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recommended boston area events

thursday, september 2nd

lou barlow + the missingmen

wye oak

the unfamiliars

@ the middle east upstairs


saturday, september 4th

mg lederman (ex-victory at sea)

cd release show with

the wrong reasons

the beat awfuls

brant deatley

@ the plough & stars


sunday, september 5th

sweet apple

(w/j mascis on drums)

black helicopter

zombie radio

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, september 5th

the milling gowns

what time is it, mr. fox?

faux ox

jaggery

@ harper's ferry


monday, september 6th

wallcreeper

@ charlie's kitchen


monday, september 6th

shellac

helen money

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 7th

tortoise

greg davis

ben vidas

@ the paradise


tuesday, september 7th

someone still loves you boris yeltsin

telekinesis

golden bloom

@ tt the bears


tuesday, september 7th

kele (from bloc party)

does it offend you, yeah?

@ the royale boston


wednesday, september 8th

hot hot heat

22-20s

hey rosetta!

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, september 8th

airborne toxic event (acoustic)

with the calder string quartet

@ the somerville theatre


thursday, september 9th

apple betty

this blue heaven

the backup factor

apollo run

@ tt the bears


friday, september 10th

i, pistol

black fortress of opium

the crushing low

@ precinct


friday, september 10th

the charlatans uk

sherlock's daughter

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 11th

school of seven bells

active child

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, september 11th

neutral uke hotel (nmh covers on ukelele)

the michael j. epstein memorial library

@ cafe 939, berklee


saturday, september 11th

28 degrees taurus

magic shoppe (record release!)

@ the rosebud


saturday, september 11th

jamie lidell

@ the royale boston


friday + saturday

september 11th + 12th

the life is good festival

lots of bands, raising money for kids

over 2 days in canton, ma


sunday, september 12th

jarrod gorbel

(of the honorary title)

air traffic controller

@ great scott


sunday, september 12th

blondie

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 12th

vampire weekend

beach house

dum dum girls

@ the boa pavilion


monday, september 13th

dirty projectors

owen pallett (final fantasy)

@ the wilbur theatre


monday, september 13th

isobel campbell

mark lanegan

willy mason

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 14th

rush

@ the td garden


wednesday, september 15th

laura veirs + the hall of flames

the watson twins

led to sea

@ tt the bears


thursday, september 16th

of montreal

janelle monae

@ the house of blues boston


friday, september 17th

one happy island

kevin dunn

cotton candy

7:30pm @ the lily pad, cambridge


friday, september 17th

broken social scene

@ the house of blues


friday & saturday

september 17th & 18th

the 5th annual

viva la vinal festival!

with live performances from

audrey ryan, kingsley flood,

this blue heaven, bridget + the squares,

the international string trio, & justin shorey

6-10pm on friday + 12-9 on saturday

@ somerville community growing center

on vinal ave. in somerville's union square


saturday, september 18th

pavement

jenny (lewis) + johnny (rice)

@ agganis arena


saturday, september 18th

wavves

@ brandeis university, waltham


sunday, september 19th

thee oh sees

the human tail

thick shakes

@ the magic room gallery, brighton


sunday, september 19th

caribou

holy fuck

emeralds

@ the paradise


monday, september 20th

girlfriends

carnivores

weekend dads

@ o'brien's


tuesday, september 21st

superchunk

versus

@ royale boston


tuesday, september 21st

basia bulat

the acorn

john shade

@ tt the bears


tuesday, september 21st

sea wolf (alex acoustic)

sera cahoone

patrick park

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, september 22nd

phantogram

railbird

@ the paradise


wednesday, september 22nd

david bazan

the mynabirds

@ tt the bears


wednesday, september 22nd

field music

@ great scott


thursday, september 23rd

aloud (album release party!)

