ADHOC KICKSTARTER

Dear readers/listeners of Friendship Bracelet,

I have yet to post anything in these pages about how Emilie Friedlander and Ric Leichtung are trying their damnedest to raise enough money to launch their new independent publication adhoc.fm, so today is the day. In case you didn't know, Emilie and Ric were the editors of the now-defunct Pitchfork Media project Altered Zones. They did a fantastic job managing all the contributors and getting shit done and it was a pleasure to work with them. I have been asked to contribute a column to the new venture and can't wait to flesh out the topic and start putting together some pieces for you all to enjoy.

Anyway, this is really just a last-ditch plea for you to dig deep in your pockets and pledge a few bucks to the creation of this independent outsider music publication. There's only five days to go, so get on it.

R.I.P. BEATRICE MARY PAGEREY

(video via GvsB)

CMJ SUPERLATIVES (PART TWO)

FRIDAY:

BAND I WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN IN A BASEMENT: Flight.

TINIEST PLACE TO SEE A SHOW: Co-op 87.

ILLEST DRINK DEAL: Free Budweiser and Vitamin Water/vodka drinks at Fader Fort.

NICEST WEED STANK: Glasslands for Freddie Gibbs' set.

BEST ADDITION OF LUKA USMIANI TO A BAND: Family Portrait.

MOST IMPROVED: Greatest Hits at Death By Audio seemed much more polished and nicely mixed at DBA than at Bruar Falls.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: John Maus canceling his Death By Audio set.

REALEST SENTIMENT: "Fuck the beef shit" - Freddie Gibbs.

SATURDAY:

FREE SHIT WAS AT: Fader Fort (bud + vitaminwater/vodka cocktails) & Purevolume House (Izze sodas, Asahi, vodka, Pop Chips)

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Waka Flocka canceling at Fader Fort OR not seeing Kanye at Brooklyn Bowl or whatever.

BIGGEST BUMMER: I ate a bag of Pop Chips at the Purevolume House and my mouth STILL hurts.

SECOND BIGGEST BUMMER: I had to do laundry Saturday afternoon.

BEST BAND: Teen Inc. at Purevolume House.

BAND THAT REMINDED ME MOST OF PITTSFIELD, MA: OFF!

TIGHTEST WEED SMOKING QUARTERS: Storage Room at Fader Fort, Friday + Saturday.

SUNDAY:

All I did Sunday was wind down by going to Shea Stadium and seeing Birthdays, Dark Sea of Awareness, Emily Reo, Millionyoung, Truman Peyote (with Shane from Many Mansions on bass) and Gobble Gobble.

CMJ SUPERLATIVES (PART ONE)

TUESDAY:

ILLEST DUDES I NEVER MET BEFORE: Rose Quartz trio.

ILLEST DRINK DEAL: 2 for 1 happy hour 5-8PM at Bruar Falls.

BUMMER I MISSED OUT ON: Group Tightener/Acephale show at Shea Stadium.

ONLY BAND I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE: Greatest Hits sextet ft. Ian Drennen of Big Troubles on bass and the one and only Luke Perry.

DRUNKEST MOMENT: Happening upon Dent May just starting at Micro-Pixel-Rites Glasslands show.

WEDNESDAY:

STANKIEST BASEMENT CLUB: The Delancey.

BEST T-SHIRT: Diamond Rings' absolutely bonkers Blue Jays t-shirt at Santos Party House.

LAMEST BAND I SAW TWICE: Houses.

MOST SUPREME SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS FANS: Young Prisms.

DOPEST ENCOUNTER: Music director dude from UC Santa Barbara randomly asking me if I was going to The Delancey while I was eating pizza. Later, dude let me drink a bunch of his Jim Beam.

RADDEST COVER: Dom covering "Hey Sandy" by Polaris (for you dweebs who aren't in the know, "Hey Sandy" = The Adventures of Pete & Pete theme song).

PITCHFORK GUY I MET AND IT WAS OKAY: Larry Fitzmaurice.

LATEST SHOW: How To Dress Well at like 4AM at The Delancey.

THURSDAY:

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Absolutely no free poutine at Arlene's Grocery, though apparently M for Montreal advertised that there was free poutine.

