Ghost of Paul Revere |
Music is a fine opiate on its own, but let’s not forget that it’s also a gateway drug to dancing. Several nightclubs can help you fulfill that particular high, but if you feel like partying with a different crowd, you might sniff around Mayo Street Arts on Tuesday evenings. They launched a swing-dance lesson series with the upstart collective Port City Swing on September 10 that runs a few more weeks at least (covering basics and intermediates; prices and info at maineswinglessons.com). Or if you’d rather party when the lights are low, join the junkies of the Maniac Swing Dance Society at the Woodfords Club every first and third Friday at 9 (with a beginner lesson at 8). No partner necessary.
We were offered a nice slice of dark-ish post-punk this week from Journalism, a group that features Owen Keiter and former Phoenix intern Kegan Zema of the short-lived Portland band Tony Smokes and the Ladykillers, who played some invigorating sets in rock fringes around town. Journalism hail from Brooklyn now (while former Ladykiller Dylan Martin, an actual Maine journalist, still lives here), but they expect to play some sets in Portland soon. In the meantime, their expressions of chilly, melodic downer-pop await subscribers at journalism.bandcamp.com.
The old school bluegrass and holler-folk band Ghost of Paul Revere have been banging it out around town for years now, and are finally putting together a full-length album of original material. They’re a month out from the deadline of their pledgemusic drive to fund the follow up to last year’s North EP, which they’ve recorded with local producer Jonathan Wyman. Very few bands play as often as these guys do, and they’ve become a huge part of the city’s roots music scene. Check out their pitch at pledgemusic.com/projects/ghostofpaulrevere.
And there’s a beautiful new EP by Matthew Erickson, the former guitarist of Sunset Hearts and Marie Stella, up on bandcamp. Titled Totaled By the Sound, the dude has laid down six noisy, refined pop songs with the assistance of a drum machine, bouncing around styles of contemporary post-punk in a studied and thoroughly unpretentious way. Several sleeper hits on this one, like the bedroom-rocker “Freakout!” or the dreary beauty of “Linda,” which sounds like one of Blank Dogs’ better tracks. Erickson’s songs are weirdly tough to get sick of, and odds are at least one of them has a place in your life. Find at matthewerickson.bandcamp.com.
