As everyone knows there are great shows, great potential shows, and then there are some times where the line-up is just insane. Then there are times where there are several fine ass shows going on the same night. This has been happening a lot lately in Boston and I take that as a strong sign that a variety of people are getting involved and putting their stake in local rock ‘n roll music.

But the show that we here at KLYAM are going to on Friday night is NOTS, URSULA, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, and GERM HOUSE at Club Bohemia in Cambridge, presented by Illegally Blind.

I’m still giddy from my first time seeing NOTS perform, which was a month ago at Gonerfest 12 in Memphis. I’d been looking forward to seeing them ever since last summer when I picked up their second 7″, Fix / Modern. Even more so upon hearing their We Are Nots LP from last year. Pretty sure that was my favorite release of the year and cemented in my brain their status as my favorite band. Noisy chaotic slashing guitar, shouty vocals, and alien synths make ’em REAL OUT THERE while the bass and drum ground things slightly. “Reactor” and “Strange Rage” from the first album do it in particular for me – all winners though – and their new single Virgin Mary shows there’s no slowing down in sight. A MUST SEE BAND.

I’ve been acquainted with URSULA for almost exactly one year! I saw the duo play at Black Lodge on October 21, 2014, and was so intrigued I wrote about them the day after. I had never seen any band play like them – explicitly confrontational, raw, and yes there’s not many other ways to put it, punk. Several shows later, I still can’t get enough! Their performance goes to show that the most exciting live music is that which strays further and further away from formulas and conventional playing toward something very very real and meaningful. Not in a yay lets all relate to each other way. Something far more sinister than that. Not something I can write “when Caity stares at you, you feel _________”. I’m not going to speak on your behalf. You get from it – something different. I’d say if they don’t become your new favorite Boston band, you done something wrong.

Also playing are The (New England) Patriots – who’ve played their way to being local noise punk legends. Persistently under the radar, I’d say, they seem to evade most online merchants of cool. Well not here. They also weird as fuck, a truly unpredictable three piece. Instead of synths they got I don’t even know, some combination of devices inside of an old voting booth. Like URSULA there’s a chance the singer be bumping into you or falling on the ground nearby. An amazing sight and sound.

Finally is a band I’ve never heard of – Germ House. Now if it was 1979, I wouldn’t have the means of looking them up beforehand. Let alone do I even want to? For fear of misrepresentation or pigeonholing which I guess is innately a part of this post anyway, I’ll simply say I’m excited. I did the looking and I did the listening. Excellent.

GO TO THIS SHOW