Freak Scene #78: Echo Royale Say 'Thanks, Man' on Debut LP
Plus, the Western Mass. rapper Unagi previews an upcoming album with the new track 'Punchlines'
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we tuck into the first album from Northampton electropop duo Echo Royale, which features their take on an early-aughts indie-pop standard. Also, the Western Mass. rapper Unagi recently put out the first single from an upcoming album.
Never underestimate the power of a gutbucket cover song. The first time I saw Jesse Malin, in 2003, he was opening for Kathleen Edwards at the Iron Horse, where his brief but electrifying acoustic set (solo, I think, but maybe Christine Smith was on keyboards?) included a wrenching cover of “Death or Glory” by the Clash, along these lines. If I hadn’t been sold already, that would have done it for me.
Northampton duo Echo Royale summon a similar vibe on Thanks, Man, their new (and first) album, with a slow-burning cover of “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World. In its original form, on the 2001 album Bleed American, the song has a punchy alt-rock feel with chugging guitars and a sweeping vocal hook. Echo Royale swap the guitars for gauzy synths and a spare beat, and singer Stephanie Drost harmonizes with herself on the chorus. The slower tempo gives the song a more wistful aura that feels almost delicate.
Echo Royale recorded “The Middle” after Drost and producer/multi-instrumentalist Dakkan Abbe discovered they were each obsessed with it. The song is emblematic of Thanks, Man. Although Abbe and Drost had originally intended their music to have a more unstructured feel inspired by the producer, songwriter and ambient pioneer Brian Eno, they found themselves writing songs with more traditional pop structures instead. Turns out they’re pretty good at it. The tracks on Thanks, Man, are enigmatic, and the combination of Drost’s vocals and Abbe’s textured synth parts holds a dark allure.
She sings with a sense of languid distance over shuddering synthesizer on the verses to “Lemon & Lime,” then lifts her voice on the chorus into a higher register that matches the synths as they go soaring upward. Though synths are a core part of Echo Royale’s sound, it’s not all electronic instrumentation: thudding live drums anchor “The Long Goodbye” beneath Drost’s prismatic, layered vocals, while taut electric guitar and snapping drums add a sense of urgency alongside a brooding synth line. Later, “Another Dance Song” has a jittery beat that propels eddies of wah-wah guitar and swiggles of what sounds like an electric violin, and Drost’s voice switches from staccato and clipped on the verse to smooth on the hook.
Abbe and Drost only began working together last year, after meeting online through a musician-matching platform (I wrote about one of those years ago for The Wall Street Journal). With their complementary sensibilities and natural pop instincts on Thanks, Man, it’s a good thing that each of them swiped right.
Unagi Is ‘On Point Like an Arrowhead’ on ‘Punchlines’
The pipeline from punk rock to alt-country is well established, but underground noise-rock to hip-hop is a less charted path. In fact, it’s possible that the list of musicians who have trod it consists entirely of Unagi.
The Colrain-based rapper grew up between Amherst and Northampton and played guitar in local bands in the ’90s (Clubber Lang and Discs of Tron, to name two) before moving to San Francisco, where he got increasingly into rap and started a label. He began putting out albums as Unagi (“eel,” in Japanese) in 2003 before moving back to Western Mass. in 2009. He’s been releasing music at a steady pace all the while, most often as a producer crafting instrumental beat-tape tracks and working with other MCs. He stepped up to the mic himself on his 2023 LP Terminally Eel, and now he’s back with the new song “Punchlines.”
The track has a sleek ’80s R&B feel, and Unagi slides smoothly into the flow with tight rhymes he delivers in a conversational tone, dropping in references to Bob Seger, Edgard Winter and the test pilot/flying ace Chuck Yeager. “Punchlines” is the first cut from Unagi’s upcoming album Western Mass Hysteria, which he says should be out on his label 442 Records later this year.
Upcoming Concerts
Wynton Marsalis kicks off the UMass Fine Arts Center’s 50th season of programming Sept. 17 with the world premiere performance of Afro!, exploring the roots of jazz in African music, at Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall (tickets).
Ciarra Fragale has been added to the Suitcase Junket’s show Sept. 5 at the Iron Horse (tickets); read about her great new album in Freak Scene #67. The Iron Horse also hosts Wilco side project the Autumn Defense and Chris Stamey Oct. 28 (tickets) and Boston soul group Reckoners with Western Mass. band Eavesdrop Nov. 6 (tickets).
Eric Hutchinson plays Nov. 21 at the Drake in Amherst (tickets).
Maine roots-rocker King Kyote, whose sound is described as channeling “the grit of northeast surf culture and the soul of the backwoods blues,” plays Sept. 27 at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls (tickets).
Soul-folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Malin Collins, who performs as Althaea, plays an album-release show Sept. 12 at Bombyx in the Florence section of Northampton (tickets). Here’s her track “Use Me”:
Bombyx also hosts the Quebecois Francophone folk band Le Vent du Nord Oct. 30 (tickets) and the Celtic ensemble Solas Feb. 28 (tickets).
The Disco Biscuits play Dec. 27-28 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (tickets for Saturday, and Sunday).
The Space Ballroom in Hamden hosts neo-soul singer Zinadelphia Sept. 15 (tickets), GA-20 and Black Joe & the Honeybears Oct. 25 (tickets), rapper Shwayze Nov. 19 (tickets) and Algernon Cadwallader Dec. 14 (tickets). The Philly-area emo group releases its first album since 2011 on Sept. 12.
That’s all for now, but Freak Scene is always seeking submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.
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