st. claire

old jack

with special emcee

poet/author james caroline

@ church of boston


thursday, september 23rd

stars

wild nothing

@ the house of blues


thursday, september 23rd

!!! (chk chk chk)

fol chen

@ the royale boston


thursday, september 23rd

bettie serveert

meandjoancollins

the painted lights

@ tt the bears


friday, september 24th

eels

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 25th

teenage fanclub

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 25th

james

ed harcourt

@ the paradise


sunday, september 26th

come (reunited!)

wussy

@ tt the bears


sunday, september 26th

mr. sister (debut album release!)

coyote kolb

tallahassee

@ great scott


sunday, september 26th

mates of state

@ the paradise


monday, september 27th

rogue wave

midlake

peter wolf crier

@ royale boston


tuesday, september 28th

lcd soundsystem

sleigh bells

@ the orpheum


tuesday, september 28th

best coast

male bonding

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, september 29th

quilt

paper castles

toothache

@ the lilypad


wednesday, september 29th

foals

esben + the witch

@ the paradise


thursday, september 30th

mc frontalot

@ tt the bears


thursday, september 30th

menomena

suckers

@ the royale boston


thursday + friday

sept 30th + oct 1st

built to spill

revolt revolt

pretty & nice

@ the paradise


friday, october 1st

the tallest man on earth

s. carey (of bon iver's band)

@ the somerville theatre


friday, october 1st

ra ra riot

chikita violenta

we barbarians

@ the royale boston


saturday, october 2nd

gayngs

(with bon iver's justin vernon)

glasser

@ the paradise


saturday, october 2nd

film school

the depreciation guild

static of the gods

night fruit

@ tt the bears


sunday, october 3rd

the xx

@ the orpheum


sunday, october 3rd

tom tom club

caravan of thieves

tony castles

@ the paradise


sunday, october 3rd

lost in the trees

@ tt the bears


tuesday, october 5th

the vaselines

jeffrey lewis

@ the paradise


tuesday, october 5th

chapterhouse

ulrich schnauss

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, october 5th

ratatat

dom

@ the house of blues boston


wednesday, october 6th

gorillaz

@ agganis arena


wednesday, october 6th

the hold steady

wintersleep

@ the royale boston


thursday, october 7th

the walkmen

a.a. bondy

blood feathers

@ the royale boston


friday, october 8th

death

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, october 8th

fountains of wayne

marshall crenshaw (solo)

@ the paradise


friday, october 8th

bell x1 (acoustic)

@ the brattle theatre


saturday, october 9th

paul f. tompkins

@ the brattle theatre


sunday, october 10th

deerhoof

xiu xiu

father murphy

first show @ the paramount!


sunday, october 10th

miike snow

@ the house of blues


sunday, october 10th

primus

mucca pazza

@ the orpheum


tuesday, october 12th

ingrid michaelson

@ the house of blues


wednesday, october 13th

dead kennedys

@ the paradise


thursday, october 14th

the thermals

cymbals eat guitars

@ the paradise


thursday, october 14th

the morning after girls

the lovetones

the december sound

ghost box orchestra

@ tt the bears


friday, october 15th

nick lowe + his band

graham parker (solo acoustic)

@ the somerville theatre


friday, october 15th

jimmy eat world

@ the house of blues


friday, october 15th

bowerbirds

death vessel

@ tt the bears


friday, october 15th

belle + sebastian

@ the wang theatre / citi center


saturday, october 16th

deerhunter

real estate

casino vs. japan

@ royale boston


sunday, october 17th

the henry clay people

the dig

@ tt the bears


monday, october 18th

greg dulli

(afghan whigs/twilight singers)

first-ever solo tour

with opener craig wedren

(of shudder to think)

@ the brattle theatre


monday, october 18th

bad religion

the bouncing souls

@ the house of blues


monday, october 18th

the drums

the hairs

@ the paradise


monday, october 18th

phoenix

two door cinema club

wavves

@ agganis arena


tuesday, october 19th

massive attack

thievery corporation

@ the orpheum


wednesday, october 20th

the pains of being pure at heart

yuck

eternal summers

@ the paradise


wednesday, october 20th

helmet

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, october 22nd

gary numan

rasputina

playing 'the pleasure principle'

