Tag: throwing muses

Friday at Last

It’s Friday. Finally!

We have yet another contractor coming today. The arrival window we booked opens at 8:00am. They texted us at 7:00am saying they were on their way. We assumed that meant that… ya know… they were on their way. Well its 8:02am now and they still haven’t arrived. So I guess they weren’t actually on the way.

Today is a monumentally huge day for the entertainment industry. Well… for my personal entertainment industry preferences. Alex Lifeson of Rush is releasing a new album today with his other band, Envy of None. Now while I will say that that sort of gothy/synthy/poppy vibe Envy of None gives off is not generally my personal bag, I did enjoy the first record and I have been enjoying the first three songs they snuck out from the second record even more. They are winning me over.

Along with that, there is a new Throwing Muses album out today. Technically there are two new Throwing Muses albums today, but only one is going to streaming services. I’m going to have to actually go somewhere and find a copy of the other one. Moonlight Concessions is the one you can stream. The singles they gave us ahead of time are seriously working for me. I haven’t started listening to the full album yet but I am really excited to give it a spin.

Even more important, Kristin Hersh sent out an email to her mailing list today (which I’ve been subscribed to for about as long as email lists have been a thing) and it lists some new tour dates. They are all in Europe, which is great for folks in Europe but not very helpful for me. There was some good news for those of us who live in the nazi states of america. Just read the last line on this screen shot from the email…

US DATES COMING SOON!!! Robert is excited. Robert’s wife is probably going to be slightly less excited, but my finger are crossed that she’ll be okay with going to another show with me.

On top of the musical gifts we get today, there is also a new episode of Yellowjackets where they actually talk about DATs. Digital Audio Tapes. I never owned a DAT player but somewhere around here I do have a couple of DAT tapes because I spent some time in a recording studio in 1993. There is also a new episode of Severance. I think that show might be losing me a little. I have found my attention drifting while watching the last two episodes. I am just thinking that we’re so deep into the black box that we’re never going to find out exactly what’s going on and maybe I am just trying to subconsciously protect myself from disappointment. I don’t know. The show is still good but I am getting worried.

The contractor is here. He rang the door bell at about 8:10 or so. Right when he was supposed to. That’s good news. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll be finished before I start work.

Speaking of music, I started noodling out an idea for something for the Record Every Month challenge. I am thinking of continuing along with the acoustic 12-string stuff I was doing last month. I also got my 6-string acoustic guitar back from my singer, who borrowed it 10000 years ago. Right on queue, today’s That Pedal Show episode is talking about 12-string guitars and the guys are bitching about how difficult they are to play. Just like me!

Right then. Time to go and get ready to start my work day. Happy Friday, everyone. Enjoy the new music.

ADDENDUM: The Envy of None record was originally supposed to come out today, March 14, 2025. It did not though. The new release date is March 28, 2025. Bummer, dude.

There is a Rush 50th anniversary boxed set scheduled for release next week. I wonder if that’s why they pushed the EoN release? Who knows.

Got ‘Em

I was really hoping for this… 90’s alternative rock nerd boy just scored two tickets to see Belly in October. Now I just need Throwing Muses to announce North American shows and my 2025 musical life will be complete. I want to see both halves of Throwing Muses this year.

I did not see Belly when they were together in the 90’s and I did not see them when they got back together a few years ago and I did not see them when they played in my freakin’ back yard (Lowell, MA) last year. This will correct this gross oversite on my musical obsession bingo card. I saw Tanya Donelly shortly after Belly split, and once more years later with Jen, and once with Throwing Muses back in 1989, but I’ve never seen Belly.

I’m trying to remember all of the Muses related shows I’ve seen…

  • Opening for REM at Great Woods in ’89
  • At the Hatch Shell in Boston (a free show) in… ’95? I think. It was before Limbo came out
  • At an in-store mini set at Newbury Comics in Harvard Square on the day Limbo came out in ’96
  • At the Middle East on the day that Limbo came out in ’96 (yes, I saw them twice on the same day)
  • Tanya at The Paradise… either just before or just after her first solo LP came out
  • Kristin Hersh at The Paradise playing solo acoustic around the time Strange Angels came out… I think.
  • Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave at The Middle East on August 11, 2006
  • Kristin Hersh at Hy N Dry Studio on May 27, 2007 with Jen
  • Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly (separately and briefly together) on October 6, 2007 at The Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA

Damn… that list is a whole lot shorter than I thought it would be. I’m pretty sure that’s it though. Hopefully this year we’ll be adding two more shows to it. Hopefully… if Throwing Muses would just announce a nice Boston show to go along with their already announced European shows.

