Transmissions :: Bird of Youth

Brooklyn's rising folk pop ensemble, Bird of Youth have recently recorded an acoustic video series to tease the upcoming release of their Will Sheff [Okkervil River] produced debut album, Defender, which will be released on May 24th. Bird of Youth is fronted by former music journalist, Beth Wawerna and features contributions from members of The National, Nada Surf, The Wrens, and The Mendoza Line. Check out the bare bones and gorgeous version of the album track, The Great Defender, above.

The Figgs| Precinct, Sommerville| March 4th

Reviewed :: BOAT - Dress Like Your Idols

Seattle's self proclaimed sloppy pop outfit, Boat return with their fourth full length, Dress Your Idols. The album is set to be released on March 22nd on the band's long time label, Portland, OR based Magic Marker Records. Dress Like Your Idols picks up where 2009's Setting The Paces left off. A bit of polish has been applied to D. Crane's catchy as hell pop songs due to Boat recording at (the now defunct) Two Sticks Audio in the bands home town. This marks the first time the band have balanced their tried and true method of recording at home with the benefits of professional studio tools. Well, after this they might have to abandon that sloppy pop tag, because Dress Like Your Idols is filled with perfectly executed and irresistible pop moments, with the bands signature tongue and cheek wit intact.

It's on tracks, Bite My Lips, Forever In Armitron, and the John Roderick (The Long Winters) guested Landlocked that Boat deliver on the promise of their previous recordings, and then some. These are fully realized and instantly addicting pop nuggets that have us reaching for this LP on a nearly daily basis. Elsewhere the band shines on home recordings such as, Water it Down ,which provide charming and albeit brief interludes that assist in the flow and superb sequencing of Dress Like Your Idols.

Not only have Boat achieved the dubious task of following up a high water mark album like Setting The Paces, they've managed to surpass it. Albums about love, girls, and idols aren't supposed to be so consistently rewarding, but Dress Like Your Idols isn't just another indie pop record. Far from it.

BOAT - (I'll Beat My Chest Like) King KongBOAT -

Transmissions :: The Hush Now

This just in: Boston's jangle pop titans, The Hush Now have announced they will play Church on March 10th. To celebrate/promote the occasion the boys have offered up this show announcement via video. Rock and roll propaganda? Yes and we love it, plus who could blame them after seeing the line up they've assembled.

@Church 3/10/11
11:00 - The Hush Now
10:00 - A Bit Much
9:00 - Action Verbs
8:00 - Butterknife
Grab tickets

Introducing :: The Megaphonic Thift

Bergen, Norway's rising noise stalwarts, The Megaphonic Thrift wear their influences proudly and prominently on their collective sleeves, giving nods to Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, and we even hear a bit of Swervedriver in there as well. However the band never come off like copyists, quite the opposite actually. The Megaphonic Thrift make hypnotic noise pop that manages to deconstruct those influences to deliver something wholly original.

Born from the embers of Norwegian bands, Casiokids, The Low Frequency in Stereo, and Stereo 21, The Megaphonic Thrift formed in 2007 and released the Acid Blues/Mad Mary 7" in 2008, A Thousand Years of Destruction [EP] in 2009. All while earning a reputation as a ferocious live act from their native Norway to their much talked about 2010 SXSW sets.

On March 8th The Megaphonic Thrift will release their debut full length, Decay Decoy on Canada's Sonic Unyon Records The band has announced a short U.S. tour including another stop at this years SXSW. If you're headed to Austin next month, we implore you not miss your chance to catch The Megaphonic Thift Live.The rest of us will have to hold out hope for a Boton show in the not too distant future.

