Boston, 2007 = Grovers Mill, 1938.

For those of you not familiar with Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the Mooninites are a race of video-game aliens who attempt, albeit inefectually, to wreak mayhem on the world. (They are completely awesome, though, because Schooly D does their theme song.) The joke is that the Mooninites always fail to do any real harm.

Except, that is, in Boston.

Roads and rivers were closed, businesses sent employees home, traffic was snarled, and the bomb squad even detonated a "sophisticated electronic device" when a bunch of lite-brite boards -- all bearing a peculiar resemblance to a certain Adult Swim cartoon, which also happened to be plastered across billboards in Allston and I-93 -- were uncovered by Boston's crack anti-terrorism units. The BPD, which has had trouble the past couple years solving real crimes, wasted no time in rounding up the Arlington artist who was an accomplice to this grave deed. The state AG is promising lawsuits, and lots of them. Sleep easy, Massachoochians, your blessed city is safe . . . from evil cartoons.

Just to make you feel worse, the "devices" were also scattered around NY and LA. Nobody freaked out there. Our guess? Something to do with this new-fangled contraption called "YouTube." Apparently this city's never heard of it. At least not over at the Globe, which posted a grip of bomb-scare stories (this just after the boring broadsheet fell for another local hoax -- the one about Theo Epstein getting married at a New York hot dog stand. Oops.)

Here's the video of people planting "bombs" . . .

Now for something really scary. Not only can Mooninites reduce our city to a gibbering, paranoid gob of hysterical bitches . . . they can also rock your face off. (Replace "Uncle Cliff" in the following clip with "Deval Patrick," then see if you can keep from crying.)

Oh no, here they come again!:

1/31/2007 9:35:29 PM by On the Download | Comments [2] |  

Incubus and Albert Hammond Jr.
January 30 at Avalon
Photos (c) Carina Mastrocola

Sez our lovely ace photographer Carina: "There were so many kids there looking to buy tickets who didn't end up making it inside because it was sold out. I've seen incubus a bunch of times in arenas so it was absolutely awesome to see them at Avalon in a much more intimate setting. They played new and old songs...not enough old if you ask me. There were a couple of camera men who said they were filming the tour for some sort of a DVD. Tried getting a pic of the set list but my view was obstructed. If memory serves me right . . . "

INCUBUS SETLIST:

1/31/2007 1:17:18 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Norah Jones with M. Ward
Orpheum Theatre
Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $49.50, $55.00 and $59.50
On sale Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 10:00 am

The Decemberists with My Brightest Diamond
Avalon
Friday, March 23 & Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Tickets are $25.00
On sale Friday, February 2, 2007 at 10:00 am

Guster
Opera House
Friday, April 20 & Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $35.00
On sale Saturday, February 3, 2007 at 10:00 am

The Killers
Tsongas Arena
Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Tickets are $35.00
On sale Saturday, February 3, 2007 at 10:00 am

Stone Sour, Lacuna Coil, and Shadows Fall
Avalon
Wednesday, April 4, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Tickets are $28.50
On sale Saturday, February 3, 2007 at 10:00 am

Keith Urban with the Wreckers
DCU Center, Worcester
Saturday, August 11, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Tickets are $31.25, $46.25 & $56.25
On sale Saturday, February 3, 2007 at 10:00 am

1/30/2007 4:55:54 PM by On the Download | Comments [2] |  

Temporary detour: tonight's "THROWED" has been moved from Harpers Ferry down the block to Great Scott. It'll be back at Harpers' next month, supposedly with Andrew WK headlining. We'll say it again: "Throwed" next month with AWK at Harpers. Now back to this month. Back to tonight. Back to E-Marce, Redd Foxx and our dude David Day. We've got our own Mickey Mouse boner for E-Marce's new BAWSTON ELECTRO-SHOCK MIX which has been getting us from here to there for the past couple days with new Teki, that ridonculous Guns N Bombs remix of the Teenagers' "Homecoming", and lots of laser-tag disco mayhem. The boy E-Marce has also gone official with a remix of next Bravery next big thing Dangerous Muse's "The Rejection." Arms up: just dance.

DOWNLOAD: E-Marce, "Bawston Electro Shock Mix" (mp3)  [TRACKLIST]
DOWNLOAD: Dangerous Muse, "The Rejection (E-Marce Remix)" (mp3)

Elsewhere in the universe:

• Message boards have posted up a radio rip of the new Justice track, "D.A.N.C.E."
• Nick Catchdubs and DJ Ayres took to the airwaves for a tribute to Disco D, the ghettotech/bailefunk producer/DJ who committed suicide last week. You can grab the full show from East Village Radio, and Nick also posted a new tribute song from D's dancehall crew over on the Faderblog.
• New Mark Ronson "essential" mix via the Brits. Straight party fire, Hollerboard remix highlight reel, yes. But the real bonus is that he's dropping previews of his big solo album. Which, if you've heard his Daptones-enabled Radiohead cover, you're psyched for as much as we are.

