Want to know the secret to discovering good music?
No, it’s not an algorithm. It’s listening to the music that musicians are listening to.
Face it, you’re a part-timer. If you’re not a musician, however nuanced you consider your critical take on Bob Dylan’s electric set at the Newport Folk Festival, or the legacy of disco, or Sammy Hagar versus David Lee Roth, or grunge’s reappropriation of punk rock or the spiritual blight of K-pop, you just don’t put as much time and energy into thinking about music as the artist vanning their gear to the next poorly paid gig. It’s an almost universal truism.
So I grant you full license to social media creep (but don’t be creepy!) some of your favorite local bands. Find out who they’re playing with, listening to, vibing on … and give them a listen.
No, not every lead is going to turn out a winner. But as a starting point for new music deep dives, it’s infinitely preferable to fishing through [quick horrified intake of breath] Spotify playlists. Why would you trust a company that steals money from musicians with curating your music taste?
With Boston Calling coming up fast, we asked three local bands performing at the festival which of the big headliners they’d love to collaborate with. Not exactly the “Who are you listening to now?” question. But have you ever asked that question? You get the worst responses. That question should stay where it belongs: college freshman orientation mixers.
The “collab” angle is more fun – it invokes creativity rather than taste signaling. Here’s some replies we got back (along with the band’s gig info for Boston Calling).
Divine Sweater (1:45 p.m. May 24, Happy Valley Red Stage): “Definitely Alvvays! They are a huge inspiration sonically and always deliver incredible songwriting on their albums. I think collaborating on a song would be the most natural project in this hypothetical. Our singer Meghan Kelleher has a vocal timbre that I think would fit naturally with their music. If not Alvvays, I would pick Blondshell for similar reasons.”
Paper Lady (5:20 p.m. May 25, Orange Stage): “One of our favorite bands, Alvvays, just got added to the lineup. We’d have to say them. I think we’d enjoy any form of collaboration with them. If we had to decide on just one endeavor, I’d say a collaborative album. It would be nice to go to a location all together (cabin, island, other planet, etc.) to write it.”
Tysk Tysk Task (2:50 p.m. May 26, Orange Stage): “We discovered Blondshell from the Boston Calling flyer and just fell in love with the project’s 2023 self-titled album, the dynamics, the heartfelt lyrics and raw emotion. We would be over the moon to collab with them someday or maybe even open for them once again when they return to Boston.”
Out of three local bands, two totally unprompted shout outs for Alvvays and two for Blondshell. Has the local scene fallen in love? Maybe you should too. The bands play back-to-back on the Allianz Blue Stage at Boston Calling on the last day of the festival. Check ’em out!
Saturday: Rock N Roll Rumble finals (Sonia, Cambridge)
The 2024 edition of the Rumble gets sorted out Saturday. “In this corner …” Gut Health brings post-hardcore mayhem run through the psych wringer. The Ghouls rock a heavy pop bounce. And the indomitable Other Brother Darryl refuses to go gentle into that good night, sailing into the finals on the wings of two wildcards and a few prayers. No three-way ties allowed. Special guest Halfcocked finds its way on the bill just for shits and giggles. Fun fact: They were the first band to sneak into the Rumble finals on a wildcard in 1999, so you know who they’re rooting for.
Sunday: Sheer Mag, Pile (Crystal Ballroom, Somerville)
Philly’s Sheer Mag tours through town to showcase their latest LP “Playing Favorites” (Third Man Records). The new album sparkles with ’70s rock textures, breezy guitar riffs, hot licks and an earful of sweet vocal harmonies on chorus. Hometown heroes and dark art rockers Pile can probably help them find a few free beds for the night. Or is Sheer Mag more of a Homewood Suites crew?
Tuesday: Tami-Fest II (Sally O’Brien’s, Somerville)
Medical-bills benefit concerts have become a regular feature of the live music landscape. You’d call the health care system broken except it’s working exactly how a for-profit operation is supposed to: America’s got great health services for the rich. For the rest of us, if a medical disaster doesn’t kill you, the bill will. Vapors of Morphine, Club d’Elf and more come out to the Union Square pub to show love and support for a cherished member of the music and nightlife community. You should too. And remember this gig the next time a local politician waxes poetic about the quality of our doctors and hospitals. The quality doesn’t mean much if you can’t use it without falling into crippling debt.
Last Friday the indie art poppers Helado Negro headlined at The Sinclair. If you didn’t know it, know this: The man behind the moniker, Roberto Carlos Lange, is a sex symbol. With a bushy head of salt-and-pepper hair and a shake of the hips at the ready, the frontman reels in some ripe fish.
And we’re not talking about teenyboppers peeing in their poodle skirts at the foot of John, Paul and George (sorry, Ringo). These are grown-ass adults launching volleys of their best high school Spanish versions of “Te quiero!” Oh, mi amor …
That’s right, there was a little Latin-sploitation in the air at Harvard Square. Hard to know what to make of it. Lange is an Ecuadorian-American who grew up in South Florida, and he makes music that speaks to his heritage and life experience, and it’s great. A devastatingly cool mélange of electro, indie pop and Latin beats that sounds custom-built for chi-chi gallery opening afterparties.
If white nightlife hipsters want to treat them as a Latin music gateway drug, let it be. Buy the new record “Phasor.” You’re going to love it.
Opener Marem Ladson was billed as a native of Madrid. Her solo acoustic six-string ballads produced a beautiful thumb-driven strum, but the rest of her fingers looked like they had never heard a Spanish guitar in their lives. What’s cultural authenticity anyway in 2024? Just as likely her index finger grew up listening to Radiohead, her middle finger Foo Fighters, her ring finger Paramore and her pinkie loved Evanescence. Shout out for rocking a little so-called Spanish lisp con distinción.
Michael Gutierrez is an author, educator, activist and editor-in-chief at Hump Day News.
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