U.S. Tour Dates
3/13 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge w/Arbouretum and more
3/14 Brooklyn, NY – The Rock Shop, Brooklyn Vegan SXSW-send off
3/16 SXSW – Flavorpill/Musebox/I Rock I Roll/Bellhouse NY Day Party
3/19 SXSW –American Art Authority Day Party (4PM)
3/19 SXSW – Main showcase at Speakeasy (8PM)

[MP3] The Megaphonic Thrift - Candy Sin

[MP3] The Megaphonic Thrift - Sister Joan

[Watch] The Megaphonic Thrift - Talks Like A Weed [ SXSW 2010]

Reviewed :: Lifeguards - Waving at the Astronauts

Q: Can someone with a nom de plume of Echos Myron contribute a negative review of a Robert Pollard project for a blog called The Ash Gray Proclamation?

Dropping today (February 15th),via Serious Business Records/Ernest Jennings Recording Co. Lifeguards Waving at the Astronauts is the second Robert Pollard album of 2011, and again pairs Pollard with ex-Cobra Verde, ex-Guided by Voices 2.0 guitarist Doug Gillard. While we assume Pollard is good for 3 or 4 more releases this year, (Mars Classroom, his highly anticipated collaboration with ex-Volcano Suns and Big Dipper ax man Gary Waleik is due in March) Pollard is off to a great start in twenty-eleven with January’s excellent solo release Space City Kicks, and this thoroughly rewarding merger of Prog and Pop by Lifegards. Pollard and Gillard have paired up before, on 1999’s magnificent Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department and again on 2003’s solid Mist King Urth. While Speak Kindly, arguably one of the best Robert Pollard records of the post classic lineup GBV cannon, sounded more like a Pollard solo record, Astronauts sounds like more of a collaboration record in the vain of his work released under Airport 5 with long time foil Tobin Sprout and Go Back Snowball, his collab with Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan. Like those records, Astronauts is the product of Pollard (deftly in this case) applying lyrics and melodies to music already recorded, at least in demo-form, by Gillard. What separates this record from its piece-meal predecessors is that on Astronauts, the listener can hear Pollard apply his tremendous gift for melody and uncanny ability to write hooks –to fairly straightforward guitar riffs.

While nowhere on Astronauts does Gillard deliver Pollard a pure meatball like Pop Zeus, although the stellar lead track Paradise Is Not So Bad comes pretty close. Uncle Bob hits Gillard’s compositions to all fields with power, knocking (Doing The)Math,You’re Gonna Need A Mountain, andThey Called Him So Much right out of the ballpark. While many of these tracks are more rhythmic than melodic, and fairly standard-rock instrumental tracks, the fact that Pollard transforms the other 6 compositions into memorable, hum-able pop songs, is a testament to his unparalleled pop chops, and what makes Waving at the Astronauts such a enjoyable listen.

~Echos Myron

LIFEGUARDS - Paradise Is Not So Bad by seriousbusiness

Follow The Links :: Winter 2011

Welcome one and all to Follow The Links, a new feature where we will gather up the finest in free, legal, and highly recommended new music streams and downloads. With the advent of Bandcamp and Soundcloud, as well as the generosity of the artists themselves, the discovery of your new favorite band, album, or rare live recording has never been easier. Although we will continue to post audio content in our regular features, Follow The Links will allow us to point you to music deserving of your attention in a consolidated and concise format. We hope you find this exercise to be a fruitful one and by all means feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions on this and future installments.

We Are Losers - The Newbridge, Kildare, IRL fuzz poppers issued their 3 song debut last summer and hooked us in immediately. The band has just posted a brand new track, Cheerleader, two and half minutes of sublime indie pop that you will find below. You can also download the bands debut EP from their bandcamp site.

We Are Losers - Cheerleader
Blogspot/Twitter/Bandcamp

Maritime - it's been a full four years since Maritime released any new music and eight since Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier formed the band out of the ashes of the highly influential and in our eyes criminally over looked, The Promise Ring. On April 5th Maritime will release LP #4, Human Hearts on Dangerbird Records. The band is currently giving away the track Paraphernalia at the cost of your e-mail address at their site. We have also posted the track below , mainly because it's an irresistible pop song and we think you should hear it.

