I would like to go on record as saying that I fully support Axl Rose in his decision to sic the FBI onto the website that streamed 9 songs last week alleged to be from the long-since anticipated album Chinese Democracy. When I first streamed the songs last week, I said to myself, "Fuck you, Mr. Rose. I listened to the tracks when they were up last week, and finished or not they suck. They suck something fierce. The titular track of what is undoubtedly the most needlessly delayed album in the history of albums or delay sounds like the Scorpions with Billy Corgan producing circa 2000's over-compressed disaster Machina.
"But allow me to acknowledge, Mr. Rose, that I've never liked you. I've never seen how you were able to captivate the public's eye for even an instant. Perhaps I'm too young. My first memory of Nirvana is listening to the Unplugged CD a full two years after Kurt kicked it, so maybe I just had to be there for it. Or maybe, just maybe Guns 'n' Roses actually rocked back then, and the only difference now is that the whole fucking band is gone. Izzy? Gone. Duff? Gone. Slash? Fucking gone. His highest point in the last ten years was playing himself on Kid Notorious! Not only is Steven Adler long gone, but you even booted the guy who replaced him! You even fired the guy that you brought into the band for keyboards on the bloated and horrible Use Your Illusion!. That's cold."
The album was in fact so bad that I began to distress. I was never even a minor fan of Guns 'n' Roses and I was having damn near a panic attack over the thought that a band could sink so low, even after 14 years and a complete band overhaul. But then, around 3:30 in the morning, I had an epiphany. I realized that there had to be some kind of logical explanation. I felt my chest relax, and I drifted off to sleep wrapped in the comfort of what must have really happened.
Someone is pulling a cruel joke on us all. Someone stripped the amazing songs that we've been waiting for these last 14 years of everything but Mr. Rose's vocals and streamed nine files of him singing over elevator music. What made Guns 'n' Roses bitching back in the day was the band. Slash and Izzy's guitar, Duff's bass, and Adler's drums. And I'm sure that Mr. Rose would not be continuing under the banner of G'n'R unless the new band members are even better then the ones they replaced. But what some unethical miscreant seems to have done is to replace a great band with a bunch of untalented sycophants who don't know how to say no to an overblown ego and has released an album hell-bent on dragging down the good name and standing of the musicians fortunate enough to be thrown into the ocean minutes before the ship hit a god damn iceberg.
That this so-called album was unleashed upon the public under the G'n'R moniker is outrageous. I'm not even a fan of the band and I'm infuriated. I'm disgusted that musicians like Slash (who is still, without doubt one of the best guitarists at work today) are going to be associated even fleetingly with this sonic monstrosity. Shame on that miscreant. Mr. Rose I fully support you in your decision to employ the FBI in finding the real killers.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Live Notes: Amanda Palmer & The Boston Pops at Symphony Hall - 6/20/08
When an artist like Amanda Palmer hits a venue like Symphony Hall, I find one distinct advantage not available at your typical rock venue. With a slowly turned head and a single cocked eyebrow I can get those around me to shut their flaps and knock off their damn carrying on. However the advantages of the space were not mine alone. Miss Palmer made ready use of the space from the instant of her entrance, pursued about the floor and the stage in her can-can dress by a few members of the orchestra while a trombonist serenaded her from the first balcony. The number was a spirited bit of theatre, a playful instance of the burlesque Miss Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione are so fond of exploring through the Dresden Dolls. The sultry elaboration of the child's rhyme "missed me, missed me, now you've gotta kiss me" was followed by a slower piano driven piece given a satisfying fullness by the Pops.
The evening maintained this sort of ambivalence throughout with Miss Palmer giving the audience a lively playful tune for every one or two slower more somber numbers including a number of cuts from her forthcoming solo debut and a cover of 'Brick' by her album's producer, Ben Folds. The Dolls favorite "Coin Operated Boy" reared its mechanized head and gave Miss Palmer a chance to work Pops conductor Keith Lockhart into the act, trading places with him in the midst of the instrumental section and engaging in a musical game of flinch while Lockhart tried to match the orchestra with Miss Palmer's staggered staccato vocals at the end of the song's bridge. Like so much of the show it lacked the sort of organic spontaneity demanded of a show at the Middle East, but from the venue to the costumed extras it was clear that the evening was not a concert, it was a show.
