Take Me Down To (Aberdeen) City
Posted on July 22, 2005 at 12:49 pm | No Comments
I’ve been seeing the band name Aberdeen City on Boston-area club schedules for a couple years now, and back when it was simply ‘Aberdeen’ I took notice, as they shared that original moniker with another band I knew and loved. I appreciated when they added the ‘City’, no longer unintentionally tricking me into thinking the LA-based others were coming to town, and figured I’d eventually run across them on a lineup I was checking out. It was only a matter of time before I’d finally discover what they were all about.
We never did cross paths, not until a couple weeks ago when I received a promo of their upcoming disc ‘The Freezing Atlantic‘, due out this fall. It sat on my desk for a few days, and lucky for me I decided to grab it as I hit the road for a long drive up to Vermont. Because, well… Wow. With a capital ‘W’.
I’m always glad, but often disappointed, to hear recordings from an unfamiliar local band. It’s rare that one grabs me right out of the gate, that blows me away from the very first listen. But Aberdeen City, cranked inside my car on 93 North, did just that. Hell, the album kept doing so as I hit I-89, when I restarted it for the third time in a row. I’ve played the thing many more times in the days since, it hasn’t even left the car cd player, and I’m nowhere near done with it. I like a lot of local bands, but I love just a select few. Aberdeen City is now one of those, and I haven’t even seen them on stage.
I’ll take care of that tomorrow night, and just a couple blocks from my place, as they play Great Scott in Allston with The Cloud Room and Benzos. If you can’t make it there on such short notice, they’ll be back next month, playing the Middle East Up on Thursday, August 25th. Oh, and for NYC readers, they’ll be at the Mercury Lounge in just a couple days, this Monday, July 25th.
Y’know, I’m sometimes at a loss when describing bands, even worse at comparing them to what has come before, preferring to let songs speak for themselves. I’m not going to go off about how much I like their singer’s voice, how solid the drumming is, how good the production is, how great the melodic-then-skronky guitar lines sound… as usual, I’ll just link some songs in the chance you feel the same.
So here’s the tracklisting from ‘The Freezing Atlantic‘, due out in October on Dovecote Records, along with links to a couple mp3s they’ve already made available…
Aberdeen City
‘The Freezing Atlantic’
due out October 20051. Another Seven Years
2. Pretty Pet
3. God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me
4. Sixty Lives
5. The Arrival
6. In Combat
7. Stay Still
8. Brighton
9. Best Chances Are Gone
10. Mercy
The label was also kind enough to let me pick another to share, so here’s an mp3 of ‘Sixty Lives‘, which you can also stream at the Dovecote site. A.C.’s MySpace page has streams as well.
If any of that stuff moves you like it did me, grab their recent ‘Sixty Lives‘ EP here. It’s just $5, and includes two album tracks along with new song ‘Incredible Story‘. The first five Boston-area people to order it (as of a couple days ago) get two tickets to their Great Scott show tomorrow, so if you were thinking of going, there’s some added motivation. Two tickets? $16. One EP? $5. More beer money is always a good thing, so in the chance the tix aren’t all gone, order up.
‘God is gonna get sick of me, and the accident that takes the beat from my heart will look like it was my fault’ – Aberdeen City
More on Michael Dahlquist
Posted on July 22, 2005 at 9:31 am | No Comments
It’s been a week now since the news spread rapidly around message boards and music news sites. Since fans & friends of Chicago-area musicians Michael Dahlquist, Doug Meis, and John Glick learned that they were suddenly, still incomprehensibly, gone.
While I’d never met Doug or John, it’s a measure of the man and musician Michael was that so many people have been impacted by his death. That people, like me, who’d only spoke with him a few times at Silkworm shows, or even just followed along with his always-entertaining tour diary, felt the loss more deeply than expected. The words and tributes that keep on coming make it all the harder to take, while at the same time they remind us how lucky we were to have known of the guy at all.
Some places to visit…
A wonderful tribute site for the three friends, containing lots of up-to-date links about their lives and the loss. Michael’s homemade acapella video for the Silkworm song ‘Treat The New Guy Right‘. The man sure did love his band. Matador label guy Gerard Cosloy says goodbye to Michael on his blog, Can’t Stop The Bleeding. Keep a little kleenex handy, because Steve Albini’s letter in the new Chicago Reader is bound to make you tear up a bit. Even if you didn’t know Michael, it may make you feel like you did. Or at the very least, wish you’d gotten the chance.
And finally, my friend Eric kindly said it was ok to post a couple photos he took at Monday’s wake in Chicago, when friends and family got together to both grieve and celebrate Michael’s life. No faces here, that’d be too invasive, too disrespectful to the moment, but here are a couple that he was comfortable taking and sharing…
The second one is such a kicker, having seen him beat the crap out of that kit so many times, and especially after having read Albini’s letter. The idea that he’ll never sit behind it again, gardening gloves on and shirt off, will never sink in.
If any ‘Nac readers out there in Boston-town are up for getting together for a beer this evening, raising a glass or two (or more) for Michael, drop me an email or a comment. Amie’s got girls-night-out, and I could sure use a drink.