You Can Be a Wesley and You: Another Assessment by Joe DiFazio

Once upon a time I was in Allston following the bassist of You Can be a Wesley and his friends. They decided hopping a fence was better than going around a street. He got my jeans ripped and he got me drunk on Gin, which I later puked out with an alarming amount of blood.

I was not ready for their fun, but you should be. You Can Be A Wesley is an indie-pop gem bred at BU and on the streets of Allston.

The twee pop essence of the music is given backbone by Nick Curran’s bass that he sometimes punches through a distortion pedal. He takes his cue from bands like the Pixies and Joy Division. Winston McDonald too finds influence in these indie pioneers. The music swells and calms because of his lead guitar which goes anywhere from sharp riffs to gentle finger picking. Dan Goldberg’s steady drumming provides the backdrop for everything going on up front. He too drags the music from the gentle to frantic with soft steady light high-hat and snare based beats that transition through tight fills into crashy cymbals and loud snare pops. Saara the lead singer plays a driving rhythm guitar with power chords galore. Her singing is a unique combination of sweet and sad. She exudes a wistful kind of sexy. Winston jumps in to sing when the songs climb in to sing-a-long choruses that make you want to scream with them. These guys are indie-pop with a serious spine. They are the kind of band that if you throw things at them they will throw and spit right back.

Over the summer the band released their album Heard Like Us (on vinyl and CD). If you want to be happy in a sad sort of way, this is an album for you. You Can Be Wesley is yet another gem in the rough of the Boston music scene. Lucky for you, you can catch them Friday at WTBU day at BU Central.

Magic Magic & Me: An Assessment by Joe DiFazio.

Am I friends with Magic Magic? Semi-sorta. Sometimes I would call up Mike Hlady (drummer) to hang out. He was always with Dylan Gough (other drummer) and they were always playing Street Fighter, watching Mortal Combat the movie, or building a knife shooter out of an umbrella to pierce muffins with. John Murphy (singer) once took me to a video arcade and also tried to gyp me out of the money we made playing a show together. Demitri Swan (bassist) once video taped a consumer research study I did on condoms. Brendan Hughes (lead guitarist) I don’t know as well.

Many publications say that they are from Salem. This is wrong. They are from Dedham, a crappy, depressing suburb of Boston. The Salem thing was a hair-brained scheme thought up by their British booking agency. Many publications say they sound like Arcade Fire. This, too, is wrong. They do create gigantic and intricate sounds but are nothing like Arcade Fire. They are grittier, more accessible, better.

Their music is rhythm-based. They have two drums, a bass, and a guitar dedicated to rhythm. From this base they derive a powerful, colossal sound. Sometimes the two drummers will play the same thing just to make the beat louder and accentuate it. Slid over this is Brendan’s biting guitar, distorted and drawn out by delay pedals. Amid all this carefully planned noise is John’s anxious vocals. He sings and moves like a child who really has something to tell you, with a voice so high and desperate you can’t help but want to listen. His lyrics are weird and beautiful, ranging from becoming a jellyfish to acid to odd odes to people he loves.

Raised on every start-up indie band of the nineties such as Built to Spill and Modest Mouse, and going back a little further, The Cure, this band takes on the same sort of dark ambiance. Magic Magic is not yet signed and are in a shameful sort of limbo as a result of being from Boston instead of NYC or LA. Still, Magic Magic are making are making a name for themselves and are the next big thing from here, and hopefully soon the next big thing to grace all hipster-indie blogs. Screw Passion Pit.

-Joe DiFazio

Get to know: The New Collisions

The New Collisions, a five-piece New Wave-influenced rock band from Cambridge, only played their first show in November 2008--a sold-out gig at the Middle East Upstairs. But local press and bloggers have already called them the hottest band in Boston, and their list of accomplishments is on par with bands who’ve been playing the Boston scene for years.

“It’s been crazy,” says lead singer Sarah Guild. Working with producer Anthony Resta (who has also produced Duran Duran, Blondie, Collective Soul, Letters to Cleo), The New Collisions are set to nationally release a 6-song EP at the end of this summer, which features Greg Hawkes from the Cars on synth.

“Everyone in Boston has been so great to us, all of the bands, venues, all of the bloggers,” adds guitarist Scott Guild.

Though the New Collisions are a new band, Scott and Sarah have been making music for years. “We met at Marlboro College in Vermont, and then we kind of dropped out together,” explains Scott. From 2001 to 2006, they lived in England, Florida, Missssippi, and Ireland, always doing music in the background. “It was different, mostly acoustic, ambient, reverb-drenched guitar and vocals.”

“We eventually decided we wanted to stop roaming, have a band, and get started in a scene,” explains Scott. The two moved to Boston in 2008, hoping to start a rock band with influences like Blondie and the Kinks. “We were going for an amalgamation of late 70s and early 80s new wave pop.”

“We would always post on Craig’s List that we were looking for a keyboard player, and going for a Greg Hawkes vibe. One day I decided to just see what Greg Hawkes was up to, and wrote to him on MySpace. He wrote back the same day and came out to one of our shows. Then he came to more shows, we became friends, and eventually he actually played with us,” says Scott.

“Every now and then we all get together and watch that video to make sure it actually happened,” says Sarah, laughing. “It was the most amazing thing. He was in a band in Boston that came out of the scene almost 20 years before us.”

The New Collisions are set to tour the US and Europe later in the year, so catch them now while you can! The band will play Freezepop's 10 Anniversary show at Harper's Ferry on July 25 and The Middle East Upstairs on August 8. For tour dates, mp3 streams, videos, etc, check out myspace.com/thenewcollisions.

-Liz Pelly