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Thursday, March 30, 2006
TOMMIE SUNSHINE survived the glowstick-waving Midwest rave scene ofthe '90s to collaborate on tastemaking albums by electro-kitsch master Felix Da Housecat -- but he's really come into his own in the past fewyears as one of America's strongest remixers of rock records. While spinning and mixing for and alongside everyone from Arthur Baker tothe Yeah Yeah Yeahs, he's churned out dancefloor fits that brought out Avril's inner Cybotron and the Chic side of Louis XIV. His style is aggressively simple: biggus dumbus funnus. Enemies of pleasure will not be pleased. But what use have we for them, anyway? For an encore, in 2006 he's hit the jackpot by crossing EMO with DISCO, thereby giving old people who like "real" "music" heart attacks, thereby making OTD very, very goddamn happy. (And making him a perfect match for PAPER, the only emo-disco dance night in the city, and thus the only indie-dance night in the city currently overrun by hot 18 year old mallpunk girls.) We love the conceptual brilliance -- not to mention the marketing guile -- of Tommy turning Fall Out Boy's "Dance Dance" into a bonafide dance hit, and now that he's given Panic! at the Disco a luxurious vintage-synthpop makeover that even the Faint ought to be jealous of, we can't remember what the original version of the song sounded like. Which, of course, makes him a perfect match for Paper, the hottest indie-dance night in the city. Check it out tonight at Harpers Ferry.
Tommy Sunshine's greatest hits:
Last spring, when future FNX New England Product host Dave Virr wanted to celebrate the 6th anniversary of his "British Accents" show, he got members of the Halogens and Baby Strange together for a one-off, just-for-fun project: an Oasis tribute band called, appropriately enough, Faux-Way-Sis. They killed, but then something even more interesting happened: they all realized their common influences and formed an actual band, the Luxury.
This wouldn't be particularly noteworthy, except that they're really fucking good.
To repay the folks what put them together in the first place, they're debuting their amazing leadoff single, "Seven Stories," as an OTD exclusive. (Also available over at Phoenix Band Guide ). Despite their lineage, this isn't Britpop homage: it's closer to the American underground pop of Husker Du and R.E.M., updated for a generation raised on Snow Patrol and, shit, who knows, maybe even Fall Out Boy. Add these guys immediately to the short list of Boston bands -- Taxpayer, Aberdeen City, Protokoll -- who are equipped to meet the stylish and anthemic demands of the 21st century indie-rock proletariat. Seven stories? Feels like 8 Miles. You can -- and, really, you should -- go see the band performing Friday at Bill's Bar, 5.5 Lansdowne Street in Boston.
DOWNLOAD: The Luxury, "Seven Stories" (mp3)
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
 Underground rock legend Nikki Sudden passed away on March 26th. He was 49 years old. Nearly every other news source in the indie-sphere will tell you all about Sudden’s time in the hair-raising, Fall-esque Swell Maps, or of his subsequent bands the Jacobites and the Last Bandits. But I will always remember Nikki Sudden for the one week I spent with him in April of 2003 . . . well, sort of spent with him. At the time I was slaving away for the local independent record concern in my hometown. Like any small business, we had our fair share of, shall we say, "eccentric" regulars. And one woman, who we’ll call Claire, just took the fuckin’ koo-koo cake. She would visit the shop for hours upon hours and regale the staff with the banalities of her existence. From her subsistence on workman’s compensation checks to her prescription drug dependency to her supposed connections with the indie rock elite, just about anything could and would fall out of this woman’s mouth. Claire would also refer to the staff as her "children." But she also baked us cakes and cookies . . . so it wasn’t all bad. So when she arrived at the shop one day hoping to book an in-store appearance by Nikki Sudden, we were obviously skeptical. But a quick call to a local club confirmed that Sudden had in fact been booked and confirmed by our very favorite customer/nutbar. So, what the hell did we have to lose? We booked the in-store. According to Claire, she had met Nikki Sudden at some earlier point and he was so excited to see her that he was going to fly out a week before the show just so they could spend some time together. This is when I got to "meet" Sudden. I was opening the shop one quiet morning when Claire and Nikki stumbled in, drunk before noon. They were leaning against each other, each attempting to hold the other one up while they shared a riotous laugh about . . . well, something. Both were wearing very large sunglasses despite the fact that it was overcast. The pair stumbled around the store, picking up records and pointing at them and generally making a huge mess. About 15 minutes into their visit, Sudden pulls out a cigarette and lights it. Like any good born-and-bred West Coaster, I jumped off my stool and said to him, "Hey man, I don’t care who you are, you can’t smoke in here." Sudden pulled down his sunglasses ever so slightly and replied: "Without cigarettes there’d be no rock and roll." I let him smoke in the store. After a solid 4 days of telling that story to anyone and everyone who would listen, I was stoked for a repeat performance at the in-store. But instead I was thrilled in an entirely different way. Sudden (along with a single sideman who looked like he could have been Sudden’s long lost brother) delivered a set of earnest, Stones-inspired ballads that were entirely heartrending. The man very much enjoyed what he did and looked happier on that little stage performing to 50 people than any other performer that I ever saw there.
