Boomslang's Last Record, Jim Heltz Returns, SXM at Nectar's

JL and MC Sed One of Boomslang Credit: Courtesy of Amy Koenigbauer

Dustin Byerly, aka MC Sed One, is preparing for a busy 2025 filled with new music and new endeavors. But first, he’ll pay tribute to an indispensable piece of his past.

Byerly is best known as one half of the Montpelier hip-hop duo Boomslang. In 2021, his Boomslang cofounder and friend, producer Johnny Morris, aka JL, died of brain cancer. Before Morris died, the two had begun work on what they knew would be their final album, Boomslang Forever.

Dubbing the project “both challenging and deeply rewarding,” Byerly announced in December that the record is finished and will drop in early 2025. “This album was a labor of love, made even more poignant by the absence of Johnny,” Byerly wrote in an email to Seven Days.

Funded by a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council, Boomslang Forever features a bevy of local collaborators, including Sara Grace, Robinson Morse, Miriam Bernardo and Konflik, as well as usual Boomslang guests DJ Kanga, Pro Knows Music and MC Bloom.

Byerly’s new band is also ramping up in the new year. Select Sound System, a fusion of live reggae and hip-hop featuring Ben Dunham on bass, Dan Sharp on drums, Rob O’Dea on the keys, guitarist Zac LizEe and Isaiah Mayhew splitting vocal duties with Byerly, will drop a debut EP this Saturday, January 11. The group celebrates the record with a release show that same day at Bent Nails Bistro in Montpelier.

I was a little bummed when Montpelier’s Transitory Symphony called it quits last year. One of the quirkier bands in a state chock-full of quirky projects, Transitory Symphony was a sort of Americana-meets-psych rock project that featured the delightfully weird songwriting of singer and guitarist Jim Heltz.

Heltz is back with his new project, the HELTZ Family Players, which includes his son Patrick Heltz on keys and Jim’s brother Dan Heltz on the drums. They’ve released their first single, “Welcome to Kirkland,” a song that Heltz says is about America’s love of consuming, particularly at big box stores.

It’s as strange as Heltz’s earlier work. The song’s shifting sense of time is either the drummer just playing pretty out of pocket, or a conscious decision to represent American consumerism through a ragged and disjointed rhythm. Either way, it works! The video for the song is streaming now on YouTube.

The folks over at Nexus Artists are back and touting a new partnership with the SXM Festival. The electronic music festival, held annually in St. Martin, has a mobile version dubbed Destination SXM. The roving 10-city party has already touched down in dance-y destinations such as Ibiza, Amsterdam and Miami. Thanks to Nexus, one of the next stops is Burlington, specifically the Lounge at Nectar’s.

On Saturday, February 1, Destination SXM brings house music legend Harry Romero, producer and SXM founder Julian Prince, and Montréal DJ SINCA to town, along with local support from Elliott Matos, Justin R.E.M., Mitch Almond and Vetica.

Tickets include admission to the Vermont Electronic Music Industry Mixer pre-party, featuring DJs, champagne and hors d’oeuvres. They also enter the purchaser into a grand prize drawing to win a pair of passes to the SXM Festival in St. Martin on March 12. Visit nexusartists.com for more information.