Our favorite local music from January

Local musicians have started the year on a creative note, finding inspiration in unique and surprising places. From a single inspired by larvae squirming in the dirt to a comically enlightening track about waiting on hold with an insurance company, our music critics share their favorite music from the month.

Watching plump larvae squirm in the dirt, most people don’t think, “I’d like to be that,” but this folk punk duo makes that case on the second single from their upcoming album “Foggy Mountain Mental Breakdown.” Whether it be “a tiny little squishy ugly bug,” or “a fuzzy little perfect baby bird,” Mairead Guy has a compelling argument for becoming something else and shedding the human form and all of the corporeal concerns that come with it.

Then again, Guy and their partner Madison Simpson have a knack for making anything sound good. On “Grub,” their voices soar with conviction through the kind of harmonies that make you ache for mountain homes you’ve never actually lived in. They are accompanied by the laidback plucking of dueling banjos and a flute before the listener is shown the door with some gentle whistling.

It is an unlikely sound to come out of Boston’s typically raucous do-it-yourself scene, but Sweet Petunia nonetheless shares the same commitment to independence, community and truth-seeking. While the wish behind “Grub” may have been informed by Guy’s personal grappling with gender identity, there is a more universal message: many of our exterior performances are the things that keep us from being our true selves. Let’s just take a moment together, get down in the dirt, and enjoy a good song. — Lukas Harnisch

Waiting on hold with an insurance company isn’t most people’s idea of an inspiring time. But in the hands of gifted Boston artist Sanyé, it’s a challenge to think about time and space in the comically enlightening track “Thank You For The Wait.”

The rest of this sonic wonderland of a record tends to be a bit more serious, but just as pleasing. The opener “Napoleon Potter (feat. Augustina)” starts with majestic harps before Sanyé comes in with his soul-searching rhymes. The Afro-percussion tinged “Directions” is an all-out banger, while tracks like “Android 18” and “Cast Away Ya Fears” create a wonderful world somewhere between experimental hip-hop, alt-R&B and jazz.

In the Bandcamp liner notes, Sanyé calls the record “a project about being in between. Between who you were and who you are becoming. Between certainty and doubt.” From the results, it sounds like he’s ended up in the right place for himself and for any adventurous listener. — Noah Schaffer

Local power-emo band Cape Crush released its latest single, “Calm & Delivered,” on Jan. 28. The track begins with screeching feedback before unleashing an alt-rock anthem chronicling the frustration of outside pressure to be poised and collected while the world is descending into chaos. Vocalist and guitarist Ali Lipman explained in a press release that the single is about embracing your power as a woman and refusing to let people take advantage of you. Thrashing electric guitar reverberates and bursting drums crash as Lipman sings, “Don’t stand in line/ Pulling the rope/ Counting the lines on the interstate.” The single is the first release from Cape Crush’s upcoming debut album “Place Memory,” which drops May 1. — Maddie Browning

It’s always a win for Boston hip-hop when Avenue puts together a project. The South End/Lower Roxbury rapper’s latest effort comes in the form of “Fortune Favors Risk,” an eight-song project entirely produced by local producer Grubby Pawz. Grubby set the scene for Avenue to be an effective main character for this movie of a project. Feels like opening a bottle of Champagne and pouring it over your head after a Championship game win. The sounds feel silky (“Sometimes”), smooth (“9 Ways”), eerie (“All Weather”) and triumphant (“Make The Money”). To complement the vibe, Avenue enlists the help of a great supporting cast: Hil Holla, BoriRock, Caliph, Chase N. Cashe, ARI 7, TEGA and Alage. A championship squad of word smiths who pride themselves in reality rap. It’s about their lives.

