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Sunday, January 02, 2011
Happy New Year, y'all. To say I'm glad to see twenty-ten in my rearview mirror is a massive understatement. To summarize my year: Personally = hellish; Professionally = excellent; Bloggingly = weak. Musically = pretty damn good, actually. Speaking of which, I'm taking a quick break from pulling together my post of 2010 faves to share a few songs that kept me company over the holiday break.   Last December, Brooklyn trio City Breathing gifted fans with "Have A Melancholy Christmas", a wonderful (and wonderfully free) downloadable EP, and they've gone and done it again this year: A new 5-track offering of reworked tracks and gorgeous aural experiments titled "Fits and Starts". The songs mostly eschew any pop structure for lengthy, hypnotic meanderings, and it's the best kind. Here's my fave of the five, and you can grab the rest for free at their Bandcamp page. Let's hope the band's holiday freebies become an annual tradition... Another holiday present for fans, this one from LA instrumental quartet Signal Hill: "Down To Bed" is the b-side of their first ever 7-inch, which was released last summer. Buy the "California Is Too Long" 7-inch here, along with their excellent "Distance" EP while you're at it. Both are limited edition, tastefully packaged, and include high-quality digital downloads when you buy 'em. The new calendar year promises the first ever batch of Signal Hill appearances on the East Coast, thanks in part to one of the band members moving to Brooklyn last fall. One of those shows had better be in Boston. Just sayin'. Surprise! Outta nowhere, a year-ending, name-your-price song from New Hampshire's MMOSS, hot on the heels of November's "Another Dream". The brand new "Wander" is up on Bandcamp, and it's a beaut. So get with the grabbin'. The band plays next on Tuesday, January 11th at the Middle East Upstairs with the IOA and the Heather Maloney Band. My old friend Chris Page (he of Ontario power-pop stalwarts the Stand GT and more recently of trio Camp Radio) landed himself a spot on the just-released "HeroHall & Oates: Home For Christmas" covers compilation, put together by the Halifax-based Herohill Canadian music website. 12 tracks, totally free, and if you can't figure out which artist is getting covered from the title then, well, I'm afraid there's no helping you. Head over to Herohill for a look at the full track list, where you'll find Chris' take on H&O's "Tell Me What You Want!". And in the event that you missed it early last year, be sure to hit up Chris' Bandcamp site and check out his most recent solo full-length "A Date With A Smoke Machine", which (spoiler alert!) finds itself on my faves-of-the-year list. While the fact that I know Chris may have led to my discovering the album, it didn't have much to do with my loving it. I blame the songs for that. With all the free stuff I just pointed you to, it's time for you to dish out a little dough, and for the rightest of reasons: The TargetCancer has curated a very special collection of holiday songs by Boston-area artists like Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz, Jenny Dee & the Deelinquints, the Gravel Pit, The Gentlemen (Mike Gent of the Figgs + 3/4 of Gravel Pit), and more. Visit The Right Track to donate and download each song, and be sure to keep a close eye on the site, as the TargetCancer crew will be continuously putting together musical offerings to help in the research and treatment of rare and underfunded cancers, a cause that is close to my heart for reasons that should be obvious to some of you out there. Ok, back to the list-making I go. I swore to myself (and, um, you) that I'd get my faves posted earlier than last year. Curse me and my meaningless promises!  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac...
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