bradley's almanac - a boston music blog

boston area shows of note:

sunday, may 11th

hallelujah the hills

girls, guns, & glory

and many more

free @ mayfair in harvard square

sunday, may 11th

the lymbyc systym

@ the middle east

monday, may 12th

the cure

@ agganis arena

tuesday, may 13th

british sea power

the rosebuds

jeffrey lewis

@ the paradise

thursday, may 15th

tourfilter dj night

songs by bands coming to town

(with djs yours truly & chris tourfilter)

9pm @ river gods near central square

thursday, may 15th

bishop allen

the teeth

the self righteous brothers

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, may 16th

ryan's smashing life presents...

aloud, murder mystery,

miss fairchild, & scuba

@ tt the bears

friday, may 16th

bell x1

@ the paradise

friday, may 16th

bruce cockburn

catherine maclellan

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, may 17th

thee silver mt. zion memorial

orchestra & tra-la-la band

(members of godspeed you black emperor)

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, may 18th

snowden

colour revolt

the epochs

age rings

@ great scott

monday, may 19th

daily show writer

rob kutner

signing 'apocalypse how'

@ pandemonium in cambridge

tuesday, may 20th

x (john doe, exene, bonebrake, & billy)

the detroit cobras

@ the paradise

friday, may 23rd

joe lally (of fugazi)

glorytellers

thalia zedek

@ the middle east

friday, may 23rd

writer neil gaiman

@ mit's kresge auditorium

friday, may 23rd

laura veirs

liam finn

@ the middle east

saturday, may 24th

cake, cracker,

the english beat, bodeans

@ the dcr hatch shell

saturday, may 24th

son volt

@ the museum of fine arts boston

saturday, may 24th

the mary onettes

@ the middle east

wednesday, may 28th

duran duran

@ agganis arena

friday, may 30th

the gentlemen

eric salt & the electric city

the rationales (cd release)

@ tt the bears

friday, may 30th

sea wolf

the jealous girlfriends

@ the paradise

saturday, may 31st

jeremy enigk

damien jurado

@ great scott

sunday, june 1st

ida

michael hurley

@ the nave gallery, somerville

monday, june 2nd

M83

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, june 4thnd

hayden

@ great scott

thursday, june 5th

the breeders

the montana boys

@ the paradise

friday, june 6th

orbit

taxpayer

the fatal flaw

boone

@ tt the bears

friday, june 6th

styrofoam

broken spindles

@ the middle east

friday, june 6th

mudhoney

the cynics

@ the middle east

saturday, june 7th

langhorne slim

baker

@ tt the bears

saturday, june 7th

pela

static of the gods

the motion sick

shawn fogel

@ the middle east

sunday, june 8th

donita sparks (ex-L7)

& the stellar moments

@ tt the bears

monday, june 9th

the kooks

@ the paradise

tuesday, june 10th

swervedriver

@ the paradise

wednesday, june 11th

the cannanes

the in out

painful dentistry

@ the midway cafe

wednesday, june 11th

grand archives

@ great scott

wednesday, june 11th

mark kozelek

(sun kil moon / red house painters)

marissa nadler

@ the museum of fine arts boston

thursday, june 12th

tullycraft

pants yell!

the smittens

@ pa's lounge

thursday, june 12th

damon & naomi

helena espvall & masaki batoh

@ tt the bears

thursday, june 12th

mission of burma

performing the album

'signals, calls and marches'

@ the paradise

friday, june 13th

mission of burma

performing the album 'vs'

@ the paradise

saturday, june 14th

centro-matic

@ the middle east upstairs

friday, june 13th

r.e.m.

modest mouse

the national

@ the tweeter center

wednesday, june 18th

sloan

the golden dogs

@ tt the bears

thursday, june 19th

retribution gospel choir

(with low's alan sparhawk)

@ the middle east upstairs

thursday, june 19th

the ting tings

@ great scott

friday, june 20th

polvo

birds of avalon

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, june 20th

my brightest diamond

clare & the reasons

@ the berklee performance center

saturday, june 21st

eksi ekso (cd release)

caspian

hooray for earth

dj die young

@ the paradise

friday, june 27th

devo

tom tom club

@ bank of american pavillion

saturday, june 28th

peter murphy

@ the roxy

saturday, june 28th

& monday, june 30th

pearl jam

ted leo & the pharmacists

@ the tweeter center

saturday, july 5th

cassavettes

girls, guns, and glory

teenage prayers

@ the paradise

tuesday, july 8th

feist

@ the bank of america pavilion

saturday, july 12th

bottomless pit

the kadane bros.

(of the new year / bedhead)

chris brokaw

@ the middle east upstairs

thursday, july 31st

the police

elvis costello & the impersonators

@ the tweeter center

saturday, august 2nd

wolf parade

@ the paradise

wednesday, august 6th

neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3)

rogue wave

jack johnson

@ the tweeter center

wednesday, august 13th

radiohead

@ the tweeter center

wednesday, august 20th

human league, belinda carlisle, abc,

flock of seagulls, naked eyes

@ the bank of america pavilion

sunday, september 7th

ryan adams & the cardinals

@ the bank of america pavilion

tuesday, september 23rd

writer dennis lehane

(release day for 'the given day')

@ the coolidge corner theatre

monday, october 6th

stereolab

monade

@ the paradise

monday, november 3rd

coldplay

@ the td banknorth garden

visit tourfilter for more shows

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

2008 Record Releases On My Radar

It's the first notable new music release day of 2008 here in the States (thanks mostly to the Magnetic Fields), so I thought I'd write a bit about a bunch of albums I'm really looking forward to hearing in the coming calendar year. Hopes are high for many of these, so it'll be interesting to check back with my list when I pull together my next year-end list; not just to see which ones lived up to expectations, but to see how many weren't even on my radar.

