Photos :: The Tallest Man on Earth @ The Middle East 4/21/10

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Girlfriends :: Bandwidth TV

A hilarious video with amazingly terrible camera work, which is perfect for Girlfriends. Features the smash off record feel good summer hit slamtaculars like "Government Seizure" and "Cave Kids."

With those glasses, Andy reminds me of Guy from the stellar film "That Thing You Do."

I have no idea what they are eating in the interview.

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Breakfast of Champs Records

Syrup slides down the fretboard of a guitar and fills in the crannies of the waffle resting in the acoustic's sound hole. Pancakes are impaled on a high hat, hash browns bounce on a snare drum, and bacon and sausage are lined up along the keys of his synthesizer. Or, at least that's one way of imagining how Breakfast of Champs began.

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Cymbals Eat Guitars, Bear in Heaven, Feelance Whales Live at the Middle East Downstairs 4/8/10

Coming off their recent debut Why There Are Mountains, the Middle East Downstairs was host to the carnage of a swarm of floating cymbals taking down some guitars like savannah gazelles in a school cafeteria and having a food fight with them.

Each band seemed to draw their own crowds. An electric guitar balances against a banjo resting on an acoustic guitar like a house of cards in sound, but never even quivers like its going to fall. This image essentially summed up the swooning pop of Freelance Whales. Seeing unconventional instruments like a tin watering can and an antique harmonium in a rock band just added to the giddy that covered the crowd like the soft baby blue fabric of the organ's bellows. The singer of Bear in Heaven proudly remarked that they played for one single person at T.T. the Bear's Place the last time they were in Boston. The band's drone gloom washed with blood red light had you wondering if the guitarist was playing anything at all until you realized how good they were at transforming guitar strings into synth keys.

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Interview with Simon Joyner

Simon Joyner’s songs are stories, streams of consciousness or yarns woven sometimes about the darkest parts of the human experience and so much more, usually forming a tapestry of hope. He’s been an influential figure from Omaha for a long time, affecting acts like Bright Eyes. A lot of people shrug when his name is mentioned, but Joyner kind of likes it that way. Nearly two decades, twelve albums and now a revolutionary touring model and Simon Joyner still has time to be great Dad. He fit in a phone interview after his daughter’s dance recital.

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Video :: Christians & Lions - Gimmie Diction

Found this on a DVD at a Whitehaus yard sale. Don't tell Warner Brothers!!

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Photos :: Cymbals Eat Guitars, Bear in Heaven, Feelance Whales @ The Middle East Downstairs 4/8/10

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Greg Mullen :: The Hungry Ocean

"Like Dante climbing out of hell, if his guides were Bob Dylan and Bukowski"

MP3: "Greg Mullen - Ten Thousand Years"

The Hungry Ocean has all the charm of a folk singer, kicking stones down a dusty road with a harmonica ‘round his neck and guitar strapped to his back, traveling to play his soulful tunes about everyday things. Yet at times, Greg Mullen’s voice quivers strangely supernatural and the words he sings veil some otherworldly pseudo-apocalyptic occurrence. It’s something like Dante climbing the wrong way out of hell if his guides were Bob Dylan and Bukowski, instead of Virgil. All of it is decorated with a whirlpool of beauteous piano, horns and lovely female harmonies.

The theme of wishing to be a ship and failing to float in a vast, all-consuming ocean is strongly present on the album. There's two bummed out Narwhals on the cover and even the 12" vinyl is cleverly pressed a transparent green. In ‘Ten Thousand Years,’ Mullen sings, “We both had a hard time trying to decide what to be for Halloween. Said, ‘I'll be a ship, you be a flying machine.’” In the same song he also mentions that he’s been dead for ten thousand years.

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Japandroids, Love is All, Girlfriends Live at the Middle East Downstairs 3/31/10

Both drummer David Prowse's kit and guitarist Brian King's microphone were tucked into the corners of the Middle East Downstairs. Center stage belonged to the three biggest fender amps known to man, gleaming like a silver event horizon. When the duo took the stage only one thing was certain: something was probably going to spontaneously burst into flames.

