If you were a punk (before we were a punk) then you might have been at this 1982 punk rock fashion show -- held at Axis, then known as Spit -- which was captured on camera by the folks at KinoDV. Yes, we know the song is not contemporary to the video: but trust us, this is the real deal.

VIDEO: Punk Rock Fashion at Spit, 1982

Chances are you were not at any of these shows, but a couple of our tape-collecting peoples might recognize the bills. Rap-flyer freaks, feast on a trove of Bambattaa et al, from '79-'83 . . .

WEBTERNET: Early Rap Flyers, on some dude's LiveJournal

1/7/2008 5:57:29 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

 

Bang Camaro at Avalon

 

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

 

The Cinematics

 

Silversun Pickups

 

Photos by Caitlin E. Curran

 

Most overheard comment when OTD first walked down Lansdowne St. last night: "Kings of Leon aren’t playing?!" Yep, KOL backed out at the last minute (minus many cool points for them) but it was truly their loss because the crowd at Best Music Poll was plentiful and apparently fueled by Red Bull - nearly seven hours after they trickled in, as the Cinematics played an ear-splittingly loud cover of a Beck track from Sea Change on the outdoor stage, Axis was packed to capacity as Silversun Pickups began their explosive set 15 minutes early, explaining that they were bored backstage and everyone was there already anyway. Ridiculously awesome live versions of “Kissing Families” and “Three Seed” ensued, a welcome reward for their sweaty, tired-yet-psyched fans. For some, the Best Music Poll can function as the extreme sport of concert-going – the champions are the ones who endure all (roughly) eight hours, and brave crowds, lines and stern doormen to see as many bands as possible. For others, it’s just an excuse to get drunk and listen to good music on a weekday. More on everything that happened – Bloc Party turned Lansdowne into a for real block party, and Bang Camaro put all of their Guitar Hero-head fans to shame - via Will Spitz’s full review and innumerable amounts of awesome photos (and video!), coming soon.

 

 

6/7/2007 12:48:51 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Our dude David Day has been talking about bringing big tings to big rooms for about a year now, and now the shit is finally starting to pop. In a let's-get-the-whole-scene-under-one-roof-and-give-it-a-name enterprise called Basstown Productions (useless trivia: Basstown was the rejected first name for David's "Circuits" column)a bunch of people are responsible for round one: a bonkerlicious night at Axis with local metallicafont headbangers Hearthrob and official DFA dj Tim Sweeney, whom webternerds (and any other people who prize Carl Craig remixes of Junior Boys and so forth) will know from his indispensible terrestrial/webcast radio gig "Beats In Space." It's the first place we check for secret DFA remixes that no one else knows about -- and may we add that the prospect of DFA giveaways tomorrow night is enough to get us there. Email the basstown kids for $5 off admission.

Here's Sweeney's winter-07 contribution to the DFA Radio Mix Series:

DOWNLOAD: Tim Sweeney, DFA Radio Mix 2007 (mp3)

Tracklist:

4/27/2007 8:46:44 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

This, dudes, is going to sell out quickly. We'll have VIP tix to give away eventually, but do you really want to rely on OTD's spotty blogging schedule to get into this?

FNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll Concert 2007
June 6 at Avalon, Axis, Bill's Bar, and outdoors on Lansdowne Street
Tickets $32.50

Bloc Party
CYHSY
Kings of Leon
The Bravery
Silversun Pickups
Say Anything
Shiny Toy Guns
Cinematics
Snowden
+ winners of 2007 Boston BMP Poll TBA

DOWNLOAD: Bloc Party, "I Still Remember (Unplugged, live on FNX)" (mp3)
[download more from this session]

DOWNLOAD: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, WFNX interview (mp3)
[download more from this session] 

DOWNLOAD: Silversun Pickups, "Lazy Eye (Unplugged, live on FNX)" (mp3)
[download more from this session]

DOWNLOAD: Say Anything, "Alive with the Glory of Love (Unplugged, live on FNX)" (mp3)
[download more from this session]

4/27/2007 12:25:56 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Is the singer from My Chemical Romance trying to look like Billy Corgan? Why would a human being do such a thing? More pertinent question: we understand why young persons would go apeshit for some emo band's classic-rock move -- plus it's Halloween, children like costumes -- but what was with all the old people at Axis last night? "Honey, get a babysitter: we're going to see My Chem!" Weirdness.

