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recommended boston area events

closing night tonight!

ending wednesday, april 28th

the 8th annual independent

film festival of boston

@ the coolidge corner theatre


wednesday, april 28th

little boots

dragonette

fan death

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, april 28th

gogol bordello

devotchka

jesse malin

st. mark's social

@ the house of blues


wednesday, april 28th

naked on rollerskates

liberation day

croquet

highly personal trash

@ tt the bears


wednesday, april 28th

kate nash

supercute

@ great scott


thursday, april 29th

frightened rabbit

maps & atlases

bad veins

@ the paradise


friday, april 30th

the big east, banana phonetic,

strange tribe, sun cut flat,

and tin soldier

@ church of boston


friday, april 30th

reading/signing with author

(+ boing boinger) cory doctorow

7pm @ the harvard coop


friday, april 30th +

saturday, may 1st

roflcon II!

internet madness @ mit, cambridge


friday, april 30th

union square roundtable

with jonny cohen,

david bryant's somerville speakout,

and much more

@ pa's lounge


friday, april 30th

the everyday visuals

the lights out

the flying machines

aloud

@ tt the bears


friday, april 30th

corinne bailey ray

@ the house of blues


friday, april 30th

the album leaf

sea wolf

@ the paradise


saturday, may 1st

white rabbits

here we go magic

@ the paradise


sunday, may 2nd

taylor hawkins & the coattail riders

township

@ great scott


monday, may 3rd

yeasayer

sleigh bells

@ the paradise


tuesdays in may!

may 4th, may 11th, + may 18th

john shade + the neave quartet

3-week residency with guests

nina violet (on the 4th),

vikesh kapoor (on the 11th),

+ the low anthem's jocie adams (on the 18th),

@ the lizard lounge


tuesday, may 4th

cartoonist dan clowes

6pm @ the brattle theatre


tuesday, may 4th

john doe + exene

(from x, of course)

dennis brennan

@ the paradise


tuesday, may 4th

gregory & the hawk

lady lamb the beekeeper

@ tt the bears


tuesday & wednesday

may 4th & 5th

public image ltd.

@ the royale (formerly the roxy)


wednesday, may 5th

dom, magic magic,

and the royalty,

with passion pit dj set

featuring ayad + jeff

@ great scott, allston


wednesday, may 5th

minus the bear

@ the wilbur theatre


wednesday & thursday

may 5th & 6th

jonsi (from sigur ros)

death vessel

@ the house of blues


thursday, may 6th

the joy formidable

the dig

@ harpers ferry


thursday, may 6th

shout out louds

freelance whales

@ the paradise


friday, may 7th

ok go

earl greyhound

robert francis

@ the paradise


saturday, may 8th

local natives

@ great scott


tuesday & wednesday

may 11th & 12th

dr. dog

deer tick

@ the paradise


wednesday, may 12th

mass art invades the armory

with humanwine, kelsey jarboe, erica russo,

rick berlin, ryan greene, dave tree,

josh stedman, amy toxic, amy mills,

duncan wilder johnson, jessica lynch,

alvan long, kevin clancy, ian deleon,

and tim bailey

all ages, 7pm @ the somerville armory


thursday, may 13th

massive attack

neon indian

martina topley-bird

@ house of blues


thursday, may 13th

small brown bike

bridge and tunnel

your skull my closet

wallcreeper

@ great scott


friday, may 14th

david bazan (solo)

living room show in beverly, ma


saturday, may 15th

the lindsey buckingham

appreciation society

performs fleetwood mac's 'tusk'

@ the lizard lounge


saturday, may 15th

two door cinema club

bad veins

millionyoung

@ great scott


monday, may 17th

cotton candy (mark robinson

and evelyn hurley)

veronica falls, + reports

@ charlie's kitchen

monday, may 17th

hooray for earth

twin shadow

@ the middlesex lounge


tuesday, may 18th

"music 2.0: tools + tech for

musicians, marketers, + managers"

free with rsvp at above link

6pm @ microsoft's n.e.r.d.


monday, may 17th

buzzcocks

the jollyrots

@ the paradise


monday, may 17th

pearl jam

band of horses

@ the garden


tuesday, may 18th

spectrum (featuring sonic boom

from spacemen 3 + e.a.r.)

with the broken river prophet

@ the middle east upstairs


thursday, may 20th

magic man

magic magic

arpline

some say fire

@ tt the bears


friday, may 21st

hurricane bells

the fatal flaws

reverse

thick as thieves

@ tt the bears


saturday, may 22nd

the needy visions (lp release!)

tulsa, mmoss,

life partners,

+ maine coons

@ the temple in j.p.


