Yes, it may be an overly-obvious thematic choice, but in honor of the blessed end of a brutally long Boston winter, I've decided to share up a live recording of... The Long Winters. It's been exactly two years since John Roderick and his merry band visited our fair city, when they played to a packed house at Allston's Great Scott on a fantastic bill that included The Broken West (who coincidentally played here again just last night) and The Stars of Track and Field. While it does often take me a very long time to share up certain sets, hitting the two-year mark is flat-out embarrassing, and I surely deserve to be scolded. But look at it this way: perhaps this will help you endure the ongoing wait for the LW's next album.
When I asked Mr. Roderick if it was cool to share up this set (which, of course, it is), he had this to say about progress on the follow-up to 2006's "Putting The Days To Bed"...
"We're still plugging away at it daily, but no vocals have been recorded yet so there's nothing very interesting to share. It's going to suck if I'm killed in a plane crash, because they won't even be able to release the 'unfinished record' with the demo vocals. I mean, there's NO vocals of any kind."
So let's hope that either John remains on the ground for awhile, or that the flying fates are kind. If his Twitter account falls silent for more than a day, someone will need to send out a search party.
Additional Audio: An Mp3 for "Pushover", thanks to Barsuk. A few mp3s from their previous discs are available here as well, and at their own site. You can also grab some live Mp3s pulled from their recent DVD release (more on that below) from Barsuk over here.
The band played some songs a few years back on NPR's World Cafe. Stream live versions of "Teaspoon", "Honest", and "Fire Island, AK" right here. You can also find a couple of live shows shared on the indispensable Live Music Archive.
For lots more freely available audio goodness, but sure to visit the lovingly maintained Hater High fansite, where you can grab a bunch of live lossless recordings (including the FLAC versions of the Mp3s I just shared above). There are also a number of other live sessions in Mp3 form as well.
Video: Here's the clip for Fire Island, AK (also on YouTube), and the unedited version of older vid "Blue Diamonds" (quicktime). There's a plethora of live clips on YouTube, of course.
The Long Winters' most recent official release, which also helps bide the time between albums, is the excellent limited edition Live At The Showbox DVD, put out by Dorsia Films last December. Check out the trailer right here, and pick up a copy of your very own from Barsuk.
As always, easily stream any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.
the fine print... 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.
