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Monday, October 31, 2005
Popped into Great Scott last night for a significant chunk of the Eximious Productions 2nd annual Halloween show. Requirements: dressing up and impersonating the band being covered. Piles, as Spinal Tap, even brought along a Marti DeBergi. Reports, as the Velvet Underground, brought along a Nico. And the Twisted Villagers -- Donna Parker, Jessica Rylan, and Angela, as the Andrews Sisters -- got drunk and forgot their lyrics?? I left before headliners Big Bear got their Weezer on, but it wasn't the first time they've pulled out the Weezer tunes on us fans. And the night wouldn't have been complete without a costume contest: Roh Delikat's Kristina Jonhson won for her homemade shark-stume!            LOOK: More pictures here.
10/31/2005 7:30:00 PM by Tia | |
From the inbox: ***HALLOWEEN SHOW CANCELED TONIGHT!!!***
Yes, it's true, no U.V. Protection tonight at the Middle East Downstairs. Neptune's drummer broke his arm, they can't play, & the original headliner Electrolane pulled their contract with their booking agent three weeks ago, so there's too much cost to run the downstairs space at the Middle East to just have two bands, so, the show is canceled. Sorry for anyone who had an amazing costume planned. We were really looking forward to this show.
*The next U.V. Protection show is:
Thursday Nov. 17, 9pm at the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain for Aquanet, dance night, no cover for the 1st 50 people (1st 50 also receive a ticket for a free drink), $7, 21+. More info here at http://board.honeypump.net/t.php?id=22333
10/31/2005 5:19:00 PM by cami | |
 Man up, Twisted Villagers: we know you don't want to take credit for Devendra Banhart and the Animal Collective (or maybe you do?), but the shit y'all started back in Providence has come full circle. What comes next is straight out the inbox, but on the real, when you're clutching your absinthe in the parking lot, remember to pour one out: Motherfuckers done forgot about Trey. TERRASTOCK 6 FESTIVAL Terrastock 6 will be taking place in Providence, Rhode Island USA on April 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 2006. Location map: http://tinyurl.com/azer9Nine years after the very first Terrastock, the festival returns to Providence, Rhode Island for 2006. And this time it promises to be bigger and better than ever, with an unrivalled international line-up of hand picked experimental rock and folk bands from around the world, over half of which have never previously appeared at a Terrastock festival. Brought to you this year by Secret Eye in conjunction with Terrascope Online, Terrastock 6 is be staged in two centrally located, neighbouring buildings in Providence. The main stage will be at Pell Chafee Performance Center, a beautiful old bank building constructed in 1929. It is an amazing open space with a three story tall high-vaulted ceiling. The second stage is being hosted at AS220. AS220 is a community arts centre that has been promoting art, music and culture from Rhode Island, plus national and international artists, for over 20 years. Tickets are $110 for the whole weekend (inclusive of postage, booking fees and admin charges) and are available NOW http://terrascope.co.uk - it's advisable to order early since experience tells us Terrastock tickets sell out very quickly indeed. A list of confirmed bands who will be appearing at T6 appears below. Note that we're still awaiting final confirmation from several others - we also have an extensive "reserves list" in the unlikely event that any bands or artists are forced to cancel. Avarus (Finland) Bardo Pond Black Forest / Black Sea Charalambides College Girls Gone Wild Damon and Naomi Fursaxa Ghost (Japan) Glenn Jones & Cul de Sac Kemialliset Ystävät (Finland) Kinski Sharron Kraus Landing Larkin Grimm The Magic Carpathians Project (Poland) Major Stars Marissa Nadler MV/EE Paik Jack Rose Salamander St Joan (UK) Thought Forms (UK) Spacious Mind (Sweden) Spires that in the Sunset Rise Tanakh (Italy) Urdog Windy & Carl PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS!
10/31/2005 10:13:00 AM by onthedownload | |
 It's true, he moved to California and got a haircut, he's got the Mummy on guitar. But give him a couple verses and he'll be fellating radio programmers, cruising around in a hummer, and replacing the Mummy with a b-movie ghoul. Apples in Stereo dude Robert Schneider, under his Marbles alias, wrote it all down and posted the following tune for kids to play at Halloween parties. It might be our favorite holiday novelty since Fontains of Wayne's "I Want an Alien for Christmas." You Ain't No Picasso has this and two more great new-ish Dracula songs. LISTEN: Marbles, " Dracula" (mp3)  In other news, anyone planning on attending tonight's Middle East Halloween show is warned/advised that Tia OTD and OTD's parents are going as Team Zissou. Anyone with a red cap and powder-blue jumpsuit is welcome to join the crew. Also on hand will be several bands dressed as albums: Oasis's Definitely Maybe (the LUXURY), Nirvana's In Utero ( RAYMOND), and Radiohead's OK Computer (VELVET MORNING) 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge 617.864.EAST.
10/31/2005 9:23:00 AM by onthedownload | |
Sunday, October 30, 2005
  1. We forgot about Jef Czekaj's awesome poster for tonight's Big Bear/Halloween show. Talk about selfless: dude draws a dope poster for a show that's competing with his own band's (see below)? Damn. But shit's kinda inevitable: there's a lot of shows tonight. Peep that poster for Boston Underground Film Festival's zombie dance-party fundraiser at the Milky Way, with chic (and cheeky) electro-bubblegum from FREEZEPOP and EARTH DEFENSE FORCE plus a screening of 2005 "Best of BUFF" winner Graveyard Alive: A Zombie Nurse in Love. That's at 405 Centre St, Jamaica Plain, 8:45 pm, $15. 2. If there is to be, Lord help us, a "next" Dresden Dolls, our money is on the boy/girl postgoth duo HUMANWINE, who headline the second annual MASS MORGUE HALLOWEEN BALL at SkyBar, 1518 Somerville Ave, Somerville 617.547.1228. 2. BUCKETHEAD, as everyone now knows, is a masked performer who wears a KFC bucket on his head. His hiring as the guitarist in Guns N' Roses was a low watermark for Axl Rose; his frustrated departure from the band was yet another. Like the rest of us, Buckethead was deeply saddened by the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard. And he's got a ridiculous new video with the dude from System of a Down who looks like Frank Zappa that we saw on Headbangers Ball last night. It was pure aweomeness. Paradise, 967 Comm Ave, Boston 617.562.8800. 3. Oh, and then there's "headless" Dan Shea's show in MassArt courtyard, accompanying the annual fire-and-brimstone Iron Pour. Camille Dodero got the lowdown on one 22-year-old Iron Pourer in this week's Phoenix ("likes: hot bods, dropping bottom, coke"). Cami also reported on the mayhem last year. Details: MASSART courtyard, 7pm, all ages, $7 Bands: Green Milk From The Planet Orange (from Japan), the Body (from Providence), Wildlife, our pals Plunge Into Death, and Michael Columbia (from Chicago).
10/30/2005 2:23:00 PM by onthedownload | |
  Sayin'.SolidPR dudes just made our favorite-people-ever list by forwarding us these Big Bear photos. Damn. Our favorite non-metal metal destroyers are reprising their Weezer-cover-band set tonight on a bill with the Andrews Sisters (Twisted Villagers DONNA PARKER & JESSICA RYLAN), Cheap Trick (the RUDDS), and the Velvet Underground (REPORTS). Soul Train's Don Cornelius (NIGEL SIMON) hosts at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston, 617.566.9014. And for our non-Boston readers, exciting news: Big Bear's packing up their Convergian tambourine thrash and bringing it on the road. If anyone asks what's happening in Boston, this is what's up: 11.03 Rochester, NY @ Monty's Krown 11.04 Cleveland, OH @ Moe's 11.05 Lansing, MI @ Mac's 11.06 Oberlin, OH @ Oberlin 11.07 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle 11.08 Bloomington, IN @ Second Story 11.12 Greensboro, NC @ Werehouse 11.13 Chapel Hill, NC @ Wetlands 11.14 Washington, DC @ Warehouse Next Door 11.16 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar LISTEN: Big Bear, " Track 01" (mp3) LISTEN: Big Bear, " Track 03" (mp3)
10/30/2005 1:14:00 PM by onthedownload | |
Friday, October 28, 2005
10/28/2005 1:13:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 Portrait of a lucky girl.1. "Hi, I'm Louise Post of Veruca Salt. You know, any day could be my lucky day. That's why I play Lotto from the Illinois Lottery." LISTEN: Louise Post, "I'm Lucky (Ad for Illinois Lottery)" (mp3) 2. So Louise is still milking the name. What's "Veruca Salt" sound like these days? A little teensy bit like end-of-the-century Veruca Salt, but mostly like bad suburban metal. Evidence? See the recent demo below. (Warning! Terrible lyric alert: "I'd rather hang out on the Strip with the coke-head queers/than be a traitor to my gender, I'm outta here.") LISTEN: Veruca Salt, "Smoke & Mirrors" (mp3) 3. Louise's ex-foil Nina Gordon is now well known (at least by internerds) for doing acoustic NWA covers. Before that, though, her and Louise tried a Screwed version of their biggest hit. OK, maybe not Screwed, just definitely fucked -- i.e., slowed down and stripped of melody. LISTEN: Veruca Salt, "Seether (Alternate Version)" (mp3) 4. If you've read this deep into a post about Veruca Salt in 2005, you probably already have the following classic tracks, but we're putting them up anyway. Mostly because we can't believe Warner Bros is giving these away for free on Nina Gordon's site. Like, they have to be doing it out of spite, right? Anyway, "Volcano Girls" is what 1997 was really good for: LISTEN: Veruca Salt, "Seether (Album version)" (mp3) LISTEN: Veruca Salt, "Volcano Girls" (mp3) 5. Speaking of which, whatever happened to make those ladies hate each other so much? At the time, the rumor was they fell out over a boy they hired to play drums named Stacy Jones. Then fresh out of Letters to Cleo, with American Hi-Fi not yet on the horizon, Stacy told the Phoenix about his stint as Veruca Salt's rhythm-management specialist: “I knew the situation was volatile. Even when I joined, their management told me, ‘This band is a time bomb.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know, but I really want to play with them.’ All I’ll say is that Nina and Louise are both really strong women, and they were going in different musical directions. Mix that with a lot of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and you’ve got a VH-1 special waiting to happen.”
