Do You Really Need That Record?

Something to do tomorrow if you don't plan on stocking up on free condoms from Planned Parenthood at the Pride Festival in Northampton (nevertheless, also a worthwhile pursuit).

What's So Great About The Internet?

I wanted to post about the Kites show that's happening in the area tomorrow, but the internet does not seem to be yielding the proper information. I saw a nice silkscreened poster for it next to an ATM in downtown Northampton, so if you're really interested, hit up Main Street & maybe you can figure out the details that are currently escaping my memory.

There's also this show, on Saturday, which might also be worth investigating:

Sian Alice Group (ex-Jesus & Mary Chain)
Mike Bones (on The Social Registry Records)
Vio/Mire
Saturday, March 1st
Hampshire College Red Barn
9pm, $5 or free with Hampshire ID
Hampshire AMC/CMC for more information.

Snow Day.

We're on a temporary roll right now with noteworthy non-Boston shows. Conversions come highly recommended if, like me, you're a fan of fast, female-fronted punk. Failures are a hardcore supergroup of sorts (this is where I drop the "members of Das Oath, Cancer Kids, Ampere & Cut The Shit" line) & I think this is like their second show ever or something. Go to the show because I know you kids love the punk rock.

Kick the Can.

Yet another benefit show for our beloved Flywheel is happening tomorrow night.

Wednesday, February 13th
Amherst, MA @ Hampshire College's Centrum Gallery
8PM, All Ages, Benefit for Flywheel Arts Space:
The Can Kickers
Chris Merenda (The Mammals)
Zebu
Free for Hampshire Students, donations everyone else.
Proceeds support Flywheel!

We hit it off with Zebu last year, due to a mutual appreciation for noisy, fucked up rock & roll over the airwaves. They have a new album out called Chainsaws & Cheerleaders, which I haven't heard yet, but I'm sure it's worth your hard-earned cash.

Everybody's Working For The Weekend.

Two days to get busy.


February 8th @ The Paradise, Allston, MA (969 Commonwealth Ave)
Liars
No Age
8pm
18+, $14


February 9th @ The Tavern, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Little Women
Kurt Weisman
Peter Bonos
9pm
$5, or free with student ID (Hampshire ID, I'm assuming)

It's no secret that we're huge fanboys/fangirls for both Liars & No Age, so that show in particular comes highly endorsed by the crew of the WMUA blog. Angus Andrews of Liars also apparently fucked his back up before the tour, or so the internet tells me, so it should be interesting. Probably not as interesting as this, though:

Liars - "We Fenced Other Gardens With The Bones Of Our Own"

Wee-ow!

Shockingly, our friends over at the Hampshire College Alternative Music Collective have been updating their myspace page recently! And rejoice, for there are actually some shows on board for the coming months. Check it out for yourselves!

It's taking me some time to completely warm up to the new Magnetic Fields album, Distortion. Maybe I'm just not ready for Stephin Merritt & company to go all shoegaze on me. Regardless, if you haven't done so already, you might want to get your shit together & attempt to acquire tickets for their shows at the Iron Horse on February 11th & 12th. According to the Iron Horse website, they're not sold out, although the degree of reliability there is highly debatable. I know the two Somerville shows sold out incredibly quickly, so do what you need to do in order to make it to one of the Northampton shows & get massively depressed right before Valentine's Day.

Blast from the past: The Magnetic Fields' "Born On A Train"

Start Flying Tonight.

Just a reminder that there's a swell rock show happening tonight at Hampshire College.

Flying
Kurt Weisman
Hampshire College Dining Commons
8:30pm-ish, free or close to it.

And for your visual accompaniment, Flying - "Twin Sisters"

Early Warning.

Hey friends, there's yet another show at Hampshire College next week because the Creative Music Collective is hooking that shit up.

Friday, November 30th at the Hampshire College Dining Commons -

Flying, from Brooklyn, who have a new album coming out soon on Menlo Park Records. I'd put these kids somewhere between Deerhoof & Animal Collective on the experimental art-pop spectrum. I saw them at the Flywheel last year & no one was there, so let's correct that this time around. Here's a video for their song "Minors":


Plus Kurt Weisman, who is part of many fine musical projects, among them Feathers, Witch & Ben + Vesper. He's got a solo album coming out on Important Records in January. Huzzah!

It'll be taking place around 8:30pm-ish & will likely be free or very reasonably priced. No excuses.

What In The Hell Is A Japandi?

Just a reminder that our friends over at Hampshire College's Creative Music Collective have a show going on tomorrow night:



Friday, November 16th
Sleeping People
Japandi
Yukon
Bunnies
Prescott Tavern, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
8:30pm, probably free or practically free.

More Decisions.

It came to my attention tonight that there is ANOTHER show next weekend, in addition to the Popfest! New England/Yo La Tengo madness I mentioned a few days ago. So here's another option for you to weigh:



Blevin Blectum at the Hampshire College Dining Commons on Friday, November 9th, probably around 8:30pm & probably free or cheap (but this being a Hampshire show & information being hard to come by, don't quote me on that). One half of the defunct laptop-fuckery/IDM duo Blectum From Blechdom, she's also collaborated with Matmos, DAT Politics, The Soft Pink Truth & a bunch of other bands you may or may not like, in addition to doing her solo electronica act. If you're vehemently against going to an indie pop show that night, you should probably go to this or risk being a loser forever.


Also, this one's a little bit further off on the horizon, but some advance warning anyway:



Sleeping People (on Temporary Residence Records), Japandi, Yukon & Bunnies at the Prescott Tavern at Hampshire College, Friday, November 16th at 8:30pm. Cost? Again, probably free or cheap. If you're into the technical, instrumental math-rock thing (see: Don Caballero, Hella, so on & so forth), you'd probably be smart to jump on the Sleeping People bandwagon. They're also starting a tour with the Locust soon, if that's any indication. Go & feel good about yourself for going to Five College campus shows so that they can keep happening, hopefully.

Halloween Hangover.

If you manage to escape without catching a razorblade in your Halloween candy this week, you might want to go to this show & get your shoegaze on.



Thursday, November 1st
A Place To Bury Strangers
The Bunnies
8:30pm
Hampshire College Dining Commons (893 West Street, Amherst)
FREE!

Also, at 5pm, there's a Death By Audio workshop with Oliver Ackermann of A Place To Bury Strangers, so if you want to earn some cool points & learn about circuit bending or pedal making, here's your chance.

Picking Up The Hampshire Slack.

This past Friday, there was a pretty amazing Wolf Eyes/Fat Worm Of Error/Northampton Wools show in the Hampshire College dining commons & in true Hampshire show fashion, I didn't find out about it until the day before (actually, this was a step up from finding out about a show there a day or two after, which also happens with relative frequency). So as a public service of sorts, I'm going to plug a show that's happening tonight courtesy of our Five College buddies over at Hampshire.

Tuesday, October 16th
9pm-ish? Your guess is as good as mine.
Hampshire College Red Barn (near the Admissions Building, 893 West Street in Amherst).
MV & EE with the Golden Road, featuring J Mascis on guitar/drums & Tom Carter on bass.
I'd tell you how much it costs, but I really have no idea. Probably free for Hampshire students with ID & between $5-$8 for non-Hampshire types.


Hampshire show-booking peeps, if you're reading this, start emailing us about this shit so we can spread some adequate advance hype for you guys! Get on it!