Let's see how fast I can crank through this one. Compulsive spellcheckers, enjoy...


In case you hadn't heard 'em, I snagged the audio from a these two recent live television appearances. Great performances, all...

Mp3: Explosions In The Sky - "Welcome, Ghosts" (live on Conan O'Brien)

Mp3: Arcade Fire - "Intervention" (live on SNL)

Mp3: Arcade Fire - "Keep the Car Running" (live on SNL)

Whitney over at Pop Candy was in the Saturday Night Live audience and wrote up her experience. Y'know, Win Butler's guitar-smashing didn't bother me a bit, but I am just glad he didn't start kicking things with his gigantic feet. Now that would have been some serious destruction.

Starting this morning, you can stream the entirety of Arcade Fire's slightly-hyped new album, "Neon Bible", thanks to NME...

Album Stream: Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible"

You'll have to register for an NME account, but that's a small price to pay. I've been holding off listening to any leaked tracks (aside from the live SNL cuts, of course) so I could get the full-on experience, and let's just say I 'm glad I did.

Tickets for Arcade Fire's only Boston date, on May 10th at the Orpheum, went on sale Friday and promptly sold out, no surprise there. My fast-clickin' fingers treated me well. The Craigslist madness has already begun, drowning out the pleas for extra tix to next month's long-since-sold-out Explosions in the Sky show. I swear, if I lacked a music-fan's conscience, I could make a killing on the Craigslist ticket speculation market.


Out tomorrow is "Back Numbers", the second full-lengther from former Luna and Galaxie 500 frontman Dean Wareham and his musical companion Britta Phillips. I've spent a lot of time with it over the past few weeks, and while I sometimes miss the full-band-feel of Luna, it's a welcome addition to the Dean-involved discography. Here's the second track from the disc, courtesy of Rounder Records imprint Zoe...

Mp3: Dean & Britta - "Words You Used To Say"

Don't forget that Dean & Britta are playing at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston on Friday, March 9th. Tickets are still available here.
While the headlines exclaimed that "Sonic Youth, Slint to play classic albums" as part of this year's "Don't Look Back" concert series, I was far more excited by the fact that the House of Love will be performing the entirety of their 1988 self-titled debut. Yeah, wrong continent, but I can still hope a recording gets out there, either officially or through some industrious taper. Even better, let's see the band make its way to American shores. Can someone get on that for me?


So I've been waiting patiently for this show to get scheduled, and it finally appeared: Kristin Hersh returns to the Boston area in support of her fantastic new disc, "Learn To Sing Like A Star" on Saturday, April 21st. She's hitting the Regent Theater in Arlington, and it won't be your run-of-the-mill solo acoustic performance... this time around not only will she have a full band, but string accompaniment as well (who I can only assume will be the brilliant McCarricks). As a sucker for string work, and especially their brand of it, I couldn't be more excited. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, March 3rd, through Ticket#$!@*, the Middle East box office, and hopefully, Virtuous.

Kristin recently played three songs from the new album ("In Shock", "Winter", and "Under The Gun") on WXPN's World Cafe, and you can listen to them at NPR's website right here.


Also just announced: A Boston-area stop for the Ben Gibbard (DCFC) / David Bazan (PTL) solo troubadour tour. The two are teaming up for dates this Spring, and they'll be hitting our Somerville Theater on the 7th of May with Johnathan Rice. Tickets go on sale this Friday morning, March 2nd, at 10am right here.


The official site for the Poster Children has received a spiffy redesign thanks to singer/guitarist Rick's web skillz, and the band has just started a feature called the "Single of the Moment" through their 12 Inch Records imprint. I'll let Rick's words explain...

"There's a lot of nattering about 'The Future of Music' but what people are really talking about is 'The Future of the Music Business', and as a music fan and music maker I don't really care how or if Sony, Time Warner, Rupert Murdoch or Apple will be able to make millions of dollars off of other people's creativity in the next few years- I'm interested in hearing the next song or band that will make my day. The future of music is what it has always been: the future of music is musicians.