Happy concert tickets day, everyone.

Muses

Throwing Muses stopped being a full time thing in… 1997? I think? Every few years they pop back up again with a new record and I go berserk for a while. For me there are two bands that I would take a bullet for. Rush is one, Throwing Muses is the other. It doesn’t make sense, it’s not rational. I don’t care. I’ve been obsessed for decades and there is nothing I can do about it.

There is a new album due to come out on March 14th. I am beside myself with anticipation. They’ve snuck out three of the songs already and I’m literally losing my mind over them. The last record they gave us came out in 2020 (Sun Racket) and it is fan-freakin-tastic. This new one… Moonlight Concessions… I cannot wait. I absolutely cannot wait.

The only question left is, are they going to tour. The answer is yes, but as of right now the only shows they’ve announced are in Europe in May. I don’t think I can get to Europe to see them so I am going to have to just sit (im)patiently and wait to see if they announce North American shows. I need to see them. I NEED to see them. The last time I saw them was August 11, 2006 and if I don’t see them again I am going to mentally fall apart forever. No exaggeration at all. I will lose my skull.

100B8012

But wait, there’s more! Possibly… I don’t know for sure.

Remember that sad time in 1992 or so when Throwing Muses split in two? It was sad at the time but the end result was two bands who were operating on very similar release/tour schedules. We had Muses proper, and we also had Belly. Remember Belly? Gold record, huge hit single, grammy nominations, round the clock MTV airplay. Yeah, you remember. It was almost (not quite, but almost) like having two versions of one of my favorite bands operating at the same time.

Well it turns out Belly is coming back again this year as well. It’s the 30th anniversary of their second record (which should have been a gigantic hit but wasn’t) and they have announced that there will be live shows. We don’t know when or where yet. I never saw Belly live. Even when they got together for short stretches a few years ago, I still haven’t seen them. I saw Tanya Donnelly on her own shortly after they broke up, but I never saw Belly.

This is the year. I don’t know where, when, or how but I NEED it to happen.

I haven’t seen any Muses related artists live since October 6, 2007 when Jen and I experienced the magic of Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnelly on the same bill at the Brattle Theater and they did a set together and it was amazing. Remember that day?

051

I need NEED both bands to announce Boston area shows and I need it to happen soon before I go insane and I also need them to be on consecutive days so that they both sit in with each other because that would be pretty much the only thing that could make me feel better as the United States descends into fascism.

Pretty please

Random Wednesday Evening Thoughts

Here are a few of the random things going through my pea brain on this Wednesday evening.

  • I haven’t shaved in nine days. If I don’t shave tomorrow you will hear me screaming from hundreds if not thousands of miles away as I tear the flesh from my face because I can’t stand the itch anymore.
  • What is it about that cats that makes them go from sitting calmly on the chair with each other one second to savagely trying to maul each other the next second? Is it me? Did I do something to cause the armageddon? The cat-mageddon if you will?
  • I really hope that Washington, DC gets hit with a massive, catastrophic blizzard on Monday (January 20th). Not the whole city, just the national mall. Really, just one end of the national mall. The end with the capital building. Like, a strategically placed blizzard. Yeah, that would be nice.
  • March 14th is going to be a big musical day for me. There’s a new album by Envy of None coming out that day. There’s only one member of Rush releasing music these days, Alex Lifeson, and Envy of None is his new band. Rush, of course, being one of two bands that, musically speaking, drastically turned my musical world upside down. The other band that, musically speaking, drastically turned my musical world upside down? Throwing Muses. Guess what? Throwing Muses is also releasing a new album on March 14th. Holy Shit Snacks!