Words speak life, as Avenue says. (A phrase he turned into an independent record label, co-founded by Ikenna Ndugba.) Boasting the details of his life on the entry track “Doves & Balloons,” he raps how he “bought the Jag just to laugh at my teachers,” referencing how he bought the luxury car as a graduation gift for himself out of high school. He also gives a nod to Tru Life with the song “Champagne for Breakfast.” (The rapper poured champagne in his cereal inside a local bodega for a video.) This has always been a commendable trait of Avenue — regardless of how great he may be doing personally, he still acknowledges key cultural moments that inspire his art. With one producer across the entire project, “Fortune Favors Risk” is cohesive throughout. I believe anyone who loves hip-hop will find their head nodding along. — Noble

Listening to Babe, Wait’s debut studio release (titled “debut”) feels like holding a reasonably priced light beer in the dimly lit, wooden floored backroom of a New England bar and finding yourself bobbing your head to the beat of a live, late night indie act. The first track from the Massachusetts trio, “Lexapro,” opens with the hum of an amp, a few soft strums on the guitar and a pensive, sorrowful vocal riff. The gentle opening only lasts a few seconds before drummer Zoë Stone sets off like a revved-up Hot Wheels car. Harmonized vocals from Jess Hesse, Emily Higgins and Stone articulate a state of longing: “Sometimes I want to feel the way I used to/ When I’m desperate for some fun./  I can’t tell if I need a longer ladder or a deeper hole./ The pill that makes you purr will rob you of your soul.“

The three-part harmonies are a familiar tool for Higgins and Stone, who previously played together in the rock group Bad Larrys. In this new formation, the band proclaims to aspire “to be the love child of Dear Nora, Tom Petty, and Addison Rae. There is no vocal line or harmony structure too complex or poppy for these indie rock gyals.”

For those who like their music locally-sourced and farm-grown, Babe, Wait is both. The trio performed its first live show in the summer of 2025 at Ralph’s Rock Diner in Worcester, familiar stomping grounds for members of the band. And “debut” was recorded by fellow musician Salvadore McNamara of The Taxidermists at Affordable Sound in Hadley, the studio affiliated with DIY music venue The Asbestos Farm. — Solon Kelleher

Josh Rosen’s distinctive approach to piano and embrace of both composition and free improvisation have made him a longtime hero of the Boston creative music scene, where he’s often found with the likes of Stan Strickland and Rakalam Bob Moses. He’s released a number of albums that find him collaborating with master acoustic bassist John Voigt.

Their newest project has a twist. Besides a series of what they call spontaneous compositions, there are also spoken word/music collages that bring the listener right into the heart of both jazz history and Jewish immigrant life in New York in the early and mid-20th century. Some were written by Voigt, whose own lengthy resume includes performing with Beat great Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Others come from the writings of Rosen’s mother, Renée, a noted artist. “Harlem” is a scat-tinged look at the jazz venues of yore, while “Samuel, My Grandfather” is a deliciously vivid family history. Such warm storytelling makes this record accessible to those who might otherwise find improvised music with playful scat singing a challenging listen.

There are also deeply satisfying instrumental journeys like the Moroccan-inspired “Gnawa Abstractions” and the album’s sole composed piece, the poignant “When We Say Goodbye.” Renée Rosen wanted her memoirs to be passed down, and when set to her son’s music, they create a wonderful family heirloom. — Noah Schaffer

Longmeadow native Brynn Cartelli won “The Voice” at only 15 years old in 2018. Now 22, the artist moved to New York City for college to pursue her singer-songwriter career. She released her debut album “OUT OF THE BLUE” in 2024. The LP traverses high school romance and seasonal depression through expansive vocals, punchy drums and expressive strumming.

Her latest single, “Impossible Shoes,” dropped on Jan. 16. The track leans into electropop with otherworldly and thumping synths. Cartelli sings about a partner setting unattainable standards. The track begins as a fast walk — Cartelli struts to keep up. “Walk another mile like it’s no big deal/ Red on the bottom so you know it’s real,” she sings, referencing the signature hue coating the bottom of Louboutin heels. The production quickly picks up until it explodes into a full-on race to the chorus. Cartelli realizes she will never catch up. “I could come close, still be so far (Impossible, impossible shoes)/ Every step breakin' my heart,” she sings on the bridge. — Maddie Browning