Last Night’s Playlist (Tourfilter DJ Night @ River Gods)
Posted on January 22, 2010 at 12:41 pm | No Comments
With the emotional sh*tstorm that enveloped me late last year, a few things had to fall aside, and sadly one of them was my regularly-scheduled DJ night at River Gods in Cambridge. I haven’t been up in the booth since August, and while December’s Bazaar Bizarre set went a long way towards satisfying my DJ jones, the five-month break from RGs was too damn long.
Last night, that break ended as I once again joined my pal Chris Marstall (of peerless live concert scheduling site Tourfilter) to split a Thursday song-sharing slot at one of my favorite bars. I put together two hours worth of tracks by bands who are coming to town within the next couple months, and it went a little something like this…
Bradley’s Almanac
Tourfilter DJ Night playlist
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
@ River Gods, Cambridge, MA
01. Kings of Convenience – “Renegade“
playing @ the Paradise on Friday, February 12th
02. Jonathan Richman – “Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild“
playing @ the Middle East Upstairs on February 16th, 17th, & 18th
03. Taken By Trees – “Greyest Love Of All“
playing @ the Cambridge YMCA theatre on Friday, February 19th
04. The Clientele – “Bonfires On The Heath“
playing @ Great Scott on Sunday, March 21st
05. Midlake – “Rulers Ruling All Things“
playing @ the Paradise on Friday, April 9th
06. The Novel Ideas – “Julian Carax“
playing @ Church on Friday, January 29th
07. Ryan Lee Crosby – “Nicoline“
playing @ TT the Bears on Monday, February 5th with Elio Deluca
and then as a quartet on Feb. 22nd
08. Shearwater – “Black Eyes“
playing @ TT the Bears on Tuesday, March 30th
09. Field Music – “Measure“
playing @ Great Scott on Sunday, March 21st
10. Beach House – “Norway“
playing @ the Paradise on Sunday, March 28th
11. The XX – “Islands“
playing @ the Paradise on Friday, April 2nd
12. Asobi Seksu – “Familiar Light“
playing @ Cafe 939 on Saturday, January 30th
13. The Antlers – “Two“
playing @ House of Blues on Thursday, February 18th
14. Wye Oak – “Siamese“
playing @ TT the Bears on Tuesday, March 30th
15. One Happy Island – “Temporary Tattoo“
playing @ Great Scott on Monday, March 15th
16. Standard Fare – “A Night With A Friend“
playing @ Great Scott on Monday, March 15th
17. Deerhunter – “Never Stops“
playing @ the House of Blues on Saturday, March 27th with Spoon
18. Rogue Wave – “Good Morning“
playing @ the Paradise on Monday, March 1st
19. Editors – “Munich“
playing @ House of Blues on Thursday, February 18th
20. Love Is All – “Kungen“
playing @ the Middle East Downstairs on Wednesday, March 31st
21. Obits – “Pine On“
playing @ the Paradise on Saturday, April 10th
22. Quasi – “Repulsion“
playing @ the Middle East Downstairs on Tuesday, April 20th
23. Mean Creek – “The Patient“
playing @ TT the Bears on Wednesday, February 3rd
24. Dear Leader – “The Blue Print“
playing @ the House of Blues on Saturday, January 30th
25. Girlfriends – “I Was Here But I Disappear“
playing @ the Middle East Downstairs on Wednesday, March 31st
26. The Morning Benders – “Promises“
playing @ TT the Bears on Saturday, April 17th
27. The Crushing Low – “Dead Man’s Hands“
playing @ Great Scott on Tuesday, February 2nd
28. Nada Surf – “Treading Water“
playing @ the Paradise on Saturday, April 3rd
29. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – “Even Heroes Have To Die“
playing @ the Paradise on Saturday, April 10th
30. Adam Franklin & The Bolts of Melody – “Surge“
playing @ Great Scott on Tuesday, February 2nd
31. The Wedding Present – “What Have I Said Now“
play their entire 1989 sophomore LP ‘Bizarro’
@ the Middle East Downstairs on Monday, April 12th
32. Retribution Gospel Choir – “Poor Man’s Daughter“
playing @ Great Scott on Thursday, January 28th
Live Mp3s: David Bazan + his band in Cambridge, MA
Posted on January 10, 2010 at 10:47 pm | No Comments
In preamble, let’s examine David Bazan‘s 2009: Play dozens of intimate, solo acoustic, and very sold-out house shows in living rooms across the country. After wrestling with it for a few years, finish up and release “Curse Your Branches”, a genuinely revealing diary of his struggles with faith and alcohol – and the first full-length bearing his own name. While promoting said album through even-more-revealing interviews and acoustic performances, pull together and prepare a top-notch crew of talented friends for his first full-band tour since his days fronting Pedro the Lion. With funds provided from his loyal fanbase, buy a van so they can head out on the road. Embark on that tour and knock ’em dead. Head home to Seattle and his family for some much-deserved rest. Whew.