I've been to several similar events in the past where an institution of cultural standing on par with Symphony Hall brings in an artist like Amanda Palmer, someone who has a devoted following of rabid fans and a series of well earned reviews but who the average cultural devotee on the street probably hasn't heard of (e.g. The Mountain Goats at the MFA, Sufjan Stevens with members of the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.). These shows have been unique and memorable of course, but at the end of the day they were failures to no small degree. Although I can tell you with exacting detail about how I nearly died waiting for those Sufjan tickets, the show itself was not all that different from the last Sufjan show I'd seen. I saw John Darnielle at the MFA on a Friday and at the Middle East the next night, and other than a few small differences (Saturday at midnight marked Darnielle's birthday, the crowd talked less at the MFA, and he encored Saturday night "Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton") the shows were virtually indistinguishable. Although the venue's intention is to draw a younger audience to its standard board of fare and to show its regular patrons that its can be down with the young folks when it wants to be everyone seems to walk away disappointed; the artist's devotees walk away with just another show and the high brow regulars sit grim faced through a set that they have no worldly interest in seeing.
Miss Palmer and the Pops succeeded where these other collaborations have fallen through in stunning fashion, and Friday's performance will be the benchmark by which I gauge all similar events. The Pops served as the opening act for the evening, gliding through four movements of Gustav Holst The Planets suite. The brief opening set by the Pops served to put regulars at ease while at the same time conveying to the newcomers that the evening would not be about Miss Palmer alone, but rather about the coming together of two artists for a singularly stunning evening. It also didn't hurt that The Planets is a work familiar to the younger set (both the first movement "Mars" and the fourth movement "Jupiter" have been featured in recent "Venture Brothers" episodes).
However the most memorable moment of the night, for me at lest, was when Palmer settled into the opening measures of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata, and as Beethoven's melody spilled out over the crowd someone's cell phone rang. Ever the showman, Miss Palmer whipped her head around and glared, spoke her peace and resettled into the Pathetique. As classical fans leaned forward in silence between the notes, anticipating the intricate 27-note run in the fourth measure, and as newcomers wondered where exactly this classical noodling was going, Palmer launched into the toy-piano introduction to "Coin-Operated Boy" and both sides of the crowd laughed at her wonderfully performed bit of comedy.
The evening maintained this sort of ambivalence throughout with Miss Palmer giving the audience a lively playful tune for every one or two slower more somber numbers including a number of cuts from her forthcoming solo debut and a cover of 'Brick' by her album's producer, Ben Folds. The Dolls favorite "Coin Operated Boy" reared its mechanized head and gave Miss Palmer a chance to work Pops conductor Keith Lockhart into the act, trading places with him in the midst of the instrumental section and engaging in a musical game of flinch while Lockhart tried to match the orchestra with Miss Palmer's staggered staccato vocals at the end of the song's bridge. Like so much of the show it lacked the sort of organic spontaneity demanded of a show at the Middle East, but from the venue to the costumed extras it was clear that the evening was not a concert, it was a show.
I've been to several similar events in the past where an institution of cultural standing on par with Symphony Hall brings in an artist like Amanda Palmer, someone who has a devoted following of rabid fans and a series of well earned reviews but who the average cultural devotee on the street probably hasn't heard of (e.g. The Mountain Goats at the MFA, Sufjan Stevens with members of the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.). These shows have been unique and memorable of course, but at the end of the day they were failures to no small degree. Although I can tell you with exacting detail about how I nearly died waiting for those Sufjan tickets, the show itself was not all that different from the last Sufjan show I'd seen. I saw John Darnielle at the MFA on a Friday and at the Middle East the next night, and other than a few small differences (Saturday at midnight marked Darnielle's birthday, the crowd talked less at the MFA, and he encored Saturday night "Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton") the shows were virtually indistinguishable. Although the venue's intention is to draw a younger audience to its standard board of fare and to show its regular patrons that its can be down with the young folks when it wants to be everyone seems to walk away disappointed; the artist's devotees walk away with just another show and the high brow regulars sit grim faced through a set that they have no worldly interest in seeing.
Miss Palmer and the Pops succeeded where these other collaborations have fallen through in stunning fashion, and Friday's performance will be the benchmark by which I gauge all similar events. The Pops served as the opening act for the evening, gliding through four movements of Gustav Holst The Planets suite. The brief opening set by the Pops served to put regulars at ease while at the same time conveying to the newcomers that the evening would not be about Miss Palmer alone, but rather about the coming together of two artists for a singularly stunning evening. It also didn't hurt that The Planets is a work familiar to the younger set (both the first movement "Mars" and the fourth movement "Jupiter" have been featured in recent "Venture Brothers" episodes).
However the most memorable moment of the night, for me at lest, was when Palmer settled into the opening measures of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata, and as Beethoven's melody spilled out over the crowd someone's cell phone rang. Ever the showman, Miss Palmer whipped her head around and glared, spoke her peace and resettled into the Pathetique. As classical fans leaned forward in silence between the notes, anticipating the intricate 27-note run in the fourth measure, and as newcomers wondered where exactly this classical noodling was going, Palmer launched into the toy-piano introduction to "Coin-Operated Boy" and both sides of the crowd laughed at her wonderfully performed bit of comedy.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Goings On: June 16 - June 22
Tuesday, June 17th
Streight Angular and Beasts of England - Abbey Lounge, Cambridge: $7 9:00pm
Streight Angular bring the buzzbomb to Boston tonight at the Abbey Lounge, but be sure to stick around for Beasts of England and their garage-blues holler and shout.
Wednesday, June 18th
Sloan and The Golden Dogs - T.T. the Bear's, Cambridge: $15 9:40pm
Sloan is frequently written about as the best Canadian band you've never heard, which means you're more familiar with them as that band you keep meaning to check out but haven't made the time for yet. Stop making excuses and get your lazy self over to T.T.'s. Fellow Canadian rockers The Golden Dogs open.
Thursday, June 19th
Dirty Gospel and Dark Martini and the Dirty Olives - Abbey Lounge, Cambridge: $8 9:00pm
Back to Abbey Lounge Thursday night for more raucous guitar stomp served up by Dirty Gospel and Dark Martini. Anyone who leaves a pun in the comment section will be shot.
Friday, June 20th
Shearwater, Frog Eyes, Evangelicals, and Carter Tanton of Tulsa - T.T. the Bear's, Cambridge: $12 9:00pm
Frog Eyes are bringing their rampaging keyboard-propelled insanity to Cambridge and you should be there. Veering between the sounds of vintage Bowie and broken down music boxes, Frog Eyes are a truly unique experience that you shouldn't pass up. Support is lent by Oklahoma popsters Evangelicals and Carter Tanton of local hipsters TULSA.
Saturday, June 21st
Ketman and Ho-Ag - Upstairs at the Middle East, Cambridge: $9 9:00pm
Ketman and Ho-Ag bring fractured guitars and catchy melodies to the Middle East upstairs.
Streight Angular and Beasts of England - Abbey Lounge, Cambridge: $7 9:00pm
Streight Angular bring the buzzbomb to Boston tonight at the Abbey Lounge, but be sure to stick around for Beasts of England and their garage-blues holler and shout.
Wednesday, June 18th
Sloan and The Golden Dogs - T.T. the Bear's, Cambridge: $15 9:40pm
Sloan is frequently written about as the best Canadian band you've never heard, which means you're more familiar with them as that band you keep meaning to check out but haven't made the time for yet. Stop making excuses and get your lazy self over to T.T.'s. Fellow Canadian rockers The Golden Dogs open.
Thursday, June 19th
Dirty Gospel and Dark Martini and the Dirty Olives - Abbey Lounge, Cambridge: $8 9:00pm
Back to Abbey Lounge Thursday night for more raucous guitar stomp served up by Dirty Gospel and Dark Martini. Anyone who leaves a pun in the comment section will be shot.
Friday, June 20th
Shearwater, Frog Eyes, Evangelicals, and Carter Tanton of Tulsa - T.T. the Bear's, Cambridge: $12 9:00pm
Frog Eyes are bringing their rampaging keyboard-propelled insanity to Cambridge and you should be there. Veering between the sounds of vintage Bowie and broken down music boxes, Frog Eyes are a truly unique experience that you shouldn't pass up. Support is lent by Oklahoma popsters Evangelicals and Carter Tanton of local hipsters TULSA.
Saturday, June 21st
Ketman and Ho-Ag - Upstairs at the Middle East, Cambridge: $9 9:00pm
Ketman and Ho-Ag bring fractured guitars and catchy melodies to the Middle East upstairs.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Live Notes: Bryan Pero & the Tired Horses at Tommy Doyle's (Harvard Square) - 6/12/08
Volume is the great equalizer. Any drunk with the irrepressible urge to make the inner workings of his beer-addled frontal lobes known to the world can always be dealt with by turning to the band and repeating Dylan's immortal rallying cry, "Play fucking loud!" The timeless battle of artistry and idiocy was played out again last night, this time at Tommy Doyle's in Harvard (a shit stain of a building that will, if there is a just and merciful God, someday soon rend itself in twain and sink into the tran like the House of Usher).
On stage the remarkable Bryan Pero and the Tired Horses played the living hell out of some of the finest roots music to grace the Northeast corridor since Dylan and the Hawks hunkered down in a Catskills basement 40 years ago. Meanwhile, on the ground a legion of spastic flesh puppets bedecked in "Tommy Doyle's Kickball League" t-shirts stumbled and wallowed amidst puddles of plastic bottle Budweiser and hung their eyes on the Celtics/Lakers game with a fervor usually reserved for displays of religious devotion. A lesser band would have grown dispirited after about the first half hour of bleach blonde inebriates screaming out for Journey covers, but Pero and the Horses took it in remarkable stride, playing with the exuberance of a band that new they had no one to impress and nothing to lose by playing for nobody's sake but their own.
Opening with the rollicking "Light of the Radio" the band was in top form from the start. Anchored by Pero's acoustic guitar and Karen Sarkisian's bass, the rest of the group was free to play off of each other and provide the supple flourishes and expressive arrangements that transmute Pero's songs from solid clay vessels of love and whiskey into gilded chalices of long drives and open highways. Pero's barroom vignettes are lent a beautiful sepia hue by Keith Dominque's fluid piano and the powerful additions of newcomers to the band Matt Belyea, getting an impressively full sound out of his self-made cocktail drum kit, and Barry Fleischer, playing a muscular lead guitar and working a pitch perfect imitation of a pedal steel when the tune called for it through judicious use of his tremolo bar and a volume pedal.
But the surprise treat of the night, for me at least, was when backing singer Kellie Graham stepped out for a lead vocal turn, belting out a cover of Lucinda Williams "Can't Let Go" that seared me where I stood. I'd like to say that somewhere in the back of the rotted bundle of raw nerve endings and randomly firing synapses that inhabit the vacant craniums of the Tommy Doyle Kickball League, Graham's stunning performance triggered a shift and brought the audience around, making them appreciate the true glory and joyful energy of what was going on a scant ten feet from them. I'd like to say that, but all I can say is it damn well should have.
Pero will be mastering the Horses' new album next month, which means more shows on the horizon. If you're a fan of rock, country, or just fine music and sweet singing you owe it to yourself to check one out.
On stage the remarkable Bryan Pero and the Tired Horses played the living hell out of some of the finest roots music to grace the Northeast corridor since Dylan and the Hawks hunkered down in a Catskills basement 40 years ago. Meanwhile, on the ground a legion of spastic flesh puppets bedecked in "Tommy Doyle's Kickball League" t-shirts stumbled and wallowed amidst puddles of plastic bottle Budweiser and hung their eyes on the Celtics/Lakers game with a fervor usually reserved for displays of religious devotion. A lesser band would have grown dispirited after about the first half hour of bleach blonde inebriates screaming out for Journey covers, but Pero and the Horses took it in remarkable stride, playing with the exuberance of a band that new they had no one to impress and nothing to lose by playing for nobody's sake but their own.
Opening with the rollicking "Light of the Radio" the band was in top form from the start. Anchored by Pero's acoustic guitar and Karen Sarkisian's bass, the rest of the group was free to play off of each other and provide the supple flourishes and expressive arrangements that transmute Pero's songs from solid clay vessels of love and whiskey into gilded chalices of long drives and open highways. Pero's barroom vignettes are lent a beautiful sepia hue by Keith Dominque's fluid piano and the powerful additions of newcomers to the band Matt Belyea, getting an impressively full sound out of his self-made cocktail drum kit, and Barry Fleischer, playing a muscular lead guitar and working a pitch perfect imitation of a pedal steel when the tune called for it through judicious use of his tremolo bar and a volume pedal.
But the surprise treat of the night, for me at least, was when backing singer Kellie Graham stepped out for a lead vocal turn, belting out a cover of Lucinda Williams "Can't Let Go" that seared me where I stood. I'd like to say that somewhere in the back of the rotted bundle of raw nerve endings and randomly firing synapses that inhabit the vacant craniums of the Tommy Doyle Kickball League, Graham's stunning performance triggered a shift and brought the audience around, making them appreciate the true glory and joyful energy of what was going on a scant ten feet from them. I'd like to say that, but all I can say is it damn well should have.
Pero will be mastering the Horses' new album next month, which means more shows on the horizon. If you're a fan of rock, country, or just fine music and sweet singing you owe it to yourself to check one out.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Live Notes: The Bynars at P.A.'s Lounge - 6/10/08
Any band should be able to tell you precisely who they are in two songs. Every Bob Dylan song falls somewhere between 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll' and 'Subterranean Homesick Blues.' The Beatles bifurcation is summed up in the two feuding sections of 'A Day in the Life.' On their site the Bynars have two tracks available, two slices of incredibly tight and catchy indie-pop, but these songs shouldn't lure you into pigeonholing the band. Remember it took Dylan 13 years to mature into the artist of 'Blood on the Tracks' and eight albums for Lennon/McCartney to pound out their manichean opus.
The point here is that I have incredibly high hopes for The Bynars. Had I shown up at P.A.'s Lounge and been rewarded with a 30-minute set of hooky pop on par with 'We Started a Band' I would have been thrilled. But The Bynars surprised me, pulling out a few songs (some on their current E.P., some slated for their new E.P. "You know, the one we haven't started recording yet," quipped singer/guitarist Matt Jatkola) that brought some different elements into play. Song titles elude me but I'll spare you the journalistic mea culpa's and note that despite the overwhelming pop influence on the majority of their songs, The Bynars are capable of pulling out a straight ahead rocker when the mood suits them and are toying with the idea of adding a fifth member to help out with vocals and fill out their sound.
But even as it stands, the band already has a great sound. Jatkola's Rickenbacker chimes away on rhythm while Ben Mattey's synthesizer takes over the register and melodicism usually reserved for lead guitar. Kiel Szivos and Dan Sullivan hold down the rhythm section on bass and drums respectively, and enough can't be said for them. In the quest for a tight sound, it all hangs on your rhythm section, and The Bynars are locked in like an Iron Maiden.
Plans for the future include a July 7th show at T.T. the Bear's in Cambridge and, according to Jatkola, attempts to improve the quality of their lyrics. But I don't think they have too much to complain about in that department as the songs are already instantly quotable little narratives boasting such gems as 'You gotta know the right people / to do the wrong things.'
Its too soon for The Bynars to be defined by two songs. They're still devoted to improving and expanding themselves as a band, and such things of course take time. But I, for one, am excited to see what steps forward they'll make in the coming months and am looking forward to nothing but pleasant and catchy surprises at T.T.'s next month.
The point here is that I have incredibly high hopes for The Bynars. Had I shown up at P.A.'s Lounge and been rewarded with a 30-minute set of hooky pop on par with 'We Started a Band' I would have been thrilled. But The Bynars surprised me, pulling out a few songs (some on their current E.P., some slated for their new E.P. "You know, the one we haven't started recording yet," quipped singer/guitarist Matt Jatkola) that brought some different elements into play. Song titles elude me but I'll spare you the journalistic mea culpa's and note that despite the overwhelming pop influence on the majority of their songs, The Bynars are capable of pulling out a straight ahead rocker when the mood suits them and are toying with the idea of adding a fifth member to help out with vocals and fill out their sound.
But even as it stands, the band already has a great sound. Jatkola's Rickenbacker chimes away on rhythm while Ben Mattey's synthesizer takes over the register and melodicism usually reserved for lead guitar. Kiel Szivos and Dan Sullivan hold down the rhythm section on bass and drums respectively, and enough can't be said for them. In the quest for a tight sound, it all hangs on your rhythm section, and The Bynars are locked in like an Iron Maiden.
Plans for the future include a July 7th show at T.T. the Bear's in Cambridge and, according to Jatkola, attempts to improve the quality of their lyrics. But I don't think they have too much to complain about in that department as the songs are already instantly quotable little narratives boasting such gems as 'You gotta know the right people / to do the wrong things.'
Its too soon for The Bynars to be defined by two songs. They're still devoted to improving and expanding themselves as a band, and such things of course take time. But I, for one, am excited to see what steps forward they'll make in the coming months and am looking forward to nothing but pleasant and catchy surprises at T.T.'s next month.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Goings On: June 10 - June 14
First things first, I can not vouch for the opening acts at any of these shows, so don't hold it against me. If I don't write about their brilliance and glory, well then there's probably a reason for it. But at the same time I'm not going to recommend any show unless the good is going to outweigh the bad. That said, the weeks best shows:
Tuesday, June 10th
The Bynars and Tony Bear - P.A.'s Lounge, Somerville: $7 8:30pm
I'm sure that Tony Tony Bear will give us a good show tonight, they sound like a fully competent pop act and I'm intrigued to see how they do live. But for me the real draw is The Bynars. They've only got two songs up on their website, but there are bands who slave for years to turn out a 1-2 punch the equal of 'Bone Dry' and 'We Started a Band' and here these boys are doing it on their first go-round. Tonight's their CD release show, but get there early, I think they're slated to go on first.
Wednesday, June 11th
The Rex Complex - Toast, Somerville: $??? ??:??pm
All right so I don't know all the details, nonetheless Wednesday at Toast the Rex Complex will be up there rocking out with their unique blend of junkyard scrap, dub, and accordion. Check out the streams for 'Johnny Walker' and 'Walt Whitman' and bask in the weirdness.
Thursday, June 12th
Bryan Pero & the Tired Horses - The Loft at Tommy Doyle's, Cambridge: $??? 9:30pm
I've never been to Tommy Doyle's, and with reason. The bouncers are always surly, they're always charging a $5 cover for no good reason, and the drinks are overpriced. But I am setting aside my grudge this Thursday to go and bask in the Cosmic American Music glory of Bryan Pero & the Tired Horses. Everyone's sure that Gram Parsons is dead, right? Because listening to Pero sing, I'm all of a sudden not so sure that Parsons, Elvis, and Andy Kaufman haven't been hiding out in some motel for the last 30 odd years just biding their time.
Mission of Burma - The Paradise, Boston: $20 8:00pm
Mission of Burma playing all of 'Signals, Calls, and Marches.' What else needs to be said? If you've never experience the thrill of 'Academy Fight Song' and 'Max Ernst,' then now's your chance and you've no excuse not to.
Friday, June 13th
Johnny Carlevale & The Rollin' Pins - The Plough & Stars, Boston: less than $6 10:00pm
Johnny Carlevale is the great Rock 'n' Roll hope of Rhode Island. Rocky Point, clam cakes, hot rods, and a whole lot of reverb all nestle up together in some of the baddest straight up rockabilly I've heard in ages. Slip into your blue jeans, slap some grease in your hair, and brush up on your lingo - rock 'n' roll is back in style.
Mission of Burma - The Paradise, Boston: $20 8:00pm
Yeah, that's right, they're back again Friday night, this time playing all of 'Vs.' Bring yr own ear plugs.
Saturday, June 14th
Centro-matic - Upstairs at the Middle East, Cambridge: $10 ??:??pm
Centro-matic is the most prolific band you've never heard, with a string of albums and EPs as long as your arm. If you dug on 'lo-fi' back when the word was simply short hand for stunning jangle pop with razor sharp guitar leads then this is the show for you to catch. I'll be in the front row calling out for 'Parade of Choosers,' but with 11 albums worth of material who knows what they'll pull out. I'm guessing the new album, 'Dual Hawks,' will be played in its near entirety but Centro-matic is one of those rare bands that doesn't really have bad songs, just a handful of great songs and a slew of good ones.
Tuesday, June 10th
The Bynars and Tony Bear - P.A.'s Lounge, Somerville: $7 8:30pm
I'm sure that Tony Tony Bear will give us a good show tonight, they sound like a fully competent pop act and I'm intrigued to see how they do live. But for me the real draw is The Bynars. They've only got two songs up on their website, but there are bands who slave for years to turn out a 1-2 punch the equal of 'Bone Dry' and 'We Started a Band' and here these boys are doing it on their first go-round. Tonight's their CD release show, but get there early, I think they're slated to go on first.
Wednesday, June 11th
The Rex Complex - Toast, Somerville: $??? ??:??pm
All right so I don't know all the details, nonetheless Wednesday at Toast the Rex Complex will be up there rocking out with their unique blend of junkyard scrap, dub, and accordion. Check out the streams for 'Johnny Walker' and 'Walt Whitman' and bask in the weirdness.
Thursday, June 12th
Bryan Pero & the Tired Horses - The Loft at Tommy Doyle's, Cambridge: $??? 9:30pm
I've never been to Tommy Doyle's, and with reason. The bouncers are always surly, they're always charging a $5 cover for no good reason, and the drinks are overpriced. But I am setting aside my grudge this Thursday to go and bask in the Cosmic American Music glory of Bryan Pero & the Tired Horses. Everyone's sure that Gram Parsons is dead, right? Because listening to Pero sing, I'm all of a sudden not so sure that Parsons, Elvis, and Andy Kaufman haven't been hiding out in some motel for the last 30 odd years just biding their time.
Mission of Burma - The Paradise, Boston: $20 8:00pm
Mission of Burma playing all of 'Signals, Calls, and Marches.' What else needs to be said? If you've never experience the thrill of 'Academy Fight Song' and 'Max Ernst,' then now's your chance and you've no excuse not to.
Friday, June 13th
Johnny Carlevale & The Rollin' Pins - The Plough & Stars, Boston: less than $6 10:00pm
Johnny Carlevale is the great Rock 'n' Roll hope of Rhode Island. Rocky Point, clam cakes, hot rods, and a whole lot of reverb all nestle up together in some of the baddest straight up rockabilly I've heard in ages. Slip into your blue jeans, slap some grease in your hair, and brush up on your lingo - rock 'n' roll is back in style.
Mission of Burma - The Paradise, Boston: $20 8:00pm
Yeah, that's right, they're back again Friday night, this time playing all of 'Vs.' Bring yr own ear plugs.
Saturday, June 14th
Centro-matic - Upstairs at the Middle East, Cambridge: $10 ??:??pm
Centro-matic is the most prolific band you've never heard, with a string of albums and EPs as long as your arm. If you dug on 'lo-fi' back when the word was simply short hand for stunning jangle pop with razor sharp guitar leads then this is the show for you to catch. I'll be in the front row calling out for 'Parade of Choosers,' but with 11 albums worth of material who knows what they'll pull out. I'm guessing the new album, 'Dual Hawks,' will be played in its near entirety but Centro-matic is one of those rare bands that doesn't really have bad songs, just a handful of great songs and a slew of good ones.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Local Music: The Blue Ribbon Boys
The Blue Ribbon Boys did an in-studio set a few weeks back on, I believe, WERS, and I was fortunate enough to catch the last couple of numbers. They have a beautifully restrained country-swing sound, an effortless sounding tightness to their playing, and a real asset in their chanteuse Julia Gottlieb who has a voice and delivery to envy Dusty Springfield, if you were to swap Dusty's come-hither eyes for a gentle smile.
The band's board of fare seems to stay firmly in the pre-WWII country and pop period, which is a fine place for them to linger. The Blue Ribbon Boys understand the value of restraint and every arangement allows for all the nuance of their ensemble playing to come through. The fiddle and guitars flit in and out of the end of Gottleib's lines in fine fashion on 'Shennanegans' making for a cooking little call and response dynamic, but of the tracks on their website the absolute stunner is definately 'Tears,' a fine showcase for the group that plays straight to the band's strengths.
The Blue Ribbon Boys are probably the best local band I've heard since moving to Boston, and of course they're not even that local. Based out of Great Barrington out on the western end of Massachusetts, they can only be considered local on a state level, which of course puts us Bostonians at a distinct disadvantage. Although they don't have any plans to return to Boston in the next few months, I'll be keeping my fingers cross and staying hopeful.
The Blue Ribbon Boys at Myspace.com
Bo Diddley dead at 79. Damn.
I don't have anything especially revelatory or insightful to say about Bo Diddley's passing. Suffice it to say that the "Bo Diddley beat" is perhaps the groovinest riff to ever rattle a stereo, and for that I must give pause for a moment and pay my respects.
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