1/30/2007 11:11:17 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

We’re tired already of those vapid hacks on MTV’s I’m From Rolling Stone — y’know, the rockwrite kids who’ve never heard of Roskilde, who don’t know who George Clinton is, and who pepper their prose with phrases like “cherub-faced scenester.” Joe Levy and that double-stuffed suit Jann Wenner can have ‘em.

For our money (which, granted, there’s not a lot of) the best music-themed reality show going airs a notch or two up the dial on VH-1. ego trip’s The (White) Rapper Show is a funny, unpretentious blend of low-brow humor and serious questions about race and rap. And its contestants, living together in the South Bronx are more compelling and likeable — by far — than the wannabes dwelling in midtown corridors of power.

There’s Brit bombshell Misfit Dior; drunk-punk good ol’ boy 100 Proof; Dirty South spitter $hamrock; pint-sized Vanilla Ice fan G-Child; brassy Rockaway queen Persia, and ever-so-slightly-insane John Brown (King of the Burbs, yo! Ghetto revival!).

And of course there’s our boy Sullee, who, three episodes in, is doing as well as we ever could’ve hoped — and not just because he managed Young Heff his way into the lower bunk with Misfit (who was booted off the show at the end of episode two).

Just prior to that sad turn of events, the Hingham rhyme slinger was forced into an elimination challenge that asked him to freestyle some verses poking fun at himself.

He killed it. Removing a gold tooth for dramatic effect, he stepped forward and let fly:

Sullee a grown man, even though he act childish.
Got a big dick: three inches, that’s huge to the Irish
Ballin’ chicks without a condom, just realized now that’s a problem
Go to take a shower, my dick starts dissolvin’
Yo, I just keep it real
I slept with Misfit for three nights ain’t even closed the deal!
Anyway, what can I say
I guess I like it the raw way
Someday I’ll learn my lesson, but that day is far like Rockaway

Also sprach Prince Paul: “Sullee nailed it point blank.”

Last week, however, was not so smooth. Our man’s team lost a Family Feud style game show about racial stereotypes, and he was this compelled to do the winning team’s laundry while the victors supped and sipped with Juelz Santana.

Later that night, it was down to the wire again. This time, facing elimination, he flubbed his verse (subject: white power). There was an agonizing, lengthy silence as he wracked his brain to find the words. To no avail.

Sage sachem MC Serch informed Sullee that he was a grave disappointment — precisely because his talent was so profound. As the young Irishman hung his head, the word came down. For this week, at least, he would be spared.

G-Child, teary-eyed, was asked to hand over her scribbled-upon sneaks. Her fellow contestants wept with her.

So now a new week and a new episode. And tonight Sullee’s namesake father, Bob Sullivan, is hosting a viewing party at the Greatest Bar downtown. In attendance, in addition to the man himself, will be past Sullee collaborators Joe Budden and Billy Squier. [Ed. note: Yes, our crack research team confirms this is merely the second time in the history of the English language that those names have ever appeared in the same sentence.]

In a recent interview with Sullee (after which our tape was eaten) he was sworn to secrecy about how far he makes it on the show, and weather or not he’s sitting silently on a cool hundred grand. Safe to assume, however, hey wouldn’t be making such a big deal tonight if this was the episode he was told by Serch to step off.

But even if/when the worst case comes to pass, Sullee’s still flossin’. He’s at work on a new album and a few mix tapes, he still keeps in touch with his friends from the show (including Misfit), and word came down today from the elder Sullivan that his son will soon be jetting off to the Far East to help judge the Miss Teen China contest.

1/29/2007 5:17:17 PM by Mike | Comments [0] |  

Long before he was catching 8.5s on P4K, Grizzly Bear's Edward Droste was skulking around Cambridge, keeping an amazingly low profile given that his ancestors are pretty damn Harvarded-up. His Bear family broke out of Brooklyn, but he brought the clan back to Mass to record Yellow House at his mom's house (guess what color?) in Watertown, and he'll be back in Boston to play the Museum of Fine Arts's indie-rock series this Friday, February 2. The show is severely sold out, but we kept a couple pairs stashed away in the drawer, and they're yours for the taking. Full interview with Droste will show up later today at the main Phoenix site (check back, we'll post a link when it's live). If you want the tix, email us at onthedownload@phx.com UPDATE: IF YOU EMAILED, OUR INBOX EXPLODED BEFORE WE READ THEM. POST IN COMMENTS TO GET TIX. Also, don't forget we've still got tix for the screening of Matthew Barney: No Restraint on January 31 at the MFA. Same deal: post in the comments field, because our email died. Meanwhile, the Grizzly Bear dudes made a funny: check the downloadable pun below.

DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear, "Knife (Girl Talk Remix)" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear v. the Knife, "Knife/Heartbeats (Parrka Remix)" (mp3)

1/29/2007 11:13:09 AM by On the Download | Comments [10] |  

Camera Obscura, the Essex Green
January 27 at the Paradise, Boston
All photos (c) Kelly Davidson

1/28/2007 3:14:26 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

 
Atlantic Records tries a new strategy to get Bjork to deliver her next record.

Perhaps you've heard of Matthew Barney: art star, director of the insane Cremaster series, and creator of, most recently, another strikingly odd and beautiful film called Drawing Restraint 9. In the new documentary Matthew Barney: No Restraint, director Alison Chernick tries to unpack the methods and madness behind Barney's project, which involved a Japanese whaling ship, solidified whale puke, a crew of skeptical Japanese in jump suits, and 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly. Oh, and Björk, the mother of Barney’s child.

The doc is getting an exclusive engagement at the Museum of Fine Arts, and we've got a few pairs of tickets to give away to the Wed, January 31 screening at 8:45 pm. First-come, first-served: email us at onthedownload@phx.com with "no restraint" in the title. UPDATE: our email box died and we lost everything. If you emailed us, please re-up by posting in the comments section, we'll get at you ASAP.

WATCH: Matthew Barney: No Restraint (trailer) 

1/25/2007 11:13:08 AM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

IF YOU GO:

• Capillary Action, Ho-Ag, Animal Hospital, Abraham Lincoln Brigade
  Thursday, January 25 at Great Scott
  18-plus, 9 pm, $9

Judging by the respect of his peers, Kevin Micka just might be the best producer in Boston -- and he's certainly one of the most beloved. He wasn't around much last fall -- he spent big chunks of time in Europe, hopping on shows while doing tour sound for Beirut (yes, that Beirut) and touring with Neptune. So expect to see a who's who of the local underground when he puts his pedals to the metal in his awe-inspiring solo looped-guitar project ANIMAL HOSPITAL at Great Scott tonight.

The GS show is also the final performance by Allston faves HO-AG -- at least, the final performance in this incarnation. Founding guitarist Patrick Kim and bassist Nicholas "Nkls" Ward are leaving the band; in an email to fans, Matt Parrish pledged to carry on without naming any replacements: "I've been playing with Patrick since roughly 1995, recording ourselves feeding back through flange pedals for hours and carrying around matching guitars way before Ho-Ag ever started. Nkls appeared into the Ho-Ag orbit seemingly out of nowhere in 2005 and rescued us from what might have been a totally disasterous and ill-conceived tour (see, it was scheduled before we even *had* a bass player).  Lucky for us, he ended up being an amazing musician and rad friend." Parrish adds, "Join us to say goodbye to these fine gentleman and to pepper them as many times as possible with awkward questions beginning with the word 'why.'" Lolz.  

DOWNLOAD: Animal Hospital, "Below the Ocean" (mp3)

DOWNLOAD: Ho-Ag, "Paint the Navy" (mp3)

1/25/2007 10:39:58 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

 

IF YOU GO:

• Hands and Knees, Tulsa, Brother/Sister, and Mike Fiore
• Monday, January 29 at the Middle East
• 18-plus, $8

Carter Tanton spent his formative years in Baltimore, playing in bands and eventually recording a solo album that Philly indie label Park the Van (Dr. Dog, the Teeth) released in 2005. Then he moved to Boston, recruited a crack rhythm section, dubbed his new band TULSA, and, using the ancient, dusty analog equipment in his Allston basement, recorded an EP that will be available from PTV as a download-only on February 13. On "Fill Her In" Tulsa sound like a souped-up Neutral Milk Hotel,with Tanton’s acoustic guitar pumped through an old tube pre-amp so that it sounds like a fuzzed-out electric, and his desperate, wavery tenor, which he filtered though a Memory Man analog delay pedal, floating above. There's more where this came from: we've heard a couple tracks from the band's full-length, coming later this year, and suffice to say it's really, really good. In other words: stay tuned, the boy's going to be a problem.

 

DOWNLOAD: Tulsa, "Fill Her In" (mp3)

1/25/2007 10:08:50 AM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

 
BOB: bombs away.

The worst thing about indie-rap is indie-rappers. And while OTD would love to see a well-reasoned, rational debate about how hip-hop's relentless emphasis on floss and coke-slinging is killing the hood and how gangster-rap is genocide, we don't really want to listen to that mess on a record. Ain't saying it can't be done well, just saying that it mostly comes out like a Ladies Christian Temperance Union meeting set to music -- shit's like bringing a screwdriver to a mortar fight. The lack of a commercial alternative to mainstream hip-hop has less to do with resistance to the message -- we all know the messengers have got a point -- than with the inability of backpackers to drum up a resistance anthem that's as club-droppable as the competition. You can count the dudes on one hand who can raise up against the street's formula without instantly deep-sixing their street cred. It's about the music, stupid.

