[Last Thursday’s Playlist] New Music Night VIII at River Gods
Posted on December 23, 2012 at 10:16 am | No Comments
Well, seeing as the world didn’t end, I suppose I should share up Thursday’s playlist from the eighth edition of New Music Night over at River Gods in Cambridge, MA. A lovely evening all-around, independent of the fine song selections made by myself and Mr. Jay Clicky Clicky. His playlists are right over here. And yes, there were holiday songs involved… but only a few. Unavoidable, really.
Lots of listening links for your eyes and ears to follow below…
New Music Night mach VIII
at River Gods in Cambridge, MA
on Thursday, December 20th, 2012
* Boston-area-ish artist
set one / brad almanac / 9pm – 10pm
01. Beach Fossils – “Careless”
[ from the upcoming “Clash the Truth” LP, due 2/19/13 on Captured Tracks / MP3 ]
02. The Mary Onettes – “Evil Coast”
[ from the upcoming “Hit the Waves” LP, due 3/12/13 on Labrador / Soundcloud ]
03. Marnie Stern – “Year of the Glad”
[ from the upcoming “The Chronicles of Marnia” LP, due 3/19/13 on Kill Rock Stars / Soundcloud ]
04. Evens – “King of Kings”
[ from their just-released LP “The Odds”, out now on Dischord ]
05. Wax Idols – “Sound of a Void”
[ from the forthcoming “Discipline & Desire”, out 3/26/13 on Slumberland / Soundcloud ]
06. Parks – “Sweater Weather” *
[ debut “name your price” digital single / Bandcamp ]
07. Statistics – “Nineteen Ninety-Nine”
[ from their “Peninsula” LP, coming in March on Afternoon Records / Download / Soundcloud]
08. School of Seven Bells – “Secret Days”
[ from the new “Put Your Sad Down” EP, out on Vagrant / Soundcloud ]
09. Orange Blossom Flyover – “Near Beyond Alone” *
[ new self-released digital single / free download on Soundcloud ]
10. Ducktails – “Letter of Intent”
[ from the forthcoming “The Flower Lane” LP, due 1/29 on Domino / Soundcloud ]
11. Matt Pond – “Love To Get Used”
[ from “The Lives Inside the Lines In Your Hand” LP, coming 2/5 via BMG / Soundcloud ]
12. Amor De Dias – “Jean’s Waving”
[ from “The House at the Sea” LP, arriving 1/29 via Merge / Soundcloud ]
13. Zip-Tie Handcuffs – “Ode To Light” *
[ from their “In The Sky” LP, just released on Curve of the Earth Records / Soundcloud ]
14. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “I Know My Life Is Wrong”
[ East River Pipe cover from their most-recent 7-inch, out on Slumberland ]
15. Boris – “Neu Years” (Asobi Seksu cover)
[ from a split 7-inch, self-released on Black Friday’s Record Store Day / Bandcamp ]
16. Strange Mangers – “Treffpunkt”
[ from their new EP, “A Rare Time”, released via Bandcamp ]
17. Flock of Dimes – “Curtain”
[ solo project from Jenn of Wye Oak / 7-inch on Merge / Soundcloud ]
set two / brad almanac / 11pm – midnight
18. John Roderick (The Long Winters) – “The Week In Between”
[ from the new “One Christmas At A Time” EP with Jonathan Coulton / Soundcloud ]
19. Johan Hedberg (of SKWBN) – “Some Kind of Christmas”
[ new Christmas song, offered as a free download from Labrador Records / MP3 ]
20. Mount Moriah – “Younger Days”
[ from their forthcoming LP, “Miracle Temple”, due out 2/26 on Merge / Soundcloud ]
21. Anders & Kendall – “We’re On Fire Babe”
[ from their upcoming “Wild Chorus” LP, arriving in February on Nine Mile Records / Video ]
22. Lilys – “Well Traveled is Protest”
[ from a new split 7-inch with Big Troubles on Speakertree Records / Soundcloud ]
23. MMOSS – “Another Dream”
[ from their new LP, “Only Children”, out now on Trouble In Mind / Soundcloud ]
24. Widowspeak – “The Dark Ages”
[ from the forthcoming “Almanac” LP, due out 1/22 on Captured Tracks / Soundcloud ]
25. Lady Lamb The Beekeeper – “Rooftop”
[ from the debut full-length, “Ripely Pine”, coming 2/19 on Ba Da Bing / Soundcloud ]
26. The Box Tiger – “Set Fire To Your Friends”
[ just-released digital single / “name your price” download on Bandcamp ]
27. Bent Shapes – “Panel of Experts” *
[ from their new flexi disc / Soundcloud ]
28. Allo Darlin’ – “Dear John”
[ from the 2012 wiaiwya-7777777 singles club / Bandcamp ]
29. Eux Autres – “What It Is”
[ from the 2012 wiaiwya-7777777 singles club / Bandcamp ]
30. Owl and Mouse – “Canvas Bag”
[ from a forthcoming split 7-inch with Black Tambourine via Hangover Lounge Records ]
31. Bloody Amateur – “Companions”
[ from the forthcoming self-titled LP, due out 3/5 on Teenbeat ]
32. Girls Names – “Hypnotic Regression”
[ from “The New Life” LP, out on 2/26 thanks to Slumberland / Soundcloud ]
33. Big Dipper – “Robert Pollard” *
[ from the long-awaited “Crashes On The Platinum Planet” LP, out on Almost Ready Records / Soundcloud ]
34. Frightened Rabbit – “The Woodpile”
[ from the forthcoming “Pedestrian Verse” LP, out 2/5 on Canvasback / Soundcloud ]
35. Yo La Tengo – “Before We Run”
[ from their next LP, “Fade”, arriving 1/15 on Matador / Video ]
[Thanksgiving Nutshells] David Bazan, TW Walsh, Fuzzy, Ben Gibbard, Tanya Donelly, Lemonheads, Now Now, more
Posted on November 21, 2012 at 6:08 pm | No Comments
Greetings, and happy official-start-of-the-holidays, dear readers. All 12 of you. I keed, I keed… there are at least a couple dozen of you out there, I’m sure. One of these days I’ll check my stats and find out.
I’ve got plenty of things in my life to be thankful for, though “blogging time” is not one of them. As I’ve said, I seem to be spending my non-work, non-being-a-dad hours seeing shows rather than writing about them. There was a time I could do both, but lately it’s just not happening. Que sera, etc.
Thanks to my place of employment, I was set free a little early today, so I had a couple unexpected hours to spare. How did I spend it? Enjoying some Kiwi Rising and sharing up some songs. You’re welcome.
David Bazan, former Pedro the Lion focal point, current solo-but-with-a-band guy, and longtime personal fave, brought his “Control” tour to Brighton Music Hall last week, and it was maybe the best I’d ever seen him. That’s saying a lot, because I’ve seen him oh so many times. The sound was great, the crowd was psyched, his 3-piece band (which includes Andy Fitts on bass and Alex Wescoat on drums) was tight as hell. A well-oiled machine, as they say. And that machine was playing the entirety of what may be Pedro The Lion’s best album, though “It’s Hard To Find A Friend” holds a perfectly special place in my heart. First love and all.
The trio played “Control” side one, then a handful of other well-chosen Bazan-penned songs, and finished up the show with side two. No encore, as per usual, but there was one major bit of unusual: Dave’s friend and former Pedro the Lion bandmate (and ace songwriter on his own) Tim “TW” Walsh took Alex’s place behind the drum kit for a couple songs, including “When They Really Get To Know You They Will Run” from the aforementioned “It’s Hard To Find A Friend”. Considering they only ran through it once in soundcheck, he nailed it. Here it is…
Check out the setlist from the show, which gives (spoiler alert) the list of songs that Dave & co. draw from for the non-Control creamy filling of the set. The rest of my photos from that night are here.