Most of the sounds I've loved over the past 20+ years have required some extra effort to find- commercial radio, chain stores and major labels rarely provided anything of interest; it was word of mouth channeled through friends, fanzines, college radio, independent record labels and independent record stores that gave me what I wanted. Now with the web, word of mouth is hyperlinked- it's easier than ever to find music that is in line with your specific tastes and there's no reason to spend any time or money supporting the major media companies' DRM infested business model that benefits neither the creator nor the consumer.

So we're going to try out an alternative way of doing things this year: The Single of the Moment. We've adopted the name of a series of 7" singles we put out in the early nineties but things are a bit different this time around. Once a month a new song featuring some or all of Poster Children will be posted on the Twelve Inch Records site. You may freely download, listen to and distribute the song, all we ask is that if you really like it, consider dropping a dollar in 'the hat'"

Love it. Head over to the site to listen to the first song, "Machines (Take Good Care Of The)", and drop a buck or two in the PKids hat. Put your money behind the true believers. And don't forget to tune in to Rick and Rose's Radiozero podcast.


Fellow Bostonian Chris Brokaw is heading out to Chicago this weekend to play "Molto Amore: A Salut! To Silkworm" on Saturday, and I only wish I could make the trip as well. Read an interview with organizer Joe Sepi on Glorious Noise.


According to Centro-matic's MySpace page, they'll have a new EP titled "Operation Motorcide" out this Spring courtesy of Houston Party Records. Tracks include "All This Fresh Mutiny", "Atlanta", "Operation Motorcide", "A Celebrated Grime", "Blood On The Floor", "Daggers Sharp Enough", "Circuits to Circuses", and "74 Cuts 74 Scars". Eight songs? That's a mighty generous EP, it is.


The weekly sharing of the Touch & Go Records 25th Anniversary video featurettes continues apace, with a new clip appearing every Monday morning like well-calibrated clockwork. So far we've got interviews and concert footage from Shipping News, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Calexico, Didjits, and this morning, a brand new clip from Quasi. It's overall amazing footage, the perfect compliment to last September's live experience, and I damn well hope it all ends up compiled on a DVD (with bonus live songs, perhaps?).


Ok, so the coolest part about the Jesus and Mary Chain reuniting (well, aside from the fact that the Jesus and Mary Chain are reuniting) is that their rhythm section is Ride drummer Loz Colbert and Lush bass player Phil King. Can you say "shoegaze soopergroop"? Actually, don't say it. It just sounds silly.


It's a crazy week for shows here in Boston... there's just far too much to choose from...


Tonight over at the Paradise we've got Sparklehorse in the main room and Catherine Wheel frontman Rob Dickinson right there in the Lounge. A painful coincidence, to have to choose between shows that are separated by a couple of walls. This morning's post over at Chromewaves has me leaning even more towards Sparklehorse... I've always wanted to see them/him live, and knowing that Mark Linkous and his band will be playing lots of old stuff kinda seals the deal. But if there's any possible way to sneak up for some of Rob's songs either before or after, I'm there.


And tomorrow, if I wasn't going to see a live staging of This American Life (with lots of great guests, including Mates of State and Sarah Vowell) at the Opera House, I'd probably be over at Great Scott checking out another Fenway Recordings Session. This one's got Elvis Perkins (fresh off some dates with Okkervil River) playing with Patrick Watson. If you haven't heard Perkins, check out his recent live Daytrotter Session.


Wednesday, yet another serious conundrum: Do I check out Pinback's Rob Crow doing a solo show at TT the Bears, or Asobi Seksu next door at the Middle East Downstairs. I'm digging Rob Crow's new solo album, but I love the Asobi Seksu disc. I prefer TTs as a live venue, and that show has the added benefit of the wonderful Geoff Farina opening up. But I feel like I need to make up for bailing on Asobi Seksu when they played a tiny room at Tufts and I couldn't deal with the jammed-in crowd. Hmmm. I suppose it'd be asking too much for the set-timing to allow me to see both? Yeah, probably would.

Back tomorrow with a great post I've been working on for awhile, and a new shared live set. Until then...

Labels: music

On the local bands and area shows front...


