There's nothing like the pure-pop one-two punch of a shared Ladybug Transistor / Lucksmiths performance. Well, 'punch' could be an unsuitable word... 'one-two hug', maybe? This September 2007 show was at least the second time the two bands had teamed up for a Boston area gig, and like the first, warm vibes and big smiles abounded. Boston's own One Happy Island eased us nicely into the evening, and while I wasn't familiar with San Fran's Still Flyin' before their set, they were a well-chosen second dose of danceable fun, and even lent a member or two to the Ladybugs, adding even more layers to their carefully-constructed pop songs.

I shared the wonderful Lucksmiths' performance awhile back, so at last here's the Ladybug Transistor set for your welcoming ears...


Some Ladybug Transistor links...

Their official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, and Merge Records page.

Additional Audio: Stream the entirety of their most recent album, "Can't Wait Another Day", over at Merge. The label also has many other LT songs to stream.

Video: There's an Isobel Knowles-directed clip for "Always On The Telephone", and an LT YouTube search will turn up much live footage. The Merge Blog also shared up an excellent streetside acoustic performance of "Three Days From Now" recorded for Swedish television.

Photos: My Flickr-hosted Ladybug shots are here. Check out the full Ladybug Transistor tag search.

The Village Voice has a Q&A with LT's Gary Olsen from last October.

Upcoming tourdates: The band plays a free show tomorrow afternoon at 2pm, May 31st, at the Brooklyn Public Library's Grand Army Plaza with Antietam, and is also part of the upcoming NYC Pop Fest that's happening June 12th through the 15th. Their appearance will be on June 14th at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Check out the LT tourdate page here. And keep an eye on NYCTaper, who will be at the Popfest with their recorder at the ready.

Listen to any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 7:40 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

This Saturday, May 31st, the team-up tour of former Sunny Day Real Estate / Fire Theft frontman Jeremy Enigk and his pal Damien Jurado will hit Allston's Great Scott as part of another fine evening brought to you by Fenway Recordings. Sydney Wayser opens up the show, and Fenway's own DJ Crispus Attucks will rock his personal playlist throughout.

If you can make it to the show, and would like a couple spots on the guest list, drop a quick email to me here: giveaways [at] bradleysalmanac [dot] com. Put 'Enigk' in the subject line, get it to me before 9am this Friday, May 30th, and I'll pick one random name to throw on the guest list with a +1 for a friend. The winner will be notified Friday morning, just in time for the weekend.

Enigk's latest solo record is 2007's "The Missing Link", and Jurado will be releasing "Caught In The Trees" on Secretly Canadian later this year. David also has a new blog, where he'll be writing about the full Enigk/Jurado tour (all dates and destinations listed here). Tickets of your own for the Boston show at Great Scott can be obtained here.

Labels: giveaways

posted by brad at 1:32 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

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 | rss (1:2) | |

As promised, here's the full set from last week's Cure show here in Boston. Rather than a long-winded write-up, I'll just run through some personal highlights from the night...

The opening "Plainsong" chimes still get me, every time. I spent too much time with that album for it not to. When they started with it, I knew I'd love the show.

Porl Thompson is such a brilliant guitarist, and his return is so obviously the reason the band has transformed so well into a quartet. While there are still a few keyboard part backing tracks, his flawless (and in many cases, improved) replacement of the old synths has reinvigorated a number of songs, especially "Lullaby" (which I'd become entirely tired with years ago). And he does it all while rocking the plastic passion pants.

I think this show finally erased my lingering (and for the most part illogical) resentment of drummer Jason Cooper's presence in the band. I was such a massive fan of Boris Williams, thought his playing was essential to what the Cure had become, that I didn't give Jason as much of a chance as I should have. He's come a very long way since those first couple years on board, when all I was doing was unfairly comparing his live drumming to Boris' flawless performances. No longer, though. [drumgeek] That said, I could do without that extra snare hit in the progression of "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea".[/drumgeek]

I continue to appreciate how much the band embraces its past, not just by playing multi-hour shows that cover their entire (almost 30-year) career, but through little touches like reworking a never-recorded 1985 song as a new single ("Sleep When I'm Dead"), and titling a new one "The Perfect Boy", which is of course a nod to 1987's "The Perfect Girl".

