[Live MP3s] The Soft Drugs in Cambridge, MA 2007
Posted on November 18, 2007 at 6:22 pm | No Comments
Of all the shows I’ve captured and shared, I don’t think I’ve ever been fortunate enough to record a band’s official live debut. Not that you’d know by this recording that the four men who make up the Soft Drugs had never set foot on a stage together before the small one at TT the Bears in Cambridge last month… they were super-tight and totally smooth, which isn’t so surprising given the collective experience of the players involved.
A bit of background: TW Walsh and his family left Seattle and moved to the Boston area earlier this year, and it didn’t take him long to pull together some top-notch players to fill out a new version of his solo vehicle. Joining TW, who sings his songs from behind his drum kit, is Michael Murray on guitar, John Beck III on Wurlitzer, guitar, & percussion, and Ken Maiuri on bass (all three provide backing vocals as well). Drew O’Doherty, who played a solo set of his own to open the evening, also sat in on guitar for a couple of songs in the middle of the 8-song TT’s set. It was a friend-filled night, as headlining was David Bazan, TW’s former bandmate under the now-abandoned Pedro the Lion moniker (interesting that as DB decided to stop using PTL in favor of his own name early last year, TW decided to start delivering his own solo stuff under a band name… and so the universe remains in balance).
The Soft Drugs publicly came into being in the summer of ’06, with the arrival of the five-song “In Moderation” EP, which soon became a free download under a Creative Commons license. A Seattle-based version of the band played a few shows before the Walsh clan relocated, but soon after TW settled back in Boston, like-minded Boston-area musicians and friends were brought in to help bring the Soft Drugs to life on East Coast stages. And so it was that on Saturday, October 27th, the quartet did just that in front of an appreciative crowd…
Live at TT the Bears
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
on Saturday, October 27th, 2007
01. Defending The Paint
02. The Pitch
03. Pawn Shop Guns
04. Build Me A Ballpark
05. Badge
06. Don’t Sweat It
07. Borrow My Vibe
08. Family of Four
As you’ll notice, the song “Badge” remains unshared (at TW’s request), but you’ll likely be able to hear that one on the eventual release of the Soft Drugs’ planned full-band debut full-lengther. Demos are in the works, and we’ll hopefully stay updated via his blog or the SD MySpace page as recording sessions take place.
Some links, Soft Drugs style……
[MP3] The Soft Drugs – “Family of Four“
For the unaware, before becoming part of Pedro the Lion, TW put out a few releases under his own name between 1999 and 2002, including the fantastic “Blue Laws” album. They’re worth hunting down if you can find ’em.
Tuesday, Nov. 27th – TW Walsh solo @ UMass Lowell in Lowell, Massachusetts
Wednesday, Nov 28th – The Soft Drugs @ The Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Maritime & The One AM Radio
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.
Thursday Music Miscellany
Posted on November 15, 2007 at 11:20 am | No Comments
Some variousness on this gray, rainy Thursday. First, some timely tidbits…
Yes, both Yo La Tengo shows here in Boston tonight at the MFA are sold out, but if you’ve got tickets, make sure you show up early enough to catch opener Chris Brokaw… his solo stuff should sound fantastic in that room. His sets tonight come just a few days after he shared the stage with his old Come bandmate Thalia Zedek and members of her band, bass player Winston Bramen and drummer Daniel Coughlin, at the Middle East’s 20th Anniversary show last Saturday. Attendees were treated to live performances of a couple Come songs to mark the occasion: “Hurricane” off their next-to-last album, 1996’s “Near Life Experience”, and “Submerge” from their amazing full-length debut, “11:11”. The set was filmed, and word is we’ll be seeing that reunion on YouTube eventually.
If you’re on the internet today at 5pm EST (that’s 2pm Cali-time): Comedian, animated rat, comic book booster, and music fan of discriminating taste Mr. Patton Oswalt will take over Steve Jones’ DJ slot, Jonesy’s Jukebox, at indie 103.1 on Thursday at 2pm PST. Stream it there. Patton’s fill-in comes in the wake of a Hobbit and Dwight Schrute, who played songs of their choosing earlier this week. Monaghan played old-school Manchester stuff (nice!), but hopefully no Driveshaft.
Film School‘s homecoming show in Los Angeles tonight is being filmed to be incorporated into Eric Green’s in-progress shoegaze documentary, “Beautiful Noise” (fyi, I’ll be sharing up a live set from FS at some point soon… their recent show here in Boston floored me). Think Eric could have guessed that My Bloody Valentine would be reuniting as he was working on his film? Talk about timely…
And on the subject of “Beautiful Noise”, Medicine‘s Brad Laner has fittingly been tagged to provide the score, as his band is the only American one to be featured in the “first wave” section of the film. Laner has just released a solo album titled “Neighbor Singing” under his own name, on the Hometapes label. Here’s a song from it…
There’s another Mp3 linked over here titled “June Gloom“.
As I mentioned briefly yesterday, Caleb, the gent behind the Hard To Find A Friend music blog, has pulled together one hell of a benefit compilation, and it was made available earlier this week. “Peace On Earth” is a holiday-themed collection of songs from the likes of the Long Winters, Chris Walla of DCFC, TW Walsh of the Soft Drugs, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Rosie Thomas, American Music Club, Via Audio, Great Lake Swimmers, and a bunch more. The eighteen-song digital download is just 7 bucks, and all proceeds are being donated to the wonderful Toys for Tots organization, which provides presents for underprivileged kids at Christmas. While not every single song is holiday-themed, every one is exclusive to the compilation, and having bought one myself, I can attest to it being worth the cash, independent of the worthy cause. Buy it here, only at HtFaF. Here’s the official “try before you buy” track…
Outta nowhere, Versus reunited for a little birthday party show last weekend in NYC, playing a full set for the lucky 50 or so who where there, and especially for birthday boy Matt Datesman (ace drummer for True Love Always and Flin Flon). Ah, to be one of the fortunate few. We can virtually share the experience with YouTube footage of a bunch of the songs: “Lose That Dress“, “Shangri-La“, “You’ll Be Sorry“, “We Got The Missiles“, “Morning Glory“, “Forest Fire“, “Jealous“, and “Dumb Fun“. F’in “Forest Fire“! I’m truly hoping this get-together is a sign of things to come, as the band is also opening for Yo La Tengo in NYC on December 4th. It’d be nice to see them back for awhile.
Ida fans, and others: Make sure you pick up the new Fall 2007 issue of Esopus magazine (#9), which includes a compact disc entitled “Dreams”. The disc features 11 artists (including Ida, White Whale, and Dirty Projectors) performing songs inspired by dreams submitted by Esopus readers. Pick up the magazine at finer bookstores listed here, or stream segments of all the tracks here. For those in the Boston area, Trident Booksellers on Newbury had a few copies left when I grabbed mine yesterday. FYI, Ida’s contribution is titled “Moon Flower“, and will not be appearing on their upcoming full length, “Lovers Prayers”.
On a completely non-music related note, it sure was a good week for new comics, was it not? A new Ex Machina trade paperback, the last (and long awaited) Queen & Country collection for awhile, and the gorgeously designed new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen hardcover, “The Black Dossier”. It’s going to take me awhile to get through that one… so much text! But that’s far from a complaint… I’ll take all the text I can get from Alan Moore.
Long as I’m talking comics: I’ve never been to the Toronto-based comics shop The Beguiling, but that didn’t stop me from buying this James Jean (of Fables cover fame) poster commemorating their 20th anniversary. Just beautiful.
Ending on a musical note: Plan ahead for Thursday night, November 29th, as I’ll be returning to the DJ booth at River Gods in Cambridge for another Tourfilter DJ Night. But more on that as it gets closer…