Last Night’s Playlist (Tourfilter DJ Night @ River Gods)
Posted on August 21, 2009 at 9:17 am | No Comments
Short on sleep and short on time, but I wanted to share last night’s playlist from my latest visit to the River Gods DJ booth for Tourfilter night. For those not in the know, there’s one rule: I only play songs by bands that are coming to the Boston area in the next month or two. I’m especially proud of this one, as I think it contains the highest percentage of locally-made music I’ve played yet… which is a combination of two things: My increased efforts to track down the good stuff, and the amount of really great songs being released around here lately. But more on that in an imminent post.
So here’s the 32-song list, along with the show details for each of these bands’ upcoming appearances (some as soon as tonight). You’ll see a bunch of pre-release songs (thanks, promo people!) alongside old faves. Spent a lot of time on the sequencing of this one… and I’m particularly pleased with the “The Light“/The Lights Out/”Light Into Dark” triptych. What can I say, it’s the little things…
Bradley’s Almanac
Tourfilter DJ Night playlist
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
@ River Gods, Cambridge, MA
01. Lou Barlow – “The One I Call“
playing Fri. & Sat., Oct. 2nd & 3rd @ the Middle East Downstairs
02. School of Seven Bells – “Connjur” (acoustic)
playing Saturday, Oct. 17th @ the Paradise
03. David Bazan – “Hard To Be“
playing a full band show on Tuesday, Oct. 20th @ TTs
04. The Soft Drugs – “Don’t Sweat It“
playing Tuesday, Oct. 20th @ TT the Bears with David Bazan
05. Grand Archives – “Silver Among The Gold“
playing Saturday, Oct. 10th @ Great Scott
06. Mike Gent (of the Figgs) – “Buried Me Alive“
playing Sunday, September 13th @ TT the Bears
07. Choo Choo La Rouge – “Mostly Air“
playing their CD release show tonight, Friday, August 21st @ PA’s Lounge
08. Built to Spill – “Car“
playing Oct. 9th – 11th @ the Middle East down
09. Loney Dear – “Airport Surroundings“
playing Wednesday, Oct. 14th @ Great Scott
10. Dear Leader – “The Blueprint“
playing Friday, Oct. 2nd @ the Paradise
11. Hallelujah the Hills – “Blank Passports“
playing their album release show on Sat., Sept. 26th @ Great Scott
12. Pinback – “Non Photo-Blue“
playing on Halloween @ the Paradise
13. Lucero – “Tears Don’t Matter Much“
playing Greenfest @ City Hall Plaza tomorrow
14. Dinosaur Jr. – “See You”
playing Friday & Saturday, Oct. 2nd & 3rd @ the Middle East Down
15. The Beatings – “Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained”
playing their CD release show on Sat., Sept. 12th @ Great Scott
16. Sunny Day Real Estate – “In Circles”
playing Monday, Sept. 28th @ the House of Blues
17. The Motion Sick – “The Owls Are Not What They Seem“
playing the Boston Ahts Festival on Sat., Sept. 12th
18. Autolux – “Turnstile Blues“
playing (finally!) on Thursday, Sept. 10th @ the Paradise
19. The Hush Now – “Hoping and Waiting“
playing on Saturday, Sept. 12th @ Great Scott
20. “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” cast – “Dayman“
performing “The Nightman Cometh” on Tues., Sept. 15th @ HoBlues
21. Sleepyhead – “CB“
playing Sunday, August 23rd @ TT the Bears
22. Yo La Tengo – “Nothing To Hide“
playing Wednesday, Sept. 16th @ the Wilbur Theatre
23. The Operators – “The Light“
reuniting tonight @ PA’s Lounge
24. The Lights Out – “Never Going Back“
playing tomorrow @ Greenfest & a CD release show on Sept. 25th @ TTs
25. Mean Creek – “Light Into Dark“
playing Thursday, Sept. 17th @ TT the Bears
26. Pretty & Nice – “Tora Tora Tora“
playing Friday, Sept. 11th @ Boston University
27. You Can Be A Wesley – “Make Up Your God“
playing Friday, Sept. 11th @ Boston University
28. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Higher Than The Stars“
playing Saturday, Sept. 5th @ the Middle East Downstairs
29. Asobi Seksu – “Let Them Wait“
playing Wednesday, Oct. 14th @ Great Scott
30. The Flaming Lips – “Do You Realize?“
playing Sunday, August 30th @ the BoA Pavilion
31. Caspian – “Of Foam and Wave“
playing their album release show on Saturday, August 29th @ TTs
32. Explosions in the Sky – “Your Hand In Mine“
