Author: ben

Bidding farewell to Bowie

Bidding farewell to Bowie

I’m not usually one to eulogize the dead – particularly celebrities I’ve never met – but in ruminating on the loss of David Bowie today, the degree to which the man has been omnipresent in my life since I first took a serious interest in 

Perfect Pussy played Middle East Upstairs – 12/16

Perfect Pussy played Middle East Upstairs – 12/16

Still got a few late 2015 blog posts to catch up on…first off, here’s a gallery from last month’s show with New York noisemakers Perfect Pussy and Big Ups.

Top Shows/Photos of 2015

Top Shows/Photos of 2015

I’ve totally neglected to do a proper shows/photo wrap-up at the end of a given year prior to this one, but given how insane 2015 was for my life in concert photography, I think it had to be done. I’m just gonna tackle this chronologically 

Top Records of 2015

Top Records of 2015

This was an exceptionally good year for music. I don’t get around to writing about albums nearly as much as I write about live shows, so I thought I’d take the year-end opportunity to get some thoughts down on what resonated with me in 2015. 

Elvis Depressedly played Great Scott – 11/29

Elvis Depressedly played Great Scott – 11/29

I’m way behind on blogging because, despite my early predictions, December did not turn out to be a slow month. Anyway, here’s an orphaned photo set from a Sunday night show at the end of November with bummer North Carolina indie pop band Elvis Depressedly 

Pile played Great Scott – 12/3

Pile played Great Scott – 12/3

Beloved Boston noisemakers Pile played the first of three December residency shows at Great Scott on Thursday night. 

King Diamond played the Orpheum – 11/24

King Diamond played the Orpheum – 11/24

Danish heavy metal lifer King Diamond descended upon Boston’s Orpheum with his eponymous band last week for a show that promised a front-to-back performance of their 1987 favorite Abigail, along with a sampling of other career highlights. 

“Pygmalion” as Slowdive’s bummer ambient masterpiece

“Pygmalion” as Slowdive’s bummer ambient masterpiece

Slowdive at the Royale, 10/26/2014 A little Thanksgiving detour. This isn’t apropos of anything really, but I think Pygmalion is probably Slowdive’s best record. The Reading-based quintet are one of the lynchpins of the Creation Records shoegaze heyday, largely thanks to their 1993 sophomore LP Souvlaki, which 

Mitski played Northeastern – 11/9

Mitski played Northeastern – 11/9

Brooklyn-based and Boston-beloved singer/songwriter Mitski stopped by Northeastern’s central Starbucks location/performance space earlier this month for a solo set of her disarmingly beautiful songs. I’d been impressed by her full-band opening sets in the past, for the likes of Speedy Ortiz and Hundred Waters, but 

Deafheaven played Royale – 11/3

Deafheaven played Royale – 11/3

If we’ve met, you’re probably aware of my feelings on Deafheaven. The California-based black/post/gaze/whatever-metal band have been one of my favorite working acts since the release of their 2013 breakthrough Sunbather, and I talk about this frequently. They released their third record, New Bermuda, in October and