Clicky Clicky Music's Top Songs of 2015: Jay Edition

2015 was surely an incredible year for music, with each week delivering exciting new sounds from all corners. Clicky Clicky devoted most of its electronic column inches to acts hailing from the U.S. (and particularly our hometown of Boston) and the U.K., but also featured acts from Australia, France and Portugal, and probably other places we're forgetting. This year, favorite songs were a little more difficult to select than over the past decade that we've been doing this, in part because of the vast amount of great things to choose from (how is there not a Beach Slang or Stove song on this list? Shit is competitive, yo...), and also because we spent a lot of time seeking out records that don't necessarily reveal themselves all at once, records that establish and maintain their own peculiar universe of meaning. Even so, it is most often the case that our favorites immediately rise to the top, and that's true of more than half of the songs below. Some of our favorite records were sleepers, and some songs they contained were more insidious in their efforts to dominate our consciousness and subconscious.

So while the Infinity Girl track below was immediately addicting and we've listened to it scores of times, the Colleen track and others like it snuck up on us, suddenly and surprisingly dropping into our brain out of our mouth during a quiet dog walk or long commutes in the car. No matter how they got there, all 10 songs listed below are a part of us now, and we'll always associate them with 2015. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Keep an eye open for our year-end albums list, which will be along sometime in the run-up to Christmas, but in the meantime we invite you to rock out to Clicky Clicky Music Blog's Top Songs of 2015: Jay Edition, either a la carte via the individual embeds below, or via this both handy and dandy Sporkify playlist (which sadly but necessarily omits the cracking Hard Left track, which is presently unavailable via the service). We salute the bands below, and we thank you, dear reader, for passing the year with us. There's a lot coming up from Clicky Clicky in 2016, so remain vigilant.

1. Infinity Girl -- "Dirty Sun" -- Harm [buy]

"Dirty Sun" emerges from noise and feedback and then swells into shape on the back of Mitch Stewart's driving bass melody, which is truly the secret sauce of this, Infinity Girl's most potent pop moment since the towering "Please Forget" that featured on the band's 2012 debut Stop Being On My Side. "Dirty Sun" is even more vibrant, its crackling pace providing an irresistible pull that never betrays the listener. The Brooklyn foursome's characteristically colossal guitars and fronter Nolan Eley's cool vocal acquit themselves wonderfully, and it is the latter that supplies the strongest, if most understated, hook. Mr. Eley's narrative of a love going off the rails effectively captures the teetering feeling where romance goes from intoxicating to irreparable. That the band can make it all sound so arresting is a testament to the pop smarts that help make Infinity Girl one of today's most exciting indie acts.

"...you said you were OK, but I don't buy it, you used to get excited..."



2. Funeral Advantage -- "Gardensong" -- Body Is Dead [buy]

It's soothing and fantastic, and appointed with glistening guitars. It's dense but light, basks in airy reverbs and touts curiously affecting robot-voiced verses. It's "Gardensong," and it stands out like a crown jewel even on one of the year's standout records, the Boston dream-pop heroes' debut long-player. Fronter Tyler Kershaw's vocals are heavily veiled within the song's dreamy, trance-like state, but enough of them bob above the steady waves of crystalline, delayed guitars and the surprisingly crispy beat to indicate affairs of the heart are at issue. A glance at the lyrics reveals lovers at an impasse, a place where the thing that they both want is not the right thing. The still sweetness of that resignation is nearly as fetching as the song's melody, which is gently arrayed along layered guitars and bass whose sounds seem to stretch to a sunny horizon, despite Mr. Kershaw's downcast lyrics.

"...so if you’re not there then I'm not there / so just close your eyes..."



3. Dogs On Acid -- "Let The Bombs Fall Off" -- Dogs On Acid [buy]

Love can bring you down, but "Let The Bombs Off" feels like a celebration, despite the desperate times conveyed in its lyrics. Perhaps we can attribute that to the singular imaginary Philadelphia that exists in our head and heart; collectively, the city's indie rockers seem to have historically colored their lovelorn sentiments with a certain determination to live on -- it's just part and parcel of the city's DNA. Indeed, on "Let The Bombs Fall Off" Dogs On Acid fronter Peter Helmis (ex-Algernon Cadwalader) sings of wishing he was a widow ("'cause then I'd know that you're not coming back") and crashing his dream car ("just to see you shake"), but with a delivery that is more determined that dour. The song's chugging rhythm, deliciously chunky bass and bright guitar work don't take a backseat to the vocals, however. The splashes of bending guitar in the chorus recall the heyday of the absolutely brilliant Meneguar, but truly every second of the tune is paved gutter-to-gutter with hooks.

"...blowing up my whole vicinity / I'm learning to stop worrying..."



4. Fog Lake -- "Dog Years" -- Victoria Park [buy]

This song is absolutely devastating, and in our estimation is the most devastating song of 2015. "Dog Years" is a bottomlessly poignant chamber-pop ballad from Canadian outfit Fog Lake; its whispered vocals carry a patina of menace limned by droning strings that unspool across a bed of watery piano chords. The narrator sings from a place of desolation, but the song's understated but haunting melody hints at the possibility of salvation, especially as a curtain of angelic keys swallows the song. Whether or not deliverance is ever achieved is as much as mystery as how it could have been achieved, but the understated melodrama of "Dog Years" is nonetheless perfect, and makes for a terrifically affecting piece of work.

"...haven't you heard / I know everything / I've heard angels calling me..."



5. Swings -- "Tiles" -- Sugarwater [buy]

At its best the curious music of Swings presents terrifically appealing shards of forgotten dreams, and "Tiles" is certainly the D.C. trio at its best. The song feels extracted from fleeting waking moments, when your subconscious rapidly falls away just as it reveals some deeper truth with its fading mirror. At least, that's as good an explanation as any for what is going on here, as fronter Jamie Finucane's elastic vocals are notoriously unparsible, much in the way Elizabeth Fraser's were in the front end of the Cocteau Twins catalogue. The skeletal pulse of "Tiles"'s arrangement and its cycling, ascending, straightforward melody erected from bass and guitar quarter notes set a sturdy table for Mr. Finucane's lyrics, which almost wink as they don apparent (if not actual) vocoder, change shape as vampire does to bat, and flitter off into a mysterious firmament that is distinctly the band's own.

"...one hundred percentaaaaaa WHAT THE FUCK IS HE SINGING I DON'T EVEN KNOW..."



6. Hard Left -- "Kicking It Off" -- We Are Hard Left [buy]

As social challenges have mounted during this century, it has been persistently disappointing that indie rock has not responded in kind with calls to arms, with ideas, with possible leadership toward meaningful joint solutions. You might be asking, well, why should they? To which Clicky Clicky says, why shouldn't they? Instead, macro political issues were largely ignored -- and we are not the better for it. It's an idea we discussed with comrades Mike and Tim from Hard Left here last spring, around the time of the release of the Oakland-based quartet's cracking full-length debut. Album highlight "Kicking It Off" is both exhortation and affirmation, a vow to act, and we're hopeful that it can be a model to the wider independent music community, that eventually the song will be perceived as the tip of the spear. Hard Left here delivers an uplifting, energizing banger descended straight from the day of Joe Strummer and The Clash, big fuzzy guitars, vocals that testify, beats that bang. Heed the call. Start today.

"...making do with what we didn't choose..."



7. All Dogs -- "Flowers" -- Kicking Every Day [buy]

There is magic in big guitars and steady harmonies and yearning sentiments: it's an age-old recipe, to be sure, but one that still can yield spine-tingling results when applied by skilled songwriters and performers. Columbus, Ohio four All Dogs certainly capture the lightning in the bottle here with "Flowers," although it is difficult to pick just one track from the band's terrific long-playing debut Kicking Every Day. Here the band seems to strongly channel classic Superchunk, but it is fronter Maryn Jones' charming, poignant vocal that is impossible to ignore. At fewer than 140 seconds in length, this song perhaps more than any other on our list likely keeps fans' fingers poised just above the play button and ready for another go, as 5, 10 and 20 listens just isn't enough. Gold.

