[photos by acidjack]
The UK band Ultimate Painting made a stealth infiltration of several year-end lists for 2014, despite a general lack of hype here in the U.S. We had an opportunity to catch them during CMJ at the showcase at Rough Trade for Chicago stalwart Trouble In Mind Records, and what we saw made us hope many more stateside appearances are in the future.
Led by their eponymous track, “Ultimate Painting”, the show began with one of the band’s best songs and went on to prove the quality of their songwriting and playing throughout. It shouldn’t be a complete surprise that the band members know what they’re doing; James Hoare was in the band Veronica Falls, and Jack Cooper hails from Mazes. The band’s most common name checks are Television and the Velvet Underground, which might be true, if either of those bands can simply be shorthand for well-written, ear-bending guitar rock in the best and most timeless sense. For those who oozed over fellow British breakouts Temples, Ultimate Painting may satisfy similar cravings, minus the sense of trying quite as hard.
The band’s record didn’t reach us until October, right around the time of this show, so you could be forgiven for losing it amidst the holiday season glut. Now’s the time to earn your penance and check it out. We’ll have this one on repeat well into 2015.
Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Stream the complete show:
Ultimate Painting
2014-10-25
Trouble In Mind CMJ Showcase
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA
Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack
Soundboard (engineer: Cam) + Schoeps MK41 (DFC, PAS, at SBD)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (exciter effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks
01 Ultimate Painting
02 Rolling In the Deep End
03 Riverside
04 Three Piers
05 Central Park Blues
06 Jane
07 Winter In Your Heart
08 Ten Street
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ultimate Painting, visit their website, and buy their debut album from Trouble In Mind Records.
Central Park Blues sounds a lot like a Courtney Barnett song. And, yes, I would agree that the “Ultimate Painting” song screams Velvet Underground. Thanks for bringing this band to my attention.