• There aren't too many people who've been around and about the local scene more than MATT SHARDLOW over the past 15 years. He's played with the HOBBES, ZION TRAIN, 8 TRACK, STATE RADIO, and various CLASH OF THE TITANS ensembles, while doing sound at the Big Easy for a spell and being a hired gun in general. This summer will be something of a coming out party for him, though. He's got two projects, DIV KID and NOTHING VENTURED, that will both drop discs. The first hits July 11, the second July 25. Be ready.
• Maybe you know BLIND BILLY BLAKE. Plays at Blue every First Friday? Well, he's reverting back to plain old BILLY CARROLL and he'll be releasing a disc this summer under his given name.
• Things continue to go well for SPARKS THE RESCUE. They leave this week on a tour of Europe opening for ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS. We wonder how that name plays on the Continent...
Related:
Portland Music News: March 20, 2009, Seeing Sparks, What are the odds?, More
- Portland Music News: March 20, 2009
We got a chance this weekend to finally see ALL THE REAL GIRLS in action and we were certainly impressed,
- Seeing Sparks
Those hardcore fans among you already have much of Eyes to the Sun in your collection. Sparks the Rescue have been selling nine of these 12 songs on a disc they've brought to shows and mailed out from time to time.
- What are the odds?
Ten years! When we organized our first Best Music Poll, way back in the day, we could only hope that it would one day wind up the institution it is today, with the annual Portland Music Awards ceremony drawing the best collection of musical talent Maine can produce.
- Portland Music News: May 29, 2009
Mike Clouds, Monsoon, Anna's Ghost, and more
- Music seen: Pixies vs. Sonic Youth at Empire
The Clash of the Titans has become a Portland staple over the last three years. Since shifting from the Big Easy to the Empire this year, the Tuesday tradition has lost none of its crowd-pulling potential.
- Multi-faceted
How we think about making and consuming music is changing. It is not news that labels, albums, and record stores are dying, pushed aside by new ways of conducting the commerce of music. (Though at the turn of the 20th century the song was king and the trade was in sheet-music publishing rights, so maybe this is all a return to form, just with new technology.)
- To the Rescue
As the 22nd annual Reindeer Rock-Off gets set to kick off, it’s important to remember that for every Jeremiah Freed or Howie Day, who make it from the finals to the major labels, there are hundreds who melt into obscurity.
- Sibilance
Matt Shardlow; RPM Challenge; impending spring Band Guide
- Less

Topics:
New England Music News
, The All-American Rejects, The All-American Rejects, Blue, More
, The All-American Rejects, The All-American Rejects, Blue, Blue, Billy Carroll, Billy Carroll, Billy Carroll, The All-American Rejects, Matt Shardlow, Matt Shardlow, Less