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New England Music News

Boston music news: July 20, 2007

Jennifer Greer

“I am not a lame performer,” declares singer/songwriter/pianist JENNIFER GREER. “I get bored with conventional pop form. I like pushing boundaries, lyrically and arrangement-wise.” In 2005, the New York native and former Northampton resident moved to Boston, where she now rooms with Sharon Crumrine of the Milling Gowns. And she recorded The Apiary, a quirky jazz-pop CD in the Tori Amos/Fiona Apple vein. She chose the title because she’s obsessed with bees — “I found them fascinating, incredibly complex. They represent fertility and beauty, and they’re the only thing that makes honey. And honey’s outrageously good.” It’s a contemplative CD, but it’s not where she’s at now. “That album is of an era I was exploring, and it’s over. I was working that sumptuous, lush thing. My stuff now is way more edgy, aggressive, harder. It’s a natural move, not radical. More testosterone.” Greer says people at the Lizard Lounge July 25 will see both sides when she plays with her rhythm section of bassist Andy Dow and drummer Gary Fieldman. . . . DROPKICK MURPHYS’ new CD, The Meanest of Times, drops September 18 on their own Born & Bred label. Recorded at the Outpost in Stoughton and produced by the band, it features guest appearances by the Pogues’ Spider Stacey and the Dubliners’ Ronnie Drew. The Murphs play the ICONS Festival in Canton on August 12. . . . PAUL OAKENFOLD, an international star as well as a frequent DJ at Avalon, says to expect a big four-night blowout at the club in late September when the Lyons Group closes it for reconstruction. The LA-based Brit says he’ll be at the mixing console at least one of those nights. . . . O’BRIEN’S’ PUB in Allston reopened last week after being shuttered for nearly eight months. They knocked down the back wall, increased the stage, and improved the rest rooms. “It’s the same capacity,” says bar manager Matt Nault, “but there’s more roominess.” Booker Carl Lavin says the club intends to book “a higher caliber of punk and metal, and there will be more indie rock, hip-hop, and dance rock. It’s not gonna be as much of a starter club.” The Ramoniacs — a Ramones tribute band — play July 21.