Reader Rewards: See Mobius Band For Free Sunday In Cambridge

Longtime readers know that we're strong proponents of Mobius Band, and have been since 2002, when our friend who was scouting them for a certain label made the introduction. Fast-forward five years and the Brooklyn-based trio has just released its second full-length, Heaven, on Misra. We don't think we're giving anything away by saying that the dense, dark set, Mobius Band's best to date, is going to be featured in our year-end list. That's all the more reason for Boston-based indie rubberneckers to get out and see them Sunday night at the Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. Lucky for you, thrifty music fans, we're able to give away two tickets for free thanks to the band's management. But first, allow us to digress briefly.

As we said in the item below, we were pleased to see the band give props to "Snow On Snow," an older cut from the band's last self-released EP. Well, there were a bunch of EPs in there, so we're not sure if it was the last one. But the point is, "Snow On Snow" was released on Three in 2002. The previous EP Two, however, contains the jam that first sucked us in to Mobius Band's world. It's called "The Lights Are Always On," it's a throbbing krautrock gem, and the first time we saw the act we witnessed some dude lose his mind while the band laid this one out. It made quite an impression. Before we give away some Mobius Band tickets, we'd like you to hear the tune, so here's an MP3.

Mobius Band -- "The Lights Are Always On" -- Three EP
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[buy Mobius Band records from Newbury Comics here]

Now, about those tickets: we've got two of them, and the first two people who email us at the address linked in the righthand column will win them. Please use as an email subject line "The Lights Are Always On." Doing so will prove to us that you have good reading comprehension skills, and after all, reading is fundamental. We'll update this item when we have two winners.

Incidentally, if you are looking for a show and a bit of seasonal cheer tomorrow night in Cambridge, check out friend-of-Mobius Band Most Bitter performing at a loft in Somerville not too far from the quaint indie rock venue P.A.'s Lounge. We think the loft belongs to a private citizen, so we don't want to post the address and whatnot here, but hit up the Most Bitter MySpace casa here and message Mr. Bitter himself and we're sure he'd be happy to provide the data. While you are there make sure to listen to his cover of Kate Nash's "Foundations."

Today's Hotness: Frightened Rabbit, Distophia, Mobius Band

>> We're back. It's nice to be here.

>> We were just thinking the other day that Glaswegian powerfolk trio Frightened Rabbit would be a bunch of silly Scots if they didn't release their tune "It's Christmas, So We'll Stop" at Christmas time, for obvious reasons. A demo version of the tune has been hanging around on our hard drive for months due to the kindness of a nice, connected fellow. According to this AngryApe item, Frightened Rabbit will indeed release the tune as a limited-edition single on FatCat Dec. 17. The flipside is a choral version of "It's Christmas..."

Perhaps, like us, you scratched your head at this YouTube clip posted a month ago of FR drummer Grant conducting a chorus; well, now it all makes sense, doesn't it? The song will not be featured on Frightened Rabbit's forthcoming sophomore set, which is expected to be released in late Spring 2008, so you'd best grab the single while there are copies to be grabbed. If you'd like to try before you try to buy, you can stream the track at FatCat's web site: click this link and hunt around for the media player and click "New & Forthcoming." We reviewed Frightened Rabbit's Nov. 11 Boston show here earlier this month.

>> We continue to be blown away by the great songs recorded by Birmingham, England's defunct Distophia, who you may recall we first wrote about here. The band has posted four-track and eight-track demos at this MySpace domicile, and every song is a gem. Particularly arresting is the track "Ten Inch," which wraps a nice melody around a stuttering 5/4 tempo. The track packs tons of tricks into 1:57, including airy "bops" in the bridge, an extra sludgy chorus, some really present ride cymbal work at one point, and incisive guitars with a really nice jangle hear and there. It reminds us of the incredible tracks on Mock Orange's First EP, the only Mock Orange record we've ever been able to get into, but well worth hunting down. Anyway, "Ten Inch" is an impressive, impressive song. Distophia is giving it away at the MySpace coordinates noted above, but we'll save you the trip. Distophia, why'd you have to go?

Distophia -- "Ten Inch" -- MySpace Demo
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>> Mobius Band doesn't want you to forget they are kicking off another leg of their fall tour this weekend. And if you are cool you already received the email and MySpace bulletin telling you as much. One item of particular interest is the Brooklyn-based act has dug into its catalog to offer up an MP3 of "Snow On Snow," a track from the trio's 2002 EP Three. Longtime fans know that Mobius Band once had a much more pronounced post-rock bent, and while "Snow On Snow" isn't particularly post-rock-flavored, the band's first three EPs had that flava, and we've missed hearing those songs. So it is nice see the band take an interest in this very good track again. Perhaps a clue as to what to expect in its current live set? Mobius Band plays Cambridge's Middle East Downstairs Sunday night. We'll be there with our mental paper and mental pen.

Mobius Band -- "Snow On Snow" -- Three
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[buy Mobius Band recordings from Newbury Comics here]

>> Jeanette Sliwinski, the suicidal motor vehicle operator who senselessly killed Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist and two of his colleagues two years ago, has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Pun Canoes has a few more details here. Eight years hardly seems like punishment enough.

>> We really, really, really wanted this Idolator item to be about Kelly Clarkson covering the amazing Judas Priest song "Screaming For Vengeance," the title cut to the very first cassette we ever bought, purchased in the record section of the Devon, Pennsylvania K-Mart in 1982 or 1983. Can you imagine Ms. Clarkson hitting that first Halfordian howl that kicks off this killer jam? Oh well, maybe she'll get around to it. Have you never seen this live video of "Screaming For Vengeance"? It'll change your life.

>> Well would ya look at that: Robert Hazard. It seems only yesterday we were comparing Philly power pop trio RunRunner to Mr. Hazard's great rock/pop concoctions of the early '80s. We reviewed RunRunner's self-titled debut here in April.

From The Admin Cubicle: Thanksgiving Break

Your :: clicky clicky :: service will return next week. Please be certain to check back in with us for our reviews of forthcoming Johnny Foreigner and Mobius Band shows, as well as our year-end lists. In the meantime, here are some random things to be thankful for, in the event you are at a loss: "Unchained" by Van Halen; Michael Vick being jailed for dog abuse; Yeungling; free speech; non-commercial radio. Happy Thanksgiving.

Today's Hotness: Zeke Fiddler, Home, Johnny Foreigner

>> Folks of a certain vintage whose stomping grounds included the Western Massachusetts music scene may have heard the name Mal Thursday bandied about, if they don't already know the guy. Our spidey sense tells us we met Mr. Thursday once, but memories of our time spent in the clubs in Northampton during college grow more and more faint. Imagine our surprise to see email from Thursday a week or so ago pointing to his new blog and posts therein in which he details his stewardship over Chunk Records. For us Chunk is best known for releasing in 1994 the scene compilation Hotel Massachusetts, a spotty collection that included a handful of excellent tracks from scenemakers including New Radiant Storm King, Sebadoh and Zeke Fiddler. But there is far more to the Chunk experience, and we encourage you to read the first two installments (1, 2) of "The Chunk Records Story."

Here are two of the best tracks from Hotel Massachusetts. First up is Zeke Fiddler's "Half Baked," an excellent song also released as Chunk's seventh single (as described in "The Chunk Records Story Part Two."). Zeke was a big, friendly guy who played a small black Les Paul. Unfortunately, nothing from Zeke's full-length debut on Spin-Art, Watery, grabbed us nearly completely as "Half Baked." But the tune is among the finest written by a musician working in Western Mass at the time. The second track we're offering is "Sunday" by a band called Home. Information about Home is hard to come by on the Interweb. We know because we've tried looking, spurred on by memories of a very impressive live set at the Bay State Hotel during the Loud Music Festival in 1995. At the time Home struck us as kindred spirits of Pittsburgh's Karl Hendricks Trio. "Sunday," a melodic folk-rocker with some nice cascading chord changes, doesn't necessarily bear out that comparison, but that made the performance all the more affecting.

Zeke Fiddler -- "Half Baked" -- Hotel Massachusetts compilation
Home -- "Sunday" -- Hotel Massachusetts compilation
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[buy Hotel Massachusetts from Amazon here used but real cheap]

>> The critical praise for Johnny Foreigner's Arcs Across The City is starting to roll in. We won't be getting the record until the band's show Nov. 30 in Manhattan, but you can be sure we'll have something to say after that. Especially since we've already written a couple hundred words about the record based on the fact that we've already heard all the songs on it (although not the exact versions). Drowned In Sound here rates the EP a 10 out of 10 and dubs the set "the [U.K.] debut album release of the year, hands down." Another Form Of Relief here says "Johnny Foreigner are the best band in the [U.K.] right now." The only correction we have to that is that technically Johnny Foreigner is in the U.S. right now, recording their full-length debut. Assuming you are not as rabid a fan as we, you probably do not know that the Birmingham-based trio just posted a new track at its MySpace berth. It is called "Eyes Wide Terrified" and it was recorded for a recent Radio One session. Go listen to it now.

Lost In The '90s: An Imeem Playlist

A friend and digital music veteran recently left one of the most successful digital music enterprises to take a position with social music play Imeem, so we thought we'd best give it more than the cursory once-over we'd made earlier this year. While we don't think the user interface has achieved perfection yet, it is hard to beat the functionality it provides, at least for music bloggers. The embeddable player is not terrible to look at, seems to buffer streams exceptionally well and has very nice sound quality for audio playback. So earlier today we uploaded a bunch of odds and sods from the '90s, many taken from Purderous Magina Records first cassette compilation La Affection / Affection. Many of the bands featured include the same players, which is one thread that ties things together. And then there are a couple random tracks. And since we went to the trouble of creating the playlist for the purposes of feeling out the Imeem service a little more, here it is.

Today's Hotness: Report Suspicious Activity, Ringo Deathstarr

>> Just in time for the American election cycle, hardcore rabble rousers Report Suspicious Activity are back with new music posted on their MySpace page. There's also word of a new EP, whose album art is posted to the left and whose title may be Dreamland. In terms of pure vitriol, the new tunes at MySpace don't come close to the rager "Subtle" from the band's 2005 self-titled set on Alternative Tentacles. They are less heavy and more indie-sounding. In a way, we're disappointed, because what the world needs now is an angry hardcore record to render some healthy perspective. Report Suspicious Activity, in case you didn't know, features former Articles Of Faith member Vic Bondi and studio genius and Jawbox/Burning Airlines/Channels guy J. Robbins, among others. You may recall Mr. Bondi as being the guy with the best quote in the excellent documentary film "American Hardcore." Because we are so adamant that something like "Subtle" is what America needs right now, we're posting it below. While we're at it, we're throwing in a real classic of second-wave American straightedge hardcore, the title track to Uniform Choice's absolutely crucial 1986 set Screaming For Change.

Report Suspicious Activity -- "Subtle" -- MySpace download
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[buy Report Suspicious Activity from Newbury Comics here]

Uniform Choice -- "Screaming For Change" -- Screaming For Change
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[improve your life -- buy Screaming For Change from Amazon.com here]

>> We've got it on good authority that rising shoegaze behemoths Ringo Deathstarr will be playing Boston (well, Cambridge) on Feb. 25 at a small club whose name rhymes with Crabby Flounge. Mark your calendars, restock your earplug supply, take out a life insurance policy, etc. And buy the hard copy version of Ringo Deathstarr's flawless self-titled EP. There are all manner of buy links at the Texas-based quartet's MySpace dojo here.

>> Icelandic teen wunderkinds Jakobinarina just canceled their entire UK tour, according to this recent MySpace bulletin from would-be tourmates The Video Nasties. That's too bad.

2007 In The Rear-View: Shout Out Louds Blossom In "Hard Rain"

As far as we're concerned there is only one more record coming out in 2007. It's called Arcs Across The City, it's by a little trio from Birmingham, England called Johnny Foreigner, and you might have seen us refer to it previously, oh, once or twice. We're taking the opportunity presented by the fading 2007 release schedule to look back on deserving records that we were unable to find time for earlier in the year. Soon 2007 will be over, but we expect these records will stick with us for a long time.

One of the bigger surprises of the late summer was just how strong Shout Out Louds' Our Ill Wills is. We got the Swedish pop quintet's prior release Howl Howl Gaff Gaff after seeing them perform on a late night show two or three years ago, and we thought there were a few very strong numbers on it (including "The Comeback," "Please Please Please" and "Hurry Up Let's Go"). And while the single "Tonight I Have To Leave It" that preceded and opens Our Ill Wills is an arresting pop concoction, as is the superlative New Romantic strummer "You Are Dreaming," we'd argue those tracks are pieces of a larger story. On a related note, we'd also argue that you could reverse the running order of Our Ill Wills and have an even more compelling record, as the album closer "Hard Rain" is the real highlight and points to incredibly fertile ground for the band to explore. So wait, scratch that: Our Ill Wills must end with "Hard Rain," and here is why.

While much of Our Ill Wills deals in bright colors and panoramic views, "Hard Rain" is a remarkable step beyond the power twee upon which Shout Out Louds built its reputation and into something darker and less certain. The seven-minute track is the most epic recording we've heard from Shout Out Louds, and easily the most sonically aggressive. Guitars shimmer and build in the wings, vocal lines tangle, the rhythm section is unstoppable (later the cowbell tattoo familiar from "Tonight We Have To Leave It" makes an appropriate thematic return, neatly bookending the record). And then the song crosses the four minute mark, past the odd chirp in the right channel at 4:20, and becomes unhinged. There commences a steady noisy crescendo that is spine-tingling and one of the most exciting things we heard from *any* act in 2007. We hope Shout Out Louds' next record uses the song as a jumping off point. Check out the IMeem stream of the track below. Merge released Our Ill Wills Sept. 11.



[buy Our Ill Wills from Newbury Comics here]

Shout Out Louds: Interwebz | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr