WONDERLAND’s guide to local bands to check out live from January to March—including Victoria Shen’s sonic experiments, Hayley Thompson-King’s country, Oompa and Dutch ReBelle’s rap, Julie Rhodes’s bluesy soul, Weakened Friends and Palehound’s indie rock, PVRIS’s ethereal electronic pop-rock, The Low Anthem’s Americana, Carissa Johnson’s rock ‘n’ roll (pictured above), and Jonathan Richman’s charm.


Jan. 9: Victoria Shen at Café Fixe, Brookline.

Percussive, drone amusements that can call to mind whale calls, rain on metal roofs, video game lasers and submarine hulls groaning under too much pressure.


Jan. 11: Hayley Thompson-King at Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge.

Drinking, drugs and heartbreak—country music the way it was meant to be.


Jan. 12: Passion Pit at the House of Blues, Boston.

Indie electronica anthems.


Jan. 14: Oompa, Pink Navel, Cody Pope, Evildewer, Yo Daddy Doe at the Middle East, Cambridge.

The future of Boston hip-hop.


Jan. 16: Skylar Kergil and Ro Colegrove at Club Passim, Cambridge.

Sweet, dreamy music by two trans singer/songwriters.


Jan. 17: Mint Green at O’Brien’s Pub, Boston.

They describe themselves as: “Summery, angsty, alt-rock with punk influence and catchy choruses. Capturing the things that everyone thinks and feels but never says.”



Jan. 18: Will Dailey & The All Together Now at Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge.

Soulful singer-songwriter rock.


Jan. 20: Julie Rhodes at Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge.

“Her songs seem to rise from the ghosts of ’50s blues and ’60s soul greats,” The Boston Herald has written.


Jan. 27: Boston Hassle: Boston Underground Summit 11 at Massasoit Elks Lodge, Cambridge.

Curious, noise punk from Scream Castle, Guiding Wave, Squitch, Goon Planet, Rogozo, Highlightreel, The Laces. “Roughly 10 bands set up round-robin-style in two rooms, 3 stages and take turns playing a song. When the cycle is complete, the loop repeats again…and again… and again. UNTIL THE SHOW ENDS.”


Feb. 9: Vijay Iyer and Teju Cole at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

Jazz composer and pianist, Harvard professor and MacArthur “Genius” grant-winner Vijay Iyer has drafted a score that will be performed live with Teju Cole’s photography and spoken prose drawing on text from Cole’s book “Blind Spot” that “investigates humanity’s blindness to tragedy and injustice throughout history.”


Feb. 10: The Silks at Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge.

The honky-tonk blues-rock power trio.


Feb. 10: Weakened Friends at Great Scott, Boston.

The heart-on-their-sleeve indie rock of this trio can bring to mind 1990s grunge—and not just because Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis played guitar on their song “Hate Mail,” which debuted last fall.


Feb. 16: Bearstronaut, Bent Knee, and Roz and the Ricecakes at Sonia, Cambridge.

Dance, sythpop force-of-nature Bearstronaut is joined by art rockers Bent Knee and Roz and the Ricecakes.


Feb. 18: PVRIS at The Strand, Providence.

“Ethereal electronic pop-rock alongside a vociferous support of LGBTQ rights,” the Guardian has written.


Feb. 24: The Low Anthem at Columbus Theatre, Providence.

Heartbreaking “sullen, spacious” (in the words of NPR’s Bob Boilen) Americana.


March 2: Damon & Naomi and Thalia Zedek at Lilypad, Cambridge.

Introspective pop duo (and couple) Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang (formerly of Galaxie 500) share a bill with brooding rocker Thalia Zedek (formerly of groundbreaking underground bands Uzi, Live Skull and Come).


March 2: Jonathan Richman at the Somerville Theatre, Somerville. (He’s at the Met in Pawtucket the following night.)

A charmer, from his groundbreaking proto-punk work with the Modern Lovers (see “Roadrunner,” his ode to Massachusetts) in the early 1970s to his whimsical solo songs often suffused with witty adventures and starry-eyed doo-wop romance.


March 3: Dutch ReBelle at LilyPad, Cambridge.

Fierce rap.


March 10: Carissa Johnson at Great Scott, Boston.

A rock ‘n’ roll release party for Johnson’s third full-length album “Talk Talk Talk.”


March 10: Tall Heights opens for Judah & The Lion and Colony House at House of Blues, Boston.

The electro-folk duo Tall Heights bring all the feels with their guitar, cello and harmonies.


March 16: Palehound at Sinclair, Cambridge.

“A lot of it is about loss and learning how to let yourself evolve past the pain and the weird guilt that comes along with grief,” Palehound’s vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Ellen Kempner has said of the band’s 2017 indie rock album “A Place I’ll Always Go.”


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Categories: Music