My social calendar, such as it is, has been a little too packed since my return from Chicago... feel like I haven't had a single moment to adequately rest up, or write about anything. I'd hoped for a little slow-down after such an insane (and yeah, insanely great) weekend, but my can't-miss-it compulsion hasn't allowed for it. Sure, it's my own busy fault, so this is more of an explanation than a complaint.


In just the past couple weeks I've caught Bottomless Pit with Shearwater & Magnolia Electric Co., Eric Bachmann with Richard Buckner, and tried to see Asobi Seksu play at Tufts. Saw a couple preview movie screenings (The Science of Sleep & The Last Kiss, but just missed out on the mobbed Borat MySpace preview), and headed down to Providence, Rhode Island to check out the Comedians of Comedy (Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Eugene Mirman, Morgan Murphy, and surprise guest Fred Armisen). We drove to Jersey for a good friend's wedding, spent some time exploring the beautiful Rutger's Garden with Amie & Neeners, and found a discarded backpack behind our Motel 6 that contained a wedding dress and a dozen balls of yarn. Patrolwoman Herrera of the East Brunswick PD is on the case. Cutest cop I've ever seen.

You can check out photos from a few of those haps (but sadly, none of officer Herrera) at my Flickr page, and the Jersey shots will appear soon.


A couple of shows you must be made aware of:

Rose Melberg is coming to town. Yes, she of the angelic voice, she formerly of Tiger Trap, the Softies, and Go Sailor. She'll be playing as part of the honorable N.E.S.T. music fest (The Northeast Sticks Together) at O'Briens in Allston on Sunday, October 15th with Pants Yell! and Reports (both of whom I'm also psyched to see). That there's a do-not-misser, so show up early 'cuz there's no advance tickets.

And then there's this total score: The Upright Citizens Brigade. Here in Boston. At Great Scott. Yes. The UCB Touring Company will be appearing there on Friday night, October 13th. Hot dayum.


Do yourself a favor: Stop reading, click this link, and listen to four new songs from Bottomless Pit. BP is the post-Silkworm outlet of Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen, with the shit-hot rhythm section of Chris Manfrin (ex-Seam) and Brian Orchard (.22). The foursome played those songs during their too-short set here a couple weeks ago, and they're all keepers. Can't get enough of them, matter of fact. While their songs page has the tracks streaming, any tech-savvy surfer can sniff out the direct link. Ah hell, here's one of the Tim-fronted numbers for you, if only so the song will show up on mp3 aggregators and reach more ears...

Mp3: Bottomless Pit - "Human Out Of Me"

The others are the Andy-sung "Dead Man's Blues" and "Dogtag", and another Tim song, "The Cardinal Movements". Go. Listen.

For the curious, here's their setlist from their appearance at the Middle East on September 15th...

1. The Cardinal Movements
2. Dead Man's Blues
3. Leave The Light On
4. Dogtag
5. State I'm In
6. Lily White
7. Winterwind
8. Human Out Of Me

File those new song titles away, you'll be hearing them again.

I'm just gonna try and breeze through the rest of this post, as I'm in a rattling rush...


Greg Dulli and his Twilight Singers have been performing a live cover of Massive Attack's "Live With Me" for awhile now, and they're releasing a studio version of it on their next EP, titled "A Stitch In Time". It ended up becoming a duet with ex-Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, and you can now stream it on the Twilight Singers' MySpace page.


Metal Hearts have unveiled a new song called '91' by way of a live performance clip on YouTube. As much as I loved the band before, it appears the addition of a second guitarist has made them even better. Really looking forward to their next studio effort.


Another song released via MySpace: Ida has a new cover of John & Beverly Martyn's "Road to Ruin" on their page. It appeared along with some great news: That they're at work on their next full lengther. That news is lessened by learning that their tentative October live date at the MFA Boston fell through.


Waitaminute... how did I not know there was some new Ned's Atomic Dustbin released in June? Old skool! It's a digital-only release called "Hibernation", and the single has the title track, another new one called "Ambush", and the umpteenth remix of "Kill Your Television" (for the people who don't remember Ned's, I guess). I'm listening now, and it sounds like they've been living in a world where time has simply not moved since the early 90s (not necessarily a bad thing).

But what's the deal with only putting 30-second previews of the songs on the Ned's MySpace page? Badly played, N.A.D.s. Well, at least they put a full 16-minute podcast up there as well. Fun with thick Brit accents! The new songs are played in the podcast, by the way, and you can grab a direct mp3 of it here (14.5 MB).


Stream the upcoming Portastatic album, "Be Still Please", at the Merge site. It's an excellent collection of songs, and I'll be doing a giveaway of both the disc and tickets to see Mac & co. when they come to play Great Scott on October 12th.


More fine new music: The Sea Navy have finished their second album, titled "Oh These Troubled Times", just in time for the record release show on October 5th out in Seattle at the Sunset Tavern. Check out two songs from the disc, "Heard of Irish Ponies" and "Arctic Advice" at their MySpace page. For the uninformed, the trio is comprised of ex-Ivory Coast singer/guitarist Jay Cox, Andrew Rudd (ex-Aqueduct) and Stuart Fletcher (ex-The Sorts, Sea Tiger). TW Walsh (The Soft Drugs) also helped out with bass and engineering duties on the recordings.


Singer/guitarist Martin Carr (Boo Radleys/Brave Captain) is traveling to the U.S. this fall, and is planning on playing some New England shows in mid-November with Corin Ashley of The Pills. According to Corin, it'll be a "semi-acoustic, low volume thing", and here are the dates...

Corin Ashley & Martin Carr
Fall '06 Northeast Tour:
Thursday, Nov. 9th @ the Manhan Cafe in Easthampton, MA
Friday, Nov. 10th @ Great Scott in Allston, MA
Saturday, Nov. 11th @ Soundfix Records, Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday, Nov. 15th @ The Annex, NYC

While Carr just officially retired his Brave Captain solo-moniker, Corin has released his debut solo album ("Songs From the Brill Bedroom"), which you can grab via iTunes, or sample with some mp3s over at his MySpace page.

Corin was actually nominated for a few Boston Music Awards (male vocalist, local album, local song), which were apparently awarded last night. Results here. While I'm not a fan of "music as competition", it's nice to see Mission of Burma, C4RT, Aberdeen City, Lucky 57, and a certain Mr. Gammons got nods, at least.


Those BMA's are part of the NEMO fest thing (which either stands for New England Music Organization, or Northeast Music Organization, depending on who you ask or where you google), which is happening this weekend here in Boston. I've been aware of the conference/festival since it started 10 years ago, but it's never really been up my alley, so to speak. Generally not enough bands playing I dig (although this year there are a few more than usual), and I'm not exactly a panel-going kinda guy, even back in my naive days of pimping my owns bands. Wrongly perceived or not, the non-live-music portion of the event has always seemed a little too packed with the biznizz-cheeze aspects (and people) of the "music industry" (*shudder*) for my tastes, so I've never felt compelled to either attend or get involved.

Well, this year I'll be there, and it's by the kind invitation of Mr. Duffy from the excellent Donewaiting music blog and Sunken Treasure record label. He'll be moderating one of the many panels happening over the weekend, one titled "Music Blogs: Fanzines of the 21st Century". The Almanac apparently qualifies me to appear on said panel, so I'll be there to share my... um, well, whatever comes outta my mouth. If any wisdom lies therein, cool, but my primary motivation is to spend some quality time with my fellow blogger panelists, a couple of whom I've met and admire (Jay Breitling of the Clicky Clicky Music Blog, Brian Murphy from False 45th), and the rest who I'm looking forward to hanging with (including Robert, Paul Irish of Aurgasm, and Dany Sloan from Exitfare). Post-panel beverages are a must.

So if you're into having the six of us fill up 90 minutes of your time, or even joining us for those after-beers, be at the Boston Center for the Arts at 539 Tremont Street this Saturday, September 30th. Our panel runs from 1:45pm-3:15pm in something called the Black Box at the BCA. Come one, come all, ask us awkward questions, heckle us from afar.

Oh, and to make it official, here's the description from the NEMO site:

"These days, music bloggers are finding themselves more and more in the spotlight of national media. But who are these people? Meet some of the area's top music bloggers as they discuss legal issues, blogging philosophies, how they select music and more."

Wait, I think that means I have to come up with some kind of "philosophy". Uh oh.

posted by brad at 12:47 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

September's been a banner month for the two sides of James Kochalka, both the cartoonist and the musical Superstar: His band's long-delayed Rykodisc album, "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly", was finally released on September 12th, just a few days after he was honored with his first-ever comics industry Harvey Award. During the September 9th ceremony at the Baltimore Comic-Con, James was granted the 2006 "Best Online Comics Work" title for his daily diary strip, American Elf.

But as good as AE and his printed comics work is, this here post is about his music, which I've been all-too familiar with since his days in the casio/saxophone/JK combo Jazzin' Hell back in his (and my former) hometown of Burlington, Vermont. (trivia: Jazzin' Hell included Philistines Jr./Zambonis member and ace Interpol/The National recording engineer Peter Katis, as well as Thicker Magazine main-man Eric Bradford). After a few years fronting Jazzin' Hell, James eventually started releasing songs under the prescient name of James Kochalka Superstar, an umbrella under which James has invited a long list of friends to record and perform. (more trivia/disclaimer: I was fortunate enough to have been one of these random members, in a short-lived live lineup that included Colin Clary, Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz, and Pistol Stamen of the Pants. We were not, some would say, 'the tightest' incarnation of JKS, but we sure put on a show).

JKS' songs actually have a fair amount in common with his comics work: deceptively simple and insidiously catchy, childlike wonder combined with the subtle (and not-at-all subtle) hints of naughtiness. It's kids music for grown-up kids: kinda goofy at times, insightful at others, and occasionally all at once. There's no middle ground with James' stuff... you either dig it or you don't, much like other bands that get name dropped in his reviews (TMBG, King Missle, Ween, etc.).

After several albums on a variety of small labels (including the 1995 Dot Dot Dash debut, "The True Story of James Kochalka Superstar", 2000's "Carrot Boy the Beautiful" on Sudden Shame, and the self-released "Don't Trust Whitey" in 2001), James inked a deal with Rykodisc that started with the release of a best-of compilation, last year's "Our Most Beloved". While Ryko initially seemed reluctant to nail down a release date for a follow-up of all new material, that changed quickly once his song "Hockey Monkey" (co-written with the Zambonis) was chosen as the theme song for the Fox sitcom "The Loop". The amped up exposure not only put "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly" on their fall release schedule, but resulted in the four-song iTunes-only "Hockey Monkey" EP.

To mark the unveiling of "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly", James played a few stripped-down shows with his bandmate (and frequent American Elf cameo canine, and Icebox Records co-guy) Jason 'x-12' Cooley on guitar. They ended in New York after stopping in Philly, but the first show was here in Cambridge, MA on Friday night, August 25th with comedians Neil Hamburger & Morgan Murphy, and the World's Greatest Sinners. Despite the fact that JKS was on first, the placed was packed from the get-go. Here's their entire set...


Some Kochalka-quality links...

Buy "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly" at Amazon or on iTunes, and make sure you visit his American Elf at least once a day.

He's got a Wikipedia entry, and a MySpace page, although it's not run by James himself.

He also has some very fine fan sites, including ADD's Kochalkaholic and a Sweden-based Supersite.

A couple videos for songs on "SYEWAF": A clip for "Wash Your Ass" (quicktime / youtube), and the lo-fi vid for the title track (youtube), which was shot by James on his Nintendo Game Boy Camera. There's an older one for "Hockey Monkey" as well (quicktime / asf).

James appears in the second episode of the hilarious Monsterface TeeVee. Glad I discovered MFTV through JKS, 'cuz now I'm officially a Monsterface fanboy. Go have a look.

Stereogum recently gave the JKS song "Britney's Silver Can" some love, and Whitney gave it a spin on her Pop Candy blog's podcast.

Facebooker Aleks Prince saw James and Jason's last stop on the mini-tour, a show at the Cake Shop in Manhattan. There is spiffy photographic evidence.

Head over to Dangerfive to download an entire JKS online-only EP of demos called "Hot Chocolate Superstar".

Grab a full-band live version of "Britney's Silver Can" courtesy of Web Comics Nation.

Download a bunch of mp3s from James' old band, Jazzin' Hell. According to their site, an enhanced cd will eventually be released containing "all tracks from our studio sessions with Peter Katis, radio sessions at WRUV, insane live tracks, and those little videos you can play on your computer." Cool deal.

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

posted by brad at 2:19 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

Atlanta four-piece Snowden came to town a few weeks back for a single-band show at Allston's Great Scott, and had me by the throat from the very first note. Already a fan of their Jade Tree debut, "Anti-Anti", they did what any live band only hopes to do: take some great songs and improve on them, serve 'em up with seemingly effortless stage presence and all-out urgency. No warm-up act, no encore, just 34 too-short minutes of wow-inducing intensity.

While singer/guitarist Jordan Jeffares' vocals can feel emotionally distant, the propulsive, menacing, music underneath is far from it. David Payne's tasteful guitar atmospherics sit atop a rock-solid bed of bass and drums, a rhythm section that is one of the best I've seen in months. Drummer Chandler Rentz's razor-sharp style is never flashy, and bassist Corinne Lee's own playing and presence made it hard to pay attention to anything else. A true talent, she's got instant rockstar written all over her, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.