saturday, may 22nd

holly miranda

@ tt the bears


sunday, may 23rd

they might be giants

two children's shows @ 12 + 3pm

@ the regent theatre, arlington


saturday, may 22nd

killing joke

@ the paradise


tuesday, may 25th

the smittens

allo darlin'

one happy island (cd release party!)

hearts!attack

a smile and a ribbon

horowitz

@ the lizard lounge


wednesday, may 26th

imogen heap

@ the orpheum


wednesday, may 26th

reverend horton heat

cracker

miss derringer

@ the house of blues


friday, may 28th

mono

the twilight sad

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, may 30th

boston-area blog bbq shindig!

details to come

@ bridge sound & stage, cambridge


sunday, may 30th

the besnard lakes

land of talk

the drew o'doherty trio

@ tt the bears


tuesday, june 1st

stars

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 2nd

kings of convenience

franklin for short

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 2nd

ryan bingham & the dead horses

@ tt the bears


wednesday & thursday

june 2nd & 3rd

the national

@ the house of blues


friday, june 4th

broken bells

the morning benders

@ the royale


friday, june 4th

brian jonestown massacre

young sinclairs

@ the paradise


friday + saturday, june 4th + 5th

the conan o'brien 'prohibited' tour

with reggie watts

@ the wang theatre/citi center


saturday, june 5th

matt pond pa

wintersleep

@ great scott


saturday, june 5th

the psychedelic furs

she wants revenge

@ house of blues


tuesday, june 8th

junip (jose gonzalez' band)

forest fires

@ great scott


tuesday, june 8th

concrete blonde

@ the royale


thursday, june 10th

the trashcan sinatras

the candles

@ tt the bears


friday, june 11th

buffalo tom

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 16th

damien jurado

kay kay + his weather underground

marc pinansky

@ tt the bears


friday, june 18th

the new pornographers

the dodos

the duchess + the duke

@ house of blues


friday, june 18th

reigning sound

movers & shakers

triplethick

@ tt the bears


saturday, june 19th

evelyn evelyn

(amanda palmer + jason webley)

@ the house of blues


saturday, june 19th

james taylor

carole king

@ the garden


sunday + monday

june 20th + 21st

isis

melvins

totimoshi

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 23rd

hole

@ the house of blues


friday, june 25th

modest mouse

morning teleportation

@ the house of blues


sunday, june 27th

mary chapin carpenter

madeleine peyroux

@ boston's symphony hall


thursday, july 1st

she & him

@ the house of blues


sunday, july 11th

jeremy jay

@ tt the bears


monday, july 12th

wolf parade

the moools

@ the house of blues


wednesday, july 14th

squeeze

cheap trick

@ the boa pavilion


saturday, july 17th

crowded house

@ the house of blues


monday, august 2nd

the gaslight anthem

tim barry

@ the house of blues


friday, august 13th

deerhunter

@ the royale


monday, august 16th

tears for fears

@ the house of blues


thursday + saturday

august 19th + 21st

tom petty + the heartbreakers

my morning jacket

@ the comcast center


saturday, august 21st

boston band crush presents...

ONE NIGHT BAND!

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 7th

tortoise

@ the paradise


sunday, september 12th

blondie

@ the house of blues


tuesday, september 14th

rush

@ the td garden


saturday, december 4th

killing joke

@ the paradise


visit tourfilter for more shows


Friday, September 11, 2009

A Bona Fide Boston Music Boom - Part 1 of 2

Imagine me saying this in my most sickeningly sincere voice possible: It has been a very, very long time since I've been as excited about Boston-made music (and specifically, discovering the new) as I have been over this past couple months. I've been listening to a whole lot of area bands lately, and I feel like I've barely even scratched the sonic surface. So I'm going to take a quick run down of the locally-grown music that has been filling my ears and warming my heart as the summer fades, and point you in the direction of where you can buy their work or see 'em play next. And if any of the free n' legal mp3s that follow grab you, hopefully you'll do both.

While I'm going to stick mostly to the facts here, rather than all-out flattery, if a band is listed here, they are entirely Almanac-endorsed. In this first part, I'll rattle off some albums that were released recently that you may have missed, a couple of which I've mentioned and a few I've been meaning to. In part two, which I hope to post later this coming week, I'll focus on just-released or upcoming releases that I'm excited about, along with some completely free offerings from some new bands. And off we go...


In late July, Taunton's own Wheat released their latest full-length, "White Ink, Black Ink", and they've shared a couple of songs and a video from it...
[Mp3]: Wheat - "H.O.T.T."
[Mp3]: Wheat - "Changes Is"
[Video]: Wheat - "Changes Is" (in .mov format / youtube here)
Pick up your own copy of the disc here, and be sure to visit thiswheat.com, where you'll find a load of shared live sets. The band plays their next area show on a Saturday night, October 24th, downstairs at the Middle East in Central Square with Jukebox The Ghost, and tickets go on sale next Friday, September 18th. If you're lucky, they'll do their Daft Punk cover.


