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recommended boston area events

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

am

@ 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


Friday, September 11, 2009

A Bona Fide Boston Music Boom - Part 1 of 2

Imagine me saying this in my most sickeningly sincere voice possible: It has been a very, very long time since I've been as excited about Boston-made music (and specifically, discovering the new) as I have been over this past couple months. I've been listening to a whole lot of area bands lately, and I feel like I've barely even scratched the sonic surface. So I'm going to take a quick run down of the locally-grown music that has been filling my ears and warming my heart as the summer fades, and point you in the direction of where you can buy their work or see 'em play next. And if any of the free n' legal mp3s that follow grab you, hopefully you'll do both.

While I'm going to stick mostly to the facts here, rather than all-out flattery, if a band is listed here, they are entirely Almanac-endorsed. In this first part, I'll rattle off some albums that were released recently that you may have missed, a couple of which I've mentioned and a few I've been meaning to. In part two, which I hope to post later this coming week, I'll focus on just-released or upcoming releases that I'm excited about, along with some completely free offerings from some new bands. And off we go...


In late July, Taunton's own Wheat released their latest full-length, "White Ink, Black Ink", and they've shared a couple of songs and a video from it...
[Mp3]: Wheat - "H.O.T.T."
[Mp3]: Wheat - "Changes Is"
[Video]: Wheat - "Changes Is" (in .mov format / youtube here)
Pick up your own copy of the disc here, and be sure to visit thiswheat.com, where you'll find a load of shared live sets. The band plays their next area show on a Saturday night, October 24th, downstairs at the Middle East in Central Square with Jukebox The Ghost, and tickets go on sale next Friday, September 18th. If you're lucky, they'll do their Daft Punk cover.


You'd think I'd be slightly tired of You Can Be A Wesley's debut record, "Heard Like Us", by now, given how much I've listened to it (and how many times I'd heard the live versions of the songs before the album arrived), but it's still making frequent and welcome appearances in my playlists. Here's the oft-shared "Creatures", which leads off side 2 of the LP (and I love that I can say that)...
[Mp3] You Can Be A Wesley - "Creatures"
Listen to a couple more songs at their Muxtape page, grab the album digitally from Amazon.com, or snag a copy of the vinyl from the band at one of their shows (no cd on this one, kids!). Your next chance to do that is tonight, when the band plays their alma mater (that's B.U. to you and me) as part of a WTBU Day show, which starts at 8pm at the George Sherman Union, 775 Commonwealth Ave. Admission is free for students, and just 5 bucks otherwise, and joining them are Pretty & Nice and Magic Magic. That's a steal at less than 2 bucks a band.

YCBAW will play again soon, when they Allston's Great Scott on Sept. 26th to help Hallelujah The Hills celebrate the release of their own new album. But more on that in the tomorrow's half of this post.

(and on a total side note - nice to see half of YCBAW in the Autolux-appreciating crowd last night at the 'Dise.)


First, I owe an apology to Mean Creek - I was somehow pre-programmed to take a first glance at your band name and incorrectly guess 'bluegrass?'. Nothing against bluegrass, but I'm really glad I dove into their wonderful new disc, "The Sky (Or The Underground)", to discover that is most definitely not the case. Listen to the title track to hear for yourself...
[Mp3] Mean Creek - "The Sky (or the Underground)"
The band celebrated the release of the disc last month, so you can get the tracks digitially from Amie Street or other sources listed here, or physically from Old Flame Records. Their next show is today, when they hit the Boston waterfront for The Boston Arts Festival in Christopher Columbus Park at 5:45pm, they're playing TT's on Sept. 17th, and they'll also be part of the Mark Sandman Memorial Concert on September 27th.


On the same night, and on the same stage, that Mean Creek celebrated their album's release, so did their friends in Drug Rug. "Paint The Fence Invisible" is 11 tracks in just over 30 minutes, short sharp shocks of catchy songs that dig in deep and stay there. Here's one...
[Mp3] Drug Rug - "Never Tell"
Stream the entire album (or better yet, buy the damn thing) at LaLa. If you didn't catch them at that CD release show, then you'll be waiting until their in-progress tour with Portugal. The Man comes to Boston on October 18th. Tickets for that Paradise show can be obtained right here.


There are musicians you love, and then there are musicians who are loved by the musicians you love. I happily discovered Cambridge's own Choo Choo La Rouge thanks to singer/songwriter Jennifer O'Connor, who digs them enough to put out their "Black Clouds" album out on her very own Kiam Records imprint last month. Here's a song and brand new video for your edumusication...
[Mp3] Choo Choo La Rouge - "It's Gonna Happen Fast"
[Video] Choo Choo La Rouge - "Here Come The Guns"
Pick up the album digitally from Amazon (and be sure to sample to my favorite track, "Mostly Air"), or a disc direct from Jennifer at Kiam. The trio celebrated with a release show in Somerville a few weeks back, but only have a couple of out of October out-of-town shows booked at the moment. Keep an eye and ear out for their next Boston-area appearance.


Oh Caspian, my Caspian. This is far from the first, nor will it be the last, time I've mentioned these Beverly-based boys on this site. The occasion? The arrival of their majestic (a word easily applied) second full-length, "Tertia". Yes, they fit in the ol' instrumental post-rock category, but they do it with such passion, such power, that seeing them live can be both a mentally and physically moving experience. A sold-out crowd experienced that a couple weeks ago at the TT's release party, where I finally got to hold the hefty, beautifully designed, double-vinyl version of the album in my happy little hands. Here's a meager digital taste of "Tertia"...
[Mp3] Caspian - "Of Foam and Wave"
Know what you can do right now? Go download the entire album, for free, at Gimme Sound, or better yet, order up that 180g double-vinyl (or cd) from their label, Mylene Sheath. The band, who have just weathered a line-up shift and emerged ready for the road, have been set loose upon Europe for a massive two-month tour, and they'll return to our shows for an October 29th homecoming set upstairs at the Middle East. Which spells sellout. Tickets here.


Keep an eye out for part two, in which I'll spotlight some upcoming albums and associated live shows I'm anticipating, along with pointers to even more free music made in and around our little city.

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david bazan + his band
live at tt the bear's place
in cambridge, mass.
on tuesday, october 20th, 2009

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