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Tuesday, June 28, 2011  It's a relatively rare occasion that the gents from Centro-matic make their way from Denton, Texas up to Boston to treat us to a set of songs, but last week's release of "Candidate Waltz" has them on the road and in town for a show at Allston's Great Scott tomorrow night. Singer/guitarist/songwriter Will Johnson his band have put out one of the strongest records of their 16-year run, so I'm especially psyched to see them run through this new stuff. Not that I won't also be hoping for a heaping helping of older songs, o'course.Thanks to the generous Great Scott, I've got a pair of guest list spots to catch Centro-matic with Texas-based tourmate Sarah Jaffe and an opening solo set from Township's Marc Pinansky. And for the random winner, I'll throw in a copy of Centro-matic's new "Candidate Waltz" on CD, compliments of Undertow, the band's truly excellent label. To enter, send off a quick email to giveaways [at] bradleysalmanac [dot] com, throw "C-M" in the subject line, and include your full name. Get it to me before Noon on Wednesday, when I'll pick one winner for the two spots and let Great Scott know to add them the list. The catch: don't enter if you can't make it to the show, 'cuz that's where I'll be putting a copy of their new disc in your happy little hands. Pick up tickets of your own right here. Prep for the show by listening to an excellent new NPR interview with Will Johnson, and have a look at the video for "Candidate Waltz" track "Only In My Double Mind"...  Sunday, June 26, 2011
With last month's release of David Bazan's great new record, "Strange Negotiations", and last week's arrival of the latest Centro-matic full-length, "Candidate Waltz", I've been thinking about how lucky Boston was to get a visit during the one-and-only tour from The Undertow Orchestra. The five-piece was an understated supergroup, with Bazan & Centro-matic's Will Johnson joined by American Music Club's Mark Eitzel, Centro-matic's Scott Danbom, and the tragically departed Vic Chesnutt. His absence on this plane makes this show even more special in retrospect - any time I listen to Vic now it's bittersweet, but hearing him make music with those who knew and loved him is a particular kind of beautiful pain. I was poking around the pedrothelion.org forums the other day and saw a fellow fan hunting for this recording of the Undertow Orchestra's magical Valentine's Day 2006 performance at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Hadn't realized it had already been five years since that perfect night, so it's passed time I re-shared this one for all. For my thoughts and details on the show, check out my original post. Oh, and stop by here tomorrow (Monday, 6/27), when I'll kick off a giveaway for a pair of tickets to see Will Johnson's Centro-Matic return to Allston's Great Scott this Wednesday, along with a CD of their new album, "Candidate Waltz". Any time a member of the Orchestra comes to town, file it under "gotta go".  The Undertow Orchestra download as a single 162MB .zip file Live at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 1. intro 2. Tent Of Total Mystery * 3. Vultures Await * 4. interlude 1 5. Just To Know What You've Been Dreaming * 6. interlude 2 7. Bands With Managers # 8. interlude 3 9. Priests And Paramedics # 10. Slow Car Crash # 11. interlude 4 12. Stupid Preoccupations ^ 13. I'm Through ^ 14. interlude 5 15. Iraq ^ 16. Sleeping Beauty + 17. St. Michael My Pet Rat + 18. Home + 19. interlude 6 20. Just Some Silence * 21. Closing Down My House * 22. I See Through You * 23. interlude 7 24. Criticism As Inspiration # 25. interlude 8 26. The Devil Is Beating His Wife # 27. I Do # 28. Ladies And Gentlemen + 29. interlude 9 30. Patriot's Heart + 31. interlude 10 32. Johnny Mathis' Feet + 33. The Pool ^ 34. interlude 11 35. In My Way, Yes ^ * - Will Johnson # - David Bazan ^ - Vic Chesnutt + - Mark Eitzel  Friday, June 17, 2011