* * *
Nikki kept what you might call a blog, although it was laid out in someone's idea of a message board. Last Thursday, he announced that he would be playing a gig later that night for his deceased brother and former bandmate Epic Soundtracks, on the occasion of what would have been his brother's 47th birthday.
My brother, the late Epic Soundtracks, was born Kevin Paul Godfrey on 23 March 1959 at 34 Chapel View, South Croydon. His birth is the first event of my life that I remember clearly. Mum went through the deep pangs of birth, albeit one given at home. Dad absentmindedly dug the garden and waited for the screams of mother-birth to cease and be replaced by the yelping and howling of a newborn child taking over. The young, two 3/4 year old me was being looked after by our neighbours, 'Aunty' Vera and 'Uncle' Papworth.
The Papworths were everything that good neighbours were in those days. Their house was couched in the gentle hilt and gentle tilt of their constant cigarette smoke. They also radiated that age-old, drenched in smoke, feeling of the old earlier and better times. They passed over some years back but always stayed in touch. a lovely couple!
One of the main reasons I recall my brother's birth so strongly is that he (thinking ahead) gave me (or so 'twas claimed) a model scooter / moped with driver / rider. Around seven or eight inches tall it was given as 'a present from your new baby brother'. If this was what it was like to have a new baby brother, then I was all up for it.
For those of you who don't know my brother died on 5 November 1997. Despite what you may have read in some of the more scurrilous and also some of the more reputable magazines and websites Epic didn't die of a drug overdose, he didn't kill himself. We don't know why he died but my mother, myself and many of those who knew my brother best believe he died of a broken heart...
That night's show, he reiterated, "will be for my brother. Danny is the best drummer I've played with since Epic. With their similar musical tastes the two of them would have got on great."
Nikki Sudden played that gig, and, according to a post on his web site, collapsed the next morning. And if you doubt for a second that Nikki went to his grave believing that Epic "died of a broken heart," you don't get what made Nikki Sudden so great -- that heart-on-sleeve-substance-abusing-guitar-toting-poet thing that's more or less disappeared from the lexicon. If anyone was doing that now it would be ironic and come out on Kemado. Sigh. Nikki, we'll miss you.
-- Eli Anderson
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Go ahead, try not to get choked up while watching this shit. Also, so true: they do have good hair. We've gotten used to Mission of Burma being a band again. What we can't get used to is Mission of Burma on MySpace.
Starring: Roger Miller, Clint Conley, Peter Prescott, Steve Albini Jr., Sonic Youth, Mark Kates, Shred, Moby, a young Joyce Kulhawik, and that dude from Christmas who was in Combustible Edison.
Begun four years ago by David Kleiler, Jr. -- son of Boston Underground Film Festival director David Kleiler, and a former bandmate of Peter Prescott's in Volcano Suns -- and finished by some other dudes, this is world-premiering at the Somerville Theater on April 22 as part of the Independent Film Festival of Boston.
WATCH: Not a Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story (trailer, QuickTime)
 Matthew Herbert has long been a favorite of chin-stroking fans of what used to be called “IDM”, delivering albums based on a complex set of self-imposed rules called P.C.C.O.M Turbo Plus (incorporating the Manifesto of Mistakes) . Despite his lifetime A.V. club membership, Herbert delivered the best post-modern lounge record of all time in 2001’s Bodily Functions. After his twin great-on-paper-snooooooooze-fest-in-practice full-lengths, Goodbye Swingtime (the “big band” album) and Plat du Jour (the "hey let make an album where we hit water bottles and chew lettuce instead of writing songs" album) Matthew Herbert has finally returned to some classic function-over-form dance tracks. The Herbert featured on his new album Scales (out 5/30on !K7) reigns as master of low-key groove-oriented soul/funk/house/whatevs. Oh and he has an agenda too. As he told the floppy-hairs over at Pitchfork in February: "My goals, as always these days, are to bring down Tony Blair [and] the American empire, a withdrawal of troops in Iraq and bring[ing] about an end to our reliance on oil," Herbert told Pitchfork in an email interview. "I will, as usual fail. This time, instead of trying to do it with a process of intense political organisation of sounds, I have chosen to shroud these ambitions in song. "On Plat du Jour, my last record, I had few harmonic tools with which to write the melodies and not one traditional instrument. For Scale therefore I wanted to languish in the freedoms of an orchestra, the satisfying fall of a melody played by a musician on an instrument developed over hundreds of years. It is a celebration of all the luxuries I have been afforded by the age of cheap oil and a critique of all the violence that allowed those privileges." Before you write the whole damn thing off as some big beat Bob Dylan, check out the tracks provided by our French speaking friends over at Pardon My Freedom . Both cuts could probably turn those French student riots into the greatest party ever.
