Show Worthy 7/20 - 7/26

Monday, July 20
Black Beauty at Weirdo Records (donate, 8:00, all ages)
OK, so here's what I got. Black Beauty is Josh Friedman. He is from Vermont. He plays guitar. Heavy psych guitar a la Blue Cheer. He may have worked at Weirdo Records before. And somehow, with all of that information, I can't find a single site maintained by him or his project Black Beauty. But whatever. Sounds cool.
Update: Check the comments for a bit more accurate info on Black Beauty. Thanks, Angela!



Karlheinz at The Piano Factory
Tuesday, July 21
Neckhold, Sharpwaist, Karlheinz at O'Brien's ($6, 9:00, 21+)
This show is going to be fucking brutal. Power electronics destruction all around. Neckhold's from Australia so this is a very special show. Also, The Vomit Arsonist may or may not be playing. But fuck, everyone else could cancel and you should still go because Neckhold is fucking awesome.



Pineapple Explode via
Tuesday, July 21 / Wednesday, July 22
Pineapple Explode at PA's Lounge with Young Mammals, Battle House, Thief Thief (Tuesday) / at Outpost 186 (Wednesday) / at All Asia headlining Open Mic Night (Wednesday)
In case you're not picking up what I'm putting down, you should get your ass out and see Pineapple Explode. They're wonderful folk acoustic stuff with banjos, accordions, and ukuleles. I would recommend seeing them with Thief Thief etc at PA's 'cause that lineup is intense but that's the same night as Neckhold so... tough decision. But you have THREE chances to see them. I don't want any excuses.



Oneida via asphaltstadt
Saturday, July 25
Oneida, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Big Bear at Outside The Lines Studio ($10?, 7:00, all ages)
Sweet Jesus this is one killer lineup. The epically impressive Oneida is fresh off their recent 3xCD release Rated O that's only one part of a goddamn trilogy. Sunburned is just Sunburned. Ya love 'em or ya hate 'em. I'm still not sure where I stand. I think a live performance would push me one way or another. And thee mighty Big Bear is opening, back from their short tour with Child Bite supporting their new 7" split. By the way, please check out Oneida's website. It's beautiful and that cellular animation thing on the left is just so fucking cool.



Torche by Jana Miller via
Saturday, July 25
Harvey Milk, Torche, Cable at The Middle East Downstairs ($12, 8:00, 18+)
Harvey Milk rules. Torche rules even more. Why the FUCK did this show have to be the same night as Oneida?

Obligatory Top 10 List

I'm going to act like I have to make a Top 10 list at the end of the year because this is a music blog and that's what music blogs do. I'll say that I'm doing this begrudgingly only because people love to read lists and it'll get lots of hits. You see, I don't really have an option at this point. It's fucking mandatory. But in reality, I love making lists and telling people what my favorite things are. So here they are. My top picks from 2008. (Disclaimer: Marijn came out in '07 but I bought it in '08 so screw you.)



10. Usputuspud - Disco (original review)
Usputuspud - Cherished Wig

A wonderfully dancey droney tape, easily the best tape in my collection.




9. Parts & Labor - Receivers (original review)
Parts & Labor - Wedding In A Wasteland

When one of my favoritest bands comes out with a new album, you can bet your ass it'll be on my Top 10 list.



8. The Mausoleums - Blackened Fawns Cleanse The Earth With Fire (original review)
The Mausoleums - The One Who Sees

Super blown out pop metal makes me weak in the knees.



7. Torche - Meanderthal (never reviewed it for some reason, but I did talk about their live show)
Torche - Grenades

I was a little late to the Torche parade. I didn't like 'em the first few times I heard them. I don't know what happened but something clicked and I fell in love with Meanderthal.



6. Prurient - And Still, Wanting (original review)
Prurient - Memory Repeating

At the moment, this is hands down my favorite noise/power electronics record. It's so fucking intense I can barely stand it.



5. Fricara Pacchu - Midnight Pyre (original review)
Fricara Pacchu - Possessed By Possibilities

Easily the weirdest record on this list and possibly the weirdest thing I've heard all year. Those crazy Finlanders sure know how to make good music.



4. Belong - Same Places (Slow Version) (original review)
Belong - Same Places (Slow Version)

Seriously, whenever Belong puts a record out, I will be right at the front of the line worshiping it.



3. Machinefabriek - Marijn (original review)
Machinefabriek - Somerset

This is the first record I've heard from the uber-prolific Machinefabriek and I have a hard time believing he'll ever put out anything better than this. It's a goddamn masterpiece.



2. A Faulty Chromosome - As An Ex-Anorexic's Six Sicks Exit,... (original review)
A Faulty Chromosome - Jackie O

This was sooooo close to being number one record of the year for me. It's one of the oldest records on the list and it still gets played more than any of the others. I am completely in love with A Faulty Chromosome.



1. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (original review)
Fuck Buttons - Colours Move

I called it. All the way back in March I knew this would be my favorite record of 2008. I said "This is so so so easily the best record of the year. I can't imagine anything else coming out that can top this. And my imagination is pretty good." Surprisingly, I was right.

Close calls:
Yoshi Wada - Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile
Mates Of State - Re-Arrange Us (this, along with M83's Saturdays=Youth were my top 2 most played albums)
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Dan Friel - Ghost Town
Njiqahdda - Nji. Njiin. Njiiin.
Lawrence English - Kiri No Oto
Dev/Null - Necrobestial Sadobreaks

Now, just because you hate my list doesn't mean you should hate me too. Lets try not to start any fights just because there's no Animal Collective on here.

Torche Is Awesome

Real review coming super soon, like maybe tomorrow. It's hard to write about new music, though, when all I've been listening to is Torche's Meanderthal. Good GOD that record is bad ass. Here's a video of them playing "Healer" at Lola's opening for The Sword on May 9th, 2008.

The Sword, Torche, Stinking Lizaveta, & Never Got Caught At The Middle East Downstairs

The Sword photo taken by Paul Graham Raven of The Dreaded Press.


It's been a long time since I've been to a straight up rock show (let alone a mainstream one). I mean, a lot of the bands I go see usually have some sort of rock elements but rarely do I go see a rock show. I think the last one might have been when Big Business played at the Middle East Upstairs almost a year ago. Sometimes I really get in the mood for some serious head banging and last night's show provided exactly that.

The first band that played was Never Got Caught, some generic rock band lead by Nice Guy Eddie. No joke, this guy looks and sounds just like Chis Penn, just without the track suits. These guys didn't do anything for me.

Then Stinking Lizaveta was up. The last time they were in Boston they opened for Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, a show I now regret missing even more than I did before. Lizaveta is a trio made up of a crazy guitarist that often yelps into his guitar and has a board with a handful of pedals, a female drummer who does yoga stretches before she gets on stage, and a metallic silver shirt wearing guy who plays electronic stand up bass. They're some weird jazzy, noisy, mathy, punky, psychedelic combo of sorts. Trying to describe them is like trying to pin down a shape shifter. I was quite surprised at how much the crowd enjoyed them and I especially enjoyed watching everyone try to bang their heads in time with the band's ever changing rhythms.

Torche is a band I've seen a few times already but for some reason I never really gave them credit until now. I'm sure I can be forgiven for ignoring them when they opened for Mogwai at The Avalon. Then when I saw them play with Jesu, I still had the same feelings towards them without even bothering to reconsider. But I went to this show open minded, hoping to really enjoy them. They were the same band playing to a fresh mind and lo and behold, I really loved it. I think part of it has to do with their new album kicking so much ass but either way, they were really great.

And behold thee mighty Sword. It was everything I had hoped it would be. They fucking rocked my face off, probably breaking my neck in the process (although my neck doesn't hurt as much as it did after the Big Business show). Of course with music of this type, it's always better to hear it live if only for volume's sake. No matter how sick your subs are, you'll never be able to recreate the amount of noise coming from a live band. And the crowd loved every minute of it but it took about 3/4s of the way through the set for a pit to form (right after Barael's Blade, of course). They played everything we wanted to hear, both new and old. And they (obviously) finished their encore with Freya, which midway through morphed into a sweet jam with dueling guitar solos. Yes, you read right, two solos at the same time. Fucking ridiculous. Then they went into a cover (which may or may not have been Bring It On Home To Me by Sam Cooke) before finishing off the rest of Freya. Fantastic stuff. It was an amazing show that makes me wait in eager antici....pation for their return.