Things to Do

Listen Up!

Listen Up! brings you songs of bands and performers coming through town in the next week. Listen, then go check them out live.

Playlist no longer available. 

Wednesday, June 11
• “I love no one, and no one loves me,” groans Kim Deal throughout this short, sad ditty. In fact, “Bang On” is so short that we imagine Deal breaking down halfway through the recording. Then we remember she’s freakin’ Kim Deal of the Pixies—everyone loves her. Deal and her band, the Breeders, play the 9:30 Club with Montana Boys opening.

• With a band name like Love Is All and an album titled Nine Times That Same Song, you could imagine that this Swedish group is all about the mushy. And you’d be wrong. Love is the only topic of discussion in the album, but tracks such as “Make Out Fall Out Make Up” have not an ounce of sentimental nonsense. Love Is All, which has a blog, plays the Black Cat’s backstage.

Thursday, June 12
• “Little Bit of Feel Good” may be Jamie Lidell’s better-known, more flashy track, but we’re partial to the simplicity of “Game for Fools.” The song has no fancy arrangements—just Lidell’s voice and a few instruments. And that’s more than enough. Lidell performs at the 9:30 Club.

Sunday, June 15
• Mat Brooke, the man behind Carissa’s Weird and Band of Horses, stops by the Rock and Roll Hotel with his band Grand Archives. Since arriving in the mail, the band’s album, The Grand Archives, has become a fixture on our playlist. Give “Torn Blue Foam Couch” and “Swan Matches” a listen and you’ll see why we can’t put this record down.

• Swedish (by way of Argentina) folk crooner José González is back in town with a show at the 9:30 Club. Unfamiliar with his album In Our Nature until after he’d played at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, we’re making it a point to see him live. You should, too.

• Any band with such clever songs as “George Romero,” a tribute to the horror masters of yore, and “I Started a Blog That Nobody Reads” (we don’t have to explain this one, do we?) is bound to win a spot on our playlist. According to Wikipedia, Sprites are from Maryland, but we’ve never heard of them before. In any case, they’re playing at the Red and the Black.

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