Hell Beach uses hell sunscreen at Silhouette Lounge on Wednesday, 5 June 2024.

KCUF and Alenka don’t play guitars that are keyboards that are guitars in the opening slots.

The Jamaica Plain Music Festival is coming!

Also known as the JP Music Fest. That’s got more zing.

It will be the 12th edition, coming your way in September, and each year is organized with tender love and care by a neighborhood community that loves live music and knows how to have a good time. This is a bottom-up affair, by and for the people, and it needs your support.

If you missed the annual Smell The Love fundraiser, you can still donate below!

If you missed the fundraiser show in March at the American Legion Hall with Rick Berlin, Colonel Broccoli and the Legion Basement Band, and Fantastic Trees, you can still donate below!

And if you didn’t make it out to Midway Cafe on June 4 in time to catch the annual classic fundraiser John Casey’s JP Bar Wars, you can still donate below!

Do your part to keep Jamaica Plain fresh AND funky.

Hump Nights

Nov 30

WORM | Presidential Disgrace | Screw Cart | Neponset Monastary

Dec 3

ONCE Presents: Ezra Furman Doing What She Wants

Dec 4

The Ladybug Transistor / Lightheaded / Mark Robinson (of Cotton Candy)

Dec 7

The Lotusheads / The Dead Flowers / Music Farm / The Pretty Fears

Dec 13

The 4th Wall: Nectarine Girl, Special Guest, Exit 18, Wulfer

Dec 13

Big Ol’ Dirty Bucket / Funk Safari

Dec 14

ONCE Presents: Scream Along Blue Xmas w/ Billy Hough

$Fat Togue Holiday Bash: Give Up!, Love City Dirt, BAD\\VERB$

Dec 16

Fat Togue Holiday Bash: Give Up!, Love City Dirt, BAD\\VERB

Dec 26

Bohemian Rhapsody Sing-Along

Dec 31

Bohemian Rhapsody Sing-Along

The indie rock three-piece Alenka spun punk ditties about amorous ghosts and stealing someone’s Bic lighter. You could write operas about stolen lighters – it’s basically the myth of Prometheus. Book it at Silhouette Lounge. Versatile songwriting within the trio format. Shades of a more tongue-in-cheek Bikini Kill before Kathleen Hanna took the pop turn.

KCUF is a four-piece, and their band name is obviously an acronym that stands for Ken and Chris’s Undecided Franchise. What is DIY music if not a bastion for dumb jokes, lame puns, and awkward band names? The outfit kicked out rock n roll with a side serving of pop punk.

Extra points awarded straight out of the gate to Hell Beach for the keytar. We’ve been meaning to document the instrument’s usage around town. The evidence isn’t mustered into place yet, but we can anecdotally report that the keytar is experiencing a minor renaissance. What’s the explanation? Stay tuned for our free 10-part series of investigative journalism that wins multiple Pulitzers right before we lay off half the newsroom because not enough people pay for news.

In the meantime, Hell Beach crafts some catchy tunes.