Maritime - Paraphernalia
Facebook/Twitter/Official

Chris North & the Love Parade - In late December Chris North fronter for Boston's American/Irish folk outfit The Points North, somewhat quietly released this self titled EP. As a genre we usually don't go for a lot of the "folk" stuff but there is something about these songs as well as North's Music with The Points North that strikes a chord with us. Beautiful and haunting all at once. Chris has made these songs available at his Bandcamp site for free however we request that you support his efforts with a donation of $5.00 or more.

Shows: Chris North will play Gay Gardens performance space in Allston on 2/18 and The Points North will play T.T. The Bears on 2/24 with The Craters.


Bandcamp/The Points North/Twitter

The Bigger Lovers - We were flat out ecstatic when we heard that Philadelphia's purveyors of intelligent power pop were reuniting and reissuing their fantastic debut album How I Learned To Stop Worrying. As if that wasn't enough the band has just released their first new music since 2004's This Affair Never Happened… and Here are Eleven Songs About It, in the form of the new digital EP dubbed, The Little Giant Maxi-Single. Technically this one isn't free,but it's pretty close, four songs for a measly $4.00. The EP can be streamed and purchased over at The Bigger Lovers Bandcamp page or at finer digital retailers. You might as well pre-order the bands debut on limited edition 180 gram vinyl while you're at it. The Bigger Lovers have announced one hometown show in March, but we're totally hopping that the band adds some additional dates,like uh um Boston!


Tumblr/Bandcamp/Facebook

Yuck - Ever since releasing their debut single, last March these Londoners have been planted firmly on our radar as well as the rest of the interwebs. On February 15th Yuck will release their highly anticipated self titled debut and will answer the question that all blog buzzed bands must eventually address, was the hype justified? Based on the amount of time we've spent listening to the tracks that occupy their first long player, the answer is a resounding yes. You can hear a handful of these songs at the bands Soundcloud and Bandcamp pages.

Yuck - Holing Out
Soundcloud/Blogspot/Facebook/Twitter

Low -Deluth,MN's slow core/minimalist legends are set to return on April 12th with C'mom via Sub-Pop. The 10 track album was recorded at Sacred Heart Studios, a former catholic church and where they tracked 2002's Trust. The albums cover art has some local ties, it was snapped by Boston music blogger and all around nice guy, Brad Searles from Bradley's Almanac. Low have just announced a tour in support of C'mon that will have them in town for a show at the soon to be reopened Paramount Center on April 29th. Try to Sleep is the first track revealed from C'mon and it's yours in exchange for your electronic address.

Official/Facebook

Gruff Rhys - Originally intended as an album of piano ballads to lament his 40th birthday, thankfully that plan went a little off course in favor of impeccably constructed albeit off kilter pop songs (with horns) from the Super Furry Animals fronter. Rhys' third solo outing will be released in the U.K. on February 14th on Turnstile, however U.S. fans will have to wait until May 3rd before we can get our mitts on Hotel Shampoo via Wichita Recordings. As of yesterday you can now listen to the album in it's entirety at The Gruffington Post or on the widget that you'll find below.

Gruff Rhys - Sensations in The Dark [Video]

Listen To Hotel Shampoo

The Gruffington Post/Facebook

Fat History Month - These Boston lo-fi noise makers and frequent basement dwellers are responsible for one of our current favorite releases, First Tape which includes a ramshackle cover of Daniel Johnston's Casper The Friendly Ghost, among other noise drenched nuggets. Due to limited information available on line it's unclear when this album was actually released, we think and hope recently. The band makes regular appearances throughout the New England underground. They play Gay Gardens, Allston on March 26th with State Champion. Up until about 24hrs ago First Tape was available at Bandcamp, however it has since been taken down. Until we can locate that fine release, we hope you will find consultation in the track we found as the Bedroom Suck Records Soundcloud page.

