Blog Archives

Blaxxx: September 11, 2015 Slim’s, Raleigh, NC (Hopscotch Music Festival)

October 21, 2015
By

Blaxxx

David Schwentker tapes and reports:

Because Lamont ‘Bim’ Thomas is not prolific enough with his main project, Obnox, last year during SXSW he decided to hit the studio with half of the OBN IIIs (Orville Neely and Tom Triplett) to bash out some Ohio-meets-Texas blues punk. Lucky for us, 12XU Records released the recordings of this garage super-group on a 12″ earlier this year, under the name Blaxxx. As an added bonus, the trio is still getting together to play shows here and there, and for a good selection of Hopscotch Music Festival fans, their headlining slot at Slim’s on the festival’s middle night was a set circled in permanent ink.

Thomas is no stranger to the festival, as Obnox played the exact same 12:00 slot at Slim’s on the festival’s Friday night last year. By midnight on Friday, Neely and Thomas were festival vets too, having headlined a different club on Thursday night with the OBN IIIs. In fact, both Obnox and OBN IIIs played day party shows on Friday this year as well, and if you ran across town like me, you were able to catch almost all of both of those sets.

Thanks to a blistering, sub-twenty minute set from Raleigh punks No Love, Blaxxx had plenty of time to set up their gear. Hopscotch Music Festival runs remarkably on time at every venue every year, but this was the first time I’d seen the fourth band of the night ready to play 15 minutes before their specified time. With their mics not going live until midnight, the band could have elected to go spend their time hanging out. Instead, they just started playing anyway, treating the fans that were already assembled to an impromptu 11 minute instrumental jam. When the mics came on at midnight, Thomas told a story of encountering Iron Maiden one day in 1988, while working at Cedar Point Amusement Park and having them sign the only piece of paper he could find, his Social Security card. From there, the band was off, playing extended versions of 3 tracks from their “For No Apparent Reason” 12″.

Hopefully we’ll see more tunes from this band in the future, but until then, this recording is a great companion to the debut vinyl release. Slim’s is a small club where not all of the instruments are even mic’d, so this recording was captured by a pair of Church Audio omni directional mics mounted in the ceiling above the crowd. While this recording may be a little less polished than much of what is offered on this site, it’s a great representation of what it was like to be standing at the lip of the tiny stage, right in front of the band.

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Blaxxx
2015-09-11
Hopscotch Music Festival
Slim’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Recorded and produced by David Schwentker

Church Audio CA-1 (omni) > Olympus LS-10 > WAV > Audacity (track, mixing) > Trader’s Little Helper (conversions) > FLAC (level 8) > foobar2000 (tagging)

Tracks:
01 [intro]
02 [pre-set jam]
03 [banter]
04 Cut Em Down
05 Let Me Hold Your Hand
06 Get A Hold Of Your Life

Support Blaxxx: Buy the For No Apparent Reason EP from 12XU

Wizard Rifle: September 11, 2015 Pour House, Raleigh, NC (Hopscotch Music Festival)

October 16, 2015
By

Wizard Rifle
[Photo by Karen A. Mann]

Though Wizard Rifle has been on my radar for a little while now, it took a trip down to Raleigh for me to finally catch this Brooklyn-by-way-of-Portland duo. Their sound is hard to pin down, but fits in somewhere between progressive metal and Sabbath-y sludge. This set from Hopscotch drew a packed crowd to the Pour House for a heavy bill that also featured Tombs and Old Man Gloom—which is to say that Wizard Rifle were in good company. Three out of four of these songs—”Megatherium,” “Tears Won’t Soften Steel,” and “Leathery Gentlemen”—are off the first Wizard Rifle record, Speak Loud Say Nothing. The fourth, “Psychodynamo,” is off of last year’s Here in the Deadlights. If you haven’t heard either record, I encourage you to do so immediately because both are killer. Seeing them live finally only proves their chops are for real and I’m anticipating catching them again soon on their—and my—home turf. Dig in!

I recorded this set with the mics mounted near the soundboard plus a feed from the Pour House’s FOH Jack. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Wizard Rifle
2015-09-11
Hopscotch Music Festival
Pour House
Raleigh, NC

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Jack) + AKG CK61 > actives > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [40:50]
01. Megatherium
02. [banter]
03. Tears Won’t Soften Steel
04. Psychodynamo
05. [banter]
06. Leathery Gentlemen

Support Wizard Rifle: Bandcamp | Facebook | Buy Here in the Deadlights via Seventh Rule.

