[Photos by acidjack]
Wussy, like their Cincinnati brethren and fellow NYCTaper favorites Heartless Bastards, are one of those hardworking, unpretentious, straight-up-rocking bands that real music fans should always pull for. Unlike the unabshed classic rock of the Bastards, Wussy’s sound is more reminiscent of early-80s indie acts like the Bongos, with a rawer sound and accented with a light country twang. Despite being what no lesser critic than Robert Christgau called “the best band in America”, they remain an open secret among music fans. Meaning, when they throw a Sunday night early show at Mercury Lounge like this one, they’ve got a line snaking down the block before doors. And half the people in that line were wondering aloud at why the band isn’t more popular. There’s no getting past it, Wussy aren’t an act built around image or gimmicks; I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m betting their t-shirt sales aren’t what they could be (being a dude wearing a shirt that says “Wussy” may not be a winner). What Wussy is about is delivering the best show possible, having a fan-first attitude, and writing song after song with what Christgau himself called “Beatles/Stones consistency”. This band suffered and sweated to make it to this Mercury Lounge show, in a van without A/C, which on this particular day, coming from just about anywhere, was enough torture to make you question their sanity, but not their rock n’ roll bona fides. (You can hear the story at the beginning of “Funeral Dress”, streaming below). What we got was a set that spanned their records, kicking off with the title track from Funeral Dress, the album that started it all. Vocalists Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker sounded raw and right on this night, and despite a trying day, they gave the packed early evening house a hell of a time.
I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed provided by Kevin, the head engineer at Mercury. As with most of our recordings from the venue, this one is outstanding. Enjoy!
Stream “Funeral Dress”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/W1604Wussy2211/01 Funeral Dress.mp3]
Stream “Pizza King”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/W1604Wussy2211/05 Pizza King.mp3]
Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of FLAC files [HERE]
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Wussy
2012-08-11
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack
Schoeps MK41>KC5>CMC6>Aerco MP-2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (light EQ)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 44:27]
01 Funeral Dress
02 Pulverized
03 Maglite
04 Death by Misadventure
05 Pizza King
06 Happiness Bleeds
07 Motorcycle
08 [banter]
09 Grand Champion Steer
10 Airborne
11 Rigor Mortis
If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wussy, visit their website, and purchase their official releases including Strawberry directly from the Music section of their website [HERE]
Thank you verily much for this.
Thanks so much for posting this.
I saw them a couple of days earlier in Wilmington, DE, and was desperately hoping that one or more of these shows would surface.
The show I saw was outstanding, in spite of immediately following a 9 hour trip in the “mechanically challenged van” and only maybe 30-40 in the audience. I was really disappointed to see that most of the audience was fifty-something guys — where the hell are the kids? I’m glad to know that NYC provided a larger crowd.
Wussy had a much more powerful sound than I had expected besed on the limited live recordings I’ve heard. Part of that was probably the relatively recent addition of the pedal steel, but Chuck also went on some intense guitar excursions (one featuring the only wine-bottle-as-slide-solo that I have ever seen).
Buy the merch and spread the word! These guys deserve much, much more exposure.
Thanks! And glad you enjoyed it!