King immediately began conjuring fond drunken memories of past Boston shows. Throughout their set, he kept complimenting the place so profusely that you could actually believe he didn't say it in every city.

The concert had a solid line up, opened by the local noise enthusiasts: Girlfriends. The trio's riotously goofy tunes like the live only "Cave Kids of Boston" were a fitting pair with the Droids. The second band, Love is All was a five piece ethereal pop band with some crazy, eerie, tremolo picked guitar and a little saxophone. The female lead in a beige windbreaker and shaking a blue toy maraca when she wasn't jamming on her little Casio keyboard covered with patches of red gig tape.

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Blastfest 3!!!

Anyone who has been to the Whitehaus has probably spent some time staring into the wall collage of knick knacks, toys, broken instruments and other assorted randomness like an ISpy book you read as a kid. Each year on the vernal equinox, all the most interesting sculptures adorning the walls, ceilings and all the spaces in between the haus are dragged from Jamaica Plain to Cambridge in order to decorate the stage and concert hall of the Central Square YMCA. A similar collage of sounds was assembled from the Whitehaus Family Record’s artists and friends, for the all day, 22 band talent showcase that was the third Blastfest.

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PREVIEW: Elliott Smith :: Roman Candle vinyl reissues

Kill Rock Stars is reissuing Elliott Smith's first and last albums on vinyl on April 6th. A remastered version of Roman Candle comes to vinyl for the first time in the U.S. in addition to a reissue of From a Basement on the Hill.

Elliott Smith borrowed a guitar and a four track from a friend and recorded the eight most recent songs that he had written. Most of the recordings are just Elliott and a guitar, sketches at his most primal without revision, before he had a major label to think about writing songs for. Most of the songs didn't even have names. His girlfriend convinced him to send a copy to "Cavity Search Records" and the owner released the recordings just as they were and called it Roman Candle. It had quite a profound effect on Kill Rock Stars founder Slim Moon, who said that he has "never heard music as heartwrenchingly, gut-checkingly honest, intimate and wise - before or since."

The remastering was done by Larry Crane, owner of Jackpot! Studios and an Elliott Smith archivist. He of course received message board heat from crazed fans. Larry explains that the remastering process was minimal, "I felt that a lot of the guitar “squeaks” were jarring and very loud, and that many of the hard consonants and “S” sounds were jarring and scratchy sounding. I felt by reducing these noises that the music would become more inviting and the sound would serve the songs better. When I went to Roger Seibel's SAE Mastering, he proceeded to equalize the tracks a small amount and to make the volume slightly louder. We never tried to make this CD as loud as current, over-limited trends, but just to match the volume of the rest of Elliott’s KRS catalog in a graceful way. Please note that none of this album is “remixed” from the master tapes - it is still composed of the mixes Elliott created himself.” The smoothness of the new tracks is immediately audible, as even the white noise on the tracks is more crisp and clear.

I always liked the album, because it's more eerie than depressing. Elliott's voice is unlike any of his other recordings. And it seems to tell a coherent story throughout of what I can only assume is about Elliott's family, which never really appears in his other songs. For some reason, 'Last Call' has become a fan favorite, so they're offering it as a free download. It actually happens to be my least favorite on the album, compared with startling bio-songs like 'Drive All Over Town' and 'No Name #4.' Kill Rock Stars is also offering an unreleased track 'Cecelia/Amanda' for download and I've included both above, in addition to 'Twilight' from From a Basement on the Hill.

Unfortunately, the 180 gram LP version of Roman Candle is out of stock from Kill Rock Stars, but you can find it on here at insound.com for a few bucks more.

sweetadeline.net

killrockstars.com

insound.com

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Photos :: Japandroids, Love Is All, Girlfriends @ The Middle East 3/31/10

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