[Headroom at Baby’s All Right, photo by Michael Baca]
Here’s a tape courtesy of our buddy anazgnos, who hit up both nights of the L.A. California Flashback shows, put on by Black Editions to promote the latest volume of Tokyo Flashback. Headroom opened up night two with a burst of guitar pyrotechnics courtesy of Kryssi Battalene. In this context you can feel the connection between her distortion-drenched sound and the early wave of heavy Japanese psych like High Rise and Acid Mothers Temple.
Headroom have got a new EP out, New Heaven, in addition to a repressing (finally!) of Head in the Clouds, which disappeared rather quickly in its original release. Do pick up both those treasures, and enjoy some live Headroom too while you’re at it!
A few weeks ago, the internet buzzed with discussion of “indie jam,” the term coined by Steven Hyden at Uproxx and referring, as many noted in response, to a constellation of bands advanced largely by Jeff Conklin on The Avant Ghetto. (We at NYCTaper are acknowledged by Hyden too, I’m obliged to mention.) In the article, musicians like Chris Forsyth (along with Garcia Peoples, Sunwatchers, Ryley Walker, William Tyler, and many others) are credited with “an inclination to meld all kinds of music — including indie, post-rock, folk, country, jazz fusion, and, yes, punk — and take it in adventurous and often improvised directions.”
“Indie jam”—or whatever you want to call it—surely wasn’t born in an out-of-the-way amphitheater in Raleigh, NC. But in September 2013, when we were first introduced to Forsyth’s far-out jams that were clearly referencing the Grateful Dead and Television, something was afoot. Is it time for us shrug off the legacy of Kurt Cobain’s distaste for the Dead and acknowledge the ongoing intersections of indie rock and jambands? Across the aisle, jamband fans are approaching the same questions, as the podcast Beyond the Pond seeks to introduce Phish fans to music outside the jamband ecosystem.
In the meantime, while the heads have been catching up to him, Chris Forsyth has released a series of increasingly great albums. The latest is All Time Present, in which Forsyth’s singular guitar playing weaves effortlessly between varied genres, from psych rock to, yes, even dance.
On Monday night we caught Forsyth’s Brooklyn record release show, appropriately opening for Träd, Gräs och Stenar. Joined by the latest edition of the Solar Motel Band, Peter Kerlin on bass and Ryan Jewell on drums, the trio play “Tomorrow Might as Well Be Today” and “Mystic Mountain” before being joined by Pat Gubler (P.G. Six/Wet Tuna) on keys for “Dream Song” and an absolutely epic performance of “Dreaming in the Non-Dream.” Returning the favor from last month’s Garcia Peoples record release show, the Solar Moteliers are joined by Tom Malach, Danny Arakaki, and Cesar Arakaki to complete the circle with “Techno Top.”
Chris Forsyth, Garcia Peoples, Dire Wolves, and Weak Signal play Market Hotel on July 27. You can find out what magic is in store from this insanely great lineup by grabbing a ticket.
This year marks ten years since Animal Collective released Merriweather Post Pavilion, and coincidentally ten years since the recordings of their landmark gigs at The Bowery Ballroom and Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom crashed the NYCTaper servers. Since then we’ve seen Animal Collective countless times and have covered shows by each member individually, none more than Avey Tare.
Back in 2017, Avey returned to The Bowery Ballroom to play songs off Eucalyptus and preview his most current album, Cows on Hourglass Pond. Never content to linger in the same place too long, last week’s show at Market Hotel was heavy on the Cows songs, with one song each from Eucalyptus and Down There. The sole unreleased song from this set, “Enjoy the Change,” was also played back at Bowery but surprisingly didn’t end up Cows.
I recorded this set with Market Hotel’s installed Audio Technica 4051’s, combined with a board feed courtesy of the venue and engineer, Eric. The sound is outstanding. Enjoy!
Tracks [1:24:30]
01. Remember Mayan
02. What’s the Goodside?
03. HORS_
04. Eyes on Eyes
05. Taken Boy
06. K.C. Yours
07. Enjoy the Change
08. When You Left Me
09. Heads Hammock
10. Nostalgia in Lemonade
11. Saturdays (Again)
The long-running collaboration of drummer Chris Corsano and guitarist Bill Orcutt has been characteristically slippery, as their series of ridiculously limited LPs, 7″s, and tapes appear and disappear from merch tables faster than the duo can churn out another frenzied jam. Their latest collision, and first to take place in the studio, is called Brace Up! The cover depicts a stage diver in mid-flight, heading straight for an atomic bomb’s mushroom cloud—which is pretty much the best description anyone has come up with for what these two do. Back in January, Corsano and Orcutt once again joined forces at Union Pool, each playing solo sets before recreating that same intensity of the album with a duo set.
