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saturday, march 13th

butch walker & the black widows

will dailey

@ the paradise

sunday, march 14th

a special screening of the

white stripes tour documentary

"under the great white northern lights"

free admission / prize pack drawing

10pm @ the otherside cafe

sunday, march 14th

carbon leaf

@ 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

tuesday, march 16th

bacchus king

croquet

cathy cathodic

the ugly fucklings

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, march 17th

joanna newsom

@ the sanders theatre, harvard

wednesday, march 17th

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the somerville theatre

thursday, march 18th

apollo sunshine

drug rug

@ the paradise

friday, march 19th

i, pistol

mascara

planetoid

forgetful jones

@ tt the bears

saturday, march 20th

the whitehaus family blastfest

needy visions, manners,

morgan shaker, avi jacob,

and many more

@ cambridge ymca theatre

saturday, march 20th

air

@ berklee performance center

sunday, march 21st

the clientele

field music

@ great scott

thursday, march 25th

"thursday night alright!" with

the beatings

aloud

action camp

hello ninja

@ great scott

thursday, march 25th

the donnas

@ the paradise

friday, march 26th

eldridge rodriguez (the beatings)

ryan lee crosby

ted billings (age rings/hot protestants)

@ the somerville armory

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

magic magic

@ 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

cassavettes

the grownup noise

kingsley flood (cd release)

spouse

@ the middle east upstairs

saturday, april 3rd

black rebel motorcycle club

alberta cross

@ the house of blues

saturday, april 3rd

nada surf

dawn landes & the hounds

@ the paradise

sunday, april 4th

serena maneesh

depreciation guild

black fortress of opium

@ tt the bears

tuesday, april 6th

wilco

@ the orpheum

tuesday, april 6th

ben fold & a piano

kate miller-heidke

@ the house of blues

wednesday, april 7th

florence & the machine

@ the paradise

wednesday, april 7th

rocky votolato

brooke waggoner

@ great scott

thursday, april 8th

faces on film

hands & knees

st. claire (cd release!)

mr. sister

@ tt the bears

thursday, april 8th

thom yorke + atoms for peace

flying lotus

@ the citi/wang theatre

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

screaming females

@ the paradise

saturday, april 10th

pissed jeans

confines

sqrm

@ great scott

sunday, april 11th

fanfarlo

lawrence arabia

robert francis

@ the paradise

monday, april 12th

the wedding present

play their 1989 lp 'bizarro'

with openers girl in a coma

@ the middle east downstairs

monday, april 12th

titus andronicus

the babies

@ great scott

thursday, april 15th

jakob dylan with guests

neko case + kelly hogan

@ the wilbur theatre

thursday, april 15th

red sparowes

doomriders

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, april 16th

have nots (vinyl release!)

the appreciation post

razors in the night

wicked whiskey

the swaggerin growlers

@ tt the bears

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

heavy trash (w/jon spencer)

the konks

the cobra-matics

@ 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

timber timbre

@ the paradise

tuesday, april 20th

quasi

let's wrestle

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, april 21st

the church

special 30th anniversary

acoustic career retrospective

@ the somerville armory

wednesday, april 21st through

wednesday, april 28th

the 8th annual independent

film festival of boston

@ various boston area theatres

including the somerville + brattle

thursday, april 22nd

the mary onettes

@ great scott

saturday, april 24th

los campesinos!

here we go magic

@ the paradise

sunday, april 25th

harlem

@ the great scott

monday, april 26th

echo + the bunneymen

hatcham social

@ 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

the everyday visuals

the lights out

the flying machines

aloud

@ tt the bears

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

saturday, may 1st

white rabbits

here we go magic

@ the paradise

monday, may 3rd

yeasayer

sleigh bells

@ the paradise

tuesday, may 4th

gregory & the hawk

lady lamb the beekeeper

@ tt the bears

tuesday & wednesday

may 4th & 5th

public image ltd.

@ the royale (formerly the roxy)

wednesday & thursday

may 5th & 6th

jonsi (from sigur ros)

@ the house of blues

thursday, may 6th

shout out louds

@ the paradise

friday, may 7th

ok go

earl greyhound

robert francis

@ the paradise

saturday, may 8th

local natives

@ great scott

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

saturday, may 22nd

killing joke

@ the paradise

tuesday, may 18th

spectrum (featuring sonic boom

from spacemen 3 + e.a.r.)

with the broken river prophet

@ the middle east upstairs

tuesday, may 25th

the smittens

allo darlin'

one happy island

hearts!attack

a smile and a ribbon

horowitz

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, may 26th

reverend horton heat

cracker

miss derringer

@ the house of blues

friday, may 28th

mono

the twilight sad

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, june 2nd

kings of convenience

franklin for short

@ the paradise

wednesday, june 2nd

ryan bingham & the dead horses

@ tt the bears

wednesday & thursday

june 2nd & 3rd

the national

@ the house of blues

friday, june 4th

brian jonestown massacre

@ the paradise

friday, june 18th

reigning sound

movers & shakers

triplethick

@ tt the bears

saturday, june 19th

james taylor

carole king

@ the garden

sunday + monday

june 20th + 21st

isis

melvins

totimoshi

@ the paradise

thursday + saturday

august 19th + 21st

tom petty + the heartbreakers

my morning jacket

@ the comcast center

visit tourfilter for more shows

Things mentioned and linked below include Swervedriver, Retribution Gospel Choir, Film School, The Night Marchers, Sea Wolf, The Jealous Girlfriends, Slowdive/Mojave 3's Neil Halstead, Rogue Wave, Nada Surf, Billy Bragg, Elbow, Sigur Ros, Ida, R.E.M., New Radiant Storm King, The Mountain Goats, Sebadoh, Silkworm, "The Wire", and Kids in the Hall.

