bristol rhythm & roots reunion 2010

Cost effective and bitchin’, as one of my coworkers would say. Happy 10th birthday, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion! You don’t look a day over seven. You were a highlight of 2009, and you brought it again in 2010. Can’t wait for 2011. “Was that your brother?” One of the best parts of the festival…

superchunk @ the nasher museum of art

Unbelievable. Phenomenal. Amazing. Pick an adjective for “blew my mind” and it’s the right one. What a set. More photos behind the jump. Set list, courtesy Mr. McCaughan himself: So Convinced/Water Wings/Crossed Wires/My Gap Feels Weird/Song for Marion Brown/Watery Hands/Let It Go/Fractures in Plaster/Rosemarie/Shallow End/Punch Me Harder/Mower/Digging for Something (w/ John Darnielle)/Pink Clouds/Hyper Enough/Everything At…

those darlins @ local 506

Those Darlins, at the top of their game, are excellent: playing ironically earnest kitschy cowpunk — like “Wild One”, the unquestionable highlight from 2009’s self-titled debut, and their stellar cover of “Let’s Talk Dirty In Hawaiian” from this year’s Prine tribute album, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows — and harmonizing in a way that manages…

bristol rhythm & roots 2010 preview

The boys in Holy Ghost Tent Revival turned me on to Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion two springs ago, when I was hanging out in the studio with them. “It’s great,” they said. “You should go.” A couple of months later, Josh Daniel from the New Familiars told me the same thing. Last August, Ian…

trekky records day-dream day party

There are definitely things that I’m sorry to have missed about Hopscotch; anything that big happens, something is bound to happen that you’re sorry to miss. But I got my money’s worth — ie just the cost of drinks — and far far more, at Trekky’s Day-Dream day party. The Triangle has a host of…

embarrassing fruits — frontier justice

Embarrassing Fruits — Frontier Justice. Out 9/21, Trekky Records. Last fall, I heard Joe and Lee of the Fruits do a cover of Big Star’s “September Gurls”, acoustic and imbued with an obvious deep affection for both the song and the band they were covering. It was at the Trekky Milltown showcase, and I remember…

ryan bingham — junky star

Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses — Junky Star. Out 8/31, Lost Highway Records. I walked out of a Ryan Bingham set once. I’m not proud; I just want y’all to have all the facts. Two and a half years ago, he played the Local 506, American Aquarium opened, and I won free tickets to…

this year’s models @ local 506

And then after the Lost in the Trees set on Thursday, and a pit stop at Linda’s for more beer, t., Jenni, Chiv, and I moseyed up to the 506 to see our friends Seamus and Alex front an Elvis Costello cover band, backed by the inimitable Robert Sledge and two of Alex’s bandmates from…