A.A. Bondy at Great Scott Tomorrow (11/18)
For those Ryan Adams fans, keep on reading.
Listen to “Witness Blues” by A.A. Bondy
A.A. Bondy has surrounded himself with good company. For starters, he’s on the label Fat Possum. Home of the blues rock duo, Black Keys, the virtuoso Andrew Bird (who just announced his new album, “Noble Beast”, will be available on January 27th through Fat Possum) and a hip2besquare favorite, Gil Mantera’s Party Dream.
He also toured with the likes of Bon Iver and a recent favorite of the square, Delta Spirit out of San Diego.
On his debut release, “American Hearts”, The Felice Brothers make an appearance and if you know me you know how much I dig these cats off of the Team Love label. To put it simply, A.A. Bondy is someone worth checking out. I’ve been giving him a few listens. He’s got a Ryan Adams vibe and a dash of Dylan when he brings the harmonica out to play. Althought unlike Ryan who writes a thousand songs a minute and lets records fly like they’re going out of style, A.A. has a nice collection of songs on American Hearts and all are worthy of the deep American singer/songwriter tradition.
Tomorrow A.A. Bondy makes an appearance at Great Scott in Allston, MA: http://www.greatscottboston.com/
Purchase American Hearts
Listen to his Daytrotter Sessions: http://www.daytrotter.com/article/1287/aa-bondy
Last Minute: Illinois and Hallelujah the Hills at Great Scott Tonight!
Alright, I can stop screaming now about the Phillies becoming the World Series Champs. Voice is a little raspy but it was worth it.
To break my silence, I’m quickly posting about a show tonight at the Great Scott that I’m recommending you check out if you have nothing else better to do.
Illinois is a band from Doylestown, PA. You may be saying to yourself, “wait a minute, Kip’s just promoting these guys cause they’re from PA and are probably Phillies fans so I’m not going to listen to this recommendation.” Well, part of me does have a soft spot for PA based groups such as Brighblakck Morning Light, Dr. Dog, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The A-Sides, and must bands on Park The Van records. But that doesn’t mean these bands don’t have talent.
Illinois is a clydoscope of music. Sometimes you’ll get noise and sampled sounds along with a little banjo thrown in for good measure. Sometimes you’ll get soft pop rock. They remind me of Ween in this sense. It also helps that they grew up in a similar town as Ween. The Ween boys grew up in New Hope, PA, a town that’s very rural and like Doylestown, it has this All American, down home, farmer joe and in their own words, “…where little league children still ride their bicycles in the street and the first girl you kissed is now your wife”, vibe to it.
The openers should be familiar to you, Hallelujah the Hills. We’ve featured them on the square often. Really enjoyed their debut LP, “Collective Psychosis Begone”. Caught them opening for Silver Jews a little while back at the Middle East Downstairs. They’re a tricky opening band because of their intensity. They really give it their all no matter if they’re playing for 5 minutes or 50 minutes. I say tricky because it can throw you off guard if you’re not ready. So prepare yourself accordingly if you plan to catch their opening set, which I recommend you do.
Download “Alone Again” (Illinios, courtesy of Ace Fu Records)
Download “Hallelujah the Hills” (HTH, courtesy of HTH)
Bonus Download: Prepare to Qualify EP (Free courtesy of HTH)
Basstown Presents: This Saturday @ Great Scott
