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BARRY THOMPSON

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Give Up the Ghost roar back for a timely reunion

Growing up hardcore
It's tough to maintain unswerving matter-of-factness without boring anybody. But hardcore, at its best, manages exactly that.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | December 20, 2011

Japan's Dir En Grey find hope in a dark place

Precious metals
Back in March, the Japanese band Dir En Grey had recorded about half of what became Dum Spiro Spero, their eighth album. Then the world ended, or at least came pretty close.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | December 06, 2011

Jeremy Dubs | Speak!

The Bureau (2011)
Normally, Jeremy Dubs co-heads Bunnies, whose aural designs emanate from an alternate future of classic rock, evoking ecstatic awe and/or divine terror — a seriously crazy band.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | November 16, 2011

David Lynch | Crazy Clown Time

Sunday Best Recordings (2011)
Psychically separating Crazy Clown Time from David Lynch's peerless filmmaking legacy is sort of like guzzling Lynch's signature brand of coffee until overstimulation compels you to write Twin Peaks fan-fic erotica staring Agent Cooper and the Log Lady, and all the while telling yourself these actions do not co-relate.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | November 02, 2011

Andrew Jackson Jihad's sincere sarcasm

Righteous
Punks, frequently eager to shove a stick of self-important vainglory up their own asses, have been some of the worst offenders. But, as is usually the case with sweeping generalizations, the exceptions to this one make it look ridiculous.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | October 26, 2011

Out: Frank Black hits up Allston

Pixie gauged
Seconds into an overdue piss break, I heard a thing of beauty and relative singularity coming from the next room over.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | October 26, 2011

Lou Reed & Metallica | Lulu

Warner Bros. (2011)
"I am the table!" growls James Hetfield during the de facto chorus of "The View."

By: BARRY THOMPSON | October 25, 2011

Out: Christening and listening at Radio in Somerville

A new club choice
Radio, the embryonic house o' rock at the former Club Choices space at 379 Somerville Ave, has cricks in need of massaging. But I'm confident those will be attended to — Radio probably won't be a sweat lodge at its 200-person capacity most of the time.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | October 17, 2011

The Swaggerin' Growlers just don't give a folk

Content within brutality
Perhaps sped-up three-chord angst anthems and ugly haircuts fell out of relevance long before the kid from A Walk To Remember started singing for the Germs.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 28, 2011

The glowing musical carnival of Dark Dark Dark

Chamber made
Back when we had barely begun the long and terrible journey towards self awareness, most of us thought of darkness as something menacing and unsafe. Many of us still do.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 28, 2011

Slideshow: A year of ''Meet the Mayor''

Term limits? Those are for losers. Here are the 12 Foursquare mayors who hung onto their turf
Before I had the foggiest idea that Foursquare existed, our esteemed managing editor pitched me the idea of interviewing mayors. Following a deeply confusing 20-minute-or-so conversation, I started to understand that she wasn't asking me to interview Menino every week.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 26, 2011

Coming clean with Girls of San Francisco

Cult of personality
"Talking about drugs is very boring. It's more interesting to take them," says Christopher Owens over the phone.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 20, 2011

Blasting away the blues with Bass Drum of Death

Sound the charge
Bass Drum of Death, the cranium-clobbering garage duo-turned-trio chosen to rep the Hospitality State this year, will join Japandroids tonight (Thursday) to metaphorically Eiffel Tower a sold-out Middle East.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 14, 2011

Out: Boston loses a musical ace

Ketman a go-go bye-bye
As the book says, it is best to follow the example set by Jesus Christ himself — live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 13, 2011

The Wandas find growth in their pop evolution

Spinning the wheel
Not only does their razor-sharp pop consciousness and reverence for rock and roll classics distance them from the "hard to play/harder to listen to" prog and/or funk trappings of Berklee, site of the bands' 2002 genesis; it also makes them one of the cooler bands in town who could probably appeal to most of their fans' parents.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 07, 2011

Guillermo Sexo | Secret Wild

Girl Boy Girl Boy Records (2011)
A Boston-area quartet discovered a middle-road solution to the dilemma confronted by every band who endures past its sophomore album.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | August 30, 2011

Full Body Anchor rebuild their own alt-rock nation

Open to interpretation
The whole Full Body Anchor gang either used to, or continue to, play in keystone Boston punk and/or hardcore and/or rockabilly operations like Drago, the Marvels, the Dents, and the Raging Teens.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | August 03, 2011

How Grass Widow came to play a concert for a small group of great apes

Gorilla Theater
Gigi was in her late 30s the first time she saw a rock band play. The concert took place outside her enclosure, at 8:30 in the morning, so it wouldn't interfere with Franklin Park Zoo's usual visiting hours.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | August 04, 2011

The schizoid stronghold of Iwrestledabearonce

Metal hedge
The experts claim irony is dead, but the experts are stupid morons. Irony is an abstract concept. It was never alive, therefore cannot die.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | August 03, 2011

As he is

Kurt Vile plays it straight
For all the defiant, anguished fists we shake in the general direction of New York and Los Angeles whenever a musician becomes way more famous after they leave Boston, perhaps this city's gypsy-attracting disposition has advantages.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | July 05, 2011

North Dakota

Animal Lover
Animal Lover

By: BARRY THOMPSON | July 07, 2011

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