DAN SHEA is the Director of the 501(c)(3) non-profit BRAIN Arts Org and fills many roles in helping run its many projects (this website, the Boston Compass, Boston Hassle Shows, Hassle Fest, the outdoor summer concerts series, etc.). He cares a lot about making Boston and New England a friendlier, more sustainable place for artists to live in, work in, and visit. He has two loves in his life, his amazing and supportive wife Megan, and their beautiful and wonderful son Zachary. He is currently working on and making great advancements in opening a restaurant and performance venue in the Boston area (with his great friend Sam Potrykus).

I have included 25 Boston/New England releases here in my traditionally tardy Year End List.

These were the releases that most inspired me, kept the blood pumping through my veins, made me super excited about the world of creativity that my little boy Zachary has at his disposal to explore, and simply made me proud and psyched to be a Bostonian and a New Englander here in the 20-teens as the shit flies and hope ebbs and flows (what’s new?). I only briefly touch on each release here, so please also read the included previous and more in-depth reviews of each release (often written by me, but in some cases tackled by other Hasslers). I’m sure I’ve also missed and temporarily forgotten about some gems. It’s difficult to fully keep track of so much great music. What a year (looking in that rearview). Major props to all the local labels that dominate this list, especially western MA’s incredible FEEDING TUBE RECORDS.

My favorite sound fruit of the earth known as New England (2014 crop):
In no particular order…

FREE PIZZA — BOSTON, MA (BUFU RECORDS/ FEEDING TUBE RECORDS)
(read earlier Hassle write up)

…”jams a miniature post-punk-y bridge into an indie-punk country adventure. Jesus’ propulsive bass and strong melodies magnetically ground a song that would otherwise rip through the atmosphere, celestially bound, fueled by the exquisite, deceptively simple, but oh-so-inventive guitar playing of S. Cardenas“

The most fun I had with a record all year, I think. Two-thirds a Miami-born unit, they gave Boston its best city-themed punk-rock sing-along since his punk-holiness JONATHAN RICHMAN walked these streets. Exuberant, infectious, and eminently hummable. Great, curious guitar playing also. Jamaica Plain, MA

LEATHER DADDY — SOB STORY (TWERP RECORDS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”snotty as hell punk rock meets hardcore that is as simple as it is awesome. The chord-progression-as-riff mid-tempo lurch that these four women set into motion across these four songs already sounds a bit classic.”

On the grimier end of punk rock arrived these Cambridge high schoolers. I haven’t heard a scuzzy pogo attack of this nature since I was a teen and the SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN, PINKERTON THUGS, and AUGUST SPIES were prowling these parts. Cool band. Cool band name. Pretty good. Cambridge, MA

MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED — WAITING FOR SURFIN’ BIRD (DECOHERENCE RECORDS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”As high energy as rhythmic noise or experimental electronic dance music gets, is found right here.”

So bombastic. So over the top, and scuzz riddled, and absolutely blurring any lines between electronic dance music and rhythmic noise with track after track and live show after live show of exquisite, throbbing, ear-piercing glory. Providence, RI

THE CHANNELS — LO FRUIT (BUFU RECORDS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up) (read another earlier Hassle write-up)

…”9 song oddball stagger through new & no wave, countrified post-punk, & neg-pop and I have to say it’s absolutely one of my favorite albums of the year, from anywhere.”

Side-project band (mems. of GUERILLA TOSS/ DESIGNER/ AYKROYD/ CRATERS) that blossomed into something entirely special and singular unto itself. Part of the recent Boston country-punk strain, besides being all kinds of post-punk/art rock. Good crew; was four, is now three. Looking forward to whatever they do next. Jamaica Plain, MA

FORM A LOG — FOR THE RECORD (BATHETIC RECORDS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”But freak my fuck if these 3 are not just shredding a fully realized, and new landscape of what music that you can dance to (and move your body in other ways to), and have fun to even, IS.”

