The immediate first impression of Weak Signal is “this dude’s guitar tone is going to tear my face off.” You could stop at that and have a decent idea of what the band is about but thanks to our own EricPH Weak Signal is now on the internet archive giving us several excellent live options to examine. Close consideration of these recordings reveal more than a monstrous guitar tone; beautiful and expressive song writing, excellent harmonies and one of the most engaging rhythm sections operating today.
The rhythm section, Tran on drums and Sasha on bass, present the aural equivalent of a train coming down the tracks a bit too fast. It feels out of control, like it could crash at any time but then pulls safely to its destination right on schedule. It’s that possibility of collapse and the thrill of evading it that makes this band so exciting to listen to. In many ways it reminds me of the great early Kinks rhythm section of Mick Avory and Peter Quaife.
This was the first show with the full band together in six months and features songs from all their records as well as a live debut of a new tune called “Don’t Want No Problems.” Weak Signal has several upcoming dates including two nights opening for Pavement! Go see them, you won’t regret it.
I recorded this from the soundboard with my MBHO mics and a mono board feed from the FOH engineer Kyle. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!
Much has changed in Kingston since the start of Covid. Many of the long-standing hubs of the community (RIP BSP, Boitson’s, Tony’s) sit empty while revitalization and housing prices march onward. Tubby’s, thankfully, has not only weathered the storm, but seems to be steadily gaining steam.
At its core Tubby’s is a local hang. On any given evening it may be the gathering spot for local members of the LGBTQ+ community, Simpsons fans, Deadheads, Goths or just folks looking for a cold beer after work. This beautiful Spring evening was a double bill with Mountain Movers and Wet Tuna, a night for the heads.
Mountain Movers have appeared on this website several times over the years, and I am happy to add another recording to the list. The New Haven CT quartet pulled from their entire catalog including several tracks from their excellent 2021 release “World What World”. The set ended with a particularly transportive 10-minute workout of “Unknown Hours” exploring all the corners of noise, psychedelia, atmosphere, and Rock they are known for.
I recorded this set from my normal spot atop the riser next to the soundboard with my MBHO mics and a mono board feed from Tubby’s FOH engineer Brian. I am quite happy with the results!
As if further proof were needed, this first-time collaboration between Mary Lattimore and Bill Nace proves that she is easily the most versatile and dynamic harpist on the planet. As for Nace — perhaps best-known of late for his work in Body/Head but with a decades-long list of experimental guitar solo projects and collaborations under his belt — anyone who has seen him perform knows that you can never be sure what you’ll hear, but you can be assured it will be done with intention and skill.
This set, during the outdoor portion of the final day of the Three Lobed Recordings 21st anniversary festival, might have been the most special I’ve seen from either artist. Nace brought a rare (in the west) instrument, the taishogoto, to the table for the collaboration, and the combination with Lattimore’s harp proved extraordinary — something so delicate, rare and beautiful that the pairing of the two musicians almost felt obvious instead of new. Early word on the street is that the musicians agree: we may well see something committed to release at some point in the future.
Don’t take my word for it. Press play on the stream below, make sure your set and setting are smooth, and drift in.
I recorded this set with Wayne’s excellent house mix and Schoeps mics in the audience. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!
Steve Gunn has been a key presence in the Three Lobed universe since the 2006 release of the Heavy Elements CD. His dynamic growth as an artist in the years since — including his current Matador-backed full band work — has been a thrill to watch, to the point that it’s hard to pick favorites among his work. That said, it’s hard not to consider his duo work with John Truscinski among the very best. As this set demonstrates, improvisation between these two is almost an unspoken language at this point. Fans of the band’s most recent LP, Soundkeeper, which includes one of my Union Pool recordings, can attest that the band’s live improvisations can be some of their best work. Tonight’s first song was one such moment — an untitled new number that already feels like a forthcoming GTD classic. As to the rest of the set, it consisted of exactly those — “Banh Mi Ringtones” and “Ocean Parkway,” both from Three Lobed’s second GTD LP, Ocean Parkway. These renditions were as inspired and electric as the entire evening, perhaps never more so that the climactic interplay around the eight-minute mark of “Banh Mi.” This whole night — the whole festival — celebrated all that’s right with independent music. John and Steve are certainly a big part of that.
