SUMMER ROCKS, EDGE,
Get into a Bay State of mind to replace July pop fluff
It’s the heart of summer. We should be listening to candycoated, convertible-ready Carly Rae Jepsen on repeat. And yet, Boston artists have flooded the market with tough, rough songs ready to sucker-punch typical July pop fluff. Here’s a Mass.-centric playlist of Anti-Songs of the Summer.
“Level Up Your Soul,” Club D’Elf featuring Hayley Jane
On July 3, 20 years after the death of Morphine frontman Mark Sandman, Club d’Elf dropped this trippy trip-hop-meets-acid-jazz tribute single. Known for going deep into dub beats and Moroccan rhythms, d’Elf recruited singer Hayley Jane to help band leader
Mike Rivard complete the song. With its roots in an old track from the Hypnosonics (a late ’80s act featuring Sandman and Rivard), the new work has been completely reborn with Jane’s soul shouting and primal chanting.
“Summer Hair,” Eddie Japan Don’t be fooled by the title, this ain’t no Jan & Dean tune (although, those harmonies …). Royalty of the night, Eddie Japan have created a breezy-yet-dark single in “Summer Hair.” Pulling from trusted touchstones (new wave, baroque pop), singer and songwriter David Santos almost adds some sunshine to his noirish palette. With Emily Drohan’s voice as a perfect countermeasure, this one is for people who think the Motels’ “Suddenly Last Summer” is an ideal July jam. Celebrate Eddie Japan’s new EP, which is the first side of a full-length album called “The Amorous Adventures of Edward Japan,” with the band July 12 at the Sinclair.
“So Far So Good,” Carissa Johnson & the Cure-Alls
Carissa Johnson is most often called a punk. That makes sense. She would have fit right in on a CBGBs bill between Blondie and the Ramones in ’76. But she’s also a songwriter’s songwriter in the vein of Aimee Mann, Chrissie Hynde and Bruce Springsteen. All this comes together in the simmerto-boil of her new single. What begins with her thick bass guitar blooms into a scream-along anthem.
“Going Crazy,” Matt York Speaking of songwriters’ songwriters, Matt York returned last month with new album “Bruisable Heart.” The disc wanders between dark songs about isolation and heartbreaking tunes of lost love. Yup, the perfect thing to knock “Old Town Road” out of your head. Start with “Going Crazy,” something between a pretty little ballad and a dirge.
“Something Wicked This Way Comes,” Jittery Jack with Amy Griffin on guitar
Take it back to the summer of 1962 “American Graffiti”-style with this hot-rod rager (out this month on Rum Bar Records’ sampler “Somebody Somewhere Is Having A Party” and next month on Jittery Jack’s new album, “Gonna Have A Time With …”). Jack’s rockabilly never disappoints, but rarely has guitar god Amy Griffin played this sweet and nasty.