Maybe there's other reasons why it just feels really great to come across something like B.O.B.'s "Gangsta," a song that severs drug-rap's head from its corpse so cleanly -- and by using the genre's underlying thug-treaded whallop against it, no less. (Think 50's "Wanksta," the MENSA remix.) You've heard B.O.B.'s critique of consumer gangsterism before, from a million well-intentioned, no-talent hacks, but you've rarely heard it sing like this and hit all the right notes. It helps that on a freakometric scale of one to Slick Rick, B.O.B. is somewhere around an (Andre) 3000: although he claims the B.O.B. stands for Bring One Blunt and Books Over Bullets, his flow here makes it pretty clear he's studied that "Bombs Over Baghdad" number. He's the latest ATL signing to Atlantic -- brought there by the same TJ (TJSDJS) Chapman who launched the careers of T-Pain, David Banner, and Rick Ross -- and you can see why, with a charismatic conviction that echoes the laidback, everydude slouch of Lupe Fiasco and the pre-"Bush Don't Like Black People" Kanye West. He's of the streets but not beholden to them: "You can't see the hood on MySpace," he warns message-board pretenders, effortlessly positioning himself as a wedge between rappers who are digitally savvy enough to sweat social networking (see the new remix of C-Side's "MySpace Freak," now reeking of snap music and Jazze Pha) and the skeptics who know better. But "Gangsta" also feels left-field coming from a guy whose only other hits waxed novelty-ish: he was the producer of Citty's "Cookie Man" and his solo sleeper "Cloud 9" is sort of like a post-Return to Cookie Mountain version of an Afroman record. Just lucky? Don't think so. We also just came across "Haterz Everywhere," where Orlando's Wes Fif and B.O.B. shout out libraries on a track that hijacks Timbo/Timba's "My Love" synths to rain durrty hi-hat skittery on their enemies' parades. Bombs away.

DOWNLOAD: B.O.B., "Gangsta" (mp3)

DOWNLOAD: WesFif and B.O.B., "Haterz Everywhere" (mp3)

DOWNLOAD: C-Side feat. Jazze Pha, "MySpace Freak (Remix)" (mp3)

 

While we're at it, this T-Pain joint is ridiculous: sounds like one of those flurfy Inspector Gadget-referencing party tracks you normally have to embarass yourself by buying an Eminem or Ludcacris album to cop. Here's a revolutionary concept: FUN. Have some.

DOWNLOAD: T-Pain, "Mr. Dountoun" (mp3) (via this blog)

Not to be confused with the Chicago juke revival that's been sweeping the message boards, Tampa Tony brings Florida back to the map: beat is less like "Bobbahead" and sorta like that Ali & Gipp "Go Head" tune on Red Bull, and the siren is strictly for our chicken soup people.

DOWNLOAD: Tampa Tony, "Can't Jook Without Me" (mp3)

1/24/2007 7:50:54 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Pour one out for Dave "Disco D" Shayman. Disco D, the producer who introduced Kevin Federline to baile funk and crafted K-Fed's infamous debut single "PopoZao," commnitted suicide on Monday at the age of 26. Catchdubs, the Urb, and the Hollertronix board give him thoughtful eulogies. According to a post by a friend on Hollerboard, a funeral service in Michigan and a memorial service in Washington, DC, are planned for later this week. Shayman was a regular poster to the Low-Bee board, which was where the news of his work with Federline and, later, snippets of "PopoZao" first leaked. Although the song was received by the world as a weird joke, D had long since earned his street cred, first as a teenage DJ who helped to popularize ghetto-tech -- the raunchy, uptempo sound of Detroit strip clubs in the late '90s -- with his album A Night at the Booty Bar. And later, in his career-defining moment, producing the track "Ski Mask Way" on 50 Cent's The Massacre. He'd also produced numerous tracks for artists from Princess Superstar to Trick Daddy. D had reportedly been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and according to Allhiphop.com, was "distraught over breaking up with his fiancee" at the time of his death. An old interview with D posted on the Hollerboard yesterday quoted him thusly: "Shit, I ran around Detroit since I was 15, I ran around Kingston. I mean, dude, I’m bipolar, I tried to commit suicide twice, like, I’m not scared of anything, know what I’m sayin’? I don’t give a fuck, dude—to me, life’s a big video game."

DOWNLOAD: Cabal feat. DG and Mr. Bomba, "Cabana" (from Disco D's Gringo Louco: Welcome To Brazil) (mp3)
SEND REGARDS: RIPs and tributes at Disco D's MySpace

 

1/24/2007 12:50:20 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

And you thought that whole 99-cents-a-song thing was revolutionary. Well, if you thought iTunes was going to be content merely to put the compact-disc industry out of business, think again. This week, we got a couple emails that suggest DJs and mastering technicians should watch their backs. The New York Times reports today that Ry Cooder outsourced the mastering of his new album to the "sound enhancer" check-box on his iTunes console. (Sending a shiver down indie-rock spines, Dave Fridman suggests in the same article that the new Clap Your Hands record might sound better in iTunes, too.) And that item sent us scrambling back to a post on Riddim Method about a new software app that will beat-match your entire iTunes collection for you.