Greg Fox + Jefre Cantu-Ledesma: September 11, 2015 WXDU/WKNC/WXYC Hopscotch Day Show

October 15, 2015
By

Greg Fox + Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

While of course we missed Three Lobed’s annual Hopscotch day show at Kings, those big shoes were filled by an epic day show team-up of three local university radio stations: Duke’s WXDU, NC State Raleigh’s WKNC, and UNC Chapel Hill’s WXYC. The show spanned two clubs, Kings upstairs and Neptunes down. And while a noon start in Neptunes’ darkness with a lineup of four noise acts could be brutal for a hungover crowd, the event wall well-attendended among the Hopscotch faithful. Today’s recording brings together Greg Fox (GDFX, Guardian Alien, Liturgy) on drums and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (founder of seminal noise label Root Strata) on electronics. Fox pummels the drums like only he can while Cantu-Ledesma works the noise blasts on equipment that I won’t even pretend to grasp. It’s a short twenty-minute performance, one you’ll no doubt have on repeat for a while.

I recorded this set with the room mics clamped to the ceiling combined with a board feed. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Greg Fox + Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
2015-09-11
WXDU/WKNC/WXYC Hopscotch Day Show
Hopscotch Music Festival
Neptunes
Raleigh, NC

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard + AKG CK61 > actives > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [19:26]
01. Improvisation

Support Greg Fox: Website

Support Jefre Cantu-Ledesma: Website

Patois Counselors: September 10, 2015 Hopscotch Music Festival – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

October 9, 2015
By

Patois Counselors

David Schwentker tapes and reports:

You would think that a band that has been around for less than a year, put out one 7″, and has only played about 20 shows in its existence, would be one of the opening bands, kicking off the night at Hopscotch Music Festival. Patois Counselors, however, is no ordinary “new” band. A sort-of supergroup from Charlotte, NC, the band has generated a lot of excitement in a short time period. The creation myth is that front man Bo White, a veteran of multiple bands (notably Yardwork), wrote a couple of new songs and threw them up on Bandcamp. He was quickly offered the chance to do a 7″ for the Negative Jazz label, so he put together a full band featuring members of other Charlotte-area bands like Brain F?, Blossoms, HRVRD, and Moenda. Before the 7″ was even released, there were a lot of people circling the Patois Counselors set on their Hopscotch schedules. The record finally came out in August and showed a group that has hit upon an urgent, catchy post-punk sound that is set apart by their burbling, dueling synths and White’s half sung/half spoken vocals. The band drew a packed crowd to the prime third slot at Slim’s on the festival’s first night, and they left no one disappointed in their 11:30 PM choice. Showing off three songs from the single, along with new material destined to come out on an upcoming 7″ for Sorry State Records, as well as a full length LP in the future, the band closed the set with an excellent cover of The Fall’s “Couldn’t Get Ahead.” Check out their debut 7″ on Negative Jazz, while it is still available, and be on the lookout for much more to come from Patois Counselors.

Slim’s is a small club where not all of the instruments are even mic’d, so this recording was captured by a pair of Church Audio omni mics mounted in the ceiling above the crowd. While this recording may be a little less polished than much of what is offered, it’s a great representation of what it was like to be squeezed into the crowd, almost falling into the band.

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Patois Counselors
2015-09-10
Hopscotch Music Festival
Slim’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Recorded and produced by David Schwentker

Church Audio CA-1 (omni) > Olympus LS-10 > WAV > Audacity (track, mixing) > Trader’s Little Helper (conversions) > FLAC (level 8) > foobar2000 (tagging)

Tracks: [27:19]
01. [intro]
02. Guidelines For Schooling
03. Free Jazz Complaint
04. Last Heat
05. Repeat Offender
06. Clean Skits
07. Target Not a Comrade
08. The Modern Station
09. Couldn’t Get Ahead [The Fall]

Support Patois Counselors: Negative Jazz | Buy their 7″ via Bandcamp

Pipe: September 12, 2015 Orange County Social Club Day Show (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

October 8, 2015
By

Pipe

Our friend and fellow taper, David Schwentker reports:

By Day 3 of Hopscotch, it can be tough to get out and moving after two full days of non-stop rockin’ and partying. Luckily, the past few years, the Orange County Social Club day party at Kings has offered a good kick start to the festival’s final day. This year might have been their finest party yet, where local, younger punks Natural Causes and Flesh Wounds set the stage for a great set from their forefathers, Pipe. Plenty of bands from the Triangle scene of the 1990’s gained more traction outside the region, but locally, Pipe was one of the most beloved bands around. After disbanding in the late ’90’s, the band was basically gone for 10 years, outside of a one-off show with the original line-up in 2004. Luckily for us, after playing the Merge XX festival in 2009, the band has remained active, playing shows in fits, writing new songs, and continuing to show everyone how fun punk rock should be. Recording for a new Pipe album began in earnest last year, and if we’re lucky, someday it will be available for purchase. Until then, this set, with a mix of 20+ year old classics and unreleased new songs, will have to suffice. Crank it up and imagine the cups and cans flying though the air, just try not to get beer on the cymbals.

