Scenesters and Mirror Kissers

Upcoming concerts

2012-01-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

yeah I know this assumes someone else reads this but..............
upcoming in Boston despite the fact that so many bands are tending to avoid Boston

arriving at The Lily Pad Samantha Crain on February 3rd. Looking like someone in the crowd rather than a pop star but with an amazing voice and personable stage presence that has gathered fans like First Aid Kit this gig is worth your time

go see Cate Le bon TT's on February 8th, charming, talented and worth a night out.

We totally fell in love with Slow Club at SXSW 2009, at long last they are playing Boston at TT's. Great on record they produce a knockout show. A duo if Charles and Rebecca they gel like superglue. Rebecca has been known to drink a little and it seems every guy on the UK indie scene has a little crush on her. SXSW 2010 when they closed out the Saturday night Rebecca was wrecked but put on an awesome show, made me laugh and be in awe all at once.

if you have time and know the uk series Come Dine with me watch this and laugh like crazy

At long last The Twilight Sad are about to release their third album - yes the first release was not an album. If you aren't insane like us and joining them in DC they arrive at Brighton music Hall February 26th. The more I listen the more I love this music basically folk music (which you can tell if you see James and Andy do an acoustic set) it is presented as a wall of sound that astounds you.
Their bass player left and Dok joined on keyboard and Johnny from Take A Worm For A Walk both of who are now integral parts of the band.

Just before SXSW Bombay Bicycle Club come back over to the US they play the Middle East Downstairs on March 9th. stunning band - so young you can barely believe that they have three amazing albums and many EPS under their belt. such talent so young. If you ever want to figure how music talent spiders through a family look up Jamie MacColl - yes THAT MacColl.
listen below and if this song isnt about early morning sex then my mind is just too much in the gutter.

Also coming so look them up Dry the River and We Are Augustines

Gigs 2011

2012-01-01T14:48:00.001-08:00

saw a few bands............
1/13/2011 Bear Hands Great Scott
1/19/2011 Somebody Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin The Paradise
1/19/2011 Two Door Cinema Club The Paradise
1/19/2011 Tokyo Police Club The Paradise
2/4/2011 No Joy The Paradise
2/4/2011 Wavves The Paradise
2/4/2011 Best Coast The Paradise
2/10/2011 Gold Motel Brighton Music Hall
2/10/2011 Now, Now Brighton Music Hall
2/10/2011 You, Me and everyone We know Brighton Music Hall
2/24/2011 broken Records Brighton Music Hall
2/24/2011 Us Royalty Brighton Music Hall
2/28/2011 Porcelain Raft Great Scott
2/28/2011 Tennis Great Scott
2/28/2011 Holiday Shores Great Scott
3/3/2011 Deer Tick The Paradise
3/3/2011 MIddle Brother The Paradise
3/3/2011 Dawes The Paradise
3/6/2011 Esben and The Witch Brighton Music Hall
3/6/2011 Wise Blood Brighton Music Hall
3/6/2011 Jaggery Brighton Music Hall
3/8/2011 Telekinesis TT The Bears
3/8/2011 The Love Language TT The Bears
3/8/2011 Slow dim TT The Bears
3/12/2011 Kid Canaveral Bruar Falls
3/12/2011 Strega Bruar Falls
3/12/2011 Rachel Sermanni Bruar Falls
3/13/2011 Bombay Bicycle Club Knitting Facctory
3/13/2011 Jonquil Knitting Facctory
3/15/2011 The Boxer Rebellion Latitude 30
3/15/2011 Jonquil Austin trade show next stage
3/15/2011 Jonquil Latitude 30
3/15/2011 The Boxer Rebellion Austin trade show next stage
3/15/2011 Bright Light Bright Light Latitude 30
3/15/2011 Pulled Apart By Horses Latitude 30
3/16/2011 withered hand Maggie Mae's
3/16/2011 the twilight sad Maggie Mae's
3/16/2011 admiral fallow Maggie Mae's
3/16/2011 o emperor Barbarella
3/16/2011 kid canaveral Maggie Mae's
3/16/2011 Bombay bicycle club Latitude 30
3/16/2011 jamie woon Latitude 30
3/16/2011 dry the river Latitude 30
3/16/2011 yuck Club De ville
3/16/2011 alessi's ark French Legation Museum
3/16/2011 bobby French Legation Museum
3/16/2011 lanterns on the lake French Legation Museum
3/16/2011 the vaccines church
3/16/2011 withered hand emos annex
3/16/2011 dry the river Red Eyed Fly
3/17/2011 ham sandwich friends
3/17/2011 Bombay Bicycle Club Klub Krucial
3/17/2011 antonio lulic Latitude 30
3/17/2011 Boy & Bear Klub Krucial
3/17/2011 ellie goulding Klub Krucial
3/17/2011 funeral suits friends
3/17/2011 edwyn collins French Legation Museum
3/17/2011 eliza doolittle pure volume house
3/17/2011 neon hitch pure volume house
3/17/2011 yuck flamingo cantina
3/17/2011 erland and the carnival convention centre
3/17/2011 Jonquil emos annex
3/17/2011 the features Latitude 30
3/17/2011 bear driver The Palm Door
3/18/2011 King Kreosote Latitude 30
3/18/2011 esben & the witch Latitude 32
3/18/2011 chad valley Latitude 31
3/18/2011 little comets Latitude 30
3/18/2011 we are animal 512 rooftop
3/18/2011 the people's temple bd rileys
3/18/2011 Jonquil Latitude 30
3/18/2011 babeshadow 512 rooftop
3/18/2011 Gold Motel Maggie Mae's
3/18/2011 Bombay Bicycle Club Latitude 33
3/18/2011 Funeral Suits bd rileys
3/18/2011 Esben & The Witch windish agency
3/18/2011 Veronica Falls valhalla
3/18/2011 Popup Latitude 30
3/18/2011 Rachel Sermanni Latitude 30
3/18/2011 the Lost Brothers bd rileys
3/19/2011 Mystery Jets Klub Krucial
3/19/2011 Clock Opera Latitude 30
3/19/2011 Time New Viking Latitude 30
3/19/2011 The TumbleDryer Babies The Velvetta Room
3/19/2011 The Twilight Sad Annie West
3/19/2011 A Silent Film Rusty Spurs
3/19/2011 Grouplove Klub Krucial
3/19/2011 Brother Klub Krucial
3/19/2011 Wolf Gang Klub Krucial
3/19/2011 Little Comets Latitude 30
3/19/2011 David Thomas Broughton Latitude 30
3/19/2011 Pulled apart By Horses Latitude 30
3/19/2011 Viva City Latitude 30
3/19/2011 Dinosaur Pile-Up Latitude 30
3/20/2011 Popup Arts Center
3/22/2011 Admiral Fallow Lizard Lounge
3/22/2011 Laura Cortese & Billy Beard Lizard Lounge
3/23/2011 Ellie Goulding The Paradise
3/23/2011 The Knocks The Paradise
3/24/2011 Richard Ashcrofy Villa Victoria Center for the Arts
3/24/2011 Faces On Film Villa Victoria Center for the Arts
3/25/2011 A Silent Film Brighton Music Hall
3/25/2011 Civil Twilight Brighton Music Hall
3/25/2011 The Razzle Brighton Music Hall
3/29/2011 Mona Brighton Music Hall
3/29/2011 The Joy Formidable Brighton Music Hall
3/29/2011 The Lonely Forest Brighton Music Hall
4/2/2011 PS I love you TT the bears
4/3/2011 Young Adults Great Scott
4/3/2011 Protokoll Great Scott
4/3/2011 New shakes Great Scott
4/3/2011 andy maher candy bar Great Scott
4/7/2011 Foster The People Brighton Music Hall
4/7/2011 Grouplove Brighton Music Hall
4/7/2011 Royal Bangs Brighton Music Hall
4/11/2011 Marc Pinansky TT the bears
4/11/2011 Liam Fimm TT the bears
4/11/2011 The Luyas TT the bears
4/12/2011 The Boxer Rebellion Brighton Music Hall
4/12/2011 We are Augustines Brighton Music Hall
4/27/2011 Beach Fossils Great Scott
4/27/2011 Craft Spells Great Scott
4/27/2011 Andre Obin Great Scott
4/28/2011 tame Impala The Paradise
4/28/2011 yuck The Paradise
4/28/2011 Yawn The Paradise
5/2/2011 Foals The Paradise
5/2/2011 Freelance Whales The Paradise
5/17/2011 Asobi Sekso The Paradise
5/17/2011 White Lies The Paradise
5/17/2011 Sun Airway The Paradise
5/25/2011 Old Abram Brown Great Scott
5/25/2011 Hey Rosetta! Great Scott
5/26/2011 Glasvegas Brighton Music Hall
5/27/2011 Wise Blood The Paradise
5/27/2011 Friendly Fires The Paradise
5/28/2011 Sea of Bees Brighton Music Hall
5/28/2011 Stornoway Brighton Music Hall
5/30/2011 The Wombats Hurricane O'Reilly's
5/31/2011 The Wombats Bowery Ballroom
6/7/2011 Alessi's Ark Brighton Music Hall
6/14/2011 Gruff Rhys Brighton Music Hall
6/14/2011 Walter Sickert Brighton Music Hall
6/14/2011 Y Niwi Brighton Music Hall
6/15/2011 Grouplove Great Scott
6/15/2011 Walk The Moon Great Scott
6/20/2011 Art Brut Brighton Music Hall
6/20/2011 Reptar Brighton Music Hall
6/24/2011 The Static Jacks Brighton Music Hall
6/24/2011 Mazes Brighton Music Hall
6/25/2011 Lauren Shera Great Scott
6/25/2011 Matthew And The Atlas Great Scott
6/25/2011 Aunt Martha Great Scott
7/13/2011 King Creosote Brighton Music Hall
7/13/2011 Jon Hopkins Brighton Music Hall
7/17/2011 Mona Brighton Music Hall
7/17/2011 RIBS Brighton Music Hall
7/21/2011 Mystery Roar Brighton Music Hall
7/21/2011 Lost Boy? Brighton Music Hall
7/21/2011 Twin Sister Brighton Music Hall
7/28/2011 Brother Hurricane O'Reilly's
7/28/2011 The Kooks Hurricane O'Reilly's
8/26/2011 Doug Paisley The Dance Hall
8/26/2011 We Are Augustines The Dance Hall
9/7/2011 1,2,3 Music Hall of williamsburg
9/7/2011 Bombay Bicycle Club Music Hall of williamsburg
9/8/2011 The Lonely Forest Royale
9/8/2011 Bombay Bicycle Club Royale
9/8/2011 Two Door Cinema Club Royale
9/10/2011 James Vincent McMorrow Brighton Music Hall
9/10/2011 Marissa Nadler Brighton Music Hall
9/13/2011 Grouplove Brighton Music Hall
9/13/2011 Young man Brighton Music Hall
9/20/2011 Beige Brighton Music Hall
9/20/2011 Cymbals Eat Guitars Brighton Music Hall
9/20/2011 Hooray For Earth Brighton Music Hall
9/22/2011 Yuck TT the Bears
9/22/2011 Mean Creek TT the Bears
9/22/2011 Jim Ward TT the Bears
9/25/2011 Alessi's Ark Brighton Music Hall
9/25/2011 Laura Marling Brighton Music Hall
9/27/2011 Bobby The Paradise
9/27/2011 The Static Jacks Brighton Music Hall
9/27/2011 Wild Beasts The Paradise
9/29/2011 The Drums Brighton Music Hall
9/29/2011 Veronica Falls Brighton Music Hall
10/1/2011 The Joy Formidable The Landsdowne Pub
10/3/2011 James Blake The Paradise
10/3/2011 Chairlift The Paradise
10/12/2011 A Flock Of Seagulls Tupelo Music Hall
10/13/2011 The Indelicates Cantab Lounge
10/14/2011 The Indelicates The Speakeasy
10/19/2011 Royal Baths The Paradise
10/19/2011 Crocodiles The Paradise
10/19/2011 Dum Dum Girls The Paradise
10/20/2011 The Wombats Museum Of Fine Arts
10/20/2011 The Damned Middle East Downstairs
10/20/2011 Th' Legendary Shack Shakers Middle East Downstairs
10/22/2011 The Wombats Johnny Brendas
10/22/2011 The Postelles Johnny Brendas
10/22/2011 The Static Jacks Johnny Brendas
10/22/2011 Emmy The Great Spike Hall
10/27/2011 Friendly Fires The Paradise
10/28/2011 We Were Promised Jetpacks The Paradise
10/28/2011 Bear Hands The Paradise
11/2/2011 Into It, Over It Middle East Downstairs
11/2/2011 Andrew Jackson Jihad Middle East Downstairs
11/2/2011 Frank Turner Middle East Downstairs
11/5/2011 Nikki Lane The Paradise
11/5/2011 Noah and The Whale The Paradise
11/7/2011 Caitlin Canty Club Passim
11/7/2011 Alessi's Ark Club Passim
11/22/2011 The Chameleons TT the Bears
11/22/2011 Curtain Society TT the Bears
11/30/2011 Ivan & Alyosha Great Scott
11/30/2011 Hey Rosetta! Great Scott

Albums 2011

2011-12-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

OK everyone is doing it so why not
in no particular order:

The Indelicates - David Koresh Superstar got to love a duo to make a musical of this subject, though I do not quote I do believe they are as cynical and aethiest as I am

Bombay Bicycle Club - A different Kind Of Fix Love this album though by the time it came out Bad Timing and Sleep seemed comfortable and not new, Shuffle was amazing.

