The Pill wins a 2010 Boston Music Award

Named Best DJ/Dance Night in the 2010 BMAs. Love you, Boston xoxox

the pill :: december 2k10

Photo shot by Michael V.
Flyer designed by Michael V.
Peter Saville worship by Michael V.

Boston Music Awards 2010

Hey ho, the pill is nominated for a BMA in the Best DJ/Dance Night category. Public voting runs until Monday. Yeah, I could've posted this a bit earlier. No, there isn't a Facebook event page. Win or lose, I'll be drunk at the Liberty Hotel on Dec. 5.

pill update: Mystery Roar 12.10 and pi'11 NYE

Here's some upcoming events at the pill as we head towards NYE pi'11, including Mystery Roar on Dec. 10 and New Year's Eve with Freezepop and Videodrome Discotheque... Weekly updates are at the pill boston dot come, where you can also sign up for the Thursday night mailer.

(Miss you, Vanyalanders -- in this crazy new world order, my rants, writings and music and dance party ragtime can be found in the pages of the Boston Phoenix each week and online at On The Download at thephoenix.com. xo).

Halloween 2010

It's baaaack. Advance tickets on sale Saturday via greatscottboston.com:



The pill Halloween Show history:

2009: The Daily Pravda as Radiohead, Televandals as the Clash, The Honors as The Smiths and Lindsey Starr & The Chemical Smiles as the Sounds

2008: The Perennials as the Strokes, Wonderful Spells as the Kinks, the Sun Lee Sunbeam as Elastica

2007: The Daily Pravda as David Bowie, Mako as the Stone Roses, the Lie Society as Blur and the Perennials as the Libertines

2006: Lifestyle as New Order, the Daily Pravda as Suede, the 8mm Fuzz as Echo & the Bunnymen

2005: Emergency Music as the Velvet Underground, Protokoll as Bauhaus, the Chainletter as Joy Division

2004: The Information as Depeche Mode, the Bon Savants as Pulp, Emergency Music as Blur, the Cignal as Primal Scream

2003: The Information as the Cure, the Cignal as the Happy Mondays

08.13.10: Blur vs Oasis Nite @ the pill

Oh hey, this is coming up (pardon the Suede pun)... To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Country House vs Roll with it, the pill -- who else? -- hosts an epic dance floor battle between Blur and Oasis jams, with other assorted Britpop gems tossed in the mix while the two combatants show off their videos on the big screen. Modern life is supersonic.

In My Head: Hide your kids, hide your wife

Clearly this is the Song of the Day, maybe month, maybe YEAR. Antoine Dodson is a STAR.

Tonight: Chameleons at Hennessy's

In this week's Phoenix we talked to Mark Burgess about last year's legendary show at Hennessy's with the Curtain Society, and tonight Boston attempts to catch lightning in a bottle once again as the former Chameleons frontman returns to Faneuil Hall. Vanya MMC's Endless Wave was added as a last-minute opening act. This is going to rule.

Twitter : Michael Marotta and Michael V

Over the weekend I launched about 35 Twets from down in Newport, from Twitpics to other fun stuff, so if you'd like to follow all my music-loving shenanigans, both on assignment at the Boston Phoenix and independent solo musings and ragtime, click the links below (Note: Yes, I go by my birth name at the PHX):

Michael V via the Phoenix's On The Download

Michael V via his own bullshit

PHX: Interview with AA Bondy @ NFF

Also yesterday at Newport I thad the fortune of a few minutes with AA Bondy, who I first heard a decade ago when he led Verbena through a post-grunge haze. Once again, pulled from the Boston Phoenix's On The Download NFF coverage. It might be time for bed.

Newport Folk Festival 2010 AA Bondy Interview with Michael Marotta from Boston Phoenix on Vimeo.

PHX: Interview with Dawes @ NFF

Yesterday I talked with the dapper California indie-folk dudes of Dawes at Newport Folk Fest, pulled from the Boston Phoenix's On The Download NFF coverage.

Michael Marotta interviews Dawes at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival from Boston Phoenix on Vimeo.

In My Head: "Home" by Edward Sharpe & Magnetic Zeros

Oh hai Vanyaland, sorry I've been so neglectful. Well, just got back from 33 hours of Newport Folk Festival, all after another rager at the pill Friday night, Hercules & Love Affair on Thursday and Drug Rug @ the MFA on Wednesday. Non-stop action through it all, but somewhere along the way, I fell in love.

Yes, madly in love.

With Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, who I caught just a few hours ago at NFF but had on in the van with the Boston Phoenix production crew pretty much the whole weekend. How I slept on this song "Home" for the past year, man, I duno. I'm supposed to be onto of these things.

Here's the clip. which even with the bland album art as a YouTube stand-in still sounds phenomenal. What an absolutely perfect love song. "In the streets we run free, like it's only you and me... ... .... Home is where ever I'm with you" Good lord the Newport Folk Fest made me all hippie.

Die Antwoord straight kill it at Royale

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but last night's DIE ANTWOORD show at Royale in Boston might have been the best live performance I've sen all year. Mind-blowing. Just found this video...

Phoenix mp3 of the week: Night Fruit

Peep it, on newsstands now and at thephoenix.com: MP3 of the Week: NIGHT FRUIT, ‘SEA BLOOD’


NIGHT FRUIT may be relatively new to the scene, but the noise-smart Cambridge trio aren’t lacking in local-rock pedigree. Guitarists Amanda Dellevigne and Jonathan Gill built buzz in the gone-too-soon ’90s-flavored trio Hot Box while drummer Luke Sullivan was cavorting around town with alt-rock-minded Left Hand Does. Now, they’re taking their former bands’ multilayered melodies and post-rock riffage and throwing them through the experimental grinder. The almost-menacing “Sea Blood” is a magnetic slow burn of neo-shoegaze, a calm-before-the-storm dreampop firefly that’s chilling in its deceptive reach. Night Fruit’s debut EP is expected around early fall, and the band are performing this Friday (July 23) at the House of Blues’ underappreciated free front-room local-music series with Streight Angular. In the meantime, grab the “Sea Blood” MP3 at thePhoenix.com/onthedownload.

_Michael Marotta

Where they're going? Cut Copy goes Britpop

Cut Copy - "Where I'm Going" by Some Kind of Awesome

Boston Phoenix OTD repost: On Friday, Australian dance-pop trio Cut Copy unveiled their new single “Where I’m Going” for free download through their website, and beyond an hour-long avalanche of re-tweets and Facebook posts, buzz kinda died out rather quickly. Maybe everyone was too busy TGIFing it up.

But it was mildly surprising, as the stand-out tracks and their eventual remixes from 2008’s sterling In Ghost Colours album — “Lights & Music,” “Hearts On Fire” — can still be heard most indie and electro clubs from here to Melbourne. I mean shit, this is the new Cut Copy jam we just got, and the weekend’s almost here!

But something odd happened on the way to the dance floor. While everyone was ready to get sweaty under strobe lights, the dudes in Cut Copy changed course and hit the bar instead.

“Where I’m Going” — intended as a teaser track from January’s as-yet-untitled new album — is probably the best Britpop song in at least a decade. It’s far more sing along in the pub than make out on the dance floor, and its tumbling rhythm, sunshine-pop melody and fist-pumping “yeahs” and “woos” recall that sorely missed era mid-'90s UK guitar rock. Shit, if Select Magazine or Melody Maker were still around they’d be posting blog-gasms felt all the way from Haywards Heath, carefully positioning the Cut Copy boys to be the next great faces of a new era of Lad Mags.

Fitting for a jam that recalls Britpop, the track is insanely catchy, rife with traces of Cast, Shed Seven, and even a mascara-mod touch of the late, great Menswe@r. Sure, it’s all quite a departure from the band's previous synthed-out electronically-hinged sound, but it’s also the sign of a band ready to evolve and re-define themselves. You certainly can't be the Presets forever, you know, and the Britpop sound is ripe for a comeback. Even if it comes from the land Down Under.

Download it via the above link, or listen to it on Soundcloud.

Saturday: 'Antics' with DJs Passion Pit, HPD

A Boston Phoenix re-post: For years, “Antics” was nothing more than a kinda crappy Interpol album and the stuff your ladyfriend got into while you were working the night shift. Coming this Saturday, Antics is so much more -- namely, a sick free party with free booze at the Artists For Humanity space featuring a live performance by Bad Rabbits and electro-licious DJ sets by Passion Pit, Hot Pink Delorean and Red Foxx.

But be warned: Toyota’s the designated driver of this party bus, kids, and who knows where they want to take you. On the flip side, the bash is free free free, and you only need to be born after today's date in 1989 and RSVP here to get in.

Official deets in flyer form:

2nite: Class Actress / Endless Wave at Mid East

My initial obsession with Class Actress' Elizabeth Harper has developed into a friendship -- yes, I'm getting old -- but that doesn't mean I won't fawn over the irresistible singer tonight when her band play the Middle East. Endless Wave -- the lone survivor of the Vanya MMC purge -- opens shit up.

God, I still love this woman and her voice. Never heard anything like it.

PHX: Elefant's Diego Garcia gets romo

Boston Phoenix On The Download: Elefant's Diego Garcia gets romantic

Depending on your opinion of New York's post-punk revival of the early 2000s, Elefant's 2003 debut album Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid is either a second-wave Bowie-drunk Strokes rip-off or one of the more solid rock releases in a time of not very many solid rock releases. Though the band's sparkle would quickly fade -- 2006 follow-up The Black Magic Show was a total dud -- there is enough charm the first album ("Misfit," "Bokkie") to look back relatively fondly on Elefant with a bit of revisionist critique.

But all that seems a distant memory now as heartthrob front man Diego Garcia is back in action, trading in the now-tired angular guitar-rock sound for the bedroom-eyed romantic crooner that he clearly suppressed in his Elefant days. New release "You Were Never There" is way more Julio Iglesias than Julian Casablancas, and the paced string arrangement and world music texture seems to suit not only his vocal delivery but his whole lover-on-the-side persona. The fact that it sounds frighteningly like a Brett Anderson solo composition, however, is a conversation for another day (as is the weathered face).

In the meantime, ladies, Diego Garcia can be your hero, baby. Have a listen:

MIA on Letterman

MIA was "whoring" herself out on Late Show with David Letterman last night (her word), bringing a bunch of hey-didn't-Eminem-do-this doppelgangers on stage with her to perform "Born Free." But oooohhhhhhh shit, she also got Suicide's Martin Rev on synths, and really, the best part of this performance is Rev turning his back of Ol Dave at the end. Born free, yo.

PHX: Bear In Heaven @ TT The Bear's

From the Boston Phoenix On The Download blog, penned by yours truly: With Brooklyn synth-gazers Bear in Heaven rolling into T.T. The Bear's Place tonight, we figured it was appropriate to fondly recall those pre-Gulf Coast oil spill halcyon days, when our lone ecological threat was an angry volcano in Iceland.

Trapped in a Madrid airport back in April as a result of Eyjafjallajökull's ashy vomit, Bear in Heaven cured never-ending boredom by sending their trusted video camera out on a journey aided by the baggage claim conveyor belt - a true metaphor for life in these trying times. They then used the footage to create a trippy little low-budget music video dubbed "A Nice Moment During The Dust Cloud," and the combination of confused looks on the faces of stranded travelers works well with Bear In Heaven's ambient rolling drone.

We may even see some of those perplexed looks tonight if Bear in Heaven are still sporting those pimp mustaches they flashed a few months back at the Middle East. Shaved or shaggy, the Bear is worth checking out, and Boston Phoenix faves Twin Sister and Mountain Man, our Vermont selection in this week's 50 Bands 50 States feature, round out a very solid Tuesday night bill in Cambridge Synth City. Doors at 9 p.m., $10 to enter.

A nice moment during the dust cloud from Bear In Heaven on Vimeo.

Super fast Jedi nina cat

A Padawan no longer...

On the Download: Interpol's 'Barricade'

Re-post from my Boston Phoenix On The Download blog strike:



Interpol's been in the game for more than a decade now, so it's only fitting that a musical "return to form" was in order. Back in April, several months after drummer Sam Fogarino told Paste Magazine that the repressed-but-remarkably-dressed New Yorkers' new album would have a sound reflecting to their early days, Interpol released "Lights," the brooding first single off their upcoming self-titled album (which drops Sept. 7 off Matador).

Today Interpol followed that up fairly quietly, releasing a another new track off the creatively-titled Interpol dubbed "Barricade," which can now be streamed off 130BPM.com or purchased via iTunes. The track has a bit more post-punk spunk than the balladry emitted on "Lights," and sounds essentially like a bridge between a leftover track off 2001 debut Turn On The Bright Lights and follow-up sophomore album Antics. Despite that, it's really not a bad tune.

But there seems to be something missing in "Barricade," and we're not talking about bassist Carlos D, who left the band in May (replaced by David Pajo of Slint) but still performs on most of the new disc. Nah, what's missing is ease. Early Interpol tracks like "NYC" and "PDA" seemed effortless; they possessed a icy glide that made the four stand out from their more punk-leaning New York brethren. The songs had a confidence all their own, and held up in any sort of context, the heralded new Dirty Apple scene of the time be damned.

"Barricade," on the other hand, seems a bit forced, from Daniel Kessler's almost awkward guitar line to vocalist Paul Banks' overextended yelp. It certainly trumps most of everything found on 2007's major label debut Our Love To Admire, but it's a step back from the early-vein promise suggested by "Lights." There's almost a bit of desperation found in "Barricade," which is new ground for Interpol, and we'll need the rest of the album to properly judge its magnitude.

Luckily, Boston will get a closer listen at the new material before the album drops or leaks in September. Interpol rolls into the House of Blues on Aug. 5, but be sure to get there early, as also on the bill are two fantastic indie rock upstarts: New York's dance-minded Postelles and Georgia's sonically-enhanced Twin Tigers.

Aug. 2: Mark Burgess back in Boston !!!

The highlight of last summer was the Curtain Society backing the Chameleons Mark Burgess at Hennessy's, a gig that came together out of nowhere and remains one of my favorite shows of all time. Shit, even the Church's Marty Willson-Piper was there and jumped on-stage at the end. Well, Burgess is back in Boston on Monday, Aug. 2 at the Faneuil Hall venue, and I'm already counting down.

From last July, where my world was a very different place and on the verge of getting very ugly:

Tonight: DOM @ the pill

Insanely excited for the pill tonight, as Worcester trio DOM roll up to Great Scott to orgasm neon gold all over our Britpop loving asses. The NME has been all up in their jam this week, and in an act of complete coincidence, the Boston Phoenix this week named them Best Band in Massachusetts in our 50 Bands / 50 States feature. Gonna be off the chain.

friday july 9:
DOM
neon anthem-pop straight outta wormtown

As the recent holiday weekend showed us, clearly “it’s so sexyyy, to be liiivin’ in Ameri-caaaa.” That’s the chant heard around the Bay State underbelly ever since Worcester trio Dom dropped its instantly-memorable debut EP “Sun Bronzed Greek Gods” off Burning Mill Records a few months back.

Though Dom is already sick of the comparison (which Michael V first rambled about on FNX Radio in April), monolithic synth-wave track “Living In America” is the best song MGMT never wrote, and a more than perfect replacement for the disappointment of the latter’s shitty second album. But to cast Dom as mere filler for mainstream rock’s never-ending letdowns is disingenuous.

This is without a doubt the next band to explode out of Massachusetts, and a gig later this month at the Village Voice Siren Music fest in NYC as well as some purely coincidental upcoming alt-weekly accolades should cement the cause. Dubbed the next Passion Pit by more than a few kids around these parts, Dom's vibrant sardonic pop is as gritty as it is neon, a shimmering view into the next wave of sounds that blur the line between art and reality.

And though relatively new to the game, Dom already has national attention. Said Pitchfork a few months back, weeks before they gave the EP an 8.0 (besting the "Chunk of Change" EP’s score of 7.9): “Dom makes sunburned guitar pop with fat hooks and stargaze synths that sound triumphant, heartbreaking, and totally immediate.”

Whether or not fist-raised party jam “Bochicha” is really the face-off anthem for the American Hockey League Worcester Sharks is irrelevant - in this dream-pop land of Dom, anything is possible because everything is possible. So sexy, indeed.

Get acquainted with Dom and the already locked-in 2010 Song of the Year “Living In America” over at myspace.com/imfur, and wonder why this shit isn’t all over the city by now. Before and after the band, DJ Ken & Michael V spin the best in Britpop, Modern Indie & Beyond. Look sharp.

On The Download on Twitter

BLOG TALK: At the Boston Herald, I had the Hotline. Now at the Boston Phoenix, I have On The Download. It's a bit less reckless than the previous endeavor, but still all in the name of Boston music. Hence, it's name -- follow it:

http://www.twitter.com/bostonmusicblog
http://www.twitter.com/bostonmusicblog
http://www.twitter.com/bostonmusicblog
http://www.twitter.com/bostonmusicblog
http://www.twitter.com/bostonmusicblog

Phoenix: Girlfriends hit their tour running

This ran in today's Boston Phoenix -- an OUT column on Girlfriends' 7-inch release party and tour kickoff last week at Great Scott in Allston.

Road warriors
Girlfriends hit their tour running
By MICHAEL MAROTTA | July 6, 2010

PHOTOS: Girlfriends at Great Scott, by Scott M. Lacey



An hour before Girlfriends hit the stage last Thursday at Great Scott, singer/guitarist Ben Potrykus was afforded the luxury of not having to make change.

"Keep it," a girl standing at the merch table said after handing Potrykus more than enough cash for Girlfriends' new seven-inch, "Gov't Seizure"/"Creep Stuff." "You're going on tour, that's awesome!"

Girlfriends are hitting the road indeed. After last week's kickoff in Allston, the jangly lo-fi garage-punk trio set off for 44 shows in 44 days before wrapping up in Providence on August 14. (They return to Great Scott for a gig with Reports and Eux Autres four days later.)

"Sometimes stuff falls through," said Potrykus, an apparent master at tour routing. "We figured we'd book all the dates, and when stuff falls through, that's our day off."

If any city can't get its shit together — from San Francisco to Ypsilanti — it'll be the city's loss. In less than a year of playing together, Girlfriends — rounded out by Jennifer Dowty (bass) and Andrew Sadoway (drums) — have the buzz that suggests great things are to come.

A homonymous cassette-only release and the "Good To Be True" digital single off Floating Garbage Continent Records got the blogs buzzing, and last month Girlfriends snagged the "Best Garage/Psych Band" award in the Phoenix 2010 Best Music Poll. Now the "Gov't Seizure" seven-inch — recorded at and released off Weymouth's Aurora Seven Records — could position them to be our country's answer to UK garage freakbeat kids Thee Vicars. It's a raucous sonic explosion wherein under the grainy echoing distortion lies six minutes of spirited dirty-pop bliss. Girlfriends' sound has a true home on vinyl, and it's probably just as rad on cassette in your parents' 1988 Cutlass Ciera. Which means it might never find its way onto an officially released compact disc.

"I hope not," Potrykus said. "I think CDs are kinda boring."

Just like days off.

DOM in the NME

Oh hey look, there goes Friday's live act at the pill DOM chillaxing in this week's NME. Can't read the text? Just roll up Friday and see why this is the next great Mass band to blow up.

'Double Rainbow' auto-tuned into song

Repost from my Phoenix blog: Last week on the interwebs we marveled at the guy who marveled at a Yosemitebear Mountain double rainbow -- so it was only a matter of time before new life was injected into it and it got re-imagined as a song.

Have at it now before it's irrelevant tomorrow, and for posterity, here's the orgasmic original video.

Fun in the Sun: Save Starlab BBQ!

On Saturday before the Independence Day Sobriety Apocalypse I went over to Union Square Somerville to peep the Save Starlab BBQ, an outdoor benefit featuring a few bands, some sales and lots'a eats.

I snapped some pics of Drug Rug and Doomstar, respectively below, and word on the street is that enough loot was raised to offset the Starlab practice space and recording studio's ongoing basement water damage. The other bands that played were Sleepy Very Sleepy and Movers & Shakers, but apparently I was too busy buying "The Simpsons" Seasons 1 and 2 and stuffing my face to snap photos. So despite the lack of photo evidence: nice work, local rock scene.

Happy birthday, America

It's so sexy living in you, for realz. Worcester's Dom provides not only the song of the year or song of the summer -- but song of the DAY. Fire it up.

the pill 07.02.10 ::: modern indie fireworks

Usually one of my favorite pill nights of the year (among those that are band-less and sans gimmick) is the Friday before July 4, and that's where we are this evening. Just myself and DJ Ken getting shitty and spinning the hits, all in the ugly grillpiece of a beautiful three day holiday weekend. Also, head's up: Dom is performing live next week.

friday july 2:
modern indie fireworks
indepenDANCE day weekend

Oh shit, it’s IndepenDANCE Day weekend across the country, and the pill comes armed this Friday night with modern indie dance party fireworks. Clearly, the best way to commemorate independence from the British is by saluting its musical output since the 1960s.

So from Britpop bottle rockets to glammed-out roman candles, DJ Ken & Michael V continue to soundtrack the summer in Allston Dance City with their sterling mixture of drunken post-millennial indie hits and tried and true dance classix. Fresh off a DJ gig at the FNX Radio Clambake at the House of Blues earlier in the week, the pill is eager to get back to basics at Great Scott as we clear the stage for another all-nighter, letting the resident spinners stretch out the checkerboard floor under a waterfall of neon lights in the shadow of Abbot Square.

We’re between live music loves this Friday, still reeling from the Depreciation Guild’s starry-eyed performance last week and the highly-anticipated pill debut of Worcester bliss-pop trio DOM on July 9.

But before we soak up all of DOM’s “nexts” – next Passion Pit, next MGMT, next Bay State band ready to blow the fuck up – we do the holiday dance party shake at Boston’s finest and longest-running club night. Start the three-day weekend with us down at the pill.

Look sharp xo

Phoenix Shakedown: IndepenDANCE Day

Writing about dance parties for the Phoenix? Yes, please. What was once called Booty Advisory is now known as ... SHAKEDOWN!


FRIDAY 07.02 | MANUEL DE LA MARE @ Rise | Last time an Italian DJ came to town, Pauly D left behind a sticky mix of Axe and Ice Spiker. So Italy's own (like, real Italy) Manuel de la Mare, who must be pissed at his country's showing in the World Cup, has something to prove. And the DJ/producer and Beatport Top 10 mainstay has a versatile mix of deep house and techno perfect for all-night ragers.

306 Stuart St, Boston | 11:30 pm | 21+ | $10 members; $20 guests | 617.423.7473 or riseclub.us

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FRIDAY 07.02 | OM LIFE @ Om Lounge | The Audio Chemist trio of Ill Will, Saucy Lady, and DJ Golden Touch have one thing in mind: a frantic, booty-shaking disco-funk throwdown at this Harvard Square monthly. Two floors separate the hip-hop upstairs from DJ Knife and Golden Touch from the other two's Latin grooves and roller boogie on the down low. Om, om, om.

92 Winthrop St, Cambridge | 10 pm | 21+ | $5 | 617.576.2800 or omrestaurant.com

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SATURDAY 07.03 | HEROES @ T.T. the Bear's Place | On this eve of Independence Day, DJ Chris Ewen and the Heroes new-wave party scoff at your early-morning BBQ plans, offering up a shadowy retro-to-electro set, to the delight of a man on the dance floor who goes by the Internet handle Roman Candle. Want real fireworks? Buy that dude a few screwdrivers.

10 Brookline St, Cambridge | 9 pm | 18+ | $7 | 617.492.0082 or ttthebears.com
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MONDAY 07.05 | THE JUAN MacLEAN AT PETROL @ Middlesex Lounge | Oh yeah, July 4 was the shit, and you ate more burgers than anyone else on that patio. Dance the extra poundage away at the weightless confines of Middlesex, where dance producer extraordinaire the Juan MacLean teams up with Louisahhh, one-half of the Los Angeles-based minimalist house duo Staccato. Residents C&G are there on the back-up, in case a belt gets busted.

315 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 9 pm | 21+ | $5 | 617.868.MSEX or middlesexlounge.us

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WEDNESDAY 07.07 | THE PENGUIN CLUB @ ZuZu | What do penguins do in the summer time when they're not parading around with the Stanley Cup? They dance in the Central Square igloo known as ZuZu to the drunken indie-rock grooves of Infinite Jeff and DJ Mario Lemieux (of course). Infinite Jeff makes some of the freshest and most road-trip-worthy mixtapes among hipster circles, so ask him for one and he'll hook you up, penguin-style.

474 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 10 pm | 21+ | Free | 617.864.3278 or zuzubar.com

Read more: http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/onthedownload/archive/2010/07/01/shakedown-it-s-independance-day-weekend.aspx#ixzz0sSkJedCx

Girlfriends tour kickoff tonight in Allston

Tonight at Great Scott, one of the best new bands in Boston...

Girlfriends - "Good to be True" - Live 2/8/10 from Extraneous Noise on Vimeo.

AT-AT Day Afternoon

Well isn't this the most adorable thing I've seen since the kitty-kat World Cup video... Look at that guy go go go

Guided By Voices reform for Matador

Hey look, a re-post of my work! Ahhhh, I miss these. Just posted on the Boston Phoenix OTD about the Guided By Voices reunion, which goes down in Las Vegas along with a lineup that kicks the shit out of a lot of festivals. Yowza.

VIDEO: Marina & the Diamonds 'Oh No'

Seriously, how the FUCK is Marina Diamandis not the biggest thing in pop music. We tolerate Katy Perry bullshit 24/7 and yet this absolute genius stays hipster. Fine, we'll keep her -- another gem of a pop diamond from the lady, "Oh No." That synth loop at the end is devastating.

O'Brien's Pub gets itself a sign.

Look at this bad boy! All wood and shit. Very sophisticated for Allston's famed-yet-cleaned up punk/metal pit.

IMH: 'Dream About Me' by Depreciation Guild

Told you Vanyaland was going all self-promo (as if it wasn't already...)

The Depreciation Guild - "Dream About Me" from Jack Ferry on Vimeo.

Tonight: The Depreciation Guild @ the pill

Oh shit, it's the Depreciation Guild tonight at the pill, and boy oh boy can I not wait to neon-daydream with these cats...

friday june 25:

The Depreciation Guild

A skygaze pop comet in an 8-bit stratosphere

The neon lights once again explode in pixilated reverb synths Friday at the pill as Brooklyn’s the Depreciation Guild continue our live summer session at Great Scott with a cascade of blissful sonics for the skygaze generation. 

A sharp sonic blend of both early-‘90s dream-pop yearning and the synthetic blips and bleeps screaming from a modified Nintendo Entertainment System, the Depreciation Guild sound is that of an exploding star crashing down in a microchip landscape. 

Before two of its members found glory with The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, the Depreciation Guild drew rapt attention for its Famicon-enhanced 8-bit electronics, and this year’s critically-acclaimed “Spirit Youth” album (Kanine Records) is set to elevate the band to greater atmospheres by incorporating a greater wash of metallic guitar reach while remaining faithful to the band’s pop vision. 

As front man Kurt Feldman quipped to Spinner.com before a gig at SXSW earlier this year, the Depreciation Guild sound, quite frankly, is “pretty synthpop with loud, distorted guitars.” Furthering the point, the Onion’s AV Club Review recently noted that the Guild’s "Nintendo-synth hooks and John Hughes-soundtrack dynamism splash the songs with a kind of expertly crafted lushness." 

The Guild just wrapped up a stateside dream-pop romp with Serena-Maneesh, and before going back out on tour with the Pains of Being Pure at Heart the band has strung together a run of club dates, finding the time to spark the pill in ultrasonic guitar swirls and 2A03 sound chips for the sky ghosts of dance parties. This is the sound of dreaming brightly.

Catch a moonlit preview of the Depreciation Guild at myspace.com/thedepreciationguild, and while you’re scouting, get lost in the beautiful haze of the incredible Jack Ferry-directed “Dream About Me” video. Before and after the band, DJ Ken and Michael V spin the best in Britpop, Modern Indie & Beyond. Look skyward, look sharp. 

xothepill

Courtney Love & Bret Easton Ellis

Yes, it's been a HELL of a first half-week over at the Phoenix. Chilling with Courtney Love at Ames, hearing Bret Easton Ellis read at the Brattle. I wish I had more time/energy to get into all this but I am fucking exhausted.

Vanyaland is dead / Vanyaland is not dead

Oh lordy, I think I found myself a brand new lover.

When I started Vanyland several years ago, it was a reaction to the over-edit and re-write hack jobs I was suffering from at the Herald. I created this blog as a means for me to break out of dinosaur print restrictions and write about what I wanted, what I thought Boston needed to know about and whatever other bullshit romancing me at the moment. It was great therapy.

With the new gig as Music Editor of the Boston Phoenix, I don't feel there is a need to distinguish this blog from my day job. In reality, aside from videos like the ones below, any "news" or show promo plugs I post here should be going to the alt-weekly. They, after all, pay the bills. But more importantly, they have my target demo, and allow me the freedom to spit how I spit.

Vanyaland will not die; just slow down considerably. I'll still hype the pill news and Endless Wave (the lone member of the streamlined Vanya MMC) and other random nonsense, but it's time to shift focus to the Phoenix. It's quite a gig, and demands my full attention.

Thanks to all who read this over the years. As Bertie says so timelessly, here's looking at you, kid.

Tonight: Danzig @ the House of Blues

FUCK YEAH -- Way stoked for Danzig tonight at the House of Blues. Last time I saw Glenn live was probably high school for the Danzig 4 tour, which hit the Roseland Ballroom and blew my tiny little Operation Ivy-loving face off. A scan of recent set lists has a nice bit of Danzig II: Lucifuge and a solid filling of the classics (dying to hear "She Rides" again), but I'm really hoping he breaks out this lost gem:

Friday @ the pill: Depreciation Guild

Quick hit as I recover from the past 24 hours with Endless Wave in Brooklyn -- New York dream-pop trio The Depreciation Guild swing by the pill this Friday, my first ever pill night while employed by the Boston Phoenix. Yeah, I'm excited. (And yes, Vanyaland will likely slow to a self-serving promotional crawl, as any music news worth reporting will likely contribute towards the alt-weekly's coverage.)

Natalie Portman gets dumped by Brite Futures

The pill's favorite Seattle synthpop kids Natalie Portman's Shaved Head -- who killed it with us in August 2008 -- are breaking up with Natalie Portman. Yeah yeah, guess the actress wasn't fond of the band name, and I guess recently they have been going by the more obscure NPSH.

Now they are called BRITE FUTURES -- but not before breaking up with Nat-Nat on YouTube. Band statement after the best name-change-gimmick-by-a-band-with-a-gimmicky-name-ever:



Said the new Brite Futures:

“We chose our band name on a whim when we were still in high school, and ‘Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head’ has seen us through an unexpectedly amazing four years. Our love affair with Natalie’s name was like a summer fling that lasted… and lasted… and lasted… But now it is summer once again, and time for a change. Also it has recently come to our attention that our muse Ms. Portman is not so keen on us using her name in ours… Ultimately we are lovers, not fighters, and our mamas didn’t raise no fools, so we feel it is time to move forward with a new name. We are BRITE FUTURES. Ps no hard feelings Natalie. You remain +1 on every guest list.” --Brite Futures

Boston Saturday: Kid Sister & Brittanya

While I'm back in NYC with Endless Wave for a gig at Don Pedro -- Dirty Apple old schoolers get at me -- there's all sorts of ill shit going down at home tomorrow night. Most importantly is Kid Sister at the Middle East, a gal I've been obsessed with since LA Riots remixed her jam "Control" a few years ago. And I still can't get over how "Right Hand Hi" didn't become this huge mainstream mega-hit.



But also, downtown, to keep the Ladies In Charge theme hot as the Allston pavement, Brittanya from Rock of Love Bus is laying the smackdown at one of the never-ending rows of Same Clubs near the Theatre District. I wonder if her "booty call" boyfriend from the VH1 show is going to be there.... why can't I remember his name?!?! LOL remember when she tried to beat up Heather?!?!?! Ahh, my life was lame back then. Anyway. Ahem.

Tonight @ the pill: Veil Veil Vanish

Fuck yeah, tonight it's on. Several months ago I discovered Veil Veil Vanish through a Metropolis Records catalogue, and immediate reached out to them for a gig at the pill. Obviously, connecting a band from San Francisco with a Boston dance party is no small accomplishment, but things worked out and tonight we party Bay Area style. Will Clarks for EVERYONE!

friday june 18:

Veil Veil Vanish

San Francisco's dark shadow on the dance floor

!! Phoenix poll: Best Club Night (Dance) !!

Eight days after being once again named “Best Club Night: Dance” in the Boston Phoenix “Best Music Poll” – the 3rd straight year? Longer? – the pill launches its live summer sessions with a black strobe shot straight from the hazy darkwave gates of San Francisco.

After cultivating a cult following on the west coast, Veil Veil Vanish have finally brought their atmospheric underground post-punk sound to the eastern end of the stateside dance floor, an electro-shock attack of reverb-rock cast in the increasingly black shadow of gemstone pop.

Though brand-name band comparisons are often callous reaches in promotional posturing, San Francisco’s annual NoisePop festival summed things up nicely, writing that Veil Veil Vanish “have made a name for themselves by combining ‘80s goth and ‘90s shoegaze into a dramatic and potent concoction of The Cure meets A Place to Bury Strangers.” Works for us.

While we first discovered Veil Veil Vanish after they contributed a spirited cover of the Cure’s “The Upstairs Room” to the 2008 tribute album “Perfect As Cats,” we became enthralled after Metropolis Records tipped us off to their critically acclaimed debut album “Change In The Neon Light.” Darkening up the pill’s grittier dance sets through the winter, Veil Veil Vanish counters the emerging sunlight of spring, creating an appropriate sonic-haze live dance set in the gloomy modern indie midnight glow of Allston Rock City.

Get acquainted with Veil Veil Vanish over at myspace.com/veilveilvanish, in particular the recent pill dance hits “Modern Lust” and “Anthem For A Doomed Youth.” Before and after the band, DJ Ken & Michael V spin the best in Britpop, Modern Indie & beyond at Boston’s best dance party. And because our live guest hails from San Francisco, we’ll be drinking Great Scott’s famous Will Clark cocktail all night. Look sharp. xothepill.

VIDEO: Hundred In The Hands 'Tom Tom'

In the previous post I mentioned New York duo The Hundred In The Hands. Seriously people, I am not fucking around here. Live tonight at the Mid Easy...

TONIGHT: Golden Filter & Hundred In The Hands

Really sexy shit going down tonight in Cambridge's Central Square, as NYC glitter-pop duo the Golden Filter hit the Middle East with fellow Dirty Apple on-the-rise electronic post-punk duo The Hundred In The Hands. Hot damn that is some synth-alicious pairing.

I tried to pimp the show in my last Boston Herald Cheap Thrills column, but typical of the newspaper, it got cut because they just wanted to run Father's Day items. Whatever.

GLITZ-POP EXPLOSION
Four To The Floor presents The Golden Filter at the Middle East
Thursday, June 17 at 8 p.m. at 472 Massachusetts Ave. in Central Square, Cambridge; 18-plus, $10 in advance, $12 day-of-show
In April of last year, early attendees to the sold-out Presets concert at the Paradise were in for a sweaty disco-dance treat -- a rare opening act performance by fresh-as-a-daisy New York synth-pop duo the Golden Filter. The band had kept a low profile while unleashing one of the sexiest dance floor hits of the year (“Solid Gold” and its treasure trove of remixes), but the live show was a showcase of things to come. Fast forward 14 months and the Golden Filter’s debut album “Voluspa” has exploded in both the indie rock and dance scenes, with tracks like “Hide Me” and “Dance Around The Fire” showing a glitzy, glitter-infused electro update of post-millennial disco. It’s an ultra-sultry noir-pop sound, led by the angelic voice of Australian-born diva Penelope Trappes. An added bonus is the openers, fellow Dirty Apple duo The Hundred In The Hands, whose blend of synthetic psych-pop and post-punk is certain to explode by the turn of the calendar. Add local electro-rock kids Southern Belle, who are just back from tour, and this is one white-hot show that should pack the Mid East’s upstairs room to the neon gills. Don’t wait to get tickets at the door.
Info: thegoldenfilter.com; mideastclub.com, 617-864-3278

@Bonnaroo: The Postelles get heads nodding

My boys in the Postelles crashed Bonnaroo this past weekend, offering a big-stage taste of what's to hit the pill next month. Really feeling these cats, and their jam "Can't Stand Still"...

Hello, Boston Phoenix.

Less than a week after leaving the Boston Herald, today I was named music editor of the Boston Phoenix. Needless to say, I am extremely excited about this opportunity, and can't wait to work with Carly Carioli, who was promoted today to Editor in Chief. (For those keeping score at home, my nightlife agency, Vanya MMC, will be streamlined to accommodate just two clients: Boston skygaze trio Endless Wave, and my indie dance party, The Pill.)

Here's word of the Phoenix changes from Dan Kennedy's blog. And here's my pull quote:

Michael Marotta, a music writer from the Boston Herald, will become Phoenix Music Editor, replacing Michael Brodeur, who left the Phoenix for the Boston Globe.

Kitten in tiny hat gets smacked up

Well, this is no doubt the best thing on the Internet today.

See more funny videos and Cute Animals Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Klaxons release greatest album cover ever

Hear that, MGMT? In this Pitchfork report of the new Klaxons album, something FAR more interesting than new Klaxons music was revealed -- this motherfucker of an album cover!! Will be buying this for sure. What's the album called? No idea. When's it out? Dunno. Again: ALBUM COVER VICTORY.

VIDEO: Endless Wave 'Premeditated' @ GS

Mick Murray recorded several songs from Endless Wave's EP release party last week at Great Scott -- thanks to Asteroid #4, the High Dials and Jupiter 28 Degrees Transmission Taurus for the goods -- and we thought "Premeditated" come out sounding rosy. Here's a peek while we beef up the sound quality on the rest. As always, cheers to Mick Murray, and you can check out links to his overall video his collection here.

Review: Ellis revisits Zeroes in "Imperial Bedrooms"

Bret Easton Ellis's new novel "Imperial Bedrooms" gets the release treatment today from Knopf Publishing, and to celebrate, I reviewed the dashing piece of work in this past weekend's Herald. Yes, my last Herald piece as a Staff Writer was on Bret Easton Ellis. How very Michael. Can't wait for the book signing next Thursday.

More of ‘Less’

Bret Easton Ellis revisits his Zeroes in ‘Imperial Bedrooms’

By Michael Marotta
Sunday, June 13, 2010 - Updated 2d 19h ago
“IMPERIAL BEDROOMS” By Bret Easton Ellis (Knopf, $24.95): A-


As Hollywood proves yet again this weekend (“The A-Team,” “The Karate Kid”), it’s possible and profitable to remake, reboot and reimagine movies from the ’80s.

It remains impossible to rewrite a book.

But Bret Easton Ellis, that compelling literary voice of The Decade That Won’t Die, is back Tuesday with a sequel to his most important work, 1985’s “Less Than Zero.”

“Imperial Bedrooms,” Ellis’ stunning seventh novel - which he will read from at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge on June 24 - tracks the lives and deceit of the network of friends and enemies who first appeared in “Less Than Zero.” The characters who defined the so-called “Catcher in the Rye” for the jaded, disaffected and affluent youths of the ’80s are now 25 years older and running amok in present-day Los Angeles.

Narrator Clay (the Holden Caulfield of his era) is now a screenwriter, back in Tinseltown after a sabbatical in New York City and ready to cast his new film, “The Listeners.” It’s a movie set in - of course - the 1980s. As he returns to his home city, he finds the same old song and dance - and same friends, in particular ex-girlfriend Blair and junkie-turned-pimp Julian (who was played with frightening realism in the 1987 movie adaptation of “Less Than Zero” by Robert Downey Jr.).

About all that’s changed since the first romp down Sunset are the names of the hip, new spots, the name-dropped celebrities and, of course, the technology. Now we get text messages and online social networks where we once had pay phones and MTV. But the undercurrent of moral bankruptcy remains, and it remains Ellis’ strongest vantage point.

Like its predecessor, “Imperial Bedrooms” takes its name from an Elvis Costello song, serving as a reminder that while this book takes place in a new century, its themes are inherently ’80s. And maybe that’s Ellis’ point.

Ellis has always been a master of blurring the line between reality and fiction. The first line of this new novel - “They had made a movie about us” - immediately smashes that wall, allowing Clay to both praise the first book’s honesty and bemoan the Hollywood film adaptation. He slams actor Andrew McCarthy’s portrayal of Clay and notes that the movie failed to recoup its production costs. Classic Ellis.

“Imperial Bedrooms” is unlikely to generate the attention and controversy of “Less Than Zero” or Ellis’ “American Psycho.” But it’s a fitting evolution for an astute writer, who doesn’t deserve to be faulted for noticing that the disillusioned youths he famously chronicled are no less messed up as adults. It truly is the ’80s all over again.

Bret Easton Ellis at the Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, June 24. Tickets: $5; call 617-876-6837.

mmarotta@bostonherald.com

Summer spotlight @ the pill: Depreciation Guild

Lots of cool shit going on at the pill this summer -- from live shows by Veil Veil Vanish this week to DOM and the Postelles next month to Blur Vs Oasis Nite in August -- but the end of June find a sparkle gem like no other as we welcome Brooklyn skygazers The Depreciation Guild to Great Scott.

Imagine spinning softly to the on a cool June night in the starry Dance City of Allston Towne.

I-95 shuffle: NY and Boston

Back from a New York coma -- from visiting my old Bay Shore neighborhood for the first time in 6 years to having @MsMatchGirl try to convince me why Brooklyn is cool ( not buying it, never will). Awesome weekend, now back to the grind.

Perhaps there will be an announcement or two in the next week regarding my future.

Later, Boston Herald. It's been real.

Nearly four years after crashing the Boston Herald newsroom, today I depart, ready to launch Vanya MMC and take on a new chapter in my life. I'm equally terrified and excited. I'll miss this joint more than I ever let on, and I'd always be a Herald guy despite the political slant the news section takes. I'll remain a freelancer -- writing the weekly Cheap Thrills and other features, but I am a staff writer no more.

TONIGHT: Modern Indie dance party @ the pill

Ahh yes, the day after winning Best Dance Night in the latest Phoenix poll, we get to show Boston why. So much going on -- last day at the Boston Herald, World Cup kickoff, Bret Easton Ellis new book -- and the latter is the theme for tonight's party. Let's merge.

friday june 11:
dance party summer
britpop. modern indie. disappear here

“People are afraid to merge on freeways in [Boston]. This is the first thing [you] hear when you come back to the city. [DJ Ken] picks [you] up from [Logan] and mutters this under [his] breath as [he] drives up the onramp. [He] says, ‘People are afraid to merge on freeways in [Boston].’

Though that sentence shouldn't bother [you], it stays in [your] mind for an uncomfortably long time. Nothing else seems to matter. Not the fact that [you’re twenty-one] and it's [June] and the ride on the plane had been rough and the couple from [Cambridge], who were sitting across from [you] in first class, had gotten pretty drunk. Not the mud that had splattered on the legs of [your] jeans, which felt kind of cold and loose, earlier that day at an airport in New Hampshire.

Not the stain on the arm of the wrinkled, damp shirt [you] wear, a shirt which looked fresh and clean this morning. Not the tear on the neck of [your] gray argyle vest, which seems vaguely more eastern than before, especially next to [DJ Ken’s] clean tight jeans and pale-blue shirt”

And certainly not the all-night dance party this Friday at the pill, the last in a three-week stretch before San Francisco’s Veil Veil Vanish joins us live on the 18th and New York’s Depreciation Guild crashes the stage on the 25th.

Not the new Bret Easton Ellis book “Imperial Bedrooms,” which is released June 15 and serves as a sequel to “Less Than Zero,” the copyright-infringing inspiration for this bulletin. “All of this seems irrelevant next to that one sentence.”

So while people, 25 years later, are still afraid to merge, DJ Ken and Michael V spin the summer time modern indie dance party this Friday night at the pill, inspired by the mindset of Ellis' characters and scattered across a checker-board Great Scott dance floor.

Disappear here. Look sharp. Merge. xo

BK Vegan: Pete Doherty in NYC tonight?

Awesome find by those Brooklyn Vegan peeps, who just posted a flyer advertising a Pete Doherty gig tonight in NYC. Yowza. I wanna goooooooooooo...

Endless Wave in spinning colors

Thanks to all who came out to last night's Endless Wave EP release party at Great Scott. I'm digging the light show for future performances:

Hotline's last Weekend Flyer Roundup

Awwww, it's OVER. Hotline is DEAD. Here's the highlights of the last post on my Boston Herald blog, naturally, a weekend flyer roundup.