It was an odd gig--students only, in a back room of a cafeteria--still I'm very glad I went; last time Mike Doughty came through he was opening for Dave Matthews in great big arenas, so the small venue was a treat. I still can't pin down why I like Mike Doughty's music so very much; I keep coming up with uninformative answers like "because it's good." It was nice to hear Soul Coughing gems like St Louise Is Listening in the stripped-down current format and alongside newer tracks from Haughty Melodic like Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well.
The bassist/multi-instrumentalist of the evening, Scrap Livingston, was a treat as well. Dude was an interesting addition: classically geeky in aspect with the collared shirt and wire-rimmed glasses (which traveled further down his nose as each song went on), but rocking some seriously fluid fingerwork and the chillest stage presence I've ever seen. It was a good, good set.
I'd never heard of Zox before the show, and had to look them up afterwards: an unusual quartet featuring an electric-violinist, who played most of the time in a pose that looked strikingly like Quasimodo. They were loud, energetic, and engaging--a nice bonus after the much-anticipated main event.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Tufts], [Mike Doughty], [Zox]
02 April 2007
Mike Doughty & Zox @ Tufts
21 March 2007
Lost in the Trees
So, yes, I have a soft spot for Trekky Records because of The Never; I like to think that it's also because they choose music I enjoy. Lost in the Trees is another example of this; it's a hard-to-categorize project of Ari Picker, frontman for The Never (several more points in its favor). I believe their Myspace declares them to be "classical/hip-hop/folk." Be that as it may, the vocals are the usual sensitive-indie-tenor sound, but it's the instrumentals that really caught my attention. Tall Trees starts out with a fairly standard piping, but the quick addition of a wooden-sounding beat that's almost Bollywood, cello loops, and then a chorus of violins put together an intriguing sound that stops just short of florid. The instrumental I've Always Loved the Fall is notable for its occasional urgent passages on the organ, which sets up a nice tension with the mellow, sweeter cello. So I'm liking their very recent EP Time Taunts Me, and may try to check out their March 29 show at P.A.'s Lounge (which gets all the good, under-the-radar acts in town, it would seem).
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Trekky Records], [Lost in the Trees]
14 March 2007
Milquetoast @ Lizard Lounge
Tuesday night saw Hazel Levy and Milquetoast playing at the Lizard Lounge. Hazel started off the night with her square, easy, unadorned stage presence and flowing songs that don't leave much impression after they end--like a musical palate cleanser; it's a challenge to stand out as a singer-songwriter, with so many around. She did say one thing I remembered: "It's hard to sound rock'n'roll by yourself." Which is true, and might partially explain one really awful show.
Milquetoast started out with Jimmy McAndrew solo for a couple of songs, then joined by cellist Robin Ryczek (Jethro Tull's cellist, no less), and then finally by bassist Joe Mageary and drummer Panama Quinn. With each new addition the sound of the band made more sense, and by the time the full arrangement was reached, it was a dynamic, nimble, driving sound. Cellos are beginning to pop up in indie music (Zoe Keating, Hilary Hahn with And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead), and it's easy to see why: they can (and in this case, did) take a band's sound from driving and intelligent to layered and interesting.
Tess of Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade guest-harmonized on Static Cleanse, and that was my favorite song of the night; the extra harmony balanced the song nicely between graceful and strong. Million Ways was another standout, with the clockwork energy in its repetitive chords.
Although it's clear live that it's a young band--not always prepared to start or end together, uncertain about banter--their material, stage presence, and performance were strong enough to make it a night well spent.
tags: [Music], [Live Music], [mp3], [Milquetoast], [Lizard Lounge]
12 March 2007
Myspace Find: Mason Proper
MySpace find Mason Proper is a bit of an odd band: they go from startlingly metallic in My My Bad Fruit, to meandering Explosions in the Sky-style intro to Chemical Dress Eliza, to more usual vocalist-driven rock that reminds me of OK Go--within three songs. It's a little challenging imaging all this melding into a coherent show, but overall the songs have a enjoyable, smart vibe to them.
Fortunately for me, they've got a show at the MidEast Upstairs on March 30; I may have to see if I can't get to that--and it may even work, since Birdmonster will be taking the stage as well!
tags: [Music], [Myspace Music], [mp3], [Mason Proper], [Birdmonster]
14 February 2007
Myspace Find: Caitlin Frame
Caitlin Frame is a recent Myspace find; she has some of the pleasing swing of Aimee Mann's vocals, but melodic phrases are executed with less hesitation. She's also the subject of Band in Boston's new set, which means everyone who missed her set at Abbey Lounge last night can get filled in.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Caitlin Frame], [Band in Boston]
08 February 2007
New Music: The Glass Set
The Glass Set's CD Something Unknown showed up in my mailbox, languished awhile on my desk, and then found its way into my ears. I'm glad it did, because it's in the vein of Metric, minus some of the aggro: sharp, stylish, angular music heavy on the attitude. Maybe less devastatingly elegant than Metric, but maybe also with more sounds to offer. It was difficult to choose the song to post: Telescope's beat is smart as military buttons, but Something Unknown has a nice, graceful flow in the vocals; Tradition won out as the favorite for the moment, with its easy, catchy bounce.