Here's the relevant bit on the Cooder disc:

Last year, as Mr. Cooder worked on “My Name Is Buddy,” an oddball folk and blues concept album about a red cat that travels through a mythic American landscape, he ran into familiar problems. When he subjected the recording to his usual test — playback in his Toyota, on the factory-installed stereo — the result wasn’t to his liking. “It started to sound processed,” he said. “We were losing the feeling of the thing, and this is not music that can withstand this.”

Then Mr. Cooder noticed something else: When he burned a copy of the album using Apple’s iTunes software, it sounded fine. He didn’t know why until one of his younger engineers told him that the default settings on iTunes apply a “sound enhancer.” (It’s in the preferences menu, under “playback.”) Usually, that feature sweetens the sound of digital music files, but Mr. Cooder so liked its effect on his studio recordings that he used it to master — that is, make the final sound mixes — his album. “We didn’t do anything else to it,” he said.

Meanwhile, DJ C posts on Riddim Method about staring into the belly of a new beat-matching application by Echo Nest, then dares you to distinguish between a live set he built by hand or the set built by Echo Nest's ENDJMixer.

ENDJMixer is a little software app that can read an iTunes library, from which you can choose a playlist that you’d like to have the app DJ for you. In other words, you feed it a bunch of tunes, it analyzes the files and then beat matches and mixes the tunes for you automatically.

Crikey.

Is Ry Cooder on to something? Obviously, we need a Man Vs. Machine test for this iTunes "mastering" concept. What we need is an ace mastering guy who will agree to challenge the iTunes presets, and a couple of bands with mixed but unmastered tracks that we can use for the challenge. OTD has a couple thoughts about some people who might be into this, but if anyone wants to volunteer, hit us in the comments or at onthedownload@phx.com.

1/22/2007 2:18:31 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Young Berklee grad and Boston multi-instrumentalist Keith Kenniff is the only electronic musician we know to have issued a DJ-style mixtape featuring tracks by John Adams, Gyorgy Ligeto, Igor Stravinsky, and Steve Reich. He records under too many aliases to count, including minimalist electronic music as Helios and delicately-phrased solo-piano sketches as Goldmund, in all endeavors guided by an emphasis on spare melody and rigorous restraint. “Ba,” from Goldmund's Civil War-themed album Corduroy Road, a studious balancing act between sad and vacant in the key of Donnie Darko, has just popped up in a new ad for Honda's ASIMO robot. And now he's sprung on the world another surprise twist: his debut as a drummer and bandleader in Sono, a jazz sextet (also featuring his brother Colin) whose debut single is a nine-minute, oh-so-quiet meditation on Bjork's "Hyperballad," recorded live and pressed to 10-inch-vinyl.

DOWNLOAD: Sono, "Hyperballad" (mp3) (z-share)
DOWNLOAD: Helios, "Classical Mix" (mp3) [tracklist]
WATCH: Honda's Asimo ad featuring "Ba" (or DOWNLOAD HERE)

1/19/2007 2:52:55 PM by On the Download | Comments [3] |  

CLIPSE
February 27 at the Middle East
Tix $22 in advance, $22 at the door
On sale January 25 through Ticketmaster

Pusha T and Malice in the house that indie-rock built? Oh, fuck yes. Frankly, we've never fully understood why hip-hop touring has failed to keep pace with its commercial unit-shifting power: even if you factor in institutional racism, performer unreliability, and ridiculous ticket prices, you still don't get record-of-the-year candle-men like T.I. at 2000-capacity room like Avalon, right? In rock n roll, bigger acts play bigger venues -- ipso facto, bands that play the same room share roughly the same popularity. Which doesn't hold up (or does it?) when you look at Lupe Fiasco, the last name brand to play the Middle East, and Clipse, who made by many people's estimates the best hip-hop album of the year and maybe the best album of the year, period.

In any case, we can not wait for this shit. We'll be there with duncecaps and kazoos.

WATCH: Clipse, "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)"

1/17/2007 2:58:46 PM by On the Download | Comments [3] |  

Best known as the guitarist and songwriter behind the celebrated Boston punk bands the Trouble and the Explosion, Sam Cave has of late been holed up in Brooklyn and Toronto, dabbling in acting and writing his first solo album. He's also produced some demos for Steer Clear and Dave Robertson, and has started a new label, Last Supper, that will be putting out a Josh English solo EP and a Get High discography. Normally we'd wait for him to get in an actual studio, but his home demos sound too damn good not to share. Listen past the lo-fi recording and “Bring Me to the Gun” evokes rock-n-roll the way the first Foo Fighters album framed it: hardcore on an extreme pop kick. In that sense it's less like his street-punk side project the Tonsils and more like his post-Explosion band Mermaid, the Quicksand-y trio he formed with Six Going On Seven's Josh English and the Trouble's Mike Hendrick. Cave's solo debut album Faces of Death will be out later this year. Enjoy....

