2008

The highlight of my November in 2006 wasn’t the supple turkey breast or the Democratic takeover of Congress. Nope, that honor’s reserved for one half of The Duo: Marco Benevento set up his keyboard and toy shop for five Wednesday shows at the now-defunct Tonic, inviting a slew of superb musicians — musicians’ musicians, really — to join him for stellar improvisation and clever instrumentation.

Marco‘s at it again: Tonight, Benevento kicks off his five-Thursday Januarystand at the new and improved (paint job’d and floor wax’d) Sullivan Hall. All five shows are packed with fantastic guests, and while we can’t fluff this residency enough, the truth is that every word of anticipatory praise will show itself to be well-deserved. Benevento will be joined by members of The Slip, Sir Joe Russo, Steven Bernstein, Bobby Previte, Stanton Moore, Billy Martin and many more guests.

It all leads up to the January 31st Release Party for Marco’s new album, Invisible Baby (he’ll be joined by Andrew Barr and Reed Mathis that evening). And as part of our very special contest, we’re giving away one free pair of tickets to every single night of the residency, and a five-night pass that gets you and a loved one inside. Now, since we took our sweet-ass time with this, we’ve gotta work quickly. So the first commenter gets the tickets for tonight.

As for the five-night pass and the other shows, all you’ve gotta do is leave a comment telling us who’s your favorite keyboardist/pianist of all-time, and if your tastes match up with ours, you’ve got entry. Our favorite answer will get the (Corbin Dallas) multipass, and we’ll give out the remaining individual shows to our next favorites. Hurry up and enter now, ‘cuz we’re on borrowed time here.

• Read on after the jump for the full lineup, and enter the contest below…
• Previously on HT: Marco Benevento: A ‘Live at Tonic’ Interview
• And many thanks to the fine folks at HYENA Records for hookin’ you up…now get out there and buy some real albums, people!

Stephen Malkmus and his equal-opportunity band of Jicks will release Real Emotional Trash on March 4th (Matador Records). That, we already knew. But Pitchfork today has advanced the story, letting us know that two weeks after the release, Malkmus & Co. will be hitting the pavement, er, road. Ah fuck, I just broke my New Year’s resolution of no more bad music puns. Read on for dates…

Our regular Thursday fuckfaces are back at it. So, gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, Destiny and Chartreuse, better known as Rupert & Stan.

Today we’re bringing our ol’ One-Timers feature to Hidden Track, a piece that’s more of a bouillabaisse of rapid fire topics like album and show reviews, new bands, films and downloads. Since we only write one post a week, it’s a way to spew out a lot of what’s been on our minds and headphones in one fell swoop.

One on the Rise
Quintus – The Shape Were In

Recorded at the legendary Levon Helm Studios, this six-song debut E.P. exhibits six Quintus standards of their addictively catchy yet respectable brand of pop song. The Shape Were In demonstrates the mature songwriting of this young quartet (the keyboard player left since penning the name, Quintus) — and most of the tunes include clever sections, interesting changes and well-placed tempo shifts.

Quintus blends unabashed catchiness with a tinge of improvisation in a manner that garners a musical credibility. In terms of comparisons, it’s hard not to hear some Beatles in there, and Ben Folds also comes to mind. Curiously, Quintus’s Myspace band photo is missing frontman and primary songsmith, Reuben Chess. I hate to spread rumors, but you have to question if the suits are pushing him in a different direction. Nevertheless, a wise soothsayer can clearly foresee that big things on the horizon for this group of young, talented musicians.

Take the E.P. for a test drive here, and check out this video of the Quintus boys recording with Levon on the kit after the jump (along with much more)…

Like Deacon Jones’ sacks and Bill Russell’s blocks, I didn’t keep my live show-going totals as an official statistic this year for the first time since the early aughts. But, conservatively, I saw probably no less than 106 and no more than 147 bands in 2007, many of which made my smile both downstairs and up, and only a few of which made me want to go home and cut myself.

We’ve already offered up our comprehensive Year in Review, and yesterday we posted our 10 Favorite Albums of 2007. So as we continue our late look-back at the Year of Our Lord Two-Thousand Seven, you’ll find my 10 favorite live performances of the year after the jump. We start out with a hint of old-time nostalgia — the triumphant returns of Stevie and Levon — but I’m pretty damn thrilled by how many bands on this list I saw for the first time just last year. And only one prototypical jamband? Fuck, man, what a hipster doofus I’ve become.

But whatever your pleasure, here’s to another wonderful year of music, one that’ll consistently bring out the uncontrollable smile in you, one that’ll make you mumble to yourself while the lights blind you and the smoke gets in your eyes…

The University of Georgia absolutely crippled overmatched Hawaii in last night’s Sugar Bowl, the Bulldogs making the islanders look more like Rainbow Flag-Waving Nancy Boys than Rainbow Warriors (though that’d

New Year’s Eve gigs provide bands a chance to celebrate with friends, family and their fan bases from around the country. But it also gives them a chance to pepper setlists with rare and cool covers, bust outs and tons of Auld Lang Syne.

We’ve rounded up every NYE setlist we can find, so you can be more educated for your “My band can beat up your band” conversations. Read on for more…

The Greyboy Allstars returned to New York’s Nokia Theatre last week for two nights, playing by all accounts much improved shows from last year’s corresponding dates. As you may remember, the 2006 GBA show left us underwhelmed and unimpressed, and our own Chilly Jackwater called it “80 percent smooth jazz.”

But of the six or seven people we’ve spoken with following this two-show run, every single one of them left raving about the band’s fantastic, triumphant return — so after a mediocre 2006, it appears the Greyboys are once again Allstars. And Chilly reported back that Karl Denson must have been named in the Mitchell Report, because his previously questionable muscular physique has dwindled.

Hidden Track’s adorable boyfriend/girlfriend team of Jeremy Gordon and Carla Danca hit the second night for us, and while he snapped some fantastic photos, she added some words, and their gallery follows after the jump…