Red Eyes

Someone on twitter mentioned a Throwing Muses song called Like a Dog.

I was immediately transported back in time to the mid 90’s and the Bright Yellow Gun single on CD. The best b-sides in single history. Crayon Sun (which was a cover from… I want to say Los Lobos, but is that right?), the previously mentioned Like a Dog, and possibly the best b-side in recorded history, Red Eyes…

Nothing Constructive

I didn’t play guitar tonight. I did play about an hour and 10 minutes of World of Warcraft and with the exception of the last five minutes or so when I died repeatedly I had a nice stretch of slaughtering bad guys and monsters so I guess it was okay. I know we said we weren’t going to play World of Warcraft anymore, but it’s still my wife’s all time favorite, and it is also the only game I have on my PC and my subscription hasn’t run out yet so… yeah.

Star Wars: Old Republic is downloading, so there’s that.

There’s a Pixies song in the soundtrack to The Suicide Squad. Hey, off of Doolittle. Yeah… that set off the old Boston rock fan zaniness in a big way. I had already started listening to a lot of Throwing Muses prior to watching the movie but now we’re just up to our eyeballs in the music of the city of Boston from the late 80’s through the late 90’s. Pixies have been the soundtrack to tonight’s video game violence. I’ve blown through Come on Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa and I’m about 3/4 of the way through Doolittle. For my money, Pixies Doolittle, Throwing Muses House Tornado (or the first record), and Mission of Burma’s Vs are enough to justify the entire god awful decade of the 1980’s. Throw in a handful of Rush records and just dump the rest of the decade down the crapper and you’re good to go.

Did I mention that Betwixt is getting back together for a few shows soon? There’s your 1990’s justification right there.

You know, I wish I had something constructive* to add to the electronic conversation tonight but I just don’t. Go give Doolittle a spin and you’ll feel better. Try Betwixt’s Moustache album too. Also, if you can find Smackmelon’s Space Shot play that too. Trust me.

*Twice through the course of this post, once in the title and once in the body, I have misspelled constructive as constructed. I blame society for my spelling short comings. The Pixies playlist just moved on from Doolittle to Bossanova. We should be Digging for Fire shortly.

Addendum: When I logged out of World of Warcraft, the Steam app said I had 10 seconds to wait before I could play Star Wars: Old Republic. Groovy, thought me. Then when I hovered my mouse over the Start button it changed to 8 seconds, and then to 4 hours and 50 minutes. It’s currently reading two hours and 56 minutes. Okay. I guess we won’t play tonight. It’s all right. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be a Jedi or a Sith to start with anyway.

Addendum #2: We watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory tonight while we ate dinner. In it, Sheldon played a Theremin. Did anyone else completely forget that there is a Theremin in the Pixies song Velouria? The world is a small place, and music makes time travel possible.

Best Interview Ever

Best interview ever

Best podcast episode ever

Best episode of anything ever

I’m a Thief

Okay, I just finished another song. As I was listening back to the final mix I brought up the original alonetone post from 2015 to see what I wrote about it back then. I had completely forgotten about this, but back then I wrote that as I was wrapping it up I realized it was brutally ripped off of a Throwing Muses song. Argh! Now I’ve ripped them off twice and didn’t even realize it either time!

Here’s my song, the thief that I am:

And here’s the song I ripped off:

What an asshole!

Half Way Through

It took me half a day, but I am finally digging into the new Throwing Muses album. I’m only on track five but I had to post that it is utter bliss. Creepy, aggressive, Muses bliss.

This couldn’t be more different from the last album, Purgatory/Paradise, if it tried. Well, maybe they did try, I don’t know. If I had to compare it to previous stuff I’d say it’s spooky like House Tornado is at times, and heavy like the self titled first post-hiatus album was, but at the same time it is absolutely nothing like either of them. It’s just really good so far. Like, really good. Like I am so happy I could throw up all over myself with glee good.

I’m on track six now, “Upstairs Dan” and it’s my favorite cut so far. Either this one or Dark Blue, but I have been listening to Dark Blue so maybe I’m biased toward this.

Go listen to it! Go listen to it!