Band In Boston

There’s not much we can say about RoHS that hasn’t been said before. Expertly-crafted pop rock tunes that are just done RIGHT. Song List: 1. Watch Me Disappear 03:00 2. Electric Eye 03:08 3. Hollow Hill 03:33 4. Descender 03:35 5. Something to Say (The Action) 03:43 6. Opal Ann 03:54 Robbers on High Street […]

The last time Israel Darling passed through town, they didn’t have time to set up the whole band, so we got a great solo performance from Jacob. This time around, we got the whole shootin’ match. Song List: 1. To New York, To Miss Marie 05:58 2. Whistling Dixie 05:46 3. Samson the Mason 04:48 […]

No flowery description for these guys – I’m running out the door. Trust us, though. This is some purdy music. We’ll make up for the crappy description with a bonus video tomorrow! Song List: 1. Water and Smoke 02:21 2. Marchers 02:35 3. Dear John 03:26 4. Spark 02:36 5. Settlement 04:21 6. St. You […]

The New Highway Hymnal certainly hits the genres you’d expect from their name – Bluesy Americana and the like – but just when you’re getting comfortable, they can mix it up with a 60s vibe, or even what could be a lost Janes Addiction track. They’re playing from New York to Maine in the next […]

Straddling that strange meeting point between prog rock, psych, post-rock and a healthy dash of good old noise, we were expecting a much bigger challenge to get them to embrace the Flophouse vibe. Luckily for everyone, they took to it quite nicely indeed. Song List: 1. Afraid of Home 01:29 2. Octopus 04:18 3. Pets […]

When you have a band made up of about-to-graduate MIT students, you can pretty much guess what they are going to sound like. Lots of computers and samplers, probably some kind of one-of-a-kind instrument made with lasers, and herky-jerky new wave music that could be called the opposite of “Americana”. And in the case of […]

After seeing a duo version of Tallahassee at the Johnny Cash tribute that we helped put together, we knew we had to get them in for a session as soon as possible. Lead singer Brian Barthelmes honed his songwriting chops as a lineman for the New England Patriots (no joke), but the soulful americana that […]

Stopping by for their third session (check out their earliers here), Brooklyn’s The Press continues to be one of those “Why doesn’t EVERYONE know about this band?” kinda bands. In our humble opinion, their brand new album, INTEOTWIJTEOAE (listen closely and you’ll know what it stands for), finally does justice to the intricate patchwork of […]

Via Audio came in, wow, over two years ago. In the meantime, they have really honed their sound (and hopefully we’ve gotten better at this whole “recording” thing). They revisit a few tunes from their first visit, and unleash a batch of new goodness. Song List: 1. Oh Bla Wee 02:41 2. Happening 04:10 3. […]

It seems like everyone’s been talking about Girlfriends lately. Just a few months into their existence, they’ve been nominated for a BMA for best garage rock band (amidst some very tough competition), and have a cross-country tour lined up that will keep them busy for every single day from July through mid-August. Yow. This Sunday, […]

Worldmap… I couldn’t come up with a way to describe them until I saw their MySpace profile, where luckily they figured it out: baroque punk. Their songs are somewhat atonal and can be nearly assaulting live, so of course they went the complete opposite direction here. Song list: 1. That’s Pejorative 02:09 2. His Penis […]

Landing the coveted (is it?) #250 spot is Boston’s own The Longwalls. A perfect blend of Americana and catchy-as-heck pop, I dare you not to find yourself singing Zombies (source of my current favorite lyric: “It’s not a social commentary when I say there’s zombies at the mall”) at some point this week. And mark […]

The winners of last year’s Happy Valley Showdown, Bunny’s a Swine is a band that loves two things: long confusing titles and playing music. And maybe booze. They also may soon be your new favorite band. They’re definitely one of ours. Song List: 1. Fuck Graph 03:11 download 2. This Place is a Meat Market, […]

Ambitious Tugboat has one last date (March 7) left in their untraditional residency at O’Brien’s pub in Allston. Instead of the usual weekday night schedule that most bands opt for, they have been playing on Sundays at 2:30, along with some excellent other locals. So go support this cool idea, would you? Song List: 1. […]

Brooklynites K.C. Quilty remind me of those heady days of the late 80s/early 90s, when MTV learned (or invented) the term “alternative music,” and it felt like music like Nirvana, The Breeders, Pavement, and so on would forever wipe away the scourge of hair metal and neo-disco. Ah, we were so innocent. K.C. Quilty shows […]

Dan Shea has been putting out some great albums through his label, Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts for quite a while. Now he steps out from behind the microphone (is that a phrase?) to lead The Needy Visions. They’re what you might expect The Kingsmen to sound like if they formed today. Since they […]

They say that everyone’s a Beatles person or a Stones person. (For the record: Andy=Beatles, Jen=Stones.) Philadelphia’s The Day Life is clearly on the Beatles side of that demarcation, but not only due to their great cover of Don’t Let Me Down (and possibly band name reference?). From some of the smoothest harmonies we’ve had […]

TAB the Band has a brand new album (Zoo Noises), and a CD release show this Saturday at the Middle East. Since their first visit to the Flophouse, their sound has really matured beyond the straight-out rock of their earlier offerings. For this session they went all acoustic and showed us a whole new side […]

We lose so many bands to NYC up hear, it’s good to see a great one go in the opposite direction. Dania and Zilpha play what they may have inadvertently labeled “folk music in space”. Sometimes a duo, sometimes, a trio, maybe occasionally a quartet, for this session they brought along sometimes-bass player Jerrick (confirming […]

From “North of Massachusetts” (Maine, to be more exact), Tiny Fires is a musical trip through a truly impressive range of influences. Featuring members of Tiger Saw, South China, Brown Bird, and a variety of other two-word-named bands, i pick up hints of The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, and, for some reason, My Bloody Valentine. […]