The Wombats - This Modern Glitch - perfect pop from perfectly human guys. Not sure I am comfortable yet with Murph opening his problems to the world but so so happy to see them slap the NME and all doubters in the face, the boys came back with a vengeance.

Emmy The Great - Virtue totally love this album and find more to adore the more I listen, Dinosaur Sex is just perfect.

Fight Like Apes - The Body Of Christ And The Legs Of Tina Turner again they produce punchy perfect music with an absurdist title. I just wish hey toured the US at least once or a million times.

Now my two cheats - actually released in 2010 but I was absurdly slow

Endor - Endor you should have heard PopCop expounding on this band and now hear my please - listen and love. able to be found on bandcamp the best way to buy music.

My First Tooth - Territories not quite sure how this love started but this album was amazingly great. Find them on the Alcopop label.

Sam Duckworth - The Mannequin AKA Get Cape Wear Cape Fly sweetly endearing and life affirming

Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines- yes an American - or more precisely its Michael Benjamin Lerner. Hard to pick a track but listen to Car Crash or Dirty Thing and not smile and sing a long a little and you must be dead.

Tom Vek - Leisure Seizure - wow when we thought he had disappeared the king of synth came back with a wonderful album

Yuck - Yuck - taking the best from Cajun Dance Party , that is Daniel Blumberg and Max Bloom, indeed Daniel also being Oupa which started as Yu(c)k. This band came to SXSW and then toured the US allowing us all to see how brilliantly songs like Rubber and Suicide Policeman sounded live.

being pushed elsewhere as 2011 but we know they were 2010 but still loved Kid Canaveral Shouting at wildlife and Admiral Fallow's Boots Met My Face.

you may notice I was lucky enough to have seen most of my picks live if not this year in previous years.
also pretty good was Wild Beasts Smother, Friendly Fires Pala, The Joy Formidable The Big Roar though not totally loved

Gigs 2011

2011-11-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

to misquote from 'A Tale of Two Cities'
it was the best of years for gigs and it was the worst of years.
2011 was the year LiveNation came in puts its brutal finger round the neck of live music in Boston and throttles it to a horrible mangled mess.
FUCK YOU LIVE NATION MAY YOU ROT IN HELL.
We are way down in our concerts only 69 this year.
We saw gigs by our absolute favourites Twilight Sad and The Wombats and that included very special SXSW gigs from The Sad and an amazingly wonderfully intimate sets from The 'bats.
We saw Mystery Jets, Telekinesis and Bear Hands again
We got to finally see Bombay Bicycle Club after listening to them for five years and MANY MANY times so much they now recognize and joke with us.
We also got to see Yuck, weird situation the progenitor of Yuck Cajun Dance Party makes me foolish in adoration. So amazing to talk to Daniel, who seems shy and Max was so amazingly friendly Iam for ever in his debt.
We got to see Admiral Fallow,Kid Canaveral, withered Hand and King Creosote for the first time and fell in love. King Creosote in Boston astounded me beyond words so that their gig is seared in my mind in awe. Weird because Kenny is such a down t earth bloke and not someone we would be normally throwing back pints with but I bow before his musical genius.
We saw Alessi's Ark many times and loved her down to earth humility and honesty, she went from nice music to must go see her when she is near.
We got to see Emmy The Great in a random CMJ hit and run gig and found she lived up to her hype. I find it impossible to dislike a woman who treats the subject of date rape as an opportunity to show a man that a woman has control of her body and should be treated with respect.
We saw the death of Glasvegas, the gig in Boston was brutal and humiliating in its awfulness.
We got to see Pulled Apart By Horses and loved their huge energy, sorry still dont love their music.
The Indelicates hit the USA and my love for them grew in leaps and bounds, when I saw them at SXSW Simon scared me, this time I realised he is a sweet teddy bear.
I realised The Vaccines and Brother were a total hype taht we coudl forget.
We got to see Eddie Collins again, wow what a comeback and he played my favourite song, Don't Shilly Shally - oh wow fan girl time!
so my quick review less than I wanted but the highs were high so perhaps I am not so sad.

The Indelicates Visit the US

2011-10-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

So The Indelicates have once again come over to the USA, not the first time BUT it is the first glorious time they will make it to New England.
And not ONCE but TWICE, they play the Cantab Lounge in Cambridsge on Thursday and The Speakeasy in Providence RI on Friday.
We saw The Indelicates at SXSW in 2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/31046907@N00/sets/72157604402541731/with/2390933904/
and I blogged about how much I loved their album Songs For Swinging Lovers noting it as one of my favourites of 2011.
From the press release I quote 'Essentially the joint project of Simon Indelicate (formerly a performance poet and author of ‘The Book Of Job: The Musical’ – revived in 2011) and Julia Indelicate (an acclaimed documentary photographer) The Indelicates are a piano and guitar-led pop/rock act from Sussex, UK. Taking their musical cues from folk and classical sources - as well as the broad spectrum of British indie rock – they write melodic, edgy and intellectually coherent songs that have been consistently well-received in the UK and abroad.'
But the reason I love them is their wit, their satire and their refusal to accept.
Listen and love and go see them on Thursday and Friday.

The Demise of Dancing Jesus

2011-09-10T09:53:00.001-07:00

According to the music companies there was a huge success this week but I see it as a huge fail.
===========================================
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=145746
Following a joint investigation by BPI and IFPI into a music-based internet discussion forum called Dancing Jesus, the site administrator and one of its most prolific uploaders known as "Trix" were yesterday arrested by the City of London Police.
In a simultaneous action, American Homeland Security seized the site's server in Dallas where the content was being hosted.
Dancing Jesus is renowned for offering access to predominantly music files which have been uploaded without the permission of the copyright owner. The site specialises in leaking pre-release material.
The City of London Police are now progressing this enquiry.
============================================
I have visited Dancing Jesus for years now, not to steal music there were better ways to get music but the passion and breadth of knowledge on the board was amazing. In 2006 a bunch of folks posted about this amazing young band that just won the Road to V contest and posted some demos. There began my knowledge and path to loving Bombay Bicycle Club.
Also found Milburn providing many many bsides and obscure tracks to melt your heart.
Mumm-Ra including their The Dance On The Shore EP and The Dance In France EPs.
I was A Cub Scout, Jeremy Warmsley, Johnny Flynn, Patrick Wolf, Micachu, Forward Russia, Foals, Little Man Tate, Reverend and The Makers, Bromheads Jacket, the Long Blondes, The Duke Spirit, The Pigeon Detectives, The wombats, Dirty Pretty Things, belatedly to love The Libertines, Maximo park, The Rifles, Sky Larkin Wild Beasts, Johnny Foreigner, Brakes, BSP, The Rifles, The Holloways, Komakino, belatedly Elle Milano, Cajun Dance Party.
http://www.last.fm/user/Janeinma/charts
the music I listen to I listen to because of that board and those people. The music I buy the concerts I go to 95% because of Dancing Jesus.
I can only speak for myself but that board drove me to buy more music than I had in years and to support bands in ways that I would not have done otherwise.
Every year before I went to SXSW I would post my short list of British bands and ask for people who had really seen and heard these bands to guide my choices.
And isn't it hypocritical for bloggers and critics who rarely pay for any of the CDS they listen to to berate folks for wanting to listen to music before they buy it?
I am so sorry Music Biz you may be celebrating but I am sobbing and feel so bereft.

Bombay Bicycle Club

2011-09-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Whatever people may say about me, I think it is clear I love music.
I love a lot of music but I have bands that I love having never really know - Cajun Dance Party - Daniel is a bit weird but if you listen how could you not forgive that and others that I love and bands that go way up there into my totally awesome level.
The Cribs went right up there to awesome then Johnny Marr broke my heart and dragged them to the gutter. Time waits to see if they can regain their power.
Then The Twilight Sad, a band that when you tune in you would do anything for - bastards where is your next album don't you understand I am going through withdrawal and suffering worse than any junkie.
Then as the title might suggest there is Bombay Bicycle Club. Seriously awing folks way back more than 4 years ago I started to follow these guys without any hope of seeing them,then SXSW happened and I got to see them 4 times in one week.
This week a new target is hit BBC play Boston - negatively as a support band but I challenge anyone that sees them not to fall as totally and utterly under their spell as I have done.
I see a lot of Two Door Cinema Club fans being blown away. The show is sold out so I really hope peopel aren't arseholes. Meanwhile on Wednesday we will be road tripping to get to see BBC headlining at Music Hall of Williamsburg.
I so want this to be awesome and I know the guys on stage will cooperate I just hope the audiences do too.
Funny story at SXSW: after the last BBC show where we were talking to BBC we noticed Mark Divine and Andy from The Twilight Sad in the audience completely out of their minds drunk. I was trying to help Divine out seeing he was getting maudling and noticed Ed looking on in amazement, so I went to tell him this was The Twilight Sad's drummer and he just looked blank and said who - minor scolding ensued. As I knew I love BBC but my boys from The Sad will ALWAYS come first.

King Creosote Boston - Wow

2011-08-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

I feel so negligent.
Lets be honest going to see Matthew And The atlas made me feel jaded and hateful. I had no expectations for Kenny aka King Creosote. When I walked away from this concert I felt I had been lucky to be there that I had just seen an amazingly honest amazing and beautiful performance.
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins Diamond Mine is a laid back album with some posituve notes but the night left me gasping. The whole performance was worth noticing but when Kenny sang 'Your Young voice' the emotion the honesty and the whole tenor of the performance left me gasping in amazement and speechless. videoing the song always leaves you detached and not appreciating it but that this performance was not caught takes my heart and throttles it with pain. I felt dazed afterward, applause was a understated way to respond to such a performance. Then lets go to the other extreme at the end of the night Kenny left us with his rendition of Francie and Josie's 'La di da' song. This vaudeville like song which coaches such a hilarious concept in such veiled terms is fun to watch on youtube but an experience live.
Kenny is a legend in Scotland and a incredibly down to earth man.
I can totally understand both the adulation and approachability of this man come record label hero.
Nobody noticed this concert but it is one I feel awed to have been at and truely thankful for.
real music is out there its just a matter of finding it. Kenny, you awed me and I am pretty jaded.

Matthew and The Atlas/King creosote

2011-07-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

I went quiet after my last gig. Why? Because it sucked. I really wanted to like Matthew And The atlas, great venue, good vibe from a UK band, supported by Mumford and Sons but it just did not work. The band though trying hard just doesnt do it, they just don't have strong enough songs. I just couldnt get excited at all. Then there was the actual night, my s90 dies leaving me frustrated and annoyed. Then the audience, they talked through two sets then in a gig which wasnt crowded and was not packed a get an idiot who doesn't understand physics. General physics laws two people can not be in the same space at the same time. Just because you are at a gig it does not give you the right to bump into me annoying me for 15 minutes. sorry but I wanted to take those drumsticks the band gave you and drive them straight through your neck. Instead I left pronto annoyed and pissed off. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Oh well King Creosote comes to Boston on Wednesday, totally lousy venue, Brighton Music Hall, but from what I saw of Kenny at SXSW he is a really down to earth nice guy. I am hoping this will obliterate my memory of the last gig despite the fact I am still unsure whether to buy a new Canon S95 or another camera.

Alessi's Ark Club Passim 7th June 2011

2011-06-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Alessi's Ark performed a very low key under attended concert at Club Passim last week.
A sublimely intimate setting and a wonderfully warm pewrformer.
Forgive me I recorded the set and put it on youtube. You should have been there.

Martin Rushent RIP

2011-06-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

11 July 1948 – 4 June 2011
I am not a huge producer person, I hate remixes but the death of Martin Rushent hit me in a way I can't explain. OK major admission I was there listening to music when Dare came out and changed our lives. I was struck dumb in admiration when Love and Dancing came out and I took my first steps to actually majorly fan girling on a remix album that stood on its own. OK now those who know math (or maths if you come from my native UK) understand I am the major old fogey around.
Dare really hit me, it hit most everyone I knew, music taken to a new level then on his death I find he did the Pete Shelley album Homosapien. Major admission here I remember listening to Homosapien the single and even at 15 feeling the need to jump on furniture and go crazy. The rest of the album was supremely sublime though not the soul crazing epic that I found Homosapien. He produced Altered Images for those songs that I danced like a loon too, he produced T-Rex can you say more. The Stranglers also owed him production credits. One of my obscure but loved artists Intaferon, yeah I know you haven't heard of them but go look up 'get out of london' or 'steamhammer sam', and now I know why their 12' mix of 'get out of london' broke my trend of not liking remixes. The Associates, yes you guessed it his finger was in there.
I can honestly say this man engineered my musical memories and I couldn't be more grateful. if you go to the facebook page of memories I defy you not to be touched.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_216490505038835&ap=1
Oh and his son is the lead singer in Does It Offend You Yeah!, it seems so fitting.