It seems they're playing at Castle Greyskull in Allston tomorrow night. Good timing on their part, or mine, or someone's.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Music]
07 February 2007
Earworm & Upcoming Show: Alexi Murdoch
Alexi Murdoch's 2006 release Time Without Consequence is one of those nice CDs where the tracks take turns: each time I listen to it, a different one strikes me. This time it's Home; its lyrical repetition contrasts nicely with the evolution of the sound, from cozy and acoustic at the beginning to the rougher, more impressionistic end.
Alexi Murdoch has a show with DJ Carbo and Midnight Movies at Great Scott tomorrow night, as part of the Fenway Recording Sessions series.
tags: [Music], [Live music], [Alexi Murdoch], [Great Scott]
06 February 2007
a'tris @ Tommy Doyle's
Local favorite a'tris (now semi-local) had their most recent show at Tommy Doyle's on Friday; I couldn't make it, but now there's the next best thing: the whole live set! Conquer All, Difficult Time, and Orion are the new songs, and the rest are off of Appeal. Mason's habit of peeling the middle to end of phrases into the back of his throat becomes obtrusive in Conquer All, but Difficult Time is classic a'tris, nimble and stylish.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [a'tris]
14 December 2006
Kaki King @ Club Passim
Bora Yoon opened up last night, with a performance-arty, loop-heavy set; her use of found sound was creative, but didn't always work--cell phones yes, windchimes no. There were some very lovely and meticulously layered constructions, and some unsuccessful theatricality; but overall she was a good opener, as they often are at Passim.
Kaki King was an interesting show. Her vocal style is one I can't often take happily song after song: whispery, silky and wispy as babyhair. Given the amount of cooing and fluting in indie music right now, I wouldn't be surprised if she did well despite that; it doesn't hurt that her stage presence is effortless, wry, offbeat, and charming, either. In this show at least, she wisely focused more on instrumental numbers. An Elliot Smith cover seemed a logical choice, as they're whispery kin; the vocals on Yellowcake (off of the new Until We Felt Red) somehow work, too, maybe because the rolling, lush guitar contrasts to the wispy vocals. She's an interesting and compelling guitarist, particularly on the dobero, although some instrumental numbers seem like they'd be lackluster recorded, when the counterintuitive technical tricks are invisible. Overall it seems like thinking music--not pensive, but showing practical creativity, an inventive mind working with dextrous hands.
tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [Club Passim], [Kaki King]
10 December 2006
Sonya Kitchell & Ben Taylor @ Paradise
Sonya Kitchell was second opener for Ben Taylor at Paradise last night, and an unfortunate opener she was. Something about her vocal style is flat--maybe her vocal dynamics, maybe her hesitancy to enter into a melodic phrase--and she has neither the stage presence nor the musical chops to handle the classical stylings she takes on. 
This is particularly unfortunate juxtaposed with Taylor, who has the songwriting skill as well as the pipes to go up against nearly anyone. Even when he doesn't write the songs, he chooses well; a cover of Mos Def's Favorite Nitemarewas one of his most effective songs, with its lovely, unsettling flow complementing Taylor's smooth, reedy voice. Enjoyable live tricks like singing harmony to his own, ellipsized melody make it clear that he's a comfortable, mature vocalist, and his stage presence is remarkable--one of the few performers I've seen able to induce quiet in the club crowd for a sweeter, unrollicking tune, and effortlessly no less.
tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [Ben Taylor], [Sonya Kitchell]
27 November 2006
a'tris show @ Tommy Doyle's
This is old news by now, but a'tris played a show at Tommy Doyle's last Friday. It's a'tris mark II, since they've replaced the drummer and the bassist, but the sharp, stylish electro-rock sound from their first CD appeal is still there. They've got a new single Orion coming out on Shut Eye Records, and the creative team of Kreher (producer/writer)and Taylor (vocalist/writer) is clearly intact. It's an exploratory song for the band: incongruously materialistic lyrics, sandwiched by meticulous musical skill and Mason's carefully constructed vocal act, topped off with a wistful, ironic zinger. It brings together the dream of champagne--the sparkling, incisive clarity of opulence--with the need for the dream of champagne. I think the lyrics (all about stardom and bling) come off as aspirational where they're meant to be ironic, but it's got all the hallmarks of the a'tris music I like so much.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [live music], [a'tris]
16 November 2006
Live: Amy Millan @ Paradise
Went to the Amy Millan show at Paradise last night--man was it undersold. One of the consequences of living in the blogosphere is that I have no idea what the average music listener knows about. Stars is pretty big, so Amy'll probably get a lot of that, right? Not s'much--Paradise was maybe a quarter full. Which is too bad, because she's sharp.
