This Week's Nostalgia (5/30-6/5)

Last week marked the release of Thurston Moore's excellent Demolished Thoughts, so if you haven't checked out our coverage, do so now. And let's move onto other things. We took a road trip to Portland, ME to check out the band that pretty much encapsulates Fucking Nostalgic: Mission of Burma. Photos from that amazing performance will be shortly, but for now let's see what's on the schedule this week. Though this is somewhat of a slow week for nostalgia, there are still a few shows worth making the effort to get into. Here are this week's picks:

Death Cab For Cutie @ Bowery Ballroom - Wednesday, June 1st

Death Cab continue their trend of releasing albums with extremely boring artwork and titles. Codes and Keys, the band's seventh studio album will be released on Tuesday. To celebrate, the band will begin their tour at the very intimate Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday. Their next NYC appearance won't be until August 8th when they play the much bigger (and outdoor) Williamsburg Waterfront venue in Brooklyn, so you may want to try your hardest to make it into this sold out show. Check out craigslist, but please don't pay outrageous ticket prices when you can still very easily get tickets, to the Waterfront show. That would just be silly.


Stiff Little Fingers @ Club Europa - Thursday, June 2nd / Gramercy Theatre - Friday, June 3rd

Remember that scene in High Fidelity when Sara Gilbert asks for the new Green Day record and Dick the record store clerk recommends a much more authentic punk band? That would be Ireland's Stiff Little Fingers, who are currently touring and according to their website, are working on a new album. The band hits NYC twice, first at Club Europa in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and then at the much bigger Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. Tickets for both Europa and Gramercy are still on sale. Get to it.


Bad Manners @ The Studio at Webster Hall - Saturday, June 4th

Bad Manners are sort of the ska equivalent to Les Savy Fav. In many ways the former are the precursor to the latter. They both feature larger than life frontmen, whose live performances stand alone from their studio recordings. Though Bad Manners' frontman Buster Bloodvessel is no longer the some-300 lb. singer he used to be, his antics are still as wacky as always, making their live show something worth checking out. I couldn't tell you what any of the material they recorded in the past two decades sounds like, but I'm assuming it is pretty much run-of-the-mill 2-tone ska. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. One of my favorite NYC ska bands from back in the day, the Scofflaws, will be opening. Tickets are still on sale.


If there are any shows coming up this week you feel particularly nostalgic about, let us know in the comments section below. Until next week...