MOST WILD SHOW: Gobble Gobble, by far.

STICKIEST FLOOR: Live at The Pyramids.

REALEST SENTIMENT: "Fuck the Police of the United States of America."

DOPEST DUDE: Guy outside Glasslands who gave me $2 for a single Maverick.

BEST VISUALS AT A SHOW: Eternal Summers at The Pyramids.

PITCHFORK GUY I MET AND IT WAS OKAY: Ryan Dombal.

BAND I'M LEAST BUMMED THAT I MISSED: Surfer Blood at The Pyramids.

MOST DEJA VU MOMENT: Seeing Andrew Cedermark at Glasslands again after seeing him there like last week.

BAND I'M WAY DOWN WITH SEEING WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, AND WILL DEFINITELY GO SEE FRIDAY: Young Prisms. Playing Friday at Mexican Summer's Co-op 87 (FIRE TALK SHOWCASE).

TRIPLE YOU TAPES

This post is a post to announce a new entity I have been working on called Triple You Tapes. We will be releasing cassettes, CDRs and digital downloads in the near future, starting with this here free digital download compilation of acts associated with the label. Most all of the artists found here will be releasing something under the Triple You Tapes (UUUTAPES) label, starting with Termeric's Natural Gel cassette, ready for preorder next week, followed by Persona La Ave's Brothers Was Taken tape, a Wicked Fag EP and a whole lot more. For now, feast on the comp and get ready for a bunch of new music coming out these pages in the near future.





TRIPLE YOUUU TAPES SUUUMMUUUR SAMPLUUUR


1. TERMERIC - GET COME DOWN

2. CLEARING - JUNE SECOND

3. BRANCHES - SALÃO FLAMINGO

4. SHRUR - MIKE ZONE

5. WICKED FAG - SPIKY SHARP + NEEDLE BELT (LONG VERSION)

6. IVAN MAIRESSE - DONKEY SKIN

7. C POWERS - OPEN MINT

8. PERSONA LA AVE - MURTIS CAYFIELD (DEMO)

9. HEROBUST - GRIEF CASE

10. SAD CITY - NIGHT TIME TRIAL

11. LNDRMN - MR. PRESIDENT (SPECIAL 12" CLUB MIX)

12. MANE MANE - TWNKL SR

13. TANGLES - ONE HUNDRED MILLION BILLION

14. MILK CHILD - ATOMS DON'T MATTER (UNCENSORED VERSION)



TUMBLR

TWITTER

STORE COMING SOON

MY PEOPLE

Dear Readers/Listeners,

It has become apparent that my server I've been using for streams/downloads, Box.net, has a monthly limit on bandwidth which I exceeded this month with about 2 weeks left before the new month. This will not be stood for. Since this bandwidth infraction means no downloads from any of my Box.net files til the beginning of October, I have been in talks with friends trying to beef up my bandwidth. This means a new server, which I will be working on very soon. Until this move, there will unfortunately be no uploads. If there happens to be a file you simply can't live without, hit me up at iprnelson@gmail.com and we can work something out.

A couple other things in the works:

1. Volume 2 of the Friendship Bracelet Club compilation series grows and grows every day, and will finally see the light of say at the beginning of October. This collection of previously unreleased songs has been slowly trickling in since Volume 1 dropped, and I am very excited to release it on the world. Keep yer ears to the soil, this shit's rumblin hard.

2. I have been in talks with Kenneth Brown and have been examining his Byrds of Paradise project rather closely over the last few weeks, and am very very happy to announce the first ever non-compilation Friendship Bracelet release, Byrds of Paradise's Hearts of Palm cassette. The tape will run about eight tracks, around 20 minutes in length and will feature re-recorded versions of most previously available Byrds of Paradise jams plus new material. Still unsure on an exact release date, price or edition, but I'll be sure to keep everything up to date as informations begin to crystallize. Excitement abound!

3. Podcasts of current radio program Papercup Mixmaster will start to make appearances in these pages as well. The first will be yesterday's show, hopefully up sometime this week.

