Mp3s: The Clientele at the MFA Boston
Posted on July 11, 2007 at 9:27 am | No Comments
London-based quartet the Clientele finished up their recent month-long North American tour with a show at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It had been far too long since I’d seen them, at JP’s Milky Way bowling alley in 1999, when they were a trio and playing their very first batch of U.S. shows.
While those reverb-washed early singles (collected on 2000’s essential “Suburban Light”) really grabbed me, I admittedly, and inexplicably, lost track of the band in the years since. The recent arrival of their “God Save The Clientele” album (as always, on Merge) remedied that, and loving the setting of the MFA’s Remis Auditorium, I was compelled to finally see them again.
While the set leaned heavily on the new album, a few old favorites were greeted with applause, and the TV-themed encore brought us covers of tracks by both Television (“The Fire“, off their sophomore 1978 “Adventure” album) and the Television Personalities (“A Picture Of Dorian Gray“, from their 1981 debut, “And Don’t The Kids Just Love It“). FYI, that Television cover will be available in studio form on a 7” release for the track “Bookshop Casanova“, which will also include another unreleased track. Look for that in September, when the UK edition of “God Save The Clientele” gets released.
The addition of keyboardist/violinist Mel Draisey last year has certainly helped the Clientele flesh out their live sound, giving them a way to at least partially incorporate the gorgeous string arrangements provided by their studio collaborator, French songwriter Louis Philippe. And on this final night of the band’s road trip, we got a special treat that even further rounded out some of the songs: Louis Philippe himself joined the band on stage for a few numbers in the middle of the set. Not sure if this was a regular occurrence on this particular trip, or if he made a special trip to Boston, but it made an already magical night even more so.
Here’s the night, in Mp3 form. Don’t miss the Clientele when they return to the U.S. this fall for a tour with Peter Bjorn and John (Boston: September 7th at Avalon), and be sure to pick up some of their work from Merge.
Live at the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston, Massachusetts
on Saturday, June 9th, 2007
01. Since K Got Over Me
02. We Could Walk Together
03. I Hope I Know You
04. The Queen Of Seville
05. These Days Nothing But Sunshine
06. Winter On Victoria Street
07. Somebody Changed
08. Louis Philippe intro
09. Here Comes The Phantom
10. band introductions
11. From Brighton Beach To Santa Monica
12. Bookshop Casanova
13. Dreams Of Leaving
14. My Own Face Inside The Trees
15. Reflections After Jane
16. Saturday
encore…
17. The Fire (Television cover)
18. A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Television Personalities cover)
19. (I Want You) More Than Ever
Some Clientele links…
Their official site, Wikipedia entry, MySpace page , and the band’s Merge Records page. Audio: Mp3s – I recently dug out and converted a cassette containing a 4-song session the band recorded for MIT radio station WMBR in 1999, so here it is: “Five Day Morning“, “Fear Of Falling“, “Joseph Cornell“, and “Driving South“. More Audio: Mp3 – “Bookshop Casanova“, from “God Save The Clientele”. Listen to a 2005 appearance the band did for KEXP. Stream a couple songs from each of their discs by visiting the band’s discography page and clicking the album covers. Over at Epitonic, you can download Mp3s of the tracks “Emptily through Holloway“, “Reflections After Jane“, “Joseph Cornell“, and “Five Day Morning“. Video: Try a Clientele YouTube search, and word from their official site is that we’ll see the first video from the new album soon. Check out video from when the band played a few songs at 89.3 The Current recently, as well as an appearance for Yahoo Music. Another of my photos from the show can be found here. Listen to all ‘Nac-hosted tracks on 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.
[Live MP3s] seBADoh in Boston 2007
Posted on July 1, 2007 at 11:01 pm | No Comments
Well, here’s the set I edited down and planned to share last Monday, just before I started my new role as a “dad”. Best excuse for a late post ever (and major thanks to everyone for the congratulatory comments).
Sebadoh‘s reunion tour seemed to exist slightly in the media shadow of Lou Barlow‘s other reunited band, squeezed as it was between Dinosaur Jr. tours, and without the benefit of a new album or any other future plans, really. But for me personally, it meant a little more, thanks to a deeper and long-lasting connection to their records. I jumped in with the release of “Sebadoh III” (re-issued last year on Domino) in 1991, consider Bakesale to be a classic, and still count opening for them (as part of Eef in ’94) as one of the best experiences I’ve ever had playing in a band. That show was the first time I ever got to see them, so I missed the early Eric Gaffney years, and as much as I would have liked to see former drummer Bob Fay again, I was pretty psyched to have a chance to see Sebadoh’s original incarnation. Even though I’d caught Barlow and Jason Loewenstein as a Seba-duo in recent years, it’s as a trio that their songs really shine.
If some Beatles fans are compelled to pick the side of a particular songwriter (I’m a Lennon-ite), I do the same with Sebadoh, and I find myself falling squarely in the Loewenstein camp. As much as I dig so many of Barlow’s songs and Gaffney’s sonic weirdness, it’s Jake’s stuff that has always really clicked with me, songs like “S. Soup“, “Sixteen“, and especially “Drama Mine“. Regular ‘Nac readers know that I often call his criminally-underheard solo album, 2002’s “At Sixes and Sevens”, one of the best of that year (seriously, go buy it). So when the band played the Paradise a few months back, it’s no surprise that I wanted him in front of the mic as much as possible, and for the first half of the set I was pretty worried… very little Jake to be found. It evened a bit eventually, with “Junk Bonds“, “Drag Down“, “Mind Reader” and “Flood” coming in quick succession before the first encore, and “Got It” coming later on. Still, not enough. Gaffney, for his part, was easily the most talkative of the three, throwing out random Boston-area references, and at one point calling up some guy he thought looked like the Decemberists‘ Colin Meloy, to, well, pretend that he was Colin Meloy.
Overall, great set, nice and long, and not super-tight… but if it was, it wouldn’t have been Sebadoh. Nice to see a few post-Eric songs make it into the setlist (just as Dino Jr. has been doing with a few after-Lou songs). Won’t surprise you to hear my only complaint is: Needed more Loewenstein. Sure hope he’s working on another solo record.
Here’s the Sebadoh set as MP3s. You can find more of my photos here.
Live at the Paradise
in Boston, Massachusetts
on Friday, March 30th, 2007
[grab the whole set in one zip file]
01. level check
02. Level Anything
03. Violet Execution
04. Scars, Four Eyes
05. scripted banter
06. Ride the Darker Wave
07. Whitey Peach
08. Sacred Attention
09. Brand New Love
10. Cheap Shot
11. recreating the banter
12. Broke Up
13. Moldy Bread
14. Attention
15. God Told Me
16. Cry Sis
17. meloy banter
18. Homemade
19. Forced Love
20. Sixteen
21. Mystery Man
22. Give Up
23. Junk Bonds
24. Drag Down
25. Mind Reader
26. Flood
encore one…
27. Too Pure
28. Beauty of the Ride
29. Rebound
30. Got It
encore two…
31. impossible dream banter
32. Bouquet For A Siren
33. Elixer Is Zog
34. Emma Get Wild
encore three…
35. happy birthday banter
36. Gimme Indie Rock
Some Sebadoh links…