[photos by acidjack]
Eric PH reports
What do the drummers of veteran indie rock acts do when that band breaks up? They start new bands of course. But there’s a steep challenge to success for drummers, who are usually buried behind large kits, heard more often than seen. Since breaking up in 2002, Unwound has splintered into Survival Knife (featuring guitarist-vocalist Justin Trosper and original Unwound drummer Brandt Sandeno) and Hungry Ghost, the guitar and drums duo of Andrew Price, formerly of Irving Klaw Trio, and ex-Unwound drummer, Sara Lund. While Survival Knife soldiers on with a sound that bears forward Unwound’s post-hardcore, Hungry Ghost breaks that mold and tends more towards blues-rock territory. You wouldn’t be too far off in comparing Hungry Ghost to Quasi—another duo that features a veteran indie rock drummer, Janet Weiss. (And indeed, the other half of Quasi, Sam Coomes, produced Hungry Ghost’s first album.) Still, Sara Lund’s unmistakable drumming combined with great songwriting ensures that Unwound devotees will find a lot to love about Hungry Ghost.
Price and Lund have been playing together as Hungry Ghost since at least 2009, so we were psyched to finally catch them in Brooklyn at the last stop on their tour with Survival Knife and Pink Avalanche. For this set, the band performs mostly new material, drawing on only a few songs from their 2012 self-titled, self-released debut record. Price and Lund share vocal duties throughout and you can’t help but note the equality of the collaboration, the guitar and drums in conversation with each other and the vocal harmonies as the meeting ground between the two performers. After a particularly rollicking performance of “Get Up,” Lund comments that audience air-drummers are the highest form of praise a drummer can receive. Their entire set from Brooklyn Night Bazaar is proof that praise is well-deserved.
As with Acidjack’s recording of Survival Knife from the same night, I recorded this with the mics inside the soundboard cage and a feed of the soundboard, plus onstage mics, from the house engineer Kenny. Despite the non-traditional venue, the sound is excellent. Air-drum away!
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Hungry Ghost
2014-11-22
Brooklyn Night Bazaar
Brooklyn, NY
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH
Audio Technica 3031 + Soundboard (engineer: Kenny) > 2x24bit/48kHz WAV > Audacity 2.0.5 (set fades, mixdown, EQ, tracking, downsample, tagging) > FLAC (level 8)
1. Brilliant One
2. Wicked Betsy
3. Get Up
4. Showed Up
5. Throw Out
6. River
7. Pretty Girls Make Intifada
8. Shame Thing [medley of Shame and Same Thing]
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Hungry Ghost, visit their website, and buy their records here.
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