As the Real Gone inbox continues to fill up, Boston continues to be a city that delivers a huge amount of new music every month. This trip back to the US will reacquaint people with a few familiar names: Lovina Falls presents some terrific alt-pop, Tiberius share a moody number that showcases their low key approach really effectively, and scene stalwarts The Dogmatics show their more melodic side on a great single. There are new faces to be discovered too, with a band celebrating a perfect post punk sound, a slice of reggae to remind you of the summer you’ve just left behind, and something dubbed “low rock”, which blends genres in an interesting way. We’re sure this lightning tour with the some of the city’s cult acts will see you coming away with a couple of new favourites!
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They’ve already released some great singles in 2025, and now The Chelsea Curve are back with another banger. ‘Rally ’Round’ has a more melodic edge, but the lighter tone very much allows an important lyric to take centre stage. Regarding the importance of friendships and having a support network, the number has a celebratory feel, and works a huge harmony vocal to help add power a great hook. Against a very 60s influenced sound – falling somewhere between a 1967 mod number and classic power pop – a choir of voices calls out with a refrain that’s sure to stick. Sitting in the centre of a superb arrangement, the message “Cheers to all of us!” comes like a clarion call, as a world of chiming guitars reinforces the Curve’s love of a retro sound. In addition, Linda Pardee is in superb voice here; her natural delivery glides effortlessly over the musical arrangement, and despite coming from a slightly poppier place, this still sounds like classic Chelsea Curve. If you liked band before, you’ll absolutely love this.
Attention shoppers! Stop Calling Me Frank pay tribute to the Boston grocery chain Market Basket on the spiky ‘MB’. You might think hearing a band tear through a bunch of speed driven chords while their frontman yells about picking up food items would be a pure novelty – but you’d be wrong. This track blends fun and fury in such a way that the music often outshines everything. The guitar riffs, drawing from garage rock, power pop and punk, are really tight; the buoyant basslines add an extra punch to the rollocking arrangement, and – in proper Franks tradition – an omnipresent sax is a reminder of how this, despite often sounding like an unashamed knockabout, comes with a layered arrangement that’s anything but hacked out on the quick and the cheap. Factor in a vocal performance that’s almost as frenzied, but really makes an impression – and with a simple lyrical hook centering around the title, and this actually becomes one of the band’s best tunes to date.
In the summer of ’25, Lovina Falls released ‘Light and Low’, a track that managed to fuse heady bass grooves with harpsicord sounds and an alt-pop vocal, bringing together three disparate elements in a surprisingly natural way. ‘In The Corner, A Fire’ is just as quirky, but by no means more of the same. The heavy bass sounds remain, but beyond that, this track takes on a life of its own, with 80s synths dropping in with almost robotic sounding bleeps and a very mechanical drum line reinforcing the track’s taut qualities, while a slightly hushed vocal on the verse contrasts the slightly inhuman tone. As before, though, Valerie Forgione balances any colder aspects with a pop drenched chorus that uses harmonies and soaring melodies on a great hook to give the performance more of a celebratory feel. …And it doesn’t take long before that chorus becomes an alt-pop earworm.
Dubbed “low rock” by their PR team, Boston’s Crow Follow serve up an interesting sound on ‘Golden Days’. The opening notes, supplied by a deep drum sound and clean, jangly guitar suggest something very 90s, but then everything takes an unexpected twist. Mariachi influenced brass takes the helm, allowing the tune to sound a little more soundtrack-like, which should pique the listener’s interest further. Things don’t settle there: the arrival of a gruff vocal adds a much darker feel with a delivery that echoes the older Bob Dylan circa 2002, and although this is rather disarming at first, it fits the music perfectly. With all of the ingredients in place, the mid tempo arrangement carries a rough harmony vocal very well, before a descending sax riff further suggests Crow Follow are more concerned with capturing a mood than hitting their audience with anythsoing immediate. The (almost) cymbal-free drumming puts in a lot of hard yards to keep up a dark feel, and the wheezing brass eventually adds some of the number’s most interesting aspects. Reaching a climax with a burst of distorted lead guitar, it suggests Crow Follow could get rather noisy on occasion, but in the main here, the focus is very much on something low-key.