UNDERWATER PEOPLES SHOWCASE

In the insignificant amount of time I've been adding link after link to the globe-spanning Friendship Bracelet, no other label/group of friends/group of musicians/group of rad musicians has affected me as thoroughly as the Underwater Peoples crew. They're gentle giants, liquid lovers who know how to sweet a young man's (and surely a young woman's) heart and caress his soul, simply through the art of song, the art of friendship and the art of art. It's people like these that make the world seem so much more like a marble that looks like Earth rather than a map of the planet which is Earth.


The time has almost come for one and all to throw their biggest and brightest Aggies, Oxbloods, Cat's Eyes, Jaspers, Bumblebees and Commies into the giant Ringer which is Myrtle Street's Market Hotel in Brooklyn. Next Saturday, August 22, Underwater Peoples will host its Late Summer Showcase, a one-day 'stock featuring their bounty of minstrels, bards, troubadours, bands and friends, including voluptuous jams from Real Estate, Ducktails, Family Portrait, Pill Wonder, Fluffy Lumbers, Big Troubles and many more. This one-time fest is served up for a dirt-cheap $5 ticket, which can be purchased directly from Underwater Peoples by clicking the PAYPAL button at the top of their blog.

I am lucky enough to have that weekend off from real life to recover from oral surgery, so two become one, Pittsfield, MA and Brooklyn, NY, old buds that go way back but can hardly reconcile the harsh reality of being separated by the three or four hours it takes to travel the 158 miles.

So open up your hearts, expand your minds and empty your wallets of those five beat up Washingtons. It's time to party.

If by some strange chance you haven't heard these tunes, peep gems from:

Ducktails

Pill Wonder

Fluffy Lumbers

Big Troubles

Shatterday

1. This week's radio show marked the first time DJ Salinger and myself have completed a full two hours of programming on WMUA with 100% new (past month or two) music. Fine is 2009.


2. The first official Friendship Bracelet Club compilation is nearing completion. There is an official day and a half remaining for submissions with a possible day or two lag time where submissions will be accepted. I expect the whole deal to be ready sometime this week so keep checking back.

Confirmed tracks by: Julian Lynch, Family Portrait, Jeans Wilder, Dem Hunger, Fluffy Lumbers, Sad City, Wonder Wheel and more

(EDIT: Shahs too)

Brooklyn Birthday

Last weekend was a straight up blast. I spent it roaming Brooklyn + Manhattan exploring the New York Public Library, rowing a boat in Central Park, meandering through the Cloisters, listening to the sweet sounds of Michael Jackson devoutly pour out of car stereos and blast out of storefronts and I even caught two rad shows - Kurt Vile + Girls + Real Estate + Beach Fossils at Monster Island Basement Friday night and Ducktails + Julian Lynch + Fluffy Lumbers at the Market Hotel Saturday night.


I got to Monster Island Basement a bit late but still caught most of Beach Fossils' set, which was enjoyable and included those songs "Vacation" and "Daydream." The venue itself was a cool space, apparently used for yoga and martial arts lessons during the day. The downside was the intimidation cops creepin round the outside of the venue making it so you had to walk blocks away to not disturb them, which isn't a big deal but cops are cops. Real Estate followed Beach Fossils and was also very good. This was the first time I had seen them and I was not disappointed. They played excellent versions of "Green River" and "Suburban Dogs," which seemed slightly sped up in a good way. Julian Lynch actually played keys on a couple songs (the only two he had learned up to that point) and will be playing with them more, which is exciting. Girls were also good, though I still haven't listened to them much. They covered "Wild Eyes" by Vivian Girls (which may have sounded something like this). At this show I met Sam from Fluffy Lumbers, Etienne, Martin and Matt from Real Estate, Liam (the Younger) from Titus Andronicus and Brody + Ari from Family Portrait (who will be releasing a split with former Titus Andronicus guitar man Andrew Cedermark sometime soon), all of whom were very cool, personable and pleasant to smoke weed/drink beers with.


The show the next night was a bit smaller (the Friday night show "sold out"), and instead of in a basement it was up some stairs hovering right next to a clacking train. This space was like a collage, walls plastered with Sharpie marker, paint and paper. Julian Lynch played first, using some looping to create the rhythmic background of "The Flood" under his smoky clarinet.


