New Jersey’s High. soared in the fourth slot of a tall drink of feedback bill at O’Brien’s Pub on Friday, 27 January 2023.

Locals Gut Health and The Dreamtoday welcomed New York’s Bedridden and Plastic to historic New England.

Allston Ferret City. That’s the real headline. Forget rats – that mascot was always a kind of dig at one of Boston’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Every corner of Boston and beyond has rats. But how many have guys rolling up to a taqueria with a ferret perched in the pouch of a hoodie’s hood? 

If there’s a people’s history of Allston, let us know in the comments. The neighborhood deserves its own archives to preserve and remember its idiosyncratic legacy. There’s a lot of talk about strength in diversity, but you look at the communities where those talkers live, and you just don’t see the walk walked. Allston Ferret City, on the other hand, is your true melting pot.

So let’s end the rat discourse. It’s a sneaky putdown, stealth racism, and a sad sort of internalized oppression when Allstonians glom onto the rat like a family pet. The only rat worth keeping is Scabby the Rat, who earns his keep by busting scabs.

2023 is the Year of the Ferret.

Gut Health

Boston’s Gut Health is a pain in the ass to google. You’d think with a name like that they’d be easy to find. But there’s actually another band named Gut Health in Melbourne, Australia – and the Aussies have raped and pillaged the Google results.

The internet is a scary place, so maybe our local Gut Health is living their best life by not getting sucked into it. You might have caught them on Day 4 of Nice, A Fest. The five-piece band focuses their energy IRL, bringing a host of gags to the live show. Illuminated hula hoops, life-sized dummy, a leafblower-powered toilet paper gun. Whatever it took to amp up the crowd.

Plastic

Straight outta Queens, New York, Plastic crafts moody, ambient guitar pop, combining emotion with technical chops.

The three-piece rips as a power trio when they want a big sound, and they can reel it back in for a quieter, more introspective slant. The guitarist assembled some strange chords with alt-jazz resonance, and his melodic solos shined even more.

Shades of J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. Shout out to the drummer, a dynamo who looked like he just fell off Cloud 9 and didn’t feel a thing.

Bedridden

New York City borough, part deux: Bedridden brought the Brooklyn energy. The three-piece plowed through a somewhat lumbering, medium tempo set of thick alt punk.

It might have been that the bass was too loud, or the guitar too soft, in the mix. There was plenty of crowd-moving rhythm, but the colors of the chord progressions were harder to track.

Extra points for wearing sunglasses indoors. Shades of The Love Shamans.

High.

Tri-state, my state! New Jersey’s High. (with a period) is the kind of band that knows what it wants to sound like, exactly, fires away, and hits a million bullseyes.

The four-piece out of Boonton delivers medium tempo, buzzy, fuzzy, pop ballads that traffic in the shoegaze/darkwave space. There’s a definite mood to this band. Shades of Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Stone Roses. They should have a song or two on some teen vampire movie soundtrack.

Speaking of movies, Boonton was a sometime-home to the famous film music composer and David Lynch-collaborator Angelo Badalamenti. Rest in peace (1937-2022). The composer found inspiration in the grassways of New Jersey. Via NJ.com:

When I compose a project, music is rolling around my head most of the day and most of the night. I could be anywhere — and sometimes in unusual places. I was needing a major theme for a Leonardo DiCaprio film called “The Beach.” I decided I needed a change of scene, so I went to play golf at the North Jersey Country Club. I’m playing golf, but subliminally, I know I need this theme and I don’t have it yet — and it’s gotta be this big, beautiful, uplifting piece.

Maybe High. should hit the greens?

The Dreamtoday

The Dreamtoday are becoming regulars on the Allston Ferret City music circuit. It’s not such a far drive from Woburn, or southern New Hampshire, and maybe they have a place to crash in the neighborhood.

They’ve played a couple of recent Monday night shows, with Square Loop, the Endorphins, and more, at the Silhouette Lounge, home to soap operatic drama and a dodgy electricity grid.

The band has been experimenting with its lineup as of late, bouncing from four to five to four players. However many cooks in the kitchen, the soup of the day is stoner psych chowder with a plastic baggie of oyster crackers on the side.

Remember. 2023: The Year of the Ferret.

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