10/28/2005 11:23:00 AM by onthedownload | |
 Yeah, so the Asian-looking kid from Linkin Park has a solo (cough) hip-hop record under the name Fort Minor. He also got famous masher-up-er Jay-Z to co-sign the project as "executive producer." Then to set it up he got Eminem's pal Green Lantern to do the mixtape. So, like, ugh, right? Your skin is crawling. But what if we told you parts of it . . . aren't . . . bad? Before you laugh, let's throw some hypotheticals out there: JUELZ SANTANA FREESTYLING OVER GNR'S "SWEET CHILD O MINE"? Nope, nope, it's not a fantasy: we're listening to that shit right now. Which is worth the price of admission on it's own -- hell, it might even be worth the five years of annoying pop-rapmetal those Linkin Park chooches put us through. Classic-rock breaks are dug out in spades. Liberties are taken with the Doors and Rush and Zeppelin's "The Ocean." Styles of Beyond wrecks Hendrix's "Hey Joe" like he just spent six weeks at Edan's psych-rap band camp. Not mad at the chopped-up Bloc Party beat, neither. LISTEN: Ryu, Juelz, Celph Titled, "S.C.O.M." (left-click mp3 links here and here) LISTEN: Fort Minor feat. Ghostface & Lupe Fiasco, "Spray Paint" (mp3, via Spine Magazine) DOWNLOAD: the entire Fort Minor, We Major mixtapeDOWNLOAD: Acappellas?
10/28/2005 11:08:00 AM by onthedownload | |
 La Peste photo linked from Boston Rock Storybook.
Before the advent of iPods, early man was forced to store his music on seven-inch die-cut vinyl spheres, which were sometimes stored in boxes. John Peel, a 20th century British "disc jockey" -- a species of creature now extinct on the planet, which chose his own records from his own boxes and then played them for other people to listen to on the public airwaves -- left such a box behind after his death. Inside were 142 seven-inch singles. (143 if you count both copies of Sheena Easton's "9 to 5.") Only one of them was from a Boston band: 53. La Peste - Black b/w Better off dead (BLACK RECORDS) 1978 That's song's long been a local treasure and a line-item on many a record-collector's want list, but it seems to be inching towards renewed apprecation. The new Death from Above 1979 remix album kicks off with -- you guessed it -- a cover of "Better Off Dead." It's OK, though not as good as the version done a number of years back by Kustomized, Mission of Burma drummer Peter Prescott's group with pre-Konks, ex-Bullet LaVolta leader Kurt "Yukki Gipe" Davis.
10/28/2005 11:04:00 AM by onthedownload | |
Thursday, October 27, 2005
 DuoToneAlong with the new Madonna single -- on ( cough) iTunes ( cough) -- and Cat Power, both mentioned here plenty long time ago, this week's Download column includes the DuoTone track "Serve That Pu$$y," in a Boston Bounce remix. DuoTone are better known as DJ Flack and DJ C: DUOTONE, "SERVE THAT PU$$Y (BOSTON BOUNCE REMIX)" (BEAT RESEARCH)
Raunchy club music from Baltimore, Detroit, and Miami tends to be populated with imperatives to sexual assault — "Pop That Pussy," "Grind on Dat Booty" — but DJ C and DJ Flack, the lab techs at the experimental party-music lab Beat Research, flip the script by offering kinder, gentler sleaze: "You better learn how to lick that pussy tonight." Meanwhile, a custom-built, hopscotching riddim dubbed Boston beat allows them to stretch and squish the vocals — screwed down, then chipmunked up — without varying the bpm. We shouted at DJ C, but he didn't get back at us til after the paper shipped. Here's what he had to say about "Serve That Pu$$y": "Flack wrote those words originally as a kind of response to all the lyrics in hip-hop and dancehall about how they would never go down on a girl. Seemed kinda silly to us. Is that supposed to make you appealing to women, that you want them to go down on you, but you won't go down on them? Actually in Jamaican music it's sometimes about no oral sex at all. Kinda fundamentalist like. Anyway, the lyrics were written to counteract those ideas. We've been performing the tune for a few years in our acapella form. I beat-box and Flack rhymes. Just recently though we actually made a beat for it, so we can release it on Beat Research soon. It's scheduled to be the 3rd Beat Research 12" and will contain the original, the acapella, the instrumental, a beat-box version, and the 'Serve That Bouncy' mix. The Boston Bounce Vol. 1 EP will be the next release, and that will be out during the winter." LISTEN: DuoTone, "Serve That Pussy (Boston Bounce Remix)" (mp3) PREVIOUSLY: Boston, Boston, bounce, bounce. ELSEWHERE: We hesitate to even mention this, because we're not 100-percent sure this dude was supposed to leak the secret links, but whatever, it's out there: Australia's FatPlanet blog spreads the word on Boston Bounce (Hollerboard: " the most hipsterinterneted of the new genres-we-talk-'bout-here"), with links to all the tracks off the upcoming Boston Bounce EP. Now we'll be petty: we were really, really psyched to Google that jpeg of the Boston Bounce sheet music on someone's eBay cache. Now dudes are posting it like it's some public domain thing some guy just dug up on the internet somewhere! Damn!