@ the paradise


saturday, october 23rd

local natives

the ruby suns

union line

@ the house of blues


sunday, october 24th

woven bones

frankie rose & the outs

@ tt the bears


monday, october 25th

the corin tucker band

hungry ghost

darren hanlon

@ the paradise


wednesday, october 27th

a sunny day in glasgow

candy claws

@ great scott


wednesday, october 27th

black prairie

(members of the decemberists)

sarah jarosz

@ the middle east upstairs


thursday, october 28th

the tt's halloween bash

with members of mean creek + campaign

for real time (as talking heads)

john powhida (as todd rundgren)

preacher roe (as guided by voices)

@ tt the bears


friday, october 29th

frightened rabbit

plants and animals

the phantom band

@ the paradise


saturday, october 30th

hallelujah the hills

magic magic

boy without god

@ great scott


sunday, october 31st

florence and the machine

the smith westerns

@ the house of blues


monday, november 1st

blonde redhead

pantha du prince

@ the paradise


monday, november 1st

social distortion

lucero

frank turner

@ the house of blues boston


tuesday, november 2nd

junip (jose gonzales)

sharon van etten

@ the royale boston


tuesday, november 2nd

black mountain

the black angels

@ the paradise


wednesday, november 3rd

the dandy warhols

blue giant

@ tt the bears


wednesday, november 3rd

land of talk

suuns

little scream

@ tt the bears


thursday, november 4th

through sunday, november 7th

the international pop overthrow

4 nights @ pa's lounge


thursday, november 4th

matt + kim

javelin

@ the house of blues


thursday, november 4th

blitzen trapper

@ the paradise


friday, november 5th

guided by voices

blitzen trapper

@ the paradise


sunday, november 7th

drivin 'n cryin

@ tt the bears


monday, november 8th

clinic

the fresh & onlys

@ the paradise


tuesday, november 9th

the morning benders

@ the paradise


thursday + friday

november 11th + 12th

sufjan stevens

@ the orpheum


thursday, november 11th

shearwater

horse feathers

damien jurado

anais mitchell

@ the house of blues


thursday, november 11th

deer tick

@ the royale boston


thursday, november 11th

mumford & sons

cadillac sky

king charles

@ the house of blues


friday, november 12th

bottomless pit

black helicopter

chris brokaw

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, november 13th

roky erickson

@ the royale boston


saturday, november 13th

grinderman

(nick cave, warren ellis, + more)

@ the house of blues


sunday, november 14th

elizabeth mitchell (of ida)

and friends

(a children's show!)

4:30pm @ club passim


sunday, november 14th

man or astro-man?

@ the middle east downstairs


monday, november 15th

la roux

@ the house of blues


tuesday, november 16th

a night of springsteen covers

with chris keene (mean creek),

corin ashley, dave aaronoff,

brendan little, hilken mancini,

the dirty truckers, drew o'doherty,

and more to be announced

marking the release of the new

6-disk 'darkness on the edge of town'

box set @ tt the bears


tuesday, november 16th

the posies

brendan benson

aqueduct

@ the royale boston


wednesday, november 17th

cornershop

@ the middle east downstairs


thursday, november 18th

kate nash

@ the paradise


thursday, november 18th

bear in heaven

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, november 19th

township

the lights out

the organ beats

@ tt the bears


saturday, november 20th

delorean

lemonade

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, november 24th

idlewild

happy hollows

@ the middle east downstairs


thursday, december 2nd

director/actor kevin smith

@ the house of blues


saturday, december 4th

peter hook + the light

play joy division's "unknown pleasures"

@ the royale boston


saturday, december 4th

killing joke

@ the paradise


visit tourfilter for more shows






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.

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