Selected Sounds: 5 Concerts to Catch As Summer Winds Down

From free outdoor concerts across the city to late night booze cruises around the harbor, summer undoubtedly brings out the best in the Boston music community. Despite this blistering heat wave, the season is indeed starting to wind down and before we know it the army of U-Haul trucks will be lining the city streets yet again. So why not curb your end-of-summer blues with a concert suggested by members of our team? This edition of Selected Sounds includes upcoming local acts like Dent, Oh Malô, and one of our favorites, Ripe.

But before we begin, we at Sound of Boston would like to invite you to our three year birthday celebration! Sound of Boston Presents: Listen Local will take place this Thursday, August 18th, at Brighton Music Hall and will feature some of our favorite funk and soul acts from the Boston area. For more details, check out the Facebook event and purchase tickets here. We hope to see you there!

Friday, August 19th, 2016

Boston Fuzzstival 2016 at The Middle East Downstairs – Selected by Emily

The lineup for this year’s annual Boston Fuzzstival, hosted by the locally-focused collective, Illegally Blind, features some of the wackiest hidden gems in Boston’s underground music scene. As 30 bands play in two nights, the Middle East Downstairs will be teeming with energy. Friday looks like the preferred night with a lineup including Dent, a garage punk band with a kickass female vocalist (who has been known to wear fake blood on her face when she performs). Eyeballs, their most recent album, is a witchy balance of ethereal singing and ear-splitting screams that could satisfy any headbanger’s expectations.

Friday, August 26th, 2016

Oh Malô at Great Scott – Selected by Knar

Locals indie rockers Oh Malô released their debut full-length this year with a cover that’s as beautiful as the music it contains; the explosion of colorful dust of As We Were is an accurate representation of the diverse, energetic and textured sounds that Oh Malô produce. The band recently got some airplay over on the West coast at KEXP, Seattle’s NPR-affiliated station, and we named their EPs one of the best local releases of last year. Really, we can’t think of a reason not to see them.

PWR BTTM at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion – Selected by Noah

Queer punk duo PWR BTTM eschews more than just vowels, but also most conventions of punk rock performance. Their subversive take on rock n’ roll sexuality – performing in drag and glitter while adding a consciously queer story-telling voice to contemporary punk – is a welcome addition to a deeply political genre historically dominated by straight men. On first listen, there isn’t much new about their sound. The I-IV-V chord progression of “Ugly Cherries” is perhaps the oldest proto-punk cliché and “Serving Goffman” is more than reminiscent of Minor Threat’s “I Don’t Want to Hear It.” Still, their lively performances and new story-telling voice more than make up for sonic redundancy.

Saturday, August 27th, 2016

Josh Buckley and Laurence Scudder at Stubblebine Lutherie – Selected by Amie

Oh, my. Rumor has it that Josh Buckley and The Silks put on a smoke show the other night at The Lizard Lounge with the super talented Matt Murphy (who isn’t he playing with these days?!) If you were as bummed to miss it as I, don’t fear. Buckley, who grew up in Acton and is touring in the Northeast this summer, still has a few shows up his tat sleeve. He will be playing a “listening show” at local guitar shop Stubblebine Lutherie’s with local talent Laurence Scudder and–you guessed it–Matt Murphy where they will pay homage to Texas singer-songwriters.

Sunday, August 28th, 2016

Ripe…On a Boat! – Selected by Jon

On a drunken boat cruise with Ripe? Did I just describe heaven? Part of the 10th annual “Rock On!” concert cruise series, Ripe is set to chop up the seas with their buoyant brand of funk. They may be busy touring the US, but they’re sailing on home for what’s sure to be a good time. Aye aye, captain.