10/27/2005 10:51:00 PM by onthedownload | |
10/27/2005 8:37:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 Not these ones, either.Whatever you do, don't call them the Wyrd Sisters: there's lawsuits involved and whatnot. But whatever it is we're calling that band from the upcoming Harry Potter flick -- that'd be the group featuring Jarvis Cocker and two Radioheads -- well, they've been leaked just in time for Halloween. The song, "This Is the Night," is one of those kinda post-punky UK dance-rockish things, which reinforces reports that Franz Ferdinand turned down the role of J.K. Rowling's "Weird Sisters" (a spelling later changed by Warner Bros script doctors, to the chagrin of a litigious Canadian folk group.) Lawyers chased the leaked song off at least a half-dozen blogs yesterday, and maybe they'll do the same thing tomorrow. But so far they haven't hit this one. (Them lawyers are slacking. Next thing you know, kids'll just be calling themselves, like, "Harry and the fucking Potters" and getting away with it.) LISTEN: Harry and the Potters, "The Wrath of Hermione" (mp3)
10/27/2005 5:52:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 Let's pretend this made it into 8 Days a Week.LISTEN: Miminokoto, "Hibiite" (mp3) hey OTD-
don't know if you / the phoenix are aware
of this last-minute booking of the japanese
psych-rock super group MIMINOKOTO, which features
former members of such luminaries as High Rise
and LSD March.
--Tim Leanse We're getting familiar, thanks to our favorite Twisted Villagers, Kate & Wayne, who pointed out that by a weird twist of fate they (meaning, also their other band Major Stars) had been booked with Japanese bands twice in one week. But thanks to Tim for the reminder: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - thursday october 27th MIMINOKOTOHeathen Shame (twisted village two guitar and trumpet noise unit) Eloe Omoe - (over the top bass and drums free improvisation) Donna Parker (her myspace avatar is now an OTD photo!) at Great Scott 9pm 18+ $7
10/27/2005 5:12:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 John Darnielle's cult audience has been split since he began booking his lo-fi indie-pop group MOUNTAIN GOATS into an actual studio. But the latest Goats disc, The Sunset Tree (4 AD), feels like a breakthrough on several levels: its lyrics find Darnielle coming to terms with his abusive stepfather, and thanks in part to producer John Vanderslice's strings and keys, the music is the group's most accessible yet Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston 7:30 pm $18-$23 617.369.3306. FREE: the first 25 kids with college ID to show up at the MFA can nab tickets to this gig gratis, not to mention Oreos, hot cocoa, Jim Jarmusch films, and Ansel Adams exhibitry. Details in this week's paper. LISTEN: The Mountain Goats, "Two Headed Boy" (mp3, Neutral Milk Hotel cover) READ: Phoenix review of The Sunset Tree.
10/27/2005 12:12:00 AM by onthedownload | |
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
  Amanda Blank photo (we think?) via Faderblog; 12-inch photo via Casi G.We've established that everyone -- e ven Madonna? -- loves Baltimore club music, except maybe Chris. Actually, we're not all that hot on it either. Although we're sometimes down with B-more in a theoretical, annoying-hipster kinda way, we've generally regarded it as weak tea to Detroit ghetto-tech's black coffee. In small doses it's OK, though the titles and the vocals are often way more exciting than the music itself, which is a really, really gay. (Speaking non-pejoratively here; we're describing a musical sensibility, got it?) Unless Diplo's name is attached -- and seriously often even when it is -- "Baltimore Club Remix" translates as "Oh, great: smaller, cheaper, gayer." And most of the time it seems like there's only six beats in all of Maryland, and the DJs have got an allergy to spinning more than one line of lyric per song, and . . . oh, you get the picture. Our skepticism now thoroughly established, you should predict an exception to the rule approaching. B-more is all about the "but," and the big, big but(t) in this instance is BMore Gutter Music, a new mixtape from Low Budget (Hollertronix, no Diplo) and some other guy we've never heard of. Coming out in November, officially, though people appear to be selling it already. This thing is crack: a solid hour of filthy wall-to-wall screaming and shouting and fucking and fighting, its bpms in the upper stratosphere and its dick in the toilet, most of it drawn from regional pressings that never make it north of Philly, levels jumping all over the place, shrieking and tinny like an angry toy that's been left out in the rain, splattered with shrunken, diced Motown oldies and nasty swamp-ass pottymouth chants that make Miami bass sound like . . . I dunno, something not quite as shit-hot as Miami bass. The press release says it's the "new crunk." Ugh. We're bandwagon-jumpers, and that makes even us feel itchy. There's also a breakout star. We've told you before about Spank Rock. But we haven't mentioned his foil, a girl called Amanda Blank. Not gonna say any more, just listen to the clips (which are mis-tagged -- trust our titles, not the ones that come up in your mp3 player). Fan club forms right here. LISTEN: Spank Rock feat. Amanda Blank, " Blow" ( B-More Gutter Music mp3 clip) LISTEN: Amanda Blank feat. Spank Rock, " Grit City" ( B-More Gutter Music mp3 clip)