One of the best music groups in the Americas, FORM A LOG is three four-track-toting men of the underground who know how to party (weirdly) and are excelling across the board in the many creative pursuits in which they are collectively engaged. Don’t miss a chance to experience them in a live setting. Grab their music now. Providence, RI/ Philadelphia, PA

GUERILLA TOSS — SMACK THE BRICK (NNA TAPES)
(read earlier Hassle write-up) Boston, MA

…”I’ve heard many noisy rhythmically oriented bands over the years, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard trained musicians get rhythm & punk attitude so right @ the same time”

Fresh off a European tour, the core unit of the GTOSS surely has big moves in store. Will they be noisy and funky? I sure hope so. Fun and in your face in a wholly unique way. People that like noise-rock or whatever but don’t like this are not objecting to the band playing the music; they are objecting to fun itself.

BUGS AND RATS — s/t (self-released)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

“These three men (only Radek, manning the bass, has not yet been mentioned) have synthesized all manner of heavy, loud, sludgy, and blasting fringe rock sound, toiling until the singularity known as BUGS AND RATS emerged.”

One of my favorite Boston bands of all time, it’s beginning to look like. Another heaping helping of aural annihilation in song form was handed off to we the listeners in 2o14. I suggest that you crank it up and hold on to something, because these are men and they are playing very loudly. Boston, MA/Philadelphia, PA

TOM KOVACEVIC — UNIVERSE THIN AS SKIN (IMMUNE RECORDINGS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”an Arab music informed folk … so utterly mind blowing (and soul stirring).”

A gentle and reverential ode to ancient instruments, sounds from halfway across the world, the deepness of Maine’s wilderness, and the beauty of its insane shoreline. CERBERUS SHOAL vet Kovacevic is a New England treasure. Portland, ME

PARTICULARS — PARTICULARS EP (self-released)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”PARTICULARS are a band that no genre tag is going to be appropriate for, a band that is going to be tough to describe. That’s where I’m @ right now!! Post-punk is there, krautrocks both electronic and not, MERIDIAN BROTHERS yes, and free-jazz vibes and myriad syncopated beats of the world.”

A skronking, better-than-could-be-imagined anti-funk thing constructed from various music-school weirdniks bent on doing a thing together. Led by one of the best drummers in town, Nick Neuberg. Jamaica Plain, MA

BANG BROS! — 12/12/12 (FEEDING TUBE RECORDS/ 100% BREAKFAST)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”I’m not sure they really take the idea of rhythm box as lead instrument as far as it can go, but they sure as hell push it as far as it has gone thus far. What a great racket!” —Byron Coley

Two of the more fascinating sound conjurers ‘n’ noise creators to grace Boston’s avenues became one for this project…a project so hyper, so wilding-out on the weird tip that it hurled one of the BROS! to the far opposite end of the state, and the other BRO! all the way south to Philly. Western MA/Philadelphia, PA

EATEN — DEPRAVED (self-released)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

“their unornamented music is as ugly as any of us ugly persons could ever hope for; and idiosyncratic enough to cause this picky, amateur metalhead to stand up and pay attention.”

Worcester, MA spits out a raw and gnarly spectrum of metal that spans from grind to sludge and encompasses everything in between. What more could you want from or ask of Worcester? A purist’s nightmare, I fucking love it. Worcester, MA

LAIR — s/t (SURVEILLANCE INVESTMENTS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”largely characterized by Moxley’s repetitive flowing rhythms à la krautrock and Glasrud’s looping synthesizer/guitar copulations” —Damon Hastings

Next-gen art-punk-ism remains true and meets the high standards that these days exist for noisy weirdos around these parts. Two guys creating just an incredible amount of sound between them. Weird, and even catchy. Realllly good “how are they doing that?”–”rock.” Boston, MA

(NEW ENGLAND) PATRIOTS/ PALBERTA — SPECIAL WORSHIP (FEEDING TUBE RECORDS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”starts off paranoid, Einsiedler’s prickly guitar attack itching Colby’s neurotic demeanor, and eventually the song explodes” —Chris Villon

Two of the best post-punk and/or art-punk outfits situated in the great Northeast made a killer decision and decided to join up for this special release. Why is it special? Well, duh, but also, you should really be listening to both of these bands right now. Ear worms wearing frowns and turned upside down (the worms themselves, not the frowns). Allston, MA/Upstate NY

COUPLES COUNSELING — s/t (BLOOD OATH SLUMBER PARTY)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”Collaged together are a variety of quirky electronic loops and experimental sound bits—the songs seamlessly sample all sorts of bird chirps and frog croaks and distant conversation—giving a distinct eerie atmosphere to this bedroom pop creation.” —Mary Kate McGrath

A stunning out-electronic pop concoction, easily notable as the best electronic pop record to come out of Boston in the past year. I will never forget the mesmerism which gripped Boston’s harborside, and the hundreds and hundreds of (variously prepared and unprepared) onlookers, when Virginia performed @ our FRESH AIR series for AGE OF AQUARIUM — CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS PARK 14′  over the summer. Such a great album by a truly singular performer. Allston, MA

JANE LA ONDA — BUY BUY BUY (self-released / FEEDING TUBE RECORDS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up) (read another earlier Hassle write-up)

…”fuzzy, scuzzy, lo-fi pop that swerves all over the place, but never really where you feel like it’s headed.”

Another side project gone horribly right. Kassie Carlson (GUERILLA TOSS singer) goes lo-fi keyboard pop and crushes it. Weird meandering pop wonders spring forth from BUY BUY BUY. The thing reeks of Kassie’s introspective enthusiasm. Boston, MA

TRANSFIXED MOVEMENT — STAGNANT PROGRESSIONS (DIGITALIS RECORDINGS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”The lurching grotesquerie of his chosen sound aesthetic, and the rays of sunlight that on occasion sneak through it all, and the unexpected rhythmic emphasis that bubbles up around some of the tape’s edges, are just some of the things that made this the perfect soundtrack to a morning where I seemed largely trapped inside my own head.”

Yet another New Haven special, this one unfurls on you, reaching into your electronics and firing off a well-thought-out series of neurons that come together to give some semblance of  meaning to the bent electronic sounds we have been presented with. New Haven, CT

VIA APP — DANGEROUS GAME (1080p)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”the kind of noise ecstasy that the recent developments in brutal rhythms have been hinting at for so long.” —Matty McBride

Riding the magic carpet that has been borne of the cauldron where electronic dance music and rhythmic noise continue to collide. Just really weird. At its best Dylan Sheer’s music is unseemly, forming jaggedly ugly weird dance floor magnets. Allston, MA

SADIST — BLOOD SONG DEMO (self-released)
(read earlier Hassle write up) (read another earlier Hassle write up)

…”Love the tweaked street-punk chug of some of the riffs, love the performance aspect. That face on the top of the head mask is creeping on me. Band sounds sick AND they break mirrors and mess around with chains.”

Street punk & hardcore & performance mixed into a single potent punk brew? That’s SADIST. On the surface it doesn’t make too much sense, but that’s only because we are used to placing life/art/music (especially punk) in very small boxes. SADIST fucking rips, my friends. Restore your faith in punk. I’d like to thank the punks for GOING THERE. Fucking Ghost/Tim is a very inspiring underground character/lynchpin. SADIST also released an earring that plays music in 2014. Boston, MA

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JASON LESCALLEET/KEVIN DRUMM — THE ABYSS (ERSTWHILE RECORDINGS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”Field recordings of night. Crickets. A rising static eventually drops starkly into a deep bass tone (I hope you are listening with headphones/dope speakers). I look up at the cliff above. Amazing.”

