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liz pelly

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Out: Birthdays and Little Spoon rep Boston at Brooklyn FMLY Fest

Family values
Last year, when I spoke to Sammy Yager a/k/a Birthdays for the Phoenix about FMLY (an international socially-conscious artist collective he is involved with), he said the differences between FMLY fests and his typical Boston shows was "like comparing being at the best bar mitzvah ever with all of your friends to being in a bar by yourself."

By: LIZ PELLY | July 03, 2012

Friends | Manifest!

Fat Possum
With their debut full-length, Brooklyn pop quintet Friends have released the best pop album of the summer.

By: LIZ PELLY | July 03, 2012

The righteousness of Japandroids

House that rock built
The same week I first heard Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl), the new sophomore LP by Canadian rock duo Japandroids, I bought a plane ticket to Spain.

By: LIZ PELLY | June 22, 2012

Surveying the scene at Primavera Sound

Reign in Spain
Visiting Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona felt like a sometimes-surreal glimpse into an indie rock myth: the breezy stages surrounded by the Mediterranean sea, dreamy pop bands playing at sunset, hip European music geeks speaking all different languages, late-night punk and electronic sets raging until 5 am.

By: LIZ PELLY | June 15, 2012

Equal Exchange finds a new way to sell its Joe on the go

Caffeine Kickstand
For mid-afternoon ice-coffee pick-me-ups this summer, Bostonians frequenting the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Copley Square, and Charles Street/Massachusetts General Hospital neighborhoods need not head to Starbucks. Instead, they can look for mini-cafés on wheels, carted around by local coffee company Equal Exchange — on oversize tricycles.

By: LIZ PELLY | June 01, 2012

Blurring gender lines with Speedy Ortiz

Punk poetry
During a recent Allston basement show performance with her loud, grungy pop band Speedy Ortiz, Sarah Dupuis found herself surprised.

By: LIZ PELLY | May 23, 2012

Homegrown trans rocker Evan Greer keeps her music political

Mother knows best
Last month, when Tommy Gabel of Against Me! announced via Rolling Stone that she's transgender (and will now go by Laura Jane Grace), I immediately wondered what Evan Greer might be thinking.

By: LIZ PELLY | May 23, 2012

Total Bummer Fest and the quest for a local scene

The coolest summer camp ever
In the corner of an enormous warehouse in the Winter Park neighborhood of Orlando, Florida, 40 or so kids are sitting on the floor in a semicircle, cross-legged.

By: LIZ PELLY | May 18, 2012

The Florida rapper shows her Pryde

Hello Kitty
Kitty Pryde is a teen rapper from Daytona, Florida.

By: LIZ PELLY | May 16, 2012

Josh Zisson fights for your bike rights

Two-Wheeled Justice
Bike lawyer Josh Zisson started printing up pocket-size "Bicyclist's Accident Report" cards last October in Cambridge.

By: LIZ PELLY | May 10, 2012

Out: Posi vibes down in Florida with Mutual Benefit, Little Spoon and dozens of others

Total Bummer Fest
After visiting Orlando in March while on tour with Quilt, I was so inspired by the vibrancy of the town's burgeoning DIY music community that I decided to return for Florida's annual festival, Total Bummer.

By: LIZ PELLY | May 08, 2012

Occupy buries capitalism

Rest in pieces
Seattle Occupiers threw bricks through windows. Oakland anarchists got tear-gassed. Chicago protesters shut down five Bank of Americas.

By: | May 02, 2012

As financial gatekeepers dissolve, can the musical middle class thrive?

Money for nothing
Finally, the record industry is crumbling. Selling records is no longer a sound way to make a living.

By: LIZ PELLY | April 18, 2012

Out: Shark?, Speedy Ortiz, Life Size Maps, and Earthquake Party make a sweaty good time

House bands
Every underground scene has its "house bands" — local favorites that play tirelessly, fill slots on stacked line-ups every weekend, and amass a dedicated following of fans and friends in their scenes.

By: LIZ PELLY | April 20, 2012

BU's bad joke

April Fools
In the April Fool's Day issue of Boston University's Daily Free Press, sorority girls get roofied and raped, one female student gets "gang-banged" by an entire fraternity, and a hockey player gets arrested for walking around with his pants down.

By: LIZ PELLY | April 04, 2012

Enjoying Friends with benefits

Radical vibes
When I first came upon the video for "I'm His Girl" by the Brooklyn pop quintet Friends, my mind had already been stuck on the idea of liberation for the better part of a week.

By: LIZ PELLY | April 02, 2012

Lessons from Captured Tracks at SXSW

On and off Sixth Street
For those going to SXSW to discover young artists at the beginnings of their careers, the epicenter of the megafest has moved.

By: LIZ PELLY | March 21, 2012

Smash It Dead Fest goes after rape culture

No joke
Smash It Dead Fest happens this weekend in Allston and Cambridge, with three days of punk shows and feminist workshops to raise funds for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.

By: LIZ PELLY | March 21, 2012

The Men | Open Your Heart

Sacred Bones (2011)
The Men — a four-piece post-punk band that began playing Brooklyn basements and national self-booked tours in 2008 — have accomplished a feat.

By: LIZ PELLY | March 21, 2012

Nite Jewel | One Second of Love

Secretly Canadian (2012)
Los Angeles songstress Ramona Gonzalez began home-recording dark dance music in 2008, attracting the attention of blogspots and boutique labels with her soulful voice, lo-fi post-disco beats, and distinct sense of weirdo minimalism.

By: LIZ PELLY | March 06, 2012

Ava Luna | Ice Level

Infinite Best (2011)
Ava Luna is an experiment in off-kilter pop songcraft that melds R&B, soul, and synth-funk into an unusual shade of noisy post-punk gold.

By: LIZ PELLY | February 28, 2012