The Thursday Fiver
Posted on December 11, 2008 at 2:38 pm | No Comments
Gray, rainy, cold. Using the blog to fight the blahs…
It gives me great pleasure to type this: Swirlies are returning. Though they’ve never officially been away. After forming here in Boston in the early 90s, and remaining fairly active through ’98, recorded output and live appearances have been sporadic at best for a decade. Their most recent shows were, I think, opening for Lilys over 4 years ago, after the release of the “Cats of The Wild Volume 2” album in ’03. Been too long, although singer/guitarist Damon Tutunjian has kept them alive online by archiving all their recordings at his Sneaky Flute Music site.
2009 will bring their reemergence in the form of just a trio of live shows in late February, the last of which is here in Cambridge at the Middle East. According to a post on Lemmingtrail, original Swirlies Damon T. and Andy Bernick (bass, birdwatching) will be joined by Adam Pierce (Mice Parade, Bubble Core Records) on drums, Rob Laakso (Mice Parade, Diamond Nights, Amazing Baby) on guitar, and the one n’ only Deb Warfield (Broken River Prophet, Shenzhou 5) on guitar, vocals, and keys. Hot damn, I say. As someone who reached heights of near-obsession during the band’s first few years on Taang! Records, drove many collected miles to see them play (and was honored to be in a band that opened for ’em a couple times), then saw my already-high expectations blown away by the 1996 release of the “They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons” album (still among my favorite records of all time), the news that they’ll be on stage in a couple short months does more than excite. In fact, it leads to crazy run-on sentences like that last one there.
The dates, with guests to be announced, are…
Thursday, Feb. 26th in Philly @ Johnny Brenda’s
Friday, Feb. 27th in NYC @ Mercury Lounge
Saturday, Feb. 28th here in Cambridge @ the Middle East Up
Note that says the MidEast Up, which translates to sell-out. A Saturday night? A hometown show after many years? You betcha. Tickets are already available here or at the Middle East box office (daily 1pm – 7pm, no service fees), so get with the gettin’.
In the meantime, keep checking here for news of the overdue “Sneaky Flute Moods: A Tribute to The Swirlies” LP, which will be released for free via Archive.org. And if you are, heaven forbid, unfamiliar with Swirlies, grab a few tracks from this BV post, or grab even more from the official Swirlies audio page, which shares entire albums, including the aforementioned brilliant “TSTWYDITGWOTS”, which contains…
(and allow me to offer up a prayer to the Swirlies setlist god… pleasepleaseplease play that song. amen.)
The joyful news of the return of a fave is juxtaposed with the retirement of another: As you may have heard, Brooklyn quartet Dirty on Purpose has called it quits, and will bow out with a New Year’s Eve show at NYC’s Mercury Lounge (with friends A Place To Bury Strangers). Had the pleasure of seeing them a few times over the past few years, first in 2005 at TTs (which I recorded and shared with their blessing), and most recently opening for the New Year at the Middle East just two months ago. I recorded that set as well, and it came out beautifully, so I think I’ll share it soon to mark the band’s imminent stroll into the sunset.
Grab some free DoP songs at RCRDLBL, and check out all other projects that DoP’s members are involved with via links in this post at Hearsay.
Fans and followers of seminal mid-70s Detriot pre-punk trio Death (who get the reissue treatment in February thanks to Drag City) would do well to check this excellent interview with drummer Bobby Hackney Sr. on the Solid State music blog of the Burlington, Vermont-based weekly Seven Days. A great read, especially for his reaction to the resurgence of interest in the band and their lasting influence (something he was almost entirely unaware of). The chat was triggered by a special occasion: Hackney’s son, Bobby Jr., and his band Rough Francis got together to play a bunch of Death songs up in Burlington last weekend. Wish I could have been there. Recorded visual evidence of the show resides here.
Buffalo Tom‘s Bill Janovitz chugs on with his freely downloadable “cover of the week” project, sharing up a couple more keepers: His takes on Springsteen’s “One Step Up“, and this week, a cover of Blondie’s “Dreaming“ that eases gently into the Stones’ “Til Our Next Goodbye“. There’s a good story to go with that one, so check out the whole post. And if you’re looking to download the tracks rather than stream them, here’s your direct link. And bookmark that so I don’t have to keep reminding you all winter. Sheesh.
