PHOTOS + REVIEW: Devon Welsh sings sparsely powerful songs about “True Love” at Lilypad Inman, with Abandon and St. Nothing (11/10/19)

While audience members chuckled softly over Devon Welsh’s preamble to his set — where he took his time with expressing that what he was about to say was his “greatest desire” to eventually arrive at saying this desire was for the audience to arrange tables they sat on into a semicircle and sit in the space between them — what the request seemed to actually express was Welsh’s very real desire to have performance space become a form of quiet emotional intimacy.

PHOTOS + REVIEW: Ezra Furman brings “a night of pain and a night of celebration” to The Sinclair, with support from OMNI

Coming to the stage smiling and waving while holding an orange he would later peel onstage, Ezra Furman took his position behind the mic at the center as the lighting shifted, the dim fill lighting changing to sheer spotlights illuminating the whole stage for the entirety of the set. As Ezra first addressed the crowd after his band propelled into a killer opening 1-2 of “Cherry Lane” and “I Wanna Destroy Myself,” the meaning behind this lighting design became exceedingly clear: in times shrouded by darkness, Furman aims for his show to be a beacon of light.

PHOTOS + REVIEW: Slothrust, joined by MANNEQUIN PUSSY, bring fantastic vibes to The Sinclair (11/10/18)

Allow me to start off-subject if you will. One of my favorite performances of Arctic Monkeys’ “Mardy Bum” that I can never rewatch enough times is the rendition they played at 2006’s Reading Festival. Only a couple of notes in, it is easy to see why. Although perhaps nervous, the band looks quite happy to be there, and the crowd even more so, judging by the fact that they sing along to pretty much every part of the song, and they do so with ardent splendor. And as I stood amongst the crowd for Slothrust’s Saturday night set at The Sinclair, hearing the band play “Like a Child Hiding Behind Your Tombstone” from 2016’s Everyone Else, smiles and all from frontwoman Leah Wellbaum in-between the song’s major moments, the crowd responding with unbridled joy, I find it hard not to find parallels between these two beautiful performances, for this beauty was part of a night of live music that was as every bit welcoming as it was bustling.

PHOTOS + REVIEW: Django Django make a triumphant return to New York on the release day of their new EP, with support from The Shacks

In the packed basement performance space of Le Poisson Rouge this past Friday, British alt-rockers Django Django took to the stage on anything but an ordinary Friday night for the band. Not only was it their first New York show in two years (for which anticipation could be tangibly felt leading up to the set from many in the crowd who expressed gratitude at finally being able to see the band), but the gig also doubled as a release show for their new EP Winter’s Beach, which supplements their third LP Marble Skies also released this year.

PHOTOS + REVIEW: Sidney Gish’s first headlining hometown gig of 2018 proves why she’s Boston’s favorite rising DIY star

Last year, we at Odd Blue Fruit recapped the last show Sidney Gish played in the greater Boston area in 2017 at O’Brien’s Pub in Allston. Gish had been a big DIY staple in the local music scene throughout the year, opening for the likes of Xenia Rubinos and Margaret Glaspy, releasing the stellar debut album Ed Buys Houses, and garnering some nominations from the Boston Music Awards all while studying at Northeastern.

PHOTOS + REVIEW: Anamanaguchi, Meesh at Cyclorama

As the first notes to “Endless Fantasy” boomed throughout Cyclorama, you could see the crowds waiting around the arcade cabinets spill over to the middle of the room, ready to dance. This was how both shows Anamanaguchi played in Boston at the tail-end of March began, and the energy didn’t let up after this killer start. The mostly instrumental chiptune pop-rock band has been prepping their upcoming album [USA], but much of these shows were dedicated to playing a variety of songs across previous releases, even stretching back to 2006’s Power Supply EP.

PHOTOS + REVIEW: Jeff Rosenstock (acoustic), Anika Pyle at Silent Barn (A Fundraiser for ELM)

In between different legs of touring, Jeff Rosenstock played a late-announced acoustic set at the soon-to-be-closing Silent Barn in Bushwick, where Rosenstock has played a number of times in the past. The show fell on the same weekend as the physical release of Rosenstock’s latest excellent album POST- (a weekend which also involved scavenger hunts to find test pressings of the record in a handful of major US cities) and also served as a fundraiser for Bushwick’s Educated Little Monsters, a local grassroots youth program working to provide artistic outlets and economic opportunities to Brooklyn youth of color. (The organization, which had been using Silent Barn as its headquarters, is currently raising funds to take over the first floor of the building rented by Silent Barn.)