Thanks to Andrea for smuggling a camera into and out of the venue in her pants. Warning: the sound's a little off, but rumor has it they were confiscating little girls' memory cards, so it's a small miracle anything made it out . . .

WATCH: My Chemical Romance, "The Black Parade (Live at Axis, October 25 2006)"

10/26/2006 3:22:15 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

If you've logged into MySpace at all in 2006 and bothered to notice the freaky shit they're hyping on the homepage, you already know that along with a daily roster of "Cool New People" (clearly the mean-spirited handiwork of someone in LA), the social-networking juggernaut has also been promoting a national string of Chili's(?)-sponsored "Secret Shows": Franz Ferdinand in NYC, Jenny Lewis at LA's Hotel Cafe, Yung Joc in Atlanta, and even Slayer and Mastodon in Mormonville.

Boston finally gets a "Secret Show" tomorrow night when Method Man hits Axis for a just-announced, free/all-ages show hosted by our favorite "MySpace Bitch" D-Tension (a/k/a one half of joke-rap duo Los Wunder Twins Del Rap) and featuring such "special guests" as DJ Master Millions, Mighty Mystic, and Termanology. As far as we can tell, you don't have to friend Secret Show to gain entry, you either have to pick up a "guaranteed admission" wristband this afternoon/evening tomorrow morning at 10 AM [Editor's note: the plan changed after we posted] at Tower Records in Harvard Square (95 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617-876-3377) or show up real early at Axis tomorrow night for the 10:45 pm show -- admission, they say, is "first come, first served."

Speaking of Termanology, here's the new video for the Lawrence-bred emcee's "Watch How It Go Down." Directed by Statik Selektah and shot "over the last four weeks" in Boston, Lawrence, and New York City (Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Harlem, Times Sq, Subways), it's got the self-anointed "Holy Resurrection" rolling in a top-down Mustang, doing the socially conscious thing (i.e. chiding muthafuckers for learning how to shoot before they learn how to aim), and being so excited about his budding success that he actually runs out of a New York bodega waving the recent issue of XXL for the camera and opens to page 92, where he's featured in a recent month's "Show & Prove." We love the hungry hustle.

DOWNLOAD: Termanology, "Watch How It Go Down" (mp3)

8/14/2006 11:17:45 AM by Cami | Comments [0] |  

Photos (c) Byron Smith.

Wales's Bullet for My Valentine are having their breakout year: introduced to the headbanging faithful via tours with Rob Zombie and Lacuna Coil, they landed the most coveted opening slot in New York (Guns N Roses' Hammerstein shows) and then set out to headline a Trustkill tour, which brought 'em to Axis last night. You can tell from their T-shirts and haircuts -- or lack of them -- that these motherfuckers mean business. Photographer Byron Smith reports audience participation level was up in the screaming-along-with-every-word levels.

WATCH: Bullet for My Valentine, "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)" [Windows] [Real]

5/28/2006 10:03:13 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

From top: Charlatans UK, Aberdeen City, Aberdeen City, Nada Surf. All photos (c) Carina Mastrocola.

(Second in a series of reports from last night's Phoenix/FNX Best Music Poll blowout on Lansdowne Street.)

The Charlatans haven’t really had the chance to jump the shark — not here, and not in the UK, where their songs never managed to plug into their homeland's gigantic hype machine. Still, last night on the Street Stage, the Charlatans weren’t holding any grudges. Tim Burgess, with his warm voice and sexy swagger, certainly does a decent Mick Jagger impression — or was he going for Liam Gallagher? Couldn’t be sure. Doesn’t matter. Unlike Mick, the Charlatans still look pretty cool for a bunch semi-aged rockers, all aviator shades and leather jackets and killer floppy hairstyles. No craggy faces, either. They’re comfortable — god knows they’ve been at it since 1990 — and they’re good at their own thing: lush, bluesy Britpop. Judging by the girl standing in front of me, who was slamming Coors Light and shaking ass, the Charlatans were living up to their underappreciated name by midset. The more Burgess thrust his hips and urged the crowd into a hand-clapping session, the more she loved it. “Blackened Blue Eyes,” off their latest, Simpatico, and You’re So Pretty – We’re So Pretty,” the first cut on 2001’s Wonderland were piano-drenched and danceable, especially on a warm (dry!) night in the middle of Lansdowne Street.

