Bradley’s Almanac

Take Me Down To (Aberdeen) City

Posted on July 22, 2005 at 12:49 pm | No Comments

I’ve been seeing the band name Aberdeen City on Boston-area club schedules for a couple years now, and back when it was simply ‘Aberdeen’ I took notice, as they shared that original moniker with another band I knew and loved. I appreciated when they added the ‘City’, no longer unintentionally tricking me into thinking the LA-based others were coming to town, and figured I’d eventually run across them on a lineup I was checking out. It was only a matter of time before I’d finally discover what they were all about.

We never did cross paths, not until a couple weeks ago when I received a promo of their upcoming disc ‘The Freezing Atlantic‘, due out this fall. It sat on my desk for a few days, and lucky for me I decided to grab it as I hit the road for a long drive up to Vermont. Because, well… Wow. With a capital ‘W’.

I’m always glad, but often disappointed, to hear recordings from an unfamiliar local band. It’s rare that one grabs me right out of the gate, that blows me away from the very first listen. But Aberdeen City, cranked inside my car on 93 North, did just that. Hell, the album kept doing so as I hit I-89, when I restarted it for the third time in a row. I’ve played the thing many more times in the days since, it hasn’t even left the car cd player, and I’m nowhere near done with it. I like a lot of local bands, but I love just a select few. Aberdeen City is now one of those, and I haven’t even seen them on stage.

I’ll take care of that tomorrow night, and just a couple blocks from my place, as they play Great Scott in Allston with The Cloud Room and Benzos. If you can’t make it there on such short notice, they’ll be back next month, playing the Middle East Up on Thursday, August 25th. Oh, and for NYC readers, they’ll be at the Mercury Lounge in just a couple days, this Monday, July 25th.

Y’know, I’m sometimes at a loss when describing bands, even worse at comparing them to what has come before, preferring to let songs speak for themselves. I’m not going to go off about how much I like their singer’s voice, how solid the drumming is, how good the production is, how great the melodic-then-skronky guitar lines sound… as usual, I’ll just link some songs in the chance you feel the same.

So here’s the tracklisting from ‘The Freezing Atlantic‘, due out in October on Dovecote Records, along with links to a couple mp3s they’ve already made available…

Aberdeen City
‘The Freezing Atlantic’
due out October 2005

1. Another Seven Years
2. Pretty Pet
3. God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me
4. Sixty Lives
5. The Arrival
6. In Combat
7. Stay Still
8. Brighton
9. Best Chances Are Gone
10. Mercy

The label was also kind enough to let me pick another to share, so here’s an mp3 of ‘Sixty Lives‘, which you can also stream at the Dovecote site. A.C.’s MySpace page has streams as well.

If any of that stuff moves you like it did me, grab their recent ‘Sixty Lives‘ EP here. It’s just $5, and includes two album tracks along with new song ‘Incredible Story‘. The first five Boston-area people to order it (as of a couple days ago) get two tickets to their Great Scott show tomorrow, so if you were thinking of going, there’s some added motivation. Two tickets? $16. One EP? $5. More beer money is always a good thing, so in the chance the tix aren’t all gone, order up.

‘God is gonna get sick of me, and the accident that takes the beat from my heart will look like it was my fault’ – Aberdeen City

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