playing Sunday, August 30th @ the BoA Pavilion
Live Mp3s: Telekinesis in Cambridge, MA
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 11:05 am | No Comments
I’ve had the good fortune of seeing Telekinesis play live a couple times in the six months since the release of their gloriously catchy self-titled debut disc – once here in Boston on the eve of the album’s arrival back in late March, and again just two weeks ago down at XX Merge in North Carolina. While the album showcases the songs and multi-instrumental talents of Seattlite Michael Lerner, he’s taken a far different approach than most singer/songwriters (who might hit the road with a guitar and a microphone) and brings along a couple guitarists and a bass player to surround him as he handles vocals and drums with ease. And despite being anchored to a drum throne, he provides an energetic focal point for the four-piece, propelling his already-infectious songs along with rock-steady floor tom beats and perfectly-placed cymbals strikes. It really is a joy to watch.
The band’s March set at Cambridge’s Middle East was a too-short, first-of-four opening slot (with Blind Pilot, the Broken West, and Say Hi), and I’ve been hoping for a proper (i.e. headlining) return to town ever since. Well, the wait might be awhile longer, as a broken hip has sidelined one of Michael’s bandmates, and a personal loss kept the other two from joining him at XX Merge. If you’re a SCORE! subscriber, you’ve seen the gorgeous new mini-book that reprints the artwork of every single Merge release from their first 20 years, and you’ll find the Telekinesis cover on the very last page. I couldn’t imagine there was any way Merge’s most-recent signing and anniversary book-end was going to miss the party down in Carrboro. I’d heard whispers of some unfortunate circumstances causing the pre-fest band-scramble, and wondered if we’d actually get a rare Telekinesis solo set this time, until I saw a drum kit and a couple of amps being lined up on stage. So while it appeared we get some kind of last-minute line-up, I certainly didn’t expect who walked out on stage – Nada Surf‘s frontman Matthew Caws on guitar and backing vocals with Ivan Howard of the Rosebuds on bass. And after just one practice, well, the trio simply nailed it.
While we patiently wait for audio and visual evidence of that special set to see the light of day, and while the Boston area awaits the live return of Telekinesis, here’s my recording of their Spring set (minus the missing opening song), shared with M.L.’s permission. Note that it includes the non-album “One Step Forward“, as well as a version of “Calling All Doctors” that differs pretty dramatically from the album recording…
Live at the Middle East Downstairs
in Cambridge, MA
on Monday, March 30th, 2009
01. All Of A Sudden
02. Imaginary Friend
03. Tokyo
04. Great Lakes
05. Calling All Doctors
06. One Step Forward
07. Coast Of Carolina
Some Telekinesis links…
Their MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, Merge Records artist page, the Telekinesis Merge news blog posts, and Michael’s own Flickr page. Additional Audio: You can stream the entirety of the Telekinesis debut over at Merge, sample some songs on MySpace, and make sure you listen to both this KEXP/NPR live session, where four songs were laid down, and an excellent set for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. Buy your own copy of “Telekinesis!” right here. Video: There are official clips for “Tokyo“ and “Awkward Kisser”, and lots of live video through a Telekinesis YouTube search (filtered by music, unless you were hoping to see some mind-induced movement). The above KCRW set has video, as does an in-studio appearance at The Alternate Side. Photos: My Flickr-hosted shots are here, including the ones from XX Merge. Check out the full Telekinesis Flickr search (which will include photographic evidence of attempted mental motion). Upcoming tourdates: Just the one – an appearance at the Bumbershoot fest in Seattle on September 5th. As always, stream any ‘Nac-shared Mp3s at the Hype Machine.
the finest of prints… 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.