Live Mp3s: John Vanderslice in Somerville, MA
Posted on May 12, 2009 at 10:43 am | No Comments
One week from today, John Vanderslice officially releases his new full-length, “Romanian Names”, through the Dead Oceans label, and will soon after head out on lengthy North American tour to support it. Even without this new album and upcoming live schedule, this spring has been a good time to be a JV fan – his recent “Gone Primitive” tour with the Mountain Goats‘ John Darnielle was truly special, and not only did the collaboration result in some great shows, but the limited edition JV/JD split vinyl “Moon Colony Bloodbath” EP.
It’s been relatively tough for fans to track down a copy of that EP, due not only to its limited nature (just 1000, with 200 of those on green vinyl), but the fact that it was delayed and not to be found at the Johns’ merch table until the very end of the tour. Post-tour, copies made their way into a couple record stores and quickly disappeared, and 150 were briefly made available as the very last item offered through 3 Beads of Sweat mailorder, which has now officially shut down (RIP). I was fortunate enough to get one from 3BoS, but if you didn’t, you’re now in luck: They’ve just become available through the US arm of the Beggars Group. So go here immediately, because they’ll be gone soon enough. I can tell you this: The packaging is gorgeous, and the songs and sound quality are tops. Totally worth taking for multiple spins.
For more immediate JV gratification, NPR is now streaming “Romanian Names” in its entirety, and if you pre-order the album from Dead Oceans, you’ll get sent download codes so you can start listening ahead of your mailman’s arrival (although you’re likely too late to be one of the first 100 pre-orders, and missed out on getting a chunk of the studio tape from the RM sessions).
Here’s my full recording of Mr. Vanderslice’s set from the “Gone Primitive” tour’s March visit to Somerville, Mass — the companion piece to my recent sharing of Mr. Darnielle’s stellar performance. To be heard are acoustic versions of a couple “Romanian Names” songs, along with one of the numbers he wrote for the “MCB” EP (“Lucifer Rising“), along with some old JV faves (as a Tascam owner, I’m always glad to hear “Me and My 424“). Enjoy, and look below for two Mp3s from the album as well…
Live at the Somerville Theatre
in Somerville, MA
on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
01. intro
02. Romanian Names
03. Sunken Union Boat
04. banter
05. Angela
06. Radiant With Terror
07. Me and My 424
08. Dead Slate Pacific
09. Time To Go
10. Lucifer Rising
11. Trance Manual
12. Too Much Time
13. White Dove
14. Keep The Dream Alive
15. Pale Horses
Some various Vanderslice linkage…
His official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, Twitter page, Dead Oceans label page, and Barsuk label page. Pre-order “Romanian Names” here. Additional Audio: In addition to the NPR’s full album stream, two promo Mp3s from “Romanian Names” have been made available… [Album Stream] John Vanderslice – “Romanian Names”[Mp3]
John Vanderslice – “Fetal Horses“Video: John has made a few official videos, including clips for “Time To Go”, “Trance Manual”, “Exodus Damage”, and “Plymouth Rock”. For a wealth of fan-made live clips, run a Vanderslice YouTube search. Photos: My Flickr-hosted shots are here. Check out the full Vanderslice Flickr search. Upcoming tour dates: As I mentioned, John has a lengthy tour booked in the wake of the “Romanian Names” release…
Sun May 17 – Merced, CA @ The Partisan
Tue May 19 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
Thu May 21 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Fri May 22 – Seattle, WA @ Easy Street Records
Sun May 24 – George, WA @ Sasquatch Music Festival
Wed May 27 – Provo, UT, @ Velour
Thu May 28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Fri May 29 – Denver CO, @ Hi Dive
Sat May 30 – Omaha NE,@ Slowdown Jr.
Mon Jun 01 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Wed Jun 03 – Iowa City, IA @ The Mill
Thu Jun 04 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Fri Jun 05 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
Sat Jun 06 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Sat Jun 06 – Chicago, IL @ Metronome Celebration
Mon Jun 08 – Newport, KY @ The Southgate House
Tue Jun 09 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Andy Warhol Museum
Thu Jun 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Fri Jun 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sat Jun 13 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Sun Jun 14 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
Tue Jun 16 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Wed Jun 17 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
Thu Jun 18 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Fri Jun 19 – St. Augustine, FL @ Cafe Eleven
Sun Jun 21 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
Tue Jun 23 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
Thu Jun 25 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
Fri Jun 26 – Austin, TX @ The Parish
Sun Jun 28 – Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
Mon Jun 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
Tue Jun 30 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
Sat Jul 11 – Ottawa, ON @ Cisco Systems Bluesfest
Sun Jul 12 – Ottawa, ON @ Cisco Systems Bluesfest
Sat Aug 29 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival
Sat Oct 03 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits FestivalEasily stream any and all ‘Nac-hosted Mp3s at Le Machine de Hype.
