READY TO BREAK: With Shiver Me Starships, the Hush Now should finally get some home-town love. |
Fall is always the best time of year in Boston. From the tree leaves to the reprieve from summer heat to the armies of new students, there's a feeling of change in the crisp autumn air. And part of that change involves Boston's ever-evolving sonic template. These eight new aural offerings from around the 617 should continue to reshape the city's music pulse:
ALOUD | September 23 | Keeping with the times, Boston riff-raging quartet Aloud enlisted the help of Kickstarter to fund their third studio album, Exile. With the charitable help of 98 backers, Aloud ringleaders Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain achieved their $5000 donation goal in early August, giving birth to Exile and providing us with the kind of sharp, literary-minded rock passion we've come to expect from scene veterans who have little time for trends. | Church, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston | $10 | 617.236.7600 or churchofboston.com
CORALCOLA | September 28 | If Dom recolored Worcester in a glorious spectrum of bliss-pop hues, then Coralcola have set out to pixelate them in trippy, ambient electronic drones. The solo project from Wormtown's Mikey Lee drops his follow-up to the Egggirl EP in cassette form off Moss Archive. Pure Doods is a 21-minute haze of post-summer stoner techno, a marriage of Roland Juno 60 and multi-FX pedal that builds on Lee's penchant for unpredictable sonic space travel. It's limited to 100 copies, so tune in before the fade. | Wonderbar, 186 Harvard Ave, Allston | $5 | 617.351.2665 or wonderbarboston.com
LOVE IN STOCKHOLM | October 1 | A few years ago, Love in Stockholm defended their home turf with a smoky, funk-fusion groove beast titled "Allston." Now the sextet continue to keep it real in Rock City by dropping their debut full-length, A King's Ransom, at Harpers Ferry. Recorded in part at Waltham's Woolly Mammoth Sound, the fan-funded album takes on a stronger classic-rock feel, but the band's continuing allegiance to their signature horn work proves they haven't abandoned their funk-pop edge. | Harpers Ferry, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston | $10 | 617.254.9743 or harpersferryboston.com
THE HUSH NOW | October 2 | When the Hush Now self-released their sophomore album, Constellations, earlier this year, more people seemed to notice it outside the I-495 belt (Chicago, San Francisco) than inside. New EP Shiver Me Starships — available as a free download after September 28 — should change all that. Few bands can so effortlessly bounce from the magnetic chambers of glossy indie pop to a free-falling trip down a shoegaze hole. And in a city traditionally mad for melodic, atmospheric indie rock, the Hush Now should soon scream loudly on both sides of the river. They celebrate the EP's release at Mad Oak Studios, where it was mixed by Motherboar's Benny Grotto. | Mad Oak Studios, 28 Rugg Road, Allston | Tickets TBA | 617.787.3218 or myspace.com/madoak