"...our bodies are longing for things you don't know..."



8. Colleen -- "This Hammer Breaks" -- Captain Of None [buy]

Hand percussion like heavy steady rain (perhaps struck off her favored instrument, the viola de gamba), and quietly chanted vocals that layer and diffract, render Colleen's "This Hammer Breaks" eery and enchanting, much like the rest of her excellent 2015 set Captain Of None. The record explored mastermind Cécile Schott's love of dub reggae music, which is reflected her in the delays and reverbs that push and pull on the percussion and vocals here. The second half of the composition dives deeply into a polyrhythm and cleverly leverages production elements to render something mysterious and maximal from relatively minimal instrumentation. Squeaky, spacey tones overtake the songs and pulse through the final minute of "This Hammer Breaks," and it seems as if the entire composition is sucked down a drain at its close, adding to and not detracting from a truly mesmerizing listen.

"...you never know what's in the heart..."



9. Krill -- "Phantom" -- A Distant Fist Unclenching [buy]

It turns out Krill in one very real sense is not forever. And we had a hard time choosing just which tune from its 2015 swan song represented the whole of the band for Clicky Clicky. A strong argument could be made that "It Ends" hosts a multiplicity of meanings that make it a strong proxy for the set. But Krill has always been about the investigation, and so ultimately we chose the song that opens, rather than closes, A Distant Fist Unclenching as one of our favorite songs of the year. The song's rocking middle third, with bashing percussion and fronter Jonah Furman's exercised vocal, is especially engaging, but it is the song's understated coda -- and Mr. Furman's incisive questions that plumb the parameters of one's internal and external lives -- that is startlingly thrilling in its bare truth.

"...what is the proper orientation of the world to me? and does it have to be to me..."



10. Spectres -- "Blood In The Cups" -- Dying [buy]

Albums this purposefully dark can feel campy, but there is no wink and nod to be found on Spectres' stunning full-length Dying (winks and nods seem reserved for the band's videos and social media posts, which are regularly deliciously funny and irreverent). While still boasting the Bristol, England-based foursome's characteristic, Sonic Youth-indebted aural assault, "Blood In The Cups" is among the set's most melodic compositions, and its balance of beauty and firepower is terrifically compelling. Spectres' greatest skill is conjuring visceral moodscapes with its music, and "Blood In The Cups" exemplifies this, stretching anxiously but languorously across almost eight minutes with a psych-blues derived sound that recalls LA's The Warlocks. With its pulsing bass, spectral vocals, and maelstroms of guitar, "Blood In The Cups" presents a perfect storm, while highlighting Spectres' terrific vision and control.

"...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."

Review: Z*L | Z*L

Defining punk has been a fool's errand since it -- whatever "it" is -- separated itself from glam four decades ago. This is why the discussion is most often left to kids not yet old enough to drive, which is appropriate, since it is primarily the youthful, optimistic belief that punk exists which actually makes it exist. Year in and year out a fresh panel of teens dons Docs and dye jobs and believes, and while gratitude might not be the most obvious reaction, we should be grateful to every last one of them; there's only one way to make old punks. Obviating the exercise of defining the term "punk" is its surprising ductility, which lets it apply broadly and without regard for the revisionist, '80s rock mag orthodoxy fed to kids that posits a Holy Trinity of Damned, Pistols and Clash. Indeed, American bands like X and The Cramps in the west, and Talking Heads and Blondie in the east, laid a much broader -- and, some might argue, more exciting -- foundation for punk rock. Which is a long way of explaining why Boston trio Z*L's self-titled debut is one of the most exciting punk records we've heard in a long while.

Z*L's dark and moody debut full-length stands apart on the strength of the two-year-old act's admirable synthesis of influences overlooked in contemporary music. The act is comprised of former 8-Ball Shifter and Rock City Crimewave guy Ian Adams; bassist Isabel Reilly, formerly of Vera Go Go; and drummer Jack Knife, who previously played with The Ghost Of Tony Gold. And while Z*L may not be mapping a new, unique sound, Z*L confidently distinguishes itself by zagging into doomy rockabilly, wiry post-punk and bluesy psych -- as did certain of those aforementioned American forebears -- while the rest of the pack zigs on autpilot. Z*L catches fire slowly but inevitably, and by the time the cowpunk ballad "Mermaid Knife" rolls around the trio has coaxed a full-on conflagration. The tune is a spare, mid-tempo rumination with harmonized vocals and jangly guitar that swells to fill all of the space in its impassioned choruses. Z*L is ready and able to surprise on an almost-song-to-song basis all the while maintaining focus on rocking out, which makes it pass by surprisingly fast. The trio dispenses doomy, bluesy sludge in "A Town Called Romeo," only to follow it up by desperately bashing through the fuzzed-out, anthem "Black Meds." The album's blunt, melodic opener, "Mike Hill" echoes Jets To Brazil's "Morning New Disease," while the closing ballad "When I Was Dead" solemnly recounts an exhumation before its western twang gives way to a noisy, cinematic denouement that will make you grateful that some old punks still believe.

Midriff Records issues Z*L April 23; the release will be preceded by a certain-to-be-kickass show at Midriff's home away from home, Radio in Somerville, on April 19. Fans who buy the CD at the release show will also receive three very cool posters and a lyric sheet as well, according to the Facebook. The release show also features the legendary Thalia Zedek and her band, so it should be an awesome evening of rock and roll all around (Ms. Zedek, of course, recently wrapped a successful residency at TT The Bear's celebrating the release of her umpteenth solo set Via, which was issued by Thrill Jockey last month, and she will be touring with her stellar '90s band Come later this spring and summer). We're able to offer you a stream of Z*L's "Black Meds" below thanks to the good people of Midriff, so take a listen. Midriff previously released a solo set from Mr. Adams titled Stay Up Late in June 2009, about which you can learn more by clicking this link or this link.

Z*L: Facebook

Reach Out For Me, And Hold Me Tight, Hold That Memory: On R.E.M. Being Important

Others will no doubt write more more eloquently and more passionately elsewhere about the demise of R.E.M., the band that pretty much defined "college rock," back when that was a term of art. But we didn't feel right letting this day pass without some remarks about the importance, at least to this blog's executive editor, of R.E.M. in the Grand Scheme Of Things. There are countless Important Records, but we all have those "formative" (to borrow a term from Mr. Searles) records, and along with The Cure's Standing On A Beach cassette and The Smiths' Strangeways Here We Come, R.E.M.'s Document stands out as one of those. It was a record that not only opened our ears to new sounds, but that also was a flag jabbed in the bloated gut-flab of classic rock that said to other music fans, "this is who I am." Document was an important parameter that cordoned off our subset of a subset; it situated us -- you and me, because, let's face it... right? -- in a place. Sure, we were skeptical at first of Green, R.E.M.'s first major label release, but we loved it soon enough, and it still sounds like stifling hot early August nights with nothing to do, particularly "You Are The Everything" and "The Wrong Child." And we went to the record store the day Out Of Time was released, during lunch period. And Automatic For The People was so monumentally good, it was one of the first things we agreed on with our roommate college freshman year, and we played the record every night on our four-speakered monster stereo when we'd turn in.

In the very good A/V Club interview with members of Wild Flag last week, Carrie Brownstein offers the most succinct and elegant example of something we've struggled to describe for some time, namely one's changing relationship to music over the course of one's lifetime. Ms. Brownstein said, in part, "The reason [a new band one encounters is] not The Clash is not necessarily because they’re not The Clash, but because I don’t need them as much as I needed Joe Strummer in 1990." We're probably doing a shitty job of explaining this, and of setting up Brownstein's comment to explain how we feel about R.E.M. But what we think is important to note is that no matter how an R.E.M. fan feels about everything that happened after Automatic For The People, that can't dilute the staggering importance of the right records at the right time. Our older friends can and do inevitably point to earlier R.E.M. records, but coming of age with Document, Green, Out Of Time and Automatic For The People as the soundtrack was a pretty fucking fortunate thing to be able to do. Thanks R.E.M.

Go to Bradley's Almanac and grab the recording of R.E.M.'s final area performance, June 13, 2008.

Rock Over Boston: Big Audio Dynamite | House of Blues | 8.2.2011

Not to get all fanboy on you, but there was a point in tonight's Big Audio Dynamite US all-original-lineup reunion tour kickoff where I transitioned from "oh, shit - that's Mick Jones from The Clash!" to "hey, that's Mick Jones from Big Audio Dynamite!" (Though, sadly, at no point did anyone say "oh shit - that's Mick Jones from Carbon/Silicon!").

And, yeah, that means something. I mean, yes, of course - there's no denying that this is an exercise in nostalgia. But that we can so successfully celebrate Mick Jones' band after The Clash is really saying something. I mean, what if Paul McCartney convened a Wings reunion tour that ignored that he was in The Beatles? OK, I would effing love that, actually, so bad example. Maybe you still get my point?

Obviously, this was mainly about the hits (especially those from 1985's debut This Is Big Audio Dynamite) though with a few deeper cuts for good measure. There was one new song called "Rob Peter To Pay Paul" that Mick Jones explained was about our current financial predicament, and it seemed to be classic Mick Jones. It skewed more rock than the proto sample pop surrounding it and was more engaging than anything we've heard from him in some time.

There's not much to explain beyond that, really. Jones introduced encore "E=MC2"saying "this is what we've all been waiting for," and indeed we were. The crowd - mostly enthusiastic already - exploded, and the remaining encores of "The Bottom Line" and "Rush" had everyone dancing and thinking only of B.A.D.

As for opener HR/Human Rights... Well. Much respect to his legacy with Bad Brains, but his opening set didn't really go anywhere. It seemed fairly well-received, though, so this is just one man's opinion.

On the subject of encores: Sure, they're mostly phony these days. Usually just a cynical exercise where the act pretends to be done and we pretend to beg for them to come back. Plus, anyone following along on the internet can find out the rough setlist and know what's coming up. The trend now seems to be that a band finishes its main set and leaves the stage and most of the audience just stands around (tweeting, perhaps?) and waits for them to come back, with just diehards cheering for it. This actually has me reversing my opinion on the subject. You want the band to come back? Clap and cheer a bit. Maybe we've come full circle on this thing.

-Michael Piantigini

Big Audio Dynamite: MySpace (seriously?) | Facebook | YouTube
HR Human Rights: Facebook | MySpace

Review: The Swimmers | People Are Soft [MP3]

The title to Philadelphia-based The Swimmers' ambitious sophomore set is not a put-down, it's a poignant acknowledgment of human flaws. Or at least that is the impression we get after listening to People Are Soft, which is starkly different from the band's excellent 2008 debut Fighting Trees. The latter album was a scritchy, upbeat collection of jangly, rootsy indie rockers that sounded like the earliest Wilco records. By contrast People Are Soft is awash in icy, futuristic synths (as in the New Order-y "Anything Together"), electronically augmented rhythm tracks and imaginative production.

The remarkable difference -- production-wise -- can in part be attributed to the fact that between the recording of the two records The Swimmers built their own home studio. And if it wasn't for a freshly realized, pronounced darkness that hangs over People Are Soft we'd chalk up the startlingly dissimilar sonic palette purely to the band's newfound freedom to experiment in the studio without having to worry about paying for all the hours. Album closer "Try To Settle In" certainly takes an everything-and-the-kitchen sink approach while recreating a sound -- one melodically akin toThe Clash's "Hitsville UK" -- that wouldn't be out of place on The Magnetic Fields' recent Distortion. The second track of People Are Soft, "A Hundred Hearts," stomps along with a slight hint of roller disco funk that recalls Lilys' recent dance floor filler "A Diana's Diana" (for that matter, the closing seconds of album opener "Shelter" sound very similar to the closing seconds of Lilys' wonderful "Black Carpet Magic"). The lazery clean, glossy production of the new Swimmers record not only contrasts with the moodier outlook in the new songs, but also places them in the same sort of sonic area as another Philly band that drastically retooled (along with a name change and personnel pruning) from a rootsy sound to a spacey, glossy and studio-influenced one: Sun Airway.

As we alluded to above, even more jarring is the darker vibe of the new record, whose songs in sum suggest a loss of innocence. Where Fighting Trees included wide-eyed and infectious anthems like "Heaven," "Pocket Full Of Gold" and "It's Time They Knew," People Are Soft's post-lapsarian sound is more troubled and reflective. The overdriven rocker (and album highlight) "Drug Party" includes the lines "when they cut me open they'll see why I didn't fit" and "I'm always outside getting sick." These sentiments, that loss of innocence, could easily be a result of the band -- led by Steve Yutzy-Burkey and whose principals met at a small Bible college -- moving to the big city and confronting new, more complicated lives. But if we had to venture a guess we'd say that the new record carries a certain resignation and weariness that manifests itself among 20-somethings when youth and idealism become increasingly distant memories. People Are Soft is released by Mad Dragon Records today. Fighting Trees was named one of our top 10 records of 2008 right here, and we reviewed it here. The band will tour briefly to support the new collection, and Boston-area fans should make a special note about the Dec. 12 date at PA's Lounge.

The Swimmers -- "A Hundred Hearts" -- People Are Soft
[right click and save as]
[buy Swimmers records from Newbury Comics right here]

The Swimmers: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

11.06 -- Kung Fu Necktie -- Philadelphia, PA
11.07 -- Main Street Music -- Philadelphia, PA
11.07 -- Pianos -- New York, NY
11.13 -- Progressive Galleries -- Lancaster, PA
11.14 -- The Bog -- Scranton, PA
12.11 -- DC-9 -- Washington, DC
12.12 -- PA’s Lounge -- Boston, MA

Today's Hotness: Silversun Pickups, The Radishes, The Clash

>> For reasons we have difficulty articulating we've never been completely on board with L.A.-based indie rock foursome Silversun Pickups -- maybe it's that we think they sound a little too commercial in places, maybe it's that we can't put our finger on what if anything makes the band unique. We certainly like singer Brian Aubert's Lindsey Buckhingham-esque singing voice, and the songs can rock and even have a dreamy Smashing Pumpkins quality at times. Anyway, that said, we've loved the two videos of theirs we've seen, including the most recent Joaquin Phoenix-directed clip for "Little Lover's So Polite," which right now you can only view at the Dangerbird Records web site here. Interestingly (well, to us), both videos feature unexpected/unexplained occurrences of people flying. We dig that. The other video was for the track "Kissing Families" and you can watch it at the YouTube right here. Silversun Pickups released its debut Carnavas in 2006.

>> Remember The Radishes? We wrote about their song "Hook Me Up" here in November. That wasn't so long ago, right? Anyway, the band is about to issue an EP called Strychnine April 15. More exciting is that this is the first Radishes release to include the playing of former Ministry/Scratch Acid/Rapeman drummer Rey Washam and former Ministry/Revolting Cocks bassist Paul Barker. To top it off, the legendary MC-5's Wayne Kramer makes an appearance as well. That's a lot of rock. And it sounds like a downloadable version of Strychnine will be given away for free even prior to that date. We'll keep you posted. Also keep your eyes peeled for a new video for "Hook Me Up," which we described variously in our review linked supra as a fist-banger, hip-shaker, et cetera. Here's the title track from Good Machine.

The Radishes -- "Good Machine" -- Good Machine
[right click and save as]
[buy Good Machine from CDBaby right here]

>> Last night PBS stations around the U.S.A. premiered the forthcoming The Clash DVD "The Clash: Revolution Rock." The disc will be in stores April 15 and you can already pre-order it from Amazon.com here. As the owner of several previously issued Clash DVDs we put the question to our local SonyBMG press fellow: Any idea how this stacks up compared to "The Essential Clash," "Westway To The World" and "The Last Testament," some of which were also directed by Don Letts, who has directed "The Clash: Revolution Rock"? Well, the word is that the DVD includes a lot of never-before-seen bootleg footage. So if you insist you've already spent all your going to spend on Clash DVDs in your lifetime, you will be missing out somewhat. That said, PBS has got your back, although the version it is airing is edited, plus it is airing as part of a pledge drive, which means every 15 minutes or so someone will be coming on the telly and laying on the guilt. So maybe pre-ordering from Amazon isn't such a bad idea after all? For full listings of when your PBS affiliate will be airing "The Clash: Revolution Rock," hit this link. And to view a trailer for the film, this link will reveal it to you.

Today's Hotness: Hockey Night, The Cure, Mission Of Burma

>> Late word here this afternoon from More Cowbell is that Minneapolis-based indie rockers Hockey Night have broken up. Citing a post at Daytrotter, the blog reports that two members, guitar players Paul Sprangers and Scott Wells will continue working together on a new project that has already been signed to an imprint operated by those DFA Records/LCD Sound System fellows. There's more information at the link above. Hopefully, you've already heard Hockey Night's irresistable rocker "For Guys Eyes Only;" if not you can stream it over at the erstwhile band's MySpace hut here. The band also recorded a Daytrotter session including the song that you can check out right here.

>> We find it inconceivable that some may not read Boing Boing daily, nay, hourly, but in case you don't, or in case you didn't read today, the venerable web outlet posted here links to vintage videos of punk legends, including Boston-based luminaries, performing live. The quality of the clips we viewed is excellent. Definitely check out this clip of The Cure performing "Secrets" (as a quartet) at The Underground in 1980; Mission Of Burma performs "Peking Spring" at The Space in 1979 here. The Burma clip was included at least in part in the recent Burma documentary "Not A Photograph" (which we reviewed here in December). Anyway, click around, there's also a bunch of other videos not filmed in Boston by bands including Buzzcocks, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Clash and The Specials. [UPDATE: we heard from KinoDV.net proprietor JC and it turns out that Buzzcocks clip was filmed in Boston, at the Bradford Hotel in 1980. La Peste opened the show and JC directed the shoot himself.]

>> Why don't we just turn this into a TV party tonight? Freakscene here today pointed to two vintage Dinosaur Jr. clips recorded in 1988 at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ, "back before the 'jr' was tacked on," as the poster quips. Here's a link to "Kracked," and here's a link to "Does It Float?" The sound quality is great and Murph has tons of hair. So wild.

>> Some programming notes: we'll be at the Fields/Blonde Redhead show tomorrow, and then Thursday we see the documentary "Zidane," which is soundtracked by Scottish post-rock dynamos Mogwai. We'll be back early in the weekend with a review of the Fields/Blonde Redhead joint -- since we pleaded with them to come to Boston in our review of their 7 From The Village EP, we feel a bit duty bound to show up. And you can stream all of Fields' forthcoming record Everything Last Winter here -- we're hoping hearing its track performed live will get us more excited about the record than we are since streaming it yesterday ourselves. Incidentally, we did see Ted Leo And The Pharmacists last Friday, but we took the show off from a journalism perspective. We hit the show with KoomDogg, however, and he briefly runs down the wildly entertaining proceedings in this blog post.