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 …
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. …
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 …
July marked the end of the road for Cambridge’s storied TT the Bear’s place, but not before a special series of farewell shows and events. I missed most of the headline-generators, including surprise gigs from The Pixies and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, but I figured …
My plans for a 2013 wrap-up were, as usual, a bit too ambitious. A set of favorite photos never came together, and a list of favorite performances simply didn’t have time for a proper writeup. Nonetheless, I tried to give my top 20 albums their …
The opening weeks of the year are always something of a wasteland for live music and for my own creative energy, hence the radio silence around here for the past two weeks. Luckily though, things will be heating up soon enough with a set of …
A few weeks back, I counted down my favorite records of this year live on the air during my weekly radio show. Given the relatively limited audience of the tiny college radio station I broadcast from, I would gather that not too many people actually …
A few weeks back I ventured out to the new location of mainstay Boston record store Looney Tunes and asked a few questions of owner Pat McGrath. Read on for some words of wisdom on the current state of the music business and the continuing …
Last weekend marked the return of the long-running Newport Folk Festival to Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park. Despite some rainy interludes, the weekend brought a bevy of stellar performances from Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst, The Tallest Man On Earth, Iron & Wine …
In a sense, last week’s premiere of Shut Up and Play the Hits marked the final comment on the demise of James Murphy’s beloved dance-rock project LCD Soundsystem. The new documentary covers the days immediately preceding and following LCD’s massive final show at Madison Square …