THE WEDDING PRESENT

by Jeremy Peterseil Fri, April 6th, 2012 at 10:15am

I remember reading album reviews and constantly seeing mention of something called "C86." For a long time, it was a complete mystery to me and I just kind of glossed over it like many of the names haphazardly dropped in music criticism. Eventually I came to my senses, hopped on that site, uhhh, Google, and discovered an amazing time in British indie rock.

C86 was a legendary cassette compilation put out by British magazine NME in, get this, 1986. It collected all of the up and coming bands on the scene during that time, some of which would prove to be highly influential. Their sound was characterized by jangly guitars and power-pop melodies, and what legendary radio DJ John Peel referred to as "shambly."

FREQUENCY

Let Beantown Take You On a Musical Journey

by David Bolton Thu, April 8th, 2010 at 11:59am

One of the things I love about Boston is that on any particular night I can fulfill almost any of my musical whims. Of course, with great choice comes the problem of who to spend your hard earned time and money on. Boston, like most great cities, boasts varying musical journeys every day and as the clock starts to move toward the all-important festival season, help out your wallet by catching the up-and-coming bands before they are "discovered."

This week, there are several acts playing in Beantown that are worthy of investigation.

4/8 - Bear In Heaven, will be sprinkling their "controlled chaos" at The Middle East
tonight

4/8 -Dashboard Confessional has been around for what seems like ages and will inexplicably be supporting the popular Bon Jovi on their tour later this year. However, tonight, they'll be bringing their own brand of cheerful melanchol at the House of Blues. Not the most intimate of venues, it will still be a chance to get more personal with the band than the stadium-sized venues they will hit up later this year

4/10- House of Blues will also host Get The Led Out, the self-proclaimed American Led Zeppelin, who will probably be playing some covers by their legendary influencers.

4/12 - And speaking of hugely influential British bands, this saturday, The Wedding Present will be at The Middle East. Since their formation in 1985, they have gone through numerous member changes, with David Gedge as the last remaining founding member of the group. However, this is not a nostalgic-lets-all-cash-in type of an affair. Instead, in keeping with the trend of performing "classic" albums in their entirety (anyone who caught The Pixies last year will know about this), they will be performing their major label debut Bizarro, which was originally released through RCA in 1989 and contained the John Peel-approved single "Brassneck." If you want to see one of the bands that influenced Oasis and numerous other indie shoe-gazers, then this is a must.

4/12 -One of those bands could be New Jersey's Titus Andronicus who play on the same night at Great Scott in Allston. Their current LP The Monitor (XL Recordings) got a good review in Rolling Stone who described it as "mixing Springsteen with Honest Abe." The Monitor also seems to be a favourite of the staff at Newbury Comics, which I consider a good sign. With lyrics like "tramps like us, baby we were born to die" ("A More Perfect Union"), they wear their influences on their sleeve. Again, this could be a chance to see a band on the way up before the inevitability of over-expectation blunts their creativity.