• How lovely it is to find LAMINATED CAT turn up at our doorstep! The on-again/off-again project headed by TANNER OLIN SMITH resurfaced last month to unveil three recordings of manic, drippy, and totally intimate psych-schtuff. We don't know where this guy has been, but wherever it was must've had an attic and a decent bathtub. Over two EPs recently slapped up on Bandcamp (Dark Stretch (Demos) and Tongue Part One under his gov't name) and one long-player (The Saurus Part 1, a recording with AJ Griffin from 2009 just released under the LC moniker), Smith has shared some very compelling sonic expressions, and his tunes definitely beg to be reckoned with.Here's how: the next drab, sunless morning you open your computer, bring up both EPs on separate browser tabs and randomly select from each while reading the morning news. Pay particular attention to Tongue, as its pleasantly unpredictable buzz will echo your mounting coffee high. Around lunch, open The Saurus in a different browser entirely. You don't want to confuse its themes with the newer stuff (it's a far cheerier record than either), and its more traditional song structures will aid digestion. After dusk, turn off your mobile device, stretch out on the divan and revisit the richly melancholic EPs. Perhaps you'd vacillate between Dark Stretch's "Painted Face" and "Teknikolor Horses," the combination of which will ease you into a fever dream of paralytic sadness (not as bad as you think!). Or maybe you'd linger on Tongue's "The Beast," a swirling, 14-minute purgatorial raga. But it's important to wind down with "Song for Liza," a heartcrushing seven-minute acoustic ditty that will reacquaint you with your life's most minor notes. Excited to have this guy back — visit these recordings at tannerolinsmith.bandcamp.com and laminatedcatmusic.bandcamp.com, see him with THEODORE TREEHOUSE and frequent collaborator JEFF BEAM at Mayo Street Arts, March 22.
• RSO covered the entirety of Flipper's 1983 record Generic, one of the world's filthiest and most enduringly beautiful documents, and threw it up on bandcamp via the Dirigimus label. A totally suitable undertaking for the blues-soaked, one-man sludge feast. Hear it at dirigimus.bandcamp.com.
• A few tracks from that John Popper/Chris Barron weekend have surfaced on the web; keep your eyes out for more. SOUTH ADDISON PICTURE COMPANY, a film team with a channel on the local production network ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIMENT, is compiling a video "bootleg" series, which should feature a good chunk of the jam singers' recent collaborations with the FOGCUTTERS and others at Port City Music Hall. More info at southaddisonpix.com.
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A local covers album that doesn't focus on the hits, Generation gap, John McCain's economic philosophy, More 
- A local covers album that doesn't focus on the hits
Hopefully, the awesomeness that was Beautiful Locals hasn't slipped from the Portland consciousness yet.
- Generation gap
It’s an uneven show with a dour vision that leaves a mediciny taste in your mouth — and, I think, offers signs of a generation gap among curators.
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Big Fat Whale
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Is Twitter bad for journalism?
- Opening pitch
The most moving moment of this year’s Boston Symphony Orchestra opening gala came before the concert started — the standing ovation for James Levine, who looked rested and recuperated after his kidney surgery this summer, an operation that forced him to cancel most of his Tanglewood season.
- Peter Bjorn and John | Seaside Rock
It’s really pointless. And somewhat nice.
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The intersection of Brookline Avenue and Lansdowne Street, in the hours before, during, and after a Red Sox game, is not unlike a trading floor on pre-crash Wall Street: it’s chaotic, teeming with people, and everyone’s trying to make a buck.
- Is John McCain crazy?
There is something not quite right about John McCain.
- Sweet release
I don’t want to waste your time waxing philosophical about the problematic logic behind qualifying music “good” or “bad,” much less pontificating on whether “sophisticated punk” is an oxymoron.
- Saving Marriage
Roth and Henning, dedicated partisans, were everywhere with their cameras in those historic years 2003–2006.
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Trying to find college Republicans in Boston is like looking for a flattering pair of jeans: they’re elusive — either too stiff or completely out of style.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Laminated Cat
