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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

Been a little while since I've done one of these info-blasts, and as usual I've got lots to share...

Touch & Go has shared the track listing for The New Year's upcoming self-titled 3rd album, due out on September 9th. The ten track disc will include: "Folios", "The Company I Can Get", "X Off Days", "The Door Opens", "MMV", "Seven Days and Seven Nights", "Wages of Sleep", "Body and Soul", "My Neighborhood", and "The Idea of You". If the title "MMV" sounds familiar, that's because it's a song the band unveiled at the 2006 Middle East Upstairs show that I shared on the 'Nac awhile back.

Read what the band has to say about the album here, and check out an all-too-brief hi-hat laden teaser video right here. The mailing list message that shared the video was titled "The Door Opens", so I'm guessing that hi-hat is from that song... but who knows? The band has also shared a video for "The End's Not Near" (quicktime), which was started years ago, but only recently completed. Details here.

While the full band won't be touring until the record is out in the fall, the core duo of the Kadane Brothers will be playing a bunch of shows with Bottomless Pit (ex-Silkworm/Seam members) in late June and July, including a stop at the Middle East on Saturday, July 12th. New Year drummer Chris Brokaw will be pulling double duty, performing an opening set of his own solo material, and since Matt 'Biznono' Kadane was also a Silkworm member in their later days, perhaps he'll be joining the Pit on stage for a keyboard assist or two? Regardless, it'll be a can't-miss, friend-filled night, and on a Saturday, no less. No excuses on this one.

Speaking of Bottomless Pit, they already have an EP in the pipeline that follows last fall's release of their debut long-player, "Hammer of the Gods". The four-song "Congress" EP will be available digitally at the Comedy Minus One label page on June 1st, and in July the band will release a vinyl version (cd included) on their own, which we'll hopefully be able to grab at those shows with the Kadane Brothers. You can download one song from the EP ("Fish Eyes") courtesy of the label, or stream two others ("Red Pen" and "Angry Swan") at the Bottomless Pit MySpace page. I'll share "Fish Eyes" here as well, to save C-1 a little bandwidth and get it into the Hype Machine...

Mp3: Bottomless Pit - "Fish Eyes"

The Comedy Minus One label has also done the Silkworm legacy proud with the digital releases of a whole bunch of out-of-print SKWM and SKWM-related music earlier this month. Not only did the label make available Silkworm's 1994 masterpiece "Libertine", and their swan song "Chokes" EP, but they've also digitally released a 2002 Tim Midgett solo EP along with the 1997 Ein Heit album (the original Silkworm briefly reactivating their first band name) and a 1997 Crust Brothers live recording (Stephen Malkmus and the Silkworm trio). This is all until-now rare gold, and well worth downloading from either iTunes or emusic. Head to Comedy Minus One for the purchase links and an mp3 from each of those releases. (thanks to Jay @ Clicky Clicky for the tip on that one)

Also issuing an EP this summer is Ida, who will release "My Fair, My Dark" on August 5th via Polyvinyl. The 7-track disc (and 8-track vinyl) will feature two brand new Ida songs, "Don't Wreck It" and "Still Life", along with a live version of "Late Blues" that features none other than the legendary Levon Helm of the Band. The other four tracks are covers of songs by Anne Briggs, Dolly Parton ("The Pain of Loving You", also featuring Levon Helm on Mandolin), David Schickele, His Name Is Alive (the bonus vinyl track), and this version of John & Beverley Martyn's "Road To Ruin"...

Mp3: Ida - "Road To Ruin" (J. & B. Martyn)

P4K premiered the gorgeous Dolly Parton cover a few days back...

Mp3: Ida - "The Pain of Loving You" (Dolly Parton)

Ida has a few East Coast shows coming up, including five with Michael Hurley (one of which is a June 1st stop at Somerville's Nave Gallery), and another with Alan Sparhawk's Retribution Gospel Choir on June 17th at Brooklyn's Union Hall. Detail on all dates here.

And in case you haven't noticed yet, Ida's revamped website has an audio archive where you can download a bunch of free live tracks. I wholeheartedly endorse that product and/or service.

Huge Boston-area show news: The Notwist are coming to town. I was assured by their manager that 2008 would be the year of the Notwist, and he was not kidding. First their new album arrives on our shores June 17th (it's already out overseas, and it's ace), and in the fall we'll get a full North American tour, including a Sunday, October 12th stop at the Roxy in Boston. Now, that's not exactly the venue I'd have preferred, but nothing's going to keep me away. Tickets are already available here, and in fact, they're the only tickets listed at Ticketb@st@rd for the tour so far. So go get 'em, and keep an eye out there if you're in a different city.

Here's something that surprised the hell out of me: A new album from German/Danish trio 18th Dye. I had no idea the band was back together after 10 years apart, but I was a huge fan of 1995's Matador-released, Albini-recorded "Tribute To A Bus", as well as that year's "Crayon" EP and their 1994 debut disc, "Done". They've been so long off the radar that I was very surprised to see a May 6th release date for a new album titled "Amorine Queen". Now, I've searched in vain for it in shops around Boston, and emails to their Danish label Crunchy Frog have gone unanswered, so I resorted to a third party Amazon reseller. Hope it shows up soon, and more importantly, I hope it's even half as good as the old stuff.

Another (semi) reunion that has me extremely excited is the return of Six Finger Satellite. While only two of the longtime members remain (singer J. Ryan and drummer Rick Pelletier, who will supposedly play guitar live), I'm still game for whatever those guys do, including the upcoming 8-song Load Records disc. Not sure of an exact release date for that sucker, but maybe they'll have it for sale when they hit Allston's Great Scott on August 10th as part of a killer line-up that includes Ho-Ag, The In Out, and Certainly, Sir. Um, there's a sell-out for ya. Tickets here. Catch up with Six Finger Satellite by reading this recent J. Ryan interview at the Providence Daily Dose.

Full streams of a few new albums you should be made aware of...

The Wedding Present - "El Rey"
(@ AOL's Spinner for a week)
Out yesterday, May 20th

Spiritualized - "Songs in A & E"
(full album stream @ MySpace)
Out May 27th

The Futureheads - "This Is Not The World"
(@ MTV UK, which requires you to enter your email addy)
Out June 3rd

I'm loving that Wedding Present album so far (no surprise there), as well as Death Cab For Cutie's new one, which I also picked up this week. Better than "Plans", for my money.

Naturally the boys from DCFC have been everywhere over the past couple weeks, working the album like champs (resulting in their first-ever freakin' #1 debut), but I haven't yet seen this video interview posted elsewhere. It's a feature called "iNterview", hosted at relatively new multi-media site Sly-Fi, a part of Hobnox.com. The both goofy and informative piece, which features Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer, was put together by sending the guys some prerecorded questions on a MacBook, which they'd use to record their answers before shipping it back. The Sly-Fi content can be embedded, so let me give that a shot right here...

Hrishikesh Hirway, aka The One AM Radio, is writing songs for a follow-up to last year's excellent "This Too Will Pass", but in the meantime he has offered up a little something to help ease the waiting: A cover of country song "The Wayward Wind" (which has seen many versions, including ones from Patsy Cline and Neil Young). You can download the track here...

Mp3: The One AM Radio - "The Wayward Wind"

Allston's own Thalia Zedek just gifted us with a new full-length, "Liars and Prayers", via Thrill Jockey on April 22nd, and it's easily the best of her solo albms so far. This is the first of the former Come/Live Skull frontwoman's releases put out under the "Thalia Zedek Band" name instead of just her own, and the expansion of that band to a five-piece has added major depth to the instrumentation. In addition to the viola work of David Michael Curry and the drumming of Daniel Coughlin, Thalia has filled out the low end with Fuzzy/Consonant (and one-time Come) bass player Winston Braman and former Victory at Sea-man Mel Lederman on piano. Beautifully powerful stuff, and you can stream a couple of the new songs at MySpace, or grab a track here...

Mp3: Thalia Zedek Band - "Lower Allston"

The Phoenix has a great write-up on Thalia and the album, and the band also performed live on WMBR's esteemed Pipeline! program on April 22nd, which you can stream here or download via the Pipeline! Podcast.

The Thalia Zedek Band plays this Friday night, May 23rd, upstairs at the Middle East in Cambridge with Fugazi's Joe Lally and his trio, as well as openers Drew O'Doherty and Geoff Farina's Glorytellers. Nice lineup, indeed.

Author Neil Gaiman will be speaking at MIT's Kresge Auditorium this Friday evening, but hopefully you already know that, as it's already very sold out. The event is the first-ever "Julius Schwartz Lecture", which will be an annual event held to "honor an individual who has made significant contributions to the culture, creativity and community of comics and popular entertainment". It was founded and named in honor of longtime DC Comics editor Julius "Julie" Schwartz, who passed away in February, 2004. Read Harlan Ellison's and Alan Moore's posthumous words on the man to get an idea of what a giant he was in the industry.

If you can't be there, know that it's being recorded for a DVD release (which means I won't be sharing a recording here on the 'Nac), so keep an eye on this page for release details.

It's ridiculous how many more things I have to share, but I'll save the rest for the next miscellaneous post. Before I go, here are a couple of self-promo bits...

I've started writing mini-previews of upcoming Boston-area shows for the new international live gig listing site Songkick. For each of the major cities the site covers (London, NYC, LA, Boston, many more), they pick one local music blogger to hand-pick and shine spotlights on a bunch of shows each month, and I'm their Boston boy. Head here to read a little introductory interview with yours truly, and here to read ones from my fellow contributors, including LA's The Rawking Refuses to Stop! and NYC's The Catbirdseat.

The new episode of the Blog Fresh Radio is up, and once again they invited me along to ramble on, this time about that aforementioned new Thalia Zedek Band album.

I'm ending this post on a very sad note, as this has been much in my thoughts this week...

Rory Root, beloved proprietor of Comic Relief (which many call the best comic bookstore in the country), passed away earlier this week, and while I'd never met the man in person, I feel like I've known him for many years. We frequented some of the same internet forums, chatting about comics, tv, and books (in other words, life), and while it's generally hard to get a sense of tone from digital text, you could always feel the kindness behind Rory's messages. He was a goldmine of recommendations, feedback, and enthusiasm for good literature, and it's insane that he's gone at the far-too-young age of 50. I always figured I'd end up at his shop in Berkeley someday so I could shake his hand (and spend too much money on his recommendations), but now my trip will be to check out the retail monument he built to the medium (and to probably spend lots of money anyway).

Tributes to Rory's influence and impact, both personally and professionally, are spreading all over the internet, and links to most of them are being gathered here. If you've never heard of the man, read up, and pick up a comic in his honor someday soon. The man will be missed by so many. Rest in peace, Rory.

posted by brad at 10:10 PM | direct link |