Outside Axis, a couple of kids were screaming “ABERDEEN CITY!!” at the top of their lungs — a sweet reception for this year's Best Local Album winner. For what it’s worth, the band certainly appreciated the support. Bassist and singer Brad Parker was sweet and appreciative when he talked about how nice it was to be back in Boston after their tour. Awwww. I felt like a proud Mom welcoming my son back home from a grueling semester at sea or something. Unforch for his real Mom, lucky for us, that whole schoolboy act was dropped as soon as he started howling. Abcity's melodic, post-punk angst-rock is clever and dark, and Parker leads the group in a sounding desperate and elegiac but big and grand at the same time, not to mention completely orchestral — I can only imagine how good they’d be in Symphony Hall. (NEMO: be good for something and hook this up.) Their behavior might not be apropos for a night at the Pops, though: during “Pretty Pet,” Chris McLaughlin dragged a floor tom away from Rob McCaffrey’s drum kit and pounded his brains out — in between making some insane noises on his guitar that were somewhere between an electric violin and a screeching baby. All in a night’s work, of course. The crowd was loving it most during “God Is Gonna Get Sick of Me,” one of the standouts on The Freezing Atlantic, though set-closer “Mercy” was an orgiastic conclusion to their musical restraint. I watched Parker and guitarist Ryan Heller bang the hell out of what looked like a neon cowbells while McLaughlin humped a huge amp so fast and so hard it nearly fell over. Then he tried to climb a platform on the side of the stage, and the security guards yelled at him. Then they threw drum sticks at us. Wow. I was spent.

All night I’d been looking forward to Nada Surf at Avalon. When I got there around 11 pm, the band had already ripped into "Hi Speed Soul," one of my faves off 2003’s Let Go. They sounded great, and Nada Surf are nothing if not a talented and oft-underrated pop band, but on stage, they are just short of foolish. They were so dull in the flesh when compared to their music, which is gorgeous and catchy and made perfect by Matthew Caws’s pretty croon. Except I was more obsessed with how long it must have taken bassist Daniel Lorca to grow out his waist-length dreads than I was with watching the boys play. Maybe I was just tired out by Aberdeen City, because during “The Blankest Year,” which has so many hooks it takes my breath away, the random dude and chick in front of me were practically swing dancing. She was an Emily Strange goth girl in pink fishnet sleeves, he was Josh Jackson during the best years of Dawson’s Creek, and maybe they were drunk, but Nada Surf was probably delivering them into the same cab that night. If the band couldn’t bring themselves to fling sweat or smash guitars, it was the least they could do to play the musical score to the weirdest concert hook-up I have ever witnessed. I think we all went home happy.

— Sharon Steel

5/19/2006 1:40:19 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

All photos (c) Carina Mastrocola

(First in a series of shitloads of photos and maybe even some words from last night's Phoenix/FNX Best Music Poll party.)

Brit Pop and Pop Punk don't have a lot in common, and Charlatans UK and The Academy Is... didn't get any closer by playing on the same street during last night's Best Msic Poll extravaganza. Aside from having to change their names at some point in their respective careers to avoid lawsuits -- the Charlatans added the UK to distinguish themselves from the American Charlatans; the Academy added the "Is..." for similar reasons -- the correlation between the two bands is effectively nil. The Brits' set came first, closing down the outdoors stage on Lansdowne, and they took their signature reggae/dub-pop/textured sound to the streets. Even with a semi-shoegaze attitude -- three-fifths of the band were wearing jackets and didn't break a sweat -- they delighted the crowd by playing the Simpatico hits "For Your Entertainment" and "Blackened Blue Eyes." A lot of their earlier stuff showed up in the latter part of the set, and the contingent of older fans cheered loudest during those songs. Aberdeen City at Axis -- make that Aberdeen Fucking City, they rocked -- and Nada Surf at Avalon (yes they played "Popular," yes it rocked) served as pallete cleansers before I caught the Academy Is. Their sunny music and distorted guitars were a far cry from the subdued and somewhat dour Brit Pop jangle of a few hours earlier. The difference was also in the crowd: the Avalon floor was packed with about 856,982 chicks and one dude, all younger peeps. William Beckett had them eating out of his palm right away, prancing about the stage while the poppy power chords of "Attention" and "Classifieds" swirled beneath his crisp, high-pitched vocals. But the overall teeny-bopper atmosphere trumped the loud music, making things unbearable after about six songs. And punk music without screamed vocals or an element of anger/hatred is just plain wrong, even if it gets the chicks.

