UNLIKELY PAIRING Kate Schrock and Todd “the Rocket” Richard. |
It can’t be fall yet. There are still so many great summer releases to get to. As the local music scene continues to grow, it shouldn’t be surprising that this past summer was the most active we’ve ever seen in terms of album releases. Despite best efforts, this space was unable to review the following discs: Merritt Turner, Red Brick City; Elf Princess Gets a Harley, Only Animals Eat Animals; Amy Allen, Honey; Fi, Dream in Color; Sorcha, Laughing and Lamenting; The Element, Compounds: Light Side Dark; Wyatt King & the Sex Machines, Rock n Roll Salvation; Guy Capecelatro III, The Silence of Our Predicament; Dustin Beyette, Change; Aaron Lee Marshall Band, Take It and Like It; Stationeightyfive, Hoka Hey!; the Colwell Brothers, New Shoes — Old Blues; Kyla Morse, Laughing About Nothing; and there were certainly more.It’s really no longer possible to keep up.
However, should you wish to give it a go, here’s what’s coming up this fall:
SEPTEMBER 17 For those of you missing Ogre, welcome to Dementia Five, debuting tonight and featuring Ogre’s Will Broadbent and Ross Markonish, along with Peri Broadbent (of Hatchetface and the Vipers), Jim Morrissey (of Isobell), and Katie Gilchrest (of Arcane Lore). While they’re not planning on going the prog-metal route Ogre traveled, Dementia Five should still please those who like a throwback, with nods to Free, the Stooges, and Deep Purple.
SEPTEMBER 18 D. Gross, part of Portland’s old-timey revolution with Sam James, Over a Cardboard Sea, and plenty of others, releases his new all-original full-length today with a gig at One Longfellow that’ll also feature Dan Blakeslee and inflightsafety. We Left the Roadside is a nice piece of acoustic music with a few surprises for those expecting just a standard ode to early-American music. Sure, there’s some Delta blues and Dixie, but there’s also a cool piece with Amos Libby on tabla, “Hummingbird,” which is plenty modern (and sort of frantic), and “Sunset Mountain” is as good as anything on the Good Old War or Avett Brothers discs for contemporary Americana. The syrupy “Family,” as classically twanged-out country as anything Portland’s seen this year, is probably the best song here, but I otherwise like it better when Gross picks up the pace.
SEPTEMBER 21 Finally. Seekonk’s terrifically sublime Pinkwood 2 will be released on CD today for the first time. Released only as a limited run of 100 LPs the first time around, in 2008, this album features a world-class line-up — Sarah Ramey, Dave Noyes, Chris Burns, Jason Ingalls, Todd Hutchison, and Patrick Corrigan — that is burned indelibly into our local music scene. Good for Seacoast label Burst & Bloom (also with Wesley Allen Hartley) for making it happen.
OCTOBER 1 Back before it was Spose, it was Poverty for a little while. And now Poverty’s back in town, this time as Thommy, with a new single produced by Rustic Overtones’ Dave Gutter, released today. A nice piece of pop-hop, it’s got a catchy chorus and an interesting collection of chiming synths to back step-dad tales and nostalgic lyrics like, “I wanna stick a giant spoon in the Skippy jar.” Look for a full-length by December.