Felt ridiculously good to get back up in the River Gods DJ booth last night, especially with Jay from Clicky Clicky as my co-pilot. Trading hour-long slots, we hosted what will hopefully be the first of many "New Music Nights", playing nuthin' but recently-released (and some not-yet-released) songs from a mix of local and national bands. Best part about it (aside from forcing people to listen to my personal faves) was getting to sit at the bar and listen while Jay spun his ace selections. As much as we have in common, taste-wise, our playlists had just two artists in common (both from Boston), and they were different songs at that. Head over to Clicky Clicky for his list. My own is essentially a "faves of the year so far" list, filled out with new material from some Boston-area bands (Boy Without God, Cuffs, Plumerai, Buffalo Tom, WALLcreeper, Pretty & Nice, The Hush Now, The Diamond Mines), a few very-new live treats (Ted Leo, Allo Darlin', Morrissey), and some vinyl-only tracks from April's Record Store Day (New Pornographers, Nada Surf, Wild Flag). Most of the descriptions below include links to where you can buy the releases these songs come from, or go stream/download the songs themselves. Here you go...  NEW MUSIC NIGHT vol. 1 Thursday, June 16th, 2011 at River Gods in Cambridge, MA co-hosted by DJs Brad Almanac & Jay Clicky Clicky Set One / 9-10pm 01. Ted Leo - "The Little Smug Supper Club" live solo performance for Room 205 02. Buffalo Tom - "Down" from their latest album, "Skins" 03. The Hush Now - "The Athiest" single from the brand new remaster/remix of their "Constellations" LP 04. Wye Oak - "Holy Holy" from their third album, "Civilian" 05. Apex Manor - "I Know These Waters Well" from the debut LP, "The Year Of Magical Drinking" 06. Allo Darlin' - "Europe" the eventual title track of their next album live on WMBR's "Breakfast of Champions", 6/10/11 07. Plumerai - "Trip" from the new 2-song "NY-Trip '11" release 08. Boy Without God - "City Kids" From "God Bless The Hunger", out June 21st, 2011 09. WALLcreeper - "Lazy Stares" from the "Second Sight" EP 10. Pretty & Nice - "Yonkers" from the "Fantastic Artifact" 7-inch 11. Sam Roberts Band - "Longitude" from new album "Collider" / with co-vocalist Elizabeth Powell (Land of Talk) 12. Death Cab For Cutie - "Doors Unlocked and Open" From "Codes and Keys" 13. Wild Flag - "Future Crimes" From their debut 7-inch single 14. Nada Surf "You're Going To Miss The Wood" demo version from a Record Store Day 7-inch 15. The New Pornographers - "A Drug Deal Of The Heart" B-side from the Record Store Day "Moves" 7-inch Set Three / 11pm-midnight 16. The Joy Formidable - "The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade" from "The Big Roar" LP 17. Mogwai - "George Square Thatcher Death Party" from their "Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will" LP 18. Explosions In The Sky - "Trembling Hands" from the "Take Care, Take Care, Take Care" LP 19. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Tomorrow Dies Today" bonus track from the Japanese version of the "Belong" LP 20. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Same Mistake" preview track from "Hysterical", due out Sept. 20th, 2011 21. Morrissey - "The Kid's A Looker" premiered during a June 2011 BBC live session 22. Dum Dum Girls - "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" Smiths cover from the "He Gets Me High" EP 23. Under Electric Light - "Take Me Away" from the "Waiting For The Rain To Fall" LP 24. The Drums - "The New World" iTunes-only benefit song for Japan 25. Let's Whisper - "The Shortest Days" title track from their debut full-length 26. The One AM Radio - "An Old Photo of Your New Lover" from the "Heaven Is Attached By A Slender Thread" LP 27. Cuffs - "Privilege" from their debut 7-inch 28. Brave Irene - "River To The Sea" from their self-titled debut EP 29. Centro-Matic - "Only In My Double Mind" from the "Candidate Waltz" LP, due out 6/21/2011 30. The Diamond Mines - "Time Flies" from their self-titled debut LP 31. The Wooden Birds - "Baby Jeans" from their brand new "Two Matchsticks" LP 32. Low - "You See Everything" from the "C'Mon" LP (y'know, the one with the gorgeous album cover) 33. David Bazan - "Don't Change" from the "Strange Negotiations" full-length 34. The National - "Think You Can Wait" from the "Win Win" soundtrack and their new 7-inch Go check out Jay's playlists at Clicky Clicky Monday, June 13, 2011  Long-lived Aussie quartet The Church has been running a bit of a victory lap over the past year - marking their 30th anniversary