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.
So Many Songs For Sharing
Posted on May 6, 2009 at 2:48 pm | No Comments
I live! Fully recovered and re-energized after last Friday’s amazing pop/rock show at TTs, I return here to share a whole lotta songs. I’m prepping to post a nice John Vanderslice live show (to go along with that recent John Darnielle set), but before I get to that, I wanted to pass along a whole mess of guilt-free Mp3s, totally legal downloads from new and upcoming releases that have grabbed me lately.
Free songs follow from Tara Jane ONeil, Loney, Dear, LoveLikeFire, Sky Larkin, The Legends, Wye Oak, The Wooden Birds, Liechtenstein, Cause Co-Motion!, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, British Sea Power, I Was A King, Pony Up, and The Mary Onettes. Have at ’em…
Yesterday was a pretty solid new release Tuesday, but there’s one disc in particular that stands out for me: A fresh full-lengther from Tara Jane ONeil. Now part of the venerable K Records roster, TJO gives us “A Ways Away”, and here’s a taste…
I’ll be at Great Scott tonight for the return of Emil Svanangen’s Loney, Dear, and it will be in marked contrast to the last time I saw him and his band at the far more spacious (and seated) Somerville Theatre, opening for Low. Given the fairly healthy amount of attention he’s received in the intervening two years, I’m surprised to see him returning to such a small venue, but I’m certainly not complaining. Looking forward to seeing him play lots of songs from his latest, and I’m also intrigued by opener (and fellow Vermonter?) Lia Ices.
Here’s the opening track from Loney, Dear‘s excellent “Dear John”…
Having put out a couple of excellent EPs, San Fran quartet LoveLikeFire will release their debut full-length later this year, but before that we get one more EP entitled “William”. It’s now available via iTunes (and can be streamed here), they’ve got a video for the title track, and have offered up one of the songs from the EP for sharing…
[Mp3] LoveLikeFire – “Signs“
The band spends the month of May over in the UK, so if you’re over in ol’ blighty, have a look at the dates, and be sure to bookmark their new blog.
I owe Michael over at Safe As Milk a debt of gratitude for turning me on to Leeds trio Sky Larkin awhile back. Really good stuff. The band has posted details on the cassette (yes, cassette… and digital download) they’re releasing in the UK next week on Wichita Recordings entitled “Antibodies”, and have shared up one of the remixes from Side A…
If you’ve never heard them before, don’t judge ’em by the bjorky-bleep-bloop of that remix, but instead visit their MySpace for some guitar-flavored goodness. Their first full-lengther, “The Golden Spike”, was supposedly released last month here in North America, but damned if I can’t find anywhere to order it non-import.
Also import-only (for now) is The Legends new album on the seemingly infallible Labrador label. “Over and Over” is out today, and while I’ve been very much into all of (primary Legend and Labrador co-founder) Johan Angergard’s work to date, the advance single from this new one didn’t do much for me. There’s a good song to be found inside “Seconds Away“, but it’s buried underneath a layer of guitar squeal that overloads my ears a bit. My FSA-phase is long behind me, and in fact, my favorite part of the cut is when that noize track cuts out for a few seconds. Makes me wish for an alternate mix, and has me hoping the rest of the album doesn’t follow that fuzzy suit. In any case, here’s the track, which I should probably give a few more chances…
Order “Over and Over” direct from Labrador here.
Baltimore duo Wye Oak will release their new Merge album, “The Knot”, on July 21st (just in time for the XX Merge bash!). It’ll be their first work recorded specifically for the label (with last year’s debut, “If Children”, being more of post-signing re-release), and I’m really looking forward to hearing what Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner have in store for this follow-up. This first dose promises very good things…
I haven’t had a chance to write about the first Boston visit from former American Analog Set frontman Andrew Kenny’s new quintet, The Wooden Birds, but I was unsurprisingly enamored with their performance, and will hopefully be sharing my recording of it when their debut album, “Magnolia”, arrives from Barsuk next week. Those of us fortunate enough to see the band recently were able to pick up the vinyl version (which includes download codes), and you can already order that from Barsuk as well.
