by Black Bubblegum

I used to take took the infamous Chinatown bus from NYC to Boston all the time, but one ride was particularly memorable. I was sitting in the back of a full bus. There were no more seats, but then one more passenger wanted to get on, so the driver told this passenger to wait a minute and proceeded to put a lawn chair for them in the aisle...

Where am I going with this? Well, the Brainwaves Festival taking place at the Regent Theatre in Boston this weekend is a good reason to risk sitting in a lawn chair.

Two years ago, [Brainwashed's Jon] Whitney [that's not him in the picture] took on the role of concert promoter in a big way when he organized Brainwaves, an expansive, three-day festival of Brainwashed-related music and video. True to form, it was a monstrously ambitious undertaking.

"Brainwashed was 10 years old. For 10 years it hadn't really made any sense, so why not do a festival that didn't make sense? You know, we needed a party! And though it was two years in the making, all the work was worth it, since we eventually came up with a great group of musicians." [The Phoenix]

This year's eclectic, experimental lineup includes Matmos, Meat Beat Manifesto, Silver Apples, Stars of the Lid along with a day dedicated to Kranky, Major Stars,JG Thirlwell's Manorexia, Gary Wilson, Marisa Nadler (who started a new blog), and one bonafide legend in Peter Christopherson [that's him in the picture above], founder of Psychic TV, Throbbing Gristle, Coil, and the performing Threshold HouseBoys Choir (the latter is the one billed as playing the fest). Christopherson recently told TinyMixTapes he is retiring THBC, so this is your last shot to see him live before he retires to his home in Thailand. Tickets are still available, and check the festival's site for more travel and lodging options.

A few of the festival participants have hit or will be hitting NYC this week as well... Silver Apples will be in NYC with Grails (but not Flower Travellin' Band, who postponed), To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie and Boduf Songs play Pianos and the Annex, Meat Beat Manifesto played Bowery Ballroom Wednesday, and Stars Of The Lid   will play a pair of shows at Le Poisson Rouge while they're on this coast.

Psychic TV (sans Christophersen) recently played Europa. The full Brainwaves lineup is below...

Continue reading "2008 Brainwaves Festival (this Fri-Sun in Boston) w/ Peter Christopherson, Matmos, Major Stars, SOTL, more"

photos by Nathan Miller

In May, 2007 Jack Dangers released a double CD of old Meat Beat Manifesto demos, as well as an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge, entitled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. MBM's 9th studio album, Autoimmune, was released on April 7, 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on April 8, 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records. According to the band's website, Z-Trip is again collaborating on several tracks. The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on March 18, 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. [Wikipedia]

Meat Beat Manifesto played their first of two east coast shows at Bowery Ballroom in NYC last night (11/19). NYC's Excepter opened. The next Meat Beat performance is this weekend at Brainwaves in Boston. More pictures from Bowery below...

Continue reading "Meat Beat Manifesto & Excepter @ Bowery, Ballroom - pics"

The Meat Beat Manifesto show originally scheduled for November 19th at Highline Ballroom was recently moved to Bowery Ballroom. Excepter is opening and tickets are still on sale. Two days after NYC, Meat Beat will head up to Boston for the Brainwaves Festival,...

Friday, November 21, 2008 - doors at 7pm, music begins at 8pm
Meat Beat Manifesto
Silver Apples
JG Thirlwell's Manorexia
Marissa Nadler
& a special Greater Than One video presentation

...and then in December they have two shows scheduled on their own, west, coast. All dates below...

Continue reading "Meat Beat Manifesto tour dates (new NY venue, Brainwaves)"