-- Eli Anderson
Monday, March 27, 2006
The Mules! The Mules! The Mules! As promised: an acid-washed garage punk mating call from these retard-psych troglodytes, who record for the awesome label/collective Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts (also home to Tunnel of Love, Wildlife, and a new EP by Stephen Brodsky and Ramona Cordova, all of which just showed up in the mail today. Thanks, duders!) We will hopefully have more of this stuff on OTD soon.
As our pal Blowfly told us recently (in an interview you'll be able to download here next week), "Mules know you come to plough they ass -- you have to hit 'em up over the head with a baseball bat and knock they ass out and put a bridle on them." Remember that when you're listening to this . . .
DOWNLOAD: The Mules, "Teenage Freak Girls" (mp3)
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Located in the same Inman Square complex as the Pino Bros tattoo empire, Traktor7 is known to grizzled old bastards like OTD as one of the last outposts in Boston of firebrand dont-give-a-fuck punk rock n roll. (They're also the most download-friendly label in town.) We imagine the "kids" "today" cocking their head slightly and wondering what the hell all the racket is about. Which is just fine. Lessons in Discharge, Van Halen, and Entombed given here -- here, at least tonight, being the Linwood Grill, once home to the best bar-b-q/cheep liquor/fast women emporiums in all of the Fenway. The Linwood was, for years and years, the best gig you could get if you practiced at New Alliance, since you didn't even need to load the van, and you could stumble back to the space after the show even if you were in some advanced state of pickling.
No more reminiscing. Tonight's gig features Lamont, known to MTV viewers and Tony Hawk gamers for their hotrodding, ZZ-topping speedmetal hit "Hotwire," are the headliners, and our favorite Deathwish doomboogie band Doomriders are in there somewhere too. But the revelry is ostensibly a record-release party for Throttle. They date from the era (late 90s) when two piece blues-punk bands were more novelty than marketing strategy (trying to remember the name of the one whose drummer fried bacon during their set to give it that extra hickory-smoked touch.) They've been out of commission for a number of years, but John Overstreet and former Come drummer Daniel Coughlin have a new one, Back to the World (Traktor7). Check it out:
DOWNLOAD: Throttle, "MX Trash" (mp3)
Meanwhile, their label boss has got some new shit brewing as well. We've said before that Jonah Jenkins should've kept his new band's joke name -- Septic Youth Command -- over its permanent title, Raw Radar War. But what can you say: MIT librarians love palindromes. Can't be helped. It just so happens that Mr. Jenkins is blowing shit up right now: his seminal Boston metal/hardcore band Only Living Witness are about to get the two-disc retrospective treatment from Century Media, and modern-day labelmates Shadows Fall are rumored to have recorded an OLW cover for their Century Media swan song. Plus, he recorded a vocal track for the upcoming album by Roadrunner emo-metal kids 36 Crazyfists. Plus, he's threatening yet again to release the demos for Miltown, the proto-emo supergroup he fronted who were briefly signed to a major label. Plus, the RRW record, due in a month or so, destroys. The Witness retrospective will contain "both albums in one package, with the pre-production demos for each album, plus liner notes for all of the songs, and probably a couple of Quicktime videos, at least one live video, and the SLUG video ...which kinda sucks, but it was played a lot in Europe," emails Jonah. "I'm feeling like there'll be too much out there by or related to me in 2006...makes me reconsider the Miltown release, but people [inluding OTD, for years!] have been hounding me for it, and it's almost done, mixing-wise, so maybe I should just put it out." Yes, sir, you should. In the meantime, here's a taste of Raw Radar War, from the upcoming Double Equals (Traktor7):
DOWNLOAD: Raw Radar War, "Lack of Fire Discipline" (mp3)
Friday, March 24, 2006
We've seen Neptune called "scrap-steel instrument rock" and that's a pretty precise description for this Boston trio's junkyard-picked amalgation of art-noise-rock. They make their own instruments out of random rusty garage-sale materials: "bike parts, saws, old metal chairs, self-built oscillators, amplified springs, metal drums with contact mics inside and other debris found in the trash." And they remind us of those good ol' days we used to sit on the kitchen floor banging the shit out of mom's copper-bottomed sauce pans with a metal ladle and serving spoon, 'cept these guys seem to understand how to transform that imaginative cacophony into some amazingly awesome rock-buzz-saw rattletrap compositions. Best of all, they like "hobo synthesizers." The one below is from their upcoming April-bound record Patterns (Mister Records). They, like everybody else in today's trifecta, are playing tonight at the Abbey Lounge, 3 Beacon St, Somerville | 617.441.9631. DOWNLOAD: Neptune, "Fourteen Pleasures"