I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V mics mounted on the center of the balcony, with a soundboard feed from Christopher Scully-Thurston’s mix. It sounds like it.
A sunny spring afternoon in North Carolina, with a light breeze in the air, audience members in uncramped splay on the ground, Wet Tuna onstage as a new lineup, here to celebrate the 21st anniversary of a label whose longevity and success both might once have felt improbable, but now seem inevitable. All of this smack in the middle of the lush arboreal campus of an elite American university, one equally improbable as the location of a weird daytime concert and birthplace of said label. Like the first song says, so much vibe in the world. So much right here.
Held on the outdoor grounds of the Karsh Alumni Center at Duke University, Wet Tuna’s set kicked off the third and final day of Three Lobed Recordings‘ 21st anniversary celebration, one of many things postponed by the pandemic. Tuna’s third full-length, Warping All By Yourself, was released recently by Three Lobed, and is the band’s first that isn’t a collab between Matt “MV” Valentine and Pat “PG Six” Gubler. So, for its expanded embrace of funk, we have only Valentine himself to thank — and today’s live lineup including MV&EE collaborator and partner Erika “EE” Elder and Jim Bliss for bringing that vibe to the live audience this afternoon.
This set began in the mellow embrace of “So Much Vibe In the World” and ended with the straight up boogie of “Sweet Chump Change,” which might be the most “approachable” Tuna jam yet. In between, don’t sleep on the band’s take on Peter Laughner’s “Baudelaire,” the new album’s centerpiece, “Raw Food” (this being closer to version 1 of the 2 versions offered) and “Cowpath 40” which sets the stage for the segue into “Sweet Chump Change.” This day couldn’t have opened more smoothly or in any way that felt more right. It was good to be here, in this welcoming space, back in the zone.
I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from longtime area sound engineer Wayne, together with Schoeps MK4V mics. MV’s outbound mix to the board did most of the work here; like the day itself, it’s right on.
Download the complete show in FLAC, Apple Lossless and MP3 [HERE]
Tracks [Total Time 56:00] 01 [Rayborn intro] 02 So Much Vibe in the World 03 Baudelaire [Peter Laughner] 04 Raw Food (version 1) 05 Cowpath 40> 06 Sweet Chump Change
Personnel: Matt Valentine – guitar/vox Erika Elder – keys, vox Jim Bliss – bass/synth
When the Phish New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden was postponed, it was quite a large disappointment and a great inconvenience for tens of thousands of fans. The rescheduled dates corresponding to “4/20” was cute, sure, but the real gift was the ability to experience this special holiday week in April. For us, that meant we’d be attending and recording the first two nights, and frankly I couldn’t have been happier.
The Wednesday night show was recorded and we’ll post it later this week, but honesty this Thursday night show was so far superior that it earned the right to jump the line. This was, not hyperbolically speaking, a top five Phish experience for me personally.
The night began with a “Suzy” dedicated to the song’s main character who attended her first Phish show on this night. And what a version — energetic and fun, it propelled this first set to a nice momentum, with “Wolfman’s” and “Ghost” as the highlights. But the very best was yet to come.
Any show that packs Chalkdust, Tweezer, 2001, Maze, Hood, and Zero into a single set is naturally going to be a winner, but it was more than that. This was just top notch playing, crisp and inspired. The band locked into a glorious melodic jam that lasted for the final nine minutes of Tweezer and was such a peak that I hoped they’d never transition to another track. The Phish scholars can correct me, but I believe that this was just a spontaneous first-time creation by the band on the fly and represented for me the beautiful possibilities of any Phish performance. At this point, less than halfway through the set, the balance of the night was just gravy. And the band kept piling it on, as one highlight followed the next. I was certain that Hood was the set closer and would have been more than satisfied, but Phish was not letting up on this night and crashed into a crazy “Character Zero” that celebrated the magic of this special evening.