New Boston area shows of note, from ye olde left hand column...

HELL YES. The Swervedriver reunion tour is officially hitting Boston, on June 10th to be precise, at the Paradise. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, March 29th, at 10am.

Alan Sparhawk's trio, Retribution Gospel Choir, plays the Middle East Upstairs on Thursday, June 19th. Their just-released debut full-length is a brilliant slab of crunchy Neil Young-inspired guitar goodness, letting the Low frontman get his rock on in the best way. The disc even has gritty reworkings of a couple Low songs, including "Breaker" (which sounds more like Low's live version than Low's own recording, and features Mimi on guest vocals) and a rhythmically transformed "Take Your Time". Love it, and as if Sparhawk's presence wasn't enough to guarantee it, I'll definitely be at the show. Tickets here. Don't wait until it sells out.

Film School returns to TT the Bears on Monday, April 28th. Saw them there last October, up against the first night of the World Series. Fortunately, the Sox won that game 13-1, so it was easy for the crowd to abandon the TT's TV in favor of some celebratory sonic goodness from the visiting West Coasters. Hopefully the competition will be less fierce this time around, and the crowd will be even bigger.

As I mentioned, The Night Marchers are making their Boston-area debut on Thursday, May 8th, also at the Middle East Upstairs, and I'm going to keep reminding you of this until it sells out. There are too many Rocket From the Crypt / Drive Like Jehu / Hot Snakes fans out there who haven't caught on yet. When they do, so long tickets.

Sea Wolf is back in Boston on Friday, May 30th for a headlining show at the Paradise with The Jealous Girlfriends. For some reason I couldn't make it to their last show, but a Friday night appearance makes my presence far more likely this time around.

While I'm glad to see that Slowdive/Mojave 3 frontman Neil Halstead is returning to the Boston area, it's safe to say I won't be seeing him when he does. Why not? No, I won't be out of town. Or otherwise occupied, as far as I know. I'll be abstaining due to the presence on the bill of headlining act Jack Johnson... not exactly a fan of his stuff, and his presence has driven the ticket prices outta my usual range. Not sure how Neil, or even Rogue Wave, teamed up with Mr. Johnson, but, um, good for them I guess? (update If you've got deep enough pockets, and enough Rogue Wave or Halstead love, to make the drive down to the Tweeter Center on August 8th, well, lemme know how it went.

And while I'm mentioning Mr. Halstead, he shared the news last month (when he had to cancel a gig) that he and his wife were awaiting the imminent arrival of twins, so here's hoping that all went well.

Nada Surf made an appearance on the Tonight Show last week to play "Weightless" (which, as Leno plugged, happens to appear on the "Heroes" soundtrack. Ah, sweet network synergy). The trio was augmented with an electric cello player and a keyboardist, filling out the sound nicely. Take a listen...

Mp3: Nada Surf - "Weightless" (live on Leno)

The band also did an acoustic performance and interview session for the newly-christened MySpace Transmissions recently as well.

Another late night appearance last week was Billy Bragg's on Conan O'Brien, performing "I Keep Faith", off his upcoming "Mr. Love & Justice" disc. The performance was unlike anything you'll hear Bragg do again, as his backing band was Conan's own (minus regular drummer Max Weinberg), including the horn section. Here 'tis...

Mp3: Billy Bragg - "I Keep Faith" (live on Conan)

In the wake of Billy's recent opinion piece in the New York Times about internet royalties for musicians, he shares further thoughts in a dialogue with commenters at The Stalwart. Well worth a read.

Also previewing tracks from an almost-out album was Elbow, who recorded a session at Maida Vale for BBC1, and stopped into Zane Lowe's show last week to share some of the results. Not sure how many songs they tracked in all, but two were played last Wednesday (stream here until tomorrow), and another Thursday (stream "One Day Like This" here for two more days). In addition to first single "Grounds For Divorce", they performed this one...

Mp3: Elbow - "The Bones Of You" (live on BBC1)

Elbow's fourth album, "The Seldom Seen Kid", is already out in the UK, and arrives on U.S. shores on April 22nd.

Music Slut directs our attention to a YouTube video recording of a new Sigur Ros song that will likely/hopefully appear on their next album. Check out some new photos from the recording sessions of said album back in January here.