This set was recorded by Eric PH with the mics clamped to a ledge behind the soundboard, combined with a feed from Kings FOH Justin. The results are outstanding.

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Pipe
2015-09-12
Orange County Social Club Day Show
Hopscotch Music Festival
Kings
Raleigh, NC

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Justin) + AKG C480B/CK63 (PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [32:03]
01. [Intro]
02. Human Gutterball
03. Biscuits
04. Bender
05. Backstroke
06. Kirk’s Floor
07. Submariner
08. Good Foul
09. Suckin’ Rocks
10. Puck Man
11. Chula
12. Little Black Lies

Support Pipe: Keep up with the band on their Facebook page, buy their music from Merge, or buy the first two LPs from Demonbeach Records.

Flesh Wounds: September 12, 2015 Orange County Social Club Day Show (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 30, 2015
By

Flesh Wounds

For the second year running, one of my favorite Hopscotch shows has been the Orange County Social Club day show at Kings. And just like last year’s lineup, local Carrboro punk band Flesh Wounds is one of the show’s main draws. With one self-titled LP, a couple tapes, and a 7″ out on Merge, the band is one of North Carolina’s best kept secrets. But Flesh Wounds’ cover has surely been blown, as they toured both as opening act and backing band on Mac McCaughan’s recent solo tour (which we caught back in May at Baby’s All Right). Any proof you need that this band’s vitality extends beyond their home state is right here on this recording. In a breathless twenty minutes in which they barely pause between songs, the band plays from the recent In the Mouth EP on Snot Releases, “Kennel Cough” from their Merge single, and a few new ones. This is one of the bands that will keep me coming back to North Carolina, but I’m hoping I don’t have to wait an entire year to see them again at Hopscotch.

I recorded this set with the mics clamped to a ledge behind the soundboard, combined with a feed from Kings FOH Justin. The results are outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Flesh Wounds
2015-09-12
Orange County Social Club Day Show
Hopscotch Music Festival
Kings
Raleigh, NC

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Justin) + AKG C480B/CK63 (PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [20:42]
01. Magazines
02. Oh That’s Rich
03. Kansas City
04. The Weight
05. March of the Czars
06. Where We’ll Be
07. Kennel Cough
08. Joy Division Killed My Boner
09. Cokie Roberts
10. Feel It

Support Flesh Wounds: Buy Flesh Wounds music via Bandcamp | Buy the “Bitter Boy” single from Merge

Holy Sons: August 27, 2015 Saint Vitus – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 24, 2015
By

Holy Sons

Holy Sons is the seventies-inspired heavy rock solo project from Om/Grails drummer Emil Amos. If you’ve ever seen either of those bands live, you’ll have surely noted Amos’ irrepressible energy behind the kit. It’s clear that in his free time that energy translates into some incredibly prolific songwriting—since 2000, he’s released eleven albums as Holy Sons. The most recent two, this year’s Fall of Man and last years’s The Fact Facer, were both released on Thrill Jockey, always an indicator of high quality. For his touring in support of Fall of Man, Amos has tapped Dommengang‘s rhythm section of Brian Markham and Adam Bulgasem. To say this trio rocks is an understatement—these guys could break concrete using only guitar, bass, and drums.

Holy Sons will be back in NYC on October 30 at City Winery as part of a tour with Jay Farrar. That show is sold out, but if you’re lucky enough to have gotten tickets, be sure to show up early for Holy Sons. The full listing of tour dates is over at Thrill Jockey.

I recorded this set from our usual spot in the venue, with a soundboard feed from Saint Vitus’ FOH. The results are outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Holy Sons
2015-08-27
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard + AKG C480B/CK63 (FOB, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [37:08]
01. Drifter’s Sympathy
02. Fall of Man
03. Mercenary World
04. The Feral Kid
05. Transparent Powers
06. No Self Respect
07. More Mind Briars
08. Ready to Die
09. The Fact Facer

Support Holy Sons: Bandcamp | Facebook | Buy Fall of Man and The Fact Facer from Thrill Jockey

Elisa Ambrogio: September 12, 2015 Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 21, 2015
By

Elisa Ambrogio

We’ve already twice caught Elisa Ambrogio this year touring last year’s solo opus, The Immoralist. Each set has been something special—in January she performed as a duo with Nathan Bowles on drums and in April it was a trio with Ben Chasny on guitar and Adam Payne on drums. This set from Raleigh’s Hopscotch Music Festival pairs Chasny on guitar with Bowles on drums and classes things up for the theater setting with Jenifer Gelineau on violin. Besides new arrangements on songs we’ve heard before, this set adds two tracks from The Immoralist that we hadn’t yet heard live, “Mary Perfectly” and “Reservoir,” making it a perfect compliment to the sets from earlier this year.

