Posts Tagged ‘ Hopscotch ’

Tashi Dorji: September 11, 2015 Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

October 7, 2015
By

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It’s no secret to followers of this site that we are big guitar fans — we’ve covered the heroes of the new American guitar movement, from the neo-traditionalists to the most avant-garde experimenters, with some regularity. Tashi Dorji, currently of Asheville, NC, is one of the finest in the latter category, and we finally got a chance to check him out live at the Hopscotch Music Festival, where in addition to his set with Elisa Ambrogio and Ben Chasny earlier in the day, he delivered a mesmerizing set at the Kennedy Theatre later that night. As Dorji progresses through the set, you almost forget that he is improvising every note, or that he is just one player, alone onstage. Dorji, even more than most, has forged his own path in life, teaching himself the guitar in his home country of Bhutan before he moved to the United States for college. Once here, he moved beyond the stratified realm of traditional rock into the alien terrain he occupies now, where he rarely if ever plays what the traditional boundaries of music require. “Alien” could describe the sounds of this set as well, as Dorji turns a single guitar into a mini-orchestra of sound, with insect-like finger-picked high notes combining with looping bass notes to create a wall of sound. The Kennedy Theatre is a perfect venue for this sort of thing — it can get dark in there, very dark, and it is cool and spacious enough to allow listeners to sprawl on the floor, eyes on the lone-lit player, bathed in music. Dorji has released several notable records, particularly this year’s Appa on the Asheville label Bathetic, but watching him create live gives a much clearer understanding of his magic. He did all of this with just one guitar and four pedals, and even watching it live, you couldn’t quite grasp where it all came from.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from the always-excellent NC-based engineer Wayne, together with Audio Technica 4051 microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete set:

Tashi Dorji
2015-09-11
Hopscotch Music Festival
Kennedy Theatre
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Wayne) + Audio Technica 4051 (at SBD, DFC, PAS)>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, fades, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 improvisation

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Tashi Dorji, visit his website, and buy his latest albums from Bathetic Records.

Birds of Avalon: September 12, 2015 Hopscotch Music Festival – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

October 2, 2015
By

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Birds of Avalon are the best kind of local heroes — a band of serious players whose main reason for not being more prolific is simply that they’re too busy doing other things. That makes each of their appearances a special treat, and the crowd spilling down the street from the overstuffed Pour House attested to what a draw they were. Cheetie Kumar, Paul Siler, David Mueller, Missy Thangs and the dual-drummer attack of Jason Alyward and Scott Nurkin kicked off this Hopscotch Music Festival set with a vengeance, tearing into the longform, unreleased jammer “Emblems” before settling into the brand-new “Goin’ Under” from their newly-released seven-inch of the same name. With their last full-length LP having dropped in 2010, the band brought out lots of new material to sate those who waited, including most of the Disappearance EP, which like the “Goin’ Under” seven-inch is available from Third Uncle Records. The band plays loud, fast guitar rock n’ roll with distinct psychedelic overtones, and that and the vocal harmonies echo classic bands like Shocking Blue. Siler and Kumar (a husband and wife team who also own local club King’s and the restaurant Garland) were in the well-loved local band Cherry Valence, and the influence of that work is felt here as well. This set was made extra-special by the appearance of improviser-in-residence and one of NYC’s most outstanding experimental drummers, Greg Fox, on “Wasted Hours.” I’ll dedicate this recording to the many Triangle denizens who tried to squeeze into the Pour House too late and missed this one — hope this recording can be a decent substitute!

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41V microphones at the soundboard cage, together with a soundboard feed from Pour House’s veteran sound engineer, Jack. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

 Thanks to Missy Thangs for the setlist and approving the recording.

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Birds of Avalon
2015-09-12
Hopscotch Music Festival
Pour House
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK41V (LOC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA + Soundboard (engineer: Jack)>>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ, imagage)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 40:15]
01 Emblems [new]
02 Goin’ Under
03 Guffaws
04 Disappearance
05 Come Loose
06 Eyesore
07 Over Your Shoulder
08 [Greg Fox comes onstage]
09 Wasted Hours

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Birds of Avalon, visit their website, like them on Facebook, and buy the Disappearance EP and “Goin’ Under” 7″ from Third Uncle.