Fat History Month - Money=Time=Death

Official/Bedroom Sucks

The Skull Defekts - Often referred to as Sweden's answer to Sonic Youth, The Skull Defekts have been at the center of the Swedish experimental scene since their inception in 2005 and for good reason,. On February 15th the band returns with Peer Amid on Thrill Jockey with a fifth member in tow, Daniel Higgs of Lungfish, who supplies vocals, chants, and various instrumentation. The bands label is offering the album track Fragrant Nimbus as a free download, go get it.

The Skull Defekts - Fragrant Nimbus
Thrill Jockey/Official/Facebook

Robert Pollard / GBV - What would this exercise be without the inclusion of Uncle Bob and his various vehicles for his seemingly endless deluge of material. With the near perfect, Space City Kicks already under his belt this year and collaborative releases from Lifeguards with former GBV guitarist Doug Gillard which will be released next week, as well as Mars Classroom with Big Dipper's Gary Waliek due in late March. There's plenty for us Pollard fans to look forward to in the very near future. You can hear the lead track off The Lifeguards' Waving at The Astronauts, Paradise Is Not So Bad at Serious Business Records. Not to mention that the reunion of Guided By Voices classic line up is alive and well and they have just added a couple more live dates, including one at this years Sasquatch Festival in Seattle. We're hoping for another trip east from Dayton but until then we're happy to find this bootleg from the Isolation Drills tour. GBVDB, the encyclopedic on-line resource for everything and anything you wanted to know about Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard, have recently unearthed The Last of The No Hit Wonders, Live at The Mercury, Austin, TX 06/17/01 and offered it as a free download. We remember this tour fondly which included some highlights from Suitcase as well as the bands TVT years.

Download The Last of The No Hit Wonders from GBVDB

[MP3/Stream] Guided By Voices - Settlement Down [Live in Autin]

Robert Pollard/GBV/Facebook

Transmissions :: The Answering Machine

Lifeline, is the title track from the forthcoming sophomore LP from Manchester England's The Answering Machine. Your new heartbreak anthem has arrived. Lifeline will be released on February 21st.
Pre-order

Plan Accordingly ::The Radio Dept.

Swedish dream pop stalwarts, The Radio Dept.,will make their Boston debut tonight when the trio plays The Middle East with San Francisco's rising shoegazers Young Prisms. The Radio Dept. are currently on tour to support last years critical smash, Clinging to a Scheme and their just released collection, Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2010. After just checking with The Middle East box office and their ticketing agency we are pleased to tell you that there are a few tickets still available for tonight's show. An obvious must see show for 2011, be there.

The Radio Dept. - Never Follow Suit [Official]

Forthcoming :: Rival Schools - Pedals

On March 8th NYC post hardcore titans Rival Schools will release their long awaited second album, Pedals. The album will be released by Photo Finish/Atlantic on March 8th and follows the critically lauded United By Fate, released back in 2001. You can currently pre-order Pedals in a variety of exclusive packages that include vinyl, hoodies, and Rival Schools high top sneakers. Coming on the heels of fronter, Walter Schreifels' exceptional solo debut, An Open Letter to The Scene, which landed firmly on our 10 favorite albums of 2010 list. Pedals features 10 diverse tracks, some of which reportedly have an acoustic foundation, that we're guessing were influenced by Walter recent solo recordings. Rival Schools will play some east coast dates that lead up to the release of Pedals including a show on March 5th at The Brighton Music Hall before heading over to Europe for a co-headlining jaunt with ..And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead.

Rival Schools U.S. Dates
March 2nd Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
March 5th Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
March 6th Washington, DC Rock & Roll Hotel
March 7th Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's
March 8th New York, NY Santos Party House

Last fall Rival Schools released a digital single and video for Shot after Shot. You can grab it at the bands site at the low cost of your e-mail address.

Rival Schools - Shot After Shot

Reviewed :: Ancient Kids - Odd City

Normally bands are formed long before recording a debut album, however Jordan Robson Cramer decided to write and record the entirety of Odd City before putting a band together. Ancient Kids features past and current members of Montreal's best and brightest, including Islands/Unicorns, Adam & The Amethysts, Anemones, not to mention Cramer's other band Sunset Rubdown. Odd City was recorded from November of 2009 to August of 2010 with Jordan playing nearly every instrument in a loft space recording studio known as Digital Bird with Martin Horn handling production duties.