As I mentioned, today's the day that the Magnetic Fields release "Distortion" (full stream), along with the "Like Bees" EP from Dirty On Purpose (stream it), so those will keep my ears very occupied until January 29th, when Ida's "Lovers Prayers" arrives on Polyvinyl (Mp3 / preorder here, cd and vinyl). That day also sees the release of a new Joe Jackson album entitled "Rain", and despite his tendency to shift stylistic gears on a dime, I'll always give new JJ releases a shot, just based on his first two 1979 rock records alone. Part of my formative musical years, they were. Another disc out that day that I'm intrigued about is Chris Walla's solo disc, "Field Music" (Mp3), as I'm curious to hear what he sounds like outside the confines of Death Cab For Cutie (and hey, the guy wrote a song titled "David Narcizo").

February brings a bunch more good stuff, including Nada Surf's "Lucky" (Mp3) and Bob Mould's "District Line" (Mp3) on 2/5, and British Sea Power's promising "Do You Like Rock Music?" (Mp3) a week later. Thanks to Merge, I've already heard American Music Club's "The Golden Age", out on 2/19, and it may be as good as anything they've ever done. Still need to spend more time with it, though. Also on Feb. 19th is the Mountain Goats' "Heretic Pride" and Monade's "Monstre Cosmic". For those not aware, Monade is the name that Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier adopted for her own songs, and it has long since evolved from a bedroom project to a full-band experience. I liked 2005's "A Few Steps More" enough to be more than interested in the follow-up. The second month of the year wraps up with Beach House's "Devotion" (Mp3) on the 29th, but the February release I'm most excited about is probably the self-titled debut disc from Maybe It's Reno, which is essentially a Bridget Cross-fronted Unrest reunion. Unrest/Air Miami/Flin Flon mainman Mark Robinson is on guitar and backing vox, and who else but Phil Krauth is behind the drum kit. So look for that on Teenbeat in February, or maybe a month later in...

March looks a bit light at the moment, with new albums from Dan Bejar's Destroyer ("Trouble In Dreams" on 3/11) and Elbow ("The Seldom Seen Kid" at some point), but I just learned that it finishes with a pleasant surprise: The debut album of a band that consists of 3/4ths of the much-missed Hot Snakes, who called it quits in 2005. The new project is called The Night Marchers, they're fronted by the Snakes' John Reis, and will release "See You In Magic" on March 25th (tracklisting at PunkNews). Anything even remotely Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu/RFTC-related and I'm there. Speaking of which, vocalist Rick Froberg just unveiled his new band, Obits, over the weekend in NYC, and the show was written up at 17 Dots. So perhaps we'll see new music from those guys in '08 as well.

April starts off strong with, at last, a new album of Sun Kil Moon material ("April" out on 4/1, stream a song here) and some fresh R.E.M. in the form of "Accelerate", also on the day of fools. That'll be followed by releases from some other old friends on the 8th: Billy Bragg gives us "Mr. Love & Justice" and the Breeders deliver "Mountain Battles". Also out sometime in April is M83's "Saturdays".

All I've got noted for May so far is Death Cab For Cutie's not-yet-titled follow-up to "Plans", and Shearwater's "Rook", coming out on Matador. Oh, and that's also the month that Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning releases his "BSS presents..." solo record. If that measures up to Kevin Drew's solo outing, it'll find itself on my year-end-faves as well. June promises Margot & The Nuclear So And So's first for Epic, "Animal", but not much else this far out.

The rest of the year is a jumble of maybes and don't-know-whens, with hopeful releases from a bunch of my faves. Let's get listy, shall we?:

2008 should bring us more new music from David Bazan's Black Cloud, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine (believe that when I hear it), the "Beautiful Noise" documentary score from Medicine's Brad Laner (howsabout a soundtrack?), The Futureheads, Albert Hammond Jr., Autolux (truly hope so), Built To Spill, Spiritualized, Sigur Ros, The Verve (more "All In The Mind", less "Bittersweet Symphony", please), Will Oldham (there's something being mastered at this very moment), Silver Jews ("Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea" bumped until later '08), Tokyo Police Club (full-lengther on Saddle Creek), The Stills (in the studio right now), and at very long last, The Notwist. Notwist manager Florian Steinleitner responded with a hearty "Yes!" when I asked if we'll be hearing new music from the band this year, and this confirms it. It's been far too long of a wait since 2002's "Neon Golden", so hopefully we'll get a solid release date from City Slang soon.

And lastly, the 2008 arrival I'm most anticipating (and this will not be a shocker) is the September release of The New Year's third disc for Touch & Go. Drummer Chris Brokaw confirmed the album's release month here, and T&G has just put up a placeholder page right here. Oh, catalog number TG324, you and I are going to be spending a lot of time together this autumn, mark my words.

So, what did I miss? There must be some glaring omissions, so go ahead, embarrass me. What single planned 2008 release excites you the most? Even if I mentioned it above, let me know in the comments. But if it's a Boston-based band, hold those horses, as I've got an in-progress post about what a bunch of area faves have planned in the year ahead...

posted by brad at 3:26 PM | direct link | rss (1 :2) | |

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