Fluffy Lumbers was next and while they apparently didn't know how to play "Live Ones" yet, they did play a bunch of songs including "Cruisers," "Cruisers Pt. 2," "Shore Patrol" (which is "about the beach but isn't about the beach" and is actually about an episode of COPS) and an excellent cover of the Cranberries' "Dreams". Liam from Titus also shouted a song with them. "Ducktails" was next, which was a Matt Mondanile + Julian Lynch keys + guitar jam followed by another toasted jam with Etienne Duguay on drums, 2 guitars and a bass. Can't wait to see all these guys play again.

Coincidence

After the radio show last night I headed over to 145 South Street in Northampton to check out Predator Vision (Matt Mondanile, Etienne Duguay, Ben Daly etc). First thing's first - they were very very good. Everyone gets the Can influence with them, but it was extremely apparent in the live show. Throw in some Sabbath sounds and perhaps those of some newer psychers like Psychic Ills or Sun Araw and maybe one can imagine the sound. Churning stretches of guitar and bass, persistent drums, general shredding/noodling/"jamming."

Download both Predator Vision and Predator Vision II here (via Pukekos) then BUY II here.

Download Predator Vision's split with Sun Araw here (via Google Search, not my upload) then BUY here.

Although Predator Vision was decidedly great, the best part of last night came right after their set. I walked upstairs and was talking with my buddy Gabriel (who was spinning dusty garage + soul jams as DJ Oatmeal Raisin) who got talking to Matt and PV's bassist who turned out to be Friendship Bracelet constant Julian Lynch. Apparently he's been filling in their past few shows and has had a blast doing it. I talked to him for what seemed like an hour out on the porch sharing cigarettes and rambling on about his music, studies and travel. He's a straight up super-positive guy, just wide-eyed and ready to talk about anything.

He warned me of a Missouri town where he played a show with eight racist metal bands ("that said the N-word on stage and dressed like Insane Clown Posse"). He warned me about living in a big city (being held an gunpoint, generally cold people), which I appreciated since I have never done so. He talked about his ethnomusicology graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where his thesis is derived from the devotional bag pipe and drum music of Asia (namely Jersey's Swamibapa Pipe Band). He also talked about a lot of his friends' musics including Ducktails, Real Estate, Sad City, Fluffy Lumbers, Pill Wonder etc etc.

He's going to be sending me over his split with Ducktails as well as an album he recorded last November, Garden Is Adventure sometime soon along with a track that was left off Orange You Glad for an upcoming compilation I'm curating. He's also going to give me the low-down on some Madison bands to look out for. Check him out playing with Ducktails and Fluffy Lumbers when they play the Market Hotel in Brooklyn June 27, I believe I'll be there.

SPEAKING OF THE COMPILATION IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS MUSIC THEY'D WANT ME TO HEAR IN ANY CAPACITY MY EMAIL IS iprnelson@gmail.com AND PERHAPS I WILL CONSIDER THROWING SOME MUSIC I FIND THROUGH VARIOUS INTERNET CREVICES ON THERE. STAY TUNED.

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SPEAKING OF JERSEY:


Titus Andronicus will be playing with Ted Leo and Alottle at the Easthampton High School Gymnasium tonight at 8PM for $10. What would have been the first Flywheel show in their new location has turned into more of a benefit for the Flywheel as construction and the like have prevented them from hosting shows just yet.

The Future

I'm graduating from college (?) May 23 into a world I am not familiar with - one without a writing position at a physical news publication. In a way it's dark, but there's so many opportunities online that I'm not worried. I spoke with the Daily Collegian's Brian Wood (current Arts & Living Editor, future Web/Multimedia Editor) recently about the future of journalism and he had a lot of insight into the matter regarding advertising, money, the power of the internet, and accepting overall changes in the way news organizations do their business.


One example where decreased cash flow is affecting business is at the Collegian. Ad sales are down so the paper's quality is down. They're used to running 12+ pages but have been forced to cut it down to eight lately, allowing certain sections only one page (including Arts & Living). This decrease in money flow has also lead to general pay decreases for those who are even making money - zero reporters (like me) make a dime, zero assistant editors (like me) make a dime... it's only the people with the title "editor" who make any money through the Collegian, and even then people are taking cuts. Editor in Chief Mike King even chose to forgo the rest of his pay for the year so the money can be put back into the paper.