3/24/2006 5:27:56 PM by Cami | |
Anyone who’s listened to Dinosaur Jr.’s latter-day albums (or was around to see the pre-Dino hardcore group Deep Wound) knows that alt-rock guitar hero J Mascis is also a pretty decent drummer. Following last year’s Dinosaur reunion tour, he got back behind the kit with WITCH, his new band with long-time pal Dave Sweetapple and Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons from the Vermont-based, Devendra Banhart–collaborating avant-folkies Feathers. (And resemblance of this scenario to Banhart-approved "soft-metal" maniacs Metallic Falcons is, of course, strictly coincidental.) Witch’s new homonymous debut, a swampfest of Sabbathian stoner rock, came out on Tee Pee earlier this month. And though one of our calendar-editing colleagues called it "nothing to write home about" in the fishwrap, some of us who actually love metal for a living think it's the balls. This swirling, seven-minute slab is easily the best (also the only-est) psych-doom track we've posted since Major Stars. As mentioned below, Witch make their local debut tonight at the Abbey with BLACK HELICOPTER, NEPTUNE, and KETMAN | 3 Beacon St, Somerville | 617.441.9631. [Click here for more info.]
DOWNLOAD: Witch, "Seer" (mp3)
When Thurston Moore signed a deal with Universal to distribute his Ecstatic Peace label, veteran bullroarers BLACK HELICOPTER found themselves -- alongside labelmates Sunburned Hand of the Man -- as Boston's newest, and most unlikely, major-label artists. It couldn't happen to a cooler bunch of guys. They've been flattening audiences for more than a decade in bands like Kudgel and Green Magnet School, but their forthcoming Invisible Jet is a huge step forward from blast-furnace head-fuckery: it's actually kinda pretty and restrained at times (Mission of Burma's Roger Miller guests on piano for a song). Though -- dude -- not on this particular slice of stone-age grindery, which kicks acres of ass. "We would never have accepted a deal from a big label if it wasn't through someone we trust. We're too old and grizzled for that," says BH's Zack Lazar, pointing out that one-half of the Ecstatic Peace org, Andrew Kesin, was in the Boston band Bob Evans in the mid-'90s. "These two guys are just too goddamn amazing to say no to. Also, if there was never a Sonic Youth, there likely would never have been a Kudgel, Green Magnet Schoo, or Black Helicopter."
This is part one of a rare OTD trifecta: today we're gonna bring you exclusives from three out of the four bands playing the Abbey Lounge tonight. Mostly, this is a coincidence. But it's also a sign that you should really go to this show. Up soon (as soon, in fact, as we can upload them): exclusive downloads from WITCH (J Mascis psychmetal alert) and NEPTUNE. Check back this afternoon!
LISTEN: Black Helicopter, "Buick Electra" (mp3)
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Honeypump message-boarders threw a hissy when Protokoll disabled the download function on their MySpace page last week, in advance of the Allston post-punk band's signing a singles deal with an undisclosed UK label. OTD, though, is all about second chances. The Protokoll dudes checked in from SXSW to share the best track from their 2005 EP (take that, MySpace!): morbid frontdude moaning like the second coming of the second coming of Bela Lugosi, while an undertow of lighter-than-Air synths leavens the mood from garish to damn near sweet. If these guys aren't famous by 2007, someone over there in England isn't really trying. Check them the New England Product/ThePhoenix.com showcase on Friday at Bill's Bar with 8mm Fuzz and a band that needs no introduction to regular readers of this blog, Blanks.
DOWNLOAD: Protokoll, "Holy Divine" (mp3, via Phoenix Band Guide -- sorry about the filename)
Yowza. Alexa Ray Joel, the spawn of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, plays Great Scott on Monday, March 27 [click here for details]. Here's her MySpace page: don't get your hopes up, there's no music on it. But she does, apparently, play the same instrument as her dear ol dad. Boston's own piano man, Ethan Kreitzer, opens the show with his band Lincoln Conspiracy -- who, as we won't let anyone forget, are less than one degree of separation from the Bravery. "I don't want start any blasphemous rumours," emails Ethan, in what is sure to start a completely ridiculous rumor, "but her father is playing Syracuse, NY on Saturday and Hartford, CT on Tuesday with Sun/Mon off."
