The Tuesday Fiver
Posted on December 2, 2008 at 2:06 pm | No Comments
December already. How’d that happen? I suppose this means I should start thinking about those pesky year-end lists. While I consider that task, here are some mostly Boston-centric things for your eyes and ears…
Buffalo Tom singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz has come up with a way to help him, and us, pass the cold winter months: By sharing a new home-recorded cover song every week. And his first selection has set the bar pretty damn high…
Not only do we get an ace ‘Mats cover right out of the gate, but a version of Tom Waits’ “Johnsburg, Illinois” recorded on a $10 guitar, which you can read about here and grab over here. Keep ’em comin’, Bill.
Bostonian and viola player extraordinaire David Michael Curry earned my extreme envy by being fortunate enough to see Come‘s one-off reunion show last month in, of all places, Spain. Come founders Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zedek were both invited to do solo sets at the Tanned Tin Festival in Castellon, and the organizer somehow convinced them to reunite Come for a set with drummer Daniel Coughlin and bassist Winston Braman (both former Come members and currently in Thalia’s band, along with David). DMC shared up a video clip of the reunited band performing the powerful “Saints Around My Neck“, and it just leaves me wanting more.
As much as I enjoyed my Thanksgiving getaway down to NYC/NJ (well, all except for the drive down, which stretched from 4 to 6 1/2 hours thanks to pre-turkey-day traffic), I truly regretted not being in town for the final show at the Abbey Lounge in Somerville. The dive holds a special place in my heart, not just because of the fine bands I’ve seen there, or the times I’ve sat behind my drum kit on that small stage, but because it’s within those very walls that Amie and I first met back in 2000. I took it for granted that we’d always be able to go there if we were feeling particularly nostalgic, and we did try to make a last visit before it closed, but couldn’t pull it together.
The Globe and the Phoenix wrote a bit about that last show, which I attended in spirit, if not in person. Sorry to see you go, dear ol’ Abbey.
Providence-based quartet Six Finger Satellite are back with some new/old recordings in the form of “Half Control”, an album of songs put down to tape just after the turn of the millennium and finally released through Load Records. The songs are only available as a download at the moment (via Last.fm, Boomkat, and Fina), but should be in physical form at the Load site at some point. Frontman J. Ryan spoke to the Providence Daily Dose about the release back in April…
“It was recorded in 2001 maybe? The lineup is Rick (Pelletier) on drums, Shawn Greenlee (from Landed and Pleasure Horse) on bass, Joel Kyack (of Landed and Megafuckers) on guitar and me on synth and vox.”
The album’s arrival, along with the availability of a ton of older and obscure tracks via MySpace, will help pass the time while we await the next album of all-new material, now in progress.
My thanks to writer Michael Prager, who deemed the ‘Nac worthy of inclusion in his Boston Globe Sunday Magazine article “Find. Join. Learn. Go. The World Wide Hub” (subtitled “Sixty-four websites on Boston life that you should know”). A nice surprise to end the long holiday weekend. While it was flattering to be alongside “Under 21 In Boston” and “Soho The Dog” in the “music” section of the write-up (two sites already long in my RSS reader), it’s too bad that the wealth of area music sites that have sprung up in the past few years were pared down to just a trio. Yeah, it’s easy to nitpick a list that narrows so many possibilities down to just 64, but music deserves more than just three. For more, check out the lengthy list of sites in my right-hand column. And I’m obligated to point out the criminal lack of Surviving Grady in the sports section. A daily must.
Lastly, a reminder (and I’ll probably mention it again before the week’s out): The Boston edition of the Bazaar Bizarre is this coming Sunday, December 7th from 12-7pm at a brand new location — downtown at the Castle on Arlington & Columbus. Many dozens of vendors selling super-cool, mostly handmade gifty stuff, along with various notable people (and, um, me) providing the soundtrack. Yes, I’m honored to once again be among the invited DJs, selecting an hours worth of songs starting around 1pm. Like last year, I’m putting together a playlist of my favorite tracks released in 2008, and it’s proving tough to narrow it down to a mere 60 minutes. Other DJs include writer/musician Michael Brodeur, Tourfilter’s Chris Marstall, music maven and DJ overseer Stacie Slotnick, and WMBR DJ Generoso Fierro, all linked together by Jon Bernhardt and his magical theremin. For a full list of vendors, check here, and keep an eye on the Bazaar Bizarre Boston Blog for updates.
Mp3s: Loney Dear in Somerville, MA
Posted on November 20, 2008 at 11:52 am | No Comments
In honor of the news that Sweden’s Loney Dear have signed to Polyvinyl Records, that they’ll release their next record in late January, and will kick off a stateside tour with Andrew Bird here in Boston soon after, I figure it’s about time I shared up this aural document of the night I fell for the band, back in the spring of last year.
They were opening for Low at the Somerville Theatre, and while I’d read I was in for some “Swedish Pop” (a category they fit in, yet at times stretch the boundaries of), I went in without additional expectations. So I was fairly blown away by the delicacy and depth that frontman/songwriter Emil Svanangen and his band brought to the stage, sprinkling quiet, moving moments among the snappy folk-pop overtones. I quickly devoured the Sub Pop-released “Loney, Noir” full-length, dug into the hard-to-acquire back-catalog, and have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up. Very glad to know that Polyvinyl will be making that particular delivery.
Pre-orders for Loney Dear’s “Dear John” album can now be placed at the Polyvinyl site, and they’ll ship on January 16th, nicely before the in-store date of January 27th (and for vinyl aficionados: Ordering the wax will also get you a digital download code). That particular week will be Loney-filled for Boston-area fans, as the band hits town with Andrew Bird that Friday, January 30th at the Orpheum (tickets on sale tomorrow morning at 10am over here). So order up, and have a listen to this wonderful live set as you ease into the depths of winter…
Loney Dear
live at the Somerville Theater
in Somerville, Massachusetts
on Saturday, April 7th, 2007
01. Saturday Waits
02. Citadel Band
03. Life Has Been This Low
04. The City, the Airport
05. In With the Arms
06. I Am John
07. Le Fever
08. The Battle of Trinidad and Tabago
09. Carrying a Stone
10. Sinister In the State of Hope
Some Loney links…
Their official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, Polyvinyl page, and Sub Pop page. Additional Audio: The label-provided opening track from the upcoming “Dear John”…
Stream more at MySpace, of course.
Video: There are some video clips to be viewed on their own site, and many more via a Loney Dear YouTube search. Photos: My Flickr-hosted shots are here. Check out the full Loney Dear Flickr tag search. Upcoming tourdates: Loney Dear has a few shows overseas before the end of the year, Emil has a couple NYC solo shows in December, and then there’s a headlining show on January 28th at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA. All dates here. After that, they hit the road for the Andrew Bird tour…
Jan. 30th, 2009 – Boston, MA – Orpheum
Feb. 3rd Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Feb. 4th – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
Feb. 6th – Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Theatre
Feb. 7th – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
Feb. 12th – Austin, TX @ Paramount Theater
Feb. 13th – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey
Feb. 14th – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theater
Feb. 18th – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
Feb. 19th – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Feb. 20th – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Feb. 21st – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
Feb. 23rd – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theater
Feb. 24th – Boise, ID @ The Knitting Factory
Feb. 25th – Murray, UT @ The Murray Theater
Feb. 26th – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
Feb. 27th – Omaha, NE @ SlowdownStream 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.