If you're at all into their songs (links below), just go see them. Trust me on this. For now, here's their 8-song Allston set... (live mp3s removed at the request of the band's management.))

update 9/19/06: In lieu of live recordings, I've been given links to a couple of Snowden videos (including one new exclusive clip). Check out the details in the links section below.


Now get out your calendar and mark down the closest one of these Snowden dates...

Sep 18, 2006 - O'Leavers Pub, Omaha, NE
Sep 19, 2006 - Subterranean, Chicago, IL
Sep 20, 2006 - Alchemize Bar, Cincinnati, OH
Sep 21, 2006 - Z:Lounge, Pittsburgh, PA
Sep 22, 2006 - The Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
Sep 23, 2006 - Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY
Sep 25, 2006 - The Middle East, Cambridge, MA
Sep 27, 2006 - The Talking Head, Baltimore, MD
Sep 29, 2006 - The Nick, Birmingham, AL
Oct 06, 2006 - Pure Nightclub, Philadelphia, PA
Oct 12, 2006 - WRAS studio session, Atlanta, GA
Oct 12, 2006 - Caledonia Lounge Athens, GA
Oct 18, 2006 - The Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA
Nov 01, 2006 - Gothamist acoustic set, New York, NY

Bostonians, you'll notice they return to our area next Monday night, September 25th when they play the Middle East Upstairs with Stab the Matador, Karate High School, and Sweet Irony. On November 10th they kick off a UK tour, and later that month they return for some U.S. dates with iForward, Russia!.

Some Snowden links...

A couple of Snowden QT video clips: Frontman Jordan Jeffares and engineer Erik Wofford get jiggy during the recording of "Stop Your Bleeding" (exclusive - 11.31 MB), and a 5 minute clip from Snowden's last tour (49.78 MB), put together by guitarist David Payne.

Their MySpace page (four streaming songs, one mp3).

Download the title track from 'Anti-Anti' courtesy of Jade Tree.

More Snowden mp3s can be found on the band's own media page, including songs from their 2004 self-titled EP. No longer linked, but still available, is a cover of the Zombie's "Time of the Season", as well as two songs from their "Licorice" EP: "Happy Christmas" and "China Light".

After their Great Scott show, Snowden headed down to Brooklyn to play Southpaw the next night. Stereogum was there.

BohemianPlayboy offers up the 'Le Castle Vania Disco Remix' of the song "Black Eyes".

Another mix via ezarchive thanks to Bricolage Fantasy: "Anti-Anti (Jordan's Stutter Remix)"

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (email link at bottom 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

posted by brad at 8:41 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

I have returned. Back to reality and my desk in Boston after a truly dream-like trip out to Chicago. The Touch & Go 25th Anniversary rock-fest was hands-down the greatest music-filled weekend of my life, and I've still got a little left over euphoria in my system. I was there from start to finish, from the first notes of The Shipping News to the last note of Calexico's encore, and all 30 bands in between. Many of them played sets worthy of travelling for on their own, and the fact that they were all in the same place just seems unreal. I lived it, I loved it, and I'll never forget it.

I've got a massive write-up somewhere in me, but for now, have a look at all my photos.


Fittingly enough, this week I share a Cambridge, MA set from last month by one of my favorite bands, one that appeared at the T&G fest on Saturday: The New Year. While they're still very much active, their live appearances are lately a scarce and precious occurrence, so the fact that I got to see them twice within a month is a special thing indeed.

So here's their August 11th, 2006 set from upstairs at the Middle East. Matt & Bubba Kadane, Mike Donofrio, Peter Schmidt, Chris Brokaw, and Josh McKay, aka The New Year...


'MMV' is a new song, and the rest can be found on their two amazing discs, 2001's 'Newness Ends' or 2004's 'The End Is Near'. Buy 'em.

Some New Year links...

Their MySpace page.

Brian from the VT-based False 45th came down for the show, and he wrote it up here.

Check out the video for the New Year's 'Disease' (quicktime).

Download some New Year mp3s.

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

posted by brad at 10:25 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

Chi-town, here I come. I'm about to leave my Boston comfort-zone, and at this time tomorrow I'll be front and center for the first night of the weekend-long Touch & Go Records 25th Anniversary Celebration. I've been listening to T&G bands for as long as I've been listening to good music, and some of my faves are playing at this thing. As the full lineup was revealed, I was literally compelled to plan this trip, bank account be damned. I'm heading out there solo, so if you'll be around and feel like meeting up for a beer (or at least a hello and a handshake), drop me an email anytime at the link on the lower left... I'll hopefully have some kind of 'net access in between seeing all the great bands (and maybe some great art).

