BLIZZARD OF ’78 + MINKY STARSHINE & THE NEW CARDINALS + TAXPAYER + WILL BRIERLY & THE ROLLER HOLSTERS | Century Lounge | Sept 8 | 401.751.2255
GAZERS, WITH SHOES: The Brother Kite. |
Reaching for the skyAnd speaking of pop, there’s also the matter of THE BROTHER KITE, another band that captures that Brian Wilson innervision in a bottle. Their second album, Waiting for the Time to Be Right, will be released on September 12, but the party is tonight (Thursday the 7th) at the Century Lounge.When the Brother Kite’s eponymous debut arrived in 2004, the band proved that you could still bang out shoegazer pop that mattered. On the new album, the quintet widens its sound, particularly on tunes such as “Hopeless and Unsung,” in which lead singer and bandleader Patrick Boutwell embraces Brian Wilson as a brother. The band frequently nails a juicy hook, like the one on “Bringing It Back Home” or the more introspective title track, and they do indeed bring it on home. They even deliver some meaningful lyrics, like on their single “I’m Not the Only One,” where Boutwell intones, “You can’t explain a halo to a non-believer.” Occasionally, a song is swallowed by shoegazer atmosphere, such as on the non-descript “The Finest Kind” and “Hold Me Down.” But not often. Word has it that this Providence outfit, together for five years, has made a name for itself outside of town thanks in part to its deal with Clairecords. They played SXSW last year and they’ve made some inroads on college/community radio. This October they’ll be playing Popfest New England 2006 in Northampton, Massachusetts. We’re pretty sure that Waiting for the Time to Be Right, with its bubbling cauldron of influences — ranging from the Flaming Lips to the Association to proper shoegazers like Pale Saints and Chapterhouse — will be on your list of Top Ten local albums by the time the end of the year rolls around.
THE BROTHER KITE + SCHOOL FOR ROBOTS + LEFT HAND DOES | Century Lounge | Sept 7 | 401.751.2255
Stone Soup turns 26
It’s a long time for soup to stay hot, but Stone Soup Coffeehouse begins it second quarter-century (its 26h season) this weekend, having already donned laurels for its reputation as one of the longest-running coffeehouses in all of coffeehouse country: New England. This year the Soup vows not to rest on those laurels for long. In addition to adjusting to its relatively newest home at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 50 Park Place in Pawtucket, they have another change in store . . . But more on that later. Here’s a first look at what folk and acoustic fans have to look forward to in the ’06-’07 season: JEFFREY FOUCAULT, MUSTARD’S RETREAT, ERIC ANDERSEN, JOYCE KATZBERG AND THE KAT’Z MEOW, BOB FRANKE, THE NIELDS, KRIS DELMHORST, ERIN MCKEOWN, GIRLYMAN, TRET FURE, AZTEC TWO-STEP, DAVID MASSENGILL, BROOKS WILLIAMS, AOIFE CLANCY, THE KIM TRUSTY BAND, LUCY KAPLANSKY, JIM’S BIG EGO (Jim Infantino), and BILL STAINES will all be dropping by to share a night of music.
