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Middle East Downstairs

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Baroness | Blue Record

Relapse (2009)
For a band of ultra-prosaic album titlers, Baroness are big thinkers when it comes to their music.
By MIKAEL WOOD  |  October 14, 2009
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Photos: Dinosaur Jr. at the Middle East downstairs

Dinosaur Jr., live at the Middle East downstairs, October 2, 2009
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. performing on their 2009 reunion tour
By NELLIE SWEET  |  October 05, 2009
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Beauty in the beast

Dinosaur Jr. are much happier people now
"When J switched to guitar [from drums], he wanted to feel that same power. and the only way he could do that was to be, like, super loud. . . ."
By DANIEL BROCKMAN  |  September 30, 2009
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Review: The Walkmen at Middle East

 The Walkmen, live at Middle East downstairs on September 18, 2009
It was strange to see the sparse instrumentation from which NYC’s The Walkmen drew their atmospheric, honey-dipped sound last Friday at the Middle East.
By DAVID BOFFA  |  September 23, 2009
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Photos: The Walkmen

The Walkmen live at the Middle East downstairs, September 18, 2009
The Walkmen live at the Middle East downstairs, September 18, 2009
By SARAH VIERA  |  September 21, 2009
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Up and autumn!

New local rock to shake the leaves from the trees
Behold! The prime of the approaching fall local rock crop.
By MATT PARISH  |  September 15, 2009
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Taking care of business

Digging for gold in the roots and world-music scene
Boston is one of the healthiest markets for live roots music in the country. Here are the 10 roots shows we don't want to miss this fall.
By TED DROZDOWSKI  |  September 14, 2009
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Photos: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, live at the Middle East Downstairs, September 5, 2009
Photos of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart performing at the Middle East Downstairs
By JEROME ENO  |  September 09, 2009
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Photo: Cymbals Eat Guitars at Middle East Downstairs

Cymbals Eat Guitars, live at the Middle East Downstairs, September 5, 2009.
Cymbals Eat Guitars at Middle East Downstairs
By JEROME ENO  |  September 08, 2009
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Beat Circus | Boy From Black Mountain

Cuneiform (2009)
The subjects of the stories sung on this second installment of Beat Circus's "Weird American Gothic" trilogy attain greater awareness of family, culture, and the world by voyaging across schisms in perception.
By BARRY THOMPSON  |  September 02, 2009
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Major laser

Naked Raygun assess their legacy
Of Naked Raygun's many conquests, perhaps their greatest was impressing Steve Albini. In a 1992 Maximumrocknroll interview, Albini — the sharp-tongued musician/producer who, among other things, once dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and the Pixies as "blandly entertaining college rock" — offered a rare public endorsement.
By REYAN ALI  |  August 31, 2009
0908_raygun_list

Major laser

Naked Raygun assess their legacy
Of Naked Raygun's many conquests, perhaps their greatest was impressing Steve Albini. In a 1992 Maximumrocknroll interview, Albini — the sharp-tongued musician/producer who, among other things, once dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and the Pixies as "blandly entertaining college rock" — offered a rare public endorsement.
By REYAN ALI  |  August 31, 2009
0908_raygun_list

Major laser

Naked Raygun assess their legacy
Of Naked Raygun's many conquests, perhaps their greatest was impressing Steve Albini. In a 1992 Maximumrocknroll interview, Albini — the sharp-tongued musician/producer who, among other things, once dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and the Pixies as "blandly entertaining college rock" — offered a rare public endorsement.
By REYAN ALI  |  August 31, 2009
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Feels like the first time

One Night Band could get a little messy
One thing you don't realize when you vow to support local music is that it involves sitting through the same bands month after month as they burn through drink tickets, rearrange their sets, and stall the record release.
By MATT PARISH  |  August 25, 2009
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Photos: Eek-a-Mouse at the Middle East Downstairs

Eek-a-Mouse, live at the Middle East Downstairs, July 23, 2009
Eek-a-Mouse, live at the Middle East Downstairs, July 23, 2009
By DAVID F. NICHOLSON  |  July 28, 2009
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Smack downer

