Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields screenings!

Friday, November 5, and Saturday November 6, 2010:

Location:
Real Art Ways
56 Arbor Street
Hartford, CT 06106

Film starts at 9:00 PM (Also screening on Friday 11-12 and Saturday 11-13)

Admission:
Real Art Ways Members: $5
Seniors & Students Members: $4.50
Non-members: Regular Admission: $9.00
Seniors (62+): $6.25
Full-time Students with ID: $6.25


8:30 PM PRE-film discussion before the Friday screening with Eric Danton, Hartford Courant rock critic and Meghan Maguire Dahn of Real Art Ways.

Ten years in the making, Strange Powers explores Merritt’s songwriting and recording process, and focuses on his relationships with his bandmates and longtime manager Claudia Gonson, revealing an artist who has produced one of the most engaging and confounding bodies of work in the contemporary American songbook.

About Merritt: With his unique gift for memorable melodies, lovelorn lyrics and wry musical stylings that blend classic Tin Pan Alley with modern sounds, Stephin Merritt has distinguished himself as one of contemporary pop’s most beloved and influential artists. Both a prolific recording artist and composer of theater and film scores, he performs most famously as the Magnetic Fields, whose 1999 three-disc opus 69 Love Songs is widely considered a masterpiece of traditional songcraft and irresistible synthpop.

Quiet Life Jim's Wedding Band video

photo: "Jenn D."

Check out this excellent new vid from Quiet Life:



Safety Meeting Records band Quiet Life is a candle with ecstatic wax and wick, modern burn and recycled light. Their blend of classic country/folk and indie/rock is one of the most genuine combinations being fused across modern America. Hailing from the whaling city of New London, Connecticut, this four-member rock outfit has all the sincerity of their great folk predecessors, influenced by the true honesty of American folk music and the raw expression of rock and roll's forefathers. Four boys with the enthusiasm of a young Bruce Springsteen and an undying determination to be heard, anxious to stay true to the roots of rock and roll, while adding a flavor of the new.

"Pleasant chord progressions, soft harmonies, and enough of a Southern wail to double check the band's Connecticut address."
- Chattanooga Times Free Press

The Field Recordings Elastic Nostalgia Appetizer

The Field Recordings have their debut full length The Elastic Nostalgia basting in the oven at the moment. As an appetizer, you can stream two of the tracks here, We Will Become Strangers Faster Now and The Awkward Circuit Boards. The thing about this band, besides being good, is that they love capitalization, running through parks in funeral dress while waving flags of surrender, and the Ouroboros symbol. So basically think of blasting fIREHOSE in your backyard while watching your dog chasing its own tail. Don't have a dog? To hell with you then.

Oh J, Old Gold, Peterpann, Werewolf! Werewolf? Werewolf, DJ Chris Bennetson

Saturday, November 6, 2010, The Arc Agency presents

Location:
Paris In Plantsville
15 West Main Street
Plantsville, CT

8:00pm - 18+ / 21+ to drink - $8.00

Facebook event page

This is a showcase of local electronic musicians with a DJ opening up with some crazy spinning and scratching. And all beneath the glow of blacklights. Drunkards take note, there are several bars in the area, and some booze will be provided, but feel free to bring your own!

Bands:
Oh J
Old Gold
Peterpann
Werewolf! Werewolf? Werewolf.

DJ Chris Bennetson

Parking is available in the parking lot next to the venue, Wachovia's lot across the street, and there is limited street parking.

Bettie Serveert, Fatal Film, Atrina

Thursday, November 4, 2010, (Rescheduled from 9/26 all tickets will be honored) Manic Productions presents

Location:
Daniel Street
21 Daniel Street
Milford, CT

8:00pm - 21+ - $12

Buy tickets now or pick them up at Redscroll Records or DETRITUS

This show will have live visuals from Ancient Domain!


Bettie Serveert is an indie-rock band from The Netherlands. Their name, which translates to “Bettie serves,” is taken from a series of tennis instructional books by Dutch tennis player Betty Stove, who lost the Wimbledon Ladies singles final in 1977. Comprising vocalist Carol Van Dijk (vocals), Peter Visser (guitar), Herman Bunskoeke (bass) and Berend Dubbe (drums) they originally formed in 1986 as a side-project of De Artsen. After De Artsen split up in 1990, Bettie Serveert became a full-time project. Bettie Serveert released their debut album “Palomine” in 1992, which, fifteen years after its release, is still a modern indie rock classic, wonderfully blending together influences of Velvet Underground and Neil Young with melancholic lyrics, catchy tunes and a lo-fi-feel. Second Motion Records





Fatal Film
Fatal Film is a four piece indie rock/post-punk band from New London, CT. Put the power of Hüsker Dü behind the gritty pop of Guided by Voices and you'll end up with something close to their sound.



Atrina makes music that is equal parts minimalist melodicism, counterpunctal cacophony, and decibel-pushing dissonance. Angular, but accessible. Complex, yet catchy. Eclectic, and electrifying, Atrina sounds like they mean it—with an " earnestness matched by technical expertise and solid songwriting, deep, heavy riffing, a brooding and moody sensibility. Singer Kelly L’Heureux sounds impassioned and entirely straightforward, her voice creating a compelling push-and-pull between vocals and band." Effortlessly blending sharp melodies, dynamic guitar rhythms and honest intensity, Atrina's sound harkens back to some of indie rock's greatest—Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, The Breeders, Blonde Redhead, Slint, Radiohead, Helium—while looking forward to create a sound that’s all their own, as evidenced on their 2 self-released EPs, including 2008's {beautiful evidence}.

Cymbals Eat Guitars, Great Caesar, Art Decade

Saturday, November 6, 2010:

Location:
The Space
295 Treadwell Street
Hamden CT


7:00PM - All Ages - $5.00 / Free with TWO Canned Goods

Buy tickets now

Quinnipiac University's student-run radio station, WQAQ, is holding its annual Music For Meals benefit concert. Proceeds from the concert will be brought to the Hamden Food Bank to provide food for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Hamden Food Bank is a part of the Community Services Department at the M.L. Keefe Center, an organization that works diligently to better the Hamden community. Past headliners have included bands such as Patent Pending, Nightmare of You, and Bottle Up and Go.

Cymbals Eat Guitars are an indie rock band from Staten Island, New York, who formed in 2005. They consist of Joseph Ferocious (vocals, guitar), Matthew Whipple (bass, vocals), Brian Hamilton (keyboards, vocals) and Matthew Miller (drums). They have released one album, “Why There Are Mountains”, which has received glowing reviews since its January 2009 release.



Great Caesar: "...a dazzling, energetic tour-de-force of virtuosic horns, catchy ska-beats, and lead singer John-Michael's shredding baritone." -yalemusicscene.org



Art Decade: Self-described as "If David Bowie fell through a cloud of smoke exhaled by Thom Yorke as he played a game of tennis with Beethoven."

Son Lux with special guest Faux Fix

Saturday, November 6, 2010, ECA in collaboration Anticon Records and Cut Narrative presents:

Location:
Educational Center for the Arts
55 Audubon St
New Haven, CT

7:00pm - All Ages

Buy tickets now ($13.00 Advance General Admission)
Night of show: $16.00 ($13.00 with ECA student ID)

Son Lux (a.k.a Ryan Lott) brings a one-night-only performance collaboration between Son Lux and Lottdance, an evolving group of New York dancers performing in tandem with Lott on vocals, live electronics, and grand piano, accompanied by a multimedia ensemble including drummer, strings, and live projected visuals.

Ethereal art-pop provided by openers Faux Fix.