Turns out I don't have to wait until the end of the month to check out my new aural obsession, the Beverly-based Caspian. Found out a couple days ago that they'll be appearing tonight at Allston's Great Scott as part of a Pan9 benefit, along with Thom Moran (from Bon Savants) and The Glass Set. Listen to some Caspian at their MySpace page, or grab an Mp3 from their 2005 "You Are The Conductor" EP right here...


More songs can be found on their website. The band should be releasing their first full-length, entitled "The Four Trees", in the next few months. Check out the tracklisting here.

In case you're wondering about the benefit they'll be playing tonight: Pan9 is the collective artists space that was recently hit by a devastating fire, damaging artwork, personal belongings, instruments, and studio equipment (including some belonging to Thom Bon Savant). Lots of other beneficial events are being planned so read up on things here and lend some help if you can.


I can't tell you how much it pleases me to be able to call this new band a "local" one: Travels is the name of the team-up of Metal Hearts' Anar with Victory at Sea's Mona. After touring together with their respective bands, Anar relocated from Baltimore to Somerville (represent!), started writing songs with Mona, and began spreading the sounds via email and their new MySpace page. Given that discs by both those bands got tons of my ear-time last year (Metal Hearts' "Socialize" and Victory at Sea's "All Your Things Are Gone"), their cross-pollination is an exciting one.

Four songs are available for streaming so far, including the just-posted "What We Are", which may be my favorite yet. Thanks to the band for allowing me to share it up here...


Head over to Donewaiting or Sixeyes to download one of the other songs, "Isabelle". According to Anar, Travels should be ready to play out within a couple months, so keep an eye out for their name on club schedules in Boston and beyond.


Tickets for the Boston stop of the Sebadoh reunion tour went on sale this past Saturday, so click over Ticket$%^#er soon-ish, or better yet, stop by the Paradise box office to buy tickets and save yourself those convenience charges. The show is on Friday night, March 30th. Here, have some mp3s...


And sadly, Friday, March 30th is the very same night that Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 (which includes REM's Peter Buck and ace drummer Bill Reiflin, along with Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows & the Minus 5) come to play at TT the Bears. A guaranteed sellout, and tickets for that can be bought right here at Ticketweb. In my dreams, I'd catch Sebadoh and then head over to see Robyn, but it looks like TTs is having the RH&V3 set start promptly at 10:30. Curse the coincidental timing of those two shows... missing either of 'em pains me.


Speaking of shows selling out: When I posted about tix going on sale for the March return of Explosions in the Sky to Boston, I recommended grabbing them quickly--downstairs at the Middle East is just far too small to accomodate 'em, especially given the size of the places they've already been able to pack solid around the country. I wasn't wrong... tickets are long gone and the craigslist hopefuls are starting to accumulate with the show still over two months away. If you're in possession of extras, head over there and help 'em out.

Oh, and don't get left in the cold (if we ever get any) when Sparklehorse comes to town, either. Tickets just went on sale this morning for the Monday, February 26th show, which is also at the Paradise. Hit up their box office when you can, or click over here or here.


Heads up: The Boston-based Broken River Prophet have some new recordings available. Listen to a rough mix of the track "Burned In Place" on the BRP MySpace page, and a mix of "She Gives Me Hope" can be found on their website. Allow me to point you to that one right here (and let me know if this busts your bandwidth, Mr. Brilla):



The Broken River Prophet is led by Adam from Lockgroove & Shenzou 5, along with his fellow-Shenzou's Deb and Eric, and a relatively-rotating cast of area players (disclaimer: i was proudly one of 'em). The final mixes of both songs above should be found on their eventual release "With Infinite Arms To Cradle The Flames".

Oh, and if you've never had the pleasure of listening to the former Shenzou 5, head to their MySpace page for a three-song treat. The five-piece was fronted by former Swirlies & Syrup USA singer/guitarist Seana Carmody, who is at this very moment working on a sophomore solo album. Some of those new songs can be heard at her own MySpace page... I've got seriously high hopes for that one.

For updates on both of the in-progress Broken River Prophet and Seana Carmody discs, keep an eye on Roger Lavallee's news page. The Curtain Society singer/guitarist has been engineering both projects, which is another reason my hopes are high.