If you're having trouble imagining what kind of marketable dysfunction the daughter of an AOR cheeseball and a supermodel might have to sing about, consider this: she's only five years younger than her stepmom. Ewwww. Here's a pic of the happy family:
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
This public service annoucement brought to you by the best damn bubblegum-metal band in Waltham.
DOWNLOAD: Damone, "Out Here All Night" (mp3)
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Bring 'em Home Now: a concert to benefit Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War
March 20 at Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC
Michael Stipe
Peaches
Fischerspooner
Rufus Wainwright
Devendra Banhart
All photos (c) Christopher Kontoes
[Our friend, photographer Christopher Kontoes, filed this report from NYC last night; his friend, Springfield native and former Miracle Legion dude Mark Mulcahy, was one of several folks -- Rain Phoenix, sister of River, was another -- who joined Michael Stipe onstage for an epic anti-war concert at Hammerstein Ballroom. Part 2 coming soon. -- OTD]
i flew in NYC on 9.11 - minutes in front of the first plane that hit...and a few minutes after the second plane hit. we flew right over the first tower and saw it burning... i looked right out my window and the pilot said: "we are going to tilt the plane a bit so you can see what will most likely be tomorrows headlines... there appears to be a fire in one of the towers... we landed and all the phones hit at once... "it was a plane? another plane?" we all knew it was terrorists. we got off. all flights shut down. no word on anything. no police that i even recall. nothing. we all streamed out of laguardia ... no idea what to do... just get out of there... i remember just feeling almost nothing... calm or focused... just get out... call family... basics... it was a gorgeous day. odd thing to note, but it was. i could see the smoke above the airport in the skyline. hotels all full. all roads shut down. they has set up TV's in a function hall. i went in. guliani (sp) on the air... live... i heard the question by a reporter: "what is the status of the towers?" "they are down." "they are down? which one?" "they are both down." i felt nothing. i was afraid, but it was well beyond anything i could recognize. just get home. not sure how. i had a falling out with my friend years before who lived in queens. had not spoke a word to each other in years. i looked at the lawn and thought: i can sleep here. phones all jammed. nothing. got a quick line out to a friend back in boson. "please call peter." got through. message back to me. "just get here." i got there. went to get his girlfriend. she had been covered is ash getting out of her
office. she was terrified. we went to get her. stayed at her place a few miles from the site. smoke. just smoke. we had dinner that night. calm summer night. dinner. fire station across the way with flowers thing on the garage door. posters of the missing going up.
got out to a another friend of peters in the city later on... press conference by the president. we were out of our minds... but nobody knew what to think. i didn't. later or before. it's hard to get it straight now... peters' girlfriend managed a band in brooklyn. went to brooklyn. we sat staring at the TV... a shot they stopped running... french TV crew (i think they were french) filming a documentary... one shot... plane slamming into building... long shot... then another, the one i never saw again... straight on into the building... it seemed like a few hundred yards from the ground... slamming into the tower... what do we do?
i got back on the train to the city. a week later. swat teams on the platform... bomb sniffing dogs... it was over.
Last night my friend mark played this benefit concert. i adore him. he sent a song he'd written to michael stipe. michael asked him to come and perform it with him. so i came back to the city and took these photographs. this war is something that i can't think about. it's like being there in NYC that day... the rest of the days before i got home. my head just can't deal with it. we told to be terrified. i was. we went to war on the back of that message and it's sickening. each day, each dead person: soldier, civilian... like that day... my head just won't ever understand any part of any of it.
-- Christopher Kontoes
Monday, March 20, 2006
Can we mention again what a great fucking song this is?
Not much to say about the video, except that it was shot by Jim Jarmusch, and that it appears to have been shot in less time than it takes to play the song. There's the part we're already referring to around here as the "running of the cows," and then there's the performance footage, which makes pre-Nevermind Sub Pop videos look like Anton Corbijn product. Earnest, though, and kinda hilarious how even though the band stays stonefaced, the camera starts freaking out in the chorus: that blur of arms, faces, instruments being a measure, perhaps, of how impossible it is not to start throwing yourself around the room when the guitars kick in.
WATCH: The Raconteurs, "Steady as She Goes" (by Jim Jarmusch, QuickTime video)
Dropkick Murphys
At Avalon
Sunday, March 19
Photos by Dave Tree
except Rick Barton photos, by Nicole Tammaro
Well, he did for a night anyway. Rick Barton was the Dropkicks' link to an earlier era of Boston punk: he'd been in the Outlets, he was a songwriter as well as a guitarist, and over the long haul, he's been the guy we've missed most from the original lineup. McColgan was already history when the Murphys played their first annual St. Paddy's Day show -- not at Avalon, but in the East Village, at a record-release party for The Gang's All Here. And of all DKM's ex-members, Barton seemed to be the most remorseful for the way things were left. So when rumors surfaced last year at this time that he would rejoin Dropkicks for a few songs, we thought for sure the time had come for Barton and Case to bury their hatchets. Then: nothing. This afternoon, recalling that aborted reunion, Barton said only that he'd wanted to play last year but they couldn't work out the details.
This year, however, the dream came true. The band gave Barton a call, they rehearsed a bit backstage, and -- wearing his signature DKM costume, which was always a suit, and not workingman's garb, even though by trade Barton is a house painter -- the old bastard joined the Murphys for a blistering five songs: "Do or Die," "Barroom Hero," "Firestarter Karaoke," and "Skinhead on the MBTA." Casey, introducing him, reminded the audience that "this is the guy I started the band with." Afterwards, Barton said he was cleansed of all his Dropkicks demons. This afternoon, speaking to a friend of ours who relayed the conversation over IM, Barton was ecstatic and swore us to secrecy on a couple of upcoming projects that will be bombshells when the details get out. Stay tuned. But dude: Rick Barton is back.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Remember the name LEE WILSON. The local R&B crooner, whom hip-hop heads might recognize as the soulful voice on Termanology & DC's "Circle of Life," is making moves all over the place. Having showed up as the featured February "Free Agent" pick in Vibe, and with an MTV show documenting his rise in the works, Wilson could very well be the next Boston artist to sign a major label deal. On Saturday night his streak continued with an awe-inspiringly soulful performance to a packed house at the Blue Wave Lounge on Congress Street. With his family in the VIP, a humbled Wilson thanked friends and fans for believing in him, then reminded everyone why they were believers in the first place -- with a local hit called, appropriately enough, "Believer." (You can hear it over at his MySpace page.)
If you missed it, you can catch him again . . . everywhere. He's doing the NECN morning show on March 22, the All Asia Cafe in Cambridge on March 23, Ralph's Diner in Worcester on March 30, an instore at Cambridge's Massive Records on March 31, the Milky Way in JP on April 2, and Bill's Bar on Lansdowne Street on April 27. For more, check www.leewilsonmusic.com or www.myspace.com/leewilson.
-- Matthew M. Burke
Dropkick Murphys, Red Alert
At Avalon, March 18 (Early show)
Photos by Daisy Romero
The Dropkicks hometown throwdown is nothing if not a family affair -- it's a wonder Ken Casey has any tickets left to sell after taking care of relatives and friends. For the Saturday-afternoon affair we sent former Crash and Burn frontman Bill Brown, because for one, he's been taking his daughter Teresa to hang out with DKM for years. From the stage, DKM shouted out their guests the Farrar family, for whom they've recorded a benefit single. And, y'know, it was typical Murphys: legions of bagpipers, Irish step-dancing girls, tons of kids. Bill's also about to join the extended DKM family; he's heading into the studio with Murphys female foil Stephanie Dougherty to begin recording a bunch of new tunes for her new project, Stephanie Dougherty and the Deadly Sins, which also features Ronnie from the Transplants on bass (and, at least on the demos, Dustin from Damone on drums).
Young Quincy smartasses who, despite being genuinely and ridiculously good, don't take themselves a whit seriously, BUGS AND RATS first put this song out like three years ago and are still fucking slept on. If you listen to this you'd think you'd stumbled upon some band from the mid-90s, whod just heard In Utero and Rocket from the Crypt and decided rock and roll could get no better. Which, y'know, it didn't, really. They've got a split 7-inch coming out with new material in a little while, and we'll throw that track up when they get around to scheduling a record release. In the meantime, an oldie but goodie:
Bugs and Rats, "Creep Mission" (mp3)
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Dropkick Murphys, Horrorpops
At Avalon
St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2006
Photos by Melissa Ostrow
Every show at the Dropkick Murphys homestand is all-ages (not just the afternoon throwdown that took place Sat afternoon). Because that's what punks do. And verily, with the passing of every March 17, as the Dropkicks gets older, their fans seem to get younger. So while it was interesting to see the band trying their hand at Rod Stewart's golden oldie "Maggie May" last night, it was doubly heartening to hear them hurtling through an excoriating cover of "Minor Threat" (by, yup, Minor Threat) toward the end of their long set. Not only did it school the assembled young'uns in the face-melting power of hardcore punk properly played (and how!), but it showed that, even for a ten-year-old band, some of whose members are now heading into their late 30s (cough), some punk verities are timeless.
-- Mike Miliard
[Saturday recap coming tomorrow; more from Mike on DKM's long, long St. Patty's Day -- and notes on that other Irish punk band's show -- in next week's paper and online (early!) on Tuesday.]
