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

Monday, October 16, 2006

Mp3s: Portastatic live in Boston

As much as I love Superchunk, I've often found myself making a more emotional connection to the songs of Mac McCaughan's other (don't call it a side-) project, Portastatic. What started out as his lower-fi solo outlet has transformed itself into a full-on live entity over the years, and while the band occasionally flirts with the near-punk of the loudest 'Chunk, they're also able to incorporate that softer side with ease. We saw both facets this past Friday night when Mac brought the current lineup to town for a set at Great Scott.

Portastatic

Live at Great Scott in Allston, MA
Thursday, October 12th, 2006

01. Sour Shores
(not shared for techy reasons, see below)
02. Truckstop Cassettes
03. Through With People
04. You Blanks
05. Oh Come Down
06. Drill Me
07. Sweetness and Light
08. Polaroid
09. Like A Pearl
10. Spying on the Spys
11. I'm In Love (with Arthur Dove)
12. Noisy Night

encore...
13. Bye Bye Pride (Go-Betweens cover)
14. San Andreas
15. I'm Not Sayin' (Gordon Lightfoot via Nico cover)
16. I Wanna Know Girls

Joining Mac on stage was 'new guy' Jeff Clark on 2nd guitar, bass player Aaron Oliva, Matt McCaughan on drums, and Margaret White on keys, violin, backing vocals, and other various noise-making things. We also got a guest appearance from an audience volunteer for some extra nut-shaking percussion on "Sweetness and Light". Well played, random stranger. I hope you find this here recording, and if you do, say hello in the comments. I've got a photo for ya.

Personal highlights? It's hard not to lean towards the old stuff I first connected with ("San Andreas", "Oh Come Down"), but I was equally enamored with the moving "Like A Pearl" off the latest record, "Be Still Please", which came out this past Tuesday. It was also a total treat to get a Go-Betweens cover, and Mac & Margaret's beautiful version of "Bye Bye Pride" made me miss Grant McLennan a little bit more.

I'm mighty glad I ordered "Be Still Please" early and straight from the label, as not only did I score the bonus disc of demos and unreleased tracks, "Some Small Things You Can't Defend" (which you can also pick up at shows), but was surprised with the spiffy set of four Portastatic coasters, which were nice enough that I'd have bought 'em anyway. Thanks very much, Merge. I've already used one underneath my new Rose Melberg coffee mug.

This was the second night of an in-progress headlining tour that has just four more East Coast dates left, and if you're lucky one is near you. Arrive early for tour-support Jennifer O'Connor and her NYC-based band (also featuring Margaret White), whose recordings I'd not yet heard, but impressed me enough live to fix that immediately. And if you miss Portastatic this time around, fear not: They'll be back out in November for a few more dates.

A few Portastatic links...

Mac's been keeping a little tour diary on his blog, so have a look. (and sorry the monitor sound in Boston wasn't up to snuff, it sounded ace out front). Jennifer O'Connor stopped by the site to share some words as well, with a promise for more.

Baby, You Got A Stew Goin' wrote up the Mercury Lounge stop in NYC, which Mac called "the best of the tour so far...GREAT crowd, good times".

The live "Sour Shores" didn't rate sharing up (there was a massive crackle during a chunk of the song that is just brutal on the ol' eardrums), so console yourself by listening to the studio version:

Mp3: Portastatic - "Sour Shores"
There's also a digital-only "Sour Shores" EP that you can grab over at Merge. And don't forget, you can stream the entirety of "Be Still Please" (as well as some other fine Merge releases) from links on their main page.

While you're at it, snag the album version of the set-closer...

Mp3: Portastatic - "I Wanna Know Girls"
More? There's a couple live radio recordings and unreleased live tracks on their sounds page.

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (email link on left). Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Mp3s are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s