Since I’ve got bitten by the record collecting bug, a lot of people (especially my parents) have asked me “why”. I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that for the past decade or so of my existence as a flaming music nerd that I felt ashamed of my actual music collection. For many years the only thing I had to show for it was a hard drive and a baskets full of (ab)used CD’s.
My, my has Summer 2011 been going by fast. Since I last updated a lot has happened to me on the “work” side of things: went to my first event as StudentAdvisor’s Content Manager (Boston eduTweetUp), doubled traffic to the SA Blog, collaborated with a bunch of amazing students and higher ed professionals (you know who you are), helped produce the 2nd annual Dorm Living guide, and even got to co-host one of the biggest marketing podcasts on iTunes!
Yesterday Eye Witness released their first full-length album A Pleasant Tomorrow at the Hotel Vernon in Worcester. If you’ve never been to the Vernon for a show I highly recommend it – the room in the back is an old school speakeasy type lodge modeled to look like the inside of a ship. Plenty of places to sit and the beer is dirt cheap because it’s Worcester, not Bo$ton.
Sometime ago Naveed Mir left the hustle and bustle of East Coast life to seek greener pastures across the country in Portland, Oregon. A simple mission – bring back the garage basics and add a dash of good old fashioned spooky Halloween fun. His latest effort, a self-released 7” under the moniker The Boo Jays containing four tracks he penned and recorded on his own holds true to his “f*ck, I’ll do it live!” attitude. If lo-fi macabre garage rock is what you seek, this rare gem of four doom and gloom house party tracks will deliver.
For ears accustomed to the late psychedelic hangover of Ariel Pink or the eerie surf melodies from The B-52’s, The Boo Jays twisted melange of influences brings fresh air to genre of rock that many believe has been dead and played out for awhile. Check out the send up to Scooby Doo and the gang in the video for “Creepy Crawlin'”.
For more tunes from The Boo Jays go visit Naveed’s imprint Astrodorque.