GROUND CONTROL TOURING PRESENTS: SECOND ANNUAL ABORTION ACCESS BENEFIT SERIES @ The Lodge Room [1/20/24]

Improvised, created on-the-spot EDM from Reggie Watts, synchronized hitch kicks from the “anti-rock” Faux Real, dramatized undulations from Actually Huizenga of Patriarchy as she ran her tongue over an unsuspecting mic stand. With a diverse lineup embodying the DIY, the avant garde, and the sensational, the artists of the Annual Abortion Access Benefit Series appeared to have taken Watts’ meditations to heart, utilizing their talents to directly or indirectly protest the United States government’s usurpation of women’s bodies.

Beach Fossils @ The Novo [11/02/23]

“I was thinking about the lyrics like, ‘goddamn’ can’t cry cause you gotta sing” (Dustin Payseur). Payseur, the frontman of the Indie rock band, Beach fossils, succinctly encapsulated not only the relaxed, confident mannerisms of the band itself with this statement, but also facilitated rumination on the dichotomy between Beach Fossils’ danceable, hazy productions and…

GUM @ The Lodge Room [10/26/23]

Overhead outside the Lodge Room: “I always wondered where the cool people in LA went…”  Depending on your definition “cool,” he wasn’t wrong! By the time GUM, aka Jay W. Watson took the stage, the eclectic venue was packed to the brim with handlebar mustaches, overgrown haircuts, patchwork tattoos, and loafers. It was exactly the…

Wax Motif @ The Shrine Expo Hall

From playing sets for EDC Las Vegas and the Ultra Music Festival, to dropping his first full-length album, House of Glass, 2022 proved to be a monumental year for Wax Motif. A year in which Motif’s momentum climaxed, the “build-up” cresting prior to an explosive drop that was the launch of his 2023 “House of…

Surf Curse @ The Novo [9/26/23]

“I am full of fear And contradictions Easier to hear Beautiful fiction” What sort of sentiment do these lyrics conjure? Despair; introspection; confusion? Well for Surf Curse’s crowd, packed into the standing room offered by The Novo, practically oozing an amalgamation of youthful frustration and excited tension, the answer to the question above appeared to…

Pretty Sick @ The Teragram Ballroom [5/25/23]

Ripped fishnet tights, barely-there mini skirts, distressed t-shirts, the lowest of low-rise pants hanging loose from exposed hip bones. Grunge didn’t die in the ‘90s; it’s alive in “Pretty Sick” and I’ve never felt so simultaneously out of place yet at home.  It was 7:45pm; Thursday evening; and a line was already extending down Hartford…