This past year we decided to do things a little differently as we approached our year end round up as we felt that a lot of local talent gets overshadowed when we do our annual year ender so instead of doing just one MASSIVE list to include everything that we thought was rad we divided the list in two so that both National and Local acts got time to bask in the glow of their 2023 achievements. With that over, and working out pretty well, we felt the need to do the same when it came to our new year preview so prepare yourselves for the inevitable informing that’s to come in this New England-based look at some of what you can expect from your local faves.
The bad news about taking a leisurely approach to any kind of preview of the new year list is that A) The longer you wait, the more new stuff gets announced and II) Inevitably, that “new stuff” is going to drop the more we hold off on posting…. That said, by the time you read this our review of both the newest singles from Tysk Tysk Task and The Roland High Life will be live (In fact! Read all about TTT’s “Intolerable” here and TRH’s “Old Atlantic” here) as they both decided to start the year off right with new releases scheduled for January 5th which seems to be a popular 2024 date already as that’s the same day that Worcester’s Not Bad Not Well (And fellow “Class of ’23” Rock & Roll Rumble entrant alongside TTT) unveiled their debut EP featuring previously released “Afterglow” and “New Way Out” alongside unreleased “WIP”.
Getting back to Tysk Tysk Task for a moment, the Lowell-based outfit (Now sporting a more permanent line up which you can read all about in our already mentioned review of “Intolerable”) is already planning another new single in the near future (Read: SOON) and if that wasn’t enough, the band is slated to perform on Day 3 of this year’s annual Boston Calling on a bill also featuring Killers, Megan Thee Stallion, and Hozier among others. They have LOTS more local dates leading up to that which you can find on their Instagram stories here and in our upcoming interview with TTT’s Samantha Hartsel dropping fairly soon after this big post.
And the hits, as they say, keep coming. Parts Per Million is starting early with a brand new Loud AF (As the kids still say???) single called “Off With Her Head (The sad story of how Danny Ek broke my heart)” which, by the time this thing gets published, will already be available for your earholes while Canyons And Locusts will be dropping “Soo All The Way” on January 19th before their new EP called The Red Angel (Dedicated to Justine Covault) in March. But that’s not all! According to C&L’s Justin Keane, the duo also have plans to drop a full-length called The Goal Gigolo (A concept album recorded at New Alliance) and potentially a SECOND (!!!) full-length, The Town of Our Lady, tentatively due next holiday season. Robert Pollard, eat yer heart out!
Your January’s not full yet? Well, howzabout Phantom Ocean whose “I’m With The Band” not only lit up our end of the year local best of post and playlist but also leads off their killer new EP titled Phantasmagoria which launches on January 23rd with a show at Faces Brewing Co. in Malden already scheduled for January 26th that also features The Zip-Ups and Mercury on Mars. Derek Smith and the Cosmic Vultures returns with new single “Waiting” on January 19th as well as does Lonely Leesa & The Lost Cowboys who will release the powerful video treatment for “Stayed 2017” on January 24th.
Another veteran of the ’23 Rumble class, Graveyard of the Atlantic, is in the midst of writing their debut full-length tentatively due later on in 2024 with a lead single materializing in the summer, TELL will bring their brand of Boston-based Post-Punk noise to a full-length near you in February, The Downhauls stated that Spring is when we’ll hear some of their recently recorded new tunes and later in the year based on some of the late 2023 interviews we did you’ll have new stuff from Ruby Grove and Linnea’s Garden to look forward to. And if that wasn’t enough, March is going to gift us with the debut full-length from Wyn & The White Light which hits on the 16th and features haunting “Can The World Change” alongside the similarly enrapturing singles that came before.
On the louder side, Deprogrammer Cult unleash their brand of frenetic heaviness in the form of a debut full-length on Constant Disappointment Records featuring eight new songs recorded by Alex Allinson at The Bridge Sound and Stage in Cambridge which you can hear some of when the band descend upon Deep Cuts in Medford on January 20th with Knock Over City, Stoploss, and Lesotho in tow. Then there’s some Desert Rawk by way of Yawkey Way when Sundrifter unveil An Earlier Time through Small Stone Records on February 16th which we think is rad as hell because we’ve already heard it. And to wrap this beastie up, Leather Lung is following up their newest single, “Spit in the Casket”, with their “first proper full-length” entitled Graveside Grin which Magnetic Eye Records is putting out on the ides of March (That’s 3/15, kids)!
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