-- David Boffa

5/19/2006 12:25:09 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Poison the Well
At Axis, April 10

Poison the Well are hard to place within the metal/hardcore spectrum. Their secret recipe mixes nu-metal and emo with traditional-breakdown hardcore, creating an ultra-melodic sound unique among young metalcore dinosaurs. Their crossover sound allows them to attract wide audiences [just like C.O.C. and D.R.I. back in the day! -- OTD], but also has led inevitably to criticism from the fundamentalist wings of their many constituencies -- metalheads joke that they might as well listen to Hatebreed, punks dismiss them as too major-label friendly. The person standing behind me during set break on Monday evening said it best: "They haven't even played Ozzfest? Then what's so great about them?" Ay, there's the question.

But as soon as Jeffrey Moreira and gang took the Axis stage, all questions were answered. Any sign of softer music simply failed to materialized; the textured passages that gave PTW a deeper nu-metal side on disc were replaced by noisy acrobatic guitar assaults and straight-up screamo vocals. The older material had a much harder, louder-faster edge than what they've laid to tape. More striking than anything else was the intensity of the moshpit -- less than two minutes in some poor bastard got his nose busted, spattering blood all over the place and, worse, ruining my favorite t-shirt in the process. Critics, schmiticks: PTW's strict adherence to hardcore in concert makes for rowdy fun.

--  David Boffa

4/12/2006 9:32:43 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Tickets to this thing go on sale this Thursday. Watch this space for pre-sale links.

Now let's talk about the Best Music Poll ballot for a second. For reasons that are lost to history, the one category where OTD really holds an sway in the nominations are in the metal categories. And so first of all, we'd like to apologize to Doomriders, who made the local metal album of the year (perhaps the national metal album of the year), and did not get nominated for a damn thing in this year's BMP. It would be great if we could blame this on some facelss set of judges or arbiters of good taste, but as it happens, them was us, and OTD just plain forgot. About our favorite metal record of the year. For the entire two hours it took to eat pizza and come up with the BMP list. Oops.

There's nothing we can do about it now, the ballot having been locked, loaded, set in stone, and stocked with audio clips, photos, links, and other sorts of thing you usually can only find only at OTD.

So for everyone who ever glanced at the ballot and went, "What the hell happened to my favorite ______ band," well, we feel your pain. We're also taking the only recourse available to anyone in such a situation. We're launching a write-in campaign for Doomriders.

It's the least we can do.

That said, the rest of the ballot -- which is to say, the parts OTD didn't flake out on -- are pretty rad. For the first time this year, you can listen to audio clips of (almost) every artist in the poll, which means even if you didn't have an opinion on the world music category before you came, you may have one by the time you leave. We've also linked the local artists to their profiles at phoenixbandguide.com, where in many cases you can download OTD-worthy exclusive mp3s. (In fact, we're gonna steal some shit from over there and pass it off as our own later this week.)

Vote or die, bitches.

DOWNLOAD: Doomriders, "Black Thunder" (mp3)
VOTE: 2006 Best Music Poll

4/11/2006 6:35:29 PM by On the Download | Comments [2] |  

Not as sick as OTD is of them. But they're sick. And they're not playing Axis tonight. Hope it wasn't anything we said.

From the Yellowcard website: "Unfortunately, Yellowcard's 1/27 show in Boston, MA has been cancelled due to illness."

That is all. More OTD coming soon.

1/27/2006 9:44:43 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |