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Mannequin PussyLIVE @ Sinclair, Cambridge, MA10-27-21 One of the joys of being an avid music listener is getting absolutely blindsided by a band you’ve never heard before. I try never to pay too much attention when listening to new music, which is a perfect way to let an album kick your ass out of nowhere. That was the case in 2019 withy Mannequin Pussy’s Patience. It turns out I had actually heard of them before, having seen them play the...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Young Shakespeare LP by Neil Young. One of the more interesting things that has happened since the CoVid pandemic basically put the entire North American live music schedule up on blocks for a while has been the outflow of live releases which have appeared – a cultural moment at which Neil Young has been the centre. Releases like Way Down In The Rust Bucket, Return To Greendale and Tuscaloosa have afforded...

Photos by Brittany Rose...

Photos by Brittany Rose QueenIG:...

Well, thank God for Jimmy Fallon. I know, strange way to start a live show review, huh? But, it’s related. Hear me out. Back in the day when late night television was worth watching (your John Stewarts, your David Lettermans), there was a little show called Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It had decent comedy, good guests, and great music. The Roots were the house band, after all. But, they also had some pretty amazing musical guests. The Pixies played...

The Pale Lips should be the biggest thing in punk rock right now. There’s absolutely so much to love about them: they bring the riffs, they’ve got the melodies, their songs are catchy, they sing about the things we care about (like romance and the spooky stuff) and everything about them sounds fun. They’re one of those bands that you feel glad you discovered and can’t wait to tell people about. I know for me, with it being Halloween and...

I often admit to being late to the game with a lot of bands, but I think I got into Jenny Lewis at just the right time. I had often been exposed to her whenever my wife controls the music on long drives, and I had found that it varied from powerful to uninterestingly derivative. My wife, being a huge fan, wasn’t going to miss out on a performance when Jenny Lewis came to town, and seeing that her new...

As an old school Against Me! fan, let me just say that I’m getting excited about them all over again. Particularly because they’ve recently welcomed old bassist Andrew Seward back to the lineup. This band is resembling more and more the one I fell in love with all those years ago. All they need now is the return of Warren to the lineup. Is that gonna happen? Who knows. But what I do know is that they’re playing 4 albums...

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Mike Watt, the Pedro man with the bass in his hand has nothing left to prove. He’s shown himself a musical man in the very sense of the word ever since the Minutemen and has been a formidable presence, with collaborations with everyone from Nels Cline, Kira Roessler, Iggy Pop, and Todd Congelliere. The man has had a career of making music, both as personal expression and as part of a greater whole. He has seen and been through so...