Announcing the installment of Hip2besquare’s Concert Newsletter. Every week we will send out an email to you including information about that week’s concerts. We’ll only be selecting a handful of concerts to mention since there are too many to put into one email. We’ll focus our attention on the shows we would want to attend. Our goal is to help out all those folks who wish they new of good music to go see on any given night but have a hard time knowing what to see and whether or not the music will be any good. Each email will not only include our selection but it’ll include links out to a dedicated page here on Hip2besquare where you can learn a little more about each band, stream or download music depending on the band or labels policy and links to purchase tickets. The concerts will all be taking place at venues in the New England region, however, even if you’re not in this region, you still might find the information interesting. Chances ...Continue Reading
A lot of first time venues for this tour (Manchester, Augusta, Utica, Atlantic City, Broomfield), but there’s nothing new about Phish when it comes to the Northeast. Two venues in particular, Providence and Mullins Center, have been home to some of Phish’s greatest shows. Starting with the 1998 Island tour, the first night of a two night stand in Providence provided a perfect backdrop to the quality of play on display around this era. More specifically, the band had come off a year of touring in 1997 where their exploratory jamming had reached new heights. And one very specific element of their music was headed in the direction of Funk. In contrast to the way in which the band played with Tweezer Reprise this past summer tour, during this tour they ended the show in Long Island just before moving on to Providence with a Tweezer Reprise even though no Tweezer was played that night, which is the more common thing to do. The second night of Long Island during this tour has ...Continue Reading
Phish recently finished up their second half of their 2010 summer tour. Those of you who don’t follow Phish may have heard about the recent news of a fan taking a leap of faith off the balcony at Jones Beach Amphitheater. The overall consensus in the Phish community about their performances this summer has been positive with most claiming that the Phish they once knew and loved is back and well on target. Phish has never been known for their crafty lyrics. Their attempts at poppy songs have never been a strong point for them. Sometimes they try to go for the latter but end up with a half-ass attempt at a catchy tune when all that they really need to create are launch pad rock songs that set the stage for the jamming prowess. Songs like Chalkdust Torture, which has been in their repertoire since the early 90′s. One such “launch pad” of a new tune that has shown promise is Kill Devil Falls. The version from this mix is from their Mansfield, MA show back in ...Continue Reading
Film School was brought to my attention by Brad over at Bradley’s Alamanac a few years back when they released Hideout. While there are some indie shoegazer bands that I just can’t stand, these guys have a different sound. A sound that conjures up the right senses in my brain for wanting to bob and weave not just to stare down at my “shoes” and gaze in wonderment. They’re latest album, Fission, is out now on August 31st on Hi-Speed Soul. It was intended to come out on July 20th on FFO Records but apparently something fell apart there. Don’t know the whole story but if you happen to know more about this, let us know in the comments. I’m listening right now to Heart Full of Pentagons from the new album and it’s even more rocking than any of the songs off of Hideout. A bit more straightforward sounding as well. Looking forward to hearing the rest. Download “Heart Full of Pentagons” from Spinner The Depreciation Guild is ...Continue Reading
Quick Disclaimer: The following artist is the cousin of two of my good buddies and after talking and discussing with Andrew for the past couple years about his music it was finally time to see what he’s got up his sleeve. Music bloggers are often asked by friends who play in bands if they can post their songs, write about their new album or at the very least, mention their upcoming shows. While we want to support our friends, it’s hard enough to find the time to post about the music we’ve actually been meaning to share with the world. This often means we have to leave our friends off the publishing time-line. By no means should our friends take this personally as music in general is very subjective – to each his own so they say. Remember, most of us don’t do this for a living unlike some folks who get paid boat loads of money for advertising, which may or may not sway their vote come review time. This brings me to Andrew Emmons. Andrew never asked me to post ...Continue Reading
Been pumped about this Saturday all week long. Not only is there a unique ambient / psych rock festival happening – Deep Heaven Now – but the successful Rock n’ Roll Yard Sale is once again coming to Union Square. When you put the two events together, there’s a ton of great music to be heard. Below are a few that I highly recommend checking out if you decide to make the trip. Sleepyhead Playing at the Rock n’ Roll Yard Sale, this West Roxbury native crew first came across my radar when I attended the Condo F**ks show at T.T.’s a year or so ago in honor of Jon Bernhardt’s 25 year career at WMBR. Quite an honor to be selected to play this show for sure. If you’re a fan of WMBR’s Breakfast of Champions hour that Jon mans on Fridays, then chances are you’ve heard these guys before and if not, it’s very likely you’ll dig their sound. The Vandelles Yes, Surf and experimental! Not much more I have to say here other ...Continue Reading
You may have heard about Deerhunter’s recent album promotion idea where they asked fans to print out their album promo poster and to throw them up around their home towns. Once they took a picture of the poster hanging up they were instructed to email the picture with the name of the town back to the band and they would send them the single from their upcoming album, Halcyon Digest. Well, a group of fans who happen to also be a band in Deerhunter’s native state of Georgia, took this task to heart and produced an amazing video (watch below). They are called Triads and they are part Strokes part Deerhunter fuzz. So in an ironic twist, Deerhunter’s promo idea actually turned out to be another bands promo idea as well, which I’m sure Brad and the rest of Deerhunter are all the more happy to be a part of. (Note: Brad also posted this video on the Deerhunter blog, which is how I found out about the video). Listen to more Triads music on Myspace (Note to Triads: ...Continue Reading
The recent Rock Shop panel tackled some questions about what types of techniques work for getting them to open an email from a bands PR or even directly from the band. I’d like to continue this discussion by sharing with all those promoters out there, whether you’re a self-promoting band or a big time PR firm, about my love for Bandcamp. To be fare, I’m also a big fan of the company that lies behind the scenes – 37 Signals. They are the creators of some really cool productivity tools for businesses and their own business model is one I highly respect. Read more about how they function from this ReadWriteWeb article. After you read this article, which highlights some key take-aways from Jason Fried’s presentation at SXSW in 2008 (Jason is the founder of 37Signals), you should be chomping at the bit to be a part of their experiment at Bandcamp. I call it an experiment because as of this post Bandcamp is not making any money. You heard me, they make zip on you (yet any way). ...Continue Reading
Dungen’s music has a way of making me feel like my brain and mental capacity are expanding. Almost feels like I’m getting smarter by just listening to their music. Whether or not the latter is true (probably not or I’d be a genius), the exploratory nature of their sound is enough to get this music blogger excited when ever he sees the words “new” and “music” along side this Swedish pysch-rock’s name. Their new album, Skit I Allt, will be out September 15th on Mexican Summer. Unlike many European bands, Dungen likes to keep their lyrics in their native tongue and if you were wondering what the title of their new album means it is (cover your ears or rather shut your eyes mom) – “Fuck All”. While this title may conjure up thoughts of Swedish death metal perhaps, the song “Marken Låg Stilla”, is far from metallic. Download by simply providing your email address below. Album tracklist: 1. Vara snabb 2. ...Continue Reading
Deerhunter is kicking off their promo campaign for their new album, Halcyon Digest, which is due out September 28th on 4AD, by asking fans to print out the promo poster (see above), placing it somewhere within their community, taking a picture of it’s placement and emailing this pic back to the group. Everyone that does this will receive a copy of the first single from the new album. This has potential to be a great viral campaign. I’ll be watching this one very closely, not just because I love Deerhunter, but this type of promotion could or rather should be tried out by bands looking for new ways to boost their presence. Visit Halycon Digest website and download poster On a side note, the promo website is not the most intuitive creation. It looks cool but some folks may have a hard time understanding exactly where to download if they’re not looking closely enough. The photos in the background look like they’re hung up on a record studio wall, possibly Stax, ...Continue Reading
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