At Home He's a Tourist

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Thomas Patrick Maguire- S/T Like the hazy photograph ( reproduced color xerox) on the cover of Maguire at home near an open window guitar in hand, the songs are laid back and minimal like they were recorded in a living room or at a kitchen table. Leaving Now could be a demo for Em Are I. You Could go, You Could Stay has Maguire more indecisive over a lone snare that punctuates the indifference. Issues is a classic antifolk psych drama, similar to Phoebe Blue's Control Issues, not to mention countless issues of issues of antifolk in CDRs, zines, and open mics. Snare takes a prominent sound over Maguires vocal and guitar in the lofi pun underneath. Coin Toss continues the indecision, but the uptempo and for Maguire an almost sunny melody suggest an optimism regardless of the result of the toss. Christian Love gives the CDR religion making comparisons to John Wesley Harding obvious, except minus the bass, harmonica, and for the most part drums, so even more minimal, and clocking in at 70 minutes for 21 tracks it is a more rigorous antifolk listen. Nothing That Stitches Can't Sew is a classic lower east side punk healing anthem. Which is fitting for an antifolk CDR, if your listening for a more accessable Maguire definitely head for the new Temper Tantrums Cause Delays but if your up for a street antifolk CDR, this is it.

Lou's Life as a Tourist

It was a Sunday afternoon that was already Monday morning when Dashan called me with an extra ticket to the Sebadoh concert and thinking it was already Monday morning I said maybe, I would call back later if " I could make it". Anyway I never called back so of course i get a call at 9:00 from Dashan saying he's at the Sebedoh show and he has an extra ticket and I should come to Bowery Ballroom. So I'm thinking I'll get there at 10:30, it's cold, etc...etc...etc... Just then a bright light shines above me, no it was not a light bulb, it was the dazzling sun of a Sunday afternoon. Wow, what a relief I was stuck in rainy monday but whatever, I'm gonna go to the show, at the least I'll get 2 or 3 more fares out of my unlimited metrocard. So I get on the train I"m reading CMJ Deli and the train was crowded, I guess I'm not the only one to get a late start to the Sebadoh show. I saw the new MTA Duke Riley poster, so I guess their reading At Home I'm a Tourist, so I'm bored on the train sometimes so I think I should get a free metrocard. And easypass. I could get a business partner and we could rent out the easypass at opposite ends of the Brooklyn Bridge for a dollar... etc...etc... etc... So I get to the show and I see the last two numbers, which was still awesome, I mean it is Sebadoh! Anyway it was the last show of the tour, which had apparently been dry, but the band was calling for liquid applause, they were getting it, and getting pretty sauced up in the process. So I was really lucky because the encore was literally an hour and it gave me a new joke: I went to a Sebadoh show and Brian Jonestown Massacre melee broke out. Lou was baiting the audience and the audience was heckling Lou. They were fighting over which borough was better, Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Silverlake. I was like thanks for writing my blog! Never the less there were no guitarists hurled offstage,no incomprehensible half hour rants laced with profanity, and Lou didn't take over all the instruments and create a 2 hour drone to close the show, so I knew it was a fun indie rock show, edgy but not over the edge. We went to Blue Ribbon in Soho after the show, it's a fancy and expensive in a laid back way and the food is amazing.