10/26/2005 7:01:00 PM by onthedownload | |
10/26/2005 12:06:00 AM by onthedownload | |
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
 Sorry. We just felt like running a picture of Avenged Sevenfold. We know we shouldn't like them -- it's sorta like back in the 1980s, how a bunch of dudes in Slayer shirts secretly owned a Tesla record -- but we do. For everyone who managed to keep his or her torch lit for Guns N' Roses and the Misfits through the grungy 1990s, there's now a champion, albeit one that's slouching towards metalcore's Gomorrah. Their new City of Evil (Warner Bros), does Maiden without the irony and Metallicized melody sans Nickelbacky schlock. And dude: for a band that does goth theatrics, D&D-dork lyrics, and nasally emo singing, they're awful good. They're at the Palladium, 261 Main St, Worcester 7 pm $17 800.447.6849. READ: Boston Phoenix live review of Avenged Sevenfold, 2003LISTEN: Avenged Sevenfold, "Beast and the Harlot" (mp3) WATCH: Avenged Sevenfold, " Unholy Confessions" (video)
10/25/2005 4:43:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 Oh, man. We don't even have a joke for this. From the inbox: For Immediate Release
October 25, 2005
NBC CELEBRATES HOLIDAYS WITH 'THE HAPPY ELF,' NEW CG-ANIMATED FAMILY SPECIAL FEATURING NARRATION AND ORIGINAL MUSIC BY HARRY CONNICK JR., ON DECEMBER 2 (8-9P.M. ET/PT)
Additionally, Connick Returns to NBC's "Will & Grace" in November WATCH: The Happy Elf trailer (.wmv)
10/25/2005 4:12:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 NYC's electro-erotic mutant-disco diva Heloise comes with her own two-member 1980s-MTV dance squad. Don't tell anyone, but the backup duo are actually members of the painfully sexy Somerville modern-dance group Hoi Polloi. Did we say painfully sexy? Maybe dangerously sexy: of late, they're so sexy they've needed to acquire their own secret-service protection. Or, as Heloise's press agent puts it oh-so-modestly, "Heloise and the Savoir Faire blend ‘the now’ and ‘the then’ into this third indescribable thing that bristles and bucks and makes you want to rip your clothes off." Yes, that's about it. Tonight they're at the Middle East, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge. LISTEN: Heloise, "Hot Chicks and Flaming Dudes" (mp3) WATCH: Heloise and the Savoir Faire Dancers, "Members Only" (.mov)
10/25/2005 1:58:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 " Keak da Sneak has one of the most recognizable voices in rap — or rather, he would if anyone stopped to recognize him. Since the early ’90s, Keak’s been grinding away in semi-obscurity, spinning dope yarns on his way to becoming a Bay Area legend. Problem is, he’s remained just that: a Bay Area legend. Now, with his single 'Hyphie' becoming 2005’s buzzword and surprise underground hit, he’s put the spotlight on the Cali rap scene just in time for his finest full-length in years . . . " ( Read more.) That's our boy Chris " Lemon-Red" Nelson's review of the album by our new favorite rapper, who as it happens has been slept on for about 99 1/2 years. Keak's got rasp like Howlin' Wolf got rasp. Ignore the hyphie craze, but peek the Sneak. READ: Chris Nelson on Keak the Sneak. LISTEN: Keak the Sneak feat. DJ Shadow, "Three Freaks" (via earfuzz)
10/25/2005 11:16:00 AM by onthedownload | |
 Out in the streets, they call it murder. In the confines of the TD Banknorth Garden, though, they just call it MONSTER JAM. With Hot 97's Hotlerween out of commission, this is now the lone rap/reggaeton/dancehall shindig, with a dozen stars flat killing it courtesy of JAM'N 94.5. Headliners Ludacris and Tony Yayo are returning from recent stints in Hollywood and prison, respectively. But the star of the show is Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, the son-of-Bob whose crossover smash "Welcome to Jamrock" recently returned the family name to the top of the charts. (And to rock stations?) With Don Omar + Rihanna + Teairra Mari + Jermaine Dupri North Station, Boston 7 pm $25-$94 617.931.2000. Think of this as a warmup: Junior's coming back to headline Avalon in late November ( ticket link), and stay tuned for more on the topic next week, when one of our favorite Riddim Methodists makes his Phoenix debut.
10/25/2005 12:51:00 AM by onthedownload | |
Monday, October 24, 2005
Best. Posters. Ever. Just sayin': 
10/24/2005 6:46:00 PM by onthedownload | |
Sunday, October 23, 2005
1. Moody Brit-poppish Bostonians the Bon Savants dressed all in black at their video shoot on Friday for "Why This Would Never Work Between Us." [ Full dislosure: Tia dates one of these guys. --OTD.] The band obliged some thirty Emerson College kids for a school-sponsored (a.k.a. FREE!) weekend-long shoot for the song. You can download the song "WTWNWBU" from their Myspace page.   Unlike frontman Thom Savant, drummer Andy (top), bassist Dave (left), and guitarist Kevin (right) are otherwise unlikely candidates for eyeliner and cherry lipgloss. More Chinaballs! On the set stage, the band had a little trouble synching up their motions with the song's start: either a result of the generously spiked jug of cranberry juice being passed around, or the fact that they were using a new mix of the song that Thom had put together just a day before.