I recorded this set from our usual location at Union Pool at the soundboard, combined with a feed from FOH Doug Graham. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!
Take a look around at a Grateful Shred show and you notice something…different. Folks in the crowd don’t look like they saw the Grateful Dead in the 70s, the 80s, or hell even in the 90s. No, Grateful Shred aren’t your dad’s Dead tribute band and here (mostly) everyone’s under forty. Maybe that’s just Brooklyn, but you can tell the Shred are aiming for something different as much by their approach to the catalog as by their openers and guests: local jammers Garcia Peoples opened this most recent pair of shows while San Francisco’s Howlin’ Rain played lastyear. The newly-local Ryley Walker (who seems to be showing up everywhere this month) joins in during “Space” and sticks around to solo on “Touch of Grey.” Touchhead or no, the result is delightful. That jam concludes a long second-set suite that includes “Estimated Prophet” into “Truckin” into “The Other One,” capping off over forty uninterrupted minutes of bliss and probably the highest high I’ve seen Grateful Shred hit yet. These guys just keep getting better.
I recorded this set with the MBHO hypercardioids from my usual spot at Brooklyn Bowl, resulting in a pretty good audience tape. There’s an expertly made board tape also over at the LMA, if that’s your thing.
Tracks [2:15:25]
01. Jack Straw
02. Mama Tried >
03. Mexicali Blues
04. They Love Each Other
05. Loose Lucy
06. Feel Like a Stranger
07. Shakedown Street
08. Cold Rain and Snow
09. Cumberland Blues
10. Estimated Prophet >
11. Truckin’ >
12. The Other One >
13. Space >
14. Touch of Grey
15. Man Smart Woman Smarter
16. Shining Star >
17. Samson and Delilah
18. Encore Break
19. Casey Jones
Here’s a nice companion to William Tyler’s record release show last month at Rough Trade NYC. That show was the start of his tour for Goes West and as it turns out, was only a small preview of what he’s been up to. For the (Le) Poisson Rouge crowd, Tyler pulled out all the stops, playing acoustic and electric songs, and inviting locals Steve Gunn and Ryan Sawyer to join in for a few. Gunn plays on “High Anxiety” from Modern Country and contributes guitar and vocals to a cover of Michael Chapman’s “Among the Trees.” Things kick into high gear when Ryan Sawyer joins Tyler for “Whole New Dude” from the Lost ColonyEP. They make an outstanding duo and the energy on that song is just incredible. Is there hope someday for a Tyler-Gunn-Sawyer jam sesh? Let’s plant the seed.
I recorded this set with the MBHO hypercardioids, combined with a board feed courtesy of the venue and engineer, Jason. The sound is outstanding. Enjoy!
Tracks [1:16:04]
01. Intro
02. Man in a Hurry
03. Fail Safe Intro
04. Fail Safe
05. I’m Gonna Live Forever (If It Kills Me)
06. Eventual Surrender Intro
07. Eventual Surrender
08. Gone Clear Intro
09. Gone Clear
10. We Can’t Go Home Again Intro
11. We Can’t Go Home Again
12. Our Lady of the Desert
13. Highway Anxiety Intro
14. Highway Anxiety
15. Among the Trees Intro
16. Among the Trees [Michael Chapman]
17. Whole New Dude Intro
18. Whole New Dude
Willie Lane has long been something of a mystery, appearing sporadically on live MV/EE CD-R’s and quietly self-releasing tiny pressings of highly-coveted solo guitar records. Until recently, you couldn’t even find them online, having to resort to in-the-know record stores that would stock these rarities. But recently a Willie Lane Bandcamp page appeared with digital downloads of his three LPs and one single, followed by a reissue of the long-scarce Known Quantity from Feeding Tube. Already down to the last box of that one, the reissues will keep coming in March when they put Guitar Army of One back out into the world. Meanwhile, on The Avant Ghetto, Jeff Conklin played an awesome live set from Scratch Ticket (Lane on guitar, Rob Thomas on bass, and John Moloney on drums), stoking excitement at the possibility Lane would down to NYC for a gig.
For this performance, Lane recruited local drummer-of-record Ryan Jewell for a mix of rehearsed material and improvisation. Though quite different from the stark, lonesome guitar on his records, their set manages to conjure those same slanted vibes.