Not sure the world needed another cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy", but since this one is done by Boston band 27, it's well worth a listen. Especially with a little nod to Neil Young thrown in. Stream it at 27's MySpace page, or download it over at purevolume. And give a listen to the rest of their stuff while you're there.


Boston band The Information have been relatively quiet after the flurry of news and shows surrounding their debut album "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making" in 2005, but a freshly-posted demo on their MySpace page heralds their recorded return. Stream new song "The Theft" over here, and grab three tracks from that debut album over here.


Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz and Fuzzy's Chris Toppin have quietly released an album's worth of recordings online under the name Show People at Bill's website. The 12 songs were recorded at various times and places, either as a duo or with various friends, most of whom should be very familiar to Boston music scene fans: keyboardist Phil Aiken, drummer Dean Fisher, bassist Paul Kolderie, and guitarist Mike Leahy (who've all performed together around town as The Bathing Beauties.)

Included among all the excellent originals is a fantastic cover of the Tanya Donelly b-side "After Your Party" (from her "Sleepwalk EP". Bill actually performed on Tanya's studio version of it, so it's fitting that he and Chris offer up their own take on the beautiful song. Here it is, with permission...


Download the rest of Show People's self-titled album right here for a mere 8 bucks, or stream a couple more songs at their MySpace page if you somehow remain unconvinced.


Ok, they're not quite local, but Vermont is close enough (and close to my heart): The VT collective known as The Hero Cycle has signed a little deal with Australian label Hidden Shoal Recordings to release an EP titled "Lakes and Ponds" on January 16th. The first single from the disc is the excellent "You vs Them", which I played an infinite number of times last year, and which can now be streamed here (along with two other songs) or purchased here. Check out the artwork for the upcoming EP on their website.


I burned out on all those "best of the year" music lists very early on (so much so that once again I'm not motivated to do my own), but I was definitely up for learning and listening to what WMBR DJ Tim Kelly selected for his favorites of '06. His December 29th edition of The Late Risers Club was filled with those faves, and you can still stream it right here (m3u link). Should be up for maybe another week or so. Check out the full playlist here.


Required reading for anyone even remotely interested in the ever-evolving world of digitized music sharing and related legal issues: Attorney Mark Fischer, who specializes in Media and Entertainment, Trademarks, and Copyrights at the Boston-based Fish & Richardson firm, maintains a 20-page updated online document titled "Revolutions All The Time" (pdf file) that covers "The Digital Revolution & File Swapping", "International Legislative Developments", "Sampling", "Video Sharing Services", and "Satellite Radio", among other topics. It's clear, concise, and well worth a good read.


I'll close by saying farewell to a fellow Boston blogger whose online presence will be missed: Hello Gina has said goodbye. And while it was clearly for the right reasons, the Boston music-blogging community is lessened without her perspective. Maybe she'll write up a guest-post for the 'Nac every once in awhile? If you ever get inspired, drop me an email, Gina.


Alright, time to post this before all that info on tonight's show at Great Scott that I started off with becomes past-tense...

Labels: music

Poor, poor pitiful me. Struck down for four long days by a brutal cold/flu thing, on the couch downing ginger ale and sudafed, alternating between tivo'd episodes of Showtime's perfectly creepy Dexter and the genius that is The Venture Bros. Season 1 DVD. But I think I'm finally on the upswing, feeling ok enough to sit up and finish an actual post, just in time to head back to work and another Monday morning.

Before I start, allow me to pause for a programming note: The URL for the Almanac RSS feed has changed. Please act accordingly. Thank you.

Artists ahead include Kristin Hersh, Dinosaur Jr., the McCarricks, the New Pornographers, Mark Kozelek, Low, the Retribution Gospel Choir, Superchunk, the Janovitz Bros., and more...


Kristin Hersh's long-awaited next solo album, "Learn To Sing Like A Star", arrives on January 23rd from Yep Roc, and the first full mp3 has been let out into the world...


A video for the song is on its way, and is being filmed by Orrin Anderson, former drummer for Syrup USA, whose previous video credits include "Yo Yo Yo (Please Don't Fall In Love)" by +/-.