Before I go, a few parting links and such. This will be quick, 'cuz I really gotta start packing...


The Wedding Present recently did another BBC Radio Session, this one a set of covers for Huw Stephens show last week, on Tuesday, August 29th. The four songs, one from each of the past four decades, were spread throughout the broadcast, which was streamed online for the past week or so. If you missed it, here are a couple of the songs for you...

The Wedding Present - "Our Lips Are Sealed" (Go-Go's cover)
The Wedding Present - "Back For Good" (Take That cover)

The other two covers were the Lennon/McCartney-penned "Step Inside Love", made popular by Cilla Black, and Minnie Riperton's "Lovin You" (with 'the brown note' played on guitar, for the curious). No doubt all those songs will appear someday on yet another Weddoes BBC compilation.


The second Billy Bragg box set from Yep Roc Records, surprisingly titled "Billy Bragg: Volume 2", arrives on October 17th. The label is making it tough for me to wait for the discounted Newbury Comics price, since they're offering pre-orderers a bonus disc to go along with the 9 discs already in the box. The ltd. edition freebie is a cd of live songs from a 1987 Victoria University in New Zealand. If you order up early, you may also win one of 50 copies of Billy's new book, "The Progressive Patriot", and 20 of those winners will also get an autographed BB poster.

Courtesy of Yep Roc, here's the full tracklisting of the Billy Bragg: Volume 2 box set, along with what's on that pre-order bonus disc...

"Workers Playtime"
Disc One: The Original Album
1. She's Got A New Spell
2. Must I Paint You A Picture?
3. Tender Comrade
4. The Price I Pay
5. Little Time Bomb
6. Rotting on Remand
7. Valentine's Day Is Over
8. Life With The Lions
9. The Only One
10. The Short Answer
11. Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards

"Workers Playtime"
Disc Two: Bonus tracks
1. The Only One (Demo)
2. The Price I Pay (Demo)
3. Love Has No Pride
4. That's Entertainment
5. She's Got A New Spell (Demo)
6. The Short Answer (Demo)
7. Little Time Bomb (Demo)
8. Bad Penny (Demo)
9. Reason To Believe (Live)
10. Must I Paint You A Picture? (Extended Version)
11. Raglan Road (Live)

"Don't Try This At Home"
Disc One: The Original Album
1. Accident Waiting To Happen
2. Moving the Goalposts
3. Everywhere
4. Cindy Of A Thousand Lives
5. You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
6. Trust
7. God's Footballer
8. The Few
9. Sexuality
10. Mother Of The Bride
11. Tank Park Salute
12. Dolphins
13. North Sea Bubble
14. Rumours Of War
15. Wish You Were Her
16. Body Of Water

"Don't Try This At Home"
Disc Two: Bonus tracks
1. Party Of God
2. North Sea Bubble (Demo)
3. Sexuality (Demo)
4. Just One Victory (Alternative Mix)
5. Everywhere (Alternative Version)
6. Trust (Demo)
7. Bread & Circuses
8. Cindy Of A Thousand Lives (Demo)
9. The Few (Demo)
10. Revolution
11. Tighten Up Your Wig (w/The Athenians & DJ Woody Dee)
12. MBH
13. This Gulf Between Us
14. Piccadilly Rambler

"William Bloke"
Disc One: The Original Album
1. From Red To Blue
2. Upfield
3. Everybody Loves You Babe
4. Sugardaddy
5. A Pict Song
6. Brickbat
7. The Space Race Is Over
8. Northern Industrial Town
9. The Fourteenth Of February
10. King James Version
11. Goalhanger

"William Bloke"
Disc Two: Bonus tracks
1. As Long As You Hold Me (Demo)
2. Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet (Demo)
3. Sugardaddy (Demo)
4. The Space Race Is Over (Demo)
5. Goalhanger (Demo)
6. Upfield (Demo)
7. The Fourteenth Of February (Demo)
8. Qualifications
9. Never Had No One Ever
10. Thatcherites
11. All Fall Down

"England, Half England"
Disc One: The Original Album
1. St. Monday
2. Jane Allen
3. Distant Shore
4. England, Half English
5. NPWA
6. Some Days I See The Point
7. Baby Faroukh
8. Take Down The Union Jack
9. Another Kind Of Judy
10. He'll Go Down
11. Dreadbelly
12. Tears Of My Tracks

