Thursday Music Miscellany
Posted on July 17, 2008 at 10:45 am | No Comments
Whew. Summertime. And the living ain’t so easy. Too busy for (typing) words.
Hope you dug all those live 1992 Sub Pop fest Mp3s, and if you haven’t grabbed them yet, best get on that, as they’ll be gone soon enough. Y’know, I think I burned out on computer time after editing and sharing up all those suckers, which partially explains my bloggy absence over the past week or so. That and the busy-ness, the dad-ness, the working for the man, the living of the life.
I’m compelled to first mention TONIGHT: I’m back at Central Square’s River Gods for the excellent Tourfilter DJ Night (excellence independent of my involvement, ‘natch). At 9pm I climb the stairs to the booth and play a couple hours of songs by bands that are coming to the area sometime soon. Following my set is Chris from Tourfilter, who takes over until closing. And for the sticklers: Yes, I’m kind of bending the rules on this one, though, by including tracks from a few of the many ATP NY bands. For that September weekend, as far as this excited guy is concerned, the Catskills is officially “in the Boston area”.
Hey, while you’re listening to all those live Sub Pop fest songs I shared, you might as well do some appropriate reading, so check out Blurt’s excellent coverage of all the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary festivities last weekend.
Online radio listeners, there are two different places to direct your ears today:
Ted Leo appeared on the (so sadly now-canceled) Bryant Park Project this morning to chat (about band names, the musical he’s working on, and more) and play a couple songs, including a brand new song called “The Mighty Sparrow” and cover of the Waterboys’ “Fisherman’s Blues“. Ted plays with his Pharmacists tonight at the River to River festival in Manhattan. Gloriously, Bottomless Pit, and supposedly/hopefully their current tourmates the Kadane Bros., will appear live on KEXP this afternoon. The Seattle-based station is broadcasting from Chicago this week, and their site says BP at 1pm, so that’d be 4pm EST. Unless that’s Chicago time. Oh hell, I’ll just listen all day to make sure I don’t miss it. The sounds of their amazing show here last Friday are still reverberating around my brain.
Tickets for The Wedding Present‘s return to Boston (Monday, October 6th at the Middle East) are on sale, so get with the grabbing. Their just-released “El Rey” is a worthy addition to their catalog, maybe even an improvement on their previous album, and that’s saying a lot. Unsurprisingly, Frank expresses my thoughts on the new Weddoes using better words, and more of ’em, over here.
While I’m at it, a quick mention of some other October shows recently announced: Wire (who released a new album this week) plays the Middle East two days later, on October 8th (tix, on sale tomorrow); Billy Bragg plays two shows at the Somerville Theatre on October 21st (tix) and 22nd (tix); And how about the terrible timing of Stereolab playing in town on the very same night as The Wedding Present? Drat and double drat on that. My loyalty to Gedge is unbreakable, but that’s a painful one (new Stereolab song here, by the way).
Audio gold for not just Buffalo Tom fans: Singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz recently wrapped up his weekly, month-long residency at the tiny Toad in Cambridge, and Dan from BT fansite the Kitchen Door was there to record much of it. He graciously shares up the results right here, and to be found within are a wide variety of fantastic covers, both acoustic and with some of Bill’s friends behind him, as well as some Buffalo Tom and Crown Victoria songs. We’re talkin’ Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army“, Modern Lover’s “Roadrunner“, alongside BT’s “Tailights Fade” and “Tangerine“. And that’s just naming four tracks out of almost 100. Like I said, gold.
Details on Eric Bachmann’s next Crooked Fingers album are out, including the title (“Forfeit / Fortune”), the release date (October 7th), and the label (none!). Yes, Eric has left the Merge stable to go it on his own, and you can read why here. When the album does arrive, it’ll be available on vinyl, as well as a deluxe edition that will feature a bonus DVD and special artwork.
Los Angeles fans can get a preview of that special edition tomorrow night: Eric will be performing an intimate set at LA’s Tangiers Restaurant, and it’s being videotaped for inclusion on that bonus DVD. Tickets here. If you’re a Boston-based Bachmann fan, well, I wish I had good news for you, but alas: The closest Eric is bringing Crooked Fingers this fall seems to be Northampton on October 8th. No closer date yet, but I’m keeping my own crooked digits crossed.
Sweden’s poptastic Labrador Records has made a wonderful 30-track 2008 Summer Sampler available for downloading either straight from their site as a .zip file or via PirateBay bittorrent. Some included artists are the Sound Of Arrows, Pelle Carlberg, Club 8, the Legends, the Radio Dept., Acid House Kings, and the Mary Onettes. UPDATED: As noted in the comments, Labrador’s servers were overwhelmed by people downloading the .zip file, so I’ve decided to help out a bit: Grab it right here for a limited time. Being the, um, anal-retentive detail-oriented music fan that I am, I’ve fixed some titling and tagging problems as well. Enjoy.
Congrats to Eugene in South Carolina, Ray in Cambridge, Mass., and Shawn in Louisiana, who all have a copy of that Brushfire Records vinyl sampler on its way to them. Hopefully the mail delivery truck doesn’t get too hot in the summer sun, or they’ll be opening up a slab of melted wax.
See you at River Gods tonight…
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