LOOK: More pictures of the video shoot hereWATCH: Bon Savants, "Atomic Age" video (Quicktime) 2. Post-video shoot, hitched a quick ride over to The Midway Cafe for Neptune's first show back in Boston since they returned from a month-long European tour a week ago (they'll head overseas again in November for a two and a half week UK tour). My camera crapped out on me just seconds before the industrial noise-rock trio went all berserker on their homefashioned musical weaponry/ instruments. Entirely plausible scenario: the shutter went nuts after capturing openers Robotvoice (a/k/a Donna Parker and Deb Eximious), Boo Radley (a/k/a Night Rally's Luke Kirkland in geek-rap mode), and Black Ice:        Top two: Robotvoice wreck shop. Middle three: Boo Radley's Miss Fairchildesque mannequin?, Boo Radley, Boo Radley. Bottom two: Black motherfucking Ice.LISTEN: Neptune, "The Lighthouse" (mp3) LISTEN: Boo Radley, "Breathing Room (East Egg)" (mp3) LISTEN: Black Ice, "Terrible Ice" (mp3) 3. At Avalon on Saturday night, it was also the first show back in the US, though slightly less of a homecoming for the Canadian indie-rock commune Broken Social Scene. Getting there late as usual (I don't believe in shows that start before 8pm) I missed Feist, but caught 90 minutes of BSS, a healthy mix of tunes off their new self-titled album and You Forgot It in People. And don't ask me how many fucking people were on stage. I hate that. Like, does it matter? I lost track after 10, okay? Gawd! Cami hung out with those dudes before the show, stay tuned for a full report in next Thursday's paper.      Dude in the circle? NOT with the band. Trusting their peace-and-fun-loving fans, the members of BSS encouraged this excited stage-hopper to dance and sing along with them during "Cause = Time" "Almost Crimes" (thanks Chris!). Avalon guards followed suit, for a couple minutes anyway, before politely escorting said dude offstage. LISTEN: Feist on The World CafeLISTEN: Broken Social Scene, "KC Accidental" (RealAudio)
10/23/2005 3:43:00 AM by Tia | |
Friday, October 21, 2005
 Angela show their pitts during a cover of Olivia Newton John's "Let's Get Physical." Christopher Rand gets some dollar-bill love from a TraniWreck audience member. Rori Hanson rocks the pink fishnets.
Christopher Rand sings "Stick It In My Ass."
photos by Cami.
Call ’em Peaches without the beard, Fannypack with a fanny-hole obsession, Hawnay Troof with better spelling. Or just call 'em Angela, two electro-porn humpty-thumpers who homemake beats, talk dirty, and will blow you for a record deal. When we sat down with them this past Monday night (as part of this column thingy we've been doing for a minute), we asked them what the future held after only four months of playing together. They were kind enough to leak some info about a pool-party-themed song, a record that upgrades them from "bottom of the barrel sluts" to "high-class porn," and a merch line of orifice cleaners... Rori Hanson: "We’re thinking like fashion line, perfume-- Christopher Rand: "Lipgloss--" Hanson: "Maybe a douche and enema kit." Rand: "We decided to combine them--" Hanson: "Like peanut butter and jelly." Rand: "Or strawberry cream cheese. Or what was the other one we had? Fish-and-chips?" Hanson: "That’s disgusting. Sorry we went there." Anyways, the following electro-porn track is dope, complete with chain-skipping, jump-roping beats and rhymes that you could imagine whispered during a gay-bar bathroom-stall introduction: "I'm a six-foot queen/My style is so mean/I like it rough/Right up the butt/My favorite color’s green." Pure queer genius. Tomorrow night they're at the Midway Café with Scrapple + DJ D’hana 3496 Washington Street, Jamaica Plain 21-plus 10:30 pm $8 617.524.9038. LISTEN: Angela, " Jack You Off"
10/21/2005 5:45:00 PM by cami | |
 You knew it couldn't last -- having two hip-hop radio stations in Boston was just too good to be true. As of Thursday, WBOT Hot 97.7 switched formats, with the Globe reporting it's going with WILD-programmed smoov R&B during daylight hours, and only playing some of that nefarious rap music from 6-10 pm. We've been on the phone all morning trying to track down details, and the upshot is that it's pretty dire, but not quite as bleak as a total wipeout. The stations have indeed merged, with WILD's footprint being by far the dominant one. But most of the jocks -- including the people's faves DJ Chubby Chub and Mr. Peter Parker -- are still on board. Says Peter Parker: "The format changes at 97.7 have now made it instead of Hot 97.7 it is now WILD FM, 'The People's Station.' They merged the two stations and took on the WILD name because of it's history. I am still involved, but to what extent, I will find out today. The new format is Hot/Urban AC with Tom Joyner in the morning, classic r&b during the day, Hiphop in the evening, and Quiet Storm (slow jams) over night. As far as weekends, I'm almost 100% sure there will still be Hiphop mixshows at night, but everything is still early." WILD/WBOT marketing director Alfredo Fonseca -- a quality dude who worked here at the Phoenix until a few months ago -- confirmed those details. After Joyner in the mornings they'll go "heavy on the music, without a jock" at midday. The mix during the afternoon will be urban Adult Contemporary with a twist. "You'll still hear 50 Cent in rotation, but not nearly as much. Maybe two songs per hour" of top-40 rap. Chubby will continue to be Chubby in the evenings from 6-10 pm. Friday and Saturday nights will be hip-hop dance parties with Mr. Peter Parker. WILD's highly-rated "Time Travel" program will come over to 97.7 and run in two weekend slots, Saturdays 8 am-noon and Sundays 6-10 pm. One more bum note is that the HOTLOWEEN concert featuring Mike Jones, T-Pain, and Dem Franchise Boys, originally scheduled for October 29 at Club Lido, has been cancelled according to Fonseca. We're bumming hard on this, especially since we've been bumping this song in our Japanese-made car lately . . . LISTEN: Thrill Da Playa feat. T Pain, "Yo Chevy (Remix)" (mp3, via TJSDJS) IN OTHER NEWS: 1. But will THE PEOPLE'S STATION PLAY IT? Pharrell Williams solo album single #2, " She's An Angel" (mp3, via Spine Magazine and Lemon Red) 2. Hey, look: Gorilla Vs. Bear and Brooklyn Vegan blantantly plagarize borrow from David Day's post without credit. You should hustle over to David's and get these tracks: the Knife's original really is fantastic, the remix is better, and then to blow your mind comes dude-with-acoustic-guitar covering the song in a way that -- as David points out -- incorporates pieces of both versions. 