pretty snappy tunes to go with the attitude. This propensity carried forth into the so-called college rock of the ’80s (aka indie rock), and we find plenty of that attitude and tunefulness here, particularly on the opening track, “Wormfood.” But the same opening gambit tropes which seemed so refreshing and new a generation ago have now become cliches: telepathic guitar lines; anti-love songs; stop and start dynamics; brawly Pistols-like chaos; sludgy intros; machine-gun staccato; cinematic whangdoodle; abrasive textures; pounding clamor; grudging grindoramas; feedback-laden echoplex tunings, and so forth. No bad, all in all—just lacking in anything genuinely novel.
Till the Dirt, Plant the Home, Watch it Grow
75OL-198 Various – Till the Dirt, Plant the Home, Watch it Grow CD
[sold out]
Limited to two copies per customer. Compilations are printed on a white or brown colored jacket with various ink colors. There will NOT be a digital release for this compilation. All tracks are exclusive to this release.
Track Listing
1. Allysen Callery – Tuesday Morning
2. Gravenhurst – There are No Claims on You
3. Haunt the House – Jesus Christ
4. Joe Fletcher – Say What You Will (acoustic demo)
5. What Cheer? Brigade – Iahabibi
6. Alec K. Redfearn & the Eyesores – Tramadoliday
7. The Kitchen Cynics – Make of Me Your Mask
8. Kid Dakota – Phantom pain (alternate acoustic version)
9. JOHN 3:16 – The Fountain of Life
10. Brown Bird – Winter
11. Dreamend – If Only for a Day (piano demo)
12. Dan Baker – Crazy Broad
13. Dan Blakeslee – Begone Sadness
14. I Love You & I Miss You with Sharron Kraus – Hope
15. Will Sheff – A Girl in Port (alternate version)
16. Swearing at Motorists – Time and Distance (alternate acoustic version)
17. The Iditarod – Sparrow
18. Six Star General – Christopher Walken (Dinner Dog Mix)
19. The Sentimental Favorites – Gravestones
20. Noel the Coward – Darwinian
“Originally created as part of the “Hold Down the Fort“ campaign, this album collects tracks unique to this release by artists I have worked with over the years. Made available exclusively through 75orLess Records, who also inhabit space in Fort Foreclosure.” – William Schaff
Campaign supporters will receive copies featuring unique hand-painted stencils, while the versions purchased through the label website are limited to a one color print on either white or brown jackets. See below for some examples of one vs. two color prints.
Bob Kendall and Haunt the House at the Commonfence Point
also with The Rusty Pickup String Band, and EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks family band
6:30 pm
$20 advance / $23 door
Commonfence Point
Portsmouth, RI
The Uncomfortables at The 13th Floor
with The Humanoids, Dead Empires, Problem with Dragons, and Set
13th Floor Music Lounge
99 Main Street
Florence, Mass
9pm
Mark Cutler and Forever Young at Sandywoods Center for the Arts
Sandywoods Center for the Arts
Tiverton, RI
8pm
The McGunks at Jimmy’s Saloon
with The O’Tooles and Really Bad Religion
Jimmy’s Saloon
Memorial Blvd.
Newport, RI
9pm
Mark Cutler and The Men of Great Courage at the Greenwich Hotel
Greenwich Hotel
Main Street
East Greenwich, RI
8pm
Haunt the House at The Bucket Brewery
6-9pm
100 Carver Street
Pawtucket, RI 02860
$15 admission
Allysen Callery at Fort Foreclosure
with Vudu Sister
Fort Foreclosure
Warren, RI
7pm
Jacob Haller at Hudson Valley Resort & Spa
Line Up and Times –
11:50 Bruce McDermott
12:00 Dan Faith
12:10 Lara Herscovitch
12:20 Rick Gottlieb
12:30 Jacob Haller
12:40 Kim Jennings
12:50 Dan Tappan
1:00 Mike Laureanno
1:10 Kristen Graves
1:20 Terry Kitchen
1:30 Chuck Williams
1:40 Beth De Sombre
1:50 Chris Lavencher
2:00 Marc Douglas Berardo
2:10 Davey Ostrowski
2:20 Folkapotomus
2:30 Hugh Doherty
NERFA / Hudson Valley Resort & Spa
400 Granite Road
Kerhonkson, NY 12446