Makeout Palace headlines a bill of M-named bands at Silhouette Lounge on Monday, 8 May 2023.

Muzak and Main Era got the ball rolling for the three-stack bill.

The letter ‘M’ is magical.

‘M’ is for Makeout Palace.

‘M’ is for Main Era.

‘M’ is for Muzak.

‘M’ is for Mondays at Silhouette Lounge.

‘M’ is for the month of May.

‘M’ is for musicians who like to play together. Maybe you caught Makeout Palace and Main Era making music near MIT last month?

Mighty fine to run it back, adding Muzak to the music for good measure.

While we’re here, shout out to Mal Devisa, Mamalarky, Manchester Orchestra, Michael Christmas, Muzzins, and Miss Bones.

Muzak

Muzak struts their stuff like Phish playing “Golgi Apparatus” in the key of honky tonk under a harvest moon.

The frontman for the four-piece blends Wayne Coyne vocals with an Adam Sandler polish (credit Bill the Bartender for the comparison).

But he’s not the only one getting into the vocal mix – throughout the set, Muzak sprinkled full band, a capella interventions.

This band bubbled over with swag and good humor while a rock solid rhythm section kept the musical motor humming. Shout out to the Silvertone on lead guitar, which was an ironic throwback junk ax three decades ago, never mind in the Year of Our Lord 2023.

Main Era

Boston’s Main Era has some sweet bangers in its song library, and the twee thrashlords are smart enough to play them every set, if you’re lucky.

Shout out to “Clandestine Sadness.” Shout out to the REI shirt, shouting out the union movement at the Boston branch fighting for their labor rights. Shout out to shouting out shout outs.

The four-piece adopted a geometrical square of hermetic musical magic, facing inward towards each other a la Gollylagging’s hermetic triangle of rock. There are no rules regarding how bands set themselves up to perform. By sheer force of habit and habituation, most musicians opt to face outwards from the stage to make a connection with the audience.

But since there’s no stage to speak of at the Silhouette Lounge, all bets are off. 

Makeout Palace

The local three-piece Makeout Palace mostly treads in pop and post punk territory.

But hang around before their set and you might hear their ship sail in steeper waters – was that a little jazz noodling in the soundcheck?

This band has chops, and makes the kind of crowd connection that will get bodies slumber party dancing one moment and sweat stain moshing the next.

Kind of a Franz Ferdinand vibe during those dancey moments? One of the most fun live acts gigging around town lately. Extra points for the lyric: “My boss makes dollars while I make dimes, that's why I shit on company time…”

Magnifique!

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