Admittedly we are big fans of Jordan's work in the Spencer Krug [Wolf Parade] fronted Sunset Rubdown, but we were unsure of what to expect from his first solo outing. What we found was one of the most varied and infectious records we've heard in a quite some time. Odd City starts with the rousing fuzz pop of See Through, which leads into Crystal Family a gorgeous piano driven ballad that reminds us of Sophomore Slump era Grandaddy, but after a couple of minutes angular guitar lines and pounding drums enter, which makes for one of the albums most immediately satisfying tracks. Throughout Odd City Jordan Robson Cramer displays penchant for writing catchy as hell choruses and the uncanny gift of delivering deadpan lyrics over sunshine pop which allows him to never sound overwrought or dramatic. This is best exhibited in our current favorite, Slowing Down (Already), when Cramer delivers the line "wintertime just has a way of fucking with our heads", not only timely but dead on. As a whole Odd City works beautifully mostly because it's an eclectic and engaging record that comes damn close to pop perfection.

Ancient Kids have offered Odd City at there Bandcamp site for free with the recommendation that you pay $8 and we wholeheartedly concur. So if you like what you hear below (and we think you will), plunk down some of your hard earned cash.

Plan Accordingly :: Hands and Knees

Hands and Knees will celebrate the release of their terrific new LP, Wholesome tonight at Great Scott. Be There.

This Weeks Short Bursts ::

Ringo Deathstarr + Say Hi + Explosions in The Sky

Austin, TX pop noise makers,Ringo Deathstarr will release their debut LP, Colour Trip on March through Sonic Unyun Records on March 8th. Even with the comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and The Mary Chain we hesitate to toss the shoegaze tag, mostly due to the bands true pop sensibilities that we hear under the sea of noise and feedback. According to fronter Elliott Fraizer, Colour Trip represents a full realization of the bands vision, a vision through a druggy haze of sound. The band heads off to Europe next month for a tour supporting Dean Wareham before returning home for a U.S. tour including a hometown gig at this years SXSW.

Ringo Deathstarr - So High
Shame on us for being surprised by the arrival of a new album from Say Hi, after all 2009's Oohs and Aahs remains in frequent rotation around here. The new record is another superbly titled offering,Um, Uh Oh issued earlier this week on Barsuk. The album is already receiving some well deserved praise and is being called Eric Elbogens most mature and introspective song cylce to date. Say Hi play The Middle East on March 6th with Blair and Yellow Ostrich.

Say Hi - Devils

We would be big fat liars if we didn't admit to how damn excited we our about the prospect of a new recording from post-rock goliaths, Explosions in The Sky. The bands new LP is entitled Take Care, Take Care, Take Care will be issued by the fine folks at Temporary Residence on April 26th. The six track album was recorded in West Texas with John Congleton. Explosions in The Sky will play Radio City Music Hall with Low and Eluvium on April 6th for as of now the bands only scheduled U.S. date.

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care Album Teaser

Hallelujah The Hills + The Capstan Shafts January 18, 2011| T.T. The Bears

*Photo courtesy of Jon Bernhardt

Since the release of Revelation Skirts, The Capstan Shafts latest hookfest and one of our 10 favorite records of 2010, we've been feverishly checking the bands on-line haunts for an announcement of a Boston area show. So when this pairing with Hallelujah The Hills was announced it was a no brainer, we had to be there. Dean Wells arrived in Boston Tuesday night fronting a power pop trio, not the four or five piece incarnation that he had toured a few months earlier and blasted through 13 songs in about 35 minutes. A charming albeit all too brief performance that left us wanting more.

