The first day of fall is officially behind us, so we’ve officially entered the spooky season. Time to start planning the Halloween parties, where costumes are strongly encouraged. (In other words, costume required.)
The local music scene always plays a little dress-up as well. Bills full of bands masquerading as other bands have become an entertainment staple of the Halloween music calendar. This year Once presents a haunted Skalloween at The Rockwell with five bands playing cover sets of their favorite ska or “ska-tified” artists.
Skaleton Crew will appear as Skank Against The Machine; Battlemode as Limp Bizkit; Pink Slip as Less Than Jake; The New Limits as The Interrupters; and Please Excuse My Enemies as Streetlight Manifesto.
I reached out to the bands for comment on their “costume” choices. Skaleton Crew reported that a few band members were already Rage Against the Machine fans, “but the pun sealed the deal.” What’s the saying about death and taxes? Add “ska music’s love for puns” to that short list.
The New Limits replied: “We take advantage of every opportunity to celebrate the groundbreaking women of ska. And Limp Bizkit was taken.”
And what about Limp Bizkit? For chiptuners Battlemode, a band that Dursts together, stays together: “Battlemode’s members have varied backgrounds. Biff is from snooty Concord, MA (the home of history), Astro is from a fishing industry city, New Bedford, and Sam is from an isolated nature area, Lebanon, ME. We 3 bonded over chiptune, but otherwise, it’s hard to find common ground. Limp Bizkit is a rare common denominator between us.”
There you have it. Skalloween has sold out the past two years, so get on this one fast. Dress ska-ppropriately.
Hit this
Sunday: Mark Battles, Cam Mac, DaBwoi Fane, YZ The Wave (Middle East, Cambridge)
Straight outta Indianapolis, rapper Mark Battles tours his latest album “Do Not Disturb” through The Middle East Upstairs. Whether it’s upstairs, downstairs or the People Under the Stairs, the Central Square spot has been a home for hip-hop as long as anyone except the Sater brothers can remember. The legacy continues with Battles, joined by Cam Mac, DaBwoi Fane and YZ The Wave. An extra $35 gets you a meet and greet. Which has to be awkward as hell, right? Expect new school attitude, drill beats and a little bit of autotune.
Monday: Death From Above 1979, Teen Mortgage (The Sinclair, Cambridge)
Death From Above 1979 is hitting the road to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their dance punk breakthrough album “You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine.” Everyone’s getting in on the anniversary trend – why not a noisy electro hardcore band out of Toronto too? The album dropped the same year that the band changed its name from “Death From Above” to “Death From Above 1979.” So the story goes, the band received a cease-and-desist letter from James Murphy, the LCD Soundsystem guy, who didn’t appreciate their nominal proximity to his Death From Above Records. The band tried to revert to its original name in 2017 when they thought the coast was clear. But here they are touring through The Sinclair as Death From Above 1979, so I guess the coast wasn’t clear enough.
Wednesday: Under the Rug, Basic Printer (The Rockwell, Somerville)
There’s a Southern lilt to Under The Rug’s style of indie pop, which stands to reason, because the trio of music makers is based in Austin, Texas. You hear it in the bluesy, velvet smooth guitar tone from their song “Lonesome & Mad.” You hear it in the lyrical balladeering of “As Long As You’re Here,” which plants its flag a stone’s throw from country radio. And you’ll hear it in the theater beneath Davis Square when the band plays there Wednesday. Opening act Basic Printer, on the other hand, is from Nashville, Tennessee, and their experimental synth pop doesn’t sound like it’s ever set a single foot inside the Grand Ole Opry. Go figure.
Live: Claire Rousay at Middle East
Ambient and experimental popper Claire Rousay performed Sunday at The Middle East Upstairs. The Los Angeles artist played solo, guitar in hand, mixing analog and digital styles, found samples and live instrumentation, to reproduce the moody, broody and sometimes transcendent pop experimentalism of her latest album “sentiment.”
The planning for a fall tour through Boston came together last spring. In fact, Rousay reached out via Twitter in May for recommendations about local supporting acts: “boston ppl who make weird pop and would wanna play a show with yours truly ? recs?” Quick aside: Remember when Twitter was a fun place to crowdsource info from strangers, instead of just a cesspool of lunatic hate?
Rousay did get some good replies, including one shoutout from @everydejavu for electro popper Lavagxrl.
Now, Lavagxrl is an artist on the indie local record label EveryDejaVu, so someone’s thumb was on the scale with that recommendation. Though credit the label with looking out for its artists, dropping a 30-second music video excerpt of an auto-tuned Lavagxrl, wearing angel wings and “metal face jewelry,” ice skating backward in a smoke-filled rink. Weird? Check. Pop? Check.
Jude Ivy also dropped in for an opening slot. The pop punkers were a little bit of a stretch, genre-wise, but variety is the spice of underground music, DIY shows and your grandmother’s mincemeat pies. Grab a fork and dig in.
Michael Gutierrez is an author, educator, activist and editor-in-chief at Hump Day News.
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