|
||||
|
Continue reading Leveret kick-off East Coast tour this Saturday at Bayside Bowl I am writing on a computer that has seen far better days. This was once a glorious laptop I could take to coffee shops, but now it’s hooked into an external monitor out of necessity. It’s as if the poor thing is on life support, except I’m totally ready to blast it into smithereens. You know who is seeing far better days? The Portland Phoenix’s Jakob Battick, who who won’t have to face a repeat of The Great Fan Backlash of 2011 after writing a favorable review of The Mallett Brothers’ new album, Lights Along The River. You may recall that Battick didn’t like The Mallett Brothers’ second album in his review for Dispatch Magazine, prompting quite the spat with their fans. It sounds like he doesn’t want the fans to forget about those darker times, but he’s willing to make amends:
Battick also has an album review for Nashville-based Today Is The Day, what he calls “one of the most terrifying bands to ever emerge from the American South’s metal scene.” Did anyone find anything sweet on Record Store Day? Mike Cunnane sure did. It was pretty neat to hear that Lady Lamb will be opening for The Decemberists at their State Theatre show. If that isn’t your thing, you could try EMO Night Portland, “Tears in Your Beer” at Portland’s newest venue, the Portland House Of Music & Events. WMPG, greater Portland’s beloved community radio station, was dealt quite the blow this week when a water pipe burst and damaged around 3,000 vinyl records (just the thought of it tugs at our collective Hilly Town heartstrings). As a former staffer of The Free Press, the University of Southern Maine’s student newspaper that is in the floor above WMPG, I’m heartened to see that our newspapers are finally being used as something meaningful: album covers. We are sad to see Ben McCanna retire his amazing local music photoblog, Post Mortem, but as he explains in his farewell post, he needs to take this time to focus on taking care of himself and his family. While he writes that he “can’t say whether Post Mortem truly accomplished anything lasting,” I will just go on the record and say that you, Ben, created something of meaning for a community you care about and a community that cares about you. We wish you all the best. Ben Folds, one of my favorite artists of yesteryear, told mainetoday in an interview published this week that he considers his latest project a rather “bizarre” one. But is mixing a classic ensemble with your pop-rock sensibilities really that strange? If you’re curious about how that new Spencer Albee album is, Emily Burnham of the Bangor Daily News has you covered with her review of Mistakes Were Made. Breaking news: Some band we know is back. Oh yeah, those guys! Hilly Town posts from the past week: HillyTown Goes Record Shopping with Fur Song of the week: Remember when I was trying to find a certain song by Jared Fairfield. Well, he recently uploaded it and informed me through social media telepathy. Here’s “Maggie.” Thanks Jared.  Tara and Brian of Fur record shopping at Bull Moose’s Middle Street Location
Photos by Grace Hager It might be a broad statement — but it’s safe to say that the Portland-based trio Fur were doing a lot more to celebrate April 20th than you likely did all day when they dropped the killer 2 Hearted Horse. A huge step ahead from their scruffier, punk roots heard in their earlier recordings as part of The RattleSnakes; 2 Hearted Horse takes the best of Tara and Brian Cohen’s musical minds and puts it to mic inside their basement. By taking the stripped-down, garage-rock melodies of Tara’s Bath Salts band from a few years back and combining them with the more ambitious second-to-last ‘Snakes album Spine; 2 Hearted Horse is just what we were hoping to hear from the trio. This Friday, Fur is celebrating the release of 2 Hearted Horse with their un-official venue of choice, Mathew’s Pub with Portland, Maine’s own All Night, TG9, and New Jersey’s own Zebras And Bulls Fight Tonight! But before Friday night’s show, and a few days before their debut dropped, Tara and Brian Cohen (2/3 of Fur — minus bassist Greg Bazinet) visited the Portland Middle Street location of our very own Bull Moose to check-out their ever-growing and eclectic vinyl selection. From Doolittle to The Beastie Boys, it’s easy to see where their influence’s came from and what exactly they are experimenting with when you hear their shared vast catalog of musical knowledge (by the end of our visit, they left with a large stack of vinyl to buy that night.) Fur is sure to become the quintessential “critic’s band” of Portland and for all the best reasons. We’re big fans of Jacob Augustine and his unforgettable voice and songwriting around here, so this is a friendly reminder to catch him on the road over the next couple of weeks. He hits the road tonight with his band, traveling South all the way to Tennessee before making his way back up to Vermont for Waking Windows. Check out all of his albums on Bandcamp (where you can order one-of-a-kind hand-painted cds of any of them) and head out to a show!
Just for fun, here’s that single shot video we made with Jacob at Mayo Street a few years back. We still love this performance. Jacob Augustine April 2015 Tour: |
||||
|
Copyright © 2025 Hilly Town: The Portland Maine Music Blog - All Rights Reserved Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
||||