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[photo courtesy of “Chauncy Buttertooth”]

Elisa Ambrogio-Ben Chasny-Tashi Dorji: September 11, 2015 WXDU/WXYC/WKNC Day Show (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 24, 2015
By

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With Three Lobed Recordings on a temporary hiatus from their traditional day show with WXDU on the Friday of Hopscotch Festival, WXDU took matters into their own hands and teamed with fellow college radio stations WXYC (UNC-Chapel Hill) and WKNC (N.C. State) to produce a two-stage day show worth of the tradition. Perhaps the centerpiece of these sets was the trio of Elisa Ambrogio (best known for her work in Magik Markers) and Ben Chasny (aka Six Organs of Admittance), who have been touring together, with the guitar improviser Tashi Dorji. The three of them got down to some serious experimental improv that captured the imagination of the crowd (and had a couple of bewildered college students plugging their ears). The sum of this team was clearly more than its parts, combining noise, free verse, and melodic interludes. By the end of this 20 minute burst of inspiration, our only regret was that it couldn’t be longer.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps MK4V microphones you see in the photo below, together with a soundboard feed by the day’s very capable engineer, Justin. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Ambrogio / Chasny / Dorji Trio
WXDU/WKNC/WXYC Hopscotch Day Show
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK4V (onstage, roughly ORTF)>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard (engineer: Justin)>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.5 (amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 improvisation

Musicians
Elisa Ambrogio – vocals, guitar
Ben Chasny – guitar
Tashi Dorji – guitar, effects

Support these artists: Elisa Ambrogio | Six Organs of Admittance | Tashi Dorji

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[photo of Tashi Dorji courtesy of David Lee of This Is That Song]

Elisa Ambrogio: September 12, 2015 Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 21, 2015
By

Elisa Ambrogio

We’ve already twice caught Elisa Ambrogio this year touring last year’s solo opus, The Immoralist. Each set has been something special—in January she performed as a duo with Nathan Bowles on drums and in April it was a trio with Ben Chasny on guitar and Adam Payne on drums. This set from Raleigh’s Hopscotch Music Festival pairs Chasny on guitar with Bowles on drums and classes things up for the theater setting with Jenifer Gelineau on violin. Besides new arrangements on songs we’ve heard before, this set adds two tracks from The Immoralist that we hadn’t yet heard live, “Mary Perfectly” and “Reservoir,” making it a perfect compliment to the sets from earlier this year.

Ambrogio’s tour on behalf of The Immoralist continues this November. She’ll hit Union Pool on November 6 as part of a monthlong trek to both coasts and some places in between with Mike Donovan’s new outfit, Peacers. Don’t sit this one out: full tour dates are over at Drag City.

I recorded this set with the mics set up right next to board, combined with a feed from the Fletcher’s FOH, Rick. The sound is fantastic. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Elisa Ambrogio
2015-09-12
Hopscotch Music Festival
Fletcher Opera Theater
Raleigh, NC

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Rick) + AKG C480B/CK63 (FOB, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [39:09]
01. Mary Perfectly
02. Superstitious
03. Clarinet Queen
04. [tuning]
05. Kylie
06. Stopped Clocks
07. [tuning]
08. Far From Home
09. [banter]
10. Reservoir

Band:
Elisa Ambrogio, guitar/vocals
Ben Chasny, guitar
Nathan Bowles, drums
Jenifer Gelineau, voilin

Support Elisa Ambrogio: Buy The Immoralist from Drag City

Landlady: September 6, 2014 Hometapes / Trekky Records Day Show, Pour House, Hopscotch Music Festival, Raleigh, NC – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

October 6, 2014
By

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[photos by acidjack]

Brooklyn’s Landlady is a really good live band, and they’re good in a way that flatters their musical skill as well as drawing a crowd. Where most music has to make a choice between being interesting or mass-appealing, they seem able to do both, to hang in a narrow band that includes acts like Vampire Weekend, TV On the Radio, and The Dirty Projectors. That I pulled those references from the prior decade isn’t unintentional; Landlady feels like the pleasing synthesis of a few different strands of late-aughts rock, created and executed by Adam Schatz and his bandmates since 2010. Schatz has called Landlady’s songs his “big songs”, and the veteran brings a certain big-tent gusto to the songs that makes them distinct from other projects in which he has been involved, like Man Man or Father Figures. It’s as if Schatz — a multi-instrumentalist himself, including saxophone — distilled some of his other project’s textural complexity and general weirdness into something still-complex but more ready and willing to be liked.