Ambrogio’s tour on behalf of The Immoralist continues this November. She’ll hit Union Pool on November 6 as part of a monthlong trek to both coasts and some places in between with Mike Donovan’s new outfit, Peacers. Don’t sit this one out: full tour dates are over at Drag City.

I recorded this set with the mics set up right next to board, combined with a feed from the Fletcher’s FOH, Rick. The sound is fantastic. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Elisa Ambrogio
2015-09-12
Hopscotch Music Festival
Fletcher Opera Theater
Raleigh, NC

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Rick) + AKG C480B/CK63 (FOB, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [39:09]
01. Mary Perfectly
02. Superstitious
03. Clarinet Queen
04. [tuning]
05. Kylie
06. Stopped Clocks
07. [tuning]
08. Far From Home
09. [banter]
10. Reservoir

Band:
Elisa Ambrogio, guitar/vocals
Ben Chasny, guitar
Nathan Bowles, drums
Jenifer Gelineau, voilin

Support Elisa Ambrogio: Buy The Immoralist from Drag City

The Gotobeds: August 30, 2015 Saint Vitus

September 15, 2015
By

The Gotobeds
[photo by Amanda Hatfield, full set here]

By all indications, The Gotobeds are having a tremendous year: riding their accolades from last year’s well-received debut album, Poor People are Revolting (on 12XU), the Pittsburgh band recently signed with Sub Pop and their second full-length is highly anticipated for sometime next year. They’ve played NYC a few times in 2014 and 15, but I’ve somehow slept on them until they showed up on an excellent triple bill with Royal Headache and Sheer Mag a couple weeks back. The Gotobeds apparently drove out from Pittsburgh just to make this show, and they’re in rare form: drinking heavily and clearly in good spirits, the band covers the entirety of the first Redd Kross EP. This is sure to be one of those shows that’s talked about for many years to come, so dig in now and soon when these guys are headlining much larger venues, you can talk as if you were there, man.

I recorded this set from our usual spot in the venue, with a soundboard feed from Saint Vitus FOH, Jeff. The results are excellent. Enjoy!

The Gotobeds will be back in NYC for CMJ, October 15–19. Keep an eye out for details.

Download: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream:

The Gotobeds
2015-08-30
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Jeff) + AKG C480B/CK63 (FOB, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [32:05]
01. [Intro]
02. “Bodies”
03. Affection
04. Rope
05. Crisus Time
06. [banter]
07. Cover Band [Redd Kross]
08. Annette’s Got the Hits [Redd Kross]
09. I Hate My School [Redd Kross]
10. Clorox Girls [Redd Kross]
11. S & M Party [Redd Kross]
12. Standing in Front of Poseur [Redd Kross]
13. [banter]
14. New York’s Alright (If You Like Sex & Phones)
15. [banter]
16. Wimpy Garcia (Brotherfucker)

Support The Gotobeds: Buy Poor People are Revolting and more via Bandcamp

Earth: August 27, 2015 Saint Vitus – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

August 30, 2015
By

Earth
[photos from Levitation 2015 by PSquared Photography]

Just shy of a year since we last saw Earth at Saint Vitus, the band returned to the venue last week for the second of two NYC shows. Marc Ribot reportedly joined the band for “Old Black” at Le Poisson Rouge the previous night and though we didn’t get any special guests at Vitus, Earth did not disappoint. Still touring for Primitive and Deadly, this year’s setlist is quite similar to last year’s, adding only “From a Zodiacal Light” to the repertoire (though some stops on the tour seem to also be getting “High Command” from 1996’s Pentastar). This is one of those play-it-loud-late-at-night kinds of things, so be extra nice to your neighbors otherwise because you’re going to want to crank this one.

I recorded this set from our usual spot in the venue, with a soundboard feed from Earth’s FOH. The results are outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Earth
2015-08-27
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard + AKG C480B/CK63 (FOB, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (fades, downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [01:19:45]
01. There is a Serpent Coming
02. The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
03. Badger’s Bane
04. Even Hell Has Its Heroes
05. From the Zodiacal Light
06. Ouroboros is Broken
07. Torn by the Fox of the Crescent Moon
08. Old Black

Support Earth: Website | Facebook | Buy records and merch from Southern Lord

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