Lets Pretend It's Not Monday Night

Here's your excuse to go out on a Monday night: three sets of lush intelligent pop courtesy of, Cuffs (2/3 of Pants Yell!/Big Troubles), Sleepyhead, and Fan Modine at Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge for just $5.00. This is a superb line up, not to be missed and I haven't even gotten into the rumor's swirling around the city this afternoon that Kurt Heasley *may* be in the building tonight to assist Fan Modine. I'm pretty sure that's worth at least $5.00.

This Weeks Short Bursts :: Crooked Fingers + Echo Lake

Over the next year Eric Bachman will be dividing his time between touring with the recently reunited Archers of Loaf (please play Boston soon!) and his solo vehicle, Crooked Fingers. In fact on October 11th, Bachman will release his sixth release under the Crooked Fingers moniker with Breaks in the Armor. The new album was recorded in Athens, GA by Matt Yelton, with backing vocals provided by songstress Liz Durrett. Yesterday Merge Records shared the albums opening track Typhoon. One listen and we were immediately reminded of what drew us to and continues to keep us engaged with Eric Bachman's post Archers output, a lethal brew of beauty and devastation.

Crooked Fingers will play TT The Bears Place on November 6th.

Tour Dates:
Sep 07 Portland OR – Music Fest NW
Oct 15 Carrboro NC – Cat’s Cradle
Oct 27 Asheville NC – Grey Eagle
Oct 28 Knoxville TN – Pilot Light
Oct 29 Charlotte NC – The Evening Muse
Nov 01 Washington DC – IOTA
Nov 02 Philadelphia PA – Johnny Brenda’s
Nov 03 Hoboken NJ – Maxwells
Nov 04 New York NY – Mercury Lounge
Nov 06 Boston MA – TT the Bear’s
Nov 07 Montreal QC – Casa Del Popolo
Nov 08 Toronto ON – Drake
Nov 09 Detroit MI – Magic Stick
Nov 11 Chicago IL – Schubas
Nov 12 Milwaukee WI – Cactus Club
Nov 13 Minneapolis MN – Triple Rock Social Club
Nov 14 Omaha NE – Waiting Room
Nov 15 Denver CO – Larimer Lounge
Nov 23 San Francisco CA – Bottom of the Hill
Nov 25 Los Angeles CA – The Echo
Nov 26 San Diego CA – Casbah
Dec 01 Austin TX – Mohawk
Dec 02 Houston TX – Fitzgerald’s Downstairs

*Photo credit: Gary Isaacs

Crooked Fingers - Typhoon by MergeRecords

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London's hypnotic psych pop quintet, Echo Lake issued one of our favorite EP's earlier this year with the Young Silence 12" via No Pain in Pop and in June they wowed us again with the double A sided Another Day/Breath Deep 7". The new offering finds Echo Lake confidently alternating between The Cocteau Twins influenced, Another Day with Linda Jarvis providing vocals, and Breath Deep, which explores the hazy shoegaze territory of their debut single with a little more swagger.

Breathe Deep by Echo Lake

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Transmissions :: The War on Drugs

The War on Drugs "Come To The City" from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

Philadelphia's pysch folk/ambient pop outfit, The War On Drugs will play Brighton Music Hall on August 21st in support of their 2nd full length LP, Slave Ambient out today on Secretly Canadian. The new album is a sprawling and shambolic 47 minutes that showcases the bands mastermind, Adam Granduciel's razor sharp songwriting and dexterous use of the recording studio. Often we feel a little underwhelmed by Americana as whole, but Slave Ambient has smashed our preconceived notions and limitations of "American Music" and has us reaching for this LP over and over. This video was debuted earlier this month for the album's center piece, the triumphant Come To The City.

Order Slave Ambient from Secretly Canadian

The Hush Now @ The Pill [Great Scott] Allston | Tonight 8.12.11

On September 27th Boston's dream pop stalwarts, The Hush Now will issue their 3rd long player Memos. However tonight when THN take to the stage at The Pill/Great Scott they'll be celebrating the re-release and remix of their sterling sophomore LP, Constellations 2.0, proper as well as the infectious Cure like remix of Thorns. The band will also be previewing new material from their soon to be released new album, an evening not to be missed.

Just in case you've been subject to some kind of media black out or trapped under something heavy this summer we've done you a solid and posted the entire Constellations 2.0 stream/download below.

The Hush Now play The Pill @ Great Scott tonight, 1222 Commonwealth Ave, Allston.

Be there.

The Hush Now - Constellations 2.0 by thehushnow

New Sounds Now :: Big Dipper - Hurricane Bill

It's been a little stagnant around here, some heavy stuff has kept us away, but we are ready to refocus our energies and get back to it. What better way to get things going than with a brand new offering from Boston Rock legends, Big Dipper. A couple weeks ago the band shared the Gary Waliek composition, Robert Pollard, an ode to his Mars Classroom partner (see our review here) and just about an hour ago Big Dipper posted the Bill Goffrier penned , Hurricane Bill to their Soundcloud page. Hurricane Bill is slated to appear on the bands forthcoming new LP which to be honest we know very little about. And after a search of the interwebs came up empty we've decided to be patient and enjoy these two new tracks from our beloved Big Dipper while we keep our fingers crossed that the new album will be upon us shortly and recommend you do the same.

Hurricane Bill by BigDipperSongs

Robert Pollard by BigDipperSongs

New Sounds Now :: Slowdim - Dry My Hands [Demo]

One of the years most unexpected but completely awesome surprises came to us courtesy of Boston's dream pop phenoms, Slowdim. Back in February the band issued their 7 song debut EP, Spirals in which fronter Paul Sentz (This Car-Up) wrote, recorded, and played all the instruments. Expect to see that EP high on our your end list, come December. We had the pleasure of seeing the full band incarnation of the band that also features Karina DaCosta (28 Degrees Taurus) Ethan Cannon and guitarist Matt McKenna , both of the now defunct 100 Years War, last winter and was mightily impressed with their performance . According to the bands Facebook page Slowdim are in the early stages of planning their full length debut and have gifted us with this demo for a new track, Dry My Hands which you can buy from their bandcamp page for just a buck.

Slowdim play Zuzu's @ The Middle East on August 15th, be there.

Dry My Hands demo by Slowdim


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Reviewed :: Boston Spaceships - Let It Beard

Robert Pollard's been threatening a double LP since the mid 90's, but for whatever reason, those projects never came to fruition. Most notably Guided by Voices' aborted The Power of Suck, with several tracks from that session finding a home on GBV's classic recording, Under The Bushes, Under The Stars. Well, it took 16 years but the double album Pollard's been trying make has finally arrived and to put it bluntly it's been well worth the wait. According to Pollard Let It Beard "is a subconscious concept album about the sorry state of rock and roll". For the sessions Pollard recorded 40 acoustic demos, that he delivered to multi instrumentalist, Chris Slusarneko (GBV) that were then trimmed down to 26. Slusarenko and drummer John Moen (The Decemberists) quickly worked up some basic tracks and over the period of 6 months added new sounds and arrangements to the tracks including, horns, strings, and some notable guest contributions.

Let It Beard is the 5th and final full length from Boston Spaceships, and as with the bands previous output they've managed to take another step forward, albeit this time it's a quantum one. It's almost as if this is the album Pollard has been hinting at since releasing the Spaceships' debut Brown Submarine. For a record that clocks in at 75 minutes, you might think there is some skipable material on Let It Beard, quite the contrary actually. This is one the most varied, engaging, and addictive LP I've heard in years and one that should be listened to in one sitting. The album starts off with Blind 20-20, the song features 4 time changes, not to mention plenty of guitar crunch and a bit of cello. J.Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) shows up to provide a guitar solo on Tourist U.F.O. which only enhances the already staggering and melancholic anthem. Elsewhere Colin Newman (Wire) guests on the punked up, You Just Can't Tell, Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) appears on the psych pop of I Took On The London Guys and Mitch Mitchell provides guitar (and cigarettes, we assume) on the fist pumping You in My Prayer. But it's the more noise riddled tracks like German Field of Shadows and A Hair in Every Square Inch of The House that add some weight and complexity to the album. Let It Beard and it's spectacular 26 songs is a masterwork and one of Pollard's finest records. Yeah, you need this.

[MP3] Boston Spaceships - Christmas Girl

Let It Beard was released today August 2, 2011 on Guided By Voices, Inc.

