Normally when somebody plays finger-tapping guitar high up the neck the way that Marnie Stern does, the way that’s defined her sound, their style comes with a surfeit of leather and outdated machismo. Marnie Stern records for Pacific Northwest stalwarts Kill Rock Stars, and she’s reclaimed that technique for modern fans who’re as far away from the spandex-and-leather set as you can get. But for the boys down front in ironic headbands, leading between-song chants, there was nothing to worry about. Marnie’s got a sense of humor to go with the chops and the cred. This year’s The Chronicles of Marnia represented the apex-to-date of her career, and Marnie seems poised to take full advantage.
This Lincoln Theatre show, on the kickoff night of the Hopscotch Music Festival, gave Marnie a big-enough stage to let her rip, without compromising the intimacy of her personality or her performance. She may have begun with a hilariously off-color joke about getting older, but Marnie’s sound is as youthful and energetic as it was on her first record, In Advance of the Broken Arm, six years ago.
Marnie wasn’t even the headliner (that went to Kurt Vile), but she brought out a packed house that howled loudly for the favorites and even started a mosh pit. Marnie exudes energy and charisma of a kind that doesn’t require a larger band to do it. After delivering some of Chronicles of Marnia’s strongest numbers, plus older songs, she and the band closed out the show with a long-form rendition of “The Crippled Jazzer”, at more than twice the length of the other songs. Bonus points to bassist Nithin Kalvakota for playing along gamely to the hooker jokes throughout the night!
I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V cardiod microphones from the ideal location in the venue. While I felt the vocals were a tad high in the house mix at times, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!
Stream “Year of the Glad”
Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.
Marnie Stern
2013-09-05
Hopscotch Music Festival
Lincoln Theatre
Raleigh, NC USA
Schoeps MK4V (FOB, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, fades)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, amplify, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Please let me know any setlist corrections.
Tracks
01 The Chronicles of Marnia
02 [banter1]
03 Hell Yes
04 You Don’t Turn Down
05 [banter2]
06 Immortals
07 For Ash
08 Transformer
09 Nothing Is Easy
10 Risky Biz
11 Year of the Glad
12 The Crippled Jazzer
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Marnie Stern, visit her website, and buy her records from Kill Rock Stars.
Bass player’s name is Nithin Kalvakota
Thanks! Sorry about that!
Thanks so much for recording this set. One of my favorites of the festival.