Posts Tagged ‘cambridge ma’

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Neophile: Good Night, States

November 14, 2008

good-night-states-backgammon-peace

One of the bands that’s on constant repeat in my media player right now is Pittsburgh’s Good Night, States. They sound like a stripped-down version of Arcade Fire – a little bit more catchy, and a little less bombastic. While they’ve been getting some good press (like this Spin article), I’m more impressed that I can’t help but stop whatever I’m doing to just listen whenever “Spring is the Winter’s End” comes on. They also get the z=z stamp of approval for making all their songs available on a pay-what-you-will basis at their website.

Good Night, States will be playing the All Asia in Cambridge, MA on November 21st, and here’s a live video to give you a taste of what to expect. I asked Megan Lindsey (vox, keys, trumpet) if there were any plans for a West Coast tour. Sadly not, but she did mention that they were looking for a booking agent, and she offered up a case of Franktuary hot dogs as an additional inducement (Megan is the owner-operator of the cathedral-based hot dog stand). I’m happy to personally attest to how good the hot dogs are, and I’d add my gratitude to hers if you are someone who can get Good Night, States to visit this coast.

Good Night, States [website]

MP3: Good Night, States – Spring is the Winter’s End (Down to the Heart) (buy)

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The logical outcome of OCD ticket purchasing

May 16, 2008

I’ll freely admit to my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and their manifestation in my ticket purchasing habits are only further enabled by Tourfilter and my proximity to music venues in Central Square, Cambridge, like TT the Bear’s Place and the Middle East. But I seem to have taken them to their logical extreme when I went to buy Sloan tickets for their June 18th show – check out the numbers in the upper-right corners.

Sloan: website myspace

MP3: Sloan – Who Taught You to Live Like That?

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Listen local: Bishop Allen

May 14, 2008

click for larger version

Okay, so ‘local’ is stretching it a bit. Bishop Allen are named after the street in Central Square where the founding members lived while at school in Cambridge (and which is half a block from zed equals zee mission control). As seems to be the case for many musical Cantabrigians, the hipster ‘hood down I-95 beckoned, and Bishop Allen relocated to make their quirky, charming indie-pop in Brooklyn. The song below, “Click Click Click Click”, is a wonderfully infectious soundtrack to these late spring/early summer days. Check them out at the Middle East tomorrow (Thursday, May 15); more tourdates here.

website myspace emusic

MP3: Bishop Allen – Click Click Click Click

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Mayfair: Harvard Square, May 11

May 6, 2008

Harvard Square’s Mayfair was delayed to this Sunday, May 11th, because of the nasty weather in Cambridge last weekend. So you didn’t miss your chance to see Hallelujah the Hills or Girls Guns and Glory (4 pm and 3 pm, respectively, on the main stage). Lots more music (Action Verbs gets the z=z ‘best name’ prize) as well as dance, film, kids’ stuff, and other goodies. Full details, including set times, here.

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Concert planning: Tourfilter

April 6, 2008

tourfilter

Remember all those times you heard that a band you like played in your town only after the concert? Tourfilter is what you use to make sure this doesn’t happen.

All you do is register, and then enter a list of artists you want to see. Tourfilter scrapes online concert listings for your city and, when it finds a match to a band on your list, sends you an e-mail with the information. The website is reminiscent of Craigslist, with a minimalist aesthetic and a simple, user-friendly interface. That’s pretty much it. It’s brilliant.

For a slightly less minimalist experience, check out the Tourfilter night at River Gods, in Cambridge, MA. Chris and his guest DJs play songs from artists that are going to be performing in the area soon. While you are listening to the songs (and snarfing River Gods’ wonderful fries with aioli), you can text for details on the artist, date and venue, and sometimes other fun info too.

more about Tourfilter

Next Tourfilter night at River Gods: Thursday, April 17th, 9 pm (normally the third Thursday of the month)

Tourfilter on Facebook (login required)

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Concert notes: Miracle Fortress

March 25, 2008

[Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA; March 22, 2008]

Montreal-based Miracle Fortress played a sold-out show at the Middle East Upstairs, opening for fellow Canadian scenesters The Most Serene Republic. Based on their single ‘Hold Your Secrets to Your Heart,’ I expected them to be quite a bit more ethereal than they were, especially given their fairly dreamy start – frontman Graham Van Pelt began with a solo piece. Instead, driven by Jordan Robson-Cramer’s propulsive drumming, they turned out to rock quite a bit. Their set was mostly drawn from their first full-length release, Five Roses (which, if you grew up in Canada, doesn’t evoke music so much as it does baking), as well as some new material.

myspace emusic amazon

MP3: Miracle Fortress – Maybe Lately

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Concert notes: Holy Fuck

March 22, 2008

[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here]

[Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA; March 21, 2008]

I wrote about Holy Fuck the last time I saw them – they are utterly phenomenal live. You can look at the clips on YouTube, but they don’t really capture the experience (that’s why that’s a video above, not a live clip). Unfortunately, they are wrapping up their North American tour – but if you happen to live in the UK or Ireland, you should definitely try to catch one of their shows.

And I’ve decided that Rachael Ray can’t be all bad if she’s a fan.

website myspace

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Wrap-up: guest DJing on WMBR

March 6, 2008

microphone

Well, I had a terrific time guest-DJ’ing on WMBR this morning. Emphasis on the ‘guest’ – I got to do all the fun parts, like choosing all the songs and talking. Keith handled the control panel with gracious professionalism, and made me feel very welcome and less like the total newbie I am. I decided to focus on Canadian indie music, just because I know it pretty well and I needed a theme to narrow down the universe of possibilities. You can listen to the stream (.m3u file) for the next two weeks (until the morning of Thursday, March 20th). Note that I don’t come in until about the half-hour mark; Breakfast of Champions, WMBR’s morning show, runs from 8 to 10 and I was officially in from 8:30 to 9:30 am.

EDIT [March 20, 2008]: If you missed the streaming, but still want to hear it, feel free to contact me at debcha at gmail dot com and I can hook you up.

Here’s a copy of my notes from this morning; you can guess what I thought was the most important thing to remember (click on image to see a PDF).

playlist notes

Here’s the full playlist:

Treble Charger: Red (NC-17 version)

Destroyer: The Leopard of Honour

Ladyhawk: Fear

Les Breastfeeders: Tout Va Pour Le Mieux Dans Le Pire des Monde

Leather Uppers: Say It In French

Mother Mother: Touch Up

Wintersleep: Weighty Ghost

Caribou: Melody Day

The Besnard Lakes: Devastation

Miracle Fortress: Hold Your Secrets in Your Heart

Immaculate Machine: Dear Confessor

Tokyo Police Club: Nature of the Experiment

Born Ruffians: Hummingbird

The Awkward Stage: Heaven is For Easy Girls

Sloan: Underwhelmed

The Weakerthans: Tournament of Hearts

[background music]

Broken Social Scene: I Slept with the Bonhomme at the CBC

Broken Social Scene: Love and Mathematics

Top image: Speak into me, by Flickr user billyv, reposted here under its Creative Commons license.

Previously: Listen local: my guest DJ slot on WMBR, Advance warning: my guest DJ slot on WMBR

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Listen local: my guest DJ slot on WMBR

March 5, 2008

today’s fortune

I’ll be guest DJing on WMBR tomorrow, Thursday, March 6th, from 8:30 am to 9:30 am EST, sitting in on their weekday morning show, Breakfast of Champions. My playlist is focused on Canadian indie music, probably including songs from the new Destroyer and Ladyhawk albums, which haven’t yet been officially released (man, I’m enjoying having access to WMBR’s library!).

Three ways to listen:

Over the airwaves: If you are in the Boston area, tune into 88.1 on your FM dial.

Live streaming: Go to WMBR and click on one of the links in the top right corner to listen live.

Archives: If 8:30 am Eastern doesn’t work for you, but you’d still like to listen, the show will be archived for two weeks, starting pretty much immediately after it airs. Click here and select March 6, 2008.

Stay tuned for a follow-up post, with the complete playlist.

So obey my fortune cookie and turn way to the left of your dial as you head in to work tomorrow morning!

Previously: Advance warning: my guest DJ slot on WMBR

 

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Advance warning: my guest DJ slot on WMBR

February 17, 2008

wmbr sticker

WMBR, MIT’s community radio station, has one of the coolest member premiums ever – you can come in and DJ part of your favourite radio show. I made a donation to them in their fall fundraising drive, and I’ll be heading in to the studio to be a guest DJ on their morning show, Breakfast of Champions, on Thursday, March 6th, 2008, from 8:30 to 9:30 am EST. Keith, the Thursday BoC host, was kind enough to orient me to the station and let me spend a couple of hours perusing CDs in the stacks (pant, pant) yesterday afternoon, in preparation for my on-air turn.

WMBR homepage (link to streaming audio at upper right of page)

Breakfast of Champions: site, archives

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Concert notes: Holy Fuck

November 30, 2007

[Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA; November 29, 2007]

Holy Fuck lived up to their name at their show last night. Their music is like the bastard lovechild of Battles and Dan Deacon – while less virtuosic than the former and less straight-out batshit than the latter, they possess a tremendous anarcho-punk energy. And they were clearly really, really having fun onstage. Plus they were handing out free 7″ singles – a split disc, with a Celebration remix of their song “Frenchy’s” on one side, and their remix of a Celebration song on the other. If you’re not lucky enough to catch their act and pick up your own copy of the vinyl at one of their shows, you can download both MP3s here.

Image: Holy Fuck in Philadelphia PA, May 2007. Photo by Oliver J. Lopena, reposted here under its Creative Commons license.

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