Way before electro and synthpop were anything that anyone with an ounce of career ambition wanted anything to do with -- back, that is, when it was still a little embarassing to admit you still listened to the Human League -- Sean Drinkwater's bands Freezepop and Lifestyle were dressing up in stylish outfits and playing note-perfect homage to Simple Minds. But even knowing the history, his new band KARACTER is kind of amazing: there's tons of bands playing this stuff these days, but from the first note of their song "Golden," it's apparent that these guys own everyone else. Amazing shit. Freezepop can get a little overly cute, but this goes back to the roots: Moroder, Kraftwerk, Cybotron, as filtered through new-romantic vocalese. If there's any justice in the world they'll be eating pate on the Riviera by summertime. "Golden" and a bunch of other songs are up for download over at their MySpace page; we asked 'em for a better-quality rip of their epic "Guesthouse," and they gave us the sparkling 192kb jawn below. Beware, it's a 10 mb file -- but the 1986-electro-extended-12-inch-dance-remix vibe is worth every byte. Also check the butt-kicking video by none other than Boston's other synthpop genius, Alex Chen of Boy In Static. And then go check out Karacter tonight at T.T. the Bear's Place, on an awesome bill with the Texas Governor, Cyanide Valentine, and Chop Chop.
DOWNLOAD: Karacter, "Guesthouse" (mp3)
WATCH: Karacter, "Guesthouse" (flash video)
 We know the Federales are Googling, so let's get this up front: if you're looking for the other Boston George -- the Weymouth kid who more or less singlehandedly invented the cocaine game, as seen in Blow -- we have no bananas. Instead, we've got tracks by the pseudonymous Boston George who wrecks Enormous Room most Saturday nights at Jam Hot (as previously seen in the Phoenix.) We've promised not to reveal his identity, since in some circles, making reggaeton party records can be the song that ended your career. We're pretty sure nobody from those circles reads this blog, thank god, but still: our favorite part of lucha libre is the masks, the lie is more interesting than the truth, etc., etc.
We've been sworn to secrecy on the late-night Jam Hot shenanigans, too, but dude. If you don't know, now you know. Jam Hot returns to Enormous next weekend; you can also catch the team doing a one-off with DJ Bruno tomorrow night at Utopia Sundays at Boston Rocks in Faneuil Hall.
You can buy the new Boston George 12-inch at Turntable Lab, but you know how we do: the first taste is free. We were gonna bring you the title track, "Puerto Rock Anthem," which throws Grand Theodore over Daddy Yankee and thus should really be declared the Revere Beach National Anthem, but due to technical difficulties (vinyl rips: new to us), you'll have to sample that one at the 'Lab. Instead, and just as fly (by night), we bring you the self-explanatory "There's Some Hoes in This Nookie," grabbing the Baltimore/strip/house staple and running it over Jamesy P's soca smash. Bonus track: from the last Boston George record, some jet fuel for hipster-fuck watering holes.
DOWNLOAD: Boston George, "There's Some Hoes in this Nookie" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Boston George, "Beware of Stopper" (mp3)
Friday, March 17, 2006
Somehow it doesn't seem possible that this is only Dresden Dolls second album, and that it's been three years since their last one -- between signing to Roadrunner, getting nekkid for the Kaiser Chiefs and Conor Oberst, scoring a staging of A Clockwork Orange, opening for NIN, actually playing in Dresden, and faking iBrator orgasms, they've barely been off the radar since their infamous curse-killing Rumble win back in '03. For Boston audiences, then, this won't seem like much, but at least in blogland, people seem to be genuinely stoked -- even when they're begrudgingly so -- for the release next month of Yes, Virginia. Amanda's solo shows, and her wide-ranging covers selection, have drawn the interest of heavyweights like Stereogum and Copy, Right?, and Fluxblog posted up "My Alcoholic Freinds" a couple weeks ago. (A long way from her first solo gig, back when Phoenix editors were throwing dollar bills at her in Harvard Square.)
Since the Dolls recently gave the thumbs-up to recording/sharing live shows, and since they've been playing some of these songs for several years already, you've got no excuse for not knowing all the words. (The Boston blog RBally recently posted a few songs from a BBC radio session.) Check the clean, no-bullshit production by Slade and Kolderie, and also note that the songwriting is not leaning on the cabaret schtick anymore: in case you didn't get the memo from their covers of "War Pigs" and "Such Great Heights," they're more interested now in provoking than in evoking, which is a pretty damn good sign.
From the Roadrunner offices, the singles: "Sing," the album closer, is also the first to radio; "Dirty Business" is slated to get rolled out later.