as a band with a 2010 acoustic retrospective tour (no reunion needed!), getting inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in November, and mounting another U.S. visit for their 3-albums-live "Future Past Perfect" tour. Boston is very fortunate to be a regular stop for the band, with the acoustic roadshow hitting the Somerville Armory last Spring and the FPP tour visiting Foxboro(ugh)'s Showcase Live this past February. They really seem to love this area, and the fans at both those shows loved 'em right back.Their February visit was the second time I'd headed south to Word is that the Church are generally cool with live recordings, so I'm sharing up mine from that Massachusetts stop of the "Future Past Perfect" tour in three parts - one for each album they played in full that evening. First comes their run through their most recent full-length, 2009's "Untitled #23", and it will be followed in the coming weeks by live renditions of 1992's "Priest=Aura" and 1988's "Starfish", the band's well-known U.S. breakthrough. Please to enjoy...  The Church Live at Showcase Live in Foxboro, MA on Friday, February 18th, 2011 [Download all 10 tracks in one 106 MB .zip file] 01. Cobalt Blue 02. Deadman's Hand 03. Pangaea 04. Happenstance 05. Space Saviour 06. On Angel Street 07. Sunken Sun 08. Anchorage 09. Lunar 10. Operetta  To continue your Church-specific surfing... Remember, you can easily stream any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine. Be sure to check out their new iPhone app, which allows you to stream blog-specific content on your fancy little phone.  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 256kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed. Friday, June 03, 2011  In honor of the now-in-progress Boston Beer Week, I'm letting the beer-geek in me take over for the music-geek that usually runs this place. I have few vices, but drinking quality beer is one of them - in fact, it's safe to say that many an Almanac post came to you courtesy of a preparatory pint.Boston Beer Week, which officially kicked off last Friday and finishes up this Sunday, is centered around this weekend's 2-day, 3-session American Craft Beer Fest, put together by BeerAdvocate.com's Alström brothers. Tonight and tomorrow over 100 craft brewers will gather inside the waterfront's Seaport World Trade Center to deliver over 500 different beers in 2-ounce sample glasses. While this year marks the 4th annual fest, my first visit was last year, and it was glorious. I imbibed much, learned a lot, outlasted my low-tolerance co-pilot, and swore I'd do it again next year. So here we are, hours away from the best selection of craft beers you're likely to find anywhere on planet Earth. I figured I'd use this space to share some of my thoughts on last year's fest, ramble a bit about the experience, and maybe add to the enjoyment of any first-time attendees. Some of these tips will be ridiculously obvious, some far less so... 12 Tips for Surviving Boston's American Craft Beer Fest 1. Buy advance tickets. Duh. There are three sessions to choose from (Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday evening), and in all likelihood they'll each sell out. So make with the clicking or the rest of these tips won't do you any good at all. 2. Before you go, grab a festival guide from a Boston-area bar. Many local establishments have stacks of the well-designed and ultra-informative booklets with a list of all the brewers, the beers they plan to serve, a map of the fest floor, along with beer basics and tips for attendees. If you want to get anal about your pre-planning, this thing is perfect. I picked mine up at Allston's Deep Ellum (shocker to those who know me, I'm sure). Look over the list of brewers and beers, circle the ones that grab you, and mark their booths on the map. If you don't have time to grab a guide, hit up the online list of brewers & beers ahead of time.  3. Eat something, and hydrate well, before your session. Seriously. While there are plenty of concessions available inside the fest, you don't want to find yourself getting too tipsy too fast. Speaking of which... 