Eric Bachmann opened, and I gotta say I was not impressed. Irritatingly unexceptional is the best I can say--a skillful guitar, but immature vocals notable more for their odd, jarring flourishes than anything else. There was a startlingly clear recorder-like tone that I'm surprised any human can make unedited, but there was also a very out-of-place bluegrass nasal vibrato at the end of some phrases, which contrasted pretty unpleasantly with the overall vocal style. Most of his songs slipped by without making much of an impression; the only one that caught my attention was a Crooked Fingers track A New Drink for an Old Drunk, which had more energy than most.
And then Amy came on, and it was all better. She's playing with a band she called Tumbleweed, on which I can find precisely nothing; a country-bluegrass sorta deal with a bass, mandolin, banjo, plus among other things, a trombone and a saw. They only really got to rock on Headsfull, but that song was tight and joyous--you could see the band having fun.
Amy is still an odd bird (her stiff gestures remind me of a few friends, and they're all odd birds too), but her voice has a ribbony charm that's more than enough to satisfy me. The country material on Honey from the Tombs is a departure from Stars-style power pop, but the whiskey-drenched lyrics suit her; she also did a cover of Death Cab's "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" that was well-chosen and well-done.
Live mp3s of her solo are few and far between, but a live set she did at MPR is streamable here.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Eric Bachmann], [Amy Millan]
09 November 2006
Unwed Sailor Tour Dates
Unwed Sailor is one of those bands I keep meaning to catch up with, in fact I was just thinking about it the other day; turns out I might get a chance to do that live, since he's announced new tour dates. Johnathon Ford has a hell of a resume: Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado, Roadside Monument, Rosie Thomas, Seldom, Early Day Miners, and Decahedron. Unwed Sailor has Mogwai's wandering, cyclical vibe without the epic sweep or the predilection for noise; sometimes it sounds more like typical guitar-driven rock, but those songs aren't its strongest, lacking the focal line of a voice part. It'd be interesting to see live, I think; that's where these wandering, instrumental things either come sharp or fall apart.
Ruby's Wishes from the Firecracker EP
Cuckoo Clock from The Marionette and the Music Box
16 November - O´leavers - Omaha NE
17 November - The Belmonte - Springfield MO
18 November - The Vaudeville Mews - Des Moines IA
19 November - Schuba's w/ Early Day Miners - Chicago IL
20 November - The Ballroom @ Ball State University - Muncie IN
21 November - The DAAC - Grand Rapids MI
22 November - The Nite Owl - Dayton OH
23 November - Southgate House - Newport KY
24 November - Jacob's Well - Traverse City MI
25 November - Brillobox - Pittsburgh PA
26 November - Champion Ship - Lemoyne PA
27 November - The Middle East - Cambridge MA
28 November - Johnny Brendas, w/ Parts & Labor - Philadelphia PA
29 November - Pianos - N.Y.C
01 December - Emmaus - Gettysburg PA
02 December - Relative Theory Records - Norfolk VA
03 December - The Flat Iron - Greensboro NC
04 December - New Brookland Tavern - West Columbia SC
05 December - Soapbox Laundro-Lounge - Wilmington, North Carolina
06 December - Gypsy G's Roadhouse, w/ The Dark Romantics - Greenville SC
07 December - The Backbooth, w/ The Dark Romantics - Orlando FL
08 December - Jackrabbits, w/ The Dark Romantics - Jacksonville FL
09 December - Transitions Art Gallery/Skatepark Of Tampa, w/ The Dark Romantics - Tampa FL
10 December - Lillian's, w/ The Dark Romantics - Lakeland FL
11 December - The Beta Bar, w/ The Dark Romantics - Tallahassee FL
12 December - Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta GA
13 December - The End - Nashville TN
14 December - Hi-Tone - Memphis TN
15 December - The Cavern, w/ Shapes & Sizes, Oh No! Oh My! - Dallas TX
16 Dec - The Conservatory - Oklahoma City OK
tags: [Music], [tour dates], [mp3], [Unwed Sailor]
17 October 2006
Scream and Run Away
Lucky me, I got to go see Stephin Merritt and Daniel Handler play songs from The Tragic Treasury and read from--I don't know which book it was, possibly A Bad Beginning? (So unfortunate that Mr. Snicket himself couldn't make it, but he seems to have briefed Mr. Handler most thoroughly--and clearly, their shared habit of formality is catching!) It may scandalize but it can hardly surprise my audience that I have never actually read any of his books, and I went entirely to hear Stephin Merritt.