3. New Krumbsnatcha tracks up at his MySpace page. New album, exec-produced by DJ Premier, coming soon. 4. MORE BOSTON BOUNCE, PLEASE. Two new tracks have surfaced. DJ C and DJ Flack record as DuoTone. They just posted a Boston Bounce remix of the DuoTone song "Serve That Pu$$y," this one called "Serve That Bouncy." Download it at Riddim Method. Meanwhile, Certified Bananas serve up a stand-alone Boston Bounce remix of a certain whispery treat, first heard on their Lemon-Red mix. This one's up over at L-R as well. 5. DFA1979 dude Jessse Keeler's alter-ego MSTRKRFT has been remixing the fuck out of indie-dance bands. Coming soon: MSTRKRFT's neo-house debut 12-inch. Songs from it streaming now on their MySpace page. 6. Fuck a "radio edit". Checkboard Chimes came up with the album version of Madonna's "Hung Up." But, alas, it's Yousendit, so it's probably gone by now. 7. Leak #3 from the forthcoming Strokes album, this one called "15 Minutes of Pain," is in play. Badminton Stamps knows something about it. Stereogum readers hate it almost as much as they hated "Juicebox." And, uh, we're inclined to agree. But that "You Only Live Once" track is real nice if you can find it. 8. That Lady Sovereign single we told you about is starting to float around. Consensus is trending towards "hype is over," but a few people are standing by the Mizz Beats mix, which My Old Kentucky Blog has heard on the radio. 9. No homo? Gay TV show denied use of Kanye West music. 10. Who knows about the Lil' Jon remix of "My Humps"? The one with completely re-recorded vocals and everything? Man, just when we were convinced that you couldn't get, like, any more ridiculous than the original. For one thing, it's genetically engineered to be the least sexy song in the history of the universe. When she talks about her "humps," it makes us think of a hunchback. And what really creeps us the fuck out is when she starts going on about her "lovely lady lumps," which makes it sound like she's got breast cancer or something. (Sidebar: when hype dude says, "Whatcha gonna do with all that breast? All that breast inside that shirt?," we're always convinced she's gonna say, "I'm gonna make make make you squirt." But in an unexplainable fit of decency, she only makes him work.) In theory, the song is just fucking gross. In practice? Unbelievably, shamefully catchy. Guilty pleasure of the year. We brought this up to a friend who shall remain nameless, who said he heard it on the radio while in a van with two prominent DJs. They decided it was hot. Then the DJ came on and said it was Black Eyed Peas, and the entire crew fell into shame-faced silence for a half hour. 11. Ben Sisto breaks down, begs Noise Board for help designing new Great Scott logo, with predictable results: 
10/21/2005 2:24:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 H-Bomb Ferguson at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's Ponderosa Stomp.
From the inbox: Hello Subscriber, It's a mad, mad world in New Orleans these days, but Jazz Fest is a "GO" for 2006! Festival Promotions is intent on producing this event next year, and helping to Bring New Orleans Back. http://JazzFest.NewOrleans.ComVOODOO MUSIC EXPERIENCE - WIN TICKETS But that's not why we're writing you! If you're a music lover AND living in New Orleans right now, or if you're sure you can make down for the weekend of October 29th, you can get the party started early and join us for the one-day, invitation-only Voodoo Music Experience 2005 at Riverview Park (aka, The Butterfly) for VME's tribute to the police, firefighters, National Guard, military and countless others who have aided in the recovery efforts of New Orleans. Over 35 artists will perform, including Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, New York Dolls, Sevendust, Kermit Ruffins, Theresa Andersson, Rebirth Brass Band, Jon Cleary, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Cowboy Mouth, and many others. See the full list online at VooDoo.NewOrleans.Com. We're giving away HUNDREDS of tickets to this exclusive event, and we want more New Orleanians who are helping to rebuild the city to attend. So sign up now to win tickets to Voodoo Music Experience 2005, and let's take a one day break from the cleanup and recovery, and enjoy one of the things that makes New Orleans a great place to live - the celebrations! See you soon, NewOrleans.Com http://ml.neworleans.com/lt/t_go.php?i=36&e=NDM4NDE=&l=http://www.NewOrleans.ComJazzFest.NewOrleans.ComVoodoo.NewOrleans.ComNew.NewOrleans.Com - Rebuilding New Orleans READ: Jon Garelick's review of the 2005 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
10/21/2005 9:45:00 AM by onthedownload | |
Thursday, October 20, 2005
 Jason Martin from Bunny Brains
 Welcome to the show. What lives in the Hanna Barbera dumpster. See Bunny Brains piss the Somerville Theatre manager off... See a blurry Banhart take a seat on the floor. See DB be a hug machine. Photos by Cami.(Today's guest post was written by the illustrious DJ, mixologist, and Plunge Into Death co-leader Mark E. Moon.) so, a. ms. stacie slotnik provided us with 4th row center seats. right next to devandra's dad and his entourage! b. opening band tarantula a.d.