Cue a Crashing Dream
Posted on July 19, 2005 at 2:17 pm | No Comments
Since podcasting started, I’ve found myself on both sides of the fence. Pro about the whole concept, the idea that anybody with a computer and a mic can record one, and that anyone with an mp3 player (no, not just an iPod) can listen in. I’ve been fascinated with the entire idea, experimented with doing my own for months (only a lack of time keeps me from diving in… for now there’s just the streaming bradcast), have followed along as new ‘casts spring up and it becomes easier and easier to find ’em.
It’s only when I devote some serious time listening that I discover there’s just so much noise and not enough signal. There are a growing number of sub-par blogcasts out there, so many that are the audio equivalent of a tedious (and tmi) livejournal site, all ego and no info. ‘Casters with little personality conveying things that could more easily be read in lesser time with a little surfing (case in point, news sites with ‘casts that are just people reading their articles, verbatim).
That’s why ‘musicasts‘ have most podcasting potential. Genre-specific radio shows when you want them, delivered with info and enthusiasm. New music from someone with time and discriminating tastes, straight into your ears. I’ve been digging some of writer Warren Ellis’ Superburst Mixtapes, but they’re a bit shorter than I’d like, the artists are more often miss-than-hit, and the ‘casts lack the personal touch that his voice would bring (yup, they’re all music, no DJ).
I’ve been waiting for that near-perfect musicast to come along, one that clicks with me personally, and I think it finally has thanks to former Pop Narcotic label-guy Bill Peregoy. Straight outta Boston, it’s called Crashing Dream, and the first ‘cast hit the net just a couple days ago. Bill’s a longtime friend and longer-time hero… having put out some of the best indie 7” records of the early 90s. He brought the world early wax from Versus, Small Factory, Helium, Swirlies, and a bunch more. His double-10” vinyl compilation ‘Why Do You Think They Call It Pop?‘ is a classic. Suffice it to say, Bill knows his stuff, has an ear for the best in new and not-so-new music.
From his first entry…
“In addition to writing about music, I�m diving into the world of podcasts. These podcasts are basically mix tapes with my commentary. I�m just digging into the music I�ve been listening to and picking about an hour of music a week to share with the world. I hope to update this weekly when possible.”
The first one’s ace, with songs from the Pernice Brothers, Doug Gillard, Lou Barlow, & more. Check the site for a complete track listing. I’ve heard good things about that Gillard solo album, and after hearing Bill talk about it and play a track, it’s on my to-buy list. And that, right there, is kinda the whole point.
Thanks, Bill… looking forward to many, many more weeks.
And as long as I’m talkin’ about great musicasts, the second installment of Idiot Radio is now available.
A few other quick things, just in case you missed them elsewhere…
New Death Cab For Cutie song on their MySpace page. I like it, but that’s probably no surprise to you, and definitely not to me.
Grab a new Nada Surf song on the Barsuk Records site. Another excellent one, and you can hear a couple live versions of songs from their upcoming ‘The Weight Is A Gift‘ album from my recording of a recent show here (getting removed soon). Apparantly, and unsurprisingly these days, the entire album has leaked, and their forum is having the predictable ‘I got it!‘” vs. ‘Don’t share it!‘ debate. Nada Surf singer/guitarist Matthew Caws chimed in when their last album, the stellar ‘Let Go‘, was leaked, and he was distinctly not pleased. Me, I’ll be buying the new one the day it comes out.
Couple new online music vids to check out: a clip for The Dears‘ ‘22‘, and Bloc Party’s super-neat animated video for ‘The Pioneers‘.
Mark Zupan, charismatic star of the new documentary Murderball (go see it. seriously.), is blogging his movie promo tour. Good stuff.
Added a bunch of shows to the list on the left, so if you’re a Bostonite, check ’em out. Nada Surf and the National will both be back, so I’m psyched about that. Oh, and while the pre-sale tickets for the Sigur Ros date are gone, regular tickets went on sale this past Saturday, and it looks like there’s still a few left. Head to ticketbastard pronto.
I’ll leave you with something that selected readers may find highly amusing…
I was fortunate enough to, out of the blue, be offered a ticket to this past Saturday’s Red Sox vs. Yankees game at Fenway. To my complete shock, when I arrived and took my seat, I was a mere 8 rows back from the third base line. I swear, I could smell the Yanks as they took turns in the on-deck circle. But that’s not the funny part. Very lucky, yes. Funny, no.
