Worcester folk group the Big-League Collective, a frequent sight playing live on local stages, released their first studio single, “Sadness At The Drive In Theater,” Oct. 3, teasing another one on the way later in the month.
The trio of Dave Haak, Pete L’Esperance and A. Borus harmonize on the acoustic guitar intro about being “tired of waiting, wasting around, done with my suburban dreams,” and then a full band comes in, bass and chugging country drums and acoustic guitar and banjo.
“Blowing smoke, but still I try, and yet here I am,” they sing together, before a warm, twangy, reverbed guitar solo. “They say trying’s such a waste of my time/I just keep going, don’t ask me why/Now I’m crawling on the cold, hard ground/Why do I always feel so down?”
There’s no drive-in in the lyrics, but the small-town stagnation that Haak, L’Esperance and Borus sing about is overarching, something that, when you feel it, you feel in basements and cars and deserted playgrounds alike.
“Sadness At The Drive In Theater” is available on music streaming services.
Future club classics out of Providence
Providence has a very lively queer nightlife scene that often cross-pollinates with Worcester’s own, and if you want to check it out but can’t fit the hour-long drive down 146 into your schedule, you might want to put on Providence DJ Dusknight’s August EP “HONCHO.”
Dusknight, known offstage as artist and housing nonprofit director Julio Berroa, mixes together electronic music with queer roots from techno, originated by gay Black Detroiters, to hyperpop, a genre that carved out its own path largely because of one transgender producer (rest in peace, SOPHIE).
Even before you hit play, you can tell where “HONCHO” comes from and where it’s going by its ‘90s-style cover art, which shows Berroa in soft focus lounging in a leather jacket with no shirt underneath, next to a neon burst of color labeled with the project’s name.
This is one for the clubs, and not just any clubs, but the clubs where those pushed to the margins of society can find refuge, release and romance together on the dance floor.
The project starts with “blowsteamer,” which samples an air blower firing up and a car’s open-door chime and picks up the pace fast, and then moves seamlessly into “dontstopsohot,” where a sample reminiscent of Charli xcx’s “Club Classics” repeats “don’t stop” and “so hot” over a beat that, in the most fun way possible, sounds like laser tag.
On “PAPIchulo,” Dusknight adds a reggaeton beat into the mix, and the jingly percussion that comes in about halfway through is particularly fun to listen to. By the end of the track, it’s joyful chaos, with sample over sample sandwiched in between pounding synths.
“strut,” featuring AM., returns to hyperpop with a bang.
“I keep up my body, you dream of my body/And speak of my body, come heat up my body/And beat up my body, come freak up my body/Come eat up my body and come treat my body,” multitracked voices whisper underneath sparkly ‘90s house keys.
Metallic percussion and wordless, gasping vocals come in on the breakdown, which has some words we can’t print here but that, if you’ve watched any kind of ballroom competition or if you paid attention to the vocal samples on Beyonce’s “Renaissance,” you’ve heard in the same context.
“UNCUT” is a roller-coaster ride of energy, starting with a whole bustling city of percussion and horns underneath another chopped-up vocal sample before plunging into a house beat and then returning with sampled samba drums before another drop that pulls everything together.
The EP closes out with its title track, which bounces and rolls along and finishes on an exhilarated note.
“HONCHO” is available on music streaming platforms and Dusknight’s Bandcamp page.
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