SIS At The Club: Bloc Party / Longwave

(Photo by G. Khaikin/iPhone)

It seems that ever since 2005, I see Bloc Party on a semi-annual basis in March. The first was at SXSW on the evening of their stellar debut, Silent Alarm. Two years later it was here at the Orpheum in Boston. Two other times occurred when they did a one-off opening for some Pixies band at Merriweather Post Pavilion, and the last time was in August along with 70,000 others or something before Radiohead at Lollapalooza.

So for the fifth time, in support of their latest album, Intimacy, which is quite awesome and much better than A Weekend In The City, they started off some US dates at the recently opened House of Blues by that baseball field. Since seeing them at Lolla, "Mercury" has grown on me. During said song was highly entertaining: lead singer Kele Okereke was having a stage hand remove the mic stand for him, when suddenly he became tangled around him. He danced around the guy a bit, and finally with a barrel roll, successfully became untangled and at stage right reaching out to shake some fans hands. I have video. It's on my phone. Someday I will upload it to the internet and share with you.

And while they played all the fan favorites and classics ("This Modern Love", "Hunting For Witches", "The Prayer", so forth and so on) for me the second encore proved to be perfect. The two song finale of Intimacy opener "Ares" in to Alarm opener "Like Eating Glass" was like a perfect portrait of where the band is now and where they've come from. The huge drum 'n bass Chemical Brothers freak out of "Ares" and the whole just perfect song in "Glass" it was simply the evening's highlight.

Longwave started up a leg of dates with the Party on this night. Focusing most on songs from last year's Secrets Are Sinister (no "Devil & The Liar" though - tsk tsk), the band also were able to play a few tracks from both There's A Fire and The Strangest Things. Lead singer Steve Schiltz even got a chance to make a shout out to his friends in The Sheila Devine in the middle of one song; it was awkard yet refreshing to know that bands still give shout outs to bands when they are in their territory. I also found out that the band recently joined the ultimately hip as they now have a Twitter account and are giving away a download of Secrets import bonus track "Sideways Sideways Rain". Cool, huh?

Bloc Party Set List
One Month Off / Trojan Horse / Hunting For Witches / Positive Tension / Biko / Waiting For The 7.18 / Song For Clay (Disappear Here) / Banquet / Better Than Heaven / Blue Light / Mercury / This Modern Love / The Prayer /// Halo / Price of Gasoline / Flux / Helicopter // Ares / Like Eating Glass

Download: "Sideways Sideways Rain" [mp3]

Longwave '09: Tour with OK Go, Tour with Bloc Party

After finishing off some headlining dates, New York rockers and moisturizing musicians Longwave will take the month of February off before hitting the road again in March. Dates begin in the early part of March supporting OK Go, before meeting up with Bloc Party here in Boston for a half dozen shows.

See Longwave Play.
03.06 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts*
03.07 Towson, MD @ Recher Theatre*
03.08 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg*
03.10 New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place*
03.11 Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street*
03.13 Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall*
03.19 Boston, MA @ House of Blues**
03.22 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club**
03.24 New York, NY @ Terminal 5**
03.25 New York, NY @ Terminal 5**
03.28 Chicago, IL @ Rivera Theater**
03.30 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue**
03.31 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant**
*with OK Go
**with Bloc Party

And for those who didn't pick up on my quip about moisturizing, Longwave's "The Devil and The Liar" from Secrets are Sinister is in a new Lubiderm commercial. And here people thought bands didn't take care of their skin.

Stream: "Sideways Sideways Rain" [MySpace]

Sinister New Longwave Album Announced

It has been three years since There's A Fire came in to my life. The album's title track got repeated plays by me in the summer of 2005, and even to this day those opening drums pound the memory of working at my old job and driving around on humid summer nights. And now with the announcement that Longwave has finally wrapped work on their fourth album, Secrets Are Sinister, I know that "No Direction" will be the song to make my cold winter days feel and hot and sticky.

Recorded mostly in their studio in the bowels of Brooklyn with the famed produced Peter Katis, Sinister also found the band teaming once again with Strangest Things producer Dave Fridmann who chimed in his production cues on "Life Is Wrong". The album features the quartet's trademark sound, matching epic arena sized guitars with dreamy landscapes.

The band is currently mapping out fall tour plans, but in the meantime will play a free show this Friday, August 15th, at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Secrets Are Sinister hits stores November 11th through Original Signal Recordings.

Sinister Songs:
1. Sirens In The Deep Sea
2. No Direction
3. Satellites
4. The Devil & The Liar
5. Life Is Wrong
6. Eyes Like Headlights
7. I Don't Dare
8. It's True
9. Shining Hours
10. Secrets Are Sinister

Stream: "No Direction" [here]

New Longwave Single, Dates with Swervedriver

It seems like it has been quite awhile (only 2005? Really??) since There's A Fire came out and Longwave were poised to blow up. And then they dropped off the face of the Earth. Personally I thought they broke up, but really they were just taking their time crafting a new batch of songs that they're finally ready to share with the world.

The band recently wrapped work on their upcoming full length, helmed by Peter Katis (Interpol, The Golden Republic, and that National band that we should all know by now that I have a huge crush on). To let you in on what they created with Katis, Longwave are also jumping on the free download boat, giving away the new single "Sirens In The Deep Sea," via the Dropcards website. All you have to do is sign up and the song is yours to keep. If that's not enough to tide you over until the album is released later this year, the band have several new songs posted on their MySpace for you to check out.

Just returning from a string of dates in Europe, the band hits the US roads in June opening up for the recently reformed Swervedriver.

Swervewave:
06.07 Philadelphia, PA @ Fillmore at the TLA
06.08 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
06.10 Boston, MA @ Paradise
06.11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

photo by Guy Eppel