Samuel Kirk |
Audrey Ryan may travel a lot (see: “Road Worriers” in News + Features), but girl sometimes just needs to kick back. Where better than the Growing Center on Somerville’s Vinal Street, a lush community-run garden and site for all sorts of after-school programs, concerts, socials, and naps? To maximize summer fun before winter comes in and ruins everything for everybody, Ryan and a committee have organized the 3rd Annual Viva La Vinal Festival — a/k/a the sleeper Boston fest of the year. It’s free (not counting your generous donations, of course), open to the public, and jammed with low-key goodness. You can eye the full schedule at www.myspace.com/vivalavinalfestival. Here are some highlights.
Samuel Kirk [September 5 at 4:30 pm], “Seaside Towns”
Ryan’s Folkwit labelmate Samuel Kirk is in from Nottingham this week, patiently awaiting his chance to bust out his little banjo uke and blow local minds. At times as maudlin as the Midlands but alive with a sort of miniature exuberance, Kirk is worth seeing soon — especially at Vinal, where he’ll be joined by Boston marvel Chris Wilhelm.
The Rex Complex [September 5 at 6 pm], “Dirty Eyeball Moment”
Because flowers have the most delicate ears in the world, the majority of what will rock the Vinal festival will do so very gently. Behold the exceptions: Somerville’s the Rex Complex appear to specialize in voodoo psych-blues tantrums (with a smidge of Primus). Somebody shield the begonias.
Bridget and the Squares [September 6 at 5 pm], “Winter”As much as I love the tweeny stylings of Girl Authority (who kick off Saturday’s festivities at 4 pm), I’ll take us some Bridget and the Squares. Laura Bridget Regan’s swaying melodies and lilting, soulful voice are together a bit addictive, and here, a lament on the encroaching chill of winter positively spins with positive spin.
Thunderpants Johnson’s Hillbilly Orchestra [September, 6 at 5:45 pm], “Rag Mama”
The great thing about a band named Thunderpants Johnson’s Hillbilly Orchestra is that it seems to require no further explanation. Sure, the fact that they’re from Lowell might be interesting to throw in — but they’re called Thunderpants Johnson’s Hillbilly Orchestra. So expect jugs, washboards, kazoos, block-rockin’ washtub bass, and (sayeth the band) plenty of “shit-talking.”
Related:
Road worriers, What's love got to do with it, Fall out boys and girls, More 
- Road worriers
Right around this time 10 years ago, our van died in the desert plains of Arizona on some godless stretch of I-8.
- What's love got to do with it
"Happy Valentine's Day. That was a saint, right? St. Valentine?" mumbled Lewis & Clarke's (wasted?) frontman/sonic adventurer, Lou Rogai.
- Fall out boys and girls
Everything about that sounds worldly and intellectually satisfying, something you could say for much of what’s happening this fall on the local music front.
- To “Brooklyn” and back
Laurel Brauns shows it’s positively de rigueur to employ a harem of guest musicians in crafting an album that’s perfectly cohesive.
- New moon
They blew down our Deli Haus, plucked our Lily’s, changed our Channel, exterminated our Rat, death-rayed our Man Ray, and (uh . . . ) union-busted our Local 186.
- Yacht | See Mystery Lights
One reason DFA is the label of records people want at their party is because the folks there have a sense of humor — be it James Murphy's prolonged deadpan hipster-papa martyrdom, the Juan Maclean's unconcealed boner for shitty piano pre-sets, or the smile-while-you-dance extravagance of Hercules and Love Affair.
- It could be verse
Subtle outdo their story on ExitingARM
- The future is blight
What with all the Devendras and Bonnie Princes and Phosphorescents and wanna-Beams dragging their unruly beards around the nation lately, it's getting harder and harder to keep your post-folk dudes with guitars straight.
- On a roll
When I go bowling with bands, it’s usually to extract them from their natural habitat and place them in a controlled environment for study. In the case of my recent bowling date with Hallelujah the Hills, though, my aim was true. I just wanted to bowl.
- Boston music news: July 4, 2008
Three or so years ago, Mike Sempert up and moved to San Francisco, taking his creative moniker Birds and Batteries with him.
- Hercules and Love Affair
If anything, the rotating cast of vocalists and the Saturday-night spirit of the instrumentation are together more welcoming than anything the DFA has dropped in years.
- Less
Topics:
Download
, GIRL AUTHORITY, Audrey Ryan, Rex Complex
