It's been five long years since Tindersticks have graced U.S. stages, and the intervening time brought the first-major shakeup to the Nottingham-based band's lineup since their formation in 1991. In 2006, a few years after the release of their sixth album ("Waiting For The Moon"), multi-instrumentalist and founding member Dickon Hinchliffe departed the sextet along with the rhythm section of Al
Hey hey, another day, another ticket giveaway. I'm actually going to be doing two today -- the one below and a last-minute chance to win 2 tix to see Tapes 'n Tapes, Wild Light, and the Subjects at the Paradise tonight. But to mix things up, I'll be doing that particular contest on the Almanac Twitter account, so follow me over there and keep an eye out for my first-ever free-ticket-tweet. And
It dawned on me a few days back that the Almanac passed its 9th anniversary on Sunday, February 15th. Or at least that was the date, in the year 2000 (cheers, Conan), that I registered this here domain name. While it would be a couple years before the place morphed from a personal site into a bonafide blog, I started shouting my musical obsessions into this series of tubes from the get-go.To
This coming Tuesday, February 24th, Ben Kweller returns to the area for a show with singing sisters The Watson Twins for a show at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square. Openers Jones Street Station round out the bill, and I've got a pair of tickets to give away to a random Almanac reader.Ben's here to spotlight songs from his new album, "Changing Horses", released just a couple weeks back,
Lots of great stuff coming out of Boston lately, some recently released, some arriving soon, and all with sample mp3s below for our/your aural pleasure. Only a month or so into the year, and I'm already pretty confident that '09 will trump '08 when it comes to new local faves. Listen to and love new album tracks from The Hush Now, Logan 5 and the Runners, a brand new single from Boy In Static,
This coming Monday night, on February 16th, I'm extremely proud to be hosting the Boston-area listening party for the upcoming 4AD-released "Dark Was The Night" benefit cd compilation at my beloved River Gods in Cambridge. The disc, which arrives in stores the next day and was put together by Bryan and Aaron Dessner from the National, features some amazing artists (see full list below) donating
While we're all waiting for this particularly brutal winter to end, the crew behind the annual Independent Film Festival of Boston is working hard to make our approaching spring that much better. At this very moment, there's a team of people spending their precious free time organizing the best damn film fest New England has to offer --- traveling to Sundance and elsewhere, watching piles of
New-music-wise, 2009 has been off to a semi-slow start for me, with just a few eagerly-anticipated albums released within this first month, including Andrew Bird's "Noble Beast", Loney Dear's "Dear John", and just a few days ago, SPC ECO's download-only debut "3-D" (that's Dean Garcia of Curve's new band with his daughter Rose on vocals). I'm also semi-obsessed with The Hush Now's new one which,
The first season of the Elvis Costello-hosted "Spectacle" series on the Sundance Channel has been a curious thing. In aiming to appeal to a fairly broad range of music-fans (and not just devotees of Mr. Dynamite), the lineup of interviewees includes more than just Costello's aging contemporaries (The Police, James Taylor, Lou Reed, Elton John), but a few more, um, how shall I say, 'relevant'
A few upcoming events, both very soon and a little later on, that I'm compelled to bring to the attention of any and all Boston-area Almanac readers. Some truly great stuff ahead... Tomorrow night sees the very first benefit show for the wonderful Center for Arts at the Armory in Somerville. While the Armory itself is located on Highland Ave., the fund-raising event is happening at the
I've finally come to accept the inevitable tardiness of my yearly list of musical faves, and really, it's only tardy when compared to everyone else's list. Y'see, I listen to way too much music in the waning months of the year, using extra-long workdays and holiday travels to catch up on discs I haven't spent enough time with. A couple of the albums below didn't even hit my ears until last
Great Scott and Massconcerts present a pretty stellar triple-bill this Saturday night, headlined by NY's Longwave, who are joined by a couple of the Boston-area's best: Wheat and Bon Savants. Longwave are here on the heels of their latest album, "Secrets Are Sinister", and while I've generally liked what I've heard from the band, it wasn't until their opening set for the reunited Swervedriver
The year 2007 saw the welcome arrival of Travels, the musical team-up of ex-Metal Hearts member Anar Badalov and former Victory at Sea singer/guitarist Mona Elliott. Their self-released debut disc was a gorgeously haunting labor of love, written mostly as the two fell for each other during the 2006 European tour of their two bands, and as Mona dealt with the onset, treatment, and recovery from
First official 'Nac post of the new year, and it's a gift for one of you. There are many scheduled releases I look forward to in '09 (and I'll write about them in another post soon), but one I anticipate the most is David Bazan's Black Cloud, which should be arriving on Barsuk sometime this Spring. The former Pedro the Lion frontman has been sharing several new songs on stage for awhile now,
As I sit here typing this, with 2008 shedding its final hours, Brooklyn foursome Dirty on Purpose are playing their last-ever show a couple hundred miles south at NYC's Mercury Lounge. As we say goodbye to a year, they say goodbye to their band, moving on to other projects, but leaving behind an album and a few EPs full of many good songs, and several truly great ones. I caught what would be
Former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg has been on a tear over the past six months or so, releasing random home recordings onto the internet with wild abandon. The semi-disorganized flood of songs (some complete, some in aural collages, some covers, some in just one channel) comes after the fairly long drought that followed his hand injury almost exactly two years ago. The latest offering
Soooo... how 'bout that New England weather? I felt the novelty wear off after about the 40th straight hour of snowfall. Yeesh. I titled this a 'fiver', but it's gonna end up much longer. Hey, no complaints outta you. File under EPIC: Kristin Hersh's rumble-rock power-trio 50 Foot Wave has just unleashed a massive new recording entitled "Power + Light", streaming in all its glory on their
Gray, rainy, cold. Using the blog to fight the blahs... It gives me great pleasure to type this: Swirlies are returning. Though they've never officially been away. After forming here in Boston in the early 90s, and remaining fairly active through '98, recorded output and live appearances have been sporadic at best for a decade. Their most recent shows were, I think, opening for Lilys over 4
So what else can I say about seeing the Wedding Present live? I've used plenty of words to express my undying love for 'em here on the 'Nac, been fortunate enough to catch them each time they've hit the Boston area since their emergence from hibernation in 2004, and as live performers they never disappoint me. The quartet gets on stage, rocks out on a setlist full of great recent songs and old
December already. How'd that happen? I suppose this means I should start thinking about those pesky year-end lists. While I consider that task, here are some mostly Boston-centric things for your eyes and ears... Buffalo Tom singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz has come up with a way to help him, and us, pass the cold winter months: By sharing a new home-recorded cover song every week. And his
Bradley's Almanac
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
Mr Fogg - Eleven