High points of the set: "A Night Like This" (Porl's solo!), "Pictures of You", "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea", "The Blood", "Push", "Primary", "100 Years", the new "Sleep When I'm Dead", "Disintegration", "Play For Today", and the entire third encore. Low points? Well, I've never been a great fan of their ultra-pop side, so "Why Can't I Be You?", "Hot Hot Hot!!", "Wrong Number", and "Lovecats" sent my mind wandering a bit. I've also not listened to the band as much over the past 10 years or so, so "Signal to Noise", "alt.end", "The End of the World", and "Us or Them" left me cold. But the high points far, far outweighed any lows.

Here's the 36-song, nearly 3-hour set...


Rather than my standard list of links, I'll just refer you to the best Cure resource out there: Chain of Flowers. Up-to-date info on the current tour and the band's upcoming release plans.

The new single, "The Only One", is streaming at P4K, and you can buy it at iTunes, along with the non-album extra track "NY Trip". Physical versions should be out within the next week or so (CD single and 7").

Photos: My many Flickr-hosted shots are here. Check out a full Cure Flickr tag search.

Upcoming tourdates: Visit the Chain of Flowers tourdates page for the complete list of Cure 4Tour dates, past and present.

Listen to any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 9:01 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Another 3rd Thursday of the month, another Tourfilter DJ Night at good ol' River Gods in Cambridge, during which Chris from TF and I play songs from bands who are playing in the Boston area within the next month or two.

Here's what I played, along with show details for each artist...

01. Styrofoam - "Front to Back"
       playing Friday, June 6th @ The Middle East
02. M83 - "Graveyard Girl"
       playing Monday, June 2nd @ The Middle East
03. The Mary Onettes - "Explosions"
       playing Saturday, May 24th @ The Middle East
04. Sea Wolf - "Winter Windows"
       playing Friday, May 30th @ The Paradise
05. The Breeders - "When I Was A Painter"
       playing Thursday, June 5th @ The Paradise
06. Scuba - "You Break My Heart In 1000 Different Ways"
       playing tonight @ TTs, presented by Ryan's Smashing Life
07. Aloud - "Sometimes I Feel Like A Vampire"
       playing tonight@ TTs, presented by Ryan's Smashing Life
08. The Rationales - "Guardrail"
       playing Friday, May 30th @ TTs (their cd release show)
09. Tullycraft - "The Punks Are Writing Love Songs"
       playing Thursday, June 12th @ PA's Lounge
10. The Gentlemen - "Three Minute Marriage Proposal"
       playing Friday, May 30th @ TT The Bears
11. Sloan - "I'm Not A Kid Anymore"
       playing Wednesday, June 18th @ TT The Bears
12. Colour Revolt - "Naked"
       playing this Sunday, May 18th @ Great Scott
13. Mission of Burma - "Max Ernst"
       playing June 12th & 13th @ The Paradise
14 . Snowden - "Like Bullets"
       playing this Sunday, May 18th @ Great Scott
15. Swervedriver - "Never Lose That Feeling"
       playing Tuesday, June 10th @ The Paradise
16. Pela - "Episodes"
       playing Saturday, June 7th @ The Middle East
17. R.E.M. - "Wolves, Lower"
       playing Friday, June 13th @ The Tweeter Center
18. The National - "Mistaken For Strangers"
       playing Friday, June 13th @ The Tweeter Center
19. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - "Bridges, Square"
       playing June 28th & 30th with Pearl Jam @ The Tweeter Center
20. Jeremy Enigk - "On The Wayside"
       playing Saturday, May 31st @ Great Scott
21. Damien Jurado - "Denton, TX"
       playing Saturday, May 31st @ Great Scott
22. Grand Archives - "Miniature Birds"
       playing Wednesday, June 11th @ Great Scott
23. Red House Painters (Mark Kozelek) - "Wop-A-Din-Din" (full band version)
       playing June 11th @ The Museum of Fine Arts
24. Retribution Gospel Choir (members of Low) - "Take Your Time"
       playing Thursday, June 19th @ The Middle East
25. Age Rings - "Everything'll Fall Apart"
       playing this Sunday, May 18th @ Great Scott
26. Ida - "Best of the Belated"
       playing Sunday, June 1st @ The Nave Gallery, Somerville
27. Glorytellers - "Awake At The Wheel"
       playing Friday, May 23rd @ The Middle East
28. Thalia Zedek Band - "Lower Allston"
       playing Friday, May 23rd @ The Middle East
29. Dirtmusic (featuring Chris Brokaw) - "Panther Hunting"
       Chris is playing Saturday, July 12th @ The Middle East
30. Bedhead (Kadane Bros./The New Year) - "What's Missing"
       The Kadane Bros. are playing on July 12th @ The Middle East
31. Bottomless Pit (ex-Silkworm) - "Red Pen"
       playing Saturday, July 12th @ The Middle East

