It’s been a pretty solid week for some of my favorite local acts. Each of them has been profiled on Popblerd before-and if you haven’t given these folks a listen yet, you definitely need to correct that!
Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to catch Bad Rabbits at a wild, sold out Brighton Music Hall show. There’s been a solid buzz around these guys for a while now, their album Stick Up Kids has been in heavy rotation at Blerd HQ ever since I bought it, and they did not disappoint live. There was a definite celebratory, end-of-week vibe in the air, the crowd was rowdy (one guy got tossed for throwing something-from my vantage point it looked like sunflower seeds-at the lead singer,) and the band plowed through their hits, a select few covers (Rage Against the Machine!) and a couple of new tracks, which sounded awesome to my ears. Boston is an area that’s pretty starved as far as soul/funk/hip-hop shows are concerned, and to see people fill up a good-sized venue for Bad Rabbits was pretty awesome. With chops galore, a charismatic lead singer in Fredua Boakye, choreographed moves (shades of The Roots’s show I saw in Boston last Christmas) and well-written songs, these guys would’ve given The Time a run for their money back in Morris and co’s heyday. Make sure you check them out!
Check them out, playing a chilled out version of “Advantage Me” at SXSW last month.
Meanwhile, our pal Marc Pinansky has some new music on the scene-sort of. You might wanna give a listen to Back In 5, a compilation of sorts, featuring songs from many of the EPs he drops on a monthly basis (this one covers the 2011 string of EPs.) He’s also decided to go all “Lovesexy” on his album cover, for those who are into that sort of thing. Although Prince wasn’t joined on his cover by a specimen as distinguished as Handsome Hank, Marc’s faithful feline companion.
On the touring front, Marc is in the midst of a Sunday night residency at Precinct in Somerville (there’s no cover, y’all…get with the program.) He also has shows coming up in New York and Philadelphia. While his solo stuff is acoustic folk-pop a la Cat Stevens or Jim Croce, Marc does the Clark Kent/Superman thing, also fronting hard rock behemoths Township. In that guise, he’ll be performing at Brighton Music Hall (where there may still be dead bodies from the crowd that Bad Rabbits slayed) on 4/17.
Here’s a clip of a (fully clothed) Marc performing “Tears in My Beard” (don’t you hate when that happens?) at a recent Precinct show.