Speaking of TW, his fans successfully (over-)funded a vinyl pressing of the the two fantastic Soft Drugs EPs he released in 2006 and 2008. They’ll be joined together on one slab of undoubtedly-expertly-mastered colored wax (with bonus digital goodies), and you can get an early peek at the artwork on the Kickstarter page
Want to know what “When They Really Get To Know They Will Run” would sound like without drums? Have a listen to this live version from a recent episode of the Live Wire Radio variety program podcast. Check out the full stream of the show for a live take on “The Fleecing” as well…
Can’t remember the last time I had as much unfiltered fun at a show as I did at former Fuzzy member Chris Toppin’s birthday bash at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain a couple weeks back. She turned the big Five-Oh, and the place was packed with friends and fans to wish her a happy. Fuzzy reunited, Buffalo Tom rocked the smallest room they’ve played in awhile, Tanya Donelly sang a couple of Belly songs (with Buffalo Tom backing her), and a celebratory crowd was treated to some surprising covers. One of those was “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around“, with Tanya playing Stevie Nicks and Buffalo Tom’s Bill Janovitz channeling his best Tom Petty. Nailed it…
Photos from that special night are here.
The next day, during some random Fuzzy-related surfing, I happened upon this short video of Chris Toppin and her bandmate Hilken Mancini doing a bit of “Pulp“, a Smudge song the band used to cover back in the day. The clip, however, is a recent one, recorded over the summer during an interview segment for an in-the-works music documentary called “If It’s Catchy, It Means You Stole It”. The subject? Australian musician and Half A Cow record label founder Nic Dalton, a one-time member of Boston’s own Lemonheads. The connection? Fuzzy and Smudge were Half A Cow labelmates. Here’s the trailer…
When Chris Toppin’s birthday party (above) was announced, I knew I’d be going, but I was bummed it went up against Now, Now‘s set at the Paradise, opening up for Motion City Soundtrack. While I’m no fan of MCS, I’m a longtime admirer of Now, Now (fka Now, Now Every Children), and they don’t play around here often enough. Back in 2009 I wanted to see them play so badly that I set up and presented a rare Almanac show at TTs, the trio’s first visit to Boston. I hadn’t been able to catch them since, and the fact that I had conflicting plans was painful.
Fortunately, RadioBDC had the band on for a “Live In The Lab” acoustic session that I was able to attend that very afternoon. While I was there, I discovered they’d be playing early enough at the Paradise for me to catch their set before I headed to the Midway. The scheduling gods smiled on me, for once. Y’know what else I learned? That 2009 show was the first time the band met their latest bandmate, Jess, who came down from Maine for the show. Proud to have played a small part in their band history.
Here’s one of the stripped down songs they played at RBDC (and one of my favorite songs of the year)…
My photos from the Live in the Lab session, and a few from the Paradise show that night, are right here. You can watch & listen to the band perform their 3-song acoustic set, which also includes”Dead Oaks” and “But I Do”, over at RadioBDC. Area music blog They Will Rock You reviewed their Paradise show here.
When Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard stopped by the Somerville Theatre a couple weeks ago in support of his new solo record, “Former Lives”, I figured we’d get a cover or two. What I didn’t expect was an old Lemonheads number. Major kudos for the local hat tip, Mr. Gibbard…
Ben’s setlist from that night pulled from all over his songwriting history…
Ben Gibbard
at the Somerville Theatre
Somerville, MA
11/4/2012
* from “Former Lives”
Shepherd’s Bush Lullaby *
Such Great Heights [Postal Service]
Oh, Woe *
These Roads Don’t Move [Farrar/Kerouac collaboration]
Dream Song *
Cath [DCFC]
When the Sun Goes Down [‘Arthur’ soundtrack]
Grapevine Fires [DCFC]
The Dream Of Evan & Chan [Dntel]
Something’s Rattling (Cowpoke) *
Couches in Alleys [Styrofoam]
Passenger Seat [DCFC]
Duncan, Where Have You Gone? *
Unobstructed Views [DCFC]
My Drug Buddy [Lemonheads cover]
Soul Meets Body [DCFC]
Cleveland [All-Time Quarterback!]
Teardrop Windows *
Crooked Teeth [DCFC]
You Remind Me Of Home [‘Home’ EP w/Andrew Kenny]
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight [Postal Service]
encore…
Broken Yolk In A Western Sky *
A Movie Script Ending [DCFC]
I’m Building A Fire *
I Will Follow You Into The Dark [DCFC]
More photos from Ben’s show are here.
Alright, enough outta me. Gotta head home before the big Metz / Pile / Speedy Ortiz triple-punch at the Middle East tonight. Jeez, I can’t remember the last time I was upstairs at the Middle East. Sad fact, that. Glad the Bowery has stepped in and given me a reason to go. See you there?