=brooklyn chamber prog metal. lots of headbands and vests. thumbs down from this humble reviewer. they're opening for rasputina next week. somehow, and i guess this officially makes me old, the musical forms that were the absolute enemy growing up (prog rock, metal, dead-inspired southern rock) are now popular. c. devandra was OK. he's a real good frontperson, i was charmed. he does cool good hippie dances. it got pretty old, but people were really into it. lots of interminable jams. he did do this awesome thing. halfway through the set, he asked the audience: "does anyone in the audience write songs." of course, this being somerville, everyone raised their hands. "well, let's have someone come up here and sing one of their songs." and so he had some random ( berklee-trained, i'm guessing) hippie dude come up and sing a song. dude had the skillz. many hugs were exchanged. many random people on stage during the set(FEATHERS sang back-up on a couple of songs). d. the craziest part of the evening were BUNNYBRAINS (who i think have been around since the late-80s. i remember having records of theirs in college). their set started (2 people on stage, i'm guessing the only original members involved in the night, one of them dressed as the phantom of the opera), when suddenly there was noise at the back of theater. the houselights came on, and it was a motley crew of nu-hippies, many of DREAMHOUSE and THE CIRCUS BAND (do they have a name?) included. they even brought the world-famous dreamhouse tarps. it quickly devolved into absolute chaos. just a crazy jam. somerville theater staffers actually cut the sound until the tarps were removed from the audience (fire code violation?). then the jam continued. it was, of course, really annoying, but really awesome as well. kids (lots of kids at the show) lost it and just started dancing in the aisles and jumping up on stage. the soundguy, the staff, nobody really knew what was going on and who was in the show and who wasn't. the people sitting next to me (devandra's dad's friends) were really pissed off about the whole shebang. since i didn't really particularly care about seeing devandra, i was pretty psyched that it happened, but many people were not pleased. and that is that. your humble reporter, jef Mark E. Cami adds a tag-team-style stream-of-consciousness blurb:Um, yeah, Bunny Brains were wild. Confrontational even-- which was sorta awesome. Fifteen people in half-assed costumes (a lawn troll, a unicorn head, Arnold, Dr. Doom etc.) creating a hippie-crazed cacophony on stage, in the aisles, in the back walkway -- like Hanna Barbera emptied the company dumpster onto the Somerville Theatre. Long-haired leader-type dude screamed nonsensical things like "Where in the water?" and "Take your shackles back" while horns puked, women moaned into mics, and one shirtless dude intermittently shined a spotlight on the audience. Call Don McLean: this was the day the music died. As for the tarp incident: when I first walked in, a unicorn-headed dude pushed by me, dragging a giant blue thing like a Chinese New Year dragon. Some other hopping, squeeking, druggy-boogying costumed freaks joined him and managed to pull this thing down the right aisle and cover the entire middle-orchestra audience, which led to the Somerville Theatre manager coming out and yelling hysterically at the soundman that this was a huge fire hazard and the show couldn't go on unless they put the tarp away and YOU CAN'T DO THIS! Then he yelled at all the people crowded at the back of the theatre (I was the one with the blue hoodie and the digi-cam), telling us we needed to find seats. Since I was all alone (no one else would pay $24 for this madness), I managed to get an empty seat in the fourth row right behind Mark E. Moon and Devendra Barnhart's daddy, which was pretty cool. Hadn't been that amused at the Somerville Theatre since the time the vaccum-powered ice-cream machine gave me two Oreo sandwiches. Holy shit.
10/20/2005 4:01:00 PM by onthedownload | |
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
10/19/2005 7:36:00 PM by onthedownload | |
10/19/2005 5:09:01 PM by onthedownload | |
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
  Abbey Lounge closed until further notice. Garage-punks, rock critics, aging scenesters assumed to be inconsolable. From a post by Michelle Dent on the Noise Board: I was asked to post this from the owners and management of the club. Yes, this sucks.
Since I know the gossip mill we be working overtime on this one, I would suggest not believing anything you hear from anyone unless they work at the Abbey. We WILL be up and running as soon as possible.
"At the request of the City of Somerville, The Abbey Lounge will be closing TEMPORARILY, effective immediately, for the next two weeks with a tentative reopening scheduled for November 2. We will be using this time to get the building up to fire code. This is all the information we have for now. Carey Sue will be contacting all the bands that are scheduled to play. We realize how inconvienent this is for the bands and will be attempting to reschedule ALL bands for future dates. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. All queries should be
directed to Carey Sue at careysue@abbeylounge.com , but please wait for her to contact you first if you are in one of the bands scheduled to play. The Z Wine Bar WILL remain open and pub stage acts will be allowed to perform there instead. But once again, PLEASE wait for Carey Sue to contact you regarding rescheduling and please consider anything else you hear to be a rumor. We will post more information when we have it."
Ten-point smartassery: What will move into the Abbey Lounge next?
10/18/2005 6:22:00 PM by onthedownload | |
 Iron & Wine/ Calexico At Avalon Wednesday, December 7, 2005 at 8:00 pm Tickets are $20.00 Tickets go on-sale Saturday, October 22, 2005 at 10:00 am That's it, actually.  2. From the inbox: New Idea Society, Magic Bullet, AAM and iTunes Team Up for Katrina Relief Mike Law and Stephen Brodsky (aka New Idea Society) have assembled a very special song titled "Equations." Starting today, this track is available exclusively at iTunes for $.99. ALL proceeds will be given to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to aid in their rebuilding efforts for areas damaged by recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast. The track is featured in the "Alternative" section of the iTunes Music Store as well as the iTunes Exclusive section, so please show your support for the victims of these catastrophic events by downloading a very powerful and poignant selection from New Idea Society. To purchase this track, simply click on the album cover or here. For more information about ACORN, please visit their official website http://www.acorn.org/
10/18/2005 5:02:00 PM by onthedownload | |
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