Social Studies

The beloved summer tradition is back jpporchfest! It’s always a joy for us to welcome folks from all over to our musical home to hang out and dance, soundtracked by a rotating lineup of vinyl DJs all from the neighborhood we love.

We hope to channel the spirit of a proper block party in our humble backyard through feel-good dance music, good sound, and good people. Once again we have bites from Olivia Counter👩🏽‍🍳✨ (a highlight of last year!) to fuel your fun, and complementary drinks made possible by Dulce Vida Organic Tequila.

Spend your summer Saturday outside with us—it’s free and for the whole family 🌺

📍8 Copley Street, Roxbury MA
(yes, you’ll see Roxbury on maps; we’re on the line.)
5-minute walk from the Stonybrook T

More info on flyer

TONIGHT: We’re eager for an intimate evening of captivating music by an incredibly special guest, mo yasin. See you on the dance floor 🤍

Azzeddine warms things up starting at 9:30pm.

Advance 🎟️ will be available on RA until 8pm (buying in advance will save you a lil; see profile).

📸: Zephyr Ann 🤍

Social Studies returns in July with an artist whose work as a DJ and commitment to the culture have inspired us for some time.

Mo Yasin is a builder—of spaces, parties, and sound systems, but, paramountly, of an intentional DJ practice and a moving musical world. Although no stranger to club booths, the Public Records resident’s DIY ethos translates to a commitment to artistic vision and a distinct care in delivering an emotional experience to dancers, no matter the floor. 

Mo started DJing earlier than most, but moving to New York and working at Turntable Lab and Blue Sun opened him to the wide variety of music in those crates and how they’re connected. He’s developed a sound that’s now dance music–centric but unrestrained by type or tempo.

Many know Mo as a speaker designer. His interest in dub production techniques led him to soundsystem culture and motivated him to build the well-known stacks that live in his East New York studio. Mo has worked for OJAS and consulted venues on sound but, first and foremost, his speaker practice is meant to feed the growth of his own DJing: to broaden the types of music he’s able to communicate to dancers with power and clarity, to determine what types of music sound best on what medium, and to hone his understanding of how sound travels through any room. 

That sound tends deep, soulful, and moody, dark at times and stirring at others. You can hear how Jamaican and UK soundsystem cultures as well as the hallowed halls of New York clubs of the 80s and 90s inform his practice and his selections. All of Mo’s records—from deep, timeless, haunting house to Midwest or dub techno and timeless R&B—come from in-person digging so every one he sets on the platter is done so with purpose. 

We’ve been lucky to experience Mo in the context of his own DIY studio parties and in the Sound Room at Public Records; in both environments, his work has moved us in a way we aren’t often. Mo hopes dancers leave his floor with a sense of fulfillment. We know we will on July 10th, when he joins us at Lower Level, on the heels of playing Paradise City Festival in Belgium and ahead of a summer Europe tour.

🎟️ on RA in our profile

Azzeddine opens

Summer looks like beautiful evenings and a little bit of sun too ✨

Fri 7.10 Social Studies is back with a real artist whose practice moves us deeply, (support from )

Wed 7.15 We have the opportunity to get in an extended spin ourselves at

Sat 8.22 We continue the tradition at our house (details TBA)

Fri 9.25 Social Studies rounds out the fair season with sonic adventures from an esteemed + overdue guest (TBA)

👋 It’s been a little quiet over here. As we approach our 15th year, we’ve paused to think about our purpose, and how we fit into Boston’s underground landscape, today.

Our goal with this collective has always been to amplify torchbearers of, specifically, American dance music. We’ve done this through party and through publication.

In 2011, this was mostly fueled by a desire to fill a gap in the music being played in town, inspired by frequent trips to New York. The vision crystalized over time with lots of reading, record collecting, and digging for any ephemera that told the stories of the communities that have made the music, played the music, innovated the music, danced to the music, and felt to the music.
Today, the gates have finally been broken in Boston, and there’s a robust world of independent parties with intentional curation and curiosity for sound. There are more people attending dance music events in the city than we’ve ever seen. And as more people come to the music, one of our party’s old taglines—“For Those Who Care to Know”—is resonating with us again.

So, after all that time off thinking about what to do moving forward... we’ve concluded we’re going to do the same thing we’ve always done. We’ll be here for those who care to know some of the folks we love who are moving the American underground today—those who are devoted not just to the records but to the culture, whether that be through community work, archivism, or complementary arts.

This is our little corner of Boston’s underground. We hope you’ll find in it an intimate, stripped down party focused on little besides the music. We keep it occasional and special; that gives us the time we need to reflect on artists who stir our souls. Through them, we explore music that transcends genre and era, and we want you to dance—really dance—for joy or for catharsis.

We have a plan for events into 2027 that we’re excited about. Look out for a summer calendar next week. Thank you for trucking with us over the years and welcome to those finding us now 🖤

We’re not into deciding something’s “the best,” but we were compelled to share the creations we discovered and moments we experiencd around dance music and culture that inspired us more than most, in a year when we really needed the light. We appreciate everyone who brought these pieces of art into our lives. We hope you’ll discover something you love, and maybe in the process discover a bit about who we are. Swipe through for more.

1. x New Years Day Ball
2. Stray: An Autobiography Of With Laurie Owens
3. THING: Issues 1–10, 1989–1993 ()
4. An All-Vinyl Evening with (, 03.07.25)
5. by , , and (Herbert Von King Park, Bed-Stuy, 06.08.25)
6. (ft. ), Phantom Vibrations (.records)
7. DJ Set, .bos (Jacques Underground 08.30.25)
8. at , This Side Set Recording
9. Interview, no. 27
10. - separate from the noise (new century sound)

Few know as much about music as Durkin does—join us for a fun night with the Fool’s Gold Records producer and truly incredible DJ. A legend of Boston nightlife, there isn’t a club or party he hasn’t touched or a sound he hasn’t spun. He’s produced tracks for Michael Christmas and Latrell James and collaborated frequently with Black EL and Maka 3.0, the latter with whom he has two acclaimed EPs. His own project—and way of life—Live a Little, encourages us to enjoy life, have more fun, and listen to good music. Let him teach us how on Friday, October 24th.

Dance-y Free Fun! .club