With its garage punk heart, the previous Dogmatics single ‘You’ve Got What I Want’ showed off the veteran band at full throttle. ‘Nothing To Be Learned’ finds them in a more melodic mood, but it’s no less brilliant. A mid tempo rocker, the track fills three minutes with riffs that take influence from a late 80s college rock sound, whilst a world of harmony vocals contrast the harder edges with a broad melody. In terms of accessible hooks, this represents The Dogmatics at their best – its semi-mature sound still shows how effortlessly the band can rock, while simultanously flaunting a number with a shameless sing-along potential.
Following a sci-fi influenced buzz of effects, the riff that opens The Peppermint Kicks’ ‘Gigantor’ immediately hits upon a chunky tone that’s just perfect for the ominous rocker that quickly unfolds. Against a glam infused stomp, Dan Kopko drops a chunky guitar and a raw vocal that’s somewhere near the Kicks’ rough end, but listen more closely and you’ll hear a love of the mighty Cheap Trick coming through the guitar tones and careening lead guitar break, which makes this more appealing. In terms of paying tribute to cartoon history, this is perfectly pitched, and although The Peppermint Kicks have more immediate tunes lurking within their catalogue, this is still pretty cool.
Proles take their audience back to the 80s on the brilliant ‘One More For The Fire’. With hard edged rhythms and a world of reverb applied, the track plays like a superb tribute to goth influenced, post punk sounds. The rhythmic edge that runs through the arrangement is unrelenting – only breaking its mid tempo groove to drop in a couple of even more mechanical fills every few bars – but the detached feel is really appealing. What’s more, it helps create the perfect backdrop for a dual male/female vocal that blends cold melody and a few rough edges with a genuine confidence. It might take a couple of spins before the chorus even begins to make its mark, but in terms of overall sound, this is almost perfect.
The earlier singles from “farm emo” slacker rock band Tiberius valued atmosphere over immediacy, but ‘Painting of A Tree’ takes the band’s love of a slow burn to its most logical extreme. Stretching to almost seven minutes, the number opens quietly with a garage toned guitar and a live sounding drum part working a gentle groove. Bringing in a couple of louder elements, things briefly twist into something that sounds like a strange blend of Wilco rocking out and ‘Siamese Dream’ era Smashing Pumpkins in ballad mode, before everything slunks back into a haze. Settling into the quieter groove, echoing slide guitars and lapsteel sounds reinforce the emo band’s love of Americana influences – something that really gives them a distinctive edge – and although the overall sound feels more important than an actual song, it all sounds lovely. Moving slowly through a rockier second half, the guitar work sounds perfect with its very 90s tone, and by the time the lengthy arrangement reaches its climax, the love for Mercury Rev and Jeff Tweedy blends to create something that sounds far more unique to Tiberius themselves. Despite this working its magic incredibly slowly, it’s potentially the band’s finest recording.
Acclaimed ska and soul collective Westbound Train go all out reggae on ‘Slippery Slope’. The track hits a solid mid tempo groove right from the first notes, recalling many classic rocksteady jams from the past. The brass kicks off with a huge refrain, but from there, peppers the arrangement with small blasts of sound, clearly never wanting to dominate but still make a vital contribution. The way the trumpets and sax add almost wheezing tones at the end of each verse and into the chorus is quite striking; lovingly arranged backing vocals lend the stately melody a lighter touch when required, and a soulful lead really shines, sharing something broadly appealing, despite never bringing too much that’s new to the genre. The music is consistantly great, but to ensure nothing is left to chance, the track’s climax wheels out a lyrical hook that will definite stick. ‘Slippery Slope’ may be a little predictable and it may sound like a couple of other Westbound tracks from the past, but if you like classic sounding, radio friendly reggae, a few spins of this track will lead to it being a favourite.
Between 2014 and 2025, Duck & Cover released a string of impressive digital singles and EPs. Rum Bar Records are now in the process of compiling them – along with an unreleased track – for a well-deserved physical release. ‘Bored of The City’ is being shared as the album’s lead number, and it’s a great example of the band’s garage rock and punk ‘n’ roll sounds. It hits immediately with a huge punk ‘n’ roll riff, which is used equally as effectively between the verses, giving the track plenty of punch. Between those riffs, the band opts for a near perfect blend of punkiness and retro college rock sneering, ending up with a sound that could’ve made stars of Duck & Cover in the mid 90s. There’s a dirtier sounding guitar dropping in on occasion, a huge bass grumble supplying the band with a fierce bottom end, and the lead vocal, although a little rough in places, summons almost as much power as a shouty Dave Pirner. The sound here may be immediately familiar, but the playing is stellar throughout, and if you like this track, then the compilation disc will certainly be a sound investment.
October 2025