The long-awaited return to Boston of NYC's Ida was just the something special I expected, one of those rare nights in an unusual venue that's made comfortable by a great lineup and a crowd filled with friends and familiar local faces.

People started gathering about an hour before the 8pm show inside the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, near the entrance to the Remis Auditorium. The sloped, stadium seating was nearly filled by the time Jodi Buonanno (of the Secret Stars) and a drummer took the stage, playing several songs around a free-form noise collage powered by what looked like a pedal running into a tricorder hanging around her neck. As interesting as it might've been, especially alongside the abstract video projected behind them, it felt a little early in the evening for spacing out, and I enjoyed the more structured parts of the set much more. It'd been a long time since I've seen Jodi play her own stuff on stage, and hopefully it won't be as long again.


Thalia Zedek was next, with the always-excellent Dave Curry on viola and a gent named (I believe) Daniel Coughlin on drums. I've been into Thalia's songwriting since her Come days, but hadn't been this moved by her live performance in a very long time. The trio worked so well together, and I was especially impressed by Coughlin's drumming. The whole set was completely transporting, and Amie remarked that it was the highlight of the night for her...


One of the best things about Ida is how relaxed they seem to be, how effortlessly their songs come across, how easily their three voices flow together. There's a real comforting, almost family atmosphere to their shows. Elizabeth, Dan, & Karla were joined by violinist Jean Cook and drummer Ruth Keating, who were note and beat perfect. Not a lot of older material in the thirteen songs they played (just Down On Your Back, Encantada, and a by-request Shrug), and only five or so from their new album (released today on Polyvinyl). The rest of the set was new stuff, which was a welcome surprise, and my favorite of them was probably Everything (I'm hoping it ends up on their upcoming 3" cdep as part of the Dark Beloved Cloud singles club).


I recorded the entire evening, and here's the Ida set. It was a relatively quiet one, and I did my best to remove a bunch of hiss without sacrificing the high end...

Ida
Live at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, Massachusetts
Sunday, February 20th, 2005

1. Laurel Blues
2. Written On My Face
3. Late Blues
4. What Can I Do?
5. Down On Your Back
6. Still
7. Sundown
8. Everything
9. The Love Below
10. Worrying Mind
11. Encantada
12. Shrug
13. Palomine

Many thanks to Dan Hirsch, who is responsible for booking these stellar shows at the MFA. Upcoming appearances include M.Ward, Magnolia Electric Co., Superwolf (Will Oldham & Matt Sweeney), and the Books. (and a shout out to Julien... thanks for saying hello. visit his site for more photos from the show, and bring your french dictionary.)


I'll probably have tracks from Thalia & Jodi's sets up after I return home next week, so check back for 'em. Meanwhile, I'll be posting from the Teenbeat Records Anniversary fest down in D.C., where I'll be tomorrow through Sunday. Ten degrees warmer is all I ask, twenty and I'll be in heaven. Get ready, CK & Kyle, 'cuz here I come.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 9:53 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

Following up on last week's mp3 offering, I've got the second half of The Wedding Present's set at London's Astoria Theatre on July 7th, 1992. This stuff sounds better than the first batch of songs, since the sound quality improved as the show progressed...

The Wedding Present
Live at the Astoria Theater, London
July 7th, 1992

1. Corduroy
2. Blue Eyes
3. Dalliance
4. Go Go Dancer
5. Blonde
6. Silver Shorts
7. Kennedy
8. Suck
9. Crawl
10. Heather
11. Flying Saucer
12. Dare
13. Lovenest
14. Bewitched

So didja pick up their new album yet? And you musta grabbed tickets for their upcoming U.S. tour, right? No? Well, go out and get 'em, boys and girls.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 8:39 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

A lazy sort of Sunday, time to play some catch-up and clear out a few bookmarks...


Couple of excellent musical guests on Last Call this past week, and here are the mp3s for ya... Kings of Convenience performing 'I'd Rather Dance With You' and Matt Pond PA doing 'Closest'.