Your agenda this evening: Join me at PA’s Lounge in Somerville for an ace lineup of truly talented local troubadours and noisemakers, headlined by a visiting luminary: Centro-matic‘s Will Johnson will finish off an evening that starts with our own Drew O’Doherty, follows with instrumental combo Empty House Cooperative (featuring Mr. David Michael Curry), and serves up a solo set from Chris Brokaw (who I now realize I can no longer call a “local”, what with his recent relocation from Cambridge to NYC). Doors at 8:30, so get there on time to catch all the goodness. Having had to miss out on Centro-matic’s recent Boston-area show, I’m grateful to be able to see Will play some of his stellar songs in person.
Tomorrow: In honor of +/- {Plus/Minus} playing at the Middle East Upstairs this Saturday, I’ll be sharing up a recording of their August appearance. As if you need further convincing to go.
Mp3s: Wedding Present in Cambridge, MA
Posted on December 9, 2008 at 2:11 pm | No Comments
So what else can I say about seeing the Wedding Present live? I’ve used plenty of words to express my undying love for ’em here on the ‘Nac, been fortunate enough to catch them each time they’ve hit the Boston area since their emergence from hibernation in 2004, and as live performers they never disappoint me. The quartet gets on stage, rocks out on a setlist full of great recent songs and old faves, says farewell, and off they go. No encores, no requests considered, all business. In fact, the only fault I could find is that lack of spontaneity — they’re almost too pro — but they make up for it with the songs themselves and the energy with which they deliver them. Gedge & co. are ever dependable.
Here’s their early-October set, once again downstairs at the Middle East in Cambridge (their venue of choice, it seems). Personal highlights were “Kennedy” kicking things off, “Palisades” (maybe my fave from their latest, “El Rey”), and the late-set one-two punch of “Dalliance” and “Dare“, which were played more passionately than ever.
As Gedge always makes himself very available for chatting before and after the show, I was able to ask him about something I’d heard — that the band re-recorded the entirety of their debut album, “George Best”, when they were in the studio with Steve Albini working on “El Rey” — and David confirmed that was indeed the case. “Just for fun”, he said, and that it was fairly easy to bang out, since the lineup had performed the album on a short UK tour last year to commemorate 20 years since its release. And while there are no solid plans to release those re-recordings, he said they’d likely pop up as b-sides or some such thing at some point.
When I mentioned that I wished I could have seen that anniversary tour, he shared this likely possibility — with 2009 marking 20 years since the release of 1989’s “Bizarro”, well, you can figure the rest out. Yes, it looks like we’ll probably be treated to some U.S. shows that will celebrate the occasion, and that has me thrilled. In fact, I’m truly hoping that the stars align, and the crew from All Tomorrow’s Parties invites the Weddoes to ATP NY 2009 next September. That’d get me out to the Catskills again for sure.
To the live tracks we go…
Live at the Middle East Downstairs
in Cambridge, MA
on Monday, October 6th, 2008
01. Kennedy
02. It’s For You
03. Gone
04. Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk
05. You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends
06. Lovenest
07. Blue Eyes
08. Palisades
09. Snake Eyes
10. Sports Car
11. Spider-Man On Hollywood
12. Crawl
13. You Turn Me On
14. Interstate 5
15. My Favourite Dress
16. Model, Actress, Whatever
17. The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend
18. Dalliance
19. Dare
20. Boo Boo
Some Wedding Present links…
Their official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, and Manifesto label page. Additional Audio: Nothing in the way of officially-sanctioned free mp3s, so you’ll just have to hit up MySpace for song streams. Video: A bounty of official videos and live clips via a Weddoes YouTube search. You’ll find two official videos from “El Rey” there — “The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend” and “Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk“. Photos: All of my Flickr-hosted Wedding Present shots are here. Have a look at a full Wedding Present Flickr tag search as well. Upcoming tourdates: The Wedding Present has about a dozen dates left in 2008, mostly in the UK, but with a couple in Greece and the last in Turkey. Longer term plans include more UK dates in March along with a trip to Japan (and then hopefully we’ll get word about that “Bizarro” anniversary tour!). Listen to any and all ‘Nac-hosted Mp3s at 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.