DOWNLOAD: Sam Cave, "Bring Me To The Gun" (mp3)

1/12/2007 3:12:53 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Juiceboxx: rad to the bone

Retard Disco-style geek-rap phenomenon JUICEBOXXX brings his spazztastic, totally rad, straight-outta-Milwaukee steez to town tonight, and nobody could be more psyched than our favorite DIY partytime crew BIG DIGITS, who own this shit locally and are "presenting" -- but not performing -- tonight's gig. In any case, they would likely have been in the front row even if they weren't involved, and if anyone needed more incentive to get out the crib this evening, the Juicy one is bringing DRE SKULL, his partner-in-crime on a legitimately bonkers new single, "Sweat," that comes out this month and bosts a flipside remix from Spank Rock's XXXChange. The missing link between hipstery-Baltimore club rap and the dorkus message board rappers who love to love it? "Sweat" just might be that jam. The boys get wet tonight at Heartthrob, the industry-night party that's been taking back Tuesdays and blowing up the spot over at Middlesex Lounge.

DOWNLOAD: Juiceboxxx and Dre Skull, "Sweat (teaser)" (mp3, via myspace)
DOWNLOAD: Dre Skull, "Got Your Money (Freestyle)" (mp3)

1/9/2007 4:37:38 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

In general, we think Mastodon going to the Grammys is pretty hot shit. For sucks, though, is that a conflict in schedule means the Converge/Mastodon show scheduled for Lupo's in Providence on February 11 is cancelled. For sucks, that is, if you live in Providence. If you live in Boston, somewhat better news: Converge have booked a replacement gig at the Cambridge Elks Lodge on February 11 with Doomriders (yes, this means a two-a-day gig for Converge bassist Nate Newton).

Before we get all wowsers about this gig, let's cut to the chase. You know what every kid in Massachusetts is thinking right now: Converge + all ages rat hole   (see correction below) = bloodshed. It's sorta like having Slayer play Axis or something. When you raise the testosterone level to three gallons per square inch, you're not gonna end up with a peace rally. We imagine the scene could end up looking not unlike their new video for "No Heroes," only without the pretty little white birdies and with a whole lot more crumbling walls. Kids, let's try to keep it posi, 'k? You fuck this up, there'll probably be no all ages shows on that side of the river for like three years.

CORRECTION: Cambridge Elks is not all-ages anymore. Elks Lodge events coordinator Robin Goodhue checks in: "We do 17+ as that's the law in Cambridge. Last time we ran into trouble with underage kids being beligerent because they showed up to Reagan Youth thinking it was all ages. PLEASE have staff refer to www.myspace.com/cambridgeelks to read what we are about . . . Not every show is 17+ as well we do 21+ and 18+." Our bad. Doubly stoked that there's a Cambridge Elks Myspace page, though. Hot shit.

WATCH: Converge, "No Heroes" (via YouTube):

1/8/2007 8:21:16 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

NOT PICTURED: Amanda, alternating between "sound, no sound, and something more painful than no sound."

As if this theatrical engagement needed any more drama. Our spies ducked back into the Zero Arrow Theatre this weekend and caught a doozy of a performance by the Dresden Dolls -- one that had some seasoned theatregoers wondering whether the strain of eight performances of The Onion Cellar per week is doing real damage to Amanda Palmer's voice. Our sources emerged from the performance with the following conclusions: 1) "Brian is phoning it in," and 2) "Amanda, even with her songs transposed down, alternates -- when she opens her mouth --between sound, no sound, and something more painful than no sound." Yikes. The show has had a commercially successful run despite (perhaps because of) reports of creative tension, which may be a hard sell in drama but is always an upsell in rock and roll. The critics -- mainly theater types with limited exposure to everyone's favorite cabaret punk icons -- gave it a thumbs up.

In any case, the show is headed into its closing weeks: and, come hell, high water, or laryngitis, you're invited to join us and four of the Dolls' favorite bands for the Onion Cellar cast party this Friday at the Middle East. HUMANWINE, Casey Dienel, Corn Mo, and Sleepshell are on the bill, with a couple of un-announceable special guests in the works. We'll have a couple list spots later in the week, stop back for details -- or go over here to win tix.

1/8/2007 5:25:34 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Is Cave-In dead? Well . . . maybe. More after the jump, including exclusive new mp3s from guitarist Adam McGrath's new band Clouds and bassist Caleb Scofield's new band Zozobra.

1/8/2007 5:06:27 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Jesus Christ: Gary Cherone, dude.

That's what we like about you guys: when we suggest a write-in campaign to get Gary Cherone added to the Van Halen roster for the purposes of Rock N Roll Hall of Fame induction, you guys respond. And, when you respond, the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame responds back. Adding insult to injury, the response from the Hall president was: "Gary who?"

From: Terry Stewart [mailto:tstewart@rockhall.org]
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 2:46 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXX
Subject: RE: LET GARY IN

 

Gary who?  Gary "US" Bonds, Gary Glitter, Gary Lewis, Gary Talent...........

 

Terry Stewart
President
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
One Key Plaza
Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: 216-XXX-XXXX Fax: 216-515-1971
tstewart@rockhall.org
www.rockhall.com
 
Rock & Roll: (noun) African American slang dating back to the early 20th Century. In the early 1950s, the term came to be used to describe a new form of music, steeped in the blues, rhythm & blues, country and gospel. Today, it refers to a wide variety of popular music -- frequently music with an edge and attitude, music with a good beat and -- often -- loud guitars.

1/8/2007 3:13:46 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Last Saturday night I finally saw a  DJ Adilson spin gig, at RISE Club of course. Adilson may well be Boston's most popular DJ, as he holds a residency at Avalon, by far our city's largest house music venue. His fans showed up in force at RISE, packing the floor. Adilson plays a hard, almost electro-house brand of trance, and though he plays more "hits" than I prefer to hear from an important DJ, he plays them very imaginatively. I had thought that there was little in Trentemoller's "Les Djinns" or Kobbe's "Slave" that would be new to my ears, but I was wrong; Adilson's mix of "Djinns" shone brighter, with a more bronze-like sound, than I have ever heard; and his boppy, teasing version of "Slave" put a toothy smile on a track that usually sounds more like a sly grin. Adilson worked his tracks with a minimum of fuss, although here and there he tweaked the music more extensively than was apparent from the smoothness of his entire set. Especially noteworthy were his overlay mixes, from rhythm to rhythm, so seamlessly dobne that even though I was standing behind him and knew when he was doing his mix, I could not tell when track A became track B. That's how it should be with an overlay but usually isn't.

-- DJ Ms. DD

1/8/2007 3:06:34 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Well, no shit that the office rock crits have been obsessing over MTV's new I'm From Rolling Stone for months now. I mean, you see how dipshit we get over crap like American Idol. Now that someone was desperate enough to gamble on a reality show about rock criticism -- that yawn you hear is the rest of the world not giving a fuck -- we're totally gonna enjoy it while it lasts. For one thing, dancing about architecture hasn't been even remotely cool in at least a decade, with a slight blip back in 2000 when Almost Famous gave it a sheen of retro chic. The movie had it right about one thing: once upon a time, Rolling Stone was really good. But it hasn't been relavant in a long fucking time, and to see the poor bastards reduced to producing their own low-budget infomercial is just too pathetically wonderful to miss. Especially when one of the contestants repeatedly gets Jann Wenner's name wrong. (To the Asian hyphy-girl DJ with the grill: it's pronounced like this: YAWN.)

So last night's debut was decidedly letdownish, but at 1/2 hour they barely had time to get through all the intros. Right off the bat we've dispensed with the fiction that any of these people were chosen for their writing (except maybe one of them), and have instead been cast in an offshoot of The Real World, except that they don't appear to live together. Hmmm.

Even before Joe Levy broke down these can't-write bitches on camera, Russel Morse was definitely our favorite. If he gets booted from the Stone, we'd like to see him as a mid-season replacement on So You Think You Can Dance.

Top 5 moments from episode one:

5. Krishtina (aforementioned Asian girl with grill) getting Jann's name wrong.

4. Krystal, the hippie chick who's here to remind us of Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, bidding farewell to her Devendra Banhart-looking limp bean of a boyfriend. They're clearly banking on a bf-cries-like-a-little-biatch moment like that one with Shandi from America's Next Top Model, and we wouldn't bet against it.

3. Colin, the token I-listen-to-Elephant-Six-bands indie-rocker, performing a very Jeff Mangum-ized version of the "Hokey Pokey."

2. Joe Levy axing Krystal's lead, specifically a clause where she takes a snarky swipe at straight-edge emokids. Her: "So we just keep it?" Him: "Ummm, no. We just cut the whole thing."

1. Russel to Jann: "Google me."

1/8/2007 11:14:06 AM by On the Download | Comments [2] |  

Google shows its solidarity with the KISS Army.

Somewhere, you can bet Gene Simmons is blood-capsule-spitting mad again this year, as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum again declined to grant KISS entry onto its rolls. We're hoping for another Army protest. As psyched as we are that Grandmaster Flash made it in with the Furious Five, someone explain to us how R.E.-fucking-M. is more important than KISS. Someone who isn't Courtney Love or an indie-record-store nerd.

Also getting enshrined this year: the Ronnettes and Patti Smith (Patti will be breaking in the new ICA in Boston in February). No arguments there. Nor will you hear any complaints from us about letting Van Halen in the door. One thing though. Here's the breakdown on who exactly from Van Halen is getting in:

Van Halen (Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Alex Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth)

We would've loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. "OK, Van Halen is in." "Right, but which Van Halen?" "Oh, come the fuck on: the David Lee Roth Van Halen. Douchebag. Is that even a question?" "No, man, no: you invite DLR, you gotta invite Sammy. Eddie says so." "Well, OK, but there's no fucking way we're inviting that cocksucker from Extreme."

But come on -- why not? In the NFL, you don't even have to play the game to get a Super Bowl ring. If you're on the roster, you get the damn ring. Boston, stand up: email the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and demand that Gary Cherone gets added to the list.

In possibly completely unrelated news, when we attempted to search our way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum web site, we got the above warning from Google. We understand that visiting the RNR Hall may be bad for your brain, your ears, your heart, your conscience, and your sense of rightness in the universe . . . but now it's gonna fuck up our computers, too? Jesus.

1/8/2007 10:33:04 AM by On the Download | Comments [3] |  

Perhaps responding to our plea a week back when we linked to the YouTube vid of James Brown's historic Boston Garden performance recorded on the night Dr. King was murdered, WGBH has launched a "netcast" that examines the concert and the events leading up to the broadcast -- as well as the political wrangling that went on behind the scenes. The presentation is a little awkward -- there's a trick to enabling Flash on a Quicktime player that'll require a trip outside the site -- but it's worth it for the footage. A press release sent around today also promised a link to the full audio of the concert, which, um, we can't find for the life of us. (If you find it before we do, let us know about it in the comments.)

WATCH: "James Brown: The Politics of Soul"

1/5/2007 5:08:13 PM by On the Download | Comments [2] |  

Sorry, OTD has been busy playing with our new 80-gig christmas toy and downloading back seasons of The Wire. Music is playing second fiddle to Avon Barksdale's crew for a minute. We even forgot to vote in Pazz and Jop. Damn. Good thing Cami's down there making sure we don't get kicked off the rolls. Right, sugar?

1. Robbie Roadsteamer played Nintendo and bitched about how everyone feels like they have to move to New York to make it. We know, dude, we know.

2. Mac Big Digits gave "Sexy Back" its fourth or fifth wind, slipping the verse from Gwen's semi-slept-on Pharrell collabo "Yummy" on top, then patching an awesome fade into Gwen's old Pharrell collabo. Joint was released to DJs just in time to make lofts go bananas, but he was nice enough to post it up for everyone today.

DOWNLOAD: No. 1, "Yummy Back" (mp3, via C440 blog)

3. Speaking of lofts going bananas, here's DJ Erik "Baltimoroder" Pearson's set from the Square Productions' "Make It New Year" bash. Flickr slideshow over here.

4. We caught the tail end of WMBR's annual New Year's Day top-100 countdown, which was awesome. Spoiler alert: stop reading if you don't want to know who won. Top spot, by a long shot, was Mission of Burma. The awesome thing was that #2 and #3 were bands who sound like they're trying to be Mission of Burma, and sound awesome doing it. We went digging through the MBR site to dig up the whole countdown, and if you've got a spare 300 mb lying around on your iPod, you could do a lot worse than download the whole damn thing. Or at least about #93 on.

DOWNLOAD: WMBR 2006 Top 100 Countdown, Part 1 (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: WMBR 2006 Top 100 Countdown, Part 2 (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: WMBR 2006 Top 100 Countdown, Part 3 (mp3)

1/5/2007 12:29:53 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Well, shit, if J and Lou could bury the hatchet for a Dino Jr reunion, you knew it was only a matter of time for the "classic" Sebadoh lineup. And with their magnum opus III getting the reish treatment, no better time than the present. (Personally, we're a little more partial to Bakesale, and "Skull" had damn well better be on the set list, motherfuckers.) Barlow, Eric Gaffney, and Jason Loewenstein hit the road this spring, with a Boston date booked for March 30 at the Paradise. Even better, they've launched a new site that features downloadable zip files of 10 full shows.

DOWNLOAD: Sebadoh, "The Freed Pig" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Sebadoh, "Gimme Indie Rock" (mp3)
DOWNLAOD: Sebadoh, "Love Canal" (Flipper cover, Live at the Lounge Ax circa 1991)" (mp3)

1/5/2007 9:58:30 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Meow. Sex kitten/art star/children's-book author Cynthia Von Buhler strikes again with a video for the song she recorded to accompany her latest kiddie tome, The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside. As previously reported, "Come Inside Kitty" was recorded with ex-hubby Adam Buhler and, on the scrotum-grabbing lead vox, Upper Crustie Chris Cote.

WATCH: Cynthia Von Buhler, "Come Inside Kitty"

1/3/2007 4:41:52 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |