Freak Scene #25: Summer Singles
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we catch up on some singles that bands in the area have put out recently:
The Glad Machine Summon Summer on ‘So High’
For starters, there’s “So High” by the Glad Machine. It’s as summery a song as you could ever hope to hear, with a bouncy beat and soaring vocal harmonies that light up the track. Not only is there a sweet little guitar break that begins just past the 3-minute mark, there’s a a shout-out for Turners Falls near the start of the song. The song is the Glad Machine’s first new release since the foursome’s 2022 album Hey!
The Baxbys Get It Right on ‘Damn Wrong’
The Baxbys’ new song “Damn Wrong” has strong summer vibes, too, though the Amherst foursome (all of whom grew up in Connecticut) has an approach that is less sunshine-y pop than early-2000s indie-rock. The guitars that propel the song straddle the line between garage and post-punk (Strokes fans, take note), and singer Alex Nordlund strikes an excellent balance between louche and confident. “Damn Wrong” is band’s most assured offering yet, joining a catalog that so far comprises a pair of four-song EPs, Meet the Baxbys and Side by Side, both from 2022.
Tom Guerra Branches Out on ‘Television Dreams’
When we last heard from Tom Guerra, the Hartford singer and guitarist was paying tribute to Southern California in the late ’60s with “Sister Topanga.” He goes an unexpected direction on his latest single, “Television Dreams,” which owes more to New York City in the late ’70s. Guerra throws down a nasty overdriven slide part that’s interspersed with spoken-word vocals that aren’t far different from the rapping on early hip-hop records by the likes of Sugar Hill Gang or Grandmaster Flash. Bassist Kenny Aaronson beefed up the low end with three different bass tracks, and the high-octane guitar solo comes from Jon Butcher. The song wraps up with a couplet sung in prismatic harmonies.
“What I was thinking about was a stream of consciousness look back on all of the crazy different stuff I remember seeing on TV,” Guerra says by email. “The good, the bad and the ugly, from the killing of Mr. Softee to Evel Knievel beating Shelly Saltman with a baseball bat, to Nixon resigning to the Apollo program to Jimmy Carter's malaise to Sanford and Son.”
Next week: Vacation! See you in two weeks!
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