Anyway, a great beer-drinkin’, peanut-eatin’ time was had, and even though the Sox lost the game (also not funny), I decided to watch some highlights (uh, lowlights) the next morning, thanks to the recording on my TiVo.
Imagine my surprise when, as I rapid-fire hit the 30-second skip button to cruise through the game, I happened upon this image on my teevee screen…
I’m still laughing. Yeah, that’s me, getting a call from Amie as she drove back home from NYC, during a little ‘cell-phone-montage’ (click picture for video). The Fox crew apparantly decided America needed to be subjected to that mug for a moment, subtracting about 4 seconds from my 15 minutes of fame. Combine the odds of that happening with the odds that I’d actually see it… bizarre.
And oh, the irony: I hate Diet Pepsi almost as much as I hate people who talk on their cell phones at ballgames. And there I am inadvertantly pimping both. I do love old Blondie, though, so there’s that.
That’s it for now… gotta get ready for a meeting soon. More tomorrow…
[Live MP3s] Dinosaur Jr. in Boston 2005
Posted on July 18, 2005 at 5:45 am | No Comments
Friday night’s Dinosaur Jr. show at Boston’s Avalon was so worth blowing a more-than-normal amount of cash. I’m usually not a $25/ticket kinda guy, much less over $30 with unavoidable ticketbastard ‘convenience‘ charges, but from the moment the reunion tour was announced I knew I’d be going. The couple times I saw them in the old days, once with Lou and once post-Lou, were just amazing, and I had to see if they still had it.
And boy did they. Still loud as ever, still a minimal amount of on-stage banter, Murph’s sticks flying, Lou wildly strumming his bass, and J. pedal-hoppin’ like he’s killing ants. It was all Lou-era old stuff, all from the first three records (recently remastered and reissued on Merge). I hung back by the soundboard for a good recording, and the positioning pretty much paid off…
live at Avalon
Boston, MA
Friday, July 15th, 2005[Download all 16 tracks in one 90MB .zip file]
01. Gargoyle
02. In A Jar
03. The Lung
04. The Post
05. Little Fury Things
06. Raisans
07. Budge
08. Kracked
09. Tarpit
10. Repulsion
11. Mountain Man
12. Bulbs Of Passion
13. Forget The Swan
14. Sludgefeast
15. Just Like Heaven (cure cover)
16. Freak Scene
I was holding out for ‘Severed Lips‘, woulda swapped out the Cure cover for it, but complaints sound weak considering I was just glad to see them again at all. Glad I had some tissue to shove in my ears, it was borderline painful before I put it in. Knowing it was Dinosaur, you’d think I’d have remembered the plugs.
Some up-close shots reside here (including the one posted above), courtesy of Freakscene forum member colorsoundkid, and lots of killer shots can be found here, thanks to Bruce from the Loobiecore forum. For complete setlists from all the recent shows (and many, many other older dates), check out this page here, but beware the geocities pop-ups.
Regrettably, the schedule-strain of the last week, and lack of sleep on Friday night, kept me from checking out (Lou’s fellow Sebadoher) Jason Loewenstein’s show on Saturday… it’s killing me that I missed it, and I’d hoped to offer that up for listenin’ here along with the Dinosaur songs. A little one-degree of separation kinda thing. (and as long as I’m mentioning Sebadoh, check here for the most recent news, straight from Lou himself, on the in-progress remastering & reissue of the brilliant ‘Sebadoh III’ record.)
If only J-Loew had opened up for Dinosaur as he is on some other dates… hell, if only anyone else had opened up besides the dreadful Magik Markers, whose entire mission seemed to be to annoy us with noise. Job well done, I say. Yeah, yeah, I get it… an art-rock experiment, an aural performance piece, mmm-hmm, whatever. It’s been done better, and too many other times, before. Hearing an actual song-attempt buried in there woulda been a nice surprise, but that’d require the effort of learning to play their instruments. I notice that they actually have a ‘songs’ page on their website, and one is called ‘Song With Yelling‘. Comedy gold, I tell ya. Y’know, in the end it was kind of amusing… I had more fun listening to the heckles than the ‘music’ itself. I suppose it was better than an unremarkable opener and total crowd indifference, right?
Anyway, enjoy the Dinosaur mp3s, they’ll be up for a few weeks.