wednesday and thursday
february 10th and 11th
the magnetic fields
laura barrett
@ the wilbur theatre
thursday, february 11th
v66 reunion
with rod & cones, big city rock,
the fools, o positive, animotion,
right turn, digney fingus, ernie boch jr.,
lizzie borden and the axes, & more
@ house of blues
thursday, february 11th
found audio
the first annual
the rockefeller fortune
boone
@ oliver's / cask 'n flagon
friday, february 12th
kings of convenience
franklin for short
@ the paradise
saturday, february 13th
one happy island
human hearts (with franklin bruno)
boy genius
free! @ toad, cambridge
saturday, february 13th
a benefit for haiti
the okay win
new son rising
the elevators
@ copperfields
saturday, february 13th
tegan & sara
holly miranda
@ the orpheum
sunday, february 14th
we were promised jetpacks
bad veins
royal bangs
@ the middle east downstairs
monday, february 15th
a benefit for haiti
with big bear, ketman,
chris brokaw, monique ortiz,
art decade, & the dirty dishes
@ the middle east downstairs
tuesday, wednesday, & thursday
february 16th, 17th, & 18th
3 nights with jonathan richman
@ the middle east upstairs
thursday, february 18th
editors
the antlers
@ house of blues
friday, february 19th
28 degrees taurus
el jezel
the broken river prophet
metal feathers
@ o'briens, allston
friday, february 19th
taken by trees
el perro del mar
@ the cambridge ymca theatre
saturday, february 20th
dawes
corey chisel & the wandering sons
jason boesel (rilo kiley)
@ great scott
monday, february 22nd
boy without god
ryan lee crosby quartet
the wailing wall
sleepy very sleepy
@ tt the bears
wednesday, february 24th
wild beasts
still life still
dj carbo
@ great scott
saturday, february 27th
hadoken (cd release)
caspian
irepress
slowest runner
@ tt the bears
monday, march 1st
rogue wave
@ the paradise
tuesday, march 9th
jet
crash kings
@ the paradise
monday, march 15th
one happy island
standard fare
summer cats
@ great scott
monday, march 15th
letting up despite great faults
the brother kite
plumerai
singing bridges
@ the middle east upstairs
wednesday, march 17th
joanna newsom
@ the sanders theatre, harvard
wednesday, march 17th
henry rollins (spoken word)
@ the somerville theatre
sunday, march 21st
the clientele
field music
@ great scott
saturday, march 20th
air
am
@ berklee performance center
thursday, march 25th
aloud
action camp
hello ninja
@ great scott
thursday, march 25th
the donnas
@ the paradise
friday, march 26th
basia bulat
marissa nadler
lady lamb the beekeeper
@ tt the bears
saturday, march 27th
your say party! we say die!
the new collisions
static of the gods (cd release)
@ tt the bears
saturday, march 27th
the big pink
a place to bury strangers
@ the paradise
saturday, march 27th
spoon
deerhunter
@ the house of blues
sunday, march 28th
beach house
bachelorette
@ the paradise
monday, march 29th
the soft pack
nodzzz
beaters
@ great scott
tuesday, march 30th
shearwater
wye oak
hospital ships
@ tt the bears
tuesday, march 30th
manchester orchestra
the features
biffy clyro
o'brother
@ the paradise
wednesday, march 31st
japandroids
love is all
girlfriends
@ the middle east downstairs
wednesday, march 31st
miike snow
delorean
@ the paradise
wednesday, march 31st
a sunny day in glasgow
pants yell!
bearstronaut
@ great scott
thursday, april 1st
girls
dum dum girls
@ the paradise
friday, april 2nd
the xx
jj (late show only)
two shows @ the paradise
friday, april 2nd
drive-by truckers
lucero
langhorne slim
@ the house of blues
saturday, april 3rd
nada surf
@ the paradise
sunday, april 4th
serena maneesh
depreciation guild
@ tt the bears
tuesday, april 6th
wilco
@ the orpheum
wednesday, april 7th
florence & the machine
@ the paradise
wednesday, april 7th
rocky votolato
brooke waggoner
@ great scott
friday, april 9th
midlake
@ the paradise
saturday, april 10th
xiu xiu
tune-yards
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, april 10th
ted leo & the pharmacists
obits
@ the paradise
saturday, april 10th
pissed jeans
confines
sqrm
@ great scott
monday, april 12th
the wedding present
play their 1989 lp 'bizarro'
with openers girl in a coma
@ the middle east downstairs
thursday, april 15th
red sparowes
doomriders
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, april 17th
kaki king
an horse
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, april 17th
the morning benders
miniature tigers
@ tt the bears
sunday, april 18th
the thermals
past lives
@ the middle east downstairs
monday, april 19th
trans am
@ the middle east downstairs
tuesday, april 20th
owen pallett (aka final fantasy)
@ the ica boston
tuesday, april 20th
elvis costello & the sugarcanes
@ the orpheum
tuesday, april 20th
the low anthem
@ the paradise
tuesday, april 20th
quasi
let's wrestle
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, april 24th
los campesinos!
here we go magic
@ the paradise
wednesday, april 28th
gogol bordello
devotchka
jesse malin
st. mark's social
@ the house of blues
thursday, april 29th
frightened rabbit
@ the paradise
friday, april 30th
corinne bailey ray
@ the house of blues
friday, april 30th
the album leaf
sea wolf
@ the paradise
wednesday, april 28th
little boots
dragonette
fan death
@ the middle east downstairs
monday, may 3rd
yeasayer
sleigh bells
@ the paradise
thursday, may 6th
shout out louds
@ the paradise
tuesday & wednesday
may 11th & 12th
dr. dog
deer tick
@ the paradise
thursday, may 13th
small brown bike
bridge and tunnel
your skull my closet
wallcreeper
@ great scott
tuesday, may 25th
smittens
allo darlin'
one happy island
horrowitz
@ toad
wednesday, may 26th
reverend horton heat
cracker
miss derringer
@ the house of blues
wednesday, june 2nd
the national
@ the house of blues
friday, june 4th
brian jonestown massacre
@ the paradise
saturday, june 19th
james taylor
carole king
@ the garden
visit tourfilter for more shows
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Monday, March 05, 2007
Mp3s: Sparklehorse in Boston
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. 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
posted by brad at 8:23 AM | direct link | rss (1:2)
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midlake
two copies of their new cd
running until 9am on 2/12

david bazan + his band
live at tt the bear's place
in cambridge, mass.
on tuesday, october 20th, 2009

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