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The dB’s – World Cafe Live (Philadelphia) – August 31, 2012
For their only Philadelphia show since their 2005 reunion, they played a “Free at Noon” show at World Cafe Live yesterday. This meant a 45-minute set full of mostly new material from the recently released (and solid) Falling Off the Sky, though “Living a Lie” was added (with guest horn players for that one and a few other songs) and they came back out for a 2-song encore (“Ask for Jill” and “Black and White”)! The setlist for the main set and WXPN’s own review is here.
Blur – 21 reissues (Food)
I have been revisiting the mid to late ’90s portion of the Blur catalog this past week and while I still think that The Great Escape is my favorite, I forgot how great Parklife is as well!
Rodriguez – Searching for Sugarman soundtrack (Legacy/Light in the Attic)
The soundtrack to the wonderful movie of the same name combines songs from his 2 studio Lps (1970 masterpiece Cold Fact and 1971’s lesser but still compelling Coming from Reality) as well as previously unheard and unreleased material. It’s a great introduction!
XTC – Black Sea (Virgin)
Perhaps their finest album, this 1980 classic from Andy Partridge (the original producer of the Blur album that became Modern Life is Rubbish, which I didn’t know or had forgotten until my friend Greg Polard told me that) and company was clearly a major influence on Blur, which is why I gave it a listen for the first time in a while.
Swans – The Seer (Young God)
I know that this record has been hyped quite a bit recently by Pitchfork and others, but it is amazing. I haven’t heard anything this frightening and apocalyptic since Scott Walker‘s similarly bleak and terrifying The Drift back in 2006.
Talking Heads – Fear of Music (Sire)
I am currently reading Jonatham Lethem‘s 33 1/3 series book on this fantastic album, which may be my favorite Talking Heads release.
Hot on the heels of the debut, self-titled released earlier this year, this is a brand new 10” EP (vinyl and download only) with only “Silver and Gold” from the Lp making a repeat appearance (the other 3 tracks are all different). Especially great is the title track, but any Gerard Love penned and sung tune is worth listening to.
The Bang – Soul Shangri La! (self-released)
This will be out soon. I have heard the final mixes of these tracks and this is superb. The title of the album leads one to expect ’60s girl group and r’n‘b stylings and while that’s hugely present, what’s also present here is the country-rock hints prevalent in guitarist Derek See‘s previous band The Careless Hearts (who have backed the legendary James Williamson from Iggy and The Stooges). It’s a great combination that makes for a fun album.
Redd Kross – Researching the Blues (Merge)
I’ve honestly never been a big fan of this band, but after hearing this wonderful new comeback Lp (their first in 15 years), that just might change. Reminding me in parts of Superchunk‘s fantastic last album Majesty Shredding, this is top-shelf power-pop that for the most part rocks as hard as the late ’70s LA punk scene they came out of, losing the fussy production of earlier efforts such as 1990’s Third Eye but retaining their sense of melody!
Gold Streets with The Brixton Riot – Maxwells (Hoboken, NJ) – August 25, 2012
Look for a review up soon!
