#Boston music

[amandapalmer]

I haven’t been this excited about a show announcement in a while.

Boston, we’re coming home this fall, and we’re bringing our friends from New York City.

Ticket access goes to the dolls mailing list first. Get on the list here. https://found.ee/DresdenDollsMailingList

[greensparty]

Nirvana Boston: Part 2 - ManRay

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’ve begun a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I’ll look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station.

The second installment of this series is their second MA show!

April 18, 1990 ManRay (Cambridge, MA)

ticket stub

Since the last time Nirvana played Boston guitarist Jason Everman parted ways with the band and they were back to being a trio: Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Chad Channing (who was in his final months with the band). The band had done a lot of touring for their debut album Bleach, which was released on Sub Pop the previous Summer. On this particular date, the band was back in town for a show at the Central Square club ManRay, which was known as a goth club at the time.

WFNX's Duane Bruce was one of the early supporters of Nirvana in the Northeast and he was playing some of their songs late night on his show Radio Free Boston. He was at ManRay to emcee the show. He hung out backstage with the band and WFNX's Kurt St. Thomas (another early supporter). According to Bruce (he's also the author of Hang the DJ and the host of the American Debauchery podcast where he has discussed his time with Nirvana), Kurt Cobain said "So you guys are from a commercial station, on the other side of the country, and you play our music?" as Cobain put his arm around Bruce's shoulder and said "That's a first."

There was also an interview the band did before the show. That video has since surfaced online.

Nirvana interview backstage at ManRay

There were about 75 people in attendance. Local band The Bags opened this show. Crispin Wood, guitarist for The Bags, recalls "We hung out during their soundcheck and they hung out during ours." He says "The dressing room area was in the basement of ManRay. Pretty big space. The guys in Nirvana were nice. We partied together. Krist was the friendliest of the three." In attendance was Sluggo, who hosted Nirvana the previous Summer when they played Green Street Station and was in the local band Hullabaloo (they actually appeared on some compilation albums with Nirvana including Hard to Believe: A Kiss Covers Compilation). During Nirvana's set, Kurt dumped a pitcher of water on Chad. Sluggo says "Chad never saw it coming. Poor guy. But I suppose at this point he was use to the abuse - i.e. all the times Kurt would launch himself at the drumset." They mostly played songs from Bleach, although they did preview some songs off of Nevermind released a year and a half later, including "Breed", "In Bloom" and "Stay Away".

Cobain and Novoselic at ManRay photo by JJ Gonson

Cobain at ManRay photo by JJ Gonson

Photographer JJ Gonson, who got some great photos of them crashing at her apartment after the Green Street Station show the previous year, returned to this show to get some pics.

Here is the video recording of the show from YouTube:

Up Next: Part 3 will explore their 1990 show at MIT.

[thenewlimits]

"Dead Weight," our first original studio recording since 2017 is streaming every where TODAY!

[timmurleyart]

Style and flow. 📻🎤🎶🟥🟢🟧💛

[imolovescats]

Spin it round again

Spin it round again

[orangepeelmystic]

Two OPM shows, see ya there:

NYC https://dice.fm/event/37omx-orangepeelmystic-origin-of-speech-maya-lucia-pho-17th-dec-union-pool-new-york-tickets

BOSTON https://www.seetickets.us/event/nurse-joy/576999

[idiotcoward]

Dinosaur Jr - Youre Living All Over Me

Dinosaur Jr are one of my favorite bands of all time. Especially when it comes to super grungey 90’s indie music. There’s just a certain somberness and grimeyness to these solos. A certain intensity and closeness from these lyrics and vocal performances. This album feels so personal yet so distant. It’s genuinely beautiful at times and still has its own moments of genuine intensity that I can only imagine is the leftover vibes from their previous hardcore projects.

Dinosaur Jr just is one of the best indie bands to just sit back and let them take you on a musical ride. This band takes seriously the potential and complexity that can truly be explored in guitar music. J Mascis is definitely one of my favorite guitarists from the era and has a certain way with his playing. Just almost an accent to it that feels so familiar yet distinct. So many many many more steps beyond a lot of the three chord pentatonic bands in the scene back in the day and even today (even if I love a lot of those bands). It’s so nice to hear genuinely creative and dynamic guitar soloing / riff composition. That couple with awesome bass playing from Punk Legend Lou Barlow.

[docileeffects]

[aloudonline]

The road to a released song is often long and has many moving parts. Just kidding, it’s all about butts.

We’ll be sending the full making of “Somewhere To Be” video to our weekly email list folks this Friday. If you’re not subscribed, here’s the part where I tell you signing up is free and that we share a ton of stuff there and not here, followed by something clever like “click here lol”. You get it. -H

PS: you can listen to “Somewhere To Be” here: https://www.lemonmerchantrecords.com/somewheretobe/

[indigaux]

Hey, Boston ~̆̈ I’m returning once again to take the stage and eat the mic (❁´◡`❁) come thru to the Mean, a Fest

The antithesis of Nice, a Fest >:) Mean is a festival of noisy electronic experimental music. Hosted at Trendy Shit Town by Deep State Booking, so you know the vibes are punky, weird and radical ***٩(˘◡˘)۶***

When?

Friday, July 21st at 7PM — Late

Place?

Boston, MA (DM @tst.boston on IG for the official addy)

Cover?

$30 max — $10 min (sliding scale)

Lineup?

Maddog | Fear Dot Com | B2B | Jordan Valentino | Hexx Head | Threshold | Iris Ipsum | Tiefling | Indigaux the Fae | Dante | César | Hassel G.

Vendors?

Lesbians Online | Fetal Anomaly

[greensparty]

Nirvana Boston: Part 3 - MIT

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’m doing a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I’ll look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station and Part 2 look at their April 1990 show at Man Ray.

The third installment of this series is their second MA show of 1990!

April 21, 1990 Senior House at MIT (Cambridge, MA)

the show flyer

Earlier in the week, Nirvana did a show at Cambridge club Man Ray. Then they left town and did at show at Swarthmore College in PA on April 20 and then they returned to Boston for a show that Saturday on the MIT campus in Cambridge. The band's lineup at this time was Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Chad Channing (who was in his final months with the band). A new stage had been built at the courtyard, but the show was moved to the basement of the Senior House due to the rain. Also on the bill that show was Little Debbie and Boston band Slaughter Shack (around the same time they were in the Rock and Roll Rumble). I spoke to Slaughter Shack vocalist Colin Burns who says "The thing that was amazing was that we were down the street from The Middle East that we had played before, but the people at the show at MIT seemed like they had never been to a show before. The energy level was just crazy. Like we brought rock to this college." He went on to say "I remember it was one of the most exciting crowds we had played to in a long time".

The band's contract for the show and the stage set-up

Cobain at Senior House, photo by Stacey Egan

Channing at Senior House, photo by JJ Gonson

Novoselic at Senior House, photo by JJ Gonson

According to a Nirvana live website "Krist ripped one or two bones off the wall from a sign spelling out "Sport Death" (a Senior House motto) and used one to play half of a song on his bass. He ended up sarcastically apologizing when a few members of the audience got upset, according to attendees." Local photographer JJ Gonson, who hosted Nirvana at her apartment the previous year, got some pics and she recalls "it was very hot. I have photos fogged by the steaminess."

Cobain backstage before the show, photo by JJ Gonson

I wasn't able to find much in the way of recordings of this show or a setlist of what was played, but my guess is it was similar to the Man Ray show with a lot of Bleach-era songs.

Next MA show: This series is specific to shows that Nirvana did in Boston, but it is worth noting that the band did a show less than a week later on April 27 at Hampshire College's SAGA in Amherst, MA as part of an Amnesty International benefit. J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. (who was actually asked to join Nirvana) reportedly was the sound engineer at that show.

Up Next: Part 4 at their 1991 show at Axis as part of the WFNX Birthday Bash.

[thenewlimits]

We are psyched to announce that "Dead Weight," our first original studio recording since 2017, will be streaming everywhere on Friday, July 5, 2024.

Has it been THAT long? Yes, yes it has. If you've seen us live, you've heard "Dead Weight," our anthem about cutting toxic people out of your life. We started recording it in 2023 with several other songs and it's finally ready for release. It features Julia on vocals and a killer three-piece horn section. 

The artwork for "Dead Weight" was beautifully drawn by Kat Delitto, guitarist for Indoor Friends. @kattastrophi

Listen to “Dead Weight” streaming everywhere Friday, July 5, 2024. Pre-save on Spotify today. 

[twoheadedgirlband]

Our next show!

[inkskinned]

this is just my opinion but i think any good media needs obsession behind it. it needs passion, the kind of passion that's no longer "gentle scented candle" and is now "oh shit the house caught on fire". it needs a creator that's biting the floorboards and gnawing the story off their skin. creators are supposed to be wild animals. they are supposed to want to tell a story with the ferocity of eating a good stone fruit while standing over the sink. the same protective, strange instinct as being 7 and making mud potions in pink teacups: you gotta get weird with it.

good media needs unhinged, googling-at-midnight kind of energy. it needs "what kind of seams are invented on this planet" energy and "im just gonna trust the audience to roll with me about this" energy. it needs one person (at least) screaming into the void with so much drive and energy that it forces the story to be real.

sometimes people are baffled when fanfic has some stunning jaw-dropping tattoo-it-on-you lines. and i'm like - well, i don't go here, but that makes sense to me. of fucking course people who have this amount of passion are going to create something good. they moved from a place of genuine love and enjoyment.

so yeah, duh! saturday cartoons have banger lines. random street art is sometimes the most precious heart-wrenching shit you've ever seen. someone singing on tiktok ends up creating your next favorite song. youtubers are giving us 5 hours of carefully researched content. all of this is the impossible equation to latestage capitalism. like, you can't force something to be good. AI cannot make it good. no amount of focus-group testing or market research. what makes a story worth listening to is that someone cares so much about telling it - through dance, art, music, whatever it takes - that they are just a little unhinged about it.

one time my friend told me he stayed up all night researching how many ways there are to peel an orange. he wrote me a poem that made me cry on public transportation. the love came through it like pith, you know? the words all came apart in my hands. it tasted like breakfast.

[jonesrocktography]

Right, I remembered I used to write about shows I went to back in the day...so here's a small blurb from when I braved the cold weather, a really cold walk in January from the bus stop to the venue to see Dropbear (Instagram|Spotify) and quite frankly I was blown away by it. I knew of the band via IG stories from SimpsonsXCore, a favorite meme page of mine (and if you know anything about me, Simpsons memes and references are the fastest way to my cold dark heart) so it was a while before the planets aligned and the time to see them live finally came around. What I heard was outstanding. Passionate rock music that gives you a bit of late 90s/early 2000s vibes. If you get a chance to see them live, when they play their next show, do it. It's worth the hike, and depending on when/where, the cold temps.

[beggars-opera]

The fact that the Boston transit system has been a garbage fire for so long that our mascot is a sad little man who is literally stranded on the train until the end of time due to a fare increase. Charlie's desiccated corpse has been riding this train since the 1940s and everyone just sort of rolls with it it this point