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An evening at the Mercury Lounge often proves a real treat. The structure of their shows almost always includes four bands with a time slot of roughly an hour per act. In essence, the evening feels exactly like your run-of-the-mill showcase night a la Arlene’s Grocery. You know, the neighborhood venue trying to reel in a few patrons without giving away drink specials by offering up the stage to wet-behind-the-ears bands playing in front of their poor friends who were given no option but to drop by dressed all biz casual.

Well, the difference with the Mercury Lounge approach is that they put on a showcase night, but comprised of generally really talented on-the-cusp bands with plenty of buzz, generally with some level of overlap in fan tendencies with the other acts on the bill. Hence, it makes for a great way for bands to win over new fans, while fans happily catch the band they came to see, but often leave holding the CD of one they never even heard of. Should one or two of the bands not hit the spot, well there’s always the bar just outside the performance room. You can pop out and pop back in for the next band an hour later. Plus, the price is right.

This past Thursday, the Merc played host to a relatively new band on my radar that is quickly becoming a favorite, Leroy Justice. Having heard from a couple friends in different places and seeing repeat rave reviews from a couple of great writers whose tastes I share, Dave Schultz at Earvolution and Dennis Cook at Jambase, I picked up their new album. The album, called the Loho Sessions just happens to be produced by a guy you might recognize; he goes by the name of Siket. The Loho Sessions has breakout written all over it and it’s a contender for the best this year. The “sounds-like exercise” always reaches for the Black Crowes and Drive-By Truckers, but that makes them sound far too categorical.

READ ON to see what Ryan thought of LJ and Cornmeal…

We’d like to welcome our longtime friend and HT commenter Andy Kahn to the site with an editorial he wrote about the overwhelming acceptance of Phish by the mainstream media over the last few months. You can read more from Andy over at Loudlooppress. Welcome to the team, Andy…

From the mid ’90s until their breakup in 2004, Phish was often mocked by the mainstream press for a variety of reasons, namely their lack of radio and commercial success, relatively weak album sales, their obsessively devoted fan base of neo-hippies who follow them around to show after show (on drugs, always on drugs). With the band’s return at Hampton this past March the common perception of the group is not so common anymore, with Phish now getting treated like any other major act in the industry.

Phish has finally stepped out of the shadow of the Grateful Dead and are getting the respect they deserve. Every article written about them does not need to include a reference to their Dead-like fanbase or similar jamcentric style. Instead, music journos from a wide spectrum of publications are acknowledging the quartet as a band that broke the mold and created their own business model that never relied on album sales and mainstream commercial success but rather focused on the live performance and free sharing of their music amongst its fans.

Showing how far ahead of the curve they were, drummer Jon Fishman – in an interview with Rolling Stone in February 2003 stated, “I could fucking care less if everybody downloads our album off the Internet. We’re not in a position to be screwed by that at all. We have the one thing the Internet can’t touch – live music. If you can actually go out and play your fucking instruments, you won’t be replaced by the Internet. If you’re a good live act and you put on a good show, people will buy a ticket to see your show.”

READ ON for more from Andy on Phish and the mainstream…

Exactly one month ago, on June 29th, I attended a concert in Wellington, New Zealand. The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra performed to a sold-out hometown crowd in one of the country’s most acoustically-pleasing auditoriums, The Michael Fowler Centre, and they blew the roof off the place. Yes, this 12 member, 11-ukulele-ensemble actually blew the roof off the mutha. Eleven ukuleles and one double bass. Yes, that’s right- 11ukuleles. I feel icky just typing that. The ukulele. The red-headed stepchild of the acoustic guitar. Eleven of them on stage at the same time and I actually liked it? Maybe I’ve been in New Zealand too long…

[All Photos by Matt Mueller]

I think its fair to say the ukulele has never been one of my favorite instruments. If I were asked two months ago to come up with a top ten list of my favorite musical instruments, ukulele might rank 37, just behind the French horn. But in the hands of these skilled ukeists (ukeleists? Ukelers?) this four-stringed-mandolin-wannabe not only becomes a pleasing instrument, but an impressive one. (You can see why its taken me a month to write this review- I’ve been struggling with such conflicting internal emotions. Someone hold me.)

The WIUO (as they will henceforth be referred to… since I’m into the whole brevity thing) were founded about 5 years ago in Wellington, New Zealand. The twelve member group play an unusual combination of modern hits, classic rock, kiwi standards and original compositions. In New Zealand, the band is pretty well known, thanks in no small part to a devoted hometown following, many high profile performances, two albums, and the recent success of founding member Bret McKenzie (yes, that Brett. Brit? Briiit.) Internationally, this “international” orchestra has yet to make a very big mark. However, if they continue to play shows like this one, all of that could change. READ ON for more of Neeko’s Uke-tastic review…

Seems fitting for the occasion… U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live at Red Rocks)

Each Sunday in August, starting this Sunday, a group of talented musicians led by virtuosic guitarist Tim Palmieri will perform the entire Beatles catalog in alphabetical order at Daniel Street

I just finished putting together today’s posts for YEMblog – a site that compiles all the new Phish-related content on the web – and there were a few items I