Two Mp3s from the album have been (legally) let loose into the world…
Have a listen to the WOXY session that the band recorded during their visit to SxSW, and Europeans would do well to check out their list of live dates as they continue through Spain, Germany, and Austria this month.
The re-emergence of the wonderful Slumberland record label in 2006 has proven no mere nostalgia trip (PoBPaH, anyone?) — they pretty much picked up where they left off and have continued to put out some really strong stuff. Well, they’ve announced another signing with Swedish trio Liechtenstein, who will release a mini-LP called “Survival Strategies In A Modern World” on June 2nd. And more relevant to us Bostonians: They’re coming to town to play the tiny Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge on Sunday, May 18th with Pants Yell!. Here’s hoping they’ll have some early copies of that album with ’em. Here’s a preview Mp3…
For New Yorkers, Liechtenstein will also appear at the NYC Popfest on Friday night, May 15th.
Speaking of Slumberland, their Brooklyn-based act Cause Co-Motion! came to Cambridge a couple weeks back to play an outdoor MIT/WMBR event, and it ended up being my very first listen. I went for Sleepyhead and Plus/Minus, but walked away with a new band to dig. They’ve got a new EP out this month titled “Because Because Because”, and have offered up the last of its six songs as a freebie…
Shall I make it a Slumberland tri-fecta? Sure, why not. It pains me that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have no Boston-area date on their extensive travel schedule, although it’s a bit greedy to hope for such a quick return… they were here in February after all. I missed that one, but caught them on a trip up to Vermont the day before, a Valentine’s Day gig that totally delivered (I really need to share up that show soon). I picked up their album at that show, and recently grabbed their new 7″ from the Slumberland site, and here’s the A-side, which also comes from the album, along with an Mp3 of their recent performance on Last Call…
[Mp3] The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Young Adult Friction“
(live on Last Call)
British Sea Power are apparently toiling away on their 5th album, but in the meantime they’re putting out their soundtrack to the 1934 b&w film “The Man of Aran”, which is due out May 18th on both CD and DVD. Have a look at the new trailer. BSP’s soundtrack is, of course, mostly instrumental, and includes new tracks along with re-recorded/re-arranged versions of their songs “True Adventures“, “The Great Skua“, “North Hanging Rock“, and this cover of a Jeff Alexander number (originally written for an episode of the Twilight Zone)…
Thanks to Britt for hipping me to the fact that Norwegian band I Was A King will play their very first Boston show at Harpers Ferry on Friday, May 29th. She was right on when she pegged them as TFC/GBV-influenced, and when she guessed I’d like them. I do, I do. You can stream their entire latest album (with guest contributions from Sufjan Stevens & members of Danielson, The Ladybug Transistor, and Serena Maneesh) thanks to their label, Morningside Records, and here’s one of the tracks for ya…
That self-titled debut and a 7″ are both available domestically on The Control Group here in the US. After they play Boston, the band heads south then west for many more stateside dates, including a stretch with Constantines and Crystal Antlers.
I first saw Montreal quartet Pony Up years ago up in Burlington, VT when they played a show with The Smittens and charmed me with a super-catchy ode to Mr. Matthew Modine. Now they’ve got their sophomore album, “Stay Gold”, ready to go, and are going to be self-releasing it North America on May 30th (it’ll be on Laughing Outlaw in Aus/NZ). It was produced by the Dears‘ Murray Lightburn, and their brand new online store will not only be offering the digital download for a mere $5, but a limited, hand-made edition for pre-order as well. Here are two excellent preview tracks from “Stay Gold”…
And lastly, some more new music from the lovely Labrador label, who just released a 3-song single from Swedish pop combo The Mary Onettes. It’s been a long while since we’ve had new sounds from the MOs (and with good reason), but this one was worth waiting for. Here’s the title track from the EP, which can be ordered here…
There, that should keep your ears busy for a little while. And remember, you can stream all these songs easily over at the ‘Nac page on the ol’ Hype Machine.