Site relaunch: Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Things might be a little quiet around here over the next week as we prepare the launch of our new-and-improved Vanyaland music website on Wednesday, May 15, 2013.

You'll recognize some of the dearly-departed Boston Phoenix's best music writers contributing to the new entity, like Daniel Brockman, Michael Christopher, and Jay Breitling, so it won't just be me babbling on about Charli XCX or whatever's at Great Scott later that night (though you'll get a lot of that, too).

And what you'll see in eight days (yikes!) won't be a finished product, but it will be a much more developed site, in scope and content, than this dirty ol' blog. It'll have a cleaner design, brighter layout and look, and better navigation. The music videos from VanyalandTV, powered by MediaBoss Television, will have a home on the site, and other widgets and portals will feature think-piece music writing, show spotlights, record reviews, live uStream interviews, drunken on-site reports, Google Hangout sessions, adaptable calendar listings, and other, more interactive stuff I'm pretty excited about.

It's all a work in progress and the goal is to evolve with the times and stay current and fresh without resorting to 25 Pictures of Lolabear Taking a Bath (though that might happen; Lolaland could still be a thing) or public polls on where they should bury Alfredo Aceves' career.

We might even do the "launch" live from MediaBoss' studios in Framingham, with live entertainment. More to come on that.

Oh, and why am I choosing to resurface on May 15? Well, that's the one year anniversary of me being informed by my former mentor and Phoenix editor Carly Carioli that WFNX 101.7 FM had been sold. Life pretty much took a nosedrive into a shit-swallowed cesspool from that instant forward, and it's been one suckfest month after another since.

So it's time to right the ship. It's time for a new way. And to paraphrase the now-batshit Dave Mustaine, we'll be the first in line.

[tonight in allston] Boom Said Thunder record release @ Great Scott

Another day, another awesome record release show at Great Scott. Last night it was Personal Finance, tomorrow night it's Slowdim. But tonight, oh tonight, shit gets very real, as BOOM SAID THUNDER, the cover darlings of my Boston Phoenix Class of 2013 spotlight on the best new bands in town, release their long-awaited debut LP, Exist.

This is music to fuck to.

Here's what I wrote about the fiery bolt-slinging power trio a few weeks ago, as it gets the point across:

"Three members, three words in the band name, and three distinct qualities come together to form the monolithic beast that is Boom Said Thunder. The ground shook with last winter's Boom! EP, and now the earth is set to implode with the March release of Exist. On explosive first single "The Saint," John Magnifico's bass guitar serves as a livewire intro before you're seduced by Will Thomas's ground-pound drumming and Abby Bickel's vocals. Then things fly off the fucking rails. When the diminutive Bickel belts out her lyrics, she's taller than Kevin Garnett in heels, towering over her band's powder-keg rock-and-roll attack. Exist leaves little room to come up for air, but here's an instance where aural suffocation is a good thing."

Tonight's party is augmented by a future-sounds bill with Avoxblue, Nightmare Air, and the Lost Rivers.

Someone put the last Boston Phoenix issue on eBay...

... aaaaaand someone bought it. For $15. Plus $5 shipping.

What is this I don't even. To quote Phoenix editor Carly Carioli, "Maybe we haz biz model after all."

I guess it's cool, but still kinda weird. I suppose there are a bunch of people outside of Boston who would like to either A) Get their paws on the final issue and B) See for themselves the glossy magazine we relaunched as back in September. Hey, people: if you want any copies of the Phoenix, holla at ya boy. Maybe the Goth Issue will jump in value if Peter Murphy keeps getting arrested. Maybe the Britpop Anthem issue will be in demand now that Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn have made peace. Ok, maybe not.

People always want the last of everything. The only thing that sucks is that we had no idea this was the last issue while we were putting it out. While I stand behind every music section I assigned, compiled, and edited each week, I will admit this was a strange, maybe disjointed week of coverage. For fuck's sake there was a lead feature on KMFDM (though I was proud of my "A drug against bore" headline). A What's F'N Next on Disclosure. A lead album review on Marnie Stern. Cellars by Starlight local column on Schooltree (who was also my final guest on WFNX's Boston Accents).

Of course, we never got a chance to put to print the following week's issue, which was a bit more cohesive and boasted now-online-only features on Fidlar, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, an interview with Rex of Pantera (the follow-up to our crazy Phil Anselmo Q&A from the second Metal Issue), a Cellars on Slowdim, album reviews by BrownBird and Wavves, and of course, my interview with Brett Anderson of Suede. Woulda been cool to see that one on a magazine page.

Oh well, whatever forever.

[tonight in Allston] Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys record release @ BHM

Totally intended on giving this more love on the blog yesterday, but time is a cruel mistress that bows down for no suddenly-fairly-useless music writer. However, I did pimp Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys new record Soft Time Traveler in my recent Boston Phoenix spring preview, and tonight the collective is at Brighton Music Hall in Allston to give it a proper birth. So...

WALTER SICKERT & THE ARMY OF BROKEN TOYS :: Late last year, Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys established a goal of $6600 for new record Soft Time Traveler. Five days before Christmas, the goal was reached, and at press time, the self-described steam-crunk collective had raised nearly three times that, with 248 backers. That's nearly enough to fill Brighton Music Hall. But we're not sweating it; support from the Field Effect, Ruby Rose Fox, and the Rationales is enough to make this one monster Boston-soundtracked Saturday-night throwdown. :: March 23 :: Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston :: 9 pm :: $14 :: 617.779.0140 or ticketmaster.com

RIP My Chemical Romance

Pouring one out on this somber Caturday for MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, who abruptly called it a career last night. I've always said that if I was born ten years later than I actually was, MCR would have been my Suede, that one band I was super obsessed with as a teenager. Instead, I just got to appreciate them from the sidelines.

I also consider "Helena" to be the finest music video of our time, and I'll fondly remember watching it a million times a day on repeat with my boy Max at his Cleveland Circle apartment several years ago. We were definitely too old, even at the time, to be fanboying out like that. So it goes.

Three cheers for sweet music, and so long and goodnight. You repped Jersey proud.

***

A few Valentine's Days ago I guided the oh-so-controversial Top 100 Emo Songs in the Boston Phoenix (haha). Here's what I wrote about our Number Fucking 1, "Helena."

1. My Chemical Romance | "Helena" | From the album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (2004)

What’s the worst that we can say? No. 1 in our emo countdown isn’t about a jilted lover’s broken-hearted Swiss army romance but two band members’ late grandmother. New Jersey’s much-maligned My Chemical Romance are crowned king of this list via this epic and indispensible 2005 single off Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, landing in the Top 10 of nearly all our contributors. Its glory rises at the first swipe of smeared guyliner: the incredible music video’s funeral scene and dance choreography was a saturation point for mainstream emo culture. Gerard Way mirrored a generation through aesthetic and attitude, and this prime example of the aughts Hot Topic-ization of rock and roll is mitigated by the fact that MCR were only trying to write their own “Aces High” by Iron Maiden. So long, and goodnight. _Michael Marotta

Ryan Walsh takes care of the empty red Phoenix boxes

I've been greatly enjoying everyone's salutes, eulogies, and memories of the dearly-departed Boston Phoenix. But Ryan H. Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills wins the top prize by placing these Public Service Announcements all over town. Maybe we should just give him a red box of his own.

Pretty awesome.