bradley's almanac - a boston-based music blog

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thursday, july 2nd

the church

adam franklin (swervedriver)

@ showcase live, foxborough

sunday, july 5th

city breathing

deep sea diver

adam rich

steve pardo & lindley cameron

@ the middle east upstairs

saturday, july 11th

the luxury

the click five

midatlantic

aloud

@ the paradise

sunday, july 12th

the dead weather

screaming females

@ the house of blues

saturday, july 18th

butterflies

travels

@ pa's lounge

sunday, july 19th

grand duchy (w/frank black)

the bunnies

van elk (w/valerie mistle thrush)

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, july 19th

lymbyc systym

coralcola

the cush

the pandas

@ the middle east upstairs

monday, july 20th

you can be a wesley (cd release!)

casper & the cookies

everything, now!

magic magic

@ the middle east upstairs

monday, july 20th

green day

the bravery

@ the garden

tuesday, july 21st

mark eitzel & marc capelle

performing american music club songs

@ the lizard lounge

friday, july 24th

varsity drag (cd release!)

the grownup noise

winterpills

brendan boogie & the best intentions

@ the middle east upstairs

sunday, july 26th

pete yorn

@ the house of blues

tuesday, july 28th

cass mccombs

jennifer o'connor & band

mike bones

@ tt the bears

wednesday, july 29th

foreign born

the veils

faces on film

@ tt the bears

thursday, july 30th

justin ripley & his band

@ pa's lounge

friday, july 31st

destroyer (dan bejar)

iran

wooden wand

@ the paradise

friday, july 31st

depeche mode

peter bjorn & john

@ great woods

saturday, august 1st

alasdair roberts

@ lorem ipsum books, inman square

saturday, august 1st

wheat (cd release show!)

the xyz affair

@ great scott

sunday, august 2nd

soft power (featuring mary timony)

gramercy arms (featuring dave derby)

@ tt the bears

monday, august 3rd

billy bragg

@ the berklee performance center

monday, august 3rd

tinted windows

(james iha, adam schlesinger,

taylor hanson, & bun e. carlos)

@ the paradise

monday, august 3rd

coldplay

elbow

kitty daisy & lewis

@ the comcast center

wednesday, august 5th

the rural alberta advantage

joshua english (ex-six going on seven)

with lisa molinaro

baby teeth

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, august 5th

arctic monkeys

modey lemon

@ the paradise

wednesday, august 5th

joe pernice (solo show & book tour)

@ the brattle theatre (2 shows)

wednesday and thursday

august 5th and 6th

paul mccartney

@ fenway park

friday, august 7th

the electric prunes

love

sky saxon (of the seeds)

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, august 8th

blondie

pat benatar

@ the b.o.a. pavilion

wednesday, august 12th

the warlocks

@ great scott

wednesday, august 12th

the pretenders

cat power

juliette lewis

@ the bank of american pavilion

thursday, august 13th

bat for lashes

@ the paradise

friday, august 14th

six finger satellite

@ tt the bears

sunday, august 16th

the decemberists

heartless bastards

@ mountain park, holyoke

sunday, august 16th

trashcan sinatras

@ tt the bears

monday, august 17th

the breeders

@ the paradise

friday, august 21st

choo choo la rouge (cd release!)

the big disappointments

impossible hair

the operators

@ pa's lounge

saturday & sunday

august 22nd & 23rd

bruce springsteen & the e street band

@ the comcast center / great woods

saturday, august 29th

caspain

actors & actresses

irepress

arms & sleepers

@ tt the bears

sunday, august 30th

the flaming lips

explosions in the sky

stardeath and white dwarfs

@ the boa pavilion

thursday, september 3rd

kay hanley (letters to cleo)

antisocialites

ingenue

@ tt the bears

saturday, september 5th

the pains of being pure at heart

cymbals eat guitars

depreciation guild

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, september 5th

pet shop boys

@ the house of blues

thursday, september 10th

autolux

sleepy sun

@ the paradise

thursday, september 10th

dirty three

@ the i.c.a. boston

friday, september 11th

kings of leon

glasvegas

@ the comcast center / great woods

saturday, september 12th

the cult

performing 'love' in its entirety

@ the house of blues

sunday, september 13th

down

melvins

@ the house of blues

tuesday, september 15th

the horrors

@ the paradise

saturday & sunday

september 19th & 20th

boston lebowski fest

with movie screening & bowling

@ the house of blues & kings

sunday, september 20th

snow patrol

@ gillette stadium

tuesday, september 22nd

son volt

@ the paradise

friday, september 25th

township

the lights out (cd release!)

reverse

gravehaven

@ tt the bears

friday, september 25th

charlatans uk

hatcham social

@ the paradise

saturday, september 26th

kmfdm

@ the house of blues

sunday, september 20th

maximo park

@ the paradise

monday, september 28th

sunny day real estate

@ the house of blues

wednesday, september 30th

mono

maserati

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, october 4th

the "loud & rich" tour

richard thompson &

loudon wainwright iii

performing solo & together

@ the sanders theatre, harvard

wednesday, october 7th

bob mould

@ the paradise

saturday, october 10th

the psychedelic furs

happy monday

@ the house of blues

wednesday, october 14th

loney dear

asobi seksu

@ great scott

wednesday, october 21st

mum

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, october 31st

pinback

@ the paradise

friday, november 13th

janeane garofalo

rob riggle

two shows @ the wilbur theatre

visit tourfilter for more shows

Boston, like many other places, has been lacking for visits from Mark Linkous and the touring version of his Sparklehorse. It's not as if he hits the road frequently, and aside from an opening slot for the Flaming Lips here in 2003, his last proper Boston stop was almost eight years ago. That was a bit before I fell in love with 2001's "It's A Wonderful Life", so the fairly deep connection I made with that album was confined to my headphones. In a way, that made the songs more personal; not sharing the experience with a crowd or hearing them taken beyond their studio context kept them pure and untarnished. After I'd overloaded my system with that brilliant disc, I spent a lot of quality time with his two previous albums, but neither would dig as deep as that first exposure did.

The six-year wait for a fourth disc was a long one; I surfed for news updates and checked his cryptic website often, finally getting whispers early last year that "Dreamt For Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain" was on its way. It arrived in September, and proved itself a worthy follow-up, with a wealth of good tracks, and showing a bit of songwriting growth while still using that unique mix of hi-fi/lo-fi studio wizardry Linkous is known for. There's an undeniable "Sparklehorse sound", a warm blanket that sits on top of his layered recordings that can't be attributed solely to background crackles or his slightly-distorted vocal tracks.

He brought that distorted microphone, though not a crackling backing track, with him when he and his backing band came to Boston last week as part of the long-awaited "Dreamt..." support tour. The release of that autumnal album triggered a veritable deluge of Sparklehorse shows, and apart from a December holiday break, they've been on the road ever since. The tour actually finished up officially last night in Atlanta, and with no other dates on the books, who knows when we'll see the man and his band again. Can't possibly be as long of a wait as it was last time, though, can it?

If it is, we'll have this live set to keep us slightly satiated. And despite Mark's struggle with a case of the flu, it was a beauty. The gorgeous softer numbers (especially "Sad & Beautiful World", "Gold Days", & "Eyepennies") fared a bit better than the ones that rocked out, I thought. I can understand the desire to turn parts of the live show up a notch, to bring some energy to the stage for contrast, but there were times when the drummer drowned out the rest of the band. It was as if the tasteful restraint he showed during the somber songs kept him bottled up, so he really let loose during the louder ones. His wide bandana and high-stick action moves (Adam called it "slow-motion swimming") almost seemed like they belonged in a different band, but there's no denying the talent he brought to the table, and the same goes for the other musicians he shared the stage with (check out their bios here).

Here are the live mp3s, with some accompanying links and photos. Fans will note that only two songs came from the latest album, and most can be found on the debut, "Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot", so the set leaned heavily towards his early material. Even the two songs that were cut from the setlist ("Weird Sisters" and "Homecoming Queen") are from that first disc, so it could have leaned even more in that direction. As I mentioned, Mark said he was fighting the flu, which may explain why those two songs were cut, but you'd never notice listening to his performance. And I'm not going to complain about the set's brevity, though... any Sparklehorse is much-appreciated Sparklehorse.

Sparklehorse

Live at The Paradise
in Boston, Mass.
on Monday, February 27th, 2007

01. Spirit Ditch
02. Heart Of Darkness
03. Apple Bed
04. Hammering The Cramps
05. Don't Take My Sunshine Away
06. Tears On Fresh Fruit
07. Saturday
08. Eyepennies
09. It's Not So Hard
10. Piano Fire
11. Painbirds
12. Sad & Beautiful World
13. Pig
14. clapping for encore
15. Gold Days

Some Sparklehorse links...

The official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, and the excellent Linkous-approved fan site.

Mp3s: "Happy Birthday Mark / Weird Sister (live)", "Apple Bed (live)", and "Return to Me (live)" (all from the Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC), and "Shade And Honey" (from "Dreamt For Light Years..."). The Superb Live site also has a live version of "Saturday" from a 2001 Amsterdam show.

Stream: 30 second song samples at Sparklehorse.org, "Don't Take My Sunshine Away" at the Astralwerks page, and four songs on MySpace.

YouTube: Videos for "It's A Wonderful Life", "Pig", and "King Of Nails". Live clips for "Apple Bed", "It's A Wonderful Life", "Piano Fire", and "Spirit Ditch", all from Richmond, Virginia in 2001. Here's a link to the full Sparklehorse search.

Check out an old video (.mov file) Mark made to promote the sophomore "Good Morning Spider" album. The dialog is read by Stereolab vocalist Laetitia Sadler.

Another video clip (.mov file), this one an on-stage collaboration between Mark and Christian Fennesz.

New York Public Radio WNYC just had Sparklehorse in the studio for their Soundcheck program to chat and play a couple songs. Stream the performance and interview, or download the entire appearance as an Mp3 (8.7 MB). Songs performed are "Painbirds" and "Spirit Ditch".

Chromewaves reviews and photographs Sparklehorse's February 23rd Toronto show. It's Not The Band I Hate, It's Their Fans was there was well (courtesy of a Chromewaves contest), and shared some words.

Music Slut writes up the February 28th Webster Hall show in NYC, and Radio Free Chicago has both words and pictures from the February 22nd stop at the Double Door.

A couple more of my own pictures from the Boston show can be found here.

As always, you can listen to all 'Nac-hosted tracks on the Hype Machine.

A notable aside: At our show, a posted sign in the Paradise boldly stated: "Buy A CD, Meet Mark!", and they weren't kidding. Anyone who picked up a copy of "Dreamt For Light Years..." at the merch table got a wristband that allowed them to hang out after the show and chat with the ailing Mr. Linkous (did this happen anywhere else?). Now, having bought the thing on its release date, and no longer being much of an autograph-hound, I skipped the chance... but friends said he did appear and mingled with the crowd. As cool as it is that he did that, it also strikes me as a little on the odd side. Well, it's certainly a way to sell more discs (wouldn't most fans who really want to meet him already own the album?), but feels a little "un-Sparklehorse-ish" to me. Then again, the guy's got a mild mountain-mullet that flies behind him thanks to an on-stage fan, and has a drummer named "Johnny Hott", so I may not have a clue what "Sparklehorse-ish" is, beyond the recorded context. Y'know, I might as well have met him, 'cuz I woke up the next morning with the flu anyway. At least I could have claimed I had the "Sparklehorse strain".

postscript-stylee... If anyone has any issues whatsoever with this live set being made available, just say the word (contact info in the 'nac faq). I am but a fan trying to share and spread the word. Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Tracks are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s

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