LISTEN: Dresden Dolls, "Sing" (stream)
LISTEN: Dresden Dolls, "Dirty Business" (stream)
Thursday, March 16, 2006
کنسرت آزادی ایران
A
few months back, we told you about 127,
Iran’s most popular underground band. We mean underground, like, literally.
Playing music in a country where rock and roll is only semi-legal, they’re
forced to practice in a soundproof bunker on the outskirts of Tehran.
As the
world frets about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the country’s teeming youth
population — there are 48 million Iranians under the age of 30, more than
two-thirds of the population — has its own concerns. The mullahs may have
loosened, a little, their draconian restrictions on pop music. (Concerts are
allowed on campus occasionally, although dancing is verboten.) But this sop to
the country’s restive youth is a flimsy cover for their ruthless crushing of
political dissent.
On the
Harvard campus on Saturday, the Iran
Freedom Concert, featuring sets by Marcus
Miller, Major
Major, Blanks, and others hopes to remind people of the problem. Harvard, in conjunction with campuses across the
country, wants to expose the Iranian regime's repression of its students, and
show solidarity for the student movement and its struggle for civil rights. Between bands, speakers will include Akbar Atri, a veteran of Iran's student movement who got out of the country just in time,
and Fatemeh
Haghighatjoo, the country’s youngest female Parliamentarian and a visiting
scholar at MIT.
The concert
aims to draw attention to “the scores of students, bloggers, journalists and
dissidents, who have been wrongfully jailed and tortured for exercising their
freedom of speech,” says organizer Emmanuel Benhamou, of the Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance.
“We also want to show Americans that an indigenous student movement exists in
Iran, that is broadly backed by society.”
Will this
keyed in youth demographic eventually hold the key to a better future for their
country? Will they ever get the chance? As 127 singer/guitarist Sohrab Mohebbi told
me, "I have no idea what the country will look like in 20 years. All I can
do is wish for the best." In the mean time, you can do more than that. Be
at Harvard’s Leverett House at 9pm on
Saturday. It’s free.
LISTEN:
Blanks, “Oh No!”
(MP3)
LISTEN: Blanks,
“Homunculus”
(MP3)
READ: Blanks Infinite Remix
Project
3/16/2006 3:37:02 PM by Mike | |
Two years in the making, the Lot Six’s new vicious and ambitious 12-inch Get Baked on Youth Kulture (Plastic) is finally ready for your turntable. When we dropped a needle on the 120-gram red vinyl, sat back, and took in the tunes — high-octane riff rock, piano-driven roots music, circus-organ-cum-feedback noise collages — our little minds were just about blown. Unfortunately, you can’t download vinyl, but here's the album’s bloozy opener in exclusive pre-wax-pressed digital form. (Surgeon General's warning: listening to this record will make you take drugs.) Buy the record when the Lot Six throws down record-release style this Saturday, March 18, upstairs at the Middle East, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge.
DOWNLOAD: The Lot Six, "Strange Pains" (mp3)
P.S.: now that youtube is all the rage, some of our favorite "rock" bands are embracing the throwback -- see: low-fi flash movies -- as their online presentation of choice. Best example to hit our myspace inbox yet: Boston's own Kayo Dot, best known for making orchestral avant-metal maelstroms for John Zorn's label, among others, here getting in on the snap craze (okay, it's actually clappy, but so minimal!) with a gentle ode to cats. Complete with adorable cat-picture slideshow!
WATCH: Kayo Dot, "Kitty Song" (flash movie)
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
The last time we saw Magic People, their looming towers of keys, synths, and theramin combined with distopian dance-beats and fiery warnings screamed directly from a post-apocalyptic pulpit brought us to the verge of total spasmatic sci-fi breakdown. Since then, they've added a flautist, toured the West Coast, and managed a Friday the 13th recording session (with Kevin Micka at Small Church) that spawned their debut album, Keen Whips I'd Wear As Rubies. Today, the Ides of March brings the release of the People's new record. Rumors of an on-stage ancient-Rome fashion theme persist, but we can't confirm except to point out such previous reports of gorilla masks, gothy man-dresses, and even, uh, erotic survival gear.
We've got the 'sclusive mp3 of the vociferous album-starting, world-ending track right here. Fave moment: the part right before the end times where Marianne Faithful appears like an angel of the rapture and sets the dead cities free.
You can pick one of these attractively handscreened CDs (artwork by the beast/demon/mutant art-fiend James Quigley) tonight at the Magic People CD Release Soiree tonight at O'Briens along with our favorite local noise maven Donna Parker, Pony Tail, Adam Lipman, and The Aum Rifle.
DOWNLOAD: Magic People, "Preserving Brine" (mp3)
-- posted by Tia
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