Sustainably Moving Toward an Ideal Boston Corporate mainstream culture assaults all of our lives on a constant basis. To not be lulled into complacency by this cold, calculated data & product barrage is a victory unto itself. We here at the Compass (and our sister project Boston Hassle) want to and feel the need to reject this ugly widespread money grab. We aim to pry Boston area music and art culture from the hands of the corporate mainstream’s representatives and others who take OUR culture’s money, and give little or nothing back. Ours are the people who are distinctly Boston--the folks who buy the beers and food sold in these places of business; the folks that pay the owner’s salary. So many of us have responded by going underground. And rightfully so. This is what, if nothing else, unites us punks, weirds, rockers, electronic freaks, zinesters, and whatever you want to call your community of artists and musicians, or rabble rousers of whatever nature. Underground music and art venues will always exist. They are a natural outcrop of any
healthy artistic or philosophical ecosystem. What we are severely lacking here in Boston however, are much in the way of legitimate venues (or businesses, period) with agendas sympathetic to the various underground strategies that are out there. These places do exist, but we need far more of them!!! Start a band, or artistic endeavor, but don’t book yourself or your friends into unsupportive venues. Open a business that actively supports our shared culture. Start a collective, and find strength through numbers. Find out how the law works in your city and figure out how to create change by removing what restricts your culture. Politics and business are a quagmire, but they have mechanisms like everything else. The Compass and The Hassle are here to create positive social change through music and art, valuing freedom of artistic expression over material and financial gains. Join us in working to bring Boston closer to the free, and inspirational ideal that we know it can be for music, art, and thought. - Dan Shea
We’ve rearranged our page order to increase compass calendar hang-ability. Pages 2-7 and 4-5 are our “hang ups.” We hope you hang them up, too!
ART BLAST.............................................................PAGE 2 Pop-ups, performance, and a parade of self-published projects.
BOSTON HASSLE BRIEF......................................PAGE 3 Particulars EP, Patriots/Palberta Split, Moth Cock, Future Spa & More!
SHOWS..............................................................PAGE 4-5 FUZZstival, Gnarwhal (Nashville), Zine Fest After Party, GYMSHORTS!
THE TARDY EAGLE..............................................PAGE 6 How Sad Are You? And more stuff that will make you a better person.
FILM FLAM............................................................PAGE 7 Mischief and Madness - Thrills, Chills, Zombies, & the Czech New Wave
COMICS.................................................................PAGE 8
Chill out with the Vegetables of Strangers, Feel XMas Feelings.
The Boston Compass is produced by the Boston Hassle Email us at ThatBostonCompass@gmail.com Visit us online at BostonHassle.com
What’s Cooler Than Cold Brew Delivery? Nothing, Probs. Not everybody digs coffee, but for some of us the sweet, life-giving nectar is simply crucial to our daily function. If you’re in the latter category, then pay some dang attention to 1369 Coffeehouse. The Central Square beanjuice drippery is running their ICED COFFEE DELIVERY SERVICE all summer long--transporting GROWLERS (64oz.) of cold-brewed black gold via bicycle to near-any location in Cambridge, Somerville, or Back Bay for LE$$ than a weekful of daily purchases. Some science: cold brew coffee, having never been heated, is empirically proven to be smoother than smooth, colder than cold, coffeeier than coffee. Perhaps. Order at 1369coffeehouse.com. - Zach Peckham
Sat 8/16 New England Zine Fest @Cambridge YMCA
PUNK ROCK SWAP MEET In JP, Every Sunday in August
Zine fiends UNITE at Boston Hassle’s first annual NEW ENGLAND ZINE FEST! Guaranteed to be a veritable buffet of self-published morsels and monuments. It’s FREE so you can trade more paper at 30 tables worth of personal, creative print endeavors. Learn from local DIY dignitaries PAPERCUT ZINE LIBRARY, TRIFECTA EDITIONS, and NOTHING MATTRESS’ BRIAN CONNOLLY as they lead rad workshops. And find the ZINE QUEEN’S Make-Your-Own-Zine workshop up in the balcony of this enchanting venue. Sit down and read into a daydream or breeze around and browse the scene. Either way it’ll be serene being ensconced in New England zines. - CEEK/SP
August is the last month to bandy over the loot turning over at the weekly PUNK ROCK SWAP MEET in JP. The spot and thus, the goods, are squirreled away nearby @Green Street T. LOOK for SIGNS. Buy! Sell! Trade! Free spots for vendors. Bring a table if you want. You’ll find Zines, clothing, gear and other useful refuse. Plus new local and international punk and hardcore items (records, patches, posters) every week! Bring food to grill and share! All are welcome. Every Sunday until Sept. Starts ‘round noon, ends ‘round 6. Don’t miss out. IRRH.storenvy.com
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LAIR is a guitar and drum duo salvaged from debris of that most towering of prog-flavored Boston noise structures, Arvid Noe. Building ripping, riffing, challenging yet lush experimental rock with a heavy dollop of the ol’ electrified sauerKraut on top, LAIR is exciting as all getout to nerd-denizens of the weird rock and roll realm and beyond (me, us, and you, boo). A self-titled LP is out this month via Surveillance Investments, recorded by the ever-disarming Mark Fede. Find LAIR’s Debut de S/T and details of a Tour de U.S. on SI’s site: iaoiaoiao. storenvy.com or on the phasebook. - Zach Peckham
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Able, Idle Hands, We Got Some Tasks For You To Grasp Sediment Club Slays the Rare Beast: Full US Tour in Aug. Our cadence laden detritus trio SEDIMENT CLUB are taking their tottering gut punches and dissonant digs on the road for a full-on August & change. How blowes the winde, Syr? Up, down & all around goes it, with a veritable criss-crossing, apple-saucing of our governing body’s bio-parameters, coming to near-fruition 9/7 @DEEP THOUGHTS. A pledgore us; may they stand, slouch, writhe & deliver in the waning days of sleepaway camp. Access The Club’s blogging spot for the completist’s collection of dates & locales. - Anthony Richards
The entirely volunteer-run organization that produces this newspaper, along with the comprehensive underground music and area nightlife blog Boston Hassle, AND organizes over a dozen DIY shows a month could actually use more creative, dedicated minds to make these great things happen. WHAT WE LACK: Artist Coordinator (managing and commissioning visual artists to get busy), Funds Wrangler (scheming to keep the newspaper from folding), Promo Pusher (spreading the word about upcoming shows), Street Team Lazer Beam (plan and carry out a campaign of turning people on, in the streets) and more. Idle hands, reach out and hang on. - Sam Potrykus
Rethink the phrase “in a tight spot.” The Compass aims to be in EVERY tight spot, every month. Could be a sweet retail shop, a nice cafe, a venue of some kind, any place the culture hungry freaks frequent. But wherever they be, to truly be all up in the right joints every month we need more hands on deck. Make it your thing, meet friendly folks, get to know the city and all that. It feels good to connect with people out there and this is one heck of a way. Do you live in JP? Allston? Cambridge? or Somerville? Hey me too! Let us unite our neighborhoods with free, independent press. - Sam Potrykus