The Wombats New york - part two

2011-06-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

So recovering from the two gigs in one night, we packed our bags and left('bats song title reference in there) for NY. After setting into the hotel and heading down to Manhattan and Bowery, we saw the Wombats stuff being loaded in but took a break to eat some Chinese around the corner. after we decided just to hang out in the sun waiting for doors to open, about 5:30 the guys turned up looking rushed and late as normal.
Its kind of nice for the guys to take the time to say hi even in such cases making the others in line wonder at our familiarity.
despite Bowery making a complete bollocks of letting people in, GRRRR, why have people line up if you want to stab them in the back. We still managed to get where we wanted to be, at the front where Tord would be playing. The support band were pretty dire, very pretty lead singer but that really didn't make up for waek soings and off tune vocals.
THe 'Bats started with Our Perfect Disease, a song I am liking more and more from MG, then slipped into Kill The Director , at which point it is hard to see where more havoc was happening teh stage where Murph and Tord were ripping it up or the audience singing along as if their life depended on it.
The set included old and new, while I am instantly loving Fog , Tokyo,Techno Fan anti-D and Disease I am sure 1996, Schumaker will grow on me. In Boston we got patricia while in NY we got My first wedding. seeing those two hit my favorite great but not the usual old songs count me a very happy, exhausted physically wrecked fan.
The whole audience was utterly up for this gig to the point all three wombats went crowd surfing at the end, though Dan really should have removed his in ear monitor rather tahn losing it - OOPS!!!!!!
People think the wombats only do poppy songs but when you see them live you see Tord ripping hell on stage and Murph and Dan giving their all.
And while the first album discussed teenage angst the second under the pop and fluff discusses some debauched and serious topics. Lets face it over prescribing anti depressants, dysfunctional relationships, losing oneself by using prostitutes are not exactly sweet love stories but if it loses the bimbettes hopefully the second album with its increased depth will help sustain the fans they had and gain even more.

The Wombats Boston & New York May 30/31st May 2011

2011-06-03T19:02:00.001-07:00

ah the wombats, one of the bands which have a real soft spot in my heart. Why not? Three very real very genuine, friendly decent guys who kick ass on stage and have a plethora of amazing songs, what more could you ask for? (Well apart from Johnny Marr leaving them alone, please.....)
The 'Bats played a free WFNX show at Hurricane O'Reilly's in Boston on Monday. Despite it being memorial day there was a solid turn out and an enthusiastic crowd. Such a small stage but they still managed to evoke sheer havoc on stage.
It was so nice to see the guys again and a relief to see them revitalised and no longer hurting compared to last time.
despite it being a free show and them having to run off to catch a bus to New york (Bad Simon Bad...) the boys dis a full hour long show even returning for an encore.
as always they gave their all.
seeing it was only 10:15 we then ran off and saw Johnny flynn. He was amazing, the rude drunk frat boys should have been euthanized. Oh and I loved the irony of people singing along to Barnacled Warship, a vehemently anti - war song on Memorial day.

The Wombats Tokyo

The Wombats Jump into the fog

The Wombats Our Perfect Disease

Stornoway Boston May 28th 2011

2011-06-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

When Stornoway played BMH on Saturday we decided sound was more important than closeness and considering the sound we manged to hear on Saturday I was really happy with our decision.
Sea of Bees was interesting but she was a bit weird, nice in small doses but not normal in any way.
Stornoway mostly played their album but the inter song dialog was charming and seeing their politics play right into my heart , Stellwagen bank & whales being mentioned as the real reason to come to boston, I bought right into this.
During a minor technical issue break we got to hear an acoustic version of a new song The Bigger Picture, quite an emotional song.

but then this is from a band that sings about the London bombing hidden under 'Here comes the blackout' - a song most Americans really don't dig into the back story for.

We also got treated to a rendition of a song written for their visit to Yale Natural Museum and its 'Blood suckers exhibition'. This may be the only version that people get to hear.

Finishing with acoustic versions of The Battery human, a song written to tell folks sitting in an office is not a life Stornoway finished a concert under attended but very well received.

Friendly Fires Boston 27 May 2011

2011-06-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

Friendly Fires is an aberration in our music taste. We don't do disco BUT we do buy into amazing live acts and fantastically catchy songs and this is where Friendly Fires fall into our taste.
Wise Blood as a support band was just dire but thankfully they were off the stage relatively quickly.
Friendly Fires did not disappoint, the first time i saw them I danced until I thought I would die, then the second I wasn't as enthused, this third time I fell back into dancing until I felt I would drop. Pela is a good album though to me only Hawaiian air stood out. Despite that each songs provided an amazingly danceable experience and Ed manages to incite crowd fervor by his dancing and general interaction.
I just can't imagine another band who would not play as fantastic a song as Photobooth. With live acts like this who needs to go to the gym. Paris, Jump In The Pool, Hawaiian Air, paris, Lovesick this band played an impressive set to keep anyone happy.
Friendly Fires Lovesick

Friendly Fires Hawaiian Air

Glasvegas- Boston May 26th 2011

2011-06-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Glasvegas hasn't had it easy recently, James has admitted a coke habit and popular belief is its not over and his current physique doesn't suggest life is good. Then we have to consider the venue, For Brighton Music Hall you have to choose do you get close to the band, try to get decent photos or stand behind the bass speakers from 'Avalon' be three feet from the stage and be almost aligned to where the house speakers are, this venue is just the pits.
We chose the stage for this and suffered by having major issues hearing any of James' vocal.
The new album really isn't that good, I keep starting to listen and then forgetting it is on. James looks wrecked, emaciated and just in poor shape, I felt sorry for him, not the prime emotion a lead singer is supposed to evoke. The songs played early in the set just basically died but at least two new songs, Shine Like Stars & Lots Sometime, gained life when played live. The older songs held up, well except for Flowers and Football tops which was done in a semi acoustic method which really lost all potency. But enough of the old songs - Geraldine, Go Square Go and Daddy's Gone managed to get the crowd going and saved the night from disaster.

Glasvegas Shine Like Stars

Seven shows in seven days - Hey Rosetta!

2011-06-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

So tired, so beat up excuse me if I fall asleep while I write this but very happy and kind of glowing feeling too.
People wonder why I go to so many shows and I can honestly say the past week was a great a example of why.
On Wednesday we went to see Hey Rosetta!, they are a promising band from Newfoundland, Canada. They have done two support shows in Boston before (that I know of) and have been developing quite a following quietly by being a solid live band with enjoyable indie folks songs. This was their first headline show and at our favorite venue, Great Scott.
The support band despite being from Boston was actually quite enjoyable though I wouldn't go see them as a headline act.
Hey Rosetta! were very well received with a large crowd, it may even have been sold out, but the audience gave attention when warranted and some silence when asked.
Despite relatively young, (mea culpa my initial facts were proved false, this band has three albums thanks sheppard_ryan11 for pointing out my error in only referencing their album I had been listening to) the band played for over an hour leaving a very happy audience.
This band is worth watching and if you havent seen them before I would suggest you put them onto your watch list.

Hey Rosetta!Yer Spring

Hey Rosetta! Bandages

new upcoming gigs

2011-05-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick word to the wise
recent tickets on sale that you would be silly to miss.
I suggest you grab tickets to see Hey Rosetta! at Great Scott on may 25th, we saw these guys support Hot Hot Heat and they put on a pretty amazing show.
and talking about amazing shows the very wonderful and soon to be renowned Grouplove come back to Great Scott to headline on the 15th of June. Seeing you wont have to put up with loser fans of Foster The People this should be a good show.

Goodbye Protokoll

2011-04-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Protokoll, why did you never live up to what you could have been?
Last night in Allston at Great Scott was an impressive performance made more remarkable by the fact these guys have been apart for about 4 years.
Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention but the playing seemed tight, the renditions of well loved songs well received and it was a generally rapturously received performance.
If the guys could have done this every time then perhaps they would have got some place.
Instead I have a hand numbered and created cd cover made from a beer bag of the Protokoll EP2 that no one thought would ever be made, this seems curiously apt..

Protokoll Moving Forward Great Scott Boston 3rd April 2011

Protokoll in the fall Great Scott Boston 3rd April 2011

Protokoll Holy Divine Great Scott Boston 3rd April 2011

Protokoll DNR Great Scott Boston 3rd April 2011

Music everywhere

2011-04-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

So its post SXSW and while I defuse from music overload - terrible thing - NOT. Bands seem to be stampeding into Boston at a rate I can barely keep up with.
I have loads to see, masses of photos to sort and literally hundreds of videos to put up, I think I am at 50 videos uploaded and not nearly finished yet.
Oh yes and about 30 compilations and other cds from SXSW to rip.
Today April 2nd PS I love you play TT's at 6pm, it seems such a gift when we are exhausted it seems criminal not to go.
We missed Protokoll last night. Yes, Protokoll, that sloppy typical Boston band. They had good songs but so prone to over indulgence and playing solely to their friends they never really got a tight performance but perhaps that was what people wanted.
This reappearance just seems surreal.
On Thursday Grouplove comes to town. Are they really the headliner - not now but having played everywhere during SXSW they are now beloved of KEXP and NPR and rightly so, an American band I totally endorse
Grouplove New Shapes Party Klub Krucial SXSW 2011

SXSW thoughts

2011-03-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

ok, before I forget quick notes
I now/still love
Bombay Bicycle Club
The Twilight Sad
Funeral Suits
Mystery Jets
Withered Hand
Kid Canaveral
Admiral Fallow
Edwyn Collins
Boy & Bear
Pulled Apart By Horses (live only)
King/Kid Creosote
Yuck

realised that Brother and The Vaccines are all hype no reality
and got totally sick of Jonquil
more details on request.

Cold Cave's new one

2011-03-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

Cold Cave show promise
listen here if you want

SXSW Saturday

2011-03-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Viva City
Dinosaur Pile-Up
Pulled apart By Horse
David Thomas Broughton
Little Comets
Wolf Gang
Brother
Grouplove
Mystery Jets
A Silent Film
The Twilight Sad
The TumbleDryer Babies
Time New Viking
Clock Opera

SXSW Friday

2011-03-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

legs killing us but keeping on going

the Lost Brothers
Gold Motel
Jonquil
Funeral Suits
Esben & The Witch
Veronica Falls
Popup
Rachel Sermanni
King Kreosote
the people's temple
babeshadow
we are animal
little comets
chad valley
esben & the witch
Bombay Bicycle Club

SXSW thursday

2011-03-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

the features
antonio lulic
erland and the carnival
jonqil
yuck
neon hitch
eliza doolittle
edwyn collins
bear driver
ham sandwich
funeral suits
ellie goulding
Boy & Bear
Bombay Bicycle Club

Admiral Fallow play Boston March 22nd

2011-03-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Admiral Fallow and EXCELLENT scottish band play the lizard lounge on March 22nd. Just saw them play here at SXSW, strongly suggest you go see them.

SXSW so much music

2011-03-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
Jonquil Austin trade show next stage
The Boxer Rebellion Austin trade show next stage
Bright Light Bright Light
Jonquil
Pulled Apart By Horses
The Boxer Rebellion

Wednesday
withered hand ioda
the vaccines aol pop up show
lanterns on teh lake
bobby
alessi's ark
yuck
dry the river
jamie woon
Bombay bicycle club

withered hand
kid canaveral
dry the river
o emperor
admiral fallow
the twilight sad

SXSW 2011

2011-01-17T10:41:00.001-08:00

interested in seeing this bunch at first perusal
Admiral Fallow
Alessi's Ark
The Answering Machine
Bang Bang Eche
Banjo Or Freakout
Bearsuit
Bombay Bicycle Club
The Boxer Rebellion
Chapel Club
The Crookes
Dinosaur Pile-Up
The Duke Spirit
Edwyn Collins
Eliza Doolittle
Erland & The Carnival
The Twilight Sad
Tigers That Talked
Frankie and the Heartstrings
Futures
General Fiasco
Withered Hand
Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers
The Gin Riots
Goldheart Assembly
The Joy Formidable
Kid Canaveral
The Lines
Micachu & the Shapes
One Night Only
Operator Please
Pete and The Pirates
The Pipettes
Post War Years
Pulled Apart by Horses
Rolo Tomassi
Scars On 45
Small Sins
Summer Camp
Takka Takka
The Vaccines
The Whip
The Xcerts
Yuck

Albums of 2010

2010-12-31T12:18:00.000-08:00

in no particular order
From Ireland
Fight Like Apes - The Body Of Christ And The Legs Of Tina Turner
FLA return and deliver another 12 new cracking tracks
Villagers - Becoming a Jackal
what can I say, so much emotion so young so old.......
General Fiasco - Buildings
Love this trio of boys and this album will make you smile
From Scotland
The Xcerts - Scatterbrain
so in love with this band their songs always deliver
Steve Mason - Boys Outside
produced an album of fun and songs to make you move
The Phantom Band - The Wants
all tracks are good but I loved 'Into The Corn'
oh and they were excellent live when they supported FR in October.
Admiral Fallow
well I couldn't miss this band who were all over the scottish blogosphere if not the UK.
Then you start to listen and every song seems to be an ear worm making this an essential listen
England
Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws
Jack Steadman and his crew decided to put outa laid back album, it followed on from the I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose but also laid new ground
it would be wonderful if they make it to SXSW in 2011.
Blood Red shoes - Fire like this
two of them make an astounding sound and again they pull it off live - love them so much.
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - love Sam love this album
mystery jets serotonin
these boys can do no wrong
the Indelicates songs for swinging lovers
pay what you want - so good I am gald I paid a full price
cynical burning and so the cure for the common album
Foals Total Life Forever
nice album but unbelievable live
Sky Larkin - Kaleide
great people great music great performers
love anjelica Huston but not a bad song on the album and wonderful artwork (signed print framed on my wall) just an alround wow.
telekinesis telekinesis
every song is good and comes to life when played live
bear hands burning bush supper club
brooklyn band which has been on our radar since we saw them support ambulance LTD and this album lives up to all their promise
Beach fossils
guilty of tainting this with their dance driven live perfrmace- just loving this.

