[Photos courtesy of Vicki Boardman. Visit her website]
Seattle singer-songwriter David Bazan first made his name recording under the moniker Pedro the Lion, a project that yielded some excellent records such as 1998’s It’s Hard to Find a Friend, and gave Bazan a fuzzed-out forum to air his beliefs – most notably among them his belief in Christianity (Christian publications even referred to his records as “crossover” records, i.e., to the secular mainstream), a relatively rare thing to find in a critically-acclaimed indie songwriter. Since then, Bazan has “broken up” in a sense with Christianity, as well as his former cast of bandmates and continued performing under his own name, making what some have called the best music of his career. His first solo effort, 2009’s Curse Your Branches, laid bare his spiritual conflict with cleanly constructed songs built around his mournful voice.
That voice took center stage at this Bowery Ballroom show, sure, but what was striking about this performance was the quality of everything around that voice – catchy, strong rock riffs evident from the opening notes of “Wolves at the Door,” and a crack backing band. While it may have been a “singer-songwriter” show in a sense, this was also a rock show through and through. Unsurprisingly, Bazan played 80% of his latest, 2011’s Strange Negotiations, but he also delved into the early Pedro the Lion catalog, including “Big Trucks” and “Of Up and Coming Monarchs” from It’s Hard to Find a Friend. Those who say Bazan’s current period is his brightest could have a point – the newer material not only held its own, but might have surpassed the Pedro material.
hi and lo recorded this set with a combination of Schoeps supercardiod microphones and Schoeps omnidirectional microphones, which given the extremely respectful crowd and the outstanding acoustics of the venue, gives the perfect sound balance. Enjoy!
Stream “Virginia”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/D2106DavidBazan0211/davidbazan2011-06-22.virginia.mp3]
Stream “Wolves at the Door”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/D2106DavidBazan0211/davidbazan2011-06-22.wolves.mp3]
Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].
David Bazan
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY, US
2011-06-22
Recordist : hi and lo
Location : Left Balcony, on stand @ 8ft
Source : Schoeps MK5 (omni) > Nbox+ + Schoeps MK41/CMR > Naint PFA > E.A.A. PSP-2 >> Tascam DR-680 @ 24 bit / 96 kHz
Edit : WaveLab v5 (fades/dither/+11dB gain), Izotope SRC/Dither
Final Format : 16 bit, 44.1 kHz
Tracking : CD-Wave v1.98
Encoding : FLAC v1.2.1 ( Level 8 ) with TLH v2.6.0 (Build 168)
Tracks [Total Time 1:17:15]
01. Wolves at the Door
02. How I Remember
03. Level with Yourself
04. Bless This Mess
05. Of Up and Coming Monarchs
(Q&A #1)
06. Virginia
07. Big Trucks
08. Don’t Change
09. Eating Paper
10. Bearing Witness
11. Magazine
12. Won’t Let Go
13. People
14. Transcontinental
15. Cold Beer and Cigarettes
16. When They Really Get to Know You, They Will Run
(Q&A #2)
17. Strange Negotiations
18. (Encore Call)
19. April the 14th, Part 1 (Gillian Welch)
(Q&A #3)
20. Hard to Be
[Note: All banter and Q&A tracks have been removed at artist request]
If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT David Bazan, visit his website, and purchase Strange Negotiations from Barsuk Records [HERE]
Fabulous recording of an incredible show. It’s been on my daily mix for WEEKS! Thanks again!