Failing to include them in ‘Boston Bands This Week,’ I’ll instead give Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling their own mention, as they’ll be embarking on their first ever tour after a show at PA’s Lounge in Somerville TONIGHT. (more…)

Les Shelleys (Tom Brosseau and Angela Correa) with Shelley Short at Passim, (Harvard Square) Cambridge, MA
Thursday, June 10 (8pm show, all ages)

Les Shelleys and Shelley Short (photo by Faulkner Short)

Argh! Just found out about this. Singer/songwriter Angela Correa (a.k.a. Correatown) is in town tomorrow night at Passim, performing with Tom Brosseau as Les Shelleys. Seriously, it was a tweet from Angela, saying they were “maybe a little lost in a warehouse district somewhere in Brooklyn” that kicked my brain into sudden awareness. My Eastside L.A. peeps are all over the place! How wonderful. Acoustic guitar with singular focus on their delightful harmonies, they perform arrangements of traditional folk songs and American standards from the past century. Joining them on this tour is Portland, Oregon based Shelley Short, no musical slouch herself; a clever songwriter with a sweet little voice, singing in an intimate, sleepy & wistful alt-country style. (more…)

Club D'Elf - Reeves Gabrels, Tom Hall, and Yaure Muniz.

How exactly is it that it took me 14 years to see these guys live? That was the question looming in my head at the cozy Lizard Lounge, as Club D’Elf’s adventurous jazz/dub/fusion excursions ran rampant and unchecked through my electrified, buzzing brain. This was a special occasion – part of a Memorial Weekend ‘guitar orgy’ which, on this particular night, was presided over by special guests Randy Roos and Reeves Gabrels. Reeves I have seen before, and it was good to see him again. Mr. Roos I wasn’t familiar with, but he’s a wildly impressive guitarist as well, and there was some good-natured ’sparring’ (and at times delightful interplay between the two) which added even more enjoyment to a heaping helping of aural ecstacy. (more…)

Local Natives at Great Scott

So I’m a little late in reviewing this show (it’s been a weird few months), but I happened to turn on WFNX, just in time to hear “WFNX, where new music starts – Local Natives, ‘Airplanes.’” Wow. Yeah, ok, they’re not really new, and the monumental song in question was on a 5-track EP of early studio tracks and a Daytrotter Session that they were selling at shows back in January 2009, just after they had moved from Orange County to Silverlake in Los Angeles. But it’s great to see them getting recognition so well-deserved. They’ve toured all around Europe and the U.S. now and have a huge following, but this ‘FNX nod made me happy. Because it means a lot of new listeners ahead of their August 5 show at The Middle East. So I’ll take the opportunity to boast that I was amongst the first in Boston to know of this great band. True, I didn’t get to see them play their first shows at the Silverlake Lounge or Spaceland, but being ‘East Coast challenged,’ I do what I can. (more…)

EvelynEvelyn

I was not sure what to make of this new “Siamese sister duo”, Evelyn Evelyn. Technically speaking, they’re Parapagus Tripus Dibrachius twins, and while their story is unique and compelling, one can’t help but question the undoubtedly good intentions of Jason Webley and Amanda Palmer, who are bringing these lovely but vulnerable young girls to a worldwide audience, embarking on a rigorous touring schedule that would be physically challenging for a healthy individual with two arms, two legs, and one head. Though of course, like everyone else at the sold-out OBERON that night, I was curious and had to see and hear these remarkable sisters. (more…)

John Shade and Zac Taylor

Two Boston-area musicians featured this week. There’s John Shade, a singer-songwriter performing with a string quartet (nice!) at the Lizard Lounge Tuesday night (that’s tomorrow), as part of a three-week residency. Then there’s Zac Taylor, guitarist/songwriter (guitarist for Vivian Darkbloom, whom I had the pleasure of seeing last month). He has a CD release party for his solo debut, Salesman, at cafe 939, where he’ll be joined by his backing band and horn section, “The Drugs” (plus a few guests). (more…)

Since this isn’t your typical show, this isn’t your typical show preview. But I had to mark the occasion somehow, in my usual over-the-top fangirl style that I reserve exclusively for this particular band. So welcome to Boston, guys. It’s been nearly six months since we last saw each other – too long, too long… I mean, we know you’ve been busy writing and recording a new album, but still…

Last we heard, you were deciding on a producer for the new album. Producer, huh? As in someone other than you yourselves? I suppose that’s ok. So long as we don’t get Ludacris or Fabolous doing a guest rap on “Half of Something Else”, everything will be just fine. More than fine.

[The Airborne Toxic Event with Vivian Darkbloom at The Royale Wednesday, April 7 (sponsored by Jack Daniels Studio No. 7). You *might* be able to still win tickets by listening to WFNX (101.7FM). There will also be an acoustic session at the Ames Hotel that afternoon with The Airborne Toxic Event, sponsored by WFNX and the Ames Hotel. 'FNX has contests going on for that. The session will be aired on WFNX (101.7FM Boston; 92.1FM NH and WFNX.com) on Monday, April 12th at 11:00 pm, during its new music feature “The Nightly News.” WFNX and Ames plan to release a compact disc of songs from these Ames sessions in late 2010.]

The Somerville Symphony Orkestar, The Daily Pravda, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (photo by Kelly Davidson), and Kingsley Flood (photo by Kelly Davidson).

Featured this week, just barely, is: a wildly crazy April Fool’s show at Church (Walter Sickert & the ARmy of BRoken TOys, Mighty Tiny, HUMANWINE, and Somerville Symphony Orkestar); dance night on Friday at Great Scott, with special live guests The Daily Pravda; a Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling CD release party at Church on Saturday; and for folk/Americana fans – a CD release party at the Middle East for Kingsley Flood, which also features the very popular Boston Americana group, Cassavettes. (more…)

Dustin O'Halloran (photo by stafano.masselli@fastwebnet.it), Mevansa, Julia Nunes, Evelyn Evelyn, Laminated Cat, and Moga.

Time for another one of these. Way past time, in fact. Here’s a handful of folks who ‘jumped out at me’ from a pile of email in January and February. Hopefully I can catch up with this delightful onslaught so I can get to March’s mailings before the summer. Though if anyone is coming through the Northeast on tour, I’ll try to be more timely than that. In part one of two – contemporary classical pianist Dustin O’Halloran, the quirky and cool duo of Boston’s Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley, giving birth to Evelyn Evelyn, quirky (yes, I like quirky) singer-songwriter Julia Nunes, cool and buzz-worthy Boston/Georgia/Maine-based Laminated Cat, a pretty and folky L.A. band called Mevansa, and folk/psych peeps from Providence RI, Moga. (more…)

(more…)