Somehow over the past five or so years we have inexplicably missed every opportunity to catch Hallelujah The Hills play live. We own all the records and play them frequently but something always seemed to prevent us from catching one of our favorite bands, local or otherwise. Well we're happy to report that we finally put that gross misjudgment to an end this past Tuesday night. With the band about to start recording their fan funded third album next week our expectations were high to hear the yet to be recorded material as well as selections from the bands impressive back catalog and HTH did not disappoint. The bands six members took up nearly every inch of the small stage at TT's for a cacophony of guitars,drums, brass, and strings for a concise and impassioned set. The night hit it's high point when frontman Ryan Walsh regaled us with a story of an unknown benefactor of the bands soon to be recorded Some of Them We Lost 7", a raucous track that treads the line between pop and noise beautifully. Maybe it was that we finally got to hear songs like, Wave Backwards to Massachusetts and A Guide To The Worlds Most Fantastic Monsters in their raw and unfettered states or maybe it was the fact that Hallelujah The Hills are a powerful and dynamic live act. Either way they were well worth the wait.

Transmissions :: Boat

As far as we're concerned March 22nd can't come soon enough. That is of course the release date for Dress Like Your Idols, the new long player from Seattle's self proclaimed purveyors of sloppy pop, Boat. Luckily for us the band has offered this video for (I'll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong to hold us over. The band has also issued the track on 7" with two b-sides, including the much ballyhooed, Landlocked featuring John Roderick of The Long Winters. Both releases are being issued by Magic Marker.

Order the (I'll Beat Mt Chest Like) King Kong 7" here.
Pre-order Dress Like Your Idols

The Ash Gray Proclamation Presents ::
An Interview with Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah The Hills

Hearing Hallelujah The Hills 2006 debut, Collective Psychosis Begone was something of a eureka moment for us, one of those records that you can't wait to tell your friends about or anyone who will listen, for that matter. With Colonial Drones, Boston's indie pop titans managed not only to match the excellence of their debut, they trumped it with a stunning recording of fuzzed up pop and infectious balladry just 3 years later. This past November HTH turned to their fans and Kickstarter, to launch a campaign that gave fans the opportunity to pre-order the bands yet to be recorded third full length. The Kickstarter Experiment was designed to assist with the expenses of recording and releasing a new record while the band is in a limbo period with their current label.

Hallelujah The Hills linchpin Ryan Walsh recently agreed to field a few question from us, we discuss The Kickstart Experiment, the recording of the bands next record, and what we can expect tonight, from the bands first show of 2011 with The Capstan Shafts. We'd like to thank Ryan for his time and willingness to share.

Bryan Hamill: After finding the band in a pause period with your label Misra Records, you decided to turn to Kickstarter for the HTH III experiment, can explain what led to that decision and how you feel about the strong response from Hallelujah The Hills fans who contributed to the recording of the next album?

Ryan Walsh: Albums cost money to create (at least the type of one we want to make right now). Without label support you can raise the money but doing that might delay you a year. A year in band years is like 2 in human years. If you sit on a bunch of songs for 2 years by the time you're ready to record them they've grown stale. So, hoping to avoid that we rolled the dice hoping a portion of our fan base would be interested in being Jr.Record Producers. And they were! It's amazing.

Bryan: How has the recording sessions been going?

Ryan: They actually begin next week. We'll record 2 songs, completely, in a 24 hour period, once a month, through out the winter and spring.

Bryan: Can you give us any hints of what we can expect from III?

Ryan: Back to our roots! A return to form! A concept album about what we'll sound like 50 years from now! And other awful conceits!

OK, that was rude. I apologize. 9 songs. 35 minutes. I really think people talking about their next work is probably the source of some of the most unreliable, way-off comments in all of interview history. There's no perspective. I might as well be a meteorologist (been trying to get a good public fight going with a TV weatherman for years now).

Bryan: On Tuesday Hallelujah The Hills play their first show of the new year with The Capstan Shafts at Great Scott, can we expect to hear any of the new material that you've been working on in the studio?

