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Various artists | Winter Is Cold

Self-released (2009)
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  April 9, 2009
4.0 4.0 Stars

090410_Winter_m

As easy as it is to get caught up in the teeming swirl of our ever-generous local rock scene, it's just as easy to fall right out of the loop. Sleep on what's new in this town for even a few months and you could end up in a world of MySpace pain trying to catch up.

Nuts to that!, comes the proverbial cry from Clawjob confreres Mike Gintz and Nick Burgess, who have painstakingly assembled no fewer than 20 of the best bands currently trying to park their sketchy-looking vans around Boston. Rather than slap together a heap of quickie practice tapes, B-sides in search of A-sides, or tossed-off experiments of the sort that so often drift toward comps like this, they guide Winter Is Cold with a sharp, curatorial touch, and each song comes off like a proper ambassador of Boston's dozens of creative clusters.

Old dogs (Helms, Neptune, Ho-Ag) bust out thrilling new tricks; younger sprouts (Summerduck, Night Driving, the Measuremen) give promising signs of the variety (and tinnitus) to come. The offerings from Thunderhole, Piles, Tristan da Cunha, and Magic People glow with our town's enduring fondness for skronk and scratch; meanwhile, tender two-pieces like Brutal Love Masters and Dr. and Mrs. Van Der Trampp show a softer side more fitting to the comp's hibernatory origins. With its panoramic snapshot of this particular moment in Boston's noisier quarters, Winter Is Cold is far more than a sampler — it could very well be a staple.

Available at local shows and select shops and cafés, or digitally at www.everybodywantsaholodeck.com/winter_is_cold

Editor's Note: In a previous version of this article, the album was noted as being released on Rough Trade records when there is actually no formal label associated with the release. The correction has been made above.

Related: Hot love, Words as music, Photos: Election night at Copley, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Boston, Piles, Piles,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY MICHAEL BRODEUR
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  •   TREAT OF VERSAILLES  |  December 02, 2009
    It's been a good year: their relentlessly catchy Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2) — whisked into the public ear this year atop Cadillacs via ad-ready singles like "1901" and "Lisztomania" — is about to cause some year-end listomania of its own. Since its release, they've been circling the globe playing to a steadily swelling audience.
  •   JULIANNA BARWICK | FLORINE  |  December 02, 2009
    When someone describes an album as “hmmm, I dunno, sort of like Enya if she were from Brooklyn” — that person is not setting you up for success with said album.
  •   SING YOUR LIFE  |  November 24, 2009
    Charles Spearin's Happiness Project — to be performed this Friday at the Middle East Downstairs as part of a trio of Torontonian acts — was originally just that: a project.
  •   A BAND, A PART  |  November 24, 2009
    My lingering qualms with Devendra Banhart's new album have very little to do with its substance and more to do with its consistency, a quality that throughout What Will We Be? seems present only in its glaring absence.
  •   HEATHER WOODS BRODERICK | FROM THE GROUND  |  November 17, 2009
    Let not the minimalist packaging of Heather Woods Broderick’s From the Ground mislead you into assuming it’s some sort of heady ambient work that you’ll get around to next time you’re cleaning — as happened to me.

 See all articles by: MICHAEL BRODEUR

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