The Collegian has readied themselves for the onslaught of converting to online, finally getting ahold of a server which works for them. They hope to better their multimedia content next year. Brian made a good point - why pay for a newspaper subscription when you're just going to put the paper down for your pet to piss on when you can get the news for free online? It just doesn't make sense, especially in this economy.

Ya Gotta Be Kidding Me

Best thing I saw this April Fools Day by far. And it's real. Honest.

I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. Bad news is I'm going to have to miss this show my friend Bryan is putting on in Pittsfield - Masshysteri (Swede punk), Mudlark (stompin' posse), Prick Bastard ("70s rock suckerpunch"), and Screaming Females ("The last three "guitar heroes" I saw were women: Marnie Stern, Kaki King, and Marissa Paternoster of the Screaming Females" - Sasha Frere-Jones, via brooklynvegan). Check out the flyer here and go to the show if you can cos, in the words of Bryan, "You have nothing else to do."


The good news is I'm going to Boston tonight and tomorrow will be catching The New Pornographers' A.C. Newman and the hyper-Friendship-Bracelet-approved Dent May (surely with His Magnificent Ukulele) at the Paradise Rock Club. Newman's recently released record Get Guilty is a solid piece of guitar power pop. My favorite track I remember from it is "Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer," which you can download here (via Can You See the Sunset). Also, check Mr. May's cover of Prince's "When You Were Mine" from his A Brush With Velvet EP here (via Chocolate Bobka).

Then, Sunday is the Saint Patrick's Day parade in Boston, which should be culturally enlightening.

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Unrelated:

I love this time of year.

Sol LeWitt

Wall Drawing #462. On four walls, one room, arcs 4 inches (10 cm) wide, from the midpoints of four sides, drawn with alternating bands of gray and black ink wash. January 1986.

A display of the work of Sol LeWitt, A Wall Drawing Retrospective, is taking residence at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA from now until, well, 2033. The 25-year long exhibit follows LeWitt's trajectory from 1968 til his death last year. The exhibit rests in MASS MoCA's mill building #7, specially chosen by LeWitt and renovated to hold as much of his work as possible. There's three whole floors dedicated to this, starting with his early work on the first floor, his middle years on the second, and his late career on the third. The content evolves from basic exercises in line and color to more involved arrangements of colors, shades, and textures, and ends up in a brilliant combination of vibrance, movement, and complexity. It's very overwhelming the entire walk through, which could take a couple hours. Even the less over-the-top pieces are amazing. Every piece is larger than life, on giant scale, product of either laborious calculations and number crunching or creative ways to express the idea of basic movement with simple building blocks.


Wall Drawing #419. The wall is bordered and divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts with a 6-inch (15 cm) black ink band. Each quarter has alternating parallel 6-inch (15 cm) bands of white and color ink bands. Upper left: gray; upper right: yellow; lower left: red; lower right: blue. September 1984.


Wall Drawing #38. Tissue paper cut into 1½-inch (4 cm) squares and inserted into holes in the gray pegboard walls. All holes in the walls are filled randomly. April 1970.


Wall Drawing #422. The room (or wall) is divided vertically into fifteen parts. All one-, two-, three-, and four-part combinations of four colors, using color ink washes. November 1984. (foreground)
Wall Drawing #681C. A wall divided vertically into four equal squares separated and bordered by black bands. Within each square, bands in one of four directions, each with color ink washes superimposed. August 1993. (background)


Wall Drawing #335. On four black walls, white vertical parallel lines, and in the center of the walls, eight geometric figures (including cross, X) within which are white horizontal parallel lines. The vertical lines do not enter the figures. May 1980.


Wall Drawing #396. A black five-pointed star, a yellow six-pointed star, a red seven-pointed star, and a blue eight-pointed star, drawn in color and India ink washes. May 1983.
DH for scale.


Wall Drawing #793B. Irregular wavy color bands. January 1996.






Wall Drawing #901. Color bands and black blob. May 1999.


Wall Drawing #1152. Whirls and twirls. April 2005.


