THUR 4.18 Priests @ The Sinclair Priests have been bubbling up for a while, and it’s clear that with their most recent record, the excellent The Seduction Of Kansas, their days of playing clubs like Great Scott are over. A clear, somewhat polished sound on the record belies their power on the stage. […]
FOTOBOM: THE CHILLS @ THE MIDDLE EAST
The word ‘seminal’ gets tossed around a bit cavalierly these days, when any decent band with a pulse and a couple of dusty records are suddenly reissued on some boutique label, and are suddenly yanked out of obscurity and proclaimed the as long-lost Beatles or some such nonsense. Martin Phillipps is a rare case […]
COLD FRONT COMING IN: MARTIN PHILLIPPS OF THE CHILLS
Few regions can boast an outsized influence on the greater musical culture more so than New Zealand, tucked away at the bottom of the earth thousands of miles from anywhere else. With Flying Nun (and lesser known labels such as Propeller, Ripper, South Indies and Xpressway), the country of three million became an insanely […]
FOTOBOM: JON SPENCER AND THE HITMAKERS, BODEGA @ GREAT SCOTT
Jon Spencer has been slogging it out on the front line of the trashy garage war for so long he’s got foxholes named after him. As the primary or co-leader of vaunted groups like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash and now the HITmakers, his resume is unassailable. He’s got […]
FOTOBOM: STEVE GUNN, MEG BAIRD & MARY LATTIMORE @ GREAT SCOTT
Over the last ten or so years, Steve Gunn has managed something that eludes most musicians. As he’s slowly transformed his craft from open string Fahey worship to a more tightly-crafted, song-oriented approach that is more akin to 60s troubadours like Fred Neil or a less ornate Tim Buckley, he has also been able […]
FOTOBOM: NEKO CASE, MARGARET GLASPY @ ROYALE
It took a little while, but Neko Case finally landed in town for a headlining slot instead of as support for someone else’s tour. She’s still in the promotion cycle for last year’s excellent Hell-On, and if you’re a fan of that record you got a heaping handful and then some. Three quarters of the record […]
DIG THIS: NEKO CASE, STEVE GUNN, JON SPENCER
THUR 1.24 Neko Case @ Royale Neko last hit town for two shows in early summer as support for Ray LaMontagne, but now the New England-transplant has scheduled her own proper headlining tour, and will get a bit more room to stretch out over the material of her excellent new record. If you […]
FOTOBOM: RYLEY WALKER, MUTE DUO @ GREAT SCOTT
There are a few ways of getting your name into the music press headlines, with some methods a whole lot better than others. If you didn’t bother to click the first link, the random meeting between folk/jazz/psychster guitarist Ryley Walker and jam band/bro-deity Dave Matthews wasn’t totally random. The mercurial and always questioning Walker […]
FOTOBOM: KHRUANGBIN @ ROYALE
Some bands have a pretty distinct aesthetic when it comes to their music, how it sounds and how it’s presented. Khruangbin have taken that vision and run with it, all the way to the tailor and back. Laying down the most laid-back grooves one can think of, they coolly play a brand of music […]
FOTOBOM: KURT VILE, JESSICA PRATT @ HOUSE OF BLUES
Kurt Vile had to know that including a song like “One Trick Ponies” on his seventh record would be a vulnerable action, as rumblings from certain cynical/critical corners would gleefully point to Bottle It In and say, “See! He’s just released the same mid-tempo collection of songs he’s always done.” But see… that’s the thing. […]