Mark your calendars: My next appointment with the River Gods DJ booth will be in the heart of summer, on Thursday, July 17th, although I encourage you to hit up the 'Nac-free June installment on the 19th, of course.

And congrats are due to Matt from Boston, whose name I picked in the just-ended Snowden giveaway. He's got himself two tickets to see them this Sunday night at Great Scott with Colour Revolt, The Epochs, and Age Rings.

posted by brad at 11:49 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

I've got many thoughts rolling around in my brain about last night's Cure show here in Boston at BU's Agganis Arena, nearly all good ones, but I'll let them settle in before I write up a proper post to go with the full live recording. Regular 'Nac visitors know that it can take me awhile to edit down and share up sets, and given that the now-four-piece band played for nearly 3 hours, this one's surely going to take some time. But seeing as I'm still on a bit of a high (my first Cure show in 15 years, making it an even 10 times I think, and this was easily the most varied and surprise-filled setlist), that the band premiered a brand new song, and that today marks the official release of the first of four singles from their out-in-September next album, I thought I'd post up the setlist, a couple photos, and two live tracks to tease ya.


The first, titled "Sleep When I'm Dead", made it's live debut early in the set, and the other is "The Only One", the new single that's streaming at P4K, and now available to buy via iTunes (and sometime soon on both cd and 7", with "NY Trip" as the non-album extra track).

Enjoy...



For the most up-to-date Cure info, be sure to check out the Chain of Flowers Cure news blog, and for the thoughts of fellow fans on last night's Boston show, visit this thread at CureFans.com.

posted by brad at 11:22 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

It's been awhile since Atlanta's Snowden hit town, and they return to the Great Scott stage this Sunday, where played an entrancing set a couple years back for their Boston debut. I was blown away then by the tight-as-hell quartet; their remarkable collective stage presence, a totally locked-in rhythm section, artfully angular songs that are as involving as the vocal delivery is detached. Needless to say I'm looking forward to seeing them again, and I've got a couple guest list spots to give away to a reader courtesy of the kind crew at the club.

If you're up for attending, you know the drill: Send an email titled "Snowden" to giveaways [at] bradleysalmanac [dot] com and include your name and the town you live in. Just send it along before this Thursday at midnight, and if I pick your name, I'll drop you a note on Friday to let you know you and a friend are on the door list for the Sunday night, May 18th show. The band says they'll be playing lots of new songs, as they've been working on a follow-up to 2006's excellent "Anti Anti" for quite awhile. Age Rings, The Epochs, and tourmates Colour Revolt round out the bill.

Stream some Snowden at their MySpace page, where you can also download this Zombies cover...

Mp3: Snowden - "Time Of The Season" (Zombies)

Courtesy of the Jade Tree record label, here's the title track off their debut disc...

Mp3: Snowden - "Anti-Anti"

And a live solo version that frontman Jordan Jeffares did for Spinner's Interface...

Mp3: Snowden - "Anti-Anti" (live solo)

You can also stream the album in its entirety here.

Snowden's May tour with Colour Revolt hits Chapel Hill, NC tonight, and finishes up in New Orleans in a few weeks. So get those contest entry emails off to me by Thursday night if you want to attend Sunday's show, or grab your own tickets here.