That was all in evidence on the final day of the Hopscotch Music Festival, as Raleigh’s Pour House packed in for the Hometapes / Trekky Records day show. Landlady were representing the former, an outfit recently moved to Durham, North Carolina, and made their label proud. It’d be easy not to care about a day show crowd on a festival’s last day, just near the end of a month-long tour. The band had played Hopscotch Thursday, traveled to Richmond, VA on Friday, then back to Raleigh on Saturday because, as Schatz put it, “we like you”. The band treated us like a special crowd, too, giving us a brisk but powerful set that awakened even the most jaded and hungover festivalgoers. Landlady’s music has an at-times tribal quality to it, abetted in part by the use of two drummers, and that gives the music a festive air. Songs rarely stand still, shifting textures and ideas more often in the space of a single number than many bands achieve in entire albums. True to Schatz’s reputation as a showman, the band saved probably the two biggest standout tracks — “Maria” and “Above My Ground” for the end, though “The Globe” would come in a close third. That final number “Above My Ground” gave Schatz a chance to give a mini-speech mid-song in which he ruminated on the impermanence of things before exhorting the audience to sing the song’s one-word refrain — “always”. As Schatz said, the song is about having lost something, and you got the sense that Landlady would genuinely miss us. They are, after all, a band that stands out the most when they have a packed crowd to watch.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed from the Pour House engineer Jack. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the full set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the full set: 

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. Feel free to re-post the Soundcloud links.

Landlady
2014-9-06
Hometapes / Trekky Records Day Show
Hopscotch Music Festival
Pour House
Raleigh, NC USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK41>KCY>Z-PFA + Soundboard (engineer: Jack)>>Roland R-26>x24bit/48kHz WAV> Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

01 Under the Yard
02 Girl
03 Washington State is Important
04 [banter]
05 Dying Day
06 The Globe
07 [banter2]
08 Maria>
09 Above My Ground (extended version)

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Landlady, like them on Facebook, and buy Upright Behavior from Hometapes.

Circuit des Yeux: September 5, 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival, Tir na Nog, Raleigh, NC (FLAC/MP3/Streaming)

October 1, 2014
By


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[rather bad photo by acidjack]

Circuit des Yeux makes lacerating, personal music that belongs in a certain kind of place, both spiritually and physically. Haley Fohr is four records in now at age twenty-five, and her latest album,  Overdue, was hailed by the ever-reliable Marc Masters of Pitchfork, along with several others, as her best yet. Fohr’s music is somber and dark, delicate at times, unafraid to be dissonant when it needs to be. The Chicago-based musician has played in and around New York several times, but I had missed my chances. As happened a few times this year, Hopscotch Music Festival let me correct that mistake.

Over time, especially on Overdue, Circuit des Yeux’s compositions have taken on a grander scale, and we saw that in action right off the bat, as Fohr led with a brand new, as-yet-untitled song. Along with another new song and two more Overdue tracks, the set was bookended by “Acarina”, one of three Overdue tracks played. In this setting, it became a slashing, sprawling explosion of distortion that made the original seem almost polite — a gem of a live version. I might venture that the added fury packed into it paired well with Fohr’s mood, as I’ll discuss below.

The truth is that somebody could not have picked a worse venue for Circuit des Yeux, seated alone on a low stage in an Irish bar best suited to party music or cover bands. Despite that I knew several people who came to the venue specifically to see Circuit des Yeux, that couldn’t overcome the fact that this was difficult music being played in a loud bar to a crowd much more indifferent than they ought to have been. This is the kind of scheduling mishap that also led, in part, to the festival’s well-publicized artist blowup across town this same night. To her credit, Fohr didn’t call names or lash out. She leaned into her guitar, hair obscuring the louder side of the room, and sang with an intensity that fought its way through. For me as a fan, what is most striking about this set is just how good it is in recorded form — that is, with the advantage of being able to remove most of the audience from the equation.

That’s all well and good, but to read Circuit des Yeux’s take on this set is to be reminded that a concert is not a one-way event. Granted, unlike an artist’s own show, a festival audience may not have paid to be there specifically to see that artist. But that doesn’t mean that the crowd doesn’t have a responsibility to the performer they are seeing. To be in an audience is to be an active participant in the artist’s experience of the show. An audience can elevate, and an audience can also hurt. Before you bother to finish the rest of this, or click play on the streaming tracks, or do anything else, I would urge you to read Fohr’s piece. No musician — be it one you like, one you dislike, or one you’re indifferent to — deserves to be treated like a performing monkey. An artist owes us to do their part, and we owe them as an audience to do ours. A concert isn’t church, sure, but it is a shared space with a single focal point — the artist. Anything that takes away from that is doing damage: to the artist, to the other fans who paid to be there, and to the whole enterprise of what live music is supposed to be about.

For my part, I found Fohr’s performance compelling and look forward to her next steps. Circuit des Yeux isn’t easy or conventional, and that is part of what has made it a favorite of both critics and the other forward-thinking artists such as Xiu Xiu who have toured with her. This music deserves our continued attention and respect. For those that don’t “get it”, whether that’s the case with this artist or with somebody else, please stay away or shut up. The rest of us are trying to hear.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed provided by Brandon, the night’s engineer, plus Audio Technica 3031 microphones, which were turned way down in this mix. It ended up sounding quite good. I hope you enjoy it.

Download the complete show [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the full show:

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.

Circuit des Yeux
2014-09-05
Hopscotch Music Festival
Tir na Nog
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Brandon)+ Audio Technica 3031 (at SBD, ROC)>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, levels, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, fades, dither and downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 39:34]
01 Untitled 1
02 Untitled 2
03 [tuning]
04 Nova 88
05 [tuning2]
06 Lithonia
07 [tuning3]
08 Acarina

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Circuit des Yeux, visit her website, and buy Overdue and her other records directly from her.

Tony Conrad: September 5, 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival, Vintage 21, Raleigh, NC – Streaming Full Set

September 28, 2014
By


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[photo by acidjack]

The appearance of Tony Conrad at this year’s Hopscotch Music Festival was one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that makes a festival unique. Conrad is a living legend in a number of out fields, having made his name as a filmmaker, artist, musician, composer, teacher and writer. As a member of the pre-Velvet Underground band Theatre of Eternal Music, Conrad was one of the earliest progenitors of improvisational noise and drone music, making him an influence on a huge number of acts who had the benefit of newer technologies than the gadgets that Conrad built from scratch.

At the Vintage 21 stage at Hopscotch, Conrad began seated with a cardboard box in front of him, onto which he drew a rough circle that he cut out with an Xacto knife. A violin bow, when inserted through that space, created a drone effect that became the centerpiece of Conrad’s first composition. Offering this as a live recording doesn’t really do it justice; to watch Conrad create his art was as much an experiential pleasure as an aural one, if not more so. Conrad then moved to a violin, face painted black, with extra strings hanging off of it, and in drawing the bow across it, created new cascades of noise.

While improviser-in-residence was normally the influenced rather than influencer among the many acts he joined over the weekend, that was not the case when Moore and Conrad got together. The two created a dynamic noise piece that set yet another bar for the weekend. Conrad, almost giddy at his reception by the crowd, seemed almost as pleased to introduce Moore as Moore was to join the master. This was an experience that wouldn’t be repeated, in the weekend, or possibly ever.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed and Schoeps MK41 microphones. The sound quality is excellent. At the artist’s request, this set is streaming only. Enjoy!

Stream the full set:

Tony Conrad
2014-09-05
Hopscotch Music Festival
Vintage 21
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41 (at SBD, DINa)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, levels, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, fades, dither and downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Improvisation 1
02 [banter]
03 Improvisation 2 [w/ Thurston Moore]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Tony Conrad, learn more about him on Wikipedia, and buy his music on Discogs and iTunes.

Sunburned Hand of the Man: September 5, 2014 Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show, King’s, Raleigh, NC (FLAC/MP3/Streaming)

September 23, 2014
By


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[Photos by acidjack]

Review by David Schwentker.

If you’re not a denizen of noise/experimental circles you might not be aware of the legendary Sunburned Hand of the Man, the Massachusetts band who since 1994 have produced several fine albums and over 100 releases (mainly self-released CD-Rs and cassettes) in what it might be fair to call “random” fashion. The band has included any number of players over the years, but is anchored by John Moloney, who joined us at last year’s Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show during Hopscotch Music Festival for a collaboration with Thurston Moore (which is slated as an official release … keep your eyes peeled). This was the collective’s 20th anniversary as an entity, and it seemed like the right move for King’s, and a show sponsored by two organizations that respect experimental music, to be their showcase.

Eleven years after being featured on the cover of “The Wire” and touted as being leaders of the “New Weird America” genre, the band had been somewhat dormant in recent years, as releases slowed and band members focused on other projects.  In June, the band departed on their first U.S. tour in several years, a brief jaunt down the east coast as a 7  piece band, including newer, younger band members alongside seasoned vets.  On that trip, plans were solidified to take part in this years’ Three Lobed day show during Hopscotch.  Sunburned’s membership is always in flux; on tour, it has often been whoever was available to get in the van when the time came to hit the road.  For the brief September tour built around this Day Show performance, they were a tight, 5 piece unit and included Chad Cooper, who co-founded the band with John Moloney, but had not toured with the band in the United States since 1999.  Longtime guitarist, Paul Labrecque was along for the ride as well, giving us a look at a version of the band not seen in the U.S. in quite some time.  Talking to the band before their set, there was a palpable excitement from the players about the music they had been making each night of their tour, and what was to come during this afternoon set.

Like the band’s recorded work, this single piece, entitled “Blues For Richard”, was deeply outre, a melange of organic, found and electronic sounds that