If Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga had quadruplets, except somehow they ended up being kind of musical in addition to being rather large and rubbery, and it happened about 50 or 60 years ago, well, presto! -the Catbirds.

The players, in alphabetical order, are:

Rikki Bates, distinctive, very tall amazing unforgettable drummer-in-a-dress with the Incredible Casuals, the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, and Space Pussy;

Dinty Child, youthful mandocellist/guitarist/accordionist/vocalist, also known for his work w. Session Americana, the Funky White Honkies, and the CTP; the man who put the second “o” in “potato”; more at the Session Americana website bio page;

Chandler Travis, the eldest, also of the Casuals and the CTP, still trying to make bass playing interesting after all these years, can also sing a little; more at the Chandler Travis website bio page;

and

Steve Wood, formerly of the Freeze and the Greenheads, large candy and pulverizing wielder of the Steve Wood guitar and vocal technique, thug of thugs, loudest of the loud, the heart and soul of the Catbirds.

Yes, they have some fucking experience, for instance decades of musically bludgeoning New England and parts beyond, particularly the bay state of Massachusetts, which still votes funny as a result. These four converged in 2010 to fight the war on boring and to get all of you people moving again (which they hope to do by using the ancient techniques of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and crazy loud stupid stuff).

In summer 2011 The Catbirds presented their first recorded collision with the “Viborate” EP, an urgent message from Those Who Still Rock. A full-length album is due arrive next month.)

Rain Machine is a startling new musical venture from Kyp Malone, known to many as guitarist-singer for soulful art rockers TV On The Radio. For Rain Machine, Malone takes the roots influences that have always bubbled beneath the surface in TVOR blues, gospel, even African music and brings them to the fore. Performing all the parts himself (with the addition of some soulful female vocals), Malone has fashioned a deeply personal journey through modern life, looking back, as TVOR so often does, on the weight of the history behind us.