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Various artists | Winter Is Cold

Self-released (2009)
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  April 9, 2009
4.0 4.0 Stars

090410_Winter_m

As easy as it is to get caught up in the teeming swirl of our ever-generous local rock scene, it's just as easy to fall right out of the loop. Sleep on what's new in this town for even a few months and you could end up in a world of MySpace pain trying to catch up.

Nuts to that!, comes the proverbial cry from Clawjob confreres Mike Gintz and Nick Burgess, who have painstakingly assembled no fewer than 20 of the best bands currently trying to park their sketchy-looking vans around Boston. Rather than slap together a heap of quickie practice tapes, B-sides in search of A-sides, or tossed-off experiments of the sort that so often drift toward comps like this, they guide Winter Is Cold with a sharp, curatorial touch, and each song comes off like a proper ambassador of Boston's dozens of creative clusters.

Old dogs (Helms, Neptune, Ho-Ag) bust out thrilling new tricks; younger sprouts (Summerduck, Night Driving, the Measuremen) give promising signs of the variety (and tinnitus) to come. The offerings from Thunderhole, Piles, Tristan da Cunha, and Magic People glow with our town's enduring fondness for skronk and scratch; meanwhile, tender two-pieces like Brutal Love Masters and Dr. and Mrs. Van Der Trampp show a softer side more fitting to the comp's hibernatory origins. With its panoramic snapshot of this particular moment in Boston's noisier quarters, Winter Is Cold is far more than a sampler — it could very well be a staple.

Available at local shows and select shops and cafés, or digitally at www.everybodywantsaholodeck.com/winter_is_cold

Editor's Note: In a previous version of this article, the album was noted as being released on Rough Trade records when there is actually no formal label associated with the release. The correction has been made above.

Related: Here's the beef, Glacial tensions, The scene is now, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Boston, Tristan da Cunha, Tristan da Cunha,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY MICHAEL BRODEUR
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  •   GUS GUS | 24-7  |  September 15, 2009
    Letting the music take control is a primary tenet of the dance-floor ethos — but that's only because dance music is by nature submissive. Even at its most sonically rich, dance music remains a utility, and even when it demands your attention, it does so in service to your good times.
  •   OFF THE RECORD?  |  September 14, 2009
    Pity the album. After a half-century of embarrassingly public body issues, our essential rock unit has not entered the new millennium looking very healthy. EPs are way more in vogue, MP3s have intangibility on their side, and 12-inches just sound impressive.
  •   REVIEW: POLVO | IN PRISM  |  September 09, 2009
    All a-bubble over my first listen to In Prism , I took to the Internet, where I learned that the album "is required listening for any bands still using guitars."
  •   TAKEN BY TREES | EAST OF EDEN  |  September 02, 2009
    Truth be told, I get a little crumply whenever I hear of Western indie types going off on East-bound inspirational jaunts.
  •   YOUNG FOLK  |  September 04, 2009
    The long-beating heart of Boston's folk scene may be Club Passim — and the Cantab its liver — but its bloodstream runs all through town. I don't know that much about the circulatory system, so we'll nix this metaphor in just a bit, but suffice to say, a vibrant folk scene, whatever form it takes, is a sign of health for one's larger music community.

 See all articles by: MICHAEL BRODEUR

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