Wall Drawing #1112. Square with broken bands of color. December 2003.


DH for scale

Related: Philip Glass is performing/talking about his music for films at MASS MoCA January 16 as well as screening a few portions.

Parts & Labor

Good News:



Parts & Labor are playing here in Amherst at Hampshire College December 11 at the Red Barn with Ampere, Bunnies, Grey Skull, and the oft-mentioned Eric Hnatow (who will also be playing at the WMUA Vinyl Fair/Record Fest Dec 6 with Teeth Mountain (some real good stuff on their Myspace), Rabbit Rabbit, and Brown Recluse Sings). This is good news since I missed Parts & Labor when they played up north in Bennington last Spring. I ALSO MISSED Parts & Labor's Dan Friel playing at WMUA's Fall concert (also feat. Eric Hnatow + Death Set) so I really earned this one, though it is on the same day Beach House + Tickley Feather play Pearl Street.

P.S.



Stephen Curry currently has 42 points after making a couple more three pointers for Davidson and they're only down 3 to Oklahoma. I think they were just down 18.

Also:



Great film.

Slowdive

Upon listening to Deerhunter all afternoon, I remembered that there were some songs on Atlas Sound's Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel that reminded me of UK shoegaze babes Slowdive. Their Souvlaki record is one of my favorites ever, and I happened to come across a working link. Brian Eno co-produced a couple tracks, "Sing" and "Here She Comes," and it shows. Otherwise it's some real icy cold songs with soaring guitars and dreamy vocals. Pygmalion was Slowdive's next and last record, two years later in 1995, really straying from any Pop sensibilities at all. The textures are spacey and hazy, rolling along in circular motions until they dissolve into each other.

Slowdive - Souvlaki

Slowdive - Pygmalion


P.S. I can't believe Obama + McCain were both just on Monday Night Football with Chris "Boomer" Berman.

P.P.S. Speaking of the election, sad quote in the McCain article in the NYT today:

"During the day he gets almost no exercise, eats the candy and junk food strewn all over his bus, and naps slumped in his seat in the curtained-off front section of his plane. The national reporters he once called his "base" remain banished in the back; aides say he is convinced that they are all rooting for Obama."

I feel bad.. Maybe I'll vote for him tomorrow.

Speaking of which, this is great

Deerhunter

I've been on a continual Bradford Cox craze as of late, and I'd love to share this quote he threw on his blog after seeing My Bloody Valentine in London a while back:

"It was the single loudest thing I have ever experienced. The sound moved my face. My balls retracted. It was like standing in front of the mouth of hell or a nuclear holocaust. If this sounds like fun, you are like me and FUCKED UP. It hurt."

Jealousy is me. Perhaps I, too, will be honored to have MBV melt my ears off.

You really need to check Microcastle and/or Weird Era Cont. as soon as possible if you haven't already. You can peep my review of those records tomorrow when they're printed on the Collegian's music day (Tuesday).

Edit: here it is

Weekend Wit Jens

Friday saw no Sesame Street Bandaids, unfortunately, but did see the super-hyped Hampshire Halloween extravaganza while our pre-recorded show played.

Note: Hampshire Halloween happened extremely underwhelmingly and if it weren't for the overwhelming amount of MDMA and jellyfish costumes it would've totally flopped.

So Jens Lekman played in nearby Northampton last night, which was so great. You can read about the event here, an article I totally wrote Thursday afternoon before Pitchfork picked up on it. Take That.

Here's a setlist of the show, a photo up there, and a review in the Collegian tomorrow, which I'll post once it goes to print.

Edit: here is my review.

Sipping on the Sweet Nectar
A Postcard to Nina
Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig
Black Cab
Shirin

INTERMISSION/BAKESALE/RAFFLE

It Was a Strange Time in My Life
A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill
The Cold Swedish Winter
I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You
The Opposite of Hallelujah

ENCORE:

You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon Cover)
Your Arms Around Me
Pocketful of Money

Best wishes to Clara Gardner



Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band will perform Thursday Nov 6 at the Northampton Music Academy in Northampton with Ben Kweller and Rig 1. Supposedly sold out, but it should be a great show. The new C.O. record is great, highlights = Sausalito; Get-Well Cards; I Don't Want to Die (In a Hospital); NYC -- Gone, Gone; and Souled Out!!! The record reads like a Tom Petty tribute, generally, with some fun flares woven in like the Elliott Smith-sounding guitar tone of Lenders in the Temple and the wicked stomp of NYC -- Gone, Gone. Moab goes directly the way of Petty, but thats a-okay. Maybe not one of the top of the top records of the year but it sure kicks. P.S. It's definitely not a Bright Eyes record, think more of a grown up Oberst breaking out of a sappy shell and into his own just playing county songs and having a lot of fun.