I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards from inside of the Taper’s Section, elevated behind the soundboard. The mix was dialed in for this show, and I’m really pleased with this recording. Enjoy!
Setlist: Set 1 [Total Time 1:11:28] 01 Suzy Greenberg 02 46 Days 03 Plasma 04 The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday 05 Avenu Malkenu 06 The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday 07 Wolfman’s Brother 08 Esther 09 Ghost
Set 2 [Total Time 1:40:44] 10 Chalk Dust Torture 11 Tweezer 12 Also Sprach Zarathustra 13 Maze 14 About to Run 15 The Mango Song 16 Harry Hood 17 Character Zero 18 Tweezer Jam 19 Character Zero Reprise 20 [encore break] 21 A Life Beyond The Dream 22 Tweezer Reprise
SAVAK released their last LP, Rotting Teeth in the Horse’s Mouth, on April 10, 2020. To say that was a weird time would be an understatement. I vividly recall exploring my former neighborhoods of Ditmas Park and Midwood, frequently soundtracked by that new LP in those early days.
Now it’s two years later and… here we are. SAVAK’s latest record, Human Error / Human Delight arrives on Friday and I even got to see them play live for the first time in probably three years. Too long! But like those early days, SAVAK’s set from last Friday is a much needed salve. There’s nothing quite like live music and SAVAK’s energy is infectious as ever. This was my first chance to hear some of the new songs, like the standout album-opener “No Blues No Jazz,” “Dealers,” “Cold Ocean,” and a riotous, closing “Set Apart.” SAVAK steer full-throttle towards delight!
SAVAK have a few upcoming dates around NYC, including one at The P.I.T. on May 12, plus opening slots for Jawbox (!) in July and June of 44 (!!) in October, both at Le Poisson Rouge.
I recorded this set with the mics clamped to the soundboard booth, combined with a board feed from FOH Will. I mixed those down and then Sohrab provided some additional mastering. The results are excellent. Enjoy!
In his brief 29 years, Billy Strings has lived a life worthy of a full-length feature film. The unhinged and dangerous nature of his childhood has been well-documented in the media, and in his songs (“Turmoil & Tinfoil”), which gives rise to the meme of his salvation through music. Whether his musical gifts were inherited, earned, or through random fortune, what is abundantly clear at this point is that Billy Strings is one of the most profoundly talented performers alive today.
I attended this Strings show (my first) at the Capitol Theatre having watched quite a few of his performances online, and fully expected that the show would be an enjoyable run through some authentic bluegrass and choice rock covers performed by a crack band. What I didn’t expect was to be so thoroughly enthralled with the tremendous energy coming from the stage and mirrored back by the crowd. This was a joyous event from the very start and the positivity never ebbed. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show quite like this one.
Musically, the quartet are all world-class masters of their instruments. Strings is of course the focus, but he never failed to let his band shine. Even in those moments when Billy dove into the pedal board and went full-on rock star, the intricate interplay between the quartet was palpable. And the ability to improvise was focused and never drifted without purpose — witness the fifteen-minute run through “Dust in a Baggie” which ebbs and flows and hits on a variety of moods, but never once loses the throughline.
I tweeted earlier this week a hot take about Jerry Garcia’s influence on the history of bluegrass music, and it was not a coincidence that Billy Strings mu-tron effect jam during “Heartbeat of America” got me thinking. The Grateful Dead influence during this show was obvious. The covers of “Me and My Uncle”, “Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie” and “Rosa Lee McFall” were all homages to their original authors, filtered through a Dead-centric musicology. Yes, it is fantastic that perhaps more people will discover the legendary Elizabeth Cotton because of Billy Strings, but the hovering specter of Jerry Garcia was omnipresent, nevermind the “ESP Shows” connection explicitly advertised for this run of shows.
The second set’s main improvisational vehicle was the Robert Hunter penned “Thunder” that stretched over twenty minutes, but again never strayed off script. Throughout the night though, the bluegrass homages were many — whether it be the Dillards, Bill Monroe, Tony Rice, or the Stanley Brothers, Billy Strings clearly knows from whence his inspired talents flow, and he was entirely willing to acknowledge his idols. But ultimately, a Strings concert is not a cover show. This night featured a superb talent at the top of his game and creating a career-defining bit of perfection to a tuned-in and dedicated fan base. It doesn’t get any better than this.