Extra thanks to Jeff Conklin and The Avant Ghetto Presents for getting Willie Lane out to NYC and for inviting us down. Check out his show on WFMU for the good stuff!
I recorded this set with the MBHO cardioids set up in stereo DIN configuration, combined with a board feed courtesy of Union Pool FOH Doug. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!
Howdy guitar-heads, and just-plain-old-heads! One of our favorite travelers, William Tyler, Goes West on his new LP, out now on Merge. He’s currently touring the U.S. into March and Europe in April, so do check out his full tour dates for your local gig. Here in NYC, Tyler appears at (Le) Poisson Rouge on February 26. It’s a sure bet he’ll be slinging some tunes old and new, so grab your tickets.
We got a lucky chance to hear Tyler preview the new album at Rough Trade NYC last month, as well as play some songs from Modern Country. In typical fashion he was nice and chatty, sharing some anecdotes between songs and being an all around positive guy. Meanwhile, Tyler also penned an essay about Cosmic Pastoral music for Aquarium Drunkard—more evidence that he’s one of the most interesting and thoughtful voices on instrumental guitar.
I recorded this set with the MBHO cardioids set up in stereo DIN configuration, combined with a board feed courtesy of Rough Trade FOH Jeremy Rychard Snyder. The sound is outstanding thanks to Jeremy and a quiet crowd. Enjoy!
Tracks [34:26]
01. Man in a Hurry
02. Call Me When I’m Breathing Again
03. Eventual Surrender
04. Virginia is For Loners Intro
05. Virginia is For Loners
06. Gone Clear Intro
07. Gone Clear
08. Not in Our Stars
09. Rebecca
10. Sunken Garden
San Francisco’s Dire Wolves don’t come around too often, but when they do they bring the heat. This one features the Wolves’ Jeffrey Alexander backed by what he calls a “strange” version of the band: Jesse Sheppard (Elkhorn) on bass, Jeff Tobias (Sunwatchers) on sax, and Scott Verrastro (Bardo Pond) on drums. What results is the Wolves’ shaggy psych mixed with jazzy excursions.
Speaking of which, it’s Excursions to Cloudland, released on Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records, that hipped me to Dire Wolves. And then there’s also this fantastic split with Headroom that I’ve gravitated towards when looking for a fix. Dire Wolves will have another one out with BBiB sometime soon so stay tuned to find out what new lands they’ve got in store.
Thanks to Jeff Conklin for putting on this awesome bill. Tune in to The Avant Ghetto on WFMU for more of the goods!
I recorded this set with our usual setup for Union Pool: a board feed from FOH extraordinaire Doug combined with the MBHOs in DIN configuration at the board. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!
Last weekend I braved the frigid NYC temperatures—and that wind! and that fearsome moon!—for January’s traditional Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven tour. This was my first time seeing either band, unlikely to be my last. I wasn’t super familiar with Camper Van beforehand, but songs like “Too High for the Love-In” and their cover of Status Quo’s “Picture of Matchstick Men” are pretty irresistible.
Cracker played second, which was perfect because the crowd got good and loose during the set break. Anyone who was teenager in 1993/1994 has Cracker’s “Low” seared into their brains, and I really don’t want to out myself as a poser but seeing them play it live was the highlight for me. Don’t @ me. Lots of other great songs in this set, particular highlights for me being “How Can I Live Without You,” “Almond Grove,” and “Teen Angst.” Hopefully the tradition continues and I’ll see you there in January 2020.
I recorded this set with the MBHO cardoids run high, from a little right of the soundboard where the venue staff set me up in a nice booth. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!
Tracks: [1:18:32]
01. Been Around the World
02. Mr. Wrong
03. Seven Days
04. How Can I Live Without You
05. Get Off This
06. The Good Life
07. Sweet Thistle Pie
08. California Country Boy
09. King of Bakersfield
10. Low
11. Almond Grove
12. One Fine Day
13. Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)
14. I See the Light
15. El Comandante
16. Beautiful
Camper Van Beethoven
2019-01-20
Sony Hall
New York, NY
Tracks: [58:07]
01. Northern California Girls
02. Pictures of Matchstick Men
03. Tania
04. Eye of Fatima
05. All Her Favorite Fruit
06. Good Guys & Bad Guys
07. Take the Skinheads Bowling
08. Sad Lovers Waltz
09. Summer Days
10. S.P. 37957 Medley
11. Too High For the Love-In
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