4. Take public transportation. You will get buzzed at this thing. Especially if you're an Imperial IPA fan, like I am. You're not going to find a designated driver at a beer fest, and you aren't going to resist having 'just one more sample'. Two-ounce tastes add up quickly. 5. Bring a palette-cleanser. I was both amused and impressed by the handful of seasoned beerfest veterans wearing self-made pretzel-necklaces. If you're not quite that resourceful, a little baggie of crackers will do. At the very least, make sure you rinse your sample glass between booth visits with the water coolers scattered around the floor - use them to keep your tastings experiences self-contained. 6. Arrive early. While the main entrance queue moves quickly, it's massive. You might want to show up 30 minutes before doors, at least. 7. Pick a few of must-taste brewers to start with, and cross them off your checklist first. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the choices, but it's good to get a couple in-demand booth visits under your belt right away. By far the longest booth lines of last year's ACBF were at Pretty Things and Dogfish Head, so if those are on your list, hit them up quickly.  8. Don't overplan. As much as mapping out your day helps, leave some room for spontaneity. Stroll down the aisles and look for displays that strike you. Stop by a lonely booth and take a chance - just because there's no line doesn't mean there's bad beer. Make an unexpected discovery. 9. Along those lines, support the little guys. Look for the mom-n-pop brewers without slick banners and merchandise, because these are the places that could give you the most unique tasting experiences. They're also the ones without large distribution, so this may be your only easy chance to try them. The booth I'm most excited about visiting this year is Lawson's Finest Liquids from Warren, Vermont, whose Triple Play IPA won this year's Brewing News National IPA Championship. While they won't have that beer at the fest, I'm looking forward to trying their Double Sunshine IPA. 10. Step out of your beer comfort zone. I know what I like, and what I like is a strong IPA. Doubles, Imperials, whatever. My mission last year was to find new favorites, and while I did just that (Paper City's Hop Monster, Wachusett's Larry, McNeill's Warlord, and above all, Uinta's Detour), I also found a few non-IPAs I dug. I'm generally not a dark beer fan, but Duck-Rabbit's Milk Stout was damn delicious. 11. Don't finish bad samples. Yes, they're only two ounce pours, but if you're not into that first sip, dump the rest in one of the many barrels scattered around the floor. Save your relative sobriety for better beers. 12. Take notes! The festival guidebooks have handy little boxes to fill in next to every beer where you can grade your tastings. I'm guessing the guys will provide pencils at the fest, but bring something to write with just in case. It's highly unlikely you'll remember every beer you try, especially with a, um, healthy buzz on. Don't just look at the ACBF as a few hours of fun, but as a chance to make you a more informed beer drinker. The Alström brothers also have a few tips of their own inside the ACBF guide, including the ever-important "beer fest line etiquette", which can be summarized thusly: When you get your sample, move the heck outta the way. If you want to chat with the brewer, do it from the side of the booth, not from the front of a long line. Also very important: Pace yourself - enjoy each sip rather than rushing to get the most samples for your entry fee. For the latest ACBF news, follow Beer Advocate on Twitter (use the #ACBF hashtag if you tweet) or hit them up on Facebook. If you're looking to do more at the fest than just sample suds, check out the special guests at the "beer forum" seminars happening at each session, and snag tickets if the subjects strike you. For a visual look at what you're in for, have a look at my photos from last year's ACBF. Lastly, check out the huge list of Boston Beer Week events happening all over the area through Sunday. And if you're going to the Saturday afternoon ACBF session, I'll see ya down at the Seaport. Labels: beer |
 fugazi live in burlington, vermont in early spring 1991 previously: david bazan - solo in allston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac...
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