Fuzzstival practices good sleep hygiene at Arts at the Armory on Saturday, 16 September 2023.

THUS LOVE and Boston Cream avoid large meals, caffeine, and alcohol before bedtime in the closing slots.

How long has Fuzzstival been around? The psych, garage, whatever, mostly local-ish music festival hung its banners from past years around the cavernous dwelling of the Arts at the Armory. The oldest one seemed to be 2015, which doesn’t mean that’s the first one, but it’s worth looking into.

In fact, you can find the Facebook event for the 2015 edition still floating around the internet. Hey, NICE GUYS performed both in 2015 and 2023. Is it still the same guys? Are they still nice?

As far as the banners tell the story, the festival’s iconoclastic cat evolved from a three-eyed to a two-eyed version over the years. And the feline seems to have fallen off during the height of the pandemic, as did so much else in the performing arts. But the festival was back in action and purring like a kitten in 2023.

Saturday night opened with Layzi on stage and more pizza at the merch table. Most musicians gave a shout out to Jason and a few volunteer organizers reminded everyone to buy merch. That’s how the artists get paid. Sounds like a slippery revenue stream. The t-shirt designs were banging though.

Paper Lady

The stage at Arts at the Armory has been known to swallow bands whole in its vast maw. It’s too big, too voracious, too much. Scheduling an indie rock trio to play can be like dropping a penny into the Pacific. You don’t even see or hear a splash, then it’s gone.

Fuzzstival had the right idea by turning the stage into a double-barrelled situation; halving the space, with one band playing while the next set up.

In the adjusted confines Boston’s Paper Lady found a comfortable perch. The five-piece kicked out a roiling, moiling stew of moody rock. Heavy on the layers, and heavy layers like viscous oil that collects at the top of fancy peanut butter. Did we hear a track from their recent EP Traveling Exploding Star? Serious question, did we?

Constant Smiles

Is this band really from Martha’s Vineyard? That’s what they said. Didn’t think anyone actually lived there, just jetted in from NYC for long weekends.

And supposing they do live there, it’s not usually the factoid you drop in mixed company. In certain parts of the country saying you’re from Martha’s Vineyard will win you a funny look.

If you can say it anywhere without blowback, though, it’s Massachusetts and adjoining coastal territories. The locals know that someone still needs to dig ditches no matter what the median income is.

Does singer/songwriter Ben Jones dig ditches? Maybe so, when he’s not singing or songwriting. Constant Smiles' latest LP Kenneth Anger (available via Sacred Bones) dropped in March. You’ll recognize the title as the namesake of the famous film auteur, “known for his sensorial depictions of ritual.” That’s one thing he’s known for. Don’t expect an album as film score – sounds like the Anger flicks were more of an inspiration for, rather than the basis of, composition.

Pink Navel

Pink Navel must be racing up and down the coast (Hope Fest!) to make good on a prolific show calendar. But there’s no better time to get busy with live performances than when your new album has dropped or is about to drop. How To Capture Playful is a collab record from Pink Navel and Kenny Segal, due 10/20.

Like every other pavement pounder with music to showcase, the hip hop artist has been drumming up interest in pre-saving the record on streaming platforms. No one’s quite sure what impact that will have on your music’s exposure upon release, but you can probably find a squirmy streaming platform guru somewhere who’ll promise that pre-saving juices the algorithm to get your music out there.

Who’d have thought in the year 2000 that we’d spend so much of our waking moments juicing algorithms? Who’d have thought that in 2020 even? Don’t think you can pre-save on Bandcamp, but you can have a listen to the first single off the album “Present Vendor”.

Foyer Red

The Brooklyn-based Foyer Red crafted art-damaged indie rock that shoots for the moon. A four-piece on the night (usually a five-piece?), most songs maximized the degree of difficulty you can extract out of the membership. Lots of curlicues, stops & starts, and syncopated sonic choreography. Shades of Mamalarky, at times overwrought, but they cooked like fried rice when the cannons fired straight.

Shout out to the rock clarinet.

Mal Devisa

Extra points straight out of the gate for Mal Devisa, who sounded like she had just landed at Logan from a cross-country flight before arriving at Arts at the Armory.

No rest for the weary. She had just finished a recording session in LA, and her set in Somerville had the feel of a studio affair. Not the sort where you’re paying a lot of money you don’t have per hour; rather, the sort where you’ve got a rich Hollywood friend with a vanity private recording studio that he lets you use whenever. You know, take your time, relax, experiment with different timbres, textures, and techniques.

Mal Devisa has a full complement of techniques at her fingertips. And she’s no stranger to Arts at the Armory, having performed here at least as recently as opening for Pile in March. For the rock n roll crowd she can serve up a more raucous sound. Have a listen to a track like “Dominatrix”. She’s not messing around. But her mood on Saturday night at Fuzzstival was more subdued, a little jetlagged, and plenty soulful.

Dino Gala

Dino Gala performed a set of emo-charged indie rock. Shout out to the hermetic quadrangle power rock formation, perfect for catching each other’s cues on the improvisational portions. Are there improvisational portions though, or are they just preparing to slaughter a lamb as part of a cult ritual? Extra points for vocal harmonies riding on the rooftops.

Gift

It’s Gift! From New York, New York: the place so nice they named it twice.

Anyone who ever claimed that absolute ideality is the correlate of a possibility of indefinite repetition has never tried to conquer the all-you-can-eat pasta deal at Olive Garden. Or have they?

The latest album is called Momentary Presence. Presence, absence, hauntology, lions, tigers, bears, oh my…

Shades of Doors meets krautrock with a muscular rhythm section, opening up miles of roadway for creeping tension, exhilarating anxiety, or just plain rock n roll dithering. It’s all good.

Extra points for denominating their album in euros on Bandcamp.

Cliff Notez

Cliff Notez’s website is down! https://cliffnotez.com/

Is it a pain to maintain a website? Yup! And then at the end of the day they want YOU to pay for the privilege in domain name and file hosting fees.

You’ll have to go to his Berklee College of Music page to learn more about the hip hop artist. He’s an Assistant Professor! Who’s he assisting? ‘Assistant’ is a title they give you in academia to not pay you enough. ‘Lecturer’ and ‘adjunct’ are a couple more they use to pay you even less.

Professor Notez dropped a new album in 2023, iiN;CASEuFORGET? With a host of collaborators, including Rilla Force. That title’s a nightmare for copy-editors but thank god for ‘copy & paste’.

Boston Cream

OK, admit it. You didn’t think this was a real band. More like a promotional stunt pulled off by bored ad execs. The name of the band (Boston Cream) too cute. The aesthetic too cloying to be believed. And if you thought all that, the choreography and “jumbo gloves” in the live show wouldn’t change your mind.

But look under the hood and there’s some real horsepower with this band. Former and/or current members of Hallelujah The Hills, Electric Street Queens, The Barbazons, and the immortal Whole Doods. Take note.

Thus Love

Gothpoppers THUS LOVE closed out Fuzzstival 2023 with a bracing set of moody, kinda gazey punk. Dark too! The lights were turned down low. Not too many pedals at the guitarist’s foot. A clean, minimalist setup.

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