Music from 2010 I love

2010-12-19T15:41:00.001-08:00

I had to pick music this week to play to distract me during oral surgery.
Without realizing what I was doing I think I picked some of the music I loved most this year by gut instinct. What albums were they?
The Phantom Band The Wants
Admiral Fallow Boots Met My Face
Blood Red Shoes Fire like this
Sky Larkin Kaleide
The National High Violet
These New Puritans Hidden

are there other albums I love? perhaps but when having 10 minutes to grab music to play to keep myself centered these were the ones............. nuff said.

concerts 2010

2010-12-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

delta spirit in middle east upstairs
two nights in February
new songs small intimate oh so BLOODY great
wild beasts great scott
bands like this are so rare- love them to death
twilight sad middle east, bowery, wherever
boys can do no wrong disagree with me and lose a limb
Foals Paradise I danced until i thought I would drop- I love you boys
telekinesis- TT The bear's wow such talent- I know I freaked them out being older than dust but I still loved them went expecting a good show and saw a truly talented guy knock it out the park
Bear hands -Great Scott good good and better go see this band and love them
the futureheads -The Paradise boys you are the old guys now and you kick the new guys to the curb
villagers at arts at the armory was sublime dont believe me watch for yourself I videoed it all
gold motel TT The Bear's laid back beautiful bliss - how come someone in london told me to listen to this california band?
Beach fossils - Great Scott oh my god did I dance here, part of a night with warpaint, I loved these boys who have been painted as temperamental - funny they were sweet kids to me sweat sweat...
Simon Neil -Great Scott two of Biffy couldn't get a visa so Simon did a free acoustic set.
suprisingly this just took the best of Biffy and presented it on a platter - no desire to see the full show now
Blood red Shoes and Sky Larkin Great Scott two amazing bands one brilliant venue one very solid night
Johnny Flynn TT The Bear's one man one guitar one solid endearing performance

Memories

2010-09-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

This week I took a trip down memory lane amongst other things.
In 1986 Stan Ridgway who used to be in Wall Of Voodoo who created a perfect pop song in Mexican Radio put out an album called The Big Heat. Amongst other tracks, a track Camouflage hot both US and UK charts with its timeless if slightly corny epic story.
I went to see Stan play Queens Hall in July. When we turned up there were about 30 of us in a venue that easily fit 200 if not more.
When a gig is chronically under attended it really show who are stars and who are duds.
Stan shone like the Sun. He looked out and said Lets Have a Party.
So started a phenomenal night,there was no audience and band there was a throng of happy people partying with a band in our midst dancing on the stage, off stage wherever. We exhorted for songs, songs from Wall Of Voodoo were played, songs from the Big Heat and more.
My memory is dusty of exact details BUT one memory remains burnt into my brain, this was one of the best gigs I went to, where I left beaming and just so happy to have been there.
Not surprisingly ever since I have had a soft spot for Stan.
So when we saw he was playing Johnny D's on Tuesday the 14th we decided to go.
The venue is pathetic with a horrible setup only good for dinner theater and lousy sight lines for most and they are out to frag as much as they can from your wallet with their overpriced repugnant food.
Then there was the audience, a more pathetic bunch of stereotypical jokes would have been difficult to find. Sat next to us was a complete loser who came wearing a pseudo cowboy Hat which he never took off, way to go you arrogant rude idiot blocking people's view. Same self loser shouted out multiple times during the show trying to elevate himself beyond his valuelessness and his yelling yeehaw a number of times made me want to strangle him until no breath was left, he was and is a blight on humanity, oh and he brought his guitar to be autographed- way to go loser.
There was a guy with a DSLR camera who used his flash incessantly and posed in stupid unnecessary stances, I just wanted to give him a name of a camera course.
The two guys in their 60s in the front taking shaky videos on their point and shoots for the whole show and being absurdly blatant too.
And I may not be David Bailey but if you are taking photos from 20-30 feet away moving your camera six inches closer by shooting by extending your arms as far as you can is pathetic, unless of course this is the only way you can focus on the screen - god help me.
But through all this Stan played Neon Mirage chatted with humor and intelligence and created a good show.
But to the point as we left we caught Stan outside and I asked him the burning question.
whether the gig that meant so much to me- did he remember that gig, the unasked question - was that gig special or was it all in my mind.
He said he remembered it and that it had been a fun night and asked if I had been there it was a very nice moment, so here in all its silliness is my thoughts and recollections.
I went home with a big grin on my face and felt validated despite the audience, so music can truly be special at all times.

September update

2010-09-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

So we started with Marina And the Diamonds and Young the Giant on September 1st.
Young The Giant show promise but are still green but as support bands go were listenable - a nice change.
Marina what can I say? Hype hype and more hype,she is naive and I quite frankly do not buy into the hype. quite enjoyable but I can't say I would rush back to see her.

Now on the 7th we went to see Telekinesis and Somebody still loves You Boris Yeltsin. Wow Telekinesis kick it live, the main guy, Michale is a powerhouse and the poor drums don't stand a chance.
You should love this band and you should have been there. Video will go on youtube when we get a moment to spare, same with pictures on flickr. The other bands not so much.
For the 8th Hey Rosetta surprised us and many at the Middle East Downstairs by putting on a very sweet show, I suggest you go see them when they come back, I know I will.
22-20s had a bit of feedback but put on a solid enjoyable show (videos to follow).
Hot Hot Heat? well now I feel old, Steve Bays is a prima donna, no support bands were allowed in the only place for bands to hang out - nasty move. Then he spends most of his time trying to sing to young females, I was too old for that and I felt an annoyance at the front of the stage. But not as bad as Natalie Portman's shaved head who actually moved folks they wanted to the front- asses. Not sure why the dynamics worked as they did but I just couldn't love this band or their show but it was amusing, support bands 2 - headliner 0 for the past two shows.

We get to relax tonight and let out our chinchillas before we start a six night run of concerts.

September Bands- my thoughts

2010-08-22T16:05:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to write a quick note about September, that way when 'other' blogs post their Sept thoughts I wont seem bitter when mine is completely different.
September 1st the Paradise reopens and Boston gets to see how Marina and the Diamonds balance actual songs with hype. But a chance to see her in a small venue - not to be missed.
September 7th Telekinesis plays TT the Bears, we have been playing their first album to death and are looking to see this transfer to the flesh. Somebody still Loves you Boris Yeltsin is the headliner and their new album holds up.
On the 8th Hot Hot Heat and 22-20s play Middle East Downstairs, 22-20s are a bold bluesy rock band with some class tracks, we keep bumping into this band and they keep us smiling. Hot Hot Heat are a fun solid band and will entertain.
On the 10th The Charlatans play Royale, if of course there are no injuries, everyone knows their class tunes and the Royale is still relatively intimate.
On the 11th we are heading down to Providence to see Surfer Blood and the Drums, two very buzzy bands play Jerkys- again a good chance to see bands down and dirty.
On the 12th we will be seeing turbo Fruits, (be your own Pet minus Jemina pearl) at middle east upstairs.
Biffy Clyro, scottish rockers extraodinaire make it to Great Scott, electric live it will be a thrill to see them at such a small venue.
The 15th we travel to Londonderry, NH and back in time to see The alarm play the Tupelo Music Hall, a bit of a twee fun but these gigs are fun.
On the 22nd The Boxer Rebellion play Middle East Upstairs with The augustines- Pela's reincarnation as support.
The Boxer Rebellion were a huge hit at SXSW2010 and I look forward to seeing a more intimate performance here.
No not over yet
Klaxons return to Boston on Sept 24th and we will get to hear the new album, its not Great Scott but The Paradise can be just as much fun.
Sept 28th we see Best Coast recently lauded as NME's hope for the best new band around play with the just as loved Male Bonding also playing at Middle East Downstairs- who in their sane mind would miss this?
And last but in no mean least we get Foals and Esben and The witch playing The Paradise on Sept 29th. I love love love seeing Foals play live and seem to have been waiting with bated breath since they came off stage two years ago in Boston.
So a busy month but so MANY MANY great bands.

Palmdale- Hollywood meets Boston

2010-08-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

So TT's got Boston Rock Queen when Kay Hanley visited on 8/16 the shame is she brought her pals, both audience and bands.
The Future Everybody opened, locals with little talent, not offensive but not good.
Then the worst piece of crap I have seen onstage since Pants Yell! or The Luxury came on- Triple Cobra.
Sporting white jumpsuits, well apart from one member wearing a white lace 'wedding dress' hiked up to show the crotch area.
Marry that to the fancy shaped guitars (lets get the star shaped one), the attempt to out Spinal Tap Spinal Tap, the lack of songs, the lack of talent and the lack of a decent vocal well perhaps you can guess my opinion.
Kay and Linus put on a fun show though they still lack a huge bank of songs, Kay however did lash out at a loser who had been videoing Kay the whole night. The funnier part is the woman actually just changed to another of her video cameras to finish the night.
The audience was a bit weird too, we walked out with night blindness from all the flash photography. Now I suffer a lot of bad lighting but the lighting that night was good, a nice mellow orange yellow light to flatter Kay as she ages, there was no excuse for all the flash usage. and how many hundreds of pictures of Kay's face does one person really need?
Give me my new indie bands breaking in, the vibe is so much sweeter and decent.

Asimilation? perhaps not LOL

2010-08-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

Driving in to see Warpaint and Beach Fossils, I was stuck in traffic hell because of mr retard Mayor Tom Menino who closes down one lane of Soldiers Field Rd to allow retarded idiots go see oldies at the hatchshell. Spending 40 minutes to drive two miles and having retarded pieces of shit cut you off right left and center made me want to kill certain Bostonians so much that either I am a real Bostonian cause all of us react like this or I am a uptight UK Baitch who hates to see wise ass Bostonian push their luck- Oh Well!
On the other side, it was a nice relaxed time catching the sound checks, we also ended up in a chat with the Beach Fossils Drummer and new guitarist which was fun.
Beach Fossils were on first and promptly blew everyone away with a gazillion ton of reverb and a sound haze that had everyone dancing in the hot humid space.
Again I started to feel more acclimated, such a sweet energetic gig and they were so well received.
Javelin came on and though I enjoyed them a bit, after about 20 minutes all I really wanted was them to stop.
As Warpaint set up, all both Peter and I could think was wow their bass player is a bit weird, just seems a bit in the deep end, last to set up and did not seem very grounded.
When Warpaint started, the music took over and so did the reverb, the joke of the evening was Great Scott probably used their whole month's reverb allowance in one hot humid evening.
Warpaint has great sings and every single one of the girls take vocals for at least one song and guess what none of them suck they all harmonise and really hit the spot.
They sang Billie Holliday as an encore and it was stunning.
Some songs were a trifle overlong but this is a band I would go see again in a heartbeat and recommend others to do the same.
On a side note there must be the idea Warpaint are going to be big, traveling with them was Parker, the sound guy that also does The Cribs and Franz Ferdinand big shoes looking after these ladies.

Assimilation?

2010-08-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been starting to appreciate a wider range of American bands.
Gold Motel, so dreamily perfect with bluesy tendency without any annoying tendencies and a wonderfully mellow laid back acoustic concert at TT's reinforced this.
Twin sister- from Brooklyn/Long Island starting to grow on me, live too shy and not forthcoming but such growing promise.
Then we have a wonderful trilogy of Beach Fossils, Warpaint and Best Coast. Warm fuzzy summer tones with reverb shimmering in the background, this fails to fall into teh normal American meh category and fixates itself into my brain.
The question is am I becoming American or is the US actually producing a bumper crop of class acts to embrace into our bosom and support as best we can.
Yesterday I was asked to provide music (about seven hours) for my work summer outing, my first though add the Gold Motel, Best Coast, Beach Fossils, First Aid Kit and Villagers album mix and let the chill out zone start. I am creating a mix but I find these artists are making a substantial contribution. This amuses me and makes me hope that as the hopelessly clueless here this musical perfection they will inquire and perhaps learn one never knows.

Grammatics split..sob

2010-07-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

Double bad news to wake up to, no mercury nomination for The Twilight Sad (actually this is more criminal than sad) and the fact Grammatics are splitting.
In a sea of music at SXSW this year the Grammatics shone with originality and beauty making me smile so deeply I could not believe it.
Sad sad sad..........

long time no post- LightSpeed champion & Bear In Heaven Live

2010-07-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

ok I need to get busy and post about the music I have been seeing and loving etc.

Fo example last Tuesday everything collided in Boston.
So Cow played Great Scott, thought he was fun when he played O'Brien's and would have been there if he had played ANY other night but I wasnt going to miss other bands for him.
Then We are Scientist played the Middle East downstairs, which would be fun if Bear In Heaven hadnt been playing next door. Then the kicker set in they announced LightSpeed Champion as the support as well as an unknown band Rewards.
If you don't adore Dev AKA Lightspeed Champion I don't want to talk to you. He is self effacing a musical genius and a real funny genuine guy. So we had to go- then to our delight we find Rewards is Dev and his mate Aaron - oh rapture two sets from Dev after SOOOOOOOO very very long.
so after this delight and despite the trio of assholes who were so very very verbal during his show we ran over to TT's.
There we caught the last song from Twin Sister, if you don't know them its easily remedied as NYCtaper has two live sets and their own website has two eps free to download. Interesting and wish we had seen more but wouldn't have missed a second of Dev.
Then Bear In Heaven came on. They seem to be part of this new laid back musical trend. I would place them alongside Local Natives but I think I preferred them. Though with less buzz the atmosphere was so much cooler that was easier.
So one night four bands, two performances from Dev and ending up being pretty laid back. Oh and EVERY band was American and I still loved the night so habits can be broken.

sxsw last

2010-03-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

thurs
middleman
slow club
grammatics
the crooke
codeine velvet club
columbian band
chew lips
band at pure volume
first aid kit
laurel collective
scanners
Goldheart Assembly
the chapman family
broken records
we say party you say die

friday
grammatics
colin macintyre
halves
butterfly explosion
villagers
autumn owls
strait laces
dark room notes
dirty epics
the minutes
st deluxe
broken records
johnny flynn
The Ghost of a Thousand
The Golden Filter at Emo's Jr 603 Red River St
The Candle Thieves at St David's Historic Sanctuary 301 E 8th St
The Gin Riots at Wave 408 E 6th St
The Boxer Rebellion at Maggie Mae's Rooftop 323 E 6th St
Trembling Bells at St David's Bethell Hall 301 E 8th St
Everything Everything at Latitude 30 512 San Jacinto St
the drums

saturday
the invisible
everything everything
viva city
ten bears
scars on 45
fyfe dangerfield
Vadoinmessico
Alvarez Kings at BD Riley's 204 E 6th St
cate le bon latitude
casiokids
Smoke Fairies at The Ale House 310 E 6th St (Alley Entrance)
wave pictures
Slow Club at Latitude 30 512 San Jacinto St

details, pics and mucho video tocome

wed 17th sxsw 2010

2010-03-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

belfast rocks

strait laces
and so I watched you from afar
fighting with wire
general fiasco
1 song broken records
mighty stef
broadcast 2000
gloria cycles
autumn owls
the coronas
dark room notes
villagers
get cape wear cape fly
general fiasco

SXSW Tuesday 16th March

2010-03-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

as usual just the bare bones until I have more time

started by seeing
strait laces @ tech mashup at Rusty spurs,
uk party at latitude
viva city
stricken city
unicorn kid
one night only
fenech soler
onward as they say...........

