Saturday Morning Miscellany
Posted on May 3, 2008 at 6:58 am | No Comments
Happy Free Comic Book Day, everyone. Even if you’re not a regular patron of fine graphical storytelling (well, especially if you’re not), try to take some time out today and swing by your local comic shop for a stack of freebies. For Bostonians, I recommend stopping into New England Comics on Harvard Ave if you’re in Allston, Comicopia in Kenmore if you’re going to see the Sox game, or check out the new kid on the block, Hub Comics, in Somerville’s Union Square.
Ok, so April was an action-packed blur. In my near-decade of living here in Boston, I honestly don’t believe I’ve had a month so completely crammed with things to do and places to be. Obviously that’s the opposite of a complaint, but I really need a 3-day nap. Maybe sometime before May is over…
My manic month was capped off by the Film School/Douglas Fir/Broken River Prophet show at TTs last Monday, and it was an all-out success. Sure, the crowd could have been bigger (and would have been had it not rained cats and/or dogs), but the bands were psyched, they all played really well, and from what I could tell the crowd was very into it. Got a lot of nice (and unexpected) feedback on the songs I had spun between sets, and gave away a whole bunch o’ merch. Many thanks to the bands for playing (and for those, uh, bonus drink tickets), and to TTs of course. Good times.
I recorded all three sets with each band’s permission, and will be sharing ’em up at some point if they like ’em enough. For now, have a look at Film School‘s brand new video for “Compare“.
Congrats to reader Mark in Cambridge, whose name I picked for the two guest list spots for tomorrow night’s Wye Oak show at Great Scott. A show well worth checking out, and arrive early for the openers, who include Drew O’Doherty and Hands & Knees.
How odd is it that in 2008 I can write this?: I’ve got my My Bloody Valentine tickets. Yeah, I snagged a couple passes to the September Catskills, NY installment of All Tomorrow’s Parties, with MBV curating one incredible lineup. Aside from the headliners, the stuff I’m most psyched for are Built to Spill performing the entirety of “Perfect From Now On” (“There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” would’ve made me marginally happier, but I’m still excited), Mogwai, Low, Polvo, Shellac, Tortoise playing their best album, and Autolux. Just a four-hour drive from Boston, and I’ve already put in for the time off. Joyous.
Speaking of Autolux, their long-awaited next release is on the horizon, and the first single is now up on their MySpace page, both for streaming and for purchase (it’ll be on iTunes soon). “Audience No. 2” is our first taste of the full-length “Transit Transit”, which will be out sometime later this year.
In advance of their upcoming album, “El Rey”, The Wedding Present has shared a couple new songs on their MySpace page: Lead off track “Santa Ana Winds” and an alternate mix of first single “The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend“. “El Rey” is out on Manifesto in North America on May 20th.
Hey, Bostoners: How about some free live music to go with your free comics this (postponed until next) weekend? The 25th annual MayFair festival is tomorrow, Sunday, May 4th next weekend, Sunday, May 11th in Harvard Square (barring any manhole fires), and along with all the food and merch vendors we’ll be treated to a bunch of varied performances, including sets from Hallelujah the Hills (@ 4pm) and Girls, Guns, & Glory (@ 3pm). Full schedule here.
The lineup for the 2008 edition of the Boston-(well, technically Arlington)-based Brainwaves Festival has been announced, and it’s a doozy. Brainwashed proprietor Jon Whitney has pulled together a slew of notable artists for the late-November fest, including Meat Beat Manifesto, Matmos, Stars of the Lid, A Place to Bury Strangers, Marissa Nadler, His Name Is Alive, and many, many more. Weekend passes are available now right here.
I’ve got a massive list of links and info to share, as usual, but I’ll fire this one off in the interest of timeliness. So, remember, your weekend todo list: Get some free comics, buy your Brainwaves passes, go see HtH outside tomorrow (postponed until next) Sunday afternoon, then head to Great Scott for the Wye Oak show to finish it off. Got it? Good.
Mp3s: Mates of State (on This American Life) in Boston
Posted on May 1, 2008 at 6:27 am | No Comments
The televisual version of seminal NPR radio show This American Life returns this Sunday, May 4th, for a second season on Showtime. Live audiences got a taste of how the first season would translate when Ira Glass and his TAL crew took the show on the road for a tour entitled “What I Learned from Television”. Regular contributors Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, and Dan Savage told stories, and attendees (including our crowd at the Opera House in Boston) were shown part of a season one episode.
A highlight of this touring TAL ensemble was the presence of Connecticut-based duo Mates of State, who release their fifth album, “Re-arrange Us”, on May 20th through Barsuk. On tour, the band provided musical interludes between spoken word performances, were interviewed by Glass, and closed the show with a thematically appropriate cover of OC theme song “California“.
Here are the songs that Mates of State performed at the Boston show, including that Phantom Planet cover, and the song “Now“, which will appear on “Re-arrange Us”…
Live at the Opera House
in Boston, MA
on Tuesday February 27th, 2007
01. Now
02. Like U Crazy
03. These Days
04. Interview with Ira
05. Goods (instrumental)
06. California (Phantom Planet cover)
Also this weekend, This American Life will broadcast the radio version of that very same tour, but you can already stream the entirety of the show on their website, or download it via itunes for a well-spent 95 cents. Included are the spoken word performances of those mentioned above, along with edited (but sonically-improved) recordings of those Mates of States songs.
For a full list of airdates for the second TV season of This American Life on Showtime, go here. To pre-order Mates of States’ “Re-arrange Us” from Barsuk, keep an eye on this page. And for a complete list of Mates of States tourdates, visit here.
As ever, stream 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.