Recently Added 5 (from the archives)

This blog is about the website’s creation, evolution; the process of the ideas that will, at last, serve as Band Over Boston’s inner workings.  Given the blog’s amorphous and process-oriented stance, then, I hope you’ll forgive the shockingly sterile working title for a new weekly column I’m starting right this very minute:  “Recently Added!”  (fireworks)
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WALTER SICKERT & THE ARMY OF BROKEN TOYS

LP’s:  “SteamShipKillers” ; “Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys”

An intensely vivid trip through an ash-gray landscape.  The music rolls in the muck and howls at the sky; it’s dirty and raw and resonates with jangling strings, various acoustic percussion, wilting orchestrals and horns, and, above all, Walter Sickert’s lyrics – growled, slanted, chanted, chugged, belted, and, yes, sung. And when he sings, he means it.

THE SUN LEE SUNBEAM

LP: “Beneath the Burning Sky”

Old-school pop (when it was pop) bounces off graffiti’d building sides in this marriage (or fling, at least) between the rock of today and yesterday.  The songs propel and compel – Sun Lee’s voice romps and rolls and gets tangled in the sheets with the band, but seems to, well… control the proceedings.  If you aren’t one to twist, then those sweet hooks will at least shimmy in your ears all night.

SIDEWALK DRIVER

Selections from their LP, “For All the Boys and Girls”

What can be said about Sidewalk Driver that hasn’t been already?  They’re pop royalty, but they don’t preach or issue decrees – they lead by example.  Tight, chugging guitars, perfectly-placed harmonies, and an impeccable rhythm section set the stage for Tad’s skipping over, weaving through, and soaring high above. 

- Cullen Corley