[Live MP3s] Acid House Kings in Cambridge, MA
Posted on August 15, 2006 at 2:49 pm | No Comments
The companion post to last week’s live set from The Legends, here’s their label and tourmates, Acid House Kings. I was woefully unaware AHK’s 15-year history before the show was announced, but familiarized myself a bit with their self-described Swedish guitar pop before they got to town. Their brand of pop is a bit more pure than The Legends, a little on the lighter side, with guy/girl vocals and enough songs of love to give you a couple new cavities (just look at the titles below). They’re damn infectious, moreso when their charming selves are right in front of you, and I’m not exaggerating when I say my cheeks ached from smiling throughout their set.
Here it is…
Live at TT the Bears
Cambridge, MA
Monday, July 10th, 2006
[Download the whole set in one zip file]
01. First Time
02. Yes, You Love Me
03. The Heart Is A Stone
04. Sunday Morning
05. That’s Because You Drive Me
06. Keep Your Love
07. Tonight Is Forever
08. This Love Is All We Need
09. Do What You Wanna Do
10. Say Yes If You Love Me
encore…
11. London School Of Economics
12. We Are The Acid House Kings
13. banter
14. Summer Nights
A few of the songs they played can be found on their latest disc, last year’s “Sing Along With The Acid House Kings“, others come from 2002’s “Mondays Are Like Tuesdays and Tuesdays Are Like Wednesdays“, and even as far back as 1997’s “Advantage Acid House Kings“. The TTs crowd was enamored enough to force them into one more encore song than they planned on: an apparently long-ago-learned cover of “Summer Nights” from the Grease soundtrack. What they missed in the lyrics they made up for with enthusiasm, and the crowd helped fill in some gaps. Like I said, I couldn’t help grinning and I wasn’t alone.
You’ll notice comparing the photos above to those from The Legends post that there’s more than a little member-sharing going on within the touring versions of the two bands. In fact, four out of five Legends became four of the six Acid House Kings on stage, with the two front-people (singer Julia Lannerheim and singer/guitarist Niklas Angergard) exclusive to AHK’s studio version along with Legends mastermind Johan Angergard (yes, they’re brothers) on second guitar. At least I think I’ve got that straight. So it makes even more sense that the two bands would team up for dates, including those seven U.S. shows they played last month. Be nice to see them return in the not-so-distant future and hit up some cities that missed out.
Some Acid House links…
the fine print… If anyone has any issue whatsoever with this live set being made available, just say the word (email link at bottom left). Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Mp3s are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.
The Endless Stream of the Everyday
Posted on August 9, 2006 at 4:49 pm | No Comments
Been too long since I’ve done a random, non-mp3 music post. So here’s a quick one…
The summer touring season, which is traditionally a quiet one this college-crammed area that is Boston (at least for bands I give a damn about), has been surprisingly chock-full of greatness this time around. Can’t remember the last time I was this backlogged with songs, thoughts, and links to share. And as it nears its end (I know, say it ain’t so… but it is August after all), there’s been tons of very cool fall dates announced. Some of the personal faves coming in September…
9/3 – Sonic Youth @ Avalon
9/5 – Cat Power @ The Museum of Fine Arts
9/8 – Band of Horses & Chad Vangaalen @ The Paradise
9/10 – Serena Maneesh @ the Middle East Down
9/14 – Asobi Seksu @ Tufts University
9/15 – Magnolia Electric Co. & Bottomless Pit @ the ME Down
9/17 – M. Ward @ The Somerville Theatre
9/19 – Eric Bachmann & Richard Buckner @ Club Passim
9/28 – Yo La Tengo @ Avalon
Whew. And that doesn’t include October visits from Mojave 3, Built to Spill, Portastatic, Ida, and Tara Jane O’Neil. For more, check out my ever-growing list to the left.
Show of the summer so far? Ted Leo’s not-solo show this past Sunday at the Middle East Upstairs. Billed as just Ted and his guitar, he surprised us by inviting his two Pharmacists on stage with him, and was joined on a bunch of songs by ex-Pharmacist (and ace show opener) Drew O’Doherty. So much energy, and the new stuff? Wow. There’s a track called ‘The Lost Brigade‘ that is bound to be the highlight of his next album. But more on that show when I share up the mp3s (all but the new stuff… promised TL I’d keep those on the DL.) Go ahead, call me a tease.
Two, count ’em two, other potential contenders for show of the summer are happening this Friday, and it pains me that I have to choose between them: Throwing Muses with 50 Foot Wave at the Middle East Downstairs, and The New Year with Nina Nastasia and Kahoots at the Middle East Upstairs. Two of my top ten bands (The Muses & The New Year/Bedhead) playing mere yards away from each other at the exact same time. Curses! As rare as an appearance by either band has become, I bought my Muses tickets first, and I’ll be seeing The New Year next month at the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary Celebration thing. Even so, I’m very tempted to head down to Brooklyn on Saturday to catch the Kadanes & Co. at North Six the next night.
Speaking of head-Muse Kristin Hersh and her latest band, 50 Foot Wave, there’s something special over on their My Space page. They took Kristin’s 1994 solo acoustic number ‘Your Ghost‘ (which I enjoyed enough when it first came out, but wasn’t too jazzed by Mr. Stipes’ guest vocals) and rocked it up a notch or ten. The song has been utterly reborn as a dark guitar dirge, and nearly knocked my headphones off. I’m going to have a hard time not requesting it when I see them this Friday.
Some notes about the track from their newsletter:
“This is a rare recording. The band was short on songs to perform live during their first year in existence, so once in a while, they would play this song. The band found themselves with a little extra time in the studio one afternoon and decided to record it — as close to ‘live’ as a studio recording gets. Download it. Dig it.”
Yes, go do so. Right about now.
Banner day for merch, bad day for my wallet. A lunchtime trip downtown scored me a couple of those newly-remastered Cure discs (just ‘Kiss Me’x3 / ‘Head on the Door’ for now), the reissued Sebadoh III cd, and Sealab 2021’s fourth season on DVD. Also ended up winning myself a copy of the new fan-shot Beastie Boys concert DVD from the Kendall Cinema, so I’m gonna be checking that out. Might even re-gift it here on the Almanac when I’m done. In any case, I’ve got some good audio-visual times ahead.
Hey, Bostonians… got any plans tonight? No? Well, why don’tcha join Amie and I at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge for a free set of music by my old friend Sean Toohey at 8pm. I’ve known him since his old band Spray 9 played tons of shows with my first band, Hover, back in the early 90s in Burlington, Vermont. He went on to start Envy, then moved to Boston to form The Red Telephone, and now he’s doing the solo thing. If Sean’s last name is familiar to you, it might be because his also-talented sister, Meghan Toohey, fronted Boston band The So and So’s before heading out to LA.
So yeah, Sean’s set is at 8 o’clock, and shortly after he’s done we get the second ‘Every Wednesday In August’ residency show from Buffalo Tom‘s Bill Janovitz and his other band Crown Victoria. Their set’s not free, so bring more than just beer money.
For a taste of what you’re in for, hit up Sean Toohey’s MySpace page, and grab a brand new Crown Vic song called ‘Look After Me‘ right here.
How ’bout tomorrow evening? More free music: TV on the Radio and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at 6pm in front of Boston’s City Hall. I’ve yet to see either band live, so I’ll be there a little early to claim my piece of the plaza.
Congrats to Canadian visitor Nicole, who won the 5 first issues of Brian Wood‘s excellent DMZ series.
And finally, I’d like to share a recent email I got from another ‘Nac reader, this one in the UK. It pretty much encapsulates the main reason I maintain my humble little piece of the web here…
Hi Brad,
I check your blog daily and am just writing to say thanks for the Silver Jews post in March. They came to my home town of Cardiff last night. I had never heard of them prior to your post and when I saw they were coming, downloaded the show. I am now a fan! They were excellent.
They had a curious crowd I would say, rather than committed, and took to the stage to almost total indifference. When they left the crowd were screaming for more. Tremendous.
Thanks again,
Gerald
Now that’s the stuff.