February 27, 2015

Bent Shapes, Charly Bliss, Chandos, Fucko | O'Brien's Pub, Allston Rock City | 28 February

Bent Shapes, Charly Bliss, Chandos, Fucko | O'Brien's Pub, Allston Rock City | 28 February

This goddamn bill being put on by the quality dudes over at Eye Design on Saturday night. Just gaze upon it.

We've spilled a formidable pile of digital ink championing Boston indie luminaries Chandos and Bent Shapes, so these are known quantities both. But just so we are all up to speed: Clicky Clicky fave anxiety-pop heroes Chandos just last month released its hotly anticipated and just plain hot full-length debut Rats In Your Bed via Carpark (tap the embed below), and scene stalwarts Bent Shapes are in the process of mixing its planned sophomore full-length (here they is in the studio), and if this snippet is any indication, the record is going to smoke. These acts are at the peak of their powers, so there is no need for us to resort to exhortation, you know you should step out Saturday and see them. Hash tag step out and see them Saturday.

On the other hand, its been a long-time coming that we formally introduce readers to New York indie pop quartet Charly Bliss. Fronted by Eva Hendricks and lauded far and wide by many including Clicky Clicky faves Johnny Foreigner, the band wields an unshakable tunefulness built up from a foundation of classic pop chops. Ms. Hendricks' bratty, earworm-inducing vocal melodies run full bounce alongside Spencer Fox's inventive and often fuzz-addled guitars, a pairing that evokes pleasant thoughts of Blue Album-Weezer, and to a lesser extent the Slumberland sound, without crossing over into mimicry. According to evidence on the Interwebs, Charly Bliss recently logged time in Western Mass. tracking its debut LP with hitmaker Justin Pizzoferrato. In the meantime, the band already has a couple EPs out, including its most recent three-song helping Soft Serve, which the quartet pressed to vinyl disks and self-released last summer for the public's enjoyment. We've embedded Soft Serve below; click through to get a copy of the vinyl now, as we don't expect they will last long, especially once the new record is out and goes Vesuvius. Be sure to give the EP's middle jam "Urge To Purge" some extra attention, as it made one of our Top Songs of 2014 lists, meaning it is top quality.

Opening the evening and not to be missed are Boston fuzz-rock newcomers Fucko, an act firmly lodged on our watch list. In addition to having one of the all-time great monikers in rock history, and legendary merch, the quartet shows considerable promise on its rockin' three-song demo, which was released to the wilds of the Internerds a year ago. It's all killer and no filler, touts a nice big bass sound, and we would particularly direct your attention to the closing track "Kind Of Mean It." Fucko, too, has a full length in the can, and for some time now, so we expect it is just a matter of time before college radio DJs are struggling to come up with acceptable ways to refer to the band on the air. A word of caution: a bill as hot as Saturday's might require some thinking ahead, so for folks who'd like guaranteed entry, we suggest snagging tickets right over here. -- Dillon Riley and Jay Breitling







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