Ryan: Yes, at least 3 songs that will be on the next album are on the set list. I'm looking at the set list right now. Is it a bad idea to write out my in-between song banter on the set list? After song 2 I wrote, "Insult someone in front row, make them feel small, then mention the merch table."

Bryan: How did the pairing with The Capstan Shafts come about?

Ryan: I forget how I first heard the Capstan Shafts but I liked them immediately. I wrote Dean and he started sending me these albums. Lots of them. It was like The Jam Of The Month Club. I've tried to get him to play live here for years. He's been on bills before but then fate intervened. 3rd times a charm.

Bryan: Back in October you suffered the untimely departure of your drummer, documented in a youtube video, how has the band soldiered on with that absence?

Ryan: To be honest, it was fairly painless. It was a shocking night and a tremendous pain in the ass in the moment. I'm glad that we finished the set. I hope it was at least entertaining for the crowd that night.

Bryan: Last fall the Boston music scene lost one of its most ardent supporters and local music champions, Billy Ruane. Can you tell us how you first encountered him?

Ryan: I was sitting at an outdoor patio in the front of a venue in Knoxville, TN. An employee of the club came out with the land-line phone and said, "There's someone on the phone looking for Ryan Walsh." I said, "That's me" ready to hear some awful news from back home or something. A voice said, "Hi this is Billy Ruane and I'd like to book you for the Middle East anniversary concert I'm putting together." That was the beginning of the rocket ship ride. I knew him very briefly, relatively, but every encounter was memorable.

Bryan: What did it mean for you to able to perform at Billy's memorial birthday bash last November?

Ryan: A whole lot, truly.

Bryan : For the forthcoming album, did you have the songs written before bringing them into the studio, or did you take a more collaborative approach to writing, involving the other members of the band.

Ryan: I'm writing as we record, as we go. Now I'm noticing I'm starting to write about writing as you go. One new song called "Get Me In A Room" is sorta about that and how people develop relationships with songs. I think some people open up more to their favorite songs than they do their family, ya know?

The band, as always, is an arranging juggernaut. I bring in a bare bones demos and then we really have a lot of fun shaping it all together. It's a true collaboration.

Bryan: You recently shared Nightingale Lightning, a song slated to appear on the new album for free download at your official website as well as your newly launched Bandcamp site, that track was culled from a show you played this summer in Toronto, are there any plans to release that show for a future HTH Live album?

Ryan: Maybe as a downloadable free extra for something. It was one of our favorite performances, even from the moment we first got off stage, but the recording isn't perfect. There's some Chatty Cathys near the microphone that becomes kinda bothersome during the quieter songs. So, "Live From Toronto On Woody Guthrie's Birthday" might see the light of day but probably nothing too official.

Tonight Hallelujah The Hills play T.T. The Bears with The Capstan Shafts and Nowhere Lights. A line up not to be missed.

Grab tickets from TT's/Ticketweb

Reviewed :: Robert Pollard - Space City Kicks

Just like clockwork, the new year arrives and Robert Pollard is ready to unleash another slew of releases to the faithful. With upcoming collaborations with former GBVer', Doug Gillard on the forthcoming Lifeguards LP and Mars Classroom, in an almost too good to be true line up that fetures Big Dipper's Gary Waleik, and Pell Mell's Robert Beeman, to be released this March. Not to mention the next Circus Devils or Boston Spaceships album that he'll write this weekend or next. But, first up on Pollard's 2011 docket is the release of an 18 track solo offering, Space City Kicks.

The material found on Space City Kicks treads the line between charming pop experimentations and fully realized rock anthems. From the brash punk of the albums opener, Mr. Fantastic Must Die! to the perfect power pop of Touch Me in The Right Place at The Right Time, Space City Kicks is the ideal album for those still coming down after the recent GBV reunion and proof that Bob's got plenty of tricks left in his bag. He achieves perfect balance with seemingly, off the cuff skeletal snippets and fist pump inducing pop rock, the likes of, we haven't heard since, Alien Lanes or more recently on 2006's superb,From A Compound Eye.

