Friday Micro-News
I realize summer just started, but the fact that some of our favorite artists here at the AGP will be dropping new records at summers end has me looking past the dog days. By the way these releases will be supported by stops in our beloved city or close by anyway. So we have that to look forward to.

The New Year will be releasing there self titled third release on September 9th via touch&go. Matt and Bubba Kadane will be touring pre-release as The Kadane Brothers with The Bottomless Pit(Silkworm) and Chris Brokaw. They've scheduled a show at the Middle East on July 12th. A proper New Year tour is expected after the albums release.

The New Year new album teaser


Cold War Kids have been busy recording the follow up to Robbers and Cowards in a Southern California studio. The album is at this time without a title or official release date, OK they've narrowed it down to sometime in September. In the meantime you can check out the band in the studio through the magic of a video posted on coldwarkids.com
Look for the band to launch a tour in support of the new album this fall. Cold War Kids will play The Paradise on October 14th.

Calexico have finished recording the follow up to Garden Ruin and on September 9th they will unveil Carried to Dust on touch&go. Calexico has signed on to play this years newportfolkfestival on August 3rd.

Shall Noise Upon
Boston's psych-poppers Apollo Sunshine are set to return with album #3. Shall Noise Upon will be released on vinyl and digital formats on August 5th, with the official CD release set for September 2nd on Headless Heroes/Worlds Fair. The band is offering up a free download of 666:The Coming of The New World Government on there official site. They head off to the UK for a show on July 4th at the 02 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park before heading home for two shows at The Beachcomber in Wellfleet on August 8th and 9th.

Shall Noise Upon
{track listing}
1. Breeze
2. Singing To The Earth
3. 666: The Coming Of The New World Government
4. Shall Noise Upon
5. Brotherhood Of Death
6. Happiness
7. We Are Born When We Die
8. The Funky Chamberlain (Who Begot Who)
9. Wolf Frog White
10. Money
11. The Mermaid Angeline
12. Green Green Lawns Of Outer Space
13. Honestly
14. Coyote Hearing
15. Fog And Shadow
16. Light Of The World

The Hold Steady & Aberdeen City For Free


Let me be the 10th person to tell you about this FREE Hold Steady show. Just in case you somehow missed this announcement by some of my Boston Blogging Brethren (possible band name). This Thursday The Hold Steady will be playing The Paradise as part of the Going.com and Miller Lite Great Taste Music Series. To sweeten the deal Boston's own and always excellent Aberdeen City will open the show.

To gain access to this free show just RSVP here

The Hold Steady will release there fourth album Stay Positive on July 15th via Vagrant Records.

You can check out a track from the soon to be released Stay Positive on the bands My Space page. Sequestered in Memphis

Boston Spaceships On- Sale Update

Tickets for the Robert Pollard/Boston Spaceships show at The Paradise go on sale tomorrow morning through Ticketmaster.
Ah morning coffee and another on-line ticket hunt. go get em.

Thursday Night Micro-News


Thanks to a week in which we saw long awaited releases from the Silver Jews, Wolf Parade, and The Notwist hit the shelves I have plenty new music to get caught up on. Before I get to that I thought I'd focus on some upcoming shows that require our attendance and ticket purchases.

A pre-sale for the U.S. leg of the upcoming Sigur Ros tour will go on sale tomorrow. The pre-sale begins at 10 AM at sigurros.com. The tour will kick off on September 17th in New York and they hit the Bank of America Pavillion on September 19th. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly) will hit stores and digital shops next Tuesday 6/24. The band has been streaming the album on there site but I refuse to listen to it in that forum. I want hold the album in my hands and play it at maximum volume through my headphones. I admit I get a little carried away when it comes to this band and a few others too. To me it's a major event when a band of Sigur Ros' caliber release a new record, so I like to treat it as such.

Former Clem Snide front man Eef Barzelay recently released his second solo album Lose Big on 429Records. After scoring the film Rocket Science Eef was in a prolific space, writing a large chunk of the albums material in just 4 days. Wow I feel lazy. Eef Barzealy plays TT The Bears on June 28th. Get your tickets here

The very same night (6/29) Columbus,OH's Times New Viking return to town with a show at Great Scott in Allston. I had the chance to catch TNV when they opened for Super Furry Animals back in February. It was a jaw dropping set and I anxiously await there return to say the least. Hallelujah The Hills open the show to a solidify a terrific line up. Speaking of Hallelujah The Hills you can check out front man Ryan Walsh's interview with Cassie Beraman of the Silver Jews at Largeheartedboy.

Boston Spaceships

Hot on the heels of the release of Robert Pollard Is Off To Business, Bob is already planning his next release and 1st tour in two years. On September 9th GBV Inc. will release Brown Submarine the debut release from Boston Spaceships. The band constists of Robert Pollard, John Moen (Decemberists & the Jicks), and Chris Slusarenko (GBV & Sprinkler). In a press release of sorts Brown Submarine is given the following description, "This is this you know..." Though you'll notice some subtle prog flourishes and acoustic strums, Brown Submarine is a pop punk album, made by and for kids who've worn out the grooves on their Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, Wire and dBs records. While Pollard has stretched out post-GBV, experimenting on each of his diverse and unique solo records, Boston Spaceships rock hard, have fun and drink Miller Lite.

A tour in support of Brown Submarine has been announced and includes one Boston area date. On September 30th Boston Spaceships will play The Paradise, and if you think things couldn't get any better for Boston area Pollard fans you would be wrong. I just learned that Big Dipper will be supporting at the Paradise show. As soon as I finish jumping up and down I'll get the ticket on-sale information posted.

Boston Spaceships Tour
09-26 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
09-27 Washington, DC - Black Cat
09-29 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
09-30 Boston, MA - Paradise (with Big Dipper)
10-01 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
10-03 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
10-04 Dayton, OH - Dayton Music Festival
10-06 Chicago, IL - Double Door
10-07 St. Paul, MN - Turf Club
10-09 Champaign, IL - Higher Ground
10-10 St. Louis, MO - Bluebird
10-11 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone
10-14 Austin, TX - The Parish
10-15 Dallas, TX - The Loft
10-17 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
10-18 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
The High Strung will support all dates except for the above mentioned Boston show.


Boston Spaceships
Robert Pollard

Look for a Robert Pollard tour announcement right here at The Ash Gray Proclamation sometime tomorrow.
Now back to the Celtics quest for banner #17.

Up and Over The Bridge
As Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago continues to receive heaps of praise from fans and critics alike, Bon Iver has announced some shows with Wilco and a show on Cape Cod . In August Justin Vernon and co. will play a handful of dates supporting Wilco on there never ending Sky Blue Sky tour. However the news I'm most excited about is that they've announced two local shows, they'll play The Museum of Fine Arts on July 26th as well as a show on Cape Cod at Cape Cinema in Dennis, MA on July 27th. Quality shows on the other side of the Sagamore Bridge are rare so I jumped when I saw this news. A great show without the hour plus drive into the city, count me in.

Ticket information on the Cape Cod show will soon be posted here

You can get tickets for The MFA show here

For more info on Bon Iver check out there official site boniver.org

Here's Bon Iver performing Skinny Love Live on Later with Jools Holland for your listening and viewing pleasure. In a word, stunning.

Micro-News/Pop Hooks

There's nothing quite like a great pop song. Three of our favorite artists that occupy the powerpop/guitar pop genre have either released or are preparing to release new albums in the coming months. This edition of Micro-News contains news from Robert Pollard, Matthew Sweet, and Sloan.

Robert Pollard's latest release Off To Business had the official street date of June 3rd, however the mail tends to be a little slow to get out of Dayton. Seriously It usually takes a good week or so after the initial release before it shows up in the record shops here on the east coast. This time is no different, Off To Business is nowhere to be found. I've done some checking around and multiple sources have confirmed that Off To Business will be on the release list for next week. All this could be avoided if I remembered to pre-order from Rockathon, but things have been a little busy around here. Another way to get to your new Pollard fix is by going to Fina Music and buy a digital copy right now.

Popsmith Matthew Sweet will release his 10th studio album, Sunshine Lies on August 26th via Shout-Factory. Sweet described Sunshine Lies as"power-pop-folk-rock-psychedelic-melodic-singer-songwriter-type stuff" in a recent press release. Sunshine Lies was recorded at Lolina Green Studios in Los Angeles, CA, and produced and mixed by Matthew Sweet. Susanna Hoffs appears on the album, providing backup vocals on the title track. While familiars Ric Menck (drums), Ivan Julian (guitar), Greg Leisz (guitar/pedal steel guitar) and Richard Lloyd (guitar) are all in tow. A full tour in support of Sunshine Lies is expected to be announced by the time the album is released this summer.

Nova Scotia Pop veterans, Sloan will release Parallel Play on June 10th via Yep Roc. Parellel Play is the follow up to the superb Never Hear The End Of It, the bands high water mark in my opinion. The album has been described as more concise but sonically varied album, as the 4 songwriters continue to contribute equally throughout Parellel Play . Thanks to the nice folks at Yep Roc for streamingParallel Playfor our listening enjoyment.

Sloan play TT The Bears on June 18th.

Run Son Run

Prepare yourselves this post contains almost no music related news, review, or concert announcements. On August 10th I'll be running in the Falmouth Road Race to raise money for some worthy Cape Cod area charities. When I started running last fall I was just hoping to get into shape, but since then I've gotten hooked on it and rarely let more than a day or two go by without getting out for a run. As with most things In my life I have to add music to the mix and running is no exception. My ipod has been key while out on the road.

(Current) Top 5 songs to run to:
Game of Pricks (tigerbomb version)- GBV
You Are a Runner and I am My Fathers Son - Wolf Parade
The Birth and Death of The Day- Explosions in The Sky
Each to Each- The Gutter Twins
Retro-fit- The Hot Snakes
You loved the last mix tape I made you....right?

If you would like to learn more about the charities I'm raising money for or perhaps you would like help out a worthy cause. Shoot an e-mail to ashgrayproclamation@yahoo.com