brainwashed

Brainwaves 2008

Posted on by grahams

I had buckets of fun at the first Brainwaves festival in 2006, and Brainwashed is turning it up to 11 for the second festival on November 21-23..  Big name acts you may have heard of like Meat Beat Manifesto, Matmos, and Stars of the Lid, but the real cream of the crop may be the bands you may not have heard of yet (unless you read Brainwashed religiously).   Brainwaves is completely different from any festival I’ve ever attended, the Regent Theatre is a pretty intimate venue and the artists are often sprinkled throughout the venue (not squirreled away in some green room or hotel). 

The schedule was just posted, and at 79 bucks, the three-day pass is a bargain..   You can also buy tickets for the individual days, so if you really want to help one of the greatest independent music sites online (and a native Boston business), buy your tickets now!

Brainwaves

Posted on by grahams

This weekend was the Brainwaves Festival over in Arlington, which was a ton of fun. Jon really did a great job pulling the whole thing together, and while I wasn’t in to every artist, it was great seeing so many different bands. The highlight for me was The Dresden Dolls turning out a great set (even if they seemed out of place in the midst of the other bands on the lineup). Amanda and Brian brought out Edward Ka-Spel (from The Legendary Pink Dots and The Tear Garden) for “Missed Me”. I’m not the biggest Ka-Spel fan (I actually left before his set, closing out Friday, was over, but I was mostly just exhausted).

After a Kelly’s brunch, I made it back to the theatre on time on Saturday Afternoon. This daytime lineup seemed to be mostly noise artists, which can always be hit-or-miss. Fortunately, none of them seemed to take themselves too seriously, which made it more palatable. came out Saturday night to join me, and it was great seeing him again and catching up. Saturday night was definitely my favorite overall night of the show. It was dedicated to Steven Stapleton, who did a “DJ” set playing some of his favorite records. All of the artists Saturday night were enjoyable, but the stand-out band were also the headliners, Volcano the Bear. They had great energy, and while at times they seemed to be in Schtick Coma, they really rocked it out.

I missed the final day of the festival as I had previously committed to heading over to ‘s place for some Nintendo Wii love. He has preordered his and was having a big party to celebrate (and play). We mostly played Wii Sports, Tennis and Baseball are the standout games, but Bowling is pretty cool too. Golf and Boxing were a bit spottier though. Boxing definitely felt like your actions with the remote had the least correspondence to what happened on screen. That, and Corinna kicked my ass at Boxing, so I can’t like it. :P

We played from like noon until 6pm, when and I had to run off to see “Casino Royale”. I really, really enjoyed it, as did seemingly everyone who showed up to the club this week (17 people!). Definitely removed the crappier aspects of Bond for the past however-many years and stuck to spying and action (Parkour FTW).

Music Update

Posted on by grahams

Here’s some music-related updates:

  • The first CD from Mike Patton’s new project, Peeping Tom, his the streets this Tuesday. I got my hands on the CD a little early and it is awesome… The first really accessible-by-the-masses album from him in a long time. It’s probably about as close as you’ll see him get to pop… Anyway, the band (featuring Dan The Automator, Rahzel, Dub Trio, Rob Swift (X-Ecutioners), and Imani Coppola) were on Conan O’Brien on Friday… Check it out. Also, an interview over at Suicide Girls
  • In other Patton news, Rhino finally released the two classic Faith No More videos, “You Fat Bastards: Live at the Brixton Academy” and “Who Cares a Lot: The Greatest Videos” (a.k.a. “Video Croissant”) on DVD last week.
  • Brainwashed is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary with a weekend festival in November. Brainwaves is going to be held at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA. The lineup so far is pretty out of control, you should totally check it out!