Brainwashed captured Low's performance at the Somerville Theatre a couple weeks back on video, and combined it with some new Alan Sparhawk interview footage. Check out part one and part two here. Nice work, Jon.


Got a great package from Merge Records the other day, which included my early-order of the new Crooked Fingers disc 'Dignity and Shame', and something I'd been meaning to pick up for a very long time, Annie Hayden's 'The Rub'.

Ms. Hayden was one of the three songwriters in Spent, a longtime personal fave (their 'Songs of Drinking and Rebellion' disc sits safely in my desert-island list), and I regretably missed out on this 2000 solo record of hers. Consider that fixed. Cool to find out that Spent's John King recorded and mixed the thing, and that drummer Ed Radich played on it, too. Not only that, but the last song on the album, 'Lovely to See', is even credited to everyone from the band. Oh, how I miss 'em, and this Annie album is hitting me just right.

And about that Crooked Fingers disc... I was one of the lucky ones to get that bonus 'Red Devil Dawn Demos' collection thrown in for actin' early, and it was so, so worth it. They say it's an EP, but there's 12 tracks, and while I'm not much of an autograph-coveting kinda guy, it was nice to see Eric Bachmann's silver-sharpied scrawl across the cover. Even though those first fifty are gone, Merge says the band will be selling it on the road (Boston on March 29th), and it may show up in their online store again.


Since the Ivory Coast's Jay Cox headed west from Boston to his new home in Seattle, I've been waiting for word that he's back to making live music. Well, word has arrived with news that his band, The Sea Navy, opened up for Ted Leo in Seattle last week. Not only that, but the much-loved (by me, for sure) KEXP has added the self-released 'Breathing in the Old World' to their playlist. Grab tracks from that album here.


Put pen to calendar: Chris Leo's Vague Angels returns to Boston with a show at Great Scott in Allston as part of The Plan on March 7th. He'll be playing with Ume, and you can read more about both of 'em at the Pretty Activity Records site.


Music trivialists take a gander: Band to Band is a six-degrees sort of site linking musicians through their bands and collaborations. At first it's pretty mind-blowing, and you could waste a lot of time there, but I've got a sneaking suspicion that if you removed five particular albums, with like 20 people playing on each, that the entire thing would fall apart.

Also notable: This new Band News site, which promises to get news 'direct from the sources', and offers up categorized RSS feeds. Still, I can't yet find a category that doesn't offer up lots of news I care nothin' about.


As a devourer of pretty much anything written by Robert B. Parker (the Spenser, Jesse Stone, and Sunny Randall books all included), I was mildly stunned to realize that the Tom Selleck TV movie that's on tonight, 'Stone Cold', is based on the Parker book of the same name. But y'know, thinking about it... Selleck is a pretty great choice to play Jesse Stone, an ex-big city cop whose alcoholism and failed marriage send him running to a small New England coastal town, where he heads up their tiny police department. Nice to see that Mimi Rogers is in it, too. Hope the adaptation does the book proud... TiVo will tell.


When I was a kid collecting comics (as opposed to the um, adult that still buys a few), I was hugely into Jon Sable, Freelance. Mike Grell wrote and drew what became one of my 'gateway books', a title not released by one of the 'big two' (Marvel or DC) that opened up a whole other world of independent comics publishers (Comico, First, Eclipse) and series (American Flagg, Badger, Jon Sable, Nexus, Grimjack, Somserset Holmes, the Elementals... I could go on and on).

Well, if some of my favorite bands can reunite and tour again, makes sense that one of my favorite comics can come back, too. Jon Sable, Freelance: Bloodline is a six issue mini-series that starts in March, and is accompanied by long-awaited collections of the original series.

I'm enough of a fan to buy the mini-series (instead of waiting for the inevitable trade paperback collection), but I don't think I've got it in me to meet Mr. Grell this afternoon when he appears (along with the great Jim Starlin) at this Boston comic convention. Maybe when I was 15, but not today...