Labels: giveaways

posted by brad at 7:54 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Well, this week brings a recording that has sat unedited and unshared for far too long, but with the recent announcement of a bunch of new U.S. summer headlining dates for Bloc Party, I figured now was as good a time as any to post this live set from last year here in Boston.

There are a couple reasons the urge to share this up evaded me for so very long: 1) The sound mix at the Orpheum during their set varied wildly, so my audience recording suffers for it, and 2) After initially finding things to like about Bloc Party's "A Weekend In The City" (their sophomore follow-up to the absolutely ace debut of "Silent Alarm"), it simply did not settle in very well at all. I can't remember the last time I listened to it (I still always go to "Silent Alarm" for a BP fix), and hearing them play those brilliant 2005 songs alongside the 2007 tracks really brought the missteps home for me (a caveat: "I Still Remember" still gets me).

But I'm ready and willing for their next album to win me back, so let's hope some new songs get unveiled on those few summer dates, which are listed below.

Here's their Orpheum set in its entirety...


Some Bloc Party links...

The band's official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, and Vice Records page.

Additional Audio: The band stopped by Boston's First Act Guitar Studio last year and performed a short acoustic set, and you can download three of those songs (scroll to the bottom). And here's a little extra something for you from late night teevee...

Mp3: Bloc Party - "I Still Remember"
(live on Last Call, Friday, April 6th, 2007)

Video: Lots to be seen on their own video page, Bloc Party TV, and there's always a Bloc Party YouTube search.

Photos: My Flickr-hosted shots are all within this post, but you can check out a full Bloc Party Flickr tag search, or photos from that First Act acoustic session here.

Sleeping Policeman was at the Orpheum show as well, and shared some thoughts.

Upcoming tourdates:

Aug. 1st - Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza

Aug. 5th - Philadelphia, PA @ the Fillmore at the TLA

Aug. 6th & 7th - New York, NY @ Webster Hall

Aug. 9th - Baltimore, MD @ the V Festival

Listen to any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 1:22 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

While Shearwater doesn't release "Rook" (their Matador-released follow-up to 2006's brilliant "Palo Santo") until June 3rd, they'll undoubtedly be playing songs from it at the Paradise in Boston this Friday night, May the 9th. The band (who are fronted by the golden-throated Jonathan Meiberg, himself on leave from keyboard duties in Okkervil River) is opening for Liverpool's Clinic, who themselves are out promoting their latest disc "Do It!".

I'm fortunate to have a pair of guest list spots to dole out to an Almanac reader, so if you'd like them, simply email your full name and the town you live in to giveaways [at] bradleysalmanac [dot] com, and put Shearwater in the subject line. Make sure you do so before Thursday morning at 9AM, and as usual, I'll then pick a random name out of my virtual hat. And on Thursday afternoon you'll find out via email if you'll on the guest list with a +1 at the Paradise on Friday.

posted by brad at 1:50 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Happy Free Comic Book Day, everyone. Even if you're not a regular patron of fine graphical storytelling (well, especially if you're not), try to take some time out today and swing by your local comic shop for a stack of freebies. For Bostonians, I recommend stopping into New England Comics on Harvard Ave if you're in Allston, Comicopia in Kenmore if you're going to see the Sox game, or check out the new kid on the block, Hub Comics, in Somerville's Union Square.


Ok, so April was an action-packed blur. In my near-decade of living here in Boston, I honestly don't believe I've had a month so completely crammed with things to do and places to be. Obviously that's the opposite of a complaint, but I really need a 3-day nap. Maybe sometime before May is over...


My manic month was capped off by the Film School/Douglas Fir/Broken River Prophet show at TTs last Monday, and it was an all-out success. Sure, the crowd could have been bigger (and would have been had it not rained cats and/or dogs), but the bands were psyched, they all played really well, and from what I could tell the crowd was very into it. Got a lot of nice (and unexpected) feedback on the songs I had spun between sets, and gave away a whole bunch o' merch. Many thanks to the bands for playing (and for those, uh, bonus drink tickets), and to TTs of course. Good times.