"England, Half England"
Disc Two: Bonus tracks
1. Billericay Dickie
2. Mansion On The Hill
3. Glad And Sorry
4. He'll Go Down (Demo)
5. Yarra Song
6. You Pulled The Carpet Out
7. Mystery Shoes
8. Tears Of My Tracks (Demo)
9. Take Down The Union Jack (Band Version)
10. England, Half English (7� Remix)
11. 1 2 3 4
12. Dry Bed (Band Version)
13. Danny Rose
14. She Smiled Sweetly

Box Set Bonus DVD
"If You've Got A Guestlist..."
Billy Bragg & The Red Stars
at the Town & Country Club
November 1991 (TV Concert)

1. You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
2. The Saturday Boy
3. The Marching Song Of The Covert Battalions
4. The World Turned Upside Down
5. Dolphins
6. Valentine's Day Is Over
7. North Sea Bubble
8. Body Of Water
9. Levi Stubbs' Tears
10. A Lover Sings
11. She's Got A New Spell
12. Cindy Of A Thousand Lives
13. Accident Waiting To Happen
14. Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
15. Tender Comrade
16. Tank Park Salute
17. The Warmest Room
18. Sexuality

Special Pre-Order Bonus CD
"Billy Bragg at the Broadway Barking"
Live in May, 2006
1. A Lover Sings
2. The Price I Pay
3. Debris
4. Tank Park Salute
5. All You Fascists
6. Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
7. A13, Trunk Road To The Sea

Pre-order the disc here. Billy will be returning to North America later this month for a dozen dates, some in Canada, and the rest on the U.S. West Coast.


Any and all discriminating online music listeners will mourn the loss of WOXY, who are being forced by lack of fund to shut down operations next Friday, Sept. 15th, after a two-year attempt at being internet-only. I loved 'em, I'll miss 'em, and I'll be making sure I've got all the live Lounge Acts appearances before they're gone. Very glad to hear that WOXY DJ Barb has got herself a nice new radio job.


Got myself an early copy of The Album Leaf's next disc, "Into The Blue Again", and it's as beautiful as I expected it to be, maybe moreso. Can't get enough of it, and I'm so glad I've got it on my mp3 player for the flight from Logan to O'Hare. Thanks to LHB for tipping me to the ten-minute quicktime mini-documentary on the making of the album.


The Breeders going back into the studio with Steve Albini? Yes, please.


The volume of Continuum Books' 33 1/3 Series that I've been most looking forward to is finally here: The story behind My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" by Mike McGonigal was released on Sept. 1st, and my copy is on the way. If you haven't checked out this excellent series of books, each telling the story behind (or a story inspired by) a particular landmark album, you can now order up a special collection called "33 1/3 Greatest Hits, Volume 1", which pulls together excerpts from the first 20 volumes.


Daytrotter hosts a nice little session with Will 'Bonnie Prince Billy' Oldham. Four songs, including "The Seedling" from his upcoming disc, "The Letting Go".


While Sophia Coppola's next film, Marie Antoinette, already has a bit of negative buzz around it, at least the soundtrack is going to offer something positive: songs from Swedish group The Radio Dept., who mentioned it on their myspace blog, along with classic Cure and New Order numbers. Full tracklisting here.


My Mean Magpie tracked down info on the original artist (and accompanying mp3) who wrote the song "Blue Flower", which I fell in love with thanks to both Mazzy Star and the Pale Saints.


Metal Hearts, who are on tour most of this month and will be heading over to Europe with Boston's Victory at Sea in November, have let us know that they'll be releasing a split EP with Headlights in early Spring next year. That'll hopefully tide us over until their next album.


Radio Free Silver Lake pointed a live video clip of Explosions In The Sky performing "Your Hand in Mine" on YouTube. You already downloaded the free mp3s of their out-of-print "The Rescue" EP, right?


More free greatness: "Bug House", which is select tracks from the Guided By Voices rarities compilation "Broadcaster House". You can download the tracks one by one, or grab one large .zip file. I've got to tell you, the quality and songs are just amazing. Thanks to Hold My Life for the heads up. Speaking of HML, I was bummed to read he's indefinitely stepping away from posting. Was good while it was around, and hopefully it'll return.


Since we have to wait until early next year for Kristin Hersh's next solo album, "Learn To Sing Like A Star", I'm hankering for any pre-release info-morsel I can get. So here's the full tracklisting for the disc, which is likely to be on my 2007 faves list...

Kristin Hersh
"Learn To Sing Like A Star"
01. In Shock
02. Nerve Endings
03. Day Glo
04. Christian Hearse
05. Ice
06. Under the Gun
07. Piano 1
08. Sugarbaby
09. Peggy Lee
10. Piano 2
11. Vertigo
12. Winter
13. Wild Vanilla
14. The Thin Man

Another tracklisting, this one for a long-awaited release from NYC band +/- {Plus/Minus}. They put out "Let's Build A Fire" in Japan late last year, and thanks to Absolutely Kosher Records, we'll finally see it stateside on October 24th. Here's the tracklisting for the U.S. version:

+/- {Plus/Minus}
"Let's Build A Fire"
01. Let�s Build a Fire
02. Fadeout
03. Steal the Blueprints (MP3 download)
04. The Important Thing Is To Love
05. Thrown into the Fire
06. Summer Dress 2 [Iodine]
07. Ignoring All the Detours
08. Profession
09. One Day You�ll Be There
10. This Is All I Have Left
11. Leap Year
12. Time and Space
13. For You

One of the bands I'll be seeing this weekend (and likely seeing a little too much of frontman David Yow) is Austin's Scratch Acid, the Jesus Lizard/Rapeman ancestor that I was too young to catch when they were around. In honor of the few shows that the reunited band will be doing, Austin 360 presents a great S.A. retrospective called "An Oral History, from Scratch".


Someone else I'm really looking forward to seeing in Chicago this weekend: Tara Jane O'Neil. Her fourth full-lengther on Quarterstick, "In Circles", comes out this Tuesday the 12th, and I'm hoping they'll have early copies at the T&G shows. Here's a preview track...

Mp3: "Tara Jane O'Neil - Blue Light Room" (from "In Circles")

Ida's Liz Mitchell has another album of children's songs out called "You Are My Little Bird". Order it from Folkways over here. Still waiting for word on if that October Ida show at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston is really going to happen.


So pre-sales for the big Death Cab For Cutie / Ted Leo & the Pharmacists show at the Boston Opera House on November 2nd happened this morning, and I gotta admit, I was awfully hesitant to drop the big bills for that one. I haven't had any strong desire to see DCFC for a long time, but the chance to see Ted & Co. on that stage, in the same spectacular setting where I caught Sigur Ros last year... I just couldn't pass it up. So I took a shot at the pre-order deal and ended up with center seats pretty close to the stage. Yeah, I think I can deal with that.

Boston pre-sale tix sold out in under 60 seconds, with Rochester and the first Toronto date disappearing shortly after. When that Toronto show was closed, a second night there was added, and a second Boston show has also been placed on another open date, Nov. 3rd. Pre-sale tickets for that one aren't up yet, but regular tickets go on sale Saturday, Sept. 16th at 9am.


Another guaranteed sell-out, this one on the smaller side, is the return of Margot & the Nuclear So and So's to the Boston area. They're playing at TT the Bears with The Elected (featuring Blake Sennett from Rilo Kiley), also on Nov. 3rd. Even if students weren't back, tickets would be scarce for this fine Friday night double-bill. So go get yours.


In advance of the October 10th release of the next Portastatic disc, "Be Still Please", Mac & Co. will be putting out a digital-only EP called "Sour Shores" next week. Here's some capilatizationally-challenged info from Mac's blog...

"the first track is the album version (of "Sour Shores"), track 2 is an acoustic cover of the great Hot Chip song ("And I Was A Boy From School"), track 3 ("Portraits From Before the War") was recorded at the time of Bright Ideas but for whatever reason didn't fit with the rest of those songs (i remember -- it was too FANTASTIC! so you should probably get it now), and track 4 is the demo for the title track of the EP. the EP will be available from from all your favorite online sources (iTunes, emusic, et al) as well as directly from the Merge site!"

Congrats to Almanac reader Rob from Maine, who won the copy of David Bazan's "Fewer Moving Parts" EP that I had up for grabs. More contests are in the works (including one for Portastatic merch and live tix), so check back, unless you're one of those freaks who hate free stuff.


Alright, time to go get my travel gear together. Like I said, if you're in Chicago this weekend, drop me a note with your cell number. Otherwise, if you see a guy with a Homestar or Star & Bullock Hardware tee and a messenger bag with a bunch of comics-related patches all over it, say hello. Or just yell "Geek!" from a distance. Either way.

posted by brad at 7:40 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

Trying something new here on the 'Nac, where I take a couple discs or artists I've been listening to lately and shine a brief but bright spotlight on them. Reasons can be timely (a tour, a new release), nostalgic (a rediscovered old fave), or entirely random, but it's all music I feel deserves your utmost attention...
post soundtrack: the album leaf - 'into the blue again'

posted by brad at 7:03 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) |

I feel a somewhat close connection to the work of Kristin Hersh, from her Throwing Muses days, through her solo albums, and her most recent trio, 50 Foot Wave. It's not just because I've been religiously listening to her songs and buying her ouput for over 15 years, but also because her music is semi-sort-of responsible for my fatefully finding Amie. It was May of 2000, and while the Muses hadn't been a band for a few years, they surprisingly reappeared to play something called 'The Gut Pageant' (named for a KH song) here in Cambridge, MA. Solo songs from Kristin, a 'special surprise guest' (in the form of Mr. Bob Mould), and a closing set from a reunited Throwing Muses that included appearances by former Muses Tanya Donelly and Fred Abong.

It was for the fans, and not only did they show up, they came from far and farther; not just from the west coast, but the U.K., Australia, the Netherlands, even a couple from Japan. There were so many overseas travellers that a get-together was held at Somerville's Abbey Lounge the night before, a chance for some familiar Muses messageboard names to be put with faces, and it's there that I first met Amie. The next night, just before the Muses hit the stage at the Middle East Downstairs, she asked if she could stand in front of me against the upper level railing. And we haven't been apart since.

The whole event was a special one, the stuff of long-lasting memories; there was a real sense of community not just between the fans, but between us and the TM crew as well. My already high respect for K and Billy (her husband, manager, and primary organizer of all TM-related shows) grew quite a bit that weekend, and it probably goes without saying that I'll never forget it. So we were more than a little psyched to hear that the Muses would reunite yet again for a few dates this year, during the same summer as our 5th wedding anniversary, and that one show would be in the very same room we were in six years ago. Not only that, but Kristin and bassist Bernard Georges would be pulling double-duty, as 2/3 of openers 50 Foot Wave.

The long line outside the Middle East was filled with many familiar faces, some I'd seen at other area Kristin shows over the past few years, others not since the Gut Pageant. That whole weekend came rushing back as we headed down those stairs, and yeah, Amie and I stood in our exact same spots for the show, up against the railing where it all began.

While I recorded the night with permission, I learned that Billy was able to pull together a last-minute 'official' recording setup, and would be making the live sets available online at the Throwing Music site. So as not to take away from any possible sales over at TM, I'm just going to offer a couple tracks from each band here on the 'Nac, and encourage you to head over and grab the offical mp3s when they're available (which should be any day now update: official bootleg now available here). Until then, here's a couple live Throwing Muses songs, recorded from the audience at the Middle East on Friday, August 11th, 2006...

Throwing Muses - 'Soul Soldier' (live)
Throwing Muses - 'Shimmer' (live)

The Muses' setlist from that night...

01. Hazing
02. Soul Soldier
03. Start
04. Furious
05. Shimmer
06. Los Flamingos
07. Fear
08. Shark
09. Colder
10. Mercury
11. Pretty Or Not
12. Hate My Way
13. Bright Yellow Gun
14. Speed & Sleep
15. Mexican Women
16. Vicky's Box
17. Bea

encore...
18. Pearl
19. Mania

And two songs from 50 Foot Wave...

50 Foot Wave - 'Long Painting' (live)
50 Foot Wave - 'Clara Bow' (live)

50 Foot Wave's setlist as well...

01. Bug
02. Long Painting
03. Clara Bow
04. Pneuma
05. Hot Pink, Distorted
06. Bone China
07. Fuchsia
08. Lavender
09. Dog Days

For comparisons sake, check out a soundboard recording from the same show, a preview mp3 that will soon be available on that 'offical bootleg' over at the Throwing Music online store...

Throwing Muses - Shimmer (live / soundboard)

And finally, some links before I leave you...

Read this great post on Kristin Hersh's blog, in which she shares a story and email from my drumming hero, David Narcizo, as they decided which songs to play at the summer shows.

Abby was at the show, and took a few photos.

Writer Bobby Hankinson from the Boston Globe was there as well, and provides this glowing review.

Take advantage of all the complimentary mp3s that Throwing Music offers from the Muses, 50'~, and KH at their Free Music page. Grateful customers can make a donation there, or buy something else at the TM online store.

the fine print... If anyone has any issue whatsoever with these live mp3s being made available, just say the word (email link at bottom 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 will not be available again once removed.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 3:33 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |