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New England Music Reviews
Welcome to New England Music Reviews!
The first concert Justin Shatwell ever saw was Hootie and the Blowfish about two years after they stopped being famous. He's still trying to live that down. As part of his musical penance, he now writes New England Music Reviews, a showcase for small (and some not-so-small) indie artists with roots in New England.
Justin believes that, like vegetables, the best music is grown locally.
Read the reviews, listen to the music, and get a taste of the local flavor for yourself.
Bird Mancini: Funny Day
September 10, 2008 at 3:38 PM | Post a Comment
I really didn't know what to make of Boston-based Bird Mancini when they slid their last album across my desk a few weeks back. They're introduction letter described themselves as kind of a quirky accordion classic-rock band. After about 50 minutes of listening to their music, I was still pretty confused, but relieved that the accordion wasn't the main attraction.
Jennifer Hruska: The Underground Forest
July 25, 2008 at 12:30 PM | Post a Comment
Boston based musician Jennifer Hruska has made her career on the less glamorous side of the record industry. She's been a sound designer, audio engineer, composer, electronic instrument designer, and president of a small recording studio. With apparently no other jobs for her to explore in the music business, Hruska has decided to take the plunge and step in front of the mic.
Kris Delmhorst: Shotgun Singer
June 19, 2008 at 3:18 PM | 1 Comment | Post a Comment
New England is awash in young musicians challenging the traditional concept of folk music. The genre has become so experimental that it is difficult to come up with anything truly shocking anymore. Kris Delmhorst is pretty far out on the folk spectrum utilizing all of the most modern techniques: unconventional instrumentation, distortion, even some minor sampling. Though her latest full length album Shotgun Singer doesn't really take the genre anywhere it hasn't already been (see Patty Larkin's Watch the Sky), it does something far more notable--it refines it.
Dylan in the Movies: Feel the Pull
May 28, 2008 at 4:23 PM | 2 Comments | Post a Comment
Dylan in the Movies is the type of band I can't help but root for. The band's founder and lead singer, Brian Sullivan, is the kind of tenacious underdog musician you want to see make it big. His story is classic -- practically archetypal. A regular guy who grew up on the periphery of the Boston music scene discovers he has a lot to say musically but can't find a label to back him. He gets a day job, raises money, and tries to self-produce. He buys up studio time at odd hours and records snippets of music over the course of years. His project is constantly delayed, but at long last, finally, he is able to release a short six-song EP.
Lissa Schneckenburger: Song
May 2, 2008 at 5:01 PM | 5 Comments | Post a Comment
Fiddle virtuoso Lissa Schneckenburger's latest album Song is, in a word, unexpected.
The album is clearly a labor of love, featuring modern arrangements of old Maine tunes that were nearly lost to history. Resurrected from the transcripts of early 20th century ethnomusicologists who toured the region's lumber camps, these songs are as much a work of historic preservation as an indie folk album.