I recorded this set with the Neumann hypercards from the tapers’ section adjacent to the soundboard. Like any sold-out general admission show, there is crowd chatter, but these Strings fans were attentive and enjoying the music so that the crowd din is not distracting. Overall, I’m extremely pleased with this recording and hope you are too. Enjoy!
Download the Complete Show in MP3 or FLAC at Archive.org [HERE]
Stream the Complete Show from the Archive:
Billy Strings 2022-02-04 Capitol Theatre Port Chester NY
Digital Master Recording Tapers Section at Soundboard
Setlist: Set 1 [Total Time 1:16:40] 01 Know It All 02 How Mountain Girls Can Love [Stanley Brothers] 03 Tipper [Tony Rice] 04 Run Down [Jeff Austin] 05 There Is a Time [Dillards] 06 Dust in a Baggie 07 Dealing Despair 08 Living Like an Animal 09 Me and My Uncle 10 Heartbeat of America 11 John Deere Tractor [Larry Sparks] 12 On the Line
Set 2 [Total Time 1:26:04] 13 ESP Experiment 14 Free Born Man [Keith Allison] 15 Thunder 16 My Love Comes Rolling Down [Watson Family] 17 Ernest T Grass* [Dillards] 18 Air Mail Special 19 Show Me the Door 20 Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie [Elizabeth Cotton] 21 Rosa Lee McFall [Charlie Monroe] 22 Turmoil and Tinfoil 23 [encore break] 24 Roll On Buddy Roll On [Bill Monroe]
Way back in September, which is about a decade ago according to my experience of time, David Grubbs and Ryley Walker got together to release a fantastic collaborative album, A Tap on the Shoulder, via Ryley’s Husky Pants label. The album brings the two former Chicagoans together for the first time for seven loose, explorative guitar tracks with Grubbs also contributing some piano.
Though the pair won’t be touring behind the record (for now, anyway), they did get together last month for a one-off record release show at Public Records in Brooklyn. For fifty minutes they alternate between ruminative wanderings and dizzying freakouts, neither soloing or overwhelming the other. It sounds like they’re listening to each other just as much as they’re playing their own guitars. You don’t see two performers of this caliber get together very often, and I’m glad we were there to capture it.
In what is perhaps the most NYCTaper-friendly tour announcement ever, last week it was revealed that Ryley Walker and Tonstartssbandht will co-headline a six-date Northeast tour in March that will arrive in New York at Bowery Ballroom on St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve already purchased the Bowery tickets, but we’ve had some serious discussions about doing multiple dates on this tour, with the mostly likely being the Portland Maine and Providence Rhode Island dates on the weekend after the Thursday night in New York. We shall see, but suffice to say its an exciting tour that should not be missed by us, or by anyone serious about good music.
But the Bowery will not be the first post-pandemic show in New York for our old friends Andy and Edwin White. In late October, they toured for Petunia, the band’s first proper album in three years and played a sold-out show at our own Market Hotel. I can not properly express how thoroughly renewing it was for us to see one of our favorite bands and favorite people play live again. Nevermind that the crowd also included a bunch of old friends, this night was just magic from start to finish. The band’s set concentrated primarily on the new album material, and flowed as their sets always do, in remarkable continuity. The energy was peak throughout and hit a crescendo during the set-closing “Sorcerer“, ending a wonderful night in truly excellent fashion. We expect more of these peaks on the tour in March.
I recorded this set with the installed Neumann hypercards blended with an excellent board feed mixed by Osaro. We are very pleased with the sound quality of this capture. Enjoy!
Setlist: [Total Time 1:01:57] 01 Falloff 02 Opening 03 What Has Happened 04 Hey Bad > 05 Breathe – Susie – Last Train Home 06 All of My Children 07 Magic Pig 08 Smilehenge 09 Sorcerer
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