A powerful and deep record of noise/drone/sound art/whatever thrown artfully into a blender, placed in a bowl, and set to fester on a hot windowsill for weeks. After week one the ooze of these recordings eats through the sill, the house, the foundation, and hundreds of yards of earth and rock (like some kind of acidic alien blood from a sci-fi flick). I don’t even want to tell you what the scene looks like after week two. Maine/Chicago, IL

RUTH GARBUS — JOULE EP (OSR TAPES)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”Bedroom pop, wasn’t that the ’90s? But SYD BARRETT happened in the ’60s?”

Ideal, idiosyncratic indie-pop that comes across as lushly lo-fi in some twisted reality that has been knocked out of balance by the harmonies, the melodic left turns, and the simplicity and melancholic hope of the entire proceedings. Brattleboro, VT

JASON LESCALLEET/AARON DILLOWAY — POPETH (GLISTENING EXAMPLES)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”the sound of two of noise’s finest communicating through a higher, well-developed language, unique to the two of them but somehow understood by both. The rhythmic onslaught at the track’s terminus is enough to make your skin crawl with excitement.” —Matty McBride

Another heavy dose of Lescalleet, a longtime participant in America’s underground sound-torture community who has seen awareness of his recordings increase greatly in the last several years. His second collaboration with Dilloway is haunting and intense; a deep rabbit hole of sounds gone wrong (done wrong by two very serious sound fuckers). Maine/Oberlin, OH

THE MONSIEURS — s/t (SLOVENLY RECORDINGS)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

… “The album is the perfect formula of flailing garage punk with small doses of pop and rock.” —Mary Kate McGrath

One of the best garage-rock and pop bands on the planet calls Boston home. SLOVENLY is an internationally renowned garage-rock label, so their support is no joke, and this band is no joke. Just incredible, scuzzy pop songs that make you want to sing along and fling your body directly toward wherever they are creating their loud, melodic fun. Brookline, MA/ Jamaica Plain, MA

ROB NOYES — s/t (self-released)
(read earlier Hassle write-up)

…”Those of you that are into the classic pillars of this style, like Robbie Basho or John Fahey, would do well to treat yourself to Noyes’s demo and whatever else he puts out in the future.” —Damon Hastings

Really beautiful, dexterous, and inventive turns down that primitive American highway, executed by a guy who’s made his name around town playing bass in MANY great punk bands throughout the years (CONVERSIONS, GENERAL INTEREST, etc.). See him @ an outdoor show in summertime and feel fully renewed. Somehow his music is great snowstorm, snowed-in, spirit-lifting music as well, though. Cambridge, MA

DOWNTOWN BOYS – DOWNTOWN BOYS 7″ (SISTER POLYGON)
(read earlier Hassle write-up) (read another earlier Hassle write-up)

…”Insanely boisterous New England punkers DOWNTOWN BOYS have shot a new batch of fucking protest party punk songs into orbit around all of our brains (or at least those of us smart enough to listen up!)!”

Some of the best on point political punk that you or I are going to hear, and they’re from Rhode Island, and they have saxophone players, and an in your face front woman singing in multiple languages, and oh yeah, bunches of killer songs. When you need energy to face the crummy fucking world that you and I sometimes find ourselves living in, look to this very potent punk infected well. Providence, RI

SPECIAL MENTION MUST BE MADE OF:

BUGS AND RATS — ADIDAS (Self-released in 2010 and a CLASSIC, it was re-released by FEEDING TUBE in 2014! The record that turned me onto these guys, I’m pretty sure.) Boston, MA

SKIMASK/(NEW ENGLAND) PATRIOTS — split (Released on vinyl by 100% BREAKFAST in 2014, but released on tape in 2013. Included on my 2013 BEST LOCAL LIST.) Boston, MA

FLORIDA=DEATH — POST INFORMATION (Released by ANONYMOUS DOG on tape in 2012, and then by OBSCURE ME RECORDS/AMOD in 2014.) New Haven, CT