Mp3s: The Legends live in Cambridge, MA
Posted on August 7, 2006 at 8:32 pm | No Comments
Last month, Swedish label Labrador Records sent two of their signature pop bands on a week-long excursion to the U.S., with 7 quick stops to the east of the Mississippi River. Boston was lucky enough to be one of ’em, when The Legends and Acid House Kings played TT the Bears in Cambridge, MA on July 10th.
While A.H.K. have been around far longer, I was way more familiar with The Legends thanks to being sent their debut disc, ‘Up Against The Legends‘, a couple years back. Guitar hooks and Motown bass lines, sing-along choruses and handclaps galore, programmed beats and slightly distorted vocals that all came together in twelve short and catchy-as-hell pop songs. And while some of the promo material painted the project as a multi-member affair, a little web-surfing revealed that it was actually all from the mind of Johan Angerg�rd, himself a longtime member of Acid House Kings.
The fact that it’s a one-man studio band helps explain why The Legends second album, ‘Public Radio’, revealed such a drastic change in style and sound… it’s easier for a bicycle to negotiate a hairpin turn than it is for a van full of bandmates. While the memorable melodies and warm production remains, gone is much of the distortion and the anthemic choruses, replaced by echoey guitars, subtler vocals, and reverbed drum beats that fans of Seventeen Seconds-era Cure or early New Order will warm to immediately. Fortunately, I’m one of those fans, so I not only took to the disc right away, but was more than a little impressed by Johan’s ability to mutate so dramatically.
I will say this, though… sometimes the Cure influence comes off more as blatant homage than incorporation, almost uncomfortably so. Listen to The Legends ‘Air‘ alongside the Cure’s ‘M‘ and you’ll hear what I mean. And is it simply coincidence that a recent single is titled ‘Play It For Today‘? If it is, and Angerg�rd grew up in some sort of Cure-free bubble, then color me amazed. Either way, it all makes me very curious to see what’s up his sleeve for album number three.
The newer singles may offer a bit of a hint, with dancier material that Johan only-half-jokingly called ‘disco’ at TTs last month. The studio-project aspect made me very curious about the live show, so I was happy to see a full band (live drummer, keyboard, two guitars, and bass) take the stage. The songs from ‘Up Against…’ are more obviously energetic, so I wasn’t too surprised to find just two songs from ‘Public Radio’ (‘Hide Away‘ and ‘People Like Us‘) make it into their short nine song set. The rest were from either the debut disc, from the two more recent releases (‘Blue Lights‘ from the ‘Play It For Today’ EP, ‘Lucky Star‘ from a brand new EP). And as far as I know, the opener ‘Darling‘ has yet to be recorded. Here’s the set…
Live at TT the Bears
Cambridge, MA
Monday, July 10th, 2006
01. Darling
02. The Kids Just Wanna Have Fun
03. Hide Away
04. People Like Us
05. Your Song
06. There And Back Again
07. Lucky Star
08. Blue Light
09. Call It Ours
Some Legends links…
The Sound of Indie loves The Legends, too. Mp3s, two videos, and a few streams at the Labrador sounds page. Video for ‘There And Back Again‘ and a couple streaming songs from ‘Up Against…’ at their Lakeshore Records page. Their MySpace page
Next week: The Acid House Kings set from the same show.
the fine print… If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (email link on 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.
Mp3s: Midlake live in Cambridge, MA
Posted on July 31, 2006 at 11:13 am | No Comments
Y’know, I almost missed this one. Last Wednesday I was home after a pretty stressful workday, my mind already dead set on a restful evening, when an email arrived reminding me that the Denton, Texas band Midlake was playing across the river at TT the Bears in Cambridge. I’d heard a couple of their songs, and while I remember liking them, I was too distracted at the time to really dive in. But that last-minute note motivated me to load up some mp3s, read a couple glowing reviews, and arrive just in time for their opening set. And it was magic.
Midlake are the back seat of my parents’ car, sunday afternoons in the mid-1970s, driving down long Vermont roads towards the homes of random relatives. Listening to the radio, looking out rolled-up windows as the tops of trees flew by. A little Fleetwood Mac, some Steely Dan, and America. Midlake take these songwriting sensibilities, throw in a dash of Flaming Lips (who they recently toured Europe with), and end up sounding both nostalgic and unique to now all at once. You hear a one of their songs and you know it’s no one else making music nowadays. Their just-released second album, “The Trials Of Van Occupanther“, is the perfect summer disc, and I haven’t stopped listening to it since the show.
Here’s their all-too-short set from last Wednesday…
Live at TT the Bears
Cambridge, MA
Monday, July 26th, 2006
01. Balloon Maker
02. Young Bride
03. In This Camp
04. Van Occupanther
05. Some of Them Were Superstituous
06. Roscoe
07. Bandits
08. Head Home
Six of those can be found on the new disc, while the opening song and ‘Some of Them Were Superstituous‘ appear on their 2004 debut, ‘Bamnan and Silvercork‘ (which I’m now compelled to buy immediately).
I’ve never seen TT’s stage so packed with equipment… Midlake’s drummer was behind a veritable bunker of musical machines. Four separate keyboard setups (though only one band member played keys exclusively, the rest rotated), multiple guitars, and a projector that backlit the band with homemade visuals and old movie clips. Hard to beat the combination of great songs being played in front of a young Nastassja Kinski.
Fans of the Cold War Kids and Sound Team, who played after Midlake left the stage, will be wondering what I thought of (and more specifically, if I recorded) their sets… and I’m sorry to disappoint you. My indifference towards those bands, the packed room, and the increasing crowd-fueled heat led me outside and back to Allston. I wanted to keep the lingering sounds of Midlake’s set in my head, and it was easy to do… listening to the disc on the way home, and editing the recording well into the night. Can’t wait until they return to Boston as the headliners they should be, and treat us to a much longer list of songs.
Midlake plays a few more dates with Sound Team and Cold War Kids before hitting Lollapolooza on Friday, and then heading overseas for some festivals…
August 2nd – The Magic Stick, Detroit, MI
August 3rd – Kuyahoga Festival, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
August 4th – Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL
August 11th – Bergen Festival, Bergen
August 12th – Oya Festival, Oslo
August 15th – Rotown, Rotterdam
August 16th – Paradiso, Amsterdam
August 19th – Pukkelpop, Hasselt
Some Midlake links…
Boston music bloggers Synaptic Blur and Hello Gina were both at the show, and wrote about it, too. More Cowbell raves up their new disc, and Gorilla vs. Bear expected great things back in March. How right they were. Australia-based Get Big, Little Kid offers up not only a song from the new album, but one of the alternate versions that appears on an Oz-only EP. Midlake’s MySpace page.
the fine print… If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (email link on 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.
Lucky me, I’m on vacation this week, and mere moments away from hitting the road to head towards scenic Newport, Rhode Island for a few relaxing days. I’ll pick a winner of the DMZ giveaway when I get back, and hopefully be posting a bunch more in the days before I head back to work. Yeah, I know, promises promises.