Category: Reviews
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Review by Michael McCarthy Photos by Joshua Bernard (and may not be used elsewhere without permission) Before I get into my review of Ghost’s show at the House of Blues in Boston this past Monday on September 28th, I must praise their opening act, a band called Purson, who hail from London, England. I’d looked…
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Dirty Bangs opened the festival on Sunday, but I missed them because the trains from Lowell to Boston only run every two hours on the weekend. (You’d think they would at least run as often as weekdays with people going into Boston for sporting events, concerts, and other leisure activities on the weekends, but, nope.) I…
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If you miss the days of ’90’s club music, you’re going to rejoice when you hear this one. Massive, jumpy beats that call to mind old school techno merge with trip-hop percussion on speed; it’s an audible Frankenstein’s monster, comprised of the best bits of so many things that were previously alive, died, and have…
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Looking around at Boston Calling on Saturday, I found myself in awe of how much work goes into making the festival happen. Never mind hiring the artists and determining who’ll play which slots, just erecting the two stages and everything else that has to be assembled to turn City Hall Plaza from a wide open…
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Boston Calling kicked off its sixth edition of the three day, 23 artists festival last night at City Hall Plaza and it was spectacular. People were calling it “folk night,” since the line up consisted of Gregory Alan Isakov, Of Monsters and Men, who performed at the inaugural BC during May 2013, and The Avett Brothers, who…
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Erik Hassle does his best Michael Jackson impersonation on his new song, “Natural Born Lovers,” which is a sweet mix of R&B and synth pop. “Natural born lovers never die,” he sings in a most sultry manner, making your internal temperature rise. Boy, is this a hot one.
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I was born in ’70’s and grew up in the ’80’s with a fondness for synthy pop like the Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and so many others. Practically every song on the radio relied heavily on sythesizers. It was wonderful. Even when my beloved heavy metal bands (now called hair metal) came along,…
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PHASES. Remember that name. Because, simply put, they’re the best new synthy pop band to come along since CHVRCHES. In fact, they’re easily as brilliant as CHVRCHES. No kidding or exaggerating. Perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise, though, being that they’re essentially a supergroup, as three of their members have previously found fame elsewhere. First…
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Ellie just keeps getting better, doesn’t she? Best of all, she never writes the same song twice, unlike many “pop stars.” I put that in quotes because Ellie isn’t exactly your typical pop star. She doesn’t hire 12 writers to come spend a weekend writing songs for her when it comes time to make a…
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Singer/songwriter Angéline was originally from Loire Atlantique in France but is now based out of London, which is where she earned her music degree. Although most of her songs are now in English, there’s clearly a French folk music influence to her sound. Additionally, she’d just visited Cuba — she loves Salsa dancing — and…