Hip-Hop Misogyny: It Ain’t What It Used To Be
I haven’t come hereto academically justify West Coast credos about assimilating hoes into housewives. Instead I’ve come to mourn the commercialization of misogynistic rap lyrics.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  July 23, 2009
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Stop making sense

The precision mishmashes of the Fiery Furnaces
"Look, we just think that we, as a band, are very . . . interested. In things, in the world."
By DANIEL BROCKMAN  |  June 08, 2009
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Bit players

Anamanaguchi are a shock to the systems
What do you get when you cross NYU music-technology majors just out of their teens, vintage Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy gear, traditional rock-and-roll instruments, a mysterious, robot-building fellow named José with half a middle finger on one hand, and a shadowy underground network of info-spreading Swedes? No.
By MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  June 05, 2009
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Tours of duty

John Clifford and Billy Bang's Vietnam; plus Icons Among Us and bye-bye Jazz Brunch
Clifford and Bang will celebrate Memorial Day weekend together at Highland Kitchen in Somerville this Sunday in a program called "Basic Training: An Evening of Art, Music, and Poetry."
By JON GARELICK  |  May 18, 2009
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Slideshow: Easy Star All-Stars at the Middle East downstairs

Easy Star All-Stars, live at the Middle East downstairs, May 15, 2009
Easy Star All-Stars at the Middle East downstairs
By DAVID F. NICHOLSON  |  May 21, 2009
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Same difference

It's a pleasure keeping the Field on repeat
"I grew so weary of playing by myself on the laptop. I felt so controlled by the computer."
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  May 12, 2009
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Slideshow: The Thermals at the Middle East downstairs

The Thermals, live at the Middle East downstairs on May 7, 2009
Portland's The Thermals at the Middle East downstairs
By DAVID F. NICHOLSON  |  May 21, 2009
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Review: The Thermals at the Middle East downstairs

The Thermals, live at the Middle East Downstairs, May 7, 2009
You know summer's almost here when the pipes that snake along the low ceiling of the Middle East downstairs start beading up with sweat in the middle of a show.
By MATT PARISH  |  May 11, 2009
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Easy Star All-Stars | Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band

Easy Star (2009)
A dub-wise version of the Beatles' classic album seems a novelty concept, but this madly entertaining disc is a buoyant tribute to the flexibility of the Fab Four's open-ended vision of pop, as well as the low-tech sonic trickery perfected in Jamaica's famed Studio One.
By TED DROZDOWSKI  |  May 12, 2009
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A new hope

The Thermals' tentatively ambivalent Now We Can See
Amid a barrage of assessments of our new president's first 100 days in office, it's a ripe time for the Thermals to come back to Portland and offer their two cents'.  
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY  |  April 29, 2009
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The Thermals | Now We Can See

Kill Rock Stars (2009)
This is the fourth album from the lovably scrappy Portland (Oregon) trio, but it might as well be their 400th.
By MIKAEL WOOD  |  April 21, 2009
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Slideshow: Bajofondo at Middle East downstairs

Bajofondo live at the Middle East downstairs, April 7, 2009
Photos from Bajofondo at the Middle East downstairs
By RAFAEL ULLOA  |  April 10, 2009
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Due Dilla-gence

Termanology bestows belated props on Jay Dee
Extraordinarily missed Detroit beat stylist J Dilla (a/k/a Jay Dee) was righteously benevolent.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  March 31, 2009
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Reunited and it feels so . . . heavy

Throwing Muses, live at the Middle East Downstairs, March 14, 2009
Lead Throwing Muse Kristin Hersh has often said that she doesn't write her songs so much as channel them, so it wasn't surprising that at times it felt like tonight's sold-out crowd was witnessing an onstage exorcism.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN  |  March 17, 2009
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Slideshow: Joe Budden at Middle East Downstairs

Joe Budden, live at the Middle East Downstairs, March 5, 2009
At the Middle East Downstairs
By BRYAN MASTERGEORGE  |  March 09, 2009

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