I can't imagine two more suited artists: Mr. Merritt's lugubrious, sonorous voice and dropsical face (not to mention the ukelele) compliment Mr. Handler's mournful bearing and dispassionately terrible stories very neatly--and the kids (and the grownups) lick it up. There was a bit of interactive theater that accompanied Scream and Run Away, and it was impossible to tell who enjoyed it more: the children, the parents, or Mr. Handler himself.
The Tragic Treasury is very Magnetic Fields-sounding indeed ("In the Reptile Room," for example, features that squishy percussion that will sound very familiar to Magnetic Fields listeners--and of course there's the ukelele), which reminds me to say that there's a new, actual Magnetic Fields CD being recorded and supposed to be released next spring. Mr. Merritt didn't sound very enthusiastic about touring in support of it, though, so if you haven't seen Magnetic Fields live already, you may have missed your chance. To which Mr. Handler, on behalf of Mr. Snicket, would no doubt have something very apt to say.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Stephin Merritt], [Gothic Archies], [Lemony Snicket]
09 October 2006
Earworm: Schooner - Make Me Mad
The vocals on Make Me Mad remind me of Stephin Merritt, or Jens Lekman, in their ponderous levity.
They've got a show tomorrow (10 Oct) at P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville--looks like their set'll start around 9.30; I'm going.
tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [Earworms], [Schooner]
27 September 2006
Joanna Newsom @ MFA's College Night, tomorrow!
Joanna Newsom is headlining the MFA's College Night--it's tomorrow and it's free with a college ID. (No word on how much without one.)
tags: [Music], [MFA], [Free Music], [Boston], [Joanna Newsom]
19 September 2006
The New Dumb
The New Dumb sure is proud of being loud--their bio mentions earplugs and being loud an awful lot. This is, as their name suggests, dumb--loud requires no skill, and gets no credit. Their name and their website's tagline--"charming is the new dumb"--remind me of a mock-interview with Björk I once read, wherein she declares that ham sandwiches are the new black. After that, X is the new Y is impossible to take seriously. I don't think The New Dumb are aiming to be taken seriously (Cross-Eyed Bear suggests otherwise, somehow); ironic and loud indie post-punk might be enough for a fun show, but for listening music . . . there's no draw, nothing this band offers that many others don't do as well or better.
They are, however, having a show at P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville on 30 September. If anybody reading this goes, I'd be interested to hear if the live show is compelling.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Music reviews], [new punk], [PA's Lounge]
13 September 2006
Ooh!: Bishop Allen - August
Bishop Allen's August EP is out, and about triple the previous sizes, because it's the Middle East show recorded! One of the sample songs is The Flood, which I liked particularly during the show.
tags: [Music], [Bishop Allen], [new EP], [mp3]
31 August 2006
Kamikaze Hearts
The Kamikaze Hearts are playing tonight at my favorite folk venue, Club Passim. It's my favorite because it's a cheery, friendly place with inventive and shockingly good vegetarian food, and because they choose their acts well.
So I thought I'd give Kamikaze Hearts a listen, since they already come with the Club Passim stamp. It's a little hard to listen to them objectively and as themselves, since to my ear at least the frontman's voice sounds like Ben Folds in his less-gentle moments, or Barenaked Ladies' Steve Page: drawling, somehow throaty and reedy at once. I have no particular love for either Ben or Steve, so it's hard to listen fairly at first.
I suspect they're one of those bands that are better live, which increases my chagrin at not being able to go tonight; recorded they sound like serviceable, enjoyable folk-veined indie rock, but live they've drawn intelligent raves from sources that I respect (sources that unlike bloggers, have the necessity or the motivation to write about music they don't adore).
They've got a new CD Oneida Road; Top of Your Head I like, but it's got the strongest Barenaked Ladies impression--their instrumental style and genre allegiances are entirely different, but the vocal impression is (for me anyway) unshakeable, and it only gets stronger in "You Can't Just Leave".
No One Called You A Failure is a little easier, but it's "Defender" that's much easier to listen to as an independent song; the four-part harmony is enough to obliterate the distracting resemblance, and it becomes clearer that they're a strong group both in writing and in performance--the grimly upright side of folk is always appealing, and it's well done here.
The vocal resemblance disturbs me; it's unfair to the band that I shouldn't be able to hear them clearly because they sound like a singer I don't particularly like; but them's the breaks, I suppose. It seems inevitable but unfair that most singers end up standing or falling on the similarities of their timbre and manner to preceding singers. But I'd still like to see them live.
tags: [Music], [Club Passim], [Indie Folk], [Cambridge], [Kamikaze Hearts]
