Portland trio Help are getting ready to release their self titled debut EP, and while the members have each spent their time in countless other bands (including Portugal. The Man), this is a new beginning. Moving away from the indie pop and psych of their past, the band lean into their punk and post-hardcore influences with urgency, like it has been waiting to spew out into the world.
Never separate an astronaut and their space dog, it’s a rule as old as time… and if it’s not, it damn well should be. Boston’s Pet Fox, the trio of Theo Hartlett (Ovlov), Morgan Luzzi (Ovlov), and Jesse Weiss (drums), understand this and they explore the great lengths one will go to be reunited with their best canine friends in their latest video.
Boston’s Derek Desharnais is best known for Sneeze and Fucko, but before either of those bands, he was releasing solo recordings under the name Before They Set Sail. Set to release his first new music in a decade via Midnight Werewolf Records, the project that began in the living rooms of NH has moved into the bedrooms and practice spaces of MA, and his latest is among his most personal efforts to date.
On Radiator Hospital's newest offering, Sings ‘Music For Daydreaming’ Cook-Parrot has gone back to his original bedroom-esque singer-songwriter roots. Everything on this release was written and performed by him, as lo-fi qualities of earlier Radiator Hospital releases have been replaced with a polished, hi-fi sensibility.
“Cold,” the single’s A-Side is a procession of textures both gentle and raw, from the warm picked intro into the deep plodding bass line. Stafford and Emily Hafner offer a gorgeous harmony, their voices a perfect pairing to sink into hazy emotional atmosphere, punctuating the pull of gravity as they sing.
Second single “Creative Industries” is a dizzying blast of stampeding rhythms, that glorious noise rock bass tone, and swarming guitars that threaten to swallow everything whole. Everything rattles together in an unholy union, building a wall of impenetrable immersion, the unhinged eye of the storm.
Set to release Trope House, their full length debut on May 31st via Wharf Cat Records, the band are using the extended running time to dig deeper and stretch further than every before into territories both strange and dare I say… accessible. If variety is the spice of life, than Trope House is one spicy album.
The duo will release Ô Reine on May 24th on a super limited run of 30 lathe cut 7” records and we’re excited to premiere the single’s a-side. Sala wrote the haunting track about her childhood friend who committed suicide at a young age and while her lyrics are sung entirely in French, the atmosphere and tonality paint the picture.
While the quartet may be far from their label’s home base in Boston, their dream-pop sound and radiantly fuzzy introspection fits right in with newfound East Coast family. The band’s press release draws comparisons to Alvvays and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and neither of those are too far of the mark.