My friend Heath, over at his Media Diet, has put up the second installment in his Forever, Vermont series of posts (part one here). In each, he digs through and reviews some old zines and comics from the early-to-mid nineties that came up up in the Burlington area, including work by James Kochalka, Colin Clary, & Jason Cooley. Hopefully the third installment won't take as long as the second did to appear... I love that random dose of nostalgia (yeah, the stuff he's writing about is from my own little collection).


Fans of HBO's The Wire who are waiting for news of either a Season 4 or cancellation, here's the latest. It's a summary of the recent 'Unraveling THE WIRE' seminar at the Museum of Television & Radio on February 10th in New York City, and reveals this:

"David Simon, the Creator/Executive Producer of HBO�s acclaimed drama, THE WIRE, reports that he has had constructive discussions with Chris Albrecht and Caroline Strauss of HBO on the possible renewal of the program, but that no decision as yet has been made by the network. Mr. Simon said of the discussions that, �the ball is in my court�, and that he was developing a further presentation for HBO executives on where he wants to take THE WIRE over the next two seasons. Simon indicated he was happy to report his discussions with HBO were not about the program�s ratings or �numbers�, but acknowledged that THE WIRE has clearly not been a �break-out hit� for the cable network. Simon expressed his appreciation of the fact that his conversations with HBO were focused on story-line and not lightening up the program. He hopes and expects to be prepared to restart his discussions with HBO on the program's future by the end of this month."

That's actually pretty promising news, especially if word that the decision is not ratings-based is true. My fingers remain crossed.


Heads up, bloggers: GeoURL is on the verge of a complete relaunch. Version 2.0 of this geographical-location tool was due to appear Friday, but should now be up 'real soon'. Previous functionality listed the physical location of registered websites relative to your own, and I'm curious to see what the revamped one will show ya.


So Midway just made a deal to produce games based on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of shows. Oh My. The day I can drive a golf cart through Sealab, or fire lasers out of Frylock's eyes, that'll be a happy day indeed.


I caught a free screening of Constantine last week, and it falls squarely in the 'not as bad as it could have been' category, which isn't saying all that much. I'm a fan of Hellblazer, the Vertigo series the movie was based on, but I'm not one of those that'd cry foul over the fact that Keanu Reeves isn't British or blonde, so long as the essence of John Constantine remained. If the story, effects, and performances were solid, I'd leave happy. No such luck.

Sure, there were some neat effects, the supporting cast was pretty good, and the basic premise had potential... but it all felt like a wasted opportunity. It comes down to not buying Keanu at all, his inability to emote getting in the way of a part that really needed it. It's like he got this idea in his head that "hey, it's a hard-boiled pulp story, so I'll act all wooden and serious!", but none of it clicked. His dialogue just ended up cheesy and forced... not terribly written, but poorly delivered. The only thing that justifies ignoring the physical traits of an adapted character is the belief that the actor will make them irrelevant. Well, nice try, Neo.

I will admit, I sure did enjoy seeing the lead singer of Bush get punched in the face a whole bunch of times. Artistic payback, even if it wasn't real.


So how did I never know that Iggy Pop appeared on Deep Space Nine? Even though I missed out on the sixth and seventh seasons, I figured I would've heard about it. Quite a little shock as I was watching 'The Magnificent Ferengi' episode the other day...


Bless my TiVo, and SpikeTV for rebroadcasting the entire DS9 series in order, two episodes a day. It's no surprise that Ronald D. Moore was writing and producing the excellent later seasons of the show, considering he's the man behind the new Battlestar Galactica. There's no better sci-fi on TV right now, and if you haven't tried it just because the connection to the 70s original scares you off, you're missing out on something great.


In internet-speed, this is old news by now, but just in case you missed it... the NYC-centric Gothamist has birthed a Boston offspring: Bostonist, natch.


Later tonight, with no blizzard in sight, it's the rescheduled Ida show, with Thalia Zedek and Jodi Buonanno opening up. Pretty excited about that, I am...

... and on Wednesday I head down to DC with Colin for the Teenbeat Records 20th Anniversary shows. So many great bands playing, and I've got the go-ahead to record the whole thing, so I'm hoping to post songs and pictures like crazy while I'm down there. Total old-school indie-geek action, and I'm so, so ready.

Speakin' of which, you can now download the well-timed 'Relax Brother, Relax: A Twentieth Anniversary Tribute to Teenbeat Records', which has twenty artists covering songs by their favorite TB bands, including Colin doing some Eggs, and his band The Smittens on a True Love Always song. Hey, it ain't just great, it's free. How 'bout that?

Whew, that was a long post. Time to get the hell outta this basement...

posted by brad at 1:04 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

I've been holding onto this video for awhile now, waiting for permission from the director to share it up for other fans of The Arcade Fire. Well, this morning he gave the go ahead.

So here it is (file removed), a performance video set to the studio version of The Arcade Fire's 'Wake Up', directed by Pete Ohs of Toy Band.

It's a 22mb quicktime file, so you could, do a little 'right-click-and-save-as' rather than streaming it from the site.

Brings me straight back to the show, and still gives me a little headbuzz, every single time. Thanks, Pete.

posted by brad at 8:46 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

In honor of today's release of 'Take Fountain', the first 'official' Wedding Present album in almost a decade, I figured I'd post some live stuff from back in '92, on their Hit Parade tour.

These 7 tracks come from a 14 song set on an old tape I bought in Camden Market on my first trip to London in '93. I was in bootleg heaven, and I've got a bunch more of them still to transfer to my pc. Even though this is a soundboard recording, the quality isn't perfect, but it's definitely worth a listen. I'll post the remaining songs from the show next week...

The Wedding Present
Live at the Astoria Theater, London
July 7th, 1992

1. Corduroy
2. Blue Eyes
3. Dalliance
4. Go Go Dancer
5. Blonde
6. Silver Shorts
7. Kennedy
8. Suck
9. Crawl
10. Heather
11. Flying Saucer
12. Dare
13. Lovenest
14. Bewitched

Now get out there and pick up that new album. It's so, SO good.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 1:50 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

A kinda quick Friday afternoon post for ya...


Allow me to direct your attention to newly-discovered (by me, anyway) music blog Torr, where you can grab a couple songs from the next British Sea Power disc, along with a New Order track and a couple from the upcoming release by The Bravery. Scroll around, there's lots more. Great stuff, Torr... consider yourself blogrolled.

I'm also pretty psyched to have discovered Pinchworm, not just an excellent music blog, but one that happens to be located a couple towns away from me. Head on over.


YES. The Album Leaf is returning to Boston. More specifically, TT the Bears in Cambridge on Saturday, April 2nd. If they're even half as good as the last time I saw them there, I'll still walk away satisfied.

Walking Concert and Robyn Hitchcock are also on the TTs schedule for March shows. Time to make a trip over there and pick up a bunch of service-charge-free tickets.


The new Crooked Fingers disc, 'Dignity & Shame', won't be out until the 22nd, but you can pre-order it at the Merge site as of this afternoon, along with the upcoming M. Ward and the new vinyl version of The Arcade Fire's 'Funeral'.

You can check out a preview track from that Crooked Fingers disc by sending your special friend (or, um, yourself) a 'Call To Love' Valentine's e-card. A damn good song, it is. I'm already in on that pre-order action, and the first fifty people to do that at the Merge or CF site get a bonus EP of demos from the Fingers' last album, 'Red Devil Dawn'. Hope I'm one of 'em.


The best straight-up urban action comic I've ever read came out last week: Brian Wood & Rob G's Couriers 3: The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker. Easily the most solid of the three Couriers books, tightly-written, beautifully drawn, and just damn fun to read. Having just finished up the 12-issue DEMO series, this really shows off Brian's range, and damn has Rob G hit an artistic stride. The whole thing just flows and fires. Pick it up.


That new Sealab 2021 Season 2 DVD set is freakin' hilarious. The commentary tracks are so meandering, so casual, and so pointless... it's just perfectly appropriate (read no further if you already plan on getting it. warned ya.)

The 7030 Productions crew basically just hangs out, drinks beer, and rags on these older episodes, and on each other. Even when there's a halfway insightful question asked of one of the writers or animators, the answer boils down to "I don't remember... it was too long ago!". They can't recall the reasons behind anything they did. So they go back to the ridiculing. Aces.

On 'Hail, Squishface!', they aren't even really watching the episode... sounds like they're just playing Call of Duty in HQ mode. "Go for the radio!", "Aw man, I hate this map!", and random burpin' is pretty much all you get. "Is that thing still recording?". Love it. Swearin' abounds, and I can imagine the Cartoon Network brass had a lot of un-fun gettin' all that beeped out. Hell, the even beeped over the word 'retarded' while they were at it.

It gets better, too.... on 'Feast of Alvis' & 'Vacation', assistant designer Neal Holman reads an over-the-top comic book story he wrote in sixth grade called "The Dominators" for the rest of the 7030 crew. I was laughing right along with the rest of 'em. Even Holman couldn't keep it together.

The set is a must-get for any Sealab fan, not just because it includes 'Bizarro' and the classic 'Tinfins', or because of random bikini spotting, but for the touching (but too short) tribute to the late Harry Goz, who voiced Captain Murphy and passed away in 2003. A hell of a guy who was obviously loved by everyone involved. Interviews include Bill Lobley (the voice of Sparks), and Harry's son Michael, who now voices Tornado Shanks.


So if you glance over there on the left, you'll see I finally added an 'about' page, the 'nac faq. Something I've thought about doing for awhile now. Not sure it'll stay, but hey, there it is.

posted by brad at 2:42 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

Summer at Shatter Creek's second full-length, 'All The Answers', arrived in my mailbox today, ordered straight from Badman well ahead of the March 29th release date... and I'm totally floored. It's a meticulously crafted, layered, and heartbreakingly beautiful piece of work. One person, lots of instruments, nine songs, and thirty-five minutes, it so easily follows through on the promise of the pre-released mp3, 'Your Ever Changing Moods'.

Craig Gurwich's falsetto has never sounded stronger, at times more delicate, and so haunting. The disc has such a perfectly sequenced flow, and gorgeously personal production that makes the whole thing sound as if it's wrapped up in a warm, comfy blanket. It's one of those albums that, despite the oft-sad subject matter, can uplift in it's simple existence. There's so much attention to detail; sustained piano lines, subtle harmonies, and distant feedback appear and disappear like waves, tastefully applied percussion comes in and out and is never obtrusive.

It's one of those discs that generously rewards repeated listens on a nice set of headphones, revealing something new each time through. There are shades of Sparklehorse, slight hints of Elliott Smith, but honestly, comparing this to anyone else might only serve to lessen it's impact... it exists as it's own self-contained work of art. I can't remember the last time I was this musicially proud of someone I've called a friend. I know, I totally sound like I'm going over the top here, but like I said... I'm just floored by this thing. I expected stabs at greatness, and instead found brilliance.

Grab the disc direct from Badman, and if you order a couple other things (like the stellar Swell discs), you'll get a copy of their Winter 2005 Sampler (with tracks from Hayden, Washington Social Club, S.A.S.C., n.lannon, Mark Mallman, The Black Heart Procession, Call and Response, James William Hindle, the innocence mission, Pleasant Grove, and Lanterna) thrown in for good measure.

Since S.A.S.C. is based in L.A., you West Coasters will soon be treated to some live appearances (L.A. on Thursday, San Fran a week later), but word has it that Craig might be heading East for some shows in the late summer or fall. Here's hoping.

posted by brad at 4:08 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

Saturday night's Low & Pedro the Lion show at the Somerville Theatre was just what I needed after a relatively long personal live-music drought. There's always that dry spell in December & January, with both touring bands & show-going students on holiday break, so with the blizzard blowing a couple shows I'd planned on (and with me skipping last Thursday's Arcade Fire show), it had been too damn long since I'd been out.


This was probably the 4th or 5th time I've seen Pedro, and while their latest disc is maybe my least favorite of the four full-lengthers (but hey, still good), this was by far the best I've ever seen 'em play. The rhythm section that David Bazan has pulled together was so right on, Frank Lenz the perfect fit on drums (as he was with Starflyer 59), and Ken Maiuri playing bass and adding ace backing vocals. TW Walsh filled it all out beautifully with second guitar, the occasional keyboard line, and a little shaker-action. It all just worked for me.


The live versions of the recent stuff made me appreciate the album much more, they skipped the clunkers, and even the older stuff had well-chosen minor tweakings that fit in really well. Throw in a Neil Young cover (with Low's Alan Sparhawk guesting on tasteful guitar-wankery), and I got the full-on live-music head-buzz. After some recently faded enthusiasm, I am wholly back in the PTL booster club.

The setlist, and a few downloadable songs from the night...

Pedro the Lion
Live at the Somerville Theater, Somerville, MA
February 5th, 2005

(songs removed on 3/20/2005)

1. Penetration / Never Leave a Job Half Done
2. Magazine
3. Foregone Conclusions / I Do
4. Keep Swinging
5. Start Without Me
6. Bands With Managers
7. Transcontinental
8. I Am Always The One Who Calls
9. Simple Economics / When They Really Get To Know You They Will Run
10. Revolution Blues (Neil Young cover with Alan Sparhawk)
11. A Mind of Her Own

I'm loving the new Low album, and as much as I was glad to see them again, there was a little something missing. Maybe it's this new-Low, the occasionally-louder, more dynamic Low experience that threw things off... of the many times I've seen them, they've never failed to take me to another place, to transport me somewhere I wouldn't mind living full-time, lulling me into some kind of half-asleep-but-totally-not-bored trance. I missed that Saturday night, although older songs like 'Shame' and 'Violence' nearly got me there. I suppose I have to separate those previous experiences, leave them behind, and just judge the new material, the new live Low, on it's own.


That said, they sounded great, Alan's guitar-work has come a long way, or maybe the rockier songs allow him to show off a bit more... thinking back, though, it was I Remember, one of the quietest songs, where I really noticed. It's not just Def Leppard he's getting his tricks from.

Their setlist, with some more songs for ya, including a new one with my guess at the title...

Low
Live at the Somerville Theater, Somerville, MA
February 5th, 2005

1. Death of a Salesman
2. Monkey
3. California
4. (That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace
5. Shame
6. Everybody's Song
7. Silver Rider
8. Walk Into the Sea
9. Dragonfly (new)
10. Laser Beam
11. Pissing
12. I Remember
13. Broadway (So Many People)
14. When I Go Deaf
15. Sunflower
16. Violence
17. Cue The Strings

One thing about the Low recordings... their huge swings in volume definitely presented a challenge for my sensitive little Archos, so some of the quiet moments are a little hissy, punctuated by the occasional cough (and by the clutz in front of me who dropped her cell phone three times during the set). I swear, at one point you can actually hear the kid next to me and his nasal breathing. I really wanted to hand that guy a kleenex. Yuck.

And another thing... both bands gave the crowd ample opportunity to speak up between a few songs, and this was decidedly not a good thing. Interactivity can be fun and all, but it's been a long time since I've heard such inanity from an audience, whether invited or not. Dunno if it was the whole Saturday-night thing, maybe a bit too much of the alky-hall, or if they were just naturally retarded, but yeesh. Why don'tcha just yell out "Hey, guess what everyone, I'm an idiot!". Lucky for you, I edited most of that out. We're all better off.

Other Low & Pedro related bits...

PTL was still selling their 2004 Tour EP at their merch table, and it's well worth the measly five bucks. It's a six-song live-in-studio affair, three of their songs and three covers: A Randy Newman song, a Cat Power song, and my fave, a cover of Radiohead's Let Down. If you can't grab the EP at a show, you can order it here.

If you can't wait to hear that Radiohead cover, you can check it out over at Pure Volume, who are hosting a whole bunch of Pedro tracks, including an entire live set recorded last year in Omaha.

While it's not necessarily news to many, Suicide Squeeze Records has officially announced the signing of David Bazan, TW Walsh, & drummer Frank Lenz's new non-Pedro (and more-electronicy) project, Headphones. Their debut self-titled full-length will be out in May, and they'll appearing at this year's SXSW festival (do let me know how they are, Frank).

The long-standing, and always-complete Low site at Chairkickers.com is undergoing it's first facelift in years. Lots of content is forthcoming, but for now you can check out a super-cute little video of Alan & Mimi's daughter Hollis Mae, alternately holding a sharpie and a cookie, and signing copies of the new album at a Duluth record store.

If you catch any of this tour's remaining dates, while you're at the merch table you'd be wise to pick up the first release on Low bassist Zak Sally's new comics publishing imprint, La Mano. It's a collection of John Porcellino's King-Cat comics & stories called 'Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man', and it includes work from the late eighties up through stuff he finished up just last year. Read it yesterday, and it's worth ordering if you can't pick it up yourself. Here's hoping that Mr. Sally puts out some of his own stuff (including his two Recidivist mini-comics) somewhere down the road.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 1:44 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

Let's just skip the pleasantries, shall we?...


As promised, I pulled a bunch of mp3s off the 'Nac on Monday, and boyohboy am I getting overwhelmed with emails from the unlucky. Sorry 'bout that, but space was running out and a house-cleaning was long overdue.

And a note for a few: If you're thinking of asking me to repost 'em, or send them straight to ya, try not demanding it, and while you're at it, skip the l33t $p3@k. "wud u post fil3z plz?! can u uze s3nd1t?" guarantees a direct flight to my trash folder.


Might as well get the token Arcade Fire mention out of the way, right? They appeared last night on Conan O'Brien, and their performance of 'Neighborhood #2 (Laika)' was... well... odd. Here, see for yourself (avi video captured by Aeroplane from the af.net forum. update: here's the easytree torrent, too). Something was certainly lost in the televised translation. I mean, it was them, but their on-stage theatrics seemed fairly out of place when viewed on the tv screen, and not from the middle of an enthralled crowd.

Speaking of which, Amie and I will be at the Roxy tomorrow night for their return to Boston. I can only hope it measures up to what I experienced at TTs last fall. I'm going to try recording it again, so keep an eye here for some mp3s in the next few days.


The Ida show that was bumped by the Blizzard of '05 has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 20th. Tickets are available over at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts site, and thankfully, the lineup is exactly the same, with Thalia Zedek & Jodi Buonanno opening up.

I'm damn glad I'll be able to make it, as the new date missed my D.C. trip by just a few days. Whew. I can't stop listening to their new record... as a matter of fact, it's in my headphones right now. I've got it in constant rotation with the new Low and the way-better-than-expected Lou Barlow disc.


Spent a bunch of time this weekend recording many of the stellar streams from the CBC Radio site. If you haven't been over there yet, gogogo (click the 'table of contents' link once you're there).

102 different live sets, all of pretty great sound quality, with photos and write-ups to go with 'em. You're bound to find something you already love, or discover something totally new. So far I've grabbed about a dozen different sets, and I have so many more to go. (thanks to chris for the heads up)


As a big fan of Ricky Gervais and the Office, I shook my head last year at news of the proposed U.S. remake. Then I heard he'd be directly involved, and my hopes rose a bit. Then I heard Steve Carell would be playing David Brent, and they rose a bit more.

Well, someone shared up the entire pilot, and it's pretty much a carbon copy... it renders the remake as redundant as their staff at Slough. I honestly wish I could erase my memories of the original so that I could watch it with fresh eyes... for anyone who's seen the BBC version, they've made it impossible to watch this new one without comparing it scene by scene.

Credit to Carell, though... he does the best he can given the situation, and the rest of the cast hangs in there. We'll be seeing Carell again in another all-too-familiar role, as Don Adams' Agent Maxwell Smart in a new Get Smart movie. I'd be more frightened if Mel Brooks and Buck Henry weren't writing it. Might not suck.


My favorite Boston band of the moment... On Fire

posted by brad at 10:42 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) |