If you pre-order "Learn To Sing Like A Star" through the label, you'll immediately get access to three downloadable bonus mp3s: the originals "Windowpane" and "Blackstone", as well as a cover of "Poor Wayfaring Stranger", which may or may not be found on her second disc of Appalachian folks songs, "Murder, Misery, And Then Goodnight II", which should also be out sometime next year. (update: those three songs will also appear on the "In Shock" EP that will be released on 4AD early next month).

If you're hankering for more solo-KH, the Throwing Music Online Store has just released a new live set called "Mississippi Candlelight". It's an intimate document of a candle-lit, un-amplified evening with Kristin back on July 6, 2006 at Mississippi Studios in Portland, OR. While you're there, you can download a song called "I Don't Want Anything For Christmas", a benefit mp3 that's posted for a limited time. Various Portland, Oregon area artists, including Kristin, contributed vocals to this song, and all proceeds go to the Henderson House for Battered Women.


"In Shock" is one of many tracks on Kristin's upcoming disc that features the always-gorgeous string work of The McCarricks, the talented husband-and-wife team who have contributed arrangements to a long list of artists (Martin was also a full-time member of Therapy?). The duo has just made available the first official release of their own, an ultra-limited edition handmade "box", which you can order at their new online shop. From their website...

"We are proud to announce the arrival of our first CD for sale. Since music has been so devalued with the advent of downloading we decided we wanted to do something special for our first release so we have put together a limited edition box set which we have designed, printed and put together with our own fair hands. Kimberlee (McCarrick) spent many hours spraying the interior of each box and then embossing each with our logo. After that she hand printed the front of each box and even printed and assembled the cd wallets whilst Martin created all the design features. The Box Set entitled '3' contains a CD with 23 minutes of music, three postcards and a specially created black silk rosette."

Not a lot of music, but at a fairly low price of 10 british pounds (which includes shipping to anywhere in the world) and limited to just 200 copies, it's well worth it. Ordering details are here.


Dinosaur Jr. just finished up the latest installment of their ongoing reunion roadshow, with two weeks of dates on both sides of the Atlantic, and area now in a holiday break that will hopefully include some time working on their in-progress post-reunion album. They played at least two of those new songs on the latest dates, one fronted by J. Mascis and the other by Lou Barlow, and thanks to the band-sanctioned live-set-sharing site FreeSoFree.net, we can get a taste...


For the other new track, the untitled Barlow song, head to FreeSoFree, create an account, and check out either the November 29th Boston show or the November 30th stop in Northampton, MA. Both are available in either mp3 or flac format. You can also check out a video clip of "This Is All I Came To Do" on YouTube.


The self-released New Pornographers "Live!" album is now available at their online store, and I've listened to it a bunch since mine arrived a couple days ago. They're such a solid live band, buying the limited edition disc was a no brainer, and that was before I knew about the hidden bonus: at the very end of the unlisted 27 minute 13th track comes their impromptu cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", recorded on October 12th, 2005 at NYC's Webster Hall. Neko Case is in fine form on the song, remembering nearly all the words on the fly, and Todd Fancey almost nails the guitar solo. I know that the New Pr0ns are mildly uptight about live file sharing (they really should take a lesson from Dino Jr.), so I'll keep this up for just a day or two...


Order The New Pornographers "Live!" right here before they're gone.


Speaking of mild paranoia, at least Mark Kozelek's ultra-strict prohibition of recording on his last solo tour (which stopped here in Boston last May) eventually made a small amount of sense: He didn't want anyone stepping on the recent release of the double-disc "Little Drummer Boy Live" on his own Caldo Verde Records imprint. That also explains why he was so obsessive about perfect intonation, and spent almost 1/3 of our show on between-song tuning time.

"Little Drummer Boy Live" is a nice collection of career-spanning Koz songs (with Red House Painters & Sun Kil Moon numbers aplenty, along with a few of those unfortunate Modest Mouse covers), although I do wish he had eased up a bit on his adopted guitar technique of all-finger-picking-all-the-time. I miss the dynamics and occasional soft strumming on many of his songs, and a lot of his material can end up blending together, especially over two discs or a lengthy live show. Maybe I'm too emotionally attached to his originals... I certainly shouldn't fault the man for wanting to re-interpret his work in a live setting. Glad he had his longtime bandmate Phil Carney along to add some depth by contributing second guitar, though. Do I sound like I'm complaining? Honestly, any Kozelek live appearance is a gift.

