Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Boston Under Cover: Hallelujah The Hills do the Stairs on Daytrotter; Ireland discovers Miltown

We tried to start this thing a long time ago where we'd have Boston bands cover other Boston bands. Which perhaps is exactly the kind of incestuousness that keeps Boston so fucking . . . y'know, BOSTON. The idea more or less ran its course, although you might want to check back next week because we're bringing it back in a big way. In the meantime, this Hallelujah the Hills track sort of almost doesn't count, since it's Ryan Walsh playing a song from his old band the Stairs, but shit, we LOVED the Stairs and hopefully now Daytrotter kids will, too.

Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jenkins just emailed us about an Irish singer-songwriter who's recorded an awesome unplugged/lo-fi rendition of a deep-album track by '90s Boston hardcore supergroup Miltown, the band J. Jonah Jenkins fronted (with future Top 40 emo producer Matt Squire on guitar) after Only Living Witness broke up. Since Miltown's major-label album was never released, the appearance of this cover more than a decade later pushes the boundaries of serendipity. Props to Neil Patrick Howlett then for giving a new look to Miltown's "Predatory Male," which we would have considered more or less uncoverable by anyone, let alone a guy armed only with an acoustic guitar. Give it a whirl at his Virb page (might have to scroll down in the player), and grab the Miltown original below for comparison's sake.

DOWNLOAD: Hallelujah the Hills, Escape Clause (Daytrotter Session) [Mp3]
DOWNLOAD: Neil Patrick Howlett, Predatory Male [mp3 at Virb.com]
DOWNLOAD: Miltown, Predatory Male [mp3]

Hallelujah the Hills | Miltown | Only Living Witness | Stairs

8/5/2008 12:28:00 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

VIDEO: BMP Nominees Hallelujah the Hills live at Great Scott

Hallelujah the Hills, "Nurses Five Float Past (Live at Great Scott)"

Hallelujah the Hills + Ho-Ag, "Rain Dogs (Tom Waits cover; live at Great Scott)"

It's not like either Hallelujah the Hills or Ho-Ag lack for members; and it's not like they're such natural collaborators that they were bound to appear on the same stage eventually. In fact, we're still not quite steady on why the hell HTH & Ho-Ag keep going all Voltron and forming the Hallelujah the Ho-Ag superband. (While we're on the topic, dudes, we hereby suggest that "Ho-Ag The Hills" rolls off the tongue a little more smoothly.) But all that aside, it's for shizzle that this is a formula for getting really fucking loud and weird, which is why we toted the cams up to Great Scott to capture this strange apparition in all its frazzled majesty. The pairing lost none of its spontanaeity by this being the second time they'd joined up, and it having been HTH's second show that day (the first having been a rare family matinee and the same venue). Our audio-recording device said fuck it and died at the beginning of the set, so double thanks to HTH for providing us with a backup track. Whew. What you get above: a standout track from HTH's headline set, drawn from their recent 100-percent-free-online-EP Prepare to Qualify, and a tag-team HTH/Ho-Ag pile-up on Tom Waits' "Rain Dogs," Tom Waits being one thing that intellectual folks-rockers and gonzo spazz-punk behemoths can still agree on. Speaking of which, this is probably a good time to suggest a Scar-Jo/Ho-Ag throwdown. Tell us in the comments which name they should go under: Scar-Ho or Jo-Ag?

4/22/2008 4:04:12 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Mp3 of the Week: Hallelujah the Hills

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. 2 this spring. "Don't Take The Law" is short but feels longer, or at least bigger, managing to swell from sotto-voce, bee-swarm jangle to an anthemic, junkshop-orchestra sing-along in under two minutes. Walsh calls it "my joking attempt at starting a whole new subgenre of pop music entitled 'Police Officer/Vigilante Love Ballads.' Just like the Wichita Lineman failed at jumpstarting the 'Telephone Line Repairman Love Ballad' genre, we hope to fail in a similar, spectacular manner." Consider it done. Grab the mp3 above, then bid HTH a fond farewell when they play a free show February 24 at the Milky Way with Amoroso and Jersey's Titus Andronicus.