You'd think I'd be slightly tired of You Can Be A Wesley's debut record, "Heard Like Us", by now, given how much I've listened to it (and how many times I'd heard the live versions of the songs before the album arrived), but it's still making frequent and welcome appearances in my playlists. Here's the oft-shared "Creatures", which leads off side 2 of the LP (and I love that I can say that)...
[Mp3] You Can Be A Wesley - "Creatures"
Listen to a couple more songs at their Muxtape page, grab the album digitally from Amazon.com, or snag a copy of the vinyl from the band at one of their shows (no cd on this one, kids!). Your next chance to do that is tonight, when the band plays their alma mater (that's B.U. to you and me) as part of a WTBU Day show, which starts at 8pm at the George Sherman Union, 775 Commonwealth Ave. Admission is free for students, and just 5 bucks otherwise, and joining them are Pretty & Nice and Magic Magic. That's a steal at less than 2 bucks a band.

YCBAW will play again soon, when they Allston's Great Scott on Sept. 26th to help Hallelujah The Hills celebrate the release of their own new album. But more on that in the tomorrow's half of this post.

(and on a total side note - nice to see half of YCBAW in the Autolux-appreciating crowd last night at the 'Dise.)


First, I owe an apology to Mean Creek - I was somehow pre-programmed to take a first glance at your band name and incorrectly guess 'bluegrass?'. Nothing against bluegrass, but I'm really glad I dove into their wonderful new disc, "The Sky (Or The Underground)", to discover that is most definitely not the case. Listen to the title track to hear for yourself...
[Mp3] Mean Creek - "The Sky (or the Underground)"
The band celebrated the release of the disc last month, so you can get the tracks digitially from Amie Street or other sources listed here, or physically from Old Flame Records. Their next show is today, when they hit the Boston waterfront for The Boston Arts Festival in Christopher Columbus Park at 5:45pm, they're playing TT's on Sept. 17th, and they'll also be part of the Mark Sandman Memorial Concert on September 27th.


On the same night, and on the same stage, that Mean Creek celebrated their album's release, so did their friends in Drug Rug. "Paint The Fence Invisible" is 11 tracks in just over 30 minutes, short sharp shocks of catchy songs that dig in deep and stay there. Here's one...
[Mp3] Drug Rug - "Never Tell"
Stream the entire album (or better yet, buy the damn thing) at LaLa. If you didn't catch them at that CD release show, then you'll be waiting until their in-progress tour with Portugal. The Man comes to Boston on October 18th. Tickets for that Paradise show can be obtained right here.


There are musicians you love, and then there are musicians who are loved by the musicians you love. I happily discovered Cambridge's own Choo Choo La Rouge thanks to singer/songwriter Jennifer O'Connor, who digs them enough to put out their "Black Clouds" album out on her very own Kiam Records imprint last month. Here's a song and brand new video for your edumusication...
[Mp3] Choo Choo La Rouge - "It's Gonna Happen Fast"
[Video] Choo Choo La Rouge - "Here Come The Guns"
Pick up the album digitally from Amazon (and be sure to sample to my favorite track, "Mostly Air"), or a disc direct from Jennifer at Kiam. The trio celebrated with a release show in Somerville a few weeks back, but only have a couple of out of October out-of-town shows booked at the moment. Keep an eye and ear out for their next Boston-area appearance.


Oh Caspian, my Caspian. This is far from the first, nor will it be the last, time I've mentioned these Beverly-based boys on this site. The occasion? The arrival of their majestic (a word easily applied) second full-length, "Tertia". Yes, they fit in the ol' instrumental post-rock category, but they do it with such passion, such power, that seeing them live can be both a mentally and physically moving experience. A sold-out crowd experienced that a couple weeks ago at the TT's release party, where I finally got to hold the hefty, beautifully designed, double-vinyl version of the album in my happy little hands. Here's a meager digital taste of "Tertia"...
[Mp3] Caspian - "Of Foam and Wave"
Know what you can do right now? Go download the entire album, for free, at Gimme Sound, or better yet, order up that 180g double-vinyl (or cd) from their label, Mylene Sheath. The band, who have just weathered a line-up shift and emerged ready for the road, have been set loose upon Europe for a massive two-month tour, and they'll return to our shows for an October 29th homecoming set upstairs at the Middle East. Which spells sellout. Tickets here.


Keep an eye out for part two, in which I'll spotlight some upcoming albums and associated live shows I'm anticipating, along with pointers to even more free music made in and around our little city.

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sparklehorse
live at the paradise
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on monday, february 26th, 2009

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