SXSW 2010

2010-03-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

SXSW - fun? yes but wow does it take a lot of organization.
First we listen to all British/irish bands, there are exceptions (First Aid Kit and Bang Bang Eche who we would still like to see despite them not being British)
We figure out who we really like, who might be good.
You then figure out the parties with biggest bang for the buck, arriving late at Filter won't get you much of a position/view etc. Also take into account if you can see them swing by your town AFTER SXSW.
Take into account the buzzability of a band, sorry but I will see Fanfarlo, Frightened Rabbit and The XX in Boston at their own shows. Calculate who is doing multiple shows allowing you to see them perhaps not when they are opposite another band, are they doing the day stage, the second chance stages (we saw Mumford and Sons at the Hilton at 6pm last year).
We also like to maximize our chances of seeing multiple new bands too.

First call we want to see
Alvarez Kings Autumn Owls Banjo Or Freakout Beans On Toast Broken Records CHEW LiPS Colin MacIntyre aka Mull Histroical Society Dark Room Notes Everybody Was In The French Resistance ... Now Everything Everything Fyfe Dangerfield General Fiasco Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly Gloria Cycles Goldheart Assembly Grammatics Johnny Flynn Kasms Laurel Collective Lo-Star Muchuu Munch Munch My Tiger My Timing Scanners Scars on 45 Slow Club Standard Fare Straight Lines Strait Laces Stricken City Ten Bears The Boxer Rebellion The Candle Thieves The Chapman Family The Coronas The Crookes The Golden Filter The Wave Pictures
and may see
Allo Darlin And So I Watch You From Afar Angry Vs The Bear Athlete Band of Skulls Blue Roses Butterfly Explosion Cate Le Bon Chris T-T Clock Opera Codeine Velvet Club Cosmo Jarvis Dirty Epics Doll and The Kicks erik hassle Exlovers Fenech-Soler Helen Boulding Katie V Let's Wrestle Lovvers Malachai Male Bonding Marina & The Diamonds Middleman One Night Only Smoke Fairies Smokey Angle Shades The Blue Aeroplanes The Gin Riots The Higher State The Invisible The Law The Lovely Eggs The Members The Mighty Stef The Walls Tommy Reilly Toy Horses Vadoinmessico Villagers Wave Machines We Were Promised Jetpacks

note we also have to watch for cancellations. Oh well no sleep until SXSW, where we are planning to see LOTS of music

Emperor's New Clothes

2010-03-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get cowed as my music taste does not even remotely adhere to what certain hypesters adore.
For example I have seen these bands live and don't see any value
Vampire Weekend
HEALTH
Surfer Blood
Freelance Whales
Passion Pit

Your Vegas Middle East Upstairs Jan 16th 2010

2010-02-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

We saw Your Vegas way back when they supported The Bravery, which of course we were not there to see but to see Switches (dearly departed). Your Vegas a bunch of lads from Leeds who have settled in New York provided a interesting set both nights and made us decide to keep them on our radar.
So when they hit Boston in January we made the effort to go see them. They seem to have a hard time getting their own followers rather than offcasts from their support slots. As a old time British duran fan, I have to admit the tubby aging Duranies with their closed musical taste just become an embarrassment and liability. I may have started there but I feel I have moved on, miles and miles........
Your Vegas do play as if they are in a stadium but there songs are fun ranging from some songs with rousing guitar, bass and drum rhythms to the slower ballads.
They are in the progress of recording a new album and I wish them luck, this show was a mix of old and new and all are pretty good songs. My favorite new band? no but a band I will keep an eye on and support where possible.

Your Vegas Aurora Middle East Upstairs Boston Jan 16th

Your Vegas Troubled Time Middle East Upstairs Boston Jan 16th

Your Vegas Gospel Middle East Upstairs Boston Jan 16th

The Yummy Fur Market Hotel Brooklyn

2010-01-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

I have been going to gigs for a long time, no please don't ask, but this must be the most disgusting run down calamity of a shack masquerading as a venue. When you see teh lead singer of the first band openly swap dope and start to smoke it in his bong right in front of you that just about sets the tone of the night.
The first three bands, the suprisers, german measles and macdonalds were catastrophic and the reason I proclaim to hate american music.
Bishop Allan, a band a couple of my friends have been suggesting, in contrast seemed beautifully talented. Their set breezed by and though if headlining you wont find me lined up as a support they were glorious.
OK, the yummy fur, I call your bluff guys most of you exhorting they had been waiting fourteen years- BS!, especially in the USA with the worst radio sites on the planet. In the 2000s the internet has the capacity to save US music fans but back then they just died.
Its good to actually be able to see Paul,, but otherwise its just like a dated form of the 1990s. fun but definitely more hype than substance. But saying that I did enjoy the music.

Gigs 2010

2009-12-21T10:03:00.000-08:00

Our Year in gigs
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkKSNden2xJ9dDByWF9LNnVUbUhSZHozVVR3VnZkN2c&hl=en
We started the year seeing Glasvegas at Great Scott, at this point they were not yet being reviled.
Los Campesinos! came to the Paradise in February though the gig in Vermont with Sky Larkin surpassed this.
Operahouse came from nowhere to suprize with decent songs and performance.
The Duke Spirit at Felt yet again amazed us that Boston fails to appreciate this band.
Seeing Friendly Fires with white Lies in March confirmed that this is a band to raise the heart rate as you dance until you drop, while White Lies looked as if they were set to drop, they tried their best but were obviously ailing.
I lived the chance to see Late Of the Pier again, a wonderful night.
Travis at House Of Blues was shoddy beyond belief, such a waste of time and money.
We only got three chances to see Twilight Sad this year and each time tehy surpassed every expectation and left us exhaulted. This included their two support slots in MA and the AMAZING night of Brakes, We Were Promised Jetpacks and the Twilights all in one night at Great Scott.
Enter shikari caused gasps of astonishment at their energetic stage show- yes the first time seeing a guitarist continuing to play hanging from a beam during the show. not really our music but SO glad we went.
The Horrors and The kills underwhelmed when we saw them, been there seen that.
Franz Ferdinand at Lupos was way better than the Orpheum.
Bedouin Soundclash at The Paradise was fun unlike the stressful show last year at Harpers Ferry.
Cryptasize and Teletextile showed us two new bands we should keep an eye on.
New York dolls were just a pastiche of what a band should be while Black Joe Lewis is a misogynist who should be put down.
Lovvers at O'Briens, weird venue fun band.
Future Of the left are explosive and even if you arent a fan of the album I would suggest seeing them, so we did seeing them twice in 2009.
Micachu charmed both at Great Scott and SXSW, so in love.......
Slow Club same story oh why did we not realise this earlier and see them more......
We have Band- oh so good at SXSW and again to the non existent crowd at Great Scott.
We saw Hatcham Social four times this year, it never went smoothly but still tehy caught my interest and love.
We eventually saw The Maccabees, it was fun but would we travel 400 miles again, not sure.
Patrick Wolf, well he was Patrick and LOVED the catwalk at the middle East downstairs.
Japandroids love playing live and that energy is infectious, total rock ANIMALS :-)
Crocodiles were hard to categorize and may be a fluke.
Miike Snow, see them twice- dont bother.
One Eskimo knocked us off our feet, the album does not do justice to his voice.
more to come

SXSW 2010

2009-11-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

and it starts

* And So I Watch You From Afar (Belfast,N Ireland)
* Broken Records (Edinburgh,Scotland)
* Chew Lips (London,England)
* Chris T-T (Brighton,England)
* Everything Everything (Manchester,Wales)
* Fanfarlo (London,England)
* Frightened Rabbit (Selkirk,Scotland)
* Good Shoes (London,England)
* Hey Colossus (London,England)
* Jackie Oates (Exeter,England)
* Marques Toliver (London,England)
* Middle Finger Salute (Blackburn,England)
* One Night Only (Helmsley,England)
* Pivot (,England)
* Rogues (London,England)
* Scanners (London,England)
* Serious Sam Barrett (Leeds,England)
* Shit And Shine (London,England)
* The Boxer Rebellion (London,England)
* The Jim Jones Revue (London,England)
* The Law (Dundee,Scotland)
* The View (Dundee,Scotland)
* The Wave Pictures (London,England)
* Todd (London,England)
* Tommy Reilly (Glasgow,Scotland)
* Trembling Bells (Glasgow,Scotland)
* Twin Atlantic (Glasgow,Scotland)
* VV BROWN (London,England)
* Wave Machines (Liverpool,England)
* Wolf Gang (London,England)

I am also expecting The XX and Miike Snow there as they are touring SO close to March.
Really excited about good Shoes and need to start listening to new bands. Oh and I kind of like the Law too and Fanfarlo are excellent.

Wild Beasts

2009-11-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

Wild Beasts, who are an amazing band from Kendall, England (UK).
They have produced two excellent albums Limbo, Panto and Two Dancers which is one of my favourite albums of 2009. It may take a while to get acclimatised as the lead singer Hayden Thorpe sings in a falsetto though certainly belies any imagined imagery of feminine.
The good new (rather excellent) is taht Fenway Recordings are bringing them to Great Scott on Feb 24th. Be there or be very silly!

2009 review time upcoming

2009-11-16T10:18:00.000-08:00

Not much time so I wanted to just brain dump some of teh lbums which have made me happy this Year
The Twilight sad Forget the night ahead
Grammatics S/T
Bombay bicycle Club
Wild Beast Two Dancers
Pull Tiger tail PAWS
The Xcerts In The Cold Wind We Smile
The XX S/T
The Big Pink A Brief History Of Love
White Lies To Lose My Life
Micachu Jewellery
Brakes Touchdown
Fight Like apes Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion
Hatcham social you dig the tunnel
Jofo grace & the bigger picture

first draft

Division Day O'Briens Sept 18th

2009-09-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

We saw Division Day when we went to see iLIKETRAINS in 2007.Then they impressed us when we did not go to see them inducing us to buy Beartrap Island.
so when they came back we went to see them. The music comes alive nad tehy play their hearts out, yes its an american band I respect, maybe not love but definitely respect. I would recommend this band to anyone looking to see a talented band play decent songs.

SoCo Polyphonic Spree The Paradise 17th Sept

2009-09-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

DJ Lord of Public Enemy opened and made me unexpectedly very happy by playing Grandmaster Flash's Wheels Of Steel a song I haven't heard in many many years. SoCo gave us free drinks and sunglasses which made up for the fact that I really don't like Polyphonic Spree.

One eskimO 16th Sept tt's

2009-09-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you go to a gig and you aren't sure what to expect. For One eskimO I feared a quiet sedate performance that in my current state of exhaustion I may not fully appreciate.
And then the truth can set you free, This band does not give a quiet sedate performance they enliven the animate and they awe you. Kris's voice takes nuances that you never imagined.
point: this is how illegal file sharing should work, I had never heard of this band, the board I frequent listed this album, I downloaded and was interested. They came to town, I bought tickets without question and after this performance rushed to buy the album and give them my money. without the illegal download I wouldn't have a) bought the ticket b) bought the album. Now was that the wrong thing to do?

Esser The Paradise Sept 14th

2009-09-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Esser, I keep forgetting how young this guy is. His album is full of quirky songs that get under your skin. On stage the guy is a bit of a loose canon enjoying himself despite a minimal audience sending his beer flying a couple of times soaking us. Worth ten of his headliner's DataRock, I enjoyed this and will continue to hold him and his album dear to my heart.

Recaps: Hugh cornwell TT's Sept 13th

2009-09-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I know I have been remiss.
Oldies gig, seeing someone less than 30 here was a miracle. support well know in MA but basically boring. Hugh Cornwell looks old BUT he panders to us, he played duchess, Peaches, Golden Brown, Nice n' sleazy, Walk On By, No more heroes.
the guy plays guitar like a virtuoso. You watched him play for 90 minutes occasionally throwing out wry dry comments in the face of stupid comments sent his way. The guy is a rock and should be appreciated and lauded for all that is he is worth which is a lot.

Mae Shi with issues too!

2009-07-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Just saw the pitchfork article it seems the Mae Shi is no more

This will be the only Mae Shi in the band after this weekend

jeff shi
Originally uploaded by elaine layabout

Shamelessly stolen from http://pitchfork.com/news/35943-the-mae-shi-to-become-signals/

One more reason to get your ass to the Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend: It'll be your very last chance to see the Mae Shi, at least in its current form.

Since their inception, the dizzy L.A. spazz-punks have changed their lineup the way most people change color-coordinated T-shirts, so it's not exactly shocking that the Mae Shi's cast of characters would shift again. But what's interesting about this is that the band isn't just changing its personnel this time; it's splitting into two. After the Mae Shi's Sunday afternoon performance at the festival, three of the band's four members will split off and become Signals.

Some context: At the moment, the Mae Shi consists of Bill Gray, Jon Gray, Jacob Cooper, and founding member Jeff Byron. (EDIT: Byron informs us that those four guys are the Mae Shi's current touring linep, but the group also includes two non-touring members.) But after the festival set, everyone but Byron will depart, carrying on under the new name. Signals already has a MySpace and a Twitter.

According to their publicist, the Mae Shi haven't broken up yet. Byron will continue the band with a new lineup, though nobody's yet sure when the new band will be back up and running. No Mae Shi shows beyond the festival are scheduled right now.

At the festival, the Mae Shi will play old Mae Shi jams, but they'll also debut some Signals songs.
Damn!

Favours for Sailors split up

2009-07-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Earlier I wrote about a rumour that Favours for Sailors had split up.
The bad news is that it turned out to be true. You can only hope that they all go on to produce more bands of the same standard that they played at.
A statement released via their record label Tough Love reads...

"Dear FFS fans,

Sad news: our ship has been boarded by pirates, who have executed the crow's nest and made the starboard walk the plank. The rumours are true – FAVOURS FOR SAILORS HAVE DECIDED TO CALL IT A DAY.

However, we have ONE MORE GIG, at Tough Love's fourth birthday party, 25 July, at the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch. More details soon.

We'd like to thank everyone who bought our music, or ever came to a gig, especially those who came to several, and particularly to those who seemed to come to every show. Sorry if we were ever shambolic (but you didn't notice, right?). Special thanks also to Tough Love for releasing and promoting our mini-album Furious Sons, to Sally for designing the album artwork and to Rory for doing such a good job recording it.

Here's an anodyne statement for a press release: 'We're unsure of how to keep the indie rock dynamic interesting and fresh in our current incarnation'.

We will be posting a load of unreleased songs as soon as we can decide which ones won't land us with a string of libel cases.

xFFS"
statement shamelessly stolen from Drownedin sound (oops)

Bands performing career suicide

2009-07-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

What is it with bands?
I know it isn't cool to sell out but I don't want to see talented artists starving.
I love Twilight Sad but the word prostitute in the single tends to put folks off especially the BBC and other radio stations. OK well at least there is always video right - wrong - a video of burlesque dancers wearing outfits where the women's aureoles of their breast are clearly visible not to mention flashes of buttocks from said women twirling wearing a thong.
Guys - do you want to starve to death? Oh yes its a class song too.
Then we have the cribs who give a song away called We were aborted which references masturbation.
Jeez I just give up.

Bad Rumours

2009-07-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Dananananaykroyd you better be wrong when you tweet this
RT @dananananaykroy: I think Favours For Sailors just spit up? :( :( :( :(
I so loved the EP they put out (bought it from emusic) especially I Dreamt That You Dreamt That I Loved You In My Dreams. Good bands splitting up should just stop it.

WOW- Twilight Sad/ Brakes/ Jetpacks

2009-07-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

Checking the Phoenix this jumps out and knocks me off my feet.
The Twilight Sad + The Rakes + We Were Promised Jetpacks | October 7 at Great Scott, Boston | $12 | On sale Thursday, July 9, at 10 am | http://www.ticketweb.com
actually its Brakes aka brakesbrakesbrakes.
Three totally amazing bands at a totally amazing venue.
Who cares about Macca the boys will be back in town.
The Jetpacks album These Four Walls is astoundingly good and the teases we have of The Twilight Sad album leaves me gasping.
Brakes? well what can you say about the band that gave you Cheney, love love love them.
Go or regret it forever.

Micachu Great Scott July 16th

2009-06-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

Micachu's album Jewelery is an odd little thing. The first time I heard it I wasn't certain about it and decided to not bother any further.
Somehow the album made it into our SXSW mix and suddenly it became indispensable.
The album, written primarily by Londoner Mica, a unashamed tomboy, at first hearing is discordant with out of tune guitars, after a few listens you realize the complexity and depth behind each track.
The next test was with all the different sounds evident within the music was this a wonder of production or ingenuity by the musicians.
We opened SXSW 2009 by watching Micachu play Ms Bea's a low key gravel based back yard of the best kind of dive bar out east of the main 6th st drag.
There the trio pushed everything to recreate and surpass the songs we had heard previously. Totally won over I beg everyone to take a listen not once but twice then a third time then in awe I suggest you visit Great Scott for a precious evening in the company of three very young very talented musicians.

Fanfarlo $1 Album plus- Wow!

2009-06-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Fanfarlo seem to be a low key band but their album grows and grows on you plus they are linked to the equally wonderful My Sad Captains sharing a band member.
There is no greater bargain around currently than this deal which is available until Friday the 3rd where you get not only the album but four extra tracks and all at a great bit rate.
If you were curious now is the time to bite and you should be.
and on the note of cheap but legal downloads check out this website
http://www.tentracks.co.uk/
yes its from the UK but people from the US can use it using google checkout. You get ten tracks for one pound. Wonderful compilations from folks like Fat Cat, The Police Box and check out Teenage Lust's choices it isn't obvious but he is linked to the very young but wonderful Copy Haho one of the illustrious Awesome Pals collective.

Good Riddance

2009-06-26T07:25:00.001-07:00

Though tragic was Michael Jackson's death a loss?
A filthy pedophile pervert who acted like a freak his whole life, Jackson was a monstrosity on par with Gary Glitter.
I was left cold by Thriller and see no loss in this pathetic creature leaving the planet. Hopefully a number of scarred children will some find some peace he is not around to molest them again.

Saying goodbye with sadness to: De Rosa, GoodBooks and Farrah

2009-06-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

Goodbyes are always sad but I fet I wanted to put words to memory to respect the three above.
Farrah FM was there it seems in the background as I was growing up being the ultimate Charlie's Angel and she fought valiantly. I hope she is at peace and that her family find some too.
De Rosa announced their breakup, not death but a silencing of a decent Scottish band I had just started to appreciate as someone recommended their latest album. Sad to see a band evaporate as you start to explore their depths.
GoodBooks, it seems I have been adoring their music for at least three years now and never had the chance to see them. Control did not have a bad song on it and had some out of scope songs which stopped you in your tracks as you listened. Passchendaele, Alice, Walk with Me, Leni, The Illness, it seems there was no end to their talent.
teh lack of commercial success while britney and Hannah Montana thrive makes me want to vomit.
Goodbye guys alas I never knew you.

De Rosa Robin Song

Hatcham Social, TT the Bears June 23rd

2009-06-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

I must be a horrible person, I have been meaning to write this forever in the off chance anyone reads this.
Hatcham Social have made an effort and are traveling up from NY and are playing support in Cambridge tonight.
They have an excellent album out, You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil, the British Indie band has a interesting sound which uses complex guitar work and lyrics way beyond the normal girl meets boy love song trash you normally find. The vocals are oddly reminiscent of Orange Juice's Edwyn Collins and the whole sound challenges but satisfies.
Amusingly the band seems to have duel obsessions with Lewis Caroll's Alice In wonderland and Crocodiles (mentioned in at least two songs).
Interesting facts from their Wiki page
Drummer Finnigan Kidd was still a member of Klaxons, but left in order to devote his time to Hatcham Social
The band are named partially after the Hatcham Liberal club on Queens Road, Peckham, and the Old English word 'Hatcham', meaning 'a clearing in the woods'
The Guardian describing them as 'irrestistible'
Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) called them 'a wonderful pop group with the world's coolest drummer'and has produced a single and their album
They are also linked to Faris from the Horrors.
If you read this before tonight please consider going, if we don't support excellent bands who deserve it and make an effort to visit we will be left with kack like 'No Doubt' and 'The Kooks' and deserve everything we get.

Patrick Wolf middle East Downstairs June 21st 2009

2009-06-22T09:51:00.001-07:00

How long does it take for a grown woman to become a doe eyed fan girl? Seconds - what chemistry occurs when the becloaked ever dazzling bejewelled Queen took his stage and we fell at his feet. The atmosphere become one of adoration as Patrick strode out wearing the leafed cloak that has become a recent trademark. After a song or two Patrick took the cloak off and the grey black and white union jack like pant suit with cut outs became revealed. The zip opened to his navel and you saw the cluster of strange and obviously personal trinkets.
The setlist was the same as he is routinely playing but a novelty involved Patrick using the photographers and musicians ramp as a catwalk.
Highlights - Tristan fabulous as ever, Accident and Emergency reworked a little weird but fabulous, Bluebell, The Libertine, 'Who Will' which made me want to cry. Patrick started to touch hands, making girls happy but making sure he reached to touch a particularly pretty male concert goer that you could hypothesize is battling the same alienation that most homosexuals do when they find their own simple needs are shunned by the ignorant of the world. This is what SHOULD happen and caused my eyes to tear up.
The Magic Position was joyous event, with Battle having the audience to exhort against the indefensible of our society.
He came, he conquered, we fell at his feet and felt unworthy.
This is the event that makes modern music have some relevance.
I hope to have some photos up soon and probably many as he is SO photogenic.
Oh well gushing over for now and I just know these words are insufficient to describe last night.

John Peel, The Cribs, The gym

2009-05-29T15:21:00.001-07:00

Reading the John Peel autobiography at the gym currently. It makes me smile, laugh silently and sometimes just want to cry that he is gone. I hope that he isn't looking down and cursing how the BBC is now destroying bands, I do hope he approves of Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq who I see as our best replacements if such a thing could exist.
As a side note, is it good or bad to play The Cribs at the gym, you can hurt yourself but isn't that the point? (LOL!)
Secondary point listening to Mens Needs... I still find myself at the rawness and honesty of the changes that the Jarmans confess to in that album, I may be seeing meaning where there is none but then again I may just be listening.
If the rumoured wedding did happen I just hope Gary is happy now, they give so much pleasure to us who are we to not wish some back.

Jeff Lewis

2009-05-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

When we did analysis of the bands we had seen last year, was it the Cribs that came out on top - surprisingly not - it was Jeff Lewis. I cant imagine anyone going to see British Indie bands and not bumping into Jeff doing support. He is a little subversive, yes I know he seems a roaring socialist who refuses to wear deodorant, but watch this guy and see if at least one track doesn't sneak into your brain, The Ramen Song is a beautifully understated song that will make the most hardened music snob smile.
The Ramen Song

His new album is pretty full of songs like this, and for those of us shell shocked by his comic that told of his romantic woes it has a bitter irony.
http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/a-year-in-love-and-music/
I downloaded the new album and already loved many tracks, not for their music finesse but for their honesty and sweetness.
so we trecked out to see him support Au Revoir Simone May 28th at TT The Bears. His brother and pal formed the junkyard and put on a 40 minute set that sped by. Roll Bus Roll was sweet
Roll Bus Roll

and the suicide song - So What?, was a little shocking , and a little catchy.
We finished the night by grabbing a few words, offering support and enthusiasm and more importantly by buying the new CD which we didn't need apart from to become legal.
Sweet!
Au Revoir Simone weren't bad but not enough to keep us there more than half an hour. Sorry Girls.

Crocodiles Middle East Upstairs May 21st 2009

2009-05-23T16:16:00.001-07:00

Opening act was Hooray For Earth who we knew we had seen before but couldn't remember until we saw the guitar with the pedal strapped on it. They put on a solid show with decent guitar and bass which I felt showed they had grown and improved since the last time we saw them support Ra Ra Riot.
Crocodiles - what can you say? It was only the two of them so the drums etc were provided in a recording. But for a new band they had the performance down pat. The lights were completely off with the band using two red lights either side of the stage. Both guys wore dark clothes and wore sunglasses.
Did we see the next Milli Vanilli or MGMT. I am not quite sure, but they did leave me shell shocked in a good way.
They are not where they want to go but they are on the right road, watch this band to see what happens.

Momus Middle East Downstairs May 19th 2009

2009-05-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

A show out of my normal sphere.
Momus, aka Nick Currie, gave a retrospective of his 30 year career on Tuesday night. With Aki Sasamoto, dressed in the kabuki stagehand costume performing at the same time, the show was a solid two and a half hours, I was tired watching so kudos to Nick and Aki for their performance. Starting from initial demos and even a song from 'The Happy Family' who were an off shoot from Josef K he worked through a 30 song set from his career. using his iphone to provide the music he performed what I presume has to be his favorite songs from his extensive back collection.
A weird mix of intellectual aesthetics, Nick is obsessed with literature, sex, pedophilia, necrophilia, penis's , homosexuality and all forms of sexuality that most people refuse to think about in public never mind discuss.
I did enjoy seeing The complete History of Sexual Jealousy parts 17-34 done live as this was the song that first interested me and made me investigate him when Napster hit. Seeing Bishonen live was also a highlight.
Momus - Hairstyle of the Devil

Momus - Little Apples

Tiring, different but unmissable.