I recorded all three sets with each band's permission, and will be sharing 'em up at some point if they like 'em enough. For now, have a look at Film School's brand new video for "Compare".


Congrats to reader Mark in Cambridge, whose name I picked for the two guest list spots for tomorrow night's Wye Oak show at Great Scott. A show well worth checking out, and arrive early for the openers, who include Drew O'Doherty and Hands & Knees.


How odd is it that in 2008 I can write this?: I've got my My Bloody Valentine tickets. Yeah, I snagged a couple passes to the September Catskills, NY installment of All Tomorrow's Parties, with MBV curating one incredible lineup. Aside from the headliners, the stuff I'm most psyched for are Built to Spill performing the entirety of "Perfect From Now On" ("There's Nothing Wrong With Love" would've made me marginally happier, but I'm still excited), Mogwai, Low, Polvo, Shellac, Tortoise playing their best album, and Autolux. Just a four-hour drive from Boston, and I've already put in for the time off. Joyous.


Speaking of Autolux, their long-awaited next release is on the horizon, and the first single is now up on their MySpace page, both for streaming and for purchase (it'll be on iTunes soon). "Audience No. 2" is our first taste of the full-length "Transit Transit", which will be out sometime later this year.


In advance of their upcoming album, "El Rey", The Wedding Present has shared a couple new songs on their MySpace page: Lead off track "Santa Ana Winds" and an alternate mix of first single "The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend". "El Rey" is out on Manifesto in North America on May 20th.


Hey, Bostoners: How about some free live music to go with your free comics this (postponed until next) weekend? The 25th annual MayFair festival is tomorrow, Sunday, May 4th next weekend, Sunday, May 11th in Harvard Square (barring any manhole fires), and along with all the food and merch vendors we'll be treated to a bunch of varied performances, including sets from Hallelujah the Hills (@ 4pm) and Girls, Guns, & Glory (@ 3pm). Full schedule here.


The lineup for the 2008 edition of the Boston-(well, technically Arlington)-based Brainwaves Festival has been announced, and it's a doozy. Brainwashed proprietor Jon Whitney has pulled together a slew of notable artists for the late-November fest, including Meat Beat Manifesto, Matmos, Stars of the Lid, A Place to Bury Strangers, Marissa Nadler, His Name Is Alive, and many, many more. Weekend passes are available now right here.


I've got a massive list of links and info to share, as usual, but I'll fire this one off in the interest of timeliness. So, remember, your weekend todo list: Get some free comics, buy your Brainwaves passes, go see HtH outside tomorrow (postponed until next) Sunday afternoon, then head to Great Scott for the Wye Oak show to finish it off. Got it? Good.

posted by brad at 7:58 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

The televisual version of seminal NPR radio show This American Life returns this Sunday, May 4th, for a second season on Showtime. Live audiences got a taste of how the first season would translate when Ira Glass and his TAL crew took the show on the road for a tour entitled "What I Learned from Television". Regular contributors Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, and Dan Savage told stories, and attendees (including our crowd at the Opera House in Boston) were shown part of a season one episode.

A highlight of this touring TAL ensemble was the presence of Connecticut-based duo Mates of State, who release their fifth album, "Re-arrange Us", on May 20th through Barsuk. On tour, the band provided musical interludes between spoken word performances, were interviewed by Glass, and closed the show with a thematically appropriate cover of OC theme song "California".

Here are the songs that Mates of State performed at the Boston show, including that Phantom Planet cover, and the song "Now", which will appear on "Re-arrange Us"...


Also this weekend, This American Life will broadcast the radio version of that very same tour, but you can already stream the entirety of the show on their website, or download it via itunes for a well-spent 95 cents. Included are the spoken word performances of those mentioned above, along with edited (but sonically-improved) recordings of those Mates of States songs.

For a full list of airdates for the second TV season of This American Life on Showtime, go here. To pre-order Mates of States' "Re-arrange Us" from Barsuk, keep an eye on this page. And for a complete list of Mates of States tourdates, visit here.

As ever, stream any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.


the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 7:27 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |