Last night at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA, psych blues quartet The Max Tribe performed their last foreseeable Northeast show amidst preparation of a cross country leap to Los Angeles, opening for the Hudson Valley’s Breakfast for the Boys. Fronted by Nashville native Austin Max, the band has been described as a blend of psych, blues, and rock and roll, drawing comparisons to The Black Keys, Cage The Elephant, and The White Stripes. In August 2017, the band embarked on a midwest/northeast tour in support of their full length debut, Retrofit. You can stream the album below. -Charley Ruddell

Noise-punk quartet Birthing Hips bamboozled the Boston underground music scene in October by announcing a tape release show that would act as their final live performance. Birthing Hips gained notoriety in the DIY music circuit for their chaotic live performances and quirky charm, winning over fans of hardcore, indie rock, noise-punk, and avant-garde. Last week, the band released an obscurely jarring music video for the song “Internet”, off of their newest album Urge to Merge, released digitally on November 17th. Check out the video below. -Charley Ruddell

Indie rock outfit Palehound beat several popular acts, including Bent Knee and Weakened Friends, for Alternative/Indie Artist of the Year at this year’s Boston Music awards, held on December 7th at the House of Blues. Palehound, fronted by songwriter Ellen Kempner, released their third studio album A Place I’ll Always Go earlier this year, drawing comparisons to prolific legacy artists like Angel Olsen, Kim Deal, and Elliott Smith. Check out the band’s newest song “Sea Of Blood” (engineered by Bully’s Alicia Bognanno) from their upcoming LP, YMCA Pool, set to release on January 26, 2018. -Charley Ruddell

Sudden Duo, a Boston based free jazz/experimental project, is a collaboration between Dylan Sherry on saxophones and electronics and Chris Southiere on drums. The duo’s debut album Frontier is a minimal and abstract approach jazz, with little to no harmonic accompaniment to Sherry’s lone horn. The “freedom” of Frontier is refreshing; the inherent confines of harmonic chord structures are nonexistent, which allows Sherry and Southiere to have a healthy and honest pursuit towards both everything and nothing, and whatever is in between. Frontier, in all of it’s imaginative and compelling space, is like listening to the great Albert Ayler sit in on a Sun Ra drum track. -Charley Ruddell

Soulful singer/songwriter Garrett Roy Jones, backed by a group called the Recipe, has released the strong live EP Live in the Kitchen, the band’s debut release. Jones, a talented character in Boston’s music scene, shows a brassy vocal ability similar to Melbourne’s Angus Leslie (of Sex on Toast), with a clear John Mayer influence in both composition and guitar performance. Fans of Destroyer’s lesser-avant material (Kaputt, Destroyer’s Rubies) will be sure to spot some familiar idiosyncrasies. Live in the Kitchen, accompanied by a stylish twenty-seven minute single shot video from Felipe Maldonado, is available on Youtube, Spotify, and Bandcamp. -Charley Ruddell