bradley's almanac - a boston music blog

boston area shows of note:

friday, july 25th

comedian joel mchale

(from the soup)

@ the wilbur theatre

saturday, july 26th

bon iver

bowerbirds

@ the museum of fine arts

sunday, july 27th

the new collisions (debut)

red quiet

melt

@ tt the bears

sunday, july 27th

sunfold

antiques

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

we are scientists

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, july 30th

earlimart

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

spiritualized

the dirtbombs

@ the wilbur theatre

thursday, july 31st

the police

elvis costello & the impersonators

@ the tweeter center

friday & saturday

august 1st & 2nd

eddie vedder

liam finn

solo @ the opera house

saturday, august 2nd

wolf parade

@ the paradise

monday, august 4th

coldplay

@ the garden

tuesday, august 5th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 6th

neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3)

rogue wave

jack johnson

@ the tweeter center

saturday, august 9th

margot & the nuclear so and so's

@ the middle east

saturday, august 9th

melvins

@ the paradise

sunday, august 10th

ho-ag

six finger satellite

the in-out

certainly, sir

@ great scott

tuesday, august 12th

thao nguyen with

the get down stay down

david schultz & the skyline

pepi ginsberg

@ tt the bears

tuesday, august 12th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 13th

radiohead

grizzly bear

@ the tweeter center

thursday, august 14th

grizzly bear

violens

outside in the courtyard

@ the museum of fine arts

friday, august 15th

the ex

getachew mekuria

debo band

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, august 16th

+/- (plus minus)

broken river prophet (cd release!)

animal hospital

ba-na-nas

free kickass cupcakes from 9-10pm!

@ the middle east upstairs

tuesday, august 19th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 20th

human league, belinda carlisle, abc,

flock of seagulls, naked eyes

@ the bank of america pavilion

thursday, august 21st

yndi halda

caspian

irepress

@ tt the bears

friday, august 22nd

obits (ex-hot snakes/rftc)

@ the middle east

saturday, august 23rd

amo joy!

franklin bruno

(from nothing painted blue)

one happy island (ep release!)

@ the lily pad

saturday, august 23rd

newbury comics / unnatural axe

30th anniversary bash

the meatmen, queers, nasties,

unnatural axe, sleazies

@ the middle east down

tuesday, august 26th

the final installment of...

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed august residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 27th

liz phair performing

'exile in guyville'

@ the paradise

wednesday, august 27th

xiu xiu

prurient

@ the paradise

monday, september 1st

the juan maclean

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 5th

silver jews

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, september 6th

my morning jacket

@ the bank of america pavilion

sunday, september 7th

ryan adams & the cardinals

@ the bank of america pavilion

tuesday, september 9th

paul weller

@ the berklee performance center

saturday, september 13th

wfnx disorientation 2008

the kooks, flogging molly,

alkaline trio, rogue wave,

and more to be announced

@ bank of america pavilion

monday, september 15th

james

@ the paradise

tuesday, september 16th

a place to bury strangers

@ the paradise

thursday, september 18th

the walkmen

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 19th

sigur ros

@ the bank of america pavilion

friday, september 19th to

sunday, september 21st

all tomorrow's parties

with my bloody valentine, low

built to spill, mogwai, shellac,

polvo, yo la tengo, lilys, autolux

dinosaur jr, mercury rev, & more

@ the catskills in nyc

monday, september 22nd

mogwai

fuck buttons

@ the wilbur theatre

tuesday, september 23rd

writer dennis lehane

(release day for 'the given day')

@ the coolidge corner theatre

wednesday, september 24th

low

@ the museum of fine arts boston

saturday, september 27th

built to spill

performing 'perfect from now on'

dinosaur jr.

meat puppets

@ the orpheum

sunday, september 28th

the bird and the bee

willoughby

@ great scott

thursday, september 30th

boston spaceships

(gbv's robert pollard)

big dipper

@ the paradise

sunday, october 5th

pinback

@ the paradise

monday, october 6th

the wedding present

@ the middle east downstairs

monday, october 6th

stereolab

monade

@ the paradise

wednesday, october 8th

wire

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, october 12th

the residents

@ showcase live, foxboro

sunday, october 12th

the notwist

@ the roxy

tuesday, october 14th

cold war kids

@ the paradise

friday, october 17th

jonathan richman

with drummer tommy larkin

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, october 18th

ra ra riot

walter meego

the morning benders

@ the middle east

tuesday & wednesday

october 21st & 22nd

billy bragg

@ the somerville theatre

wednesday, october 22nd

lyle lovett & john hiatt

(acoustic, on stage together)

@ the orpheum

thursday, october 30th

of montreal

@ the orpheum

saturday, november 1st

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the orpheum

monday, november 3rd

coldplay

@ the td banknorth garden

visit tourfilter for more shows

Thursday, August 31, 2006

I Keep Coming Back

I have an immense backlog of things to pass along, from new stuff to "in case you missed it" links, so I'll skip the pre-post small talk...