In deference to the man's desires, I never shared the recording of that MFA show, and now that the live album is out, I'll still not share any of the material he's released on it. But here, if you will, is something of a little 'bonus track' for fans, from Kozelek's May performance at the MFA Boston, a song that wasn't included on "Little Drummer Boy Live"...


Order your own copy of the beautiful Mark Kozelek live album via Caldo Verde.


It's been a very long time since there was a newsworthy reason to talk about Low, but all that will change in 2007 when Sub Pop releases their "Drums and Guns" disc in March. I've got very high hopes for the disc, as a few of the songs (like the stunning "Dragonfly") have long been in Low's live set rotation, and others made their way into shows by The Retribution Gospel Choir, a side-project that includes Low's Alan Sparhawk and Matt Livingstone, with sporadic appearances by Mr. Mark Kozelek.

While the studio, the presence of Mimi, and the skills of producer Dave Fridmann will certainly transform those songs from their live previews, they already hint at a stellar album ahead. If you do the torrent thing, and want to check out the RGC versions of future Low songs "Hatchet", "Breaker", and "Pretty People", head to this YouTube link, which has video of those three songs from a September 8th, 2005 show in Costa Mesa, CA.

The full video recordings of that show and another from the same tour made their way onto DimeADozen.org, so head there if you do the torrent thing. In addition to the Sparhawk-penned Low songs, Kozelek contributes a couple of his own to the setlist (RHP's "Make Like Paper" & SKM's "Salvador Sanchez"), joins in on some RGC originals, and collaborates on a few covers: "The Carpet Crawlers", the Stones "Moonlight Mile", and Pink Floyd's "Fearless".

You can hear The Retribution Gospel Choir's own songs at their MySpace page, and keep an eye out for the second limited edition tour EP (the first is long gone), which should be available sometime soon at the Chairkickers online store.


Far too long since anyone's been able to say this: Superchunk has hit the studio. Unfortunately it was just to lay down a pair of songs, but hey, we'll take what we can get. Excerpted from the December 14th entry on Mac McCaughan's Portastatic blog...

"Yesterday Superchunk went into the studio to record a new song for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film & soundtrack (film out March 16)... we wrote the song specifically for Aqua Teens and recorded & mixed it in a day at Overdub Lane with John Plymale (Indoor Living, Laughter Guns EP, Summer of the Shark, Be Still Please). the working title of the song was in fact "Meatwad's Lament" but in the end the song became something called "Misfits and Mistakes"...

...also, while we were in the studio we recorded a demo of "Learned to Surf" (we played that at Irving Plaza a couple weeks ago) so we don't forget how it goes..."

He also calls "Misfits and Mistakes" a "toe-tapper". Of that, I have no doubt.


Another one to file under: "when worlds collide"...

Fans of both the Washington, DC music scene and the DC-based Redskins football franchise might have had a mild freakout if they came across the Week 14 DVOA ratings on the Fox Sports website. I would have missed it if not for the Teenbeat mailing list, but you've got to take a look at this (scroll down to the Redskins, #23)...

"23. REDSKINS 4-9 25 22 26 15 30 15
It's no surprise that there's some unrest among the Redskins fans. They put all their eggs in the Joe Gibbs basket, and the faith was not rewarded. I'm sure Daniel Snyder will try to solve the problem by throwing money at more free agents; it's one of the NFL's most predictable rites of spring. Which overrated wide receiver will the Redskins embrace this year? I shudder to think. Look at the make-up of this team, and you'll realize that the Redskins will always be a minor threat unless they can build some depth. There's really only one word to describe this franchise right now: fugazi."

Yes, that's at least nine DC-based bands name-dropped in a freakin' Fox football write-up. The byline for the article is Aaron Schatz, and if he's the man responsible for the summaries, then I say: Well played, sir, well played indeed.


