bradley's almanac - a boston-based music blog

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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

Various and sundry, with a bunch of info on music in our shared futures. Bands mentioned include The New Year, Mary Timony, Pinback, Editors, the New Pornographers, the Hero Cycle, Pilot to Gunner, Portastatic, Ola Podrida, Belong, Minus the Bear, Idaho, T.W. Walsh, Caspian, & more...

Good news for fans of The New Year, who've been relatively quiet since the release of 2004's excellent "The End Is Near" album: According to a new interview at Bandega with singer/guitarist Bubba Kadane, the band will start shaking off the dust this year, starting with a few west coast dates in June, after which work will begin on their next disc. He adds: "We plan to have the record come out mid-2008 and we hope to do more US touring than we have done in a long time. It may literally become a world tour, with the whole US, Europe, Japan, etc.". Can't wait. I was fortunate enough to catch the band live a couple times last year, one of which was at the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary bash in Chicago, so keep an eye on the Touch & Go site for the eventual video featurette on the band.

Awhile back I mentioned the May 8th release of Mary Timony's next solo record, "The Shapes We Make", and on the eve of its arrival, she's shared up two of the ten songs on her MySpace page. Stream "Rockman" and "Sharpshooter" over there, and head to You Ain't No Picasso or Spin to download "Sharpshooter". Check out the full tracklisting and pre-order "The Shapes We Make" at Kill Rock Stars.

Pinback's next album has a title and a release date: Rob Crow says "Autumn Of The Seraphs" will be out in the second week of September on Touch & Go. Crow's been busy, what with his solo tour and the release of the first Other Men album (a collaboration with some former Heavy Vegetable bandmates), so I'm glad he fit some Pinback work in there. Check out the Pinback list on Yahoo, where Rob's been wondering if, and how, the band should add to its stage show when they start playing larger venues this September.

Editors are back in two short months with their sophomore album, titled "An End Has A Start". They've just posted the tracklisting and some in-studio footage on their website and their MySpace page, and it's scored with what I assume is either the title track or "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors", which is both the lead-off track and first single. As a fan of many songs on "The Back Room", I'm hoping this one measures up. From this initial taste, doesn't sound like they've strayed from the forumla too much, which is prolly a good thing.

The New Pornographers provided their mailing list subscribers with a first taste of the Neko Case-designed artwork for their next album, "Challengers", which arrives August 21st on Matador. Here it is...

According to the band, mixing is "...underway at the moment, and going better than expected!", and they note that while it's not the final version of the album art, it will be what appears on a limited edition screened poster that they're selling at their summer shows. Even better: Every print has a special code on it that, when emailed to the band, will score you a free mailed copy of "Challengers" when it comes out. Any Coachella-goers wanna pick me up one of 'em?

Brooklyn's Pilot To Gunner has a new demo up on their MySpace page for a song called "We Die Today". Not sure if that means those ~~lazy~~ busy bastards have a new album in the works or not.

Discovered via comics writer & novelist Warren Ellis' blog, of all places: I completely missed when, early last year, Indie MP3 shared up both complete sides of the famed NME-compiled C86 cassette tape. It included early tracks from bands like the Pastels, the Wedding Present, Shop Assistants, Mighty Lemon Drops, and Primal Scream, and some say the tape christened a musical movement. Nice to find those songs all in one place. After posting the songs, Indie MP3 asked readers to suggest tracks for a contemporary version of the same compilation, and the shared "C06" is what they came up with.

We're getting closer and closer to the May 8th release of Elliott Smith's second posthumous collection, "New Moon", and I'm pretty damn anxious to hear it. Yeah, I've got most of the songs already, but not in these remastered forms, and any new Elliott is precious Elliott. Pitchfork shared up the track "High Times" awhile back, and Neiles Life adds "Georgia, Georgia" and my favorite non-album Elliott song (which longtime 'Nac readers will recognize), "Angel In The Snow". Question: Could the "Central Square" that Elliott sings of in "High Times" be Cambridge's very own? Pre-order the double-disc "New Moon" from Kill Rock Stars here.

Thanks to a comment at my Last.FM page, I was made aware of some live Portastatic performance video courtesy of Schedule Two. The clips showcase the stripped-down version of the band, with just main-man Mac & violinist/keyboardist/vocalist Margaret White, and were recorded at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, MN back on February 10th.

NYC Popfest 2007 is just one month away, and all the details are up at their MySpace page. My Vermont pals the Smittens, who are at PA's Lounge in Somerville this Friday, will be playing the fest on May 27th. Check this post at Skatterbrain for more lineup deets.

Some Mp3s that have grabbed me lately...

Mp3: Ola Podrida - "Cindy"
aka composer David Wingo, who has soundtracked David Gordon Green's almost uniformly excellent filmwork. Wingo pulled together a band (including American Analog Set's Andrew Kenny on bass) for his debut disc, which came out this week on Plug Research. For more, head to Ola Padrida's MySpace page.

Mp3: Belong - "I Never Lose, Never Really"
I checked out some Belong after learning that they'd be coming to Boston with the Album Leaf next month. This track comes from their debut disc, "October Language", on Carpark Records.

Mp3: Minus the Bear - "Dr. L'Ling"
Brand new from Minus the Bear, thanks to Suicide Squeeze, who shared up this track from their out-in-August next album, "Planet Ice".

Yesterday saw the arrival of the 100th official release from Indiana label Secretly Canadian, a compilation titled, what else, "SC100". The gimmick? Bands who've appeared on Secretly Canadian cover songs by other SC bands, and the team-ups were drawn out of a hat. The two-disc affair has been in the works for three years, and while the first disc exists in physical form, the second is available from only from digital outlets. SC has offered up two mp3s to tempt you into a purchase...

Mp3: Nikki Sudden - "See(ing) Double" (June Panic cover)
Mp3: Dave Fischoff - "Abilene" (Damien Jurado cover)

Head over the the Secretly Canadian site for yet another SC-covers-SC song that's not on the compilation, Marmoset's take on Jens Lekman's "Black Cab". Order up "SC100" here.

Because I can never resist a chance to blog about Idaho: Jeff Martin shares the news via MySpace that he'll be re-releasing the out-of-print 1997 "The Forbidden" EP and the 1998 full-lengther "Alas" on one disc, along with a DVD that will include a never-before-seen Idaho documentary shot around that time. Before he puts it together, though, he's invited fans to submit their own videos "...reflecting on these records", or "talk[ing] about a song or two or if you have a story about how you first heard of idaho....just anything really." That's both very cool and potentially bizarre. The fan-made results should be... interesting, at the very least.

I had the unexpected pleasure of catching T.W. Walsh on stage for the first time since his return to Boston from Seattle, when he jumped up to play bass (and handheld keys) with John Vanderslice last Friday night at the Middle East. Unfortunately I had to miss T.W.'s first solo show the night before due to my DJ action, but I damn well won't be missing this one - On Thursday, May 24th, he'll be appearing at TT the Bears, and will be performing his 2001 "Blue Laws" album in its entirety. Yes, it's Cambridge's own special version of the "Don't Look Back" full-album-live series. Also appearing at TTs that night will be Elijah Wyman, who coincidentally also hopped up on stage to do a song with Mr. Vanderslice on Friday. For audio of that team-up, check out Mobile Man.

I've got a fairly sizable space in my heart for WRUV, the student-run, open-format, ad-free radio station at the University of Vermont. I spent more time hanging out in the booth there than I ever did in the UVM library, and probably learned more than in any classes (Especially those senior year schedule-fillers. I'm looking at you "Stress Reduction" and "Forestry"). Doing the DJ thing at River Gods last week got me thinking lots about my 'RUV days, and so did this new video: The "Stuck In Vermont" vlog (which happens to feature a theme song by the aforementioned Smittens) has a new feature on WRUV's long-running Exposure program, a usually-weekly show that brings in an area band for a live performance. Having run Exposure for a little while, I got all nostalgic watching the current crew host Burlington band The Hero Cycle. Head here to watch the video, where the band performs the first chunk of their song "Breathing In". And in theory, Exposure is supposed to archive their live sessions right here, but the page seems to be down at the moment. Even though there's now an actual computer in the DJ booth, it seems that things at 'RUV haven't changed all that much since I was there: something was always broken somewhere. But at least this time it's virtual and not physical. Hopefully the site will be back at some point, as I'd like to hear me some more live Hero Cycle.

Caspian has officially embarked on their month-long national tour to support their debut disc, "The Four Trees", and they're keeping an oft-updated tour blog to share stories and such. Yesterday's post includes some quick video clips, so have at it. Nice to see the guys can even rock out sideways.

I'm a fan of Boston-based photographer Kelly Davidson, especially her work capturing area bands and their live shows, so I was happy to discover that there's an exhibit of her photos titled "Shot Live" over at Christopher's in Porter Square, Cambridge. It runs through May 15th, and I think I may stop by tonight after I hit the opening night of...

The 2007 Independent Film Festival of Boston (which I wrote about here) kicks off tonight with a screening of Hal Hartley's Fay Grim at 7pm at the Somerville Theater in Davis Square. We've got our tickets, but even though you can no longer order online, there's still a chance you can make it in if you haven't yet: a certain number of standby tix are sold to fill any empty seats that remain just before the screening starts. So get there early, bring a book or a friend, and get in the ol' overflow line. I'm so ready to see a film a day for the next six days. Check out the festival's full schedule to get tickets now, because many, many of the screenings will sell out as the festival gets underway.

posted by brad at 3:03 PM | direct link |