I've been sitting on this news for a couple months, and it hasn't been easy. Now that's it's public, I can finally say... the Afghan Whigs are going back into the studio. When their upcoming (and now delayed until '07) Rhino 'best of' retrospective, 'Unbreakable', was announced, I hoped-against-hope that they'd get together and record a few new songs for it, as the Replacements did the same for their Rhino collection. Like the 'Mats, the Whigs will be using a different drummer for their tracks, and my fingers are crossed that it'll be ascot-master Bobby Macintyre of Dulli's touring Twilight Singers. That guy's amazing. Proof: Stream some Twilight Singers live sets.

I've got a special little spot in my musical heart for the Housemartins, a band I completely obsessed over back in the day (although my fixation didn't follow singer Paul Heaton to his post-Housemartins band, the Beautiful South). Anyway, Hull's fourth best band is also resurfacing, although not to the studio... they're just returning to the new release shelves with a compilation of all their old BBC recordings, including songs from a 1987 Nottingham concert. The full tracklisting...

The Housemartins
�Live at the BBC�

1. Drop Down Dead (John Peel 21/07/85)
2. Flag Day (John Peel 21/07/85)
3. Stand At Ease (John Peel 21/07/85)
4. Reverends Revenge (Janice Long 6/11/85)
5. Shelter (Saturday Live 04/01/86)
6. People Get Ready (Saturday Live 04/01/86)
7. Over There (John Peel 06/04/86)
8. Caravan Of Love (John Peel 06/04/86)
9. Happy Hour (John Peel 03/06/86)
10. Heaven Help Us All (John Peel 03/06/86)
11. Pickin' The Blues (Peel Show Theme Tune) (John Peel 03/06/86)
12. Mercy (Janice Long 11/12/86)
13. So Glad (Janice Long 11/12/86)
14. He Brought Me Out (Janice Long 11/12/86)
15. Sunday Isn't Sunday (John Peel 03/11/87)
16. Build (John Peel 03/11/87)
17. We're Not Deep (Glastonbury 29/11/86)
18. Me And The Farmer (Glastonbury 29/11/86)
19. The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death (Nottingham Concert 30/09/87)
20. The Light Is Always Green (Nottingham Concert 30/09/87)
21. The World's On Fire (Nottingham Concert 30/09/87)
22. We're Not Going Back (Nottingham Concert 30/09/87)
23. Johannesburg (Nottingham Concert 30/09/87)
24. Five Get Over Excited (Nottingham Concert 30/09/87)

According to the press release, it'll be out on September 18th in the UK. Not sure about a U.S. release, but it's still worth import prices. Thanks for the heads up, for the records.

From UK radio sessions to US radio sessions: NPR has had a fairly impressive summer of in-studio artists and live broadcasts, so many that I haven't had time to listen to 'em all. To link just a few: Sleater-Kinney, Camera Obscura, the Long Winters, Mates of State, the Stills, and the Essex Green. Whoever's in charge of audio scheduling over there, give 'em a raise. Especially if they also picked Midlake's 'Roscoe' as a recent 'song of the day'.

Speaking of Sleater-Kinney, it's worth checking out Superchunk/Portastatic/Merge main-man Mac McCaughan's brief goodbye to them over on his blog. Grab mp3s from S-K's very last show at RySpace while you're at it.

Another artist featured on NPR over the summer was the where-you-been World Party. I've been a Karl Wallinger admirer since the first time I saw him sitting at a piano in the Waterboy's 'The Whole of the Moon' video in 1986, and was saddened to read about the aneurysm he had back in 2001. That was in the wake of being fairly screwed over by his backing band and record label (who, behind his back, recorded and released one of his songs with Robbie Williams), and even worse, his longtime manager passing away. It took him awhile to recover from the physical and mental hardship, but he reemerged earlier this year to put out the long-finished album 'Dumbing Up' in the U.S. (which was out years ago in the UK), released on his own Seaview Records imprint, as well as remastered versions of the World Party back catalogue. While 'Dumbing Up' didn't do much for me, now that Wallinger's back in the game (the band played Bonnaroo this summer), I'd imagine he'll be spending lots more time in his home studio.

