The reinvigorated Breeders are winding up a nearly two-month North American tour that started on the Coachella stage in April and will finish at the Loft in Atlanta this Friday. The five piece -- which puts Fear bassist Mando Lopez, drummer Jose Medeles, and the multi-instrumental (and Craigslist-recruited?) Cheryl Lindsey alongside Deal twins -- stopped by a sold out Paradise here in Boston last Thursday, and rocked through a set that included songs not just from all four Breeders albums (1990's "Pod", 1993's "The Last Splash", 2002's "Title TK", and the new "Mountain Battles") and the "Safari" EP, but also a few from the Amps' "Pacer" record and a couple of those well-worn covers (including their Beatles and GBV renditions). Fans called out requests for "Drivin' on 9" and "Oh", which were declined due to the absence of violinist Carrie Bradley, who they mentioned may join them for their sold-out NYC show tonight.
Kim Deal cracks me up, and her near-constant smile and easy going, no-bullshit stage presence makes any Breeders show a for-sure fun one. While you never know what's going to come out of her mouth between songs (calling her mom 'nuts', teasing her twin sis, or drawing attention to ex-hubby John Murphy in the VIP seats), it's usually going to be more than a "how you all doing tonight?". And thanks to bassist Mando (who is apparently from East LA), we even got a couple appreciated Celtics/Lakers Game 1 score updates.
Walking out of the Paradise to watch the last couple minutes of that Celtics victory in the 'Dise Lounge with a good friend made an ace evening even better... an evening that was nearly ruined by a ticket snafu.
Crisis averted, admission gained, 'Nac post written, recording shared...
Additional Audio: Stereogum has the Mp3 for "Bang On". You can stream five other "Mountain Battles" songs at MySpace. And did you ever download the fantastic "Pod" demos? Well, if you're a registered Dime user, you can.
Video: Watch the band perform "Walk It Off" (and not "Bang On", as the page says) and answer questions at the ACL studio during SxSW, check out video of the "Mountain Battles" album release party (which was pretty much just the band hangin' out while listening to the album). And, of course, a Breeders YouTube search will also reward you with many more moving pictures.
Tonight, Tuesday, June 10th in NYC @ Webster Hall Wednesday, June 11th in Washington, DC @ the 9:30 Club Thursday, June 12th in Asheville, NC @ the Orange Peel Friday, June 13th in Atlanta, GA @ the Loft
July brings them to Spain, England, Japan, and Australia, and August finds them still in Oz, then back up to Ireland and Scotland. Full date listing here. Frequent flyer miles galore.
the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.