We here in the Boston area were fortunate to have David visit last year in both forms: An August solo acoustic house show in Beverly, MA (shared here), and just two months later, a club gig with his bandmates: Casey Foubert, Eric Elbogen, Andy Fitts, and Blake Wescott.
With the kind support of both his label and management, here is the sound of those five gentlemen knocking us dead on an October Tuesday night at Cambridge’s TT the Bears. See below for even more DB tourdates, including more solo shows and another long U.S. tour that starts in March…
Live at TT the Bears
in Cambridge, MA
on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
[download all the songs below in this .zip file]
01. Hard To Be
02. Please Baby Please
03. I Do
04. Bless This Mess
05. Magazine
06. Heavy Breath
07. Q&A #1
08. Cold Beer and Cigarettes
09. When We Fell
10. Lost My Shape
11. Curse Your Branches
12. Q&A #2
13. Fewer Broken Pieces
14. Bearing Witness
15. Keep Swinging
16. How I Remember
17. Q&A #3
18. I Never Wanted You
19. In Stitches
encore…
20. Priests and Paramedics
21. Harmless Sparks
Some David Bazan links…
His official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, Barsuk label page, and Undertow Music page. And if you’re more than a casual DB fan, spend some time on the PTL.org forum and marvel at the minutia and occasional attempts at ‘humor’. Buy: Pick up “Curse Your Branches” direct from either Undertow or Barsuk. I highly recommend getting the vinyl version, which was mastered specifically for wax, and sounds phenomenal. Visit the Undertow store for a whole bunch more Bazan-related merch. Additional Audio: Barsuk offers up an MP3 for “Bless This Mess” here on their CYB page. Download “Cold Beer and Cigarettes” from his first solo EP right here. David provided us with a ton of excellent audio while promoting the latest album, including live solo sessions for Daytrotter, The Current, and WNYC’s Soundcheck. Video: Hoo-boy. If you’re ready to dive into live DB video, you need to set aside some time. Despite the relative lack of official videos (the best of which is the “Alone At The Microphone” DVD), there are live clips galore. And by “galore“, I mean, “all over YouTube”. When you play in dozens of strangers’ living rooms over the course of a year, and play a couple months of excellent gigs, that shit is going to end up on the u-tubes, so start watching. Especially great is this very new video of David and Blake doing PTL classic “Bad Diary Days” at a house show just a few days back. And have a look at the ABC News Amplified feature on Dave, which also had them sharing a couple clips from one of the first full-band shows at Pianos in NYC. Here are direct links to their performances of “Hard To Be“ and “Bless This Mess”.
Photos: All of my Flickr-hosted DB snaps are here. And here’s a full DB Flickr tag search. Upcoming tourdates: Lots! 2010 sees David emerging from his holiday break with more acoustic living room sets and full band shows. Sadly, none are in the Boston area, but we’re a patient bunch, and we were spoiled last year. His solo appearances are on the West Coast, then all over Europe, and the full-band U.S. tour ends up hitting many of the spots he missed last year. Because he cares. See the entire itinerary here. As always, you can easily stream every ‘Nac-hosted MP3 through 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.
And while I’m at it, Happy Birthday to my mom. Who, at the very least, was responsible for me. And so much more. Thanks, Mom.