Cindy Latin is a terrific musician who gets her upcoming gigs and music out there on a timely basis. We critics like that! You can see Cindy Dec. 7th MIT Hacking Fest in Boston 5pm and right here in Somerville December 14th at the Aeronaut Brewery with full band in Somerville, MA. 8-11pm. Back in the 1970s when the great Melissa Manchester performed at Symphony Hall with Boston’s own Dave Finnerty and his Road Apples of “Let’s Live Together Fame” the singer got poignant. Melissa said that the quickest way to get somewhere wasn’t plane, train or car. It was a hit record. She went into a magnificent rendition of her “Midnight Blue.” IN the 80’s Melissa went funky rock with “You Should Hear How She Talks About You.” Cindy Latin takes that sophisticated pop into a different dimension drawing from her musical elements. https://tinyurl.com/cindylatinwaythati Go to Tiny URL dot com foreward slash cindylatinwaythati to hear the YouTube video.
Our Pals on Facebook.com/BlueManicMusic are playing at the new Somerville club THE JUNGLE on December 3, 2019 Their Facebook sayeth: Next shows at @thejunglecmc 12/3 with @unit.one.band and @heavy_hands_ma Come escape the snow and have beers!
The Cantab’s downstairs cellar-full-of-noise, Club Bohemia has on Friday night December 6 – presented in association with Grayskull Booking – Death Pesos, Mother Iron Horse and High n’ Heavy smack dab in the middle of Central Square, Cambridge. They call it “…a night of hellacious fuzz, bone-crushing riffs and wicked spells.” OK, festivities start at 8 PM 728 Massachusetts Avenue. NO ONE under 21 allowed. Grown-ups gotta have some fun somewhere. And on Saturday the club switches gears Dec 7, 2019 with From Dusk to Done DEEP HOUSE. Long lost Boston area musician Matty’O (Matt O’Connor) is in Memphis by way of Los Angeles so he can’t premiere his new song The Rolling Stone on his birthday (Dec 7) so let the Deep House reign and the song for Keith Richards will have to wait until Matt returns. “The Rolling Stone” is a follow-up to his underground smash “Rock Star.” Do you see a theme here?
It only took them 5 years but our pals in the group Elsewhere are finally releasing a new E.P. or Multi-CD or …well, I don’t know what to call it, but David Minehan of The Neighborhoods/The Replacements is tracking it, and it sounds exquisite. Let’s go back in time before we go track by track on the new disc or discs:
Met the lead singer/guitarist of Elsewhere, Michael Aroian, at the Model Cafe in Allston for the June 2015 edition of the Rock n Roll Social and he gave me a copy of the new E.P. created with Boston notable David Minehan of Wooly Mammoth Studio (Minehan out on tour with The Replacements at the time this essay is written, June 11, 2015.)
The disc starts off with “Multi-Man,” a highly commercial slice of what the group calls “Progressive Punk.” Perhaps ‘progressive/alternative’ is more like it as the guitar, bass and drums all combine for a driving and smart pop tune which fluctuates from the music of Sparks, King Crimson (think “21st Century Schizoid Man” on steroids,) the Romantics, Rush and much more, all put into a mixer to come up with something fresh, new and exciting. “Multi-Man” is the PICK TO CLICK on the Top 40 this month of June, 2015. The full-length that starts the CD off is 5:09, the radio edit clocks in at 4;12 and concludes the disc.
“We’ve Got a Movement” has cascading guitars to complement the revolutionary theme. With the addition of his keyboards, guitarist/singer Aroian builds a big sound, think Peter Townshend and the Who circa the Who’s Next / Lifehouse phase.
Track #3 is a live version of “Waiting Alone for a Spotlight,” the studio take on the album entitled 1981 album. Recorded Live at Ralph’s Chadwick Diner in Worcester you can hear the studio version of it on YouTube:
The material is just as strong live as Elsewhere’s studio recordings are, a consistent presentation that buzzes along in a fun and entertaining way.
Track #4 “Before the Stars Align” rocks out on the live tape, also from Ralph’s Diner More groups should consider putting the emphasis on a couple of new recordings and emphasizing material from a previous outing in a “live,” remix or out-take setting. With the glut of new music from so many artists, old and new, it’s mandatory to get a song out to as many ears as possible. Revisions of previous work gives those titles another shot at becoming a familiar favorite.
THE MIDDLE CD from Jeff and Jane Hudson
Well, one of our all-time favorite Boston bands, the Rentals, echo back to reality with their prime motivating force, techno wizards Jeff and Jane Hudson releasing THE MIDDLE, a cd which includes two re-worked Rentals classics, “Elephants” and “Gertrude Stein.” Opening with the title track, “The Middle” we encounter a forest of cosmic sounds, Jeff Hudson giving an hypnotic reading that climbs a spiral audio ladder gathered from some hidden place of inner space. “Innocent” follows – a haunting melody Jane sings as if locked in some glass prism, the synth-bassline directs as it also drives the dance beat. This music would be perfect to blend into the deep house nights at Club Bohemia in Cambridge, and would merge the underground rock with the dance music which currently play to two separate audiences. The emphatic piano stakes the claim of the song’s title.
With a thump-a-thump bassline Jane indulges Captain (Star Trek Next Generation) Jean Luc Picard’s favorite line with “Make It So,” bringing back thoughts of Boston’s November Group and its explorations of these continuous vibrations and themes. “Friday 1” is simply amazing, 3-D depth with persistence of aural vision. The guitars annunciate as the keyboards set the pace, drums rollicking along as if a human got inside the computer beat
The three minutes and fifty-three seconds of track 6 -“Up Til Now”- groove along with the proficiency we’ve come to expect from the sound research that this collaborative engage in. The vocal reads/sings the lyric in an authoritative manner, commanding to keep up with the soldier like instrumentation. With Greg Hawks going ukulele and Lord Manuel Smith exercising his creativity in an alternate reality, Jeff and Jane have the genre cornered throughout this New England region. This is synth rock meets Metropolis, touches of techno, machine shop, industrial, electronica all swirling and cascading as in the delightful “Forever.”
Get your CDs, Download cards or e mails to demodeal@yahoo.com and/or Joe Viglione /Hotline to the Underground P.O. box 2392 Woburn MA 01888 We’ll try to get your shows and reviews here time permitting.