Once again Robert Pollard recorded the tracks at Waterloo Sound in Kent,OH with assistance from frequent collaborator, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias. Space City Kicks continues the tradition of Pollard solo albums by offering enough immediately satisfying tracks to hook us in on first listen, but the real pay off comes after repeated listens when the albums best moments reveal themselves. Pollard sounds as loose as we've heard him in a while especially after last years reflective and poignant, Moses on a Snail. Space City Kicks incorporates the best of Bob's post-GBV output; marrying the abrasion of Circus Devils with the big hooks of Boston Spaceships and the melancholy of quieter moments found on past solo releases. Space City Kicks is a superbly crafted pop record riddled with memorable hooks abundant melodies and to our ears the first great record of 2011.

[MP3/Stream] Robert Pollard - Touch Me in The Right Place at The Right Time

Pre-order Space City Kicks, released on January 25th on Guided By Voices, Inc.

Transmissions :: Big Troubles Live in D.C.

New Jersey's noise pop stalwarts, Big Troubles played Washington D.C.'s, Subterranean A last weekend and offered up this brand new, unnamed, but completely fantastic new track. Enjoy it while we continue our begging campaign in hopes of convincing Big Troubles to play a Boston show in the very near future!

Three Must See Shows to Kick off 2011

As you can tell from our overflowing show list to the left, 2011 is putting it's best foot forward with an impressive line up of shows. With so many Live music options this winter we thought we would take a few minutes to point out a few that we're planning on making room on our dance cards for this month and recommend you do the same.

First and foremost we must call your attention to a show featuring two of our favorite purveyors of guitar pop and Pollardesque song titles, Boston's Hallelujah The Hills and former Vermonter Dean Wells' The Capstan Shafts. Both bands play TT The Bears on January 18th. Expect more hooks than your Granpa's tackle box, none of which will be rusty however. Buy tickets now via TT's /Ticketweb.



We're all kinds of excited to catch Boston's hard to pin down popsters Hands and Knees when they celebrate the release of their excellent new LP, Wholesome on January 27th with assistance from Doomstar!, Fedevess, and Weymouth's skuzz poppers, The Needy Visions. Grab tickets for the Wholesome album release.

Hands and Knees are still offering Wholesome on their Bandcamp page as a free stream, but we ask you to do the right thing and through them a few bucks and buy it.


Also check out this footage of Hands and Knees playing the pRIMORDIAL SOUNDS Showcase last month the the Middlesex Lounge, performing Dancing On Your Tears.

The fact that the shows we're most looking forward to all feature local bands is a testament to the current state of the Boston scene and we're not done yet. On January 29th we will find the excuse we've been looking for to catch a show in the newly opened Brighton Music Hall, when Mean Creek celebrates the releases of their new Hemophiliac EP,with Taxpayer, Girlfriends,and Dirty Dishes. Mean Creek recorded the new EP at Head Gear Studios with John Agnello (Sonic Youth). You can catch a glimpse into the recording process as well as the art of achieving the perfect drum sound, through a couple videos the band has posted to their tumblr site

Mean Creek - The Comedian

New Video :: Centro-matic

In 2001 we were on a pretty rabid Promise Ring/Vermont bender when we were given our proper introduction to Denton, TX's Centro-matic through = Opportunity, the split EP they released with Davey von Bohlen's Vermont. It took just one listen to the tracks contributed by Centro-matic before we were completely hooked on the superb songwriting of fronter Will Johnson. 10 years have passed and as far as we can tell Johnson keeps on getting better and better, weather releasing music with Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, or as a solo artist Johnson seems incapable of writing a bad song. Centro-matic have always seemed to be priority #1 with Johnson and the band have just announced the release of a new album, Canidate Waltz, to be released in April. We know very little about the new album other than this new video that band posted to their site on New Years Day. Only in My Double Mind is decidedly more pop than we've heard from the band before, but it's also immediate, accessible, and pretty damn close to perfect.