Get Him Eat Him at The Space - 6/23

I was able to attend my first show at The Space on Congress St. last night, and it was a great first show. The main band was a Providence-based, Indie rock band called Get Him Eat Him with supporter Gully, a Portland-based band that draws a lot of influence by prolific indie bands Guided By Voices and Pavement.

Concerts Galore!

I'm going to be attending a bunch of concerts this Summer. Here are the ones that are on my list so far:

6/23 - Get Him Eat Him @ the Space Gallery in Portland
6/25 - Bobby Bare Jr. and The Slip @ the Space Gallery in Portland
7/2 - Jesca Hoop and The Polyphonic Spree @ the Avalon in Boston
7/13 - Tool @ the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland
7/19 - Cat Empire @ Monument Square in Portland
7/20 - Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys @ Harvard Square in Cambridge
7/22 - The White Stripes @ the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland
7/29 - Rustic Overtones and Cambiata @ the Asylum in Portland
8/4 - Zappa Plays Zappa @ the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston
8/21 - Rufus Wainwright @ the Avalon in Boston

Quite a lot of concerts, right? Some of them are graduation/birthday gifts, some of them are cheap, and some of them are free. The Cat Empire and Harry and the Potters shows are free, so you should definitely check them out.

Now for some other concerts that are definitely worth checking out...

Pop Music is Still Alive!

Today, I have a special contributor to my blog...my mom! Melissa Martin is one of the major reasons why I'm such a big music enthusiast. Here's a blurb she wrote on Pop Music:

"Pop Music....remember the jangles, the bridges, the hooks that had you singing the chorus and the songs that stuck around for years? A song that if you sing or hum, many people say "I know that song!" That's Pop Music. The music is still around and soon coming near our town. This is going a way's back but do you remember, "Went to a Garden Party...you can't please everyone, so you...got to please yourself." and "I'm a Travelin' Man...' well, that's from the 50's and 60's and it's by Ricky Nelson. Then from the 90's, if you know those two platinum blonde long-haired brothers that sang "I can't live Without Your Love and Affection" well, that's by "Nelson"- Matthew and Gunnar, sons of Ricky Nelson. This Saturday Matthew and Gunnar will perform at LL Bean doing the songs of their Father called Ricky Nelson Remembered, featuring "Nelson".

If you want to sample songs that they will be performing, go to this link.

It's free and it's a show not to miss!

New Radiohead material has surfaced!

Ever since Radiohead's stellar Hail to the Thief release in 2003, fans have anxiously been waiting for their next album. It's four years after Hail to the Thief and the upcoming album is still in the works.

The Radiohead guys know better not to go this long without giving a little to the fans. On their official blog, DEAD AIR SPACE, they just released a mysterious mash-up of songs from their new album. You can download the mash-up right here.

CD Review: They Might Be Giants

First up for review is the upcoming They Might Be Giants album, The Else. The album has already been released on iTunes, but the physical copy will be out on July 10th by Zoe Records. If you purchase the album early enough, you will receive a bonus disc with 23 new rarities including songs from the They Might Be Giants podcast.

The Else is very different from most of the other They Might Be Giants albums. It's their "legendary rock album" as John Flansburgh of TMBG put it, and it certainly shows with their more produced, arena rock sound. Don't take this as a red flag, though. They didn't turn into Kiss or anything like that. They are still They Might Be Giants, and while this album is definitely a new direction for the band, it's a good one for the most part.

Great Cheese Grater Experience News!

Well, I have officially graduated from South Portland High School, and now I'm free to begin my musical summer.

My band got together last week to do some pretty amazing stuff. We got a drummer. We wrote new songs. We performed new songs. We got new fans. We made t shirts and sold some of them. It was a pretty good week.

We decided that we should have a drummer for the band to sound more legit, so we recruited our friend, Ally Falconer, to play drums for us, and she has added so much to our sound and appearance. We're all really glad to have her as an addition to the Cheese Grater family.

The Cheese Grater Experience was asked to write and perform the class song for the entire Class of 2007 at the senior final breakfast. We made the song in two days, practiced it for two days, and then played at the breakfast. The song is called "The Final Panic Revelation", and it got great reception from most of the class. It is a 10 minute, 3 movement-long rock ballad.

Our awesomeness didn't stop there, though.

Looking for some new music?

stereogum has been an online music journal I've been visiting lately, and the people there are very generous. It's almost too often that stereogum releases MP3s from various bands that are either on tour or getting ready to release new content. I just downloaded two new Polyphonic Spree songs for free, and it was completely legal. You can do the same with other up and coming artists in the indie music world.

You can just listen to the tracks on the embedded player below, or you can go to this page and download the music.

I suggest downloading Get Him Eat Him (they're coming to the Space Gallery in Portland very soon), Laura Veirs (offered vocals in the new Decemberists cd), The New Pornographers, Blonde Redhead, and of course, The Polyphonic Spree.

you should see the stereogum.com mp3 player here if you have flash

Rustic Overtones almost sold out!

Well, the 21+ show on July 28 is sold out, but the all ages July 29 show has not sold out yet. Don't think you should be lounging around, though; the tickets are selling out fast and they should all be gone in a few days! Go to your local Bullmoose store now and buy tickets to see the legendary Rustic Overtones!