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: 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. […]
FOTOBOM: KAMASI WASHINGTON @ ROYALE
Pundits and talking heads say that traditional band-based rock music is dead, and if we’re gonna look back at the fossil record, then jazz has been calcified for a couple of decades. But, like most things, the ‘experts’ have painted the wrong picture. Still, I wouldn’t have put much money on heading to Royale […]
FOTOBOM: COURTNEY BARNETT @ HOUSE OF BLUES
“You know it’s okay to have a bad day.” Courtney Barnett spends a lot of time, thinking about the edges of the daily human existence, sketching out brilliant pastiches of the small moments that everyone experiences. It never hurts to have a catchy song to drape lyrics around, and her case she’s shown […]
FOTOBOM: GUIDED BY VOICES, PARK DOING @ THE SINCLAIR
Fifty three songs. 53! For any bands outside the patchouli-hazed jam world, it would take years if not decades to play that many different songs live, given the rigid set lists of most touring bands. Guided By Voices has no such issue. Granted, leader Robert Pollard has been cranking out full-length records at a […]
FOTOBOM: FARM AID 2018
It’s a bit hard to believe that Farm Aid has been a thing for nearly three and half decades now, but it’s stronger than ever. In its 33th rendition, old friends Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young (along with recruit/”newcomer at 17 years” Dave Matthews) continue to exert their time and energy […]
FOTOBOM: EX HEX, EZTV, E @ GREAT SCOTT
They say variety is the spice of life, if that’s true for bills, this Saturday night’s lineup was a veritable garam masala. The headliner of Ex Hex was the reason the room was sold out well in advance, and Mary Timony along with her crack rhythm section of Betsy Wright and Laura Harris filled […]
FOTOBOM: RADIOHEAD @ TD GARDEN
Through no fault of their own, Radiohead has become an “important band.” The pedestal that fans put the band on reaches into the stratosphere, and their every move and each infrequent release is meticulously picked apart and closely observed. The amazing thing is that they routinely exceed expectations. I think that most will agree […]
FOTOBOM: FOO FIGHTERS, DINOSAUR JR., SPEEDY ORTIZ @ FENWAY PARK (NIGHT TWO)
You gotta hand it to Dave Grohl. In a world where rock songs are largely irrelevant to the pop culture, where radio support and record sales are a quaint reminder of days gone past, he and his band of fellow Foo Fighters managed to bang out Fenway Park for two consecutive nights. The second […]
FOTOBOM: BECK, VUNDABAR @ BLUE HILLS BANK PAVILION
In his first non-festival set in over five years, Beck wasted no time in getting right down to it. Tonight was all about the groove. Describing it as his psychedelic Michael Jackson, the infectious dance throbs of Colors were heavily prominent tonight, and people got out of their seats and danced all night, including one […]