Because Frank at Chromewaves is perhaps too modest to point out this recently-posted footage he's part of (or I missed it when he did), may I direct your attention to the full video recording of the panel he appeared on as part of the Future Of Music Policy Summit in Montreal last October. Titled "The New Deciders: Metafilters, Blogs, Podcasts", it also features CBC Radio 3's Grant Lawrence, Superchunk/Portastatic/Merge-man Mac McCaughan, RealNetwork's Tim Quirk, CBC Radio 2's Patti Schmidt, and Pitchfork's Ryan Schreiber.


Just a few of the good Boston area shows that are coming up in New Year, ones you'd do well to buy tickets for well in advance: Mark Eitzel with Drew O'Doherty in January, Midlake in February, Explosions in the Sky in March. I'm also keeping my fingers tightly crossed for the announcement of a February Sparklehorse date, since those tourdates have just started leaking out. Also exciting: That my friends in The Essex Green are teaming up with their Merge labelmates Camera Obscura for a tour that stops at the Paradise on January 27th. Can't wait for that one.


But before we hit '07, there are at least a couple can't-miss December shows: The first of those two Kimchee Records 10th Anniversary shows, and what has been dubbed "The Janovitz Brothers Christmas Spectacular" (or "Christmas Challenge"), which is happening this Saturday, Dec. 23rd at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. The family-full (and, as Bill says, "ill-conceived") evening will include all four Janovitz brothers (Bill from Buffalo Tom/Crown Victoria, Scott from Dragstrip Courage, Paul from Cold Water Flat, and Tommy of The Shout Abouts) performing not only a few Christmas songs, but "songs by famous brother acts such as the Everly Brothers, the Kinks, the Louvin Brothers, Bee Gees, Jackson 5, etc". There is no doubt that this will be a Christmas Eve eve well-spent, and since there are no advanced tickets, arrive extra early. That way you can also catch The Shout Abouts, who are opening up the show.


Congrats to the winners of the Silkworm contest I ran a couple weeks back: Brian in Brooklyn & Taylor in North Vancouver, who each won SKWM's new "Chokes!" EP and the Silkworm tribute disc, as well as Scott in Brooklyn & Sebastian in Somerville, who both got the tribute. Your packages should already be in your mailbox. I'll be picking the winner of my latest giveaway, a copy of the The Shipping News limited "Claws" single, in the next day or two.


In this, the so-called giving season (which should be all year 'round, really), there are a couple of families that could use your help, in the form of some donated dollars...

If you're a regular reader of music-related blogs and news sites, you've probably recently heard about Callum Robbins, the infant son of former-Jawbox/Burning Airlines and current-Channels frontman J. Robbins and his wife Janet. He was born with Type I Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) in January, and was diagnosed in September. The family holds out hope that Cal will be able to beat the odds and live a longer-than-expected life, but this can only happen with expensive alternative treatments that insurance won't cover. So those around them have rallied to help raise money, and have set up a way to donate right here. While I've never met J., some mutual friends speak so highly of the guy, and at the very least I owe the man for so many hours of good songs, not only from his own bands, but from ones he's recorded. Read some recent words from J. on his MySpace page, and drop some kind cash in the donation box if you can.

A truly heart-breaking tragedy took place a few weeks ago when 35 year-old CNET writer and podcaster James Kim, his wife Kati, and their two young daughters, Penelope & Sabine, became stranded during bad weather in the Oregon wilderness while driving home to San Francisco after a Thanksgiving trip north. After spending 7 days in their car, James decided his only choice was to set out and seek help for his starving family. Two days later, rescuers found the vehicle, with Kati and the girls alive and well. Everyone hoped for a happy ending as the search continued, but two more long days later, the body of James Kim was found.

James was one of my favorite parts of the old TechTV channel, back when he'd do gadget reviews on the much-missed Screen Savers program. I can't say it any simpler than I just liked the guy, dug his writing and delivery, his whole friendly on-screen demeanor. I followed the story of his family's disappearance closely, was elated when Kati and the girls were found, and equally crushed when I learned he didn't make it. "The James Kim Memorial Fund" has been established in his name, so contribute if you're able.

I'll end this one on a surreal note with something perfectly strange, especially if you're a fan of early Sonic Youth. Here's The Young at Heart Chorus performing SY's "Schizophrenia" (via Brian)...


And so the world gets just a little bit weirder.

Labels: livemp3s, music