Band In Boston

For a bunch of Northerners (as far as we know), Dressing the Debutantes would be right at home on a rickety porch overlooking a swamp. With a vocal style reminiscent of John McCauley from Deer Tick, Chris Hutchison-Jones and company deliver a mix of southern-tinged ballads and boot-stomping testimonies. If these 11 songs aren’t enough […]

Here’s how to make your band hard to pigeonhole: do a cover of a Zombies song and a Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass tune. Mix it with equal parts Elvis Costello, Squeeze, and throw in a pinch or two of Pavement, perhaps a little Built to Spill, and you’ve got yourself Boston’s own The […]

We switched around our mic setup the day before The Accident That Led Me To The World came in, and what good timing it was. This may be the prettiest sounding thing we’ve ever put out, if I do say so myself. TATLMTTW call themselves a folk band, but we think that may be selling […]

Philly doesn’t seem to provide an overwhelming number of bands, or perhaps they’re protective of their local talent. But the ones we do hear of tend to be worth noting – Dr. Dog, The Teeth, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, to name just a few. Add to that list Drink Up Buttercup. They put on […]

Bird & Flower from Columbus Ohio is your basic three piece folk band – banjo, ukulele, harmonium, glockenspiel, keytar… Wait, keytar? Yup. Much like the occasional inclusion of an instrument you would never expect, their songs have a freshness and an honest-to-god groove that makes them a lot more than your typical folk group. They […]

Boston’s own Antiques, back again! Antiques online Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole thing:

Merry Christmas everyone. Here’s a live version of Silent Night, performed by Tulsa at the Middle East downstairs on December 17, 2009!

Cambridge’s Thick as Thieves are a diverse pack of musicians. Actually, it’s a bit difficult to describe what they do, musically. Sometimes T. Rex, sometimes Television, but never boring. And they seem just as comfortable playing a song full-out on stage, or much more intimately, like here in our living room. Thick as Thieves online […]

We had so much fun the first time our favorite Texans came in that we made sure they paid us another visit. Here’s another batch of wonderful tunes! The O’s on Myspace Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole thing:

Israel Darling is another great band from North Carolina – Greensboro, to be exact. Their songs tend to start with a folky melody, and then they add layer after layer of goodness. Today, Jacob takes it all back down to the bare bones. Israel Darling online Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole […]

When The Dead Trees did their first session (Mike solo), they were a Boston band. When they did their second session, they were a Portland (Oregon) band. These days, they are based out of LA, and in the intervening years have toured with Little Joy and Albert Hammond Jr.. They treated us to an all-too-short […]

Even at the comparatively church-quiet volume levels that they were forced to play at in our living room, Thick Shakes manage to make a lot of noise wherever they play. A perfect soundtrack to a grindhouse flick about illegal car racing. This was also a fun one for me to mix. Hopefully my attempt to […]

The Mumlers are the perfect example of our ideal session. An incredibly talented 6-piece from San Jose, they mix big soulful sounds reminiscent of Otis Redding or Sam Cook (with a horn section to match – there are two more of them out of frame in the other room above) with a touch of that […]

The Jack Stafford Foundation is really just Jack Stafford, a man with no fixed address. Originally from the UK, he is now based out of Amsterdam, but one look at his tour schedule makes it clear that he is a man that doesn’t stand still for long. With an album devoted to ex-loves, an album […]

Young Mammals stopped in on Andy’s birthday, all the way from Houston. Angly, hard driving indie pop. Good stuff. Young Mammals on MySpace Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole thing:

This marks Eldridge Rodrigues of The Beatings’  6th visit to the Flophouse: once before with The Beatings, three times with his “solo” project, and once with E Adams. We are told to keep him posted if anyone approaches his record. Speaking of records, The Beatings’ Late Season Kids is certainly one of our best albums […]

Heavy Hometown came to our hometown (their hometowns are spread between Louisville and Indianapolis) to treat us to 11 wonderful slices of hooky lo-fi cake. Wow, my metaphors are really getting strained. Just listen, you’re going to love it. Heavy Hometown on the web Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole thing:

In homage to today’s sort-of-kind-of first snow of the winter, we present Boston’s The Points North. Their songs are the musical equivalent of a Robert Frost poem. Throw a log on the fire and contemplate life’s meaning with us. The Points North on Myspace Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole thing:

There are certain bands that we will have stop by every time they’re in town. Low Red Land is just such a band. Check out their first two sessions as well! Low Red Land online Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole thing:

Oops, we forgot to take photos when Sleeping in the Aviary visited from their home base somewhere near Minneapolis. We’ll just let that add to the mystique. And now that I’ve looked at their website, my brain has ceased functioning. Download individual tracks here, or listen to the whole thing: