Word: hatfields
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Last Friday night, area music fans braved below-freezing temperatures, trudging through slush and snow to witness the return of a local legend. Juliana Hatfield was back with a full band for the first time in two years, kicking off the U.S. leg of a tour in support of her new EP Please Do Not Disturb. Along with a cold picked up last week in Australia, Hatfield seemed slightly ill at ease--perhaps with the prospect of a national tour looming ahead, a new band member's aggressive stage presence (red-jumpsuited bassist Mike Welsh) or the daunting prospect...
Starting in the late '80s with the seminal Boston indie-pop band Blake Babies, Hatfield has built a career around her girlish, often straining voice and simple, pop driven song structures. The recent release of Please Do Not Disturb, however, marked a sharp departure for the Boston-based artist. With its hollow, often menacing production, heavily distorted bass guitar and aggressive, direct lyrics, the EP opened up for her a whole new arena of musical possibilities. Hatfield's show reflected all of the strengths and weaknesses of the new approach...
...students also presented House majority leader William P. Nagle Jr. (D-Hatfield) with a petition signed by 222 Harvard community members who protest the bill...
Some more bizarre risk-taking that ends up paying off is Hatfield's employment of ultra hardcore bass grooves strongly reminiscent of the scary-intense work of shock-metal band Tool. On "Give Me Some Of That," Hatfield breaks out some heavy fuzz bass that will blow away anyone expecting sugary pop--or any pop at all. The newly-30 Hatfield makes it frighteningly easy to identify with her rage at the loss of youth: "If I had/half of what you had/I would be so/so fucking glad...
...minutes, Juliana Hatfield has managed to redefine herself and move forward musically in a way that she has not since the 1993 release of Become What You Are. Not only is Hatfield the only vocalist who can sing "me" as a five syllable word, she is the only lyricist who is writing lines like "There's no such thing as pleasant conversation/it's all just drowning victims gasping for air." Keep gasping, Juliana...