Ida has shared a video for a song from their beautiful latest album, "Lovers Prayers". Head here for the Megan Holmes-directed clip for the song "The Weight of the Straw".

I'm really enjoying "Accelerate", the almost-out new R.E.M. album, now streaming at iLike. As I said awhile back, I've found something worthwhile in most of their late-era records, but haven't been this instantly struck by one in many, many years, and I'm happily surprised. Whenever I hear the phrase "return to form", I fear contrived emptiness, potential trying-too-hard insincerity, but this one really sounds like R.E.M. just being R.E.M.. The songs, the production, the brevity, it's all working for me. And I'm very glad to be able to write that in 2008. Stream the entire thing here, and you don't even have to register to do it.

Thanks to Jay @ Clicky Clicky for the heads up that there's going to be another New Radiant Storm King album later this year. Their last one, "The Steady Hand", was one of my faves of 2006, so I'm fairly eager to hear what they follow it up with. The band plays as part of a promising line-up at PA's Lounge on April 6th, with The Spanish Armada, Dr. Powerful (Ex-Polvo members within), and Bullpen Catcher (Ex-Kudgel within). Jay's update also allowed me to notice that the band shared an outtake from the "Winter's Kill" album on their MySpace page. Head there to hear "Doppelganger in Tow", along with three from "The Steady Hand" if you've never had the pleasure.

The Phoenix's On The Download shares up three videos from the Mountain Goats appearance at Museum of Fine Arts Boston a couple weekends ago: The title track from "Heretic Pride", a Rodney Crowell cover, and a brand new song called "Sign Of The Crow". Again, I must warn you... turn your volume down before you head to that page, as all three videos auto-start at the same time with an advertisement.

Back in August, Sebadoh's Lou Barlow said on his messageboard that the next reissue the band would be working on would be the excellent "Bubble & Scrape". Well, looks like the work's done, as a release date has been announced: The remastered and expanded "Bubble & Scrape" will arrive on May 5th via Sub Pop and Domino. Jason Loewenstein shared the full tracklisting here, and Barlow adds that the "Smash Your Head On The Punk Rock" reissue is planned, but that a reissue of "Weed Forestin'" is a bit up in the air.

Fellow Silkworm fans should be keeping an eye on the production blog for the in-progress "Couldn't You Wait" documentary, as new content is regularly added. Video clips and photos from the creator's recent trip out to California was added last month, and earlier this month they shared interview video clips with Steve Albini, Jeff Tweedy, Stephen Malkmus, Henry Owings, and Brian Teasley. Great stuff, which you can also see here. In case you haven't seen the 4-minute trailer yet, have a look here. Click here to help fund the thing, if you've got Silkworm love and some spare dollars.

Non-musical, but demanding the attendance of fans of HBO's now-ended, brilliant series "The Wire": A Harvard-hosted lecture and panel discussion on Friday, April 4th titled "HBO's 'The Wire': Racial Inequality and Urban Reality." Panelists will include Wire creator David Simon, Boston Police deputy superintendent and liaison to the homeless community Nora Baston, Columbia University's Sudhir Venkatesh, and Geoffrey Canada, the president of Harlem Children's Zone; William Julius Wilson of Harvard University will moderate the discussion, which starts at 5pm on Friday, April 4th. No registration is necessary, just arrive early enough to get in at 79 JFK Street near Harvard Square, Cambridge.

And in case you missed it, read this interesting article over at Time.com titled "The Wire's War on the Drug War", written by Wire series writers David Simon, Ed Burns, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and Richard Price.

And on a completely different note, the no-longer-kids Kids in the Hall are touring again, and comedy saints be praised, one of their dates is in Boston. Yes, the Canadian quintet will be performing at the Citi Center (aka the Wang) on Thursday, April 17th, 2008, and I snagged myself 8th row tickets over the weekend. Get your own here, more details here.

If your appreciation for Buffy the Vampire Slayer remains despite its absence (unless you're reading the comics), you might want to have a listen to this recording of last week's cast reunion at this year's Paley Fest. You can also watch video interviews with the cast on the night of the reunion here. Links to more coverage can be found at Pop Candy, or Whedonesque, of course.

And lastly, for any Boston area readers, a reminder: If you're not doing anything tonight (aside from sleeping), I'll be on stage with four friends at the Abbey Lounge, playing the drums in Stratford Projects. It's the SP's first performance ever, and my first time behind the drums in quite awhile. Night owl's will appreciate that we hit the stage around 11:45pm, playing after St. Helena, who have been hosting a Tuesday night residency all month long.

A little info on Stratford Projects -- we're led by current Sixth Great Lake and former Guppyboy / Essex Green member Michael Barrett on guitar and vocals, and along with my rusty drumming, Mike's wife Anna will be playing keyboards, Neil Cleary plays guitar, and former Jumproper Adam Boc is on bass.

Needless to say, after waking at 6AM to listen to the first Japan-hosted Red Sox game of the season, I'll be taking a nice nap before hitting the stage almost 18 hours later...

posted by brad at 9:55 AM | direct link | rss (1 :2) |