Vulturetown Arts hosted the Chaos and Joy closing party on 3/11 at The Eclectic, at 25 Meadow St. in Willimantic CT. Local artists and bands came together for an *eclectic* night of fun and food and music. 

Violent Mae

Greyglitch

Dawn Cook

Cerise Montclair

The Silks

Arc Iris

Hypnostix

Cameron Boucher is frontman for Sorority Noise and Old Gray, two of my favorite bands, and yesterday he released a new project, Small Circle. Small Circle ‘features Cameron Boucher and Adam Ackerman of Sorority Noise, as well as Rozwell Kid drummer Sean Hallock.’ (A.V. Club) (oh wait we’re throwing Rozwell Kid in the mix? That’s like literally all my favorite bands?????) Small Circle will be releasing a three song EP ‘Melatonin’ tomorrow on Bandcamp, including this first track, ‘please don’t touch the moon.’ This is a new sound, but beautiful nonetheless. I can’t wait to hear the EP and see what’s next for Small Circle. Though nothing has been posted on their Soundcloud yet, I'm sure when the EP is release, it will find it's way there. Listen here to 'please don't touch the moon' via A.V. Club. 

I waited to cover new new album ‘I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it’ from The 1975 until March, when it was uploaded to Spotify. I read a lot in the meantime and my expectations were set very high, despite only liking ‘The Sound’ of the singles released off the album. The album starts with ‘The 1975,’ a short prelude track which I really enjoyed. Choppy and building, it’s a really interesting start to the album. The next few songs, ‘Love Me,’ ‘UGH!,’ ‘A Change of Heart,’and  ‘She’s American,’ are interesting and weird but I don’t love them.  ‘If I Believe You,’ ‘Please Be Naked’ and ‘Lostmyhead’ follow and both are great tracks, beautiful and unexpected and emotional. ‘The Ballad of Me and my Brain’ follows and was a little bit of a let down, and ‘Somebody Else’ is next, and another beautiful song. ‘Loving Someone’ is a bit dizzy and repetitive, and the title song is next. ‘I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it’ is really sweet and builds nicely. This is followed by ‘The Sound’ which is noticeably more pop. I have always liked this song, but you really have to be in the right mood or it grates. ‘This Must Be My Dream,’ ‘Paris,’ and ‘Nana’ follow and I’m fairly indifferent about them. Not awful, but boring. The album closes on ‘She Lays Down,’ which serves as a fitting end, which I quite like.

To be clear, I see nothing wrong with being weird, but I think this album wasn’t cohesive enough to pull off being this weird. There are songs that I will listen to, and the album art is great, but the album as a whole wasn’t the knockout I was expecting. Also, as much as the album title is sweet and lyrically beautiful, it really is the most obnoxiously, unnecessarily long title, ever. If you’re looking for that ‘I love this album’ review, here’s Stereogum.

Album art from Stereogum

Drake’s cover of “These Days” by Nico is only indicative of Drake himself in the emotional overtones. This appears to have been promoted by a friend, which makes sense of this very uncharacteristic cover. Allegedly Drake’s work inspired “Things I Forgot To Do” by Babeo Baggins of Barf Troop. Again, uncharacteristic, but somehow I wouldn’t mind this cover, emotions and all, if it was over a different instrumental. 
 
Controlla seems to be on Drake’s upcoming album Views From the 6  (rumored to release early April!) which would explain why it was so difficult to hunt down. But it was well worth it, our beloved Aubrey appears to be riding the Caribbean style from “Work” and that’s just fine by me. He is also continuing his effortless emotional streak from If You’re Reading This Its Too Late. Although the Jamaican influences throughout lend themselves to a more lighthearted feel, giving us a perfect transition into spring and the upcoming album, which cannot come soon enough. 

​Listen to both here via Stereogum.

Photo from Drake's biography 

The Hotelier released ‘Piano Player’ and the accompanying video off their upcoming album ‘Goodness.’ The 13 track album is out May 27 Frontman, Christian Holden told Spin: ‘It’s a love record. I feel like we are allowed to do that now.’

‘Piano Player’ is beautiful and the video fits it well, and the album art is beautiful. I look forward to hearing the rest of the album, it feels very well-thought-out. I would also highly suggest reading the Spin article, which provides a lot of insight into the process and Hotelier as aband. Also listen to ‘Goodness Pt. I’ below.

Photo from Bandcamp

Sorority Noise has been pumping out singles off their upcoming four track EP ‘It Kindly Stopped For Me,’ out 4/22. Sorority Noise released ‘Either Way’ first through DIY and I immediately connected with the track. Cameron Boucher, frontman, spoke about the song’s backstory to DIY:

Listen here to the soft, heavily emotional song here via DIY.

Recently, Sorority Noise also released ‘XC,’ the last song off the EP. Listen below. ‘XC’ is louder and more emphatic. Boucher told The Fader:

Personally, I prefer 'Either Way' but I'm very excited for the EP, plus I love the art.

Early this month, Foxing released a quite long video for ‘Night Channels.’ It’s beautiful, well-shot, smart, and everything I’ve come to expect from Foxing. Color is used incredibly well, and alongside Foxing’s incredible knack for teasing out emotion, the video fits ‘Night Channels’ very well. Watch below via Pitchfork: ​

Here’s the Bruised Knuckles March playlist, complete with a folky vibe, made for the feeling of wanderlust as we transition into spring. Listen below via Spotify. ​

The first band to play was Catlike, who were from Oneonta/Long Island. They describe their style as “Bubblegum Fuzz,” and that was a very accurate description. Although I was unable to catch the names of their songs, they do have a Bandcamp with their music. I unfortunately did not get any pictures of Catlike, but some are available on their Facebook.

Discolor is another local group from Oneonta/Long Island. Discolor recently had a small tour with Whittled Down (formerly Common Wealth) with several shows in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York. I really enjoyed Discolor’s set; they have a great sound and an engaged stage presence. I downloaded their debut EP “Wake” from their Bandcamp, and I have yet to stop listening to it. Again, I did not manage to get any photos of Discolor, but they have some on their Facebook and Instagram for you to look at.

Commonwealth took the floor next, informing the crowd that they were changing their name to Whittled Down. I was really impressed with their performance; they had amazing energy on stage. I really enjoyed their set, and suggest checking out their Bandcamp if you’re interested in listening to them. Their EP “Bold Print” is really well done. You can also check them out on Facebook and look at their website for tour dates.

I came for Chance, and I stayed for the sweet mellowness. Watch below for a sweet video about friendship and love.