Township, "Sandy" (Flophouse Sessions, Feb 2008)

Jen and Andy, the betrothed Somerville duo behind the fantastic Band in Boston Podcast, have recorded many of our favorite local indie bands for their "Flophouse Sessions" -- a series taped live in the pair's living room, on stripped-down gear, and given away free on teh internets.

DOWNLOAD: Hooray for Earth, "Warm Out" (mp3)

Hooray for Earth: odd band. Get 'em drunk, and they're liable to belt out a Justin Timberlake hit, or maybe one of Jacko's. Left on his own, their singer has been known to crank out Magnetic Fields covers. In their own right, HFE have carved out a unique niche that's equal parts indie breadth and metal brawn, like a second coming of Queens of the Stone Age.

DOWNLOAD: Hallelujah the Hills, "Don't Take the Law Into Your Own Hands But Take Mine In Yours" (mp3)

On the eve of their biggest national tour to date (stops include SXSW and a Daytrotter session), Boston indie heroes Hallelujah the Hills forsook the bedroom and entered an actual studio for the first time ("My 8-track will never forgive me," laments frontman Ryan Walsh), emerging with two brand-new songs to hold us over until they record album no.

DOWNLOAD: White Hinterland, "Dreaming of the Plum Trees" (mp3)

Back when she was studying at New England Conservatory, Casey Dienel put out a demo called "Grandmother Rock," a quick suite of songs suggesting rocking chairs more than rock-n-roll, a genre you'd coin if you were precocious, shy, and out of love with your generation.

Mission of Burma, 1001 Pleasant Dreams (Live at Great Scott, 2008)

Mission of Burma, 2wice (Live at Great Scott, 2008)

Mirah & Spectraone International, "Love Song of the Fly" (Live 1/11/08 at Museum of Fine Art, Boston)
Video by OTD & R. Stewart


Mirah & Spectraone International, "Song of Psyche" (Live 1/11/08 at Museum of Fine Art, Boston)
Video by OTD & R. Stewart

In the animated world, creatures that would otherwise be seen as unsavory have been given a family-friendly makeover, from a disease-ridden rat that happens to be an innate culinary genius to a pesky honeybee that cracks jokes and falls in love.

Mission of Burma will play Great Scott on January 20, in what will be the band's most intimate hometown performance since their first-ever reunion gig (which was itself a secret warmup gig for their official reunion shows a few nights later) at the now-defunct 608 in Somerville, six years ago to the month.

We gather the gig is a benefit in some fashion for Myanmar (the country formerly known as Burma), and we'll add details when our Googling produces something reliable.

Sure, it was only two songs. (Turns out they had a third ready to go, but decided against it. What, the applause wasn't loud enough? "Exactly," said Chris Brokaw.) But since this was the first time Come have performed since their 2 1/2-hour farewell gig at the MidEast's downstairs room back in -- what, 1998? -- well, this was pretty fucking rad.

Tiger Saw + Cathy Cathodic, "Words Not Used In Books" (Live at PA's Lounge, November 8, 2007)


Tiger Saw, "Tigers on Fire" (Live at PA's Lounge, November 8, 2007)

Our old pals (and former PHX tourbloggers) Tigersaw are off again, this time to Europe (dates below for our Continental peoples), but they threw down at PA's Lounge before embarking, and trotted out a new song, "Words Not Used In Books," that'll be on their next album.