Before moving to NYC a little over a year and a half ago, I spent 5 years playing in the Boston music scene and attending Berklee. Though, I must mention there is no real "scene" in Boston, there is certainly no lack of amazing musicians. Despite the lacking scene Boston has become a crossroads for musicians to meet while attending programs at either Berklee, New England Conservatory, or one of the many other institutions in the area.After 5 years playing the clubs all over New England you start to become aware that everyone is somehow connected to one another. And that everyone has some connection to one of these schools. You may be playing a festival in northern Vermont and you find more often than not that you end up having the conversation, "Oh you knew that kid...shit what's up man? We had a jazz comp class together" But furthermore you begin to see that everyone has this semi similar body of knowledge, though each to a varying degree. (likely the result of the number of classes they either attended or not throughout the semester) You can all discuss what tensions are appropriate for each type of chord, the relevant chord scale, and how Professor "funk" was really kick ass. Though at first glance this seems as though it could be really cool in the sense that you can easily communicate musical ideas to one another, more often than not it starts to become a substitute for listening.Well FUCK chord scales, how to appropriately resolve a chord, or any of the other shit that seems to go hand in hand with musical education these days. Bottom line is that music begins to happen once you internalize all the things you have been learning and transcribing over the years, and then forget what you're doing and just LISTEN.Well that's a long winded way of saying that when you a part of that music scene and you hear something that truly stands out and isn't a generic regurgitation of harmony class your ears tend to perk up. So, that brings me to Apollo Sunshine. Guys from western Massachusetts that met at Berklee and started gigging together in 03'. Their sound is a mix of rock, groove, melody, harmony, and just wacked out ideas. Queen meets Zappa meets _________ Hitting the road almost immediately they have zig-zagged the country opening successful shows for the likes of Sonic Youth, Built to Spill, The Walkmen, The Roots, The Decemberist, and My Morning Jacket.I have been a proponent of these guys for a couple years now. I think they have something really amazing. It's pretty amazing these days to find a band that's not only good on record, but really kick ass live. I strongly reccomend you check em' out!