Buy Let It Beard from Rockathon/The Factory of Raw Essentials

Forthcoming :: Mogwai - Earth Division EP

On the heels of the masterful Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will released earlier this year, Scotland's post-rock titans, Mogwai are set to return to our shores for some (rescheduled) live dates and they'll be armed with a new EP. The 4 track Earth Division will be issued on Sub Pop on September 13th as well as on the bands Rock Action imprint in the U.K. a day earlier. Yesterday the band offered up the EP's opening track , the immaculate classical piano piece, Get To France. Not exactly what we were expecting after the sonic return of Hardcore..but then again when have Mogwai ever conformed to expectations?

Earth Division EP Track listing:
1. Get To France
2. Hound of Winter
3. Drunk and Crazy
4. Does This Always Happen?



Mogwai will play House of Blues Boston on October 1st with The Soft Moon.

This Week's Short Bursts : The Blue Dress, Eldridge Rodriguez, + Sneeze

A locals only edition
Some things sneak up on us with little warning, like a smack on the back of the head from our old man. The latest example of this is the Demo EP from from Cape Cod's psych trash duo, The Blue Dress. Over four tracks Patrick Tottenham formally of The Fleece and Timothy Sylvia, display a penchant for stark and compelling song craft with a minimalist overture of drums, guitar, vocals that reminds us a bit of TX strummers, The Baptist Generals. They are currently offering the EP at Bandcamp as a pay what you want deal. We recommend that you head over and drop a few bucks and their til. Earlier today The Blue Dress announced that they will be teaming up with Chicago/MI based Already Dead Tapes and Records for a limited run cassette due in mid September. The Blue Dress have few August shows coming up that we all should attend, see dates below.

Live Dates:
08.02.11 @ Muther Ship, JP w/Zoo
08.05.11 @ South Chatham Village Hall FRIENDS FOREVER FEST 4!
08.14.11 @ Odd Fellows Lodge- Orleans, MA w/Randy & The Oak Trees
08.20.11 @ Cape Farmhouse Cafe- Dennisport, MA w/Bicycle Ride, Soft White 3-Way


Eldridge Rodriguez, he of Boston's noise pop goliath's The Beatings has already turned in one of our favorite recordings of the year with the superlative, You Are Released, and he's just issued the second installment of his Cheap Summer Single Series. For the remainder of the summer E.R. will be posting Live, remixes, and experimental tracks. These will only be made available for a week or so and are cheaper than your next double mocha latte thingy. This weeks installment is the You Are Released duet, Miss Me When I'm Gone [Celebrity Handjob Inter Remix], featuring Sara Borges and Louder My Dear's David Grabowski. Go get it.


Allston's grunge trio Sneeze are about to embark on a national tour with fellow locals The Clippers and in order to send them off in proper fashion, tomorrow night both bands with assistance from Arvid Noe and Earhquake Party! will play a tour kick off show at Wacky Castle, 101 Hooker Street Allston. Sneeze recently released Grandma In The Trenches 7" on Bear Records which consists of 8 tracks of infectious sludge pop, none of which exceeds 2:15. Yeah, they rule.

You can find the EP at Bear Records, Bandcamp, or purchase it from the band at one of their shows.

New Sounds Now :: Letting Up Despite Great Faults

Los Angeles' dream pop quintet, Letting Up Despite Great Faults will issue the Paper Crush EP on August 2nd through Old Flame Records, in a limited CD pressing of 500 copies. Ever since stumbling onto the bands Movement EP in 2006 and hunting down the subsequent self titled debut in 2009, we've been more than a little smitten. Often compared to The Radio Dept. and New Order, we also hear a bit of Chapterhouse in fronter, Micheal Lee's new compositions, which for us, is never a bad thing. But the most intriguing aspect of LUDGF is their ability to transcend influences and deliver something that is both unique and arresting. The Paper Crush EP is streaming in it's entirety over at Paste and for your convenience we've gone ahead and provided an embed of the hook heavy track, Teenage Tide below. Please listen to your AGP blog friends and find this, buy this, and enjoy this [repeat].

Order the Paper Crush EP via Old Flame Records/Big Cartel

Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Teenage Tide by lettingu

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Hallelujah The Hills + Poison Control Center|Church Boston |July 18th

The Ash Gray Proclamation Radio Hour(s)

Live Broadcast 91.5 FM WMLN Milton, MA July 13, 2011 12-3 PM

We played 43 songs and talked about them too:

Fucked Up - The Other Shoe - David Comes to Life (Matador)
Small 23 - Red Comes Up - True Zero Hook (Alias)
Times New Viking - Ever Falling in Love - Dancer Equired (Merge)
Young Adults - Life Under Review - (Amdiscs)
Boston Spaceships - Christmas Girl - Let It Beard out 8/2 (GBV, Inc)
Grandaddy - A.M. 180 - Under The Western Freeway(V2)
Eldridge Rodriguez - Disposable Stars - You Are Released (Midriff Records)
Fugazi - Latin Roots - Steady Diet of Nothing (Dischord)
Antiques - ETC - JWNS (Self Released/Bandcamp)
Bedhead - Disorder - 4 Song EP (Trance Syndicate)

Hallelujah The Hills - Allied Lions - Colonial Drones (Misra)

Big Troubles - Misery - Romantic Comedy out 10/27 (Slumberland)

The Figgs - Opening Night - Sucking in Stereo(Hearbox)

The Long Winters - The Sound of Coming Down - When I Pretend to Fall (Barsuk)

Johnny Foreigner - Tru Punx - Stagecoach vs. Johnny Foreigner Split 7" (Alcopop!)

Mogwai - Rano Pano - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Sub-Pop)

Ringo Deathstarr - Chloe - Colour Trip (Sonic Unyon)

Thinking Fellers Local Union 282 - Hummingbird in a Cube of Ice - Mother of all Saints (Matador)

Get Help - Little Symbols - The Good Green Earth (Midriff Records)

New Radiant Storm King - Winters Kill - Winters Kill (Rainbow Quartz)

Gold-Bears - Tally - Are You Falling in Love? (Slumberland)

The Ivory Coast - Lake Placid 1986 - Clouds (Polyvinyl)

Mission of Burma - Mica - Vs. (Rycodisc)

NYC UFO's - There Goes My Ego -Newer Stations (Self-Released/Bandcamp)

Eyesinweasel -Dusting Coatails - Wrinkled Thoughts (Recordhead)

Slowdim - Tallest Trees - Spirals (Self Released/Bandcamp)

Pavement - Give it a Day -Pacific Trim EP (Matador)

Calories - Mortal Boys - Basic Nature (Tough Love)

Wire - Bad Worn Thing - Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)

The Thermals - Ballad of Big Nothing - To Elliot: From: Portland (Expunged)

Heatmiser - Get Lucky - Mic City Sons (Caroline)

Trumans Water - We Fish - O Zeta Zunis (Asthmatic Kitty)

Small Factory - For When You Can Not Land - For If You Can Not Fly (Vernon Yard)

The Hush Now - The Atheist - Constellations Remix 2.0 (Self Released)

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Riffle Eyesight (Proper Name) - Lenses Alien out 8/30 (Barsuk)

Superchunk - Becoming A Speck - Cup of Sand (Merge)

Lets Wrestle - In Dreams II - Nursing Home (Merge)

Okkervil River - White Shadow Waltz - I Am Very Far (Jagjaguwar)

Bottomless Pit - 38 Souls - Blood Under The Bridge (Comedy Minus One)

Yuck - Holing Out - S/T (Fat Possum)

Cloud Nothings - Didn't You - 7" (Old Flame)

This Weeks Short Bursts :: Boston Spaceships + Cymbals Eat Guitars

Two Robert Pollard related posts back to back on consecutive days, unheard of? No, not really and if you research the origin and the naming of this here blog it kind of makes sense, at least to us. Like many of our fellow Pollard obsessives we've been anxiously awaiting the release of Let it Beard from Boston Spaceships, due out on August 2nd. Expect a review on theses pages shortly. Well, today we creeped just a little closer to release date, thanks to Spinner as well as Boston Spaceships we get our first taste of the 26 track double LP, via the track Christmas Girl. As for the song itself, we listened 10 or 11 times (we lost count) over the last hour, so yeah we dig it, especially the blaring horns and Pollard's spoken word coda. There is also a video contest for Christmas Girl that you can read about here, if you are so inclined and we hope you are.

[MP3]Boston Spaceships - Christmas Girl

Pre-order Let it Beard

New York's indie throw backs Cymbals Eat Guitars will issue their second full length Lenses Alien through Barsuk in the U.S. on August 30th and September 12th through Memphis Industries in the U.K.. At the price of your e-mail address you can grab the album's lead track, Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name) below.

Cymbals Eat Guitars return to Boston to kick off a tour in support of Lenses Alien on September 20th with Hooray For Earth in tow. Be advised we've seen CEG twice over the past couple of years and both times they had our jaws on the floor.

Tour Dates:
09-20 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
09-21 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
09-22 Hamden, CT - The Space
09-24 Washington, DC - Black Cat
09-26 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
09-27 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
09-29 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
09-30 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's
10-01 Austin, TX - Emo's
10-02 Denton, TX - Dan's Silverleaf
10-04 Tucson, AZ - Hotel Congress
10-05 San Diego, CA - Casbah
10-06 Long Beach, CA - Alex's Bar
10-07 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
10-08 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
10-10 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
10-11 Seattle, WA - Crocodile
10-13 Boise, ID - Neurolux
10-14 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10-15 Denver, CO - Hi Dive
10-17 Omaha, NE - Slowdown Jr.
10-19 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
10-20 Madison, WI - High Noon
10-21 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
10-23 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern
10-25 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10-27 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom

Pre-order Lenses Alien

Transmissions :: Circus Devils - I Razor Kickstarter Campaign

A Kickstarter campaigned has been launched to assist in financing a Circus Devils full length film, I Razor. A $20 dollar donation will get you a copy of the film on DVD. It will not be available commercially and is limited to a run of 1,500. This is sure to be a spectacle of both sight and sound.

I RAZOR stars Steve Five (The Library is On Fire) as the Sgt. and Cory Race as the Professor. Music and direction by Todd Tobias. Songs by Circus Devils (Robert Pollard, Todd Tobias and Tim Tobias).

+ The project has just met it's goal of $1,500, but you can still contribute to the project until August 8th and we recommend you do so.

For more information on the forthcoming film/DVD visit the Circus Devils I Razor Kickstarter page.

Be afraid.

This Weeks Short Bursts :: Big Troubles + We Are Losers

New Jersey's pop phenoms, Big Troubles will issue their Mitch Easter produced sophomore set, Romantic Comedy on September 27th. The band will also release the Sad Girls 7" on August 30th, both releases will come courtesy of Big Troubles new label Slumberland Records. Just yesterday the band shared up the album track Misery over at Pantsfork, but luckily for us today they've made it available over at their Bandcamp page. It's two minutes of just the right amount of polish, grit, and sizable pop hooks. Their are hints of the bands sterling debut, Worry (which we reviewed here) but the band has jettisoned many of the lo-fi characteristics of their debut for the advantages of recording in a big studio. Based on Misery, Big Troubles have taken another impressive step forward. As of today we don't see any Boston show's on the calendar, but we have it from a source "close" to the band that a fall show in our city is in the works.

The Romantic Comedy pre-order info has yet to be posted at Slumberland, however you can get your hands on the Sad Girls 7" over at Insound.

Upcoming Shows:
Sep 22 Glasslands, Brooklyn, NY (record release)

Fall 2011 Tour w/ The Pains of Being Pure At Heart:
Sep 24 Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
Sep 25 Pygmalion Festival @ The Hi Dive, Urbana, IL
Sep 26 High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
Sep 28 Royal Albert, Winnipeg, MB
Sep 30 Dickens, Calgary, AB
Oct 01 The Starlite Room, Edmonton, AB
Oct 03 The Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
Oct 04 The Crocodile, Seattle, WA
Oct 05 The Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR


Dublin's fuzz poppers , We Are Losers have inked a deal with Leeds based , Dance to The Radio. The band will release a limited edition double A sided 7" on July 18th. Ever since hearing the bands self titled and still free debut EP in 2010 we've been singing their praises. Initially started as a solo affair by fronter Gavin Elsted We Are Losers quickly morphed into a full band when Elsted's former band mates Steve Conlon, Gary Clark, and friend Brownwyn Murphy White signed on. The forthcoming Sunset Song b/w Cheerleader 7"picks up right were the bands EP left us, with two prodigious helpings of the bands signature skuzzy lo-fi pop.

Order the Sunset Song/Cheerleader 7" at Dance To The Radio

Guillermo Sexo Record Release with Young Adults, Night Fruit & Soccer Mom|Precinct Somerville| 7.16.11