Asobi Seksu ["Me & Mary" 7" is solid: a-side is some of the best Asobi Seksu I've heard, deep and vast and thick and bouncy. b-side sort of Pink Floyd territory, spacey and delicate and dreamy. chex it out]

Weekend (R.I.P. Sox 2008 Season)

Getting this all started has proven more difficult than imagined, so here comes my third post in ten days:

Last Thursday I caught Jonathan Richman at Pearl Street's clubroom in Northampton, which was very interesting to say the least for I'd never seen him perform. Hilton Valentine from The Animals opened, and he sure knew how to rock fierce. He went on with just him, a bass, and a drummer (w/ single snare) and essentially killed it. I was unfamiliar with his set, but everything seemed like a traditional rock n roll arrangement countrified and twangy. The audience, respectfully seated on the floor, got a kick out of the old jams, accurately reflecting their collective aging visage. Richman eventually came to life onstage, nailing everything I had read about his live show without fail. He strutted to the mic in Chinese slippers, glassy-eyed and seemingly petrified, with his acoustic in hand. He accurately resembled a young boy on big stage, eyes wide and begging a strange question: Is there something wrong with this guy or is he putting on a front? It's very possible that Richman never progressed past the age of twelve, his Massachusetts sneer jumbled to an immature mumble. His eyes pouted as he emoted, nimbly plucking his guitar strings in between breaking away from the music for a few silly dance steps by his lonesome or waltzes with his instrument. His accompanier Tommy Larkins rattled away at his drum kit, occasionally prodded by Richman to break into an impromptu, half-hearted solo. The other possibility is that Richman knows how to act very well and wants the audience to respond in a nostalgic way, remembering back when they were teenagers strolling to the beach to party. He ran through a bunch of songs, most of which I'm unfamiliar with, but some standouts from the new record included "No One Was Like Vermeer" (which got a few laughs) and the title track "Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild." He encored with a song he played already, a ode to hating cellphones during which he divided the audience in two to sing the chorus "You can have a cellphone if you want..... but not me." For a man whose clearly stuck in the past, the show was very entertaining and quirky and I'd easily recommend seeing him before he goes completely loopy.



Bad News: The Dungen/Headdress/Marissa Nadler show at Pearl Street this upcoming Sunday has been cancelled for unknown reasons. Dungen's show a couple years ago at the same venue was decent, but probably overshadowed by openers Witch, with local J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr on drums. I'd have liked to check Nadler, but it'll have to wait for another day. The new Dungen record 4 is certainly worth a listen or two, but a warning: it's not much different from anything else they've done to date.



Other sort of bad news: I can't check out Deerhoof/Experimental Dental School at Pearl Street tonite but that's due to Sesame Street Bandaids (mine and Barry's radioshow) tonite 10pm-12am, so listen if yer not at the show at 91.1fm in the valley or stream from wmua.org for locations otherwise.



Good News: Hercules & Love Affair Wednesday at the Middle East downstairs was fairly bumpin - at least it got my mind off how freezing it was outside. Their second Boston appearance saw them yet again playing the jams from Hercules & Love Affair (DFA) like "Athene," "Blind," "You Belong," and the "Hercules Theme" encore, but perhaps without the same vigor as when they opened for Gnarls Barkley at the Wilbur Theatre August 6th. They played some new stuff too, which was solid, though nagging fears persist: they're most likely a one-trick pony. I mean, it's funky, it's on DFA, it's got Antony's vocal all over the record, but there's something fishy lurking behind the grooves: monotony. Even so, I'll dance til it's tired.





U.K. Subs
Mogwai
Mt Eerie