I was recently in Boston for a Music Hackday, luckily I had the time to catch a few bands while I was there. It seems like a town with a pretty good music scene, lots of bands touring through it (a college town thing I guess?). It was also curious to see that a lot of bands were playing venues much smaller than i'd expect, I guess comparing to London isn't that fair.
El-P @ The Echo Nestival.
The official gig of the Hack day, put on by the Echo Nest guys. With a surprisingly eclectic lineup, I was very pretty impressed when it was announced. I've been a fan of Def Jux and El-P for a while so it was lucky we arrived before they started. Unfortunately we missed everything before that, except the very last song of Bodega Girls, which did seem quite good (kind of afrobeat-y.
El-P was pretty good, but honestly I wasn't a great gig. The venue wasn't that full and the audience wasn't really in to it, the atmosphere felt a bit flat. It was a shame as El-P was pretty amazing, i'd love to catch him in London with a more receptive audience.
El Ten Eleven @ The Middle East.
As I was hanging around for a few days after the event and managed to find an interesting gig a mere block from my hotel, score! El Ten Eleven had come up in my Last.fm recommendations somewhen in the last few months, I remember being quite impressed. Pithily described as "Justice meets Tortoise" or "Kraftwerk In The Sky". I had no idea until then but they're also a bit famous for scoring part of Helvetica.
I also didn't know much about how they played live; 1 amazing drummer, 1 guys with a dual-neck bass/guitar and a loop pedal. The technical skill was amazing, as was the music, just generally impressive. Really energetic and fun live. So good I bought their most recent LP, These Promises Are Being Videotaped. I recommend you check them out too. I'll be keeping my eye out for them touring the UK, i'd love to see them again.
El-P @ The Echo Nestival.
The official gig of the Hack day, put on by the Echo Nest guys. With a surprisingly eclectic lineup, I was very pretty impressed when it was announced. I've been a fan of Def Jux and El-P for a while so it was lucky we arrived before they started. Unfortunately we missed everything before that, except the very last song of Bodega Girls, which did seem quite good (kind of afrobeat-y.
El-P was pretty good, but honestly I wasn't a great gig. The venue wasn't that full and the audience wasn't really in to it, the atmosphere felt a bit flat. It was a shame as El-P was pretty amazing, i'd love to catch him in London with a more receptive audience.
El Ten Eleven @ The Middle East.
As I was hanging around for a few days after the event and managed to find an interesting gig a mere block from my hotel, score! El Ten Eleven had come up in my Last.fm recommendations somewhen in the last few months, I remember being quite impressed. Pithily described as "Justice meets Tortoise" or "Kraftwerk In The Sky". I had no idea until then but they're also a bit famous for scoring part of Helvetica.
I also didn't know much about how they played live; 1 amazing drummer, 1 guys with a dual-neck bass/guitar and a loop pedal. The technical skill was amazing, as was the music, just generally impressive. Really energetic and fun live. So good I bought their most recent LP, These Promises Are Being Videotaped. I recommend you check them out too. I'll be keeping my eye out for them touring the UK, i'd love to see them again.