Twilight Sad Translation

2009-05-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

The definitive code (except Ye Ken)

Rabbit- And She Would Darken the Memory
Hit Single- That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy
Eyes Oot- I Became a Prostitute (new)
Downstairs- Reflection of the Television (new)
Faster- That Birthday Present (new)
Loud Quiet- Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed
Sheep Dug- Cold Days from the Birdhouse
Mooth- Seven Years of Letters (new)
III- I'm Taking the Train Home
Sixteen Guys- Untitlled 28 (previously released on Killed My Parents and Hit the Road)
Ye Ken- ? new song? played on day 3 at MHOW

From the band themselves- http://twitter.com/thetwilightsad

new songs played last night= reflection of the television, that birthday present, seven years of letters, i became a prostitute
7:42 AM Apr 24th from web

sets from New York

Mon 27 Apr – The Twilight Sad @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Setlist

Downstairs

Faster

That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy

Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed

Mooth

Eyes Oot

Cold Days From the Birdhouse

And She Would Darken The Memory

Tue 28 Apr – The Twilight Sad @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Setlist

Downstairs
Hit Single = That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy
Eyes Oot
Sixteen guys = Untitled #28
Mooth
Rabbit = And She Would Darken the Memory
Sheep Dug = Cold Days From the Birdhouse
III = I'm Taking the Train Home

Wed 29 Apr – The Twilight Sad @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Setlist

Downstairs
That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy
Eyes Oot
Mooth
Ye Ken
And She Would Darken the Memory
Cold Days From the Birdhouse
I'm Taking the Train Home

I hope that somebody finds this as useful as I do.

The Twilight Sad

2009-05-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

I tend to think in black and white when it comes to music.
Travis was just too blah, Fran Healy needed to realize that three guys yelling do not make a mountain and having them thrown out was just juvenile leaving a real foul taste in your mouth.
Noah and the whale, twee yes, Anni Rossi nice not scintillating not annoying, Ferraby lionheart a snoozefest.
Noah? still quiet but somehow they get under my skin and make me relaxed rather than annoyed, sweet very sweet, lots of new songs very nice night.
Noah and The Whale new song (name provided by NATW)

Noah and The Whale new song Our window

Noah & TW doing Girlfriend In A coma

Friday we went out of our way to be there early, most folks thought this was Mogwai show, we knew better. The bad recording from North Carolina does suck but even stinking fetid water is a boon to the person dying of thirst. The recording gives us the first chance to hear the new songs.
James is cleaner shaven, Andy sports a buzzcut and a beard almost unrecognizable and we get Dok joining the crew.
Simply stated the new songs are amazing they really work live, James has a different stage presence now less introverted less prone to running to the back of the stage and refusing to interact with the audience (which actually still created an effect you remembered). I would give anything to know what he murmurs to himself in those spaces where the music resounds and you see his lips move fervently without vocals being added.
To stand there and just let those notes resound and echo within you feeling the frustration and intense emotion emoted is just beyond words.
oh btw disclaimer - I LOVE this band just in case you hadn't guessed.
We stayed for a few mogwai songs but that wasn't why we were there. We did manage to catch a few words with James and Craig.
Saturday we went out to Northampton Pearl St Ballroom to our second chance to see them.
As we heard the songs twice they seemed even better, 'We are on a hiding to nowhere' everybody's wearing black clothes while I'm wearing brown' the simple lyrics I mention don't encompass the joy of hearing these new songs and starting to notice the finer points.
When I see them I am always filled with wonder at the power of the guitar and the finess that Mark shows on the drums creating the noise necessary but having the sense to leave sparseness where it counts.
Then later you talk to them and how do you express the wonder when they are as down to earth and chatty to the Nth degree.
Enough of my lovefest, I havent loaded my photos yet - thanks Pearl St for being cool about me flouting the no camera rule seeing I didn't use flash.
Set lists

Busy, busy busy

2009-04-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

life is hitting me in the face, as well as loving music I love chinchillas (rodent, look it up), all eight of mine. One is fourteen and feeling sorry for himself, one had bladder stones and is recuperating from major abdominal surgery and scaring me daily and another has broken his leg and amputation is incipient.
While going crazy at home music has decided to come back to Boston, I try but I can't get 95% of American music but the Brits are back in town.
Travis hit House of blues tomorrow, a rash buy means I see them at long last when I am probably past such pastoral sounds. Is it harsh to wish they would just play good Feeling end to end seeing they had balls then?
Oh well in between nursing my fuzzies I will go and see how they deliver. I just don't like wimpy and IK don't like HOB, too cavernous too yucky!.
Bat For lashes- boo hoo - just canceled Natasha was real nice at Great Scott, I was looking forward to seeing the new album done live.
Wednesday I get to see Noah and The Whale, twee as f*ck but joyous and fun, why not? I say yes.
Then Friday and Saturday, joy of joy I get to see Twilight Sad again. This band just gets better and better the more you listen to them, SO MUCH BETTER than FR! (oops sorry guys) I have missed seeing these kids. Hoping against hope tehy will be manning the merch table, as I want to touch base.
They are the BEST band around you are not listening too, if you haven't listened incessantly try now and do NOT stop.
oh yeah and mogwai also play those two nights, I do wonder if I will like them.
also coming up enter shikari and cut off your hands but that's for a later blog.

Paul Haig Day

2009-04-06T15:06:00.001-07:00

Around the web people are joining in with Paul Haig day see The Vinyl Villian for details
Apart from telling the DMCA to screw themselves there is a very good reason to do this.
Paul Haig is EXTREMELY well respected musician more so in Scotland, even more so in Edinburgh.
Josef K put out quirky pop on Postcard Records which I was far too young and dumb to appreciate. Then minding my own business I heard and totally and utterly fell in love with his solo record, Heaven Sent. Go on listen and see if you too do not fall in love. I bought the 7", the 12" and most of his albums all based on undying adoration for this jewel of a song.
Paul Haig Heaven Sent

The man is also a gent who has stood behind the idea of blogs supporting rather than killing music - see the Vinyl villian

Listen to Paul's new single, Reason by getting it here
here

Sky larkin/ Los Campesinos

2009-04-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

Despite my life going belly up over the weekend (my pet got sick) we still made our way up to South Burlington, Vermont to the only place and date that was possible to see Sky Larkin play their first American tour with the fun band Los Campesinos!
Higher Ground must have a capacity of about 400 and the bands managed to get a reasonable turnout.
Sky Larkin as always put on a sweet performance, Katie charming as always, Nestor frenetic fury but grinning incessantly and doug providing the strong bass that provides the strength that you can miss within the music until you listen a few times and it hits you.
Fossil,I, Pica, Summit, Beeline all amazing and my only regret is not hearing Keepsakes. It was also nice to catch up and hear their thoughts on SXSW.
Los Campesinos! if you read their blog you already know the basics of what happened, Tom's pedals broke in different sequences causing the band to work like crazy to keep the concert moving.
As the band came on for an encore they gave up on the normal format and Tom, Gareth, Neil and Aleks all went into the crowd ending the gig on a frenzy of crowd participation which enthralled everyone. It wasn't perfect playing but it was an amazing performance which made everyone feel privileged to have been at the gig.

Courteeners

2009-04-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

What does it mean if you leave adoring fans in the snow while you take hissy fits and demand better flowers to use in your stage act? What about if you decide to charge $35 for any T-shirt (which cost you max $5) or $50 for a tie, what if you demand your support band match your extortionate charges. what if you demand your staff to follow your dietary demands and fire anyone who dares to eat meat on a day when they work for you? Ok for the last you could also be Paul McCartney
For all the rest that makes you the world's most arrogant pain in the neck ever who OBVIOUSLY HATES his fans, AKA Morrissey. BTW don't bother to make nasty comments I will not publish them.
The hassle of having to endure this was a huge pain, The Courteeners are a band I have enjoyed for a while (circa 9 months). They put on a nice show last sunday at the House Of blues, which BTW i think is a huge nasty pit of a place. It may have decent sound and lighting but it is more of a soulless warehouse than Avalon ever was.
All the obvious songs like 'Not nineteen forever' were played but also a new song. I truly wish them to come back and play a real venue but this was a stop gap.
We did stay for two Morrissey songs but couldn't bear the awfulness of the spectacle for a minute longer.

Recently - White Lies etc

2009-04-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

5 concerts in eight days.
Start with Soft Pack/White Lies/ Friendly Fires
The Soft Pack pka The Muslims, better than when we saw them at CMJ, decent guitar driven rhythms well received. still not my thing but WAY better than most support bands.
White Lies, wow, record label look after your band will you? Harry looked just wiped. I swear when he closed his eyes and clung to the mike stand he was praying for strength to get through the performance. The rest of the band were not as exhausted and there was an underlying feeling that the band were pulling together to do their best to hold together a lead singer exhausted and unable to hit the higher notes. The hype is starting and the silly little girls are starting to scream and harrass the band. Still the band put on a brave show and tried their hearts out winning over new fans in the hardest of circumstances.
Wearing my Mumm-Ra t-shirt, Tommy B got a kick out of seeing my support, coming over as the show finished to make contact.
Friendly Fires, such a wait, 5 months late, the four guys, including Rob lee who only plays with them live, provided a stunning show. The crowd danced like crazy starting with a momentum which caused sweat to pour off both crowd and band. Though the energy slacked slightly as the gig went on during the encore the band went into the audience causing a rapturous response.
We managed to talk to White Lies afterwards, Jack relishing the attention of the female fans but happy to turn more serious when he recognized us showing the fact that everyone is still firmly grounded. Charles was friendly and showed humor laughing about the fact they were probably not 'Indie' enough for us to go see at SXSW. We did spend a long time talking to Tommy just chatting about music and how life has been for the guys recently.
Sweet Gig, lovely chance to catch up with White Lies who prove themselves to be human, grounded and getting better as time goes on, and amazing to have the chance to catch Friendly Fires and dance like crazy at last.
BTW watch for White Lies playing House of Blues this September.

Depeche Mode

2009-03-27T18:19:00.001-07:00

the new album is out there. In 1981 the band was ultra poppy, then their major songwriter left. As the albums came out serious subject started to be dealt with in poppy poppy tunes, state of the world (Construction time Again the whole album), undeserving trust in god (Blasphemous Rumours), lack of the press taking life seriously (New Dress) etc etc. I can't even start to consider how long I have been listening to these guys, they have dealt with loss of members such as would cripple other bands. they have also dealt with serious drug addiction from Dave Gahan. The new album may take some time to attach itself to the gut the way the other albums have but this is a band still breathing, still functioning still being relevant. Reminds me I must go back and indulge in the early music............

British Invasion

2009-03-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

White Lies arrive at the Paradise on Saturday amidst a huge wave of hype. Harry the lead singer, channels the baritone of 80's pop star Julian Cope from Teardrop Explodes in a way that causes middle aged folks to flock to their concerts amongst the teenagers brought in by the Gossip Girl use of EST.
White Lies started life as Fear Of Flying, but when they wrote Fear of the Fairground they saw a new pathway and morphed into White Lies. With Harry lacking the ability to reproduce the keyboard sounds from the studio they brought in the rather excellent Tommy B from Mumm-Ra, a cult UK band from Bexhill on Sea.
Exploring a cache of songs about love and Death they rise above cliches, creating rhythms that sequester themselves in your head until you love them despite any qualms about loving the music the record companies want to throw down our throat.
If you were one of the 30 or so folks who were ahead of the curve and saw them at Great Scott in October you would have had a chance to talk to them and find them as charming as they are adorable.
Friendly Fires also play. FF were supposed to play in Boston in October supporting Lykke Li. Under the manipulations of their record label they blew off the gig to wow CMJ. BTW when asked about this they did apologize profusely!
The album is a classic danceable classic, Paris and Jump In the Pool are outstanding almost hiding the fact that the other songs would be the highlights of another lesser band.
The Soft Pack (previously known as the Muslims) in any other circumstance would be headlining, and seeing the lineup of the Paradise currently would be able to do so easily. a Bluesy guitar based rock sound many have lauded this band to the roof, personally when I saw them I could take or leave them but as US band ago they certainly are up in the upcoming new bands.
On Sunday , the most overblown UK star hits the most overblown Boston venue. Morrissey play The House Of Blues. why mention it? because an excellent band The Courteeners from Manchester UK, play support. A UK guitar based band in the vein of Oasis and Stone Roses, the raw vocal and catchy pop tunes have you humming their songs for long periods. We paid the exorbitant Morrissey fees just to see The Courteeners.

SXSW recap

2009-03-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

lets break this down to three categories
Amazing and much better than expected
-- Slow Club, Micachu, Bang Bang Eche!, Fanfarlo , rolo Tomassi - great to watch
amazing expected to be amazing
-- Danananaykroyd, General Fiasco, Fight like Apes, Sky Larkin
were ok but wanted them to be amazing
-- hatcham social, Let' wrestle

SXSW Day 5 Sunday 22nd

2009-03-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Slower - thank goodness - we were about fit to drop
PRE Beerland
The Mae Shi Beerland
The Boxing Lesson Austin Art Garage
Pop Unknown Austin Art Garage
Out From Animals Austin Art Garage
Afterward - I heard murmurs that Out From Animals are the result of a talent show conteest for a record deal - true story? if so please tell.
A couple of songs from Out From Animals

And a song from the Mae shi
this band are frenetic and cause mayhem - I tried to catch some of it but forgive me for the poor quality that is always a side effect of their performance.

SXSW Day 4 Saturday 21st

2009-03-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

Talk To Angels Yorkshire Party Latitude 30
Paul Marshall
Rolo Tomassi
Sky Larkin
Wild Beasts
Polly Mackay Liverpool Party Latitude 30
The Lost brothers
wave machines
my sad captains ethiopian restauranr
innercity pirates volume
dirtblonde emo's annex
theoretical girl latitude 30
slow club volume
longview cedar street
friends electric latitude 30
your vegas maggie mae's

Sky Larkin Pica

Slow Club I was Unconscious at Volume

SXSW Day 3 Friday 20th

2009-03-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

black Cherry Beauty bar
the shys
chief
angry versus the bear
skibunny bd rileys
fight like apes
fighting with wire
fanfarlo emo's annex
women fort
hatcham social
the miserable rich hilton
manhattan love suicides karma lounge
fanfarlo prespetyrian church
scissors for lefty wave rooftop

SXSW Day 2 Thursday

2009-03-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Turbowolf dirty dog bar
Dana dirty dog bar
the lost brothers latitude / irish party
beat poets
general fiasco
fighting with wire dirty dog bar
the homosexuals rusty spurs
jay jay pistolet hilton
mumford & sons hilton

peggy sue parish
wild beasts latitude
hatcham social latitude
teh electric city wave
we have band latitude
fight like apes rio

SXSW Wednesday 18th Day 1

2009-03-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

start
Micachu at Ms Bea's
Future Of the left
Bad Veins
We were promised Jetpacks at spaceland throwdown at Maggie Mae's
Esser Fader
Post War Years
Abe Vigoda
Graham coxon
Micachu
Let's wrestle
Pete and the pirates
The cheek
Wave Machines
Nacional
Dananananaykroyd
Sky Larkin
General Fiasco

SXSW Tuesday 17th day 0

2009-03-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

managed to get Fort wristband and pure volume passes.
We only got to the Dartz international Party at Friends.
Bang Bang Eche - pretty amazing
We should be dead - good
Poly Mackay and the Pleasure principal not bad.
we also saw the golden dogs from canada but they were brutally awful.
today should be busy

Update

2009-03-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

So its SXSW next week. That's when you get in two minds - one one hand you want your favorite bands to have a good showing but on the other you want to be able to run from place to place to get a great view.
they have found my soft spot Jarvis Cocker is talking and of course may play. I hate large shows that the crowds love but this is one I would break all the rules for.
But for small bands I am looking forward to seeing
Pete and The Pirates, Sky Larkin, Danananaykroyd, Hatcham Social, The Cheek, Late Of The Pier,Esser, General Fiasco, Fighting with Wire, Fight Like Apes, We Were promised jetpacks.
Curently I am having heart attacks trying to figure out how best to see the most novel bands that are worthwhile.
I know it will all work out but teh anticipation is pretty extreme.

Gig review

2009-02-20T05:12:00.000-08:00

Its been busy, probably busier than its going to be for a while with the recession preventing the normal amount of bands coming over.
Friday teh 13th was Titus Andronicus and Los Campesinos! at the Paradise. With high expectations of a raucous expectations I felt Titus let us down, fun but no craziness described from other gigs. Titus did you decide to phone it in.
They did play Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman which was fun.
Los Campesinos! how I love thee. I have listened to their music ever since someone pushed 'It started wit ha mixx' my direction before they properly released anything. They are listed as Twee pop but 'We are Beautiful we are doomed' though with poppy tunes has bitter lyrics and hard guitar and rhythms behind the twee. Adorable!
Again they did not disappoint with seven people on stage there is always something going on and someone being fascinating. Gareth, at times clutching at his asthma inhaler, daned around, belted out the lyrics at a rate of knots and played xylophone and bashed at drums - Wow. Gareth enthused at their welcome, had memories of an emptier Paradise last time - though I thought it sold out then too. He claimed they palyed longer than normal and just kept playing. Gareth's trip through the audience kept folks amused and on their toes while Tom crowdsurfed with everyone around trying to make sure he was held aloft.
Fun fun fun.
Sunday - middle east upstairs - shrinking Islands were an acceptable support not entrancing but fun to listen to. Depreciation Guild remindedme hugely of Evangelicals which isnt a bad thing.
Then came Pants Yell! - sorry I LOATH this band. Why is it acceptable to sing bad lyrics in a flat tone, give it up and please make a vow never to sing on stage again.
Pins Of being pure at Heart, middle east really butchered a lot of the vocals and I still can't see the total picture here - OK but not stellar.
Tuesday Great Scott was Operahouse. Very happy to see them play and it was a nice set - there should have been WAY more folks there - watch this band.
The Duke Spirit - radio gig at Felt on Thursday. Said it before its so not fair Leila is beautiful, stylish, friendly, sings like a demon, puts a on a great show and the songs are amazing - how can one person be so talented.
seen them many times now and its never enough and they never let you down.
I hopefully will have some pictures up soon that show some of the energy that was there.
Delta Spirit tonight review later I hope
I love duke spirit and you should too.

Gig Alert

2009-01-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

OK now I safely have my tickets in hand I can let others know about what promises to be one of the best shows this year - forget The Killers or Morrissey this is the one.
Friendly Fires/White Lies/ The Soft Pack at The Paradise March 28th.
Friendly Fires produce the most amazing dance/pop music, I defy anyone to listen to Paris or jump In the Pool and not smile.
White Lies, what do I need to say, and they have the stupendous Mumm-Ra's Tommy B too.
Then The Soft Pack, used to be The Muslims. cant say they impressed me at CMJ but the world and blogosphere loves them.
Just go buy tickets now before it is too late.
But you can only buy tickets at Livenation.com don't even try Ticketmaster.

White Lies The Price Of Love at Great Scott October 2008

Music snobbery

2009-01-19T20:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, I can act as music snob, hating on folks who 'discover' bands late. But I think I have good reason. I spend most of my concerts going to see bands in empty rooms or almost empty. In those moments I talk to the bands, weary from 8 hour drives still pushing themselves to play to 75 or less people because EVERY fan is a lifeline to them. Buying them drinks, talking to them and enthusing about their music, knowing all the lyrics. These mean a lot to bands early on, sometimes its the only thing that keeps them going. Why do hugely talented bands play to empty rooms while over hyped talentless kids and sometimes that is not figurative (Cough Miley) fill stadiums.
Why do people find it easier to only listen to what the badly written over sanitized over marginalized media pushes. Its not a race BUT WE HAVE TO SUPPORT BANDS as they start. Otherwise they give up and the music we lose I hate to think of. That's why I hate on people who only want to go to sold out shows. Yes I download like crazy but I went to 116 shows last year- do you think I gave back a little? Maybe.
I just wish people - particularly college kids would pick a club and listen to a song from every band there and then go see the best. Going to see tons of shows is manageable when most shows are less than $15.
Anyway thats my rant for the day. Oh and watch this blog and go see all the bands I do!

SXSW 2009 updates

2009-01-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, our moaning worked, many many more bands announced.
Best - Johnny Foreigner, Answering Machine, Sky larkin, The whip, We were promised Jetpacks, broken Records and General fiasco. But time to start hitting myspace hard to listen to bands.
I want to like Rolo Tomassi and danananykroyd but not sure those bands will hit the spot but big love for the bands mentioned above.

The Guggenheim Grotto & Frightened Rabbit

2009-01-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

Bloggers telling you about music and giving samples does NOT kill music, anything but.
I heard about this band in the blogosphere and find they are doing a
residency at the Lizard Lounge.

Marketed as indie folk music I think this music is worth a try and will be there on Thursday to determine what the real situation is.

Sunday finds Frightened Rabbit back in Boston at their favorite venue, mine too boys. As this will be the 8th time seeing them in slightly over a year I have to admit to extreme prejudice here. At their best when they are most dangerous and off beat they are a joy to watch.
In Philadelphia in March, Scott went into a free fall of a monologue about the cd preorder which I curse that I didn't film, it was classic, oddball and wonderful. Grant, the gentle drum destroyer, who shows fury of immense proportions to those poor skins just causes awe. As anyone who goes to live gigs knows drums are a precarious beast who are always moving collapsing and generally reacting to the energy outburst. This with Grants anger is always a powderkeg to watch.
The bad news is that it has sold out, but only recently so you had forever to get your tickets so hopefully you will be there.
Scott promises that we will get Floating in The forth this time so here's hoping.
This is Poke from their July gig at TT's

SXSW 2009

2009-01-10T12:55:00.000-08:00

my google doc
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pCzROSjpfVWwsiTZAxgfSIA

just the bands I want to see that I know are going - to be updated

Glasvegas etc

2009-01-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

Glasvegas played Great Scott on Sunday.
We managed to get there in time to see most of their very elongated soundcheck and a quick chat with Rab. Amazing how such a big intimidating guy can be such a sweet kid.
Wild Light were as usual, well maybe a little less blah.
photos here
Glasvegas Setlist

When Glasvegas played this time Flowers and football tops actually came off, in NY they steamrollered through it never really seeming to be in the same place, this time a long slow intro allowed them to pull together and gel. But we did get the infamous Glasvegas light show - ie pitch black. The crowd were enthusiastic, good for Boston, but with a couple of real weirdos. The woman who grabbed James' towel then shouted out about getting all his DNA - you are just creepy as hell. He really isnt that desperate to go with a whack job. It wasn't funny it was just enough to make your skin crawl. And the guy next to me who wanted to gyrate over a three person area, what gives? I really dont like having that personal contact in a non frenetic atmosphere. Yes at an arctic Monkeys gig you get close enough to find out what side guys are dressing on but enough!
Nice to hear stabbed which it seems they have moved back into the set and Come Back home from the Xmas EP.
I asked Rab about the Demo blog issue and he really feels powerless, (shhhh he tells me he sometimes gives away copies of his own album - Bad Rab!)
I did the normal and sat and talked Scottish bands afterwards, nice to hear the guys up Sons and Daughters and Twilight Sad.
Sweet night, and Rab promised guest list spots for next time (March 31st at the Paradise) though we will probably buy them to be safe.
Glasvegas say they are set for SXSW, a tour through to Coachella, then coming back in August.
It will be nice to see them again and again.

photos here
Glasvegas playing Stabbed at Great Scott

Glasvegas playing Please Come Back Home at Great Scott

2008 favs

2008-12-31T08:21:00.000-08:00

Got to do in no particular order(yes I know that's a cop out)
Loved
Forward Russia - Life Processes - they may not have liked it but I loved it
Look See Proof - Between Here and there
Little Man Tate nothing worth having comes easy
Mystery Jets Twenty One
Johnny Foreigner Waited up till it was light
I Was A Cub Scout i want you to know there is always hope
These New Puritans Beat Pyramid
Cajun dance Party The Colourful Life
Foals Antidotes
Blood Red shoes Box Of Secrets

Really Great
Frightened Rabbit
The Twilight Sad EPs
Elle Milano
The Pigeon Detectives
The Wombats
Ra Ra Riot
The Courteeners
The Duke Spirit
Lightspeed Champion
Late Of the Pier
The whip
The Long blondes
Friendly Fires

The Courteeners

2008-12-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

been listening to the courteeners for a while - st jude is a decent cd. they are supposed to be at SXSW 2009 - i think not! they just announced they are supporting Morrissey's US tour during SXSW - well announced means my RSS feed picked up their myspace calendar. I loath the smiths, hate Morrissey but will have to brave the truly horrible live Nation mess that is the new House Of Blues. anyone any idea how when tickets will be available?
wish me Luck.

SXSW 2009 new bands added

2008-12-20T05:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.myspace.com/wearenacional
http://jaimerandall.livejournal.com/44701.html?view=76701#t76701
Nacional asked to be a myspace friend and added they were going to SXSW and Look See Proof have confirmed. Ra Ra Riot think they are going. and Passion pit - ugh and white Lies are confirmed. Anyone Else?

also confirmed Pete and The Pirates and Friendly Fires

December

2008-12-18T13:19:00.000-08:00

December is a bleak time of year. Consider our total of gigs last year - as gigs are announced and it seems January, February and March are filling up I look and despair.
I have a total of five gigs lined up right through the end of February. I have had weeks with more gigs than that. The total lack of any visiting bands I like make me feel like a music hater and isolated away from the LA/SF/NYC meccas which get lightening visits that would make life bearable. Is it any wonder that I travel long distances in January and February just to see bands, its sheer desperation.
Oh well there is always March and SXSW to look forward to.

2008 reviews

2008-11-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

We went to a lot of gigs in 2008, no really, a lot.......
We figure we will have been to 113 or 117 shows by the end of the year depending on whether we call CMJ a festival or not. Yes that's right that outrageous figure doesn't include SXSW!
About one very three days, not bad when you consider we both hold two very time consuming jobs (60 or so hours a week).
So its probably time to review highlights and bands who we saw for the first time or that impressed us and those that didn't.

2008 saw The Spinto band implode, releasing a mediocre second album and losing any energy that they had at the start of the year. We saw them in Philly in January and Boston in May then in October. Not a good situation.

We saw White Williams at The Middle East Upstairs in January, young and green, his album is spotty but has some good tracks, this one may burn out or mature and improve.

We saw Ra Ra Riot many times (6) in 2008, starting in February sometimes as a headliner other times supporting The Cribs, we never were disappointed and I love their album.

On the other hands The Virgins who we saw that night in February plus another support slot just bugged the hell out of me, file this under Vampire Weekend syndrome, over hyped and under talented, I loath this band.

Spear of Destiny, a blast of the past, Kirk Brandon still rocking good style so glad we got to see the show and a side note Kirk was a real nice guy.

Liars & No Age, well sometimes you have got to listen to what is popular locally, even when as in this case it just leaves you lost as to the appeal. Leave it as not for me.
Until later..........

Exit Clov review

2008-11-15T19:20:00.000-08:00

To follow up on my previous blog it seems The Eames Era has followed the slew of bands that have broken up this year which makes me sad.
On a brighter note it was really nice to see just how much Exit Clov seemed to have developed over the summer. The songs are really much more structured with more intricate guitar work that adds rather than distracts from the songs.
I hope this leads to tehm being signed and having some success, we get to see them again when they play Middle East Upstairs on December 4th.