Stream: �What Does it Mean Now?� (wma hi / wma med)
QT Video: �What Does it Mean Now?�
Read: 2006 BBC Interview
Stream: May 2006 live set on NPR

Another swell Essex Green studio session, this one on KEXP. Songs played: 'This Isn't Farm Life', 'Penny & Jack', 'Rue de Lis', 'Cardinal Points', 'Sin City', and 'Don't Know Why (You Stay)'.

My favorite part?...
Chris: 'It's too early in the day for rock and roll'.
Jeff: 'But is it too early for "60s retro-pop"?'.

Check out a bunch of nice photos (and autographs... rockstars!) from that previously mentioned Essex Green NPR broadcast (which was live at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, over at Hugh Shows. Hugh's also got some great shots of Cat Power & the Memphis Rhythm Band in Pittsburgh from back in July.

Here, lemme rapid-fire some new music links at you...

New Robert Pollard MP3: 'Supernatural Car Lover' (thx Donewaiting)

New songs from The Hero Cycle at their MySpace page.

Rolling Stone shared the Arcade Fire covering New Order's 'Age Of Consent'.

Listen to a fairly rare track from Ida on their MySpace page called 'Jackson'. It was previously available only on the Japanese version of their 'Heart Like A River' album. By the way, if you're wondering why that October date I have listed for a long-awaited Ida appearance at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston isn't listed on the MFA concert site, the band says that 'unexpected logistical hurdles arose', so confirmation is taking a bit longer than planned. I sure as hell hope that show works out.

Ex-Swervedriver and current Toshack Highway frontman Adam Franklin covers Wolf Parade's 'Shine A Light' on his MySpace page. There's a Hendrix cover and a demo over there, too.

This one you'll have to hunt for: There's a rare Margot & the Nuclear So & So's track called 'Cheap Motel Room' on a disc that's included with the new issue of Alternative Press. That's gotta be the first time I've ever linked, or even mentioned, the long-since relevant AP.

There's a nice new Earlimart mp3 called 'Answers & Questions' over at So Much Silence.

The Twilight Singers have posted something called the 'Lo-Fi Mix' of their song 'I'm Ready' on their MySpace page. Whatever they call it, I think it might be a better mix than the album version.

Brainwashed has a fantastic 20 minute video feature on Beirut, which is mostly live footage from their first Boston appearance, plus an interview with Zach Condon. NOTE: One of the links on that page points to the wrong Quicktime video, so here's the correct Beirut video link.

A spiffy new pop song from The Loud Family over on their MySpace page called 'Mavis of Maybelline Towers'.

If you haven't yet, go grab the great new Portastatic track, 'Sour Shores'. That's the song that'll lead off their next album 'Be Still Please', which is out in October.

I Am Fuel, You Are Friends shared up a new Nada Surf song called 'I Like What You Say'. It can be found on the soundtrack that no one I know bought, for a movie that no one I know saw.

I'm planning on writing more about this, but for now: Go check out the excellent Band in Boston podcast. We've needed something like that around here for a long time, and I'm very glad that it not only exists, but is being done so well. Cheers to that.

I'm not even halfway through the things I want to write about, but I think it's time to let this one fly. I'll end with free stuff...

I've got an extra copy of ex-Pedro the Lion and current-Headphones/solo guy David Bazan's super-fine 10-track EP, 'Fewer Moving Parts' for giveaway, so drop me an email (link at lower left) with a subject line of 'Gimme Bazan!' before the end of the day Monday. Include your mailing address (U.S. or Canada only), and I'll randomly pick a winner on Tuesday morning. Easy enough.

Not familiar with Mr. Bazan? Shame on you. Get yourself over to BrooklynVegan and read a recent interview with the man himself.

Oh, and if you discovered the Almanac thanks to that recent Boston Globe online feature on area audioblogs, I welcome you. If you're here because of the print version of said article, well then, I'm sorry you had to see that way-too-close-up photo of me on a Saturday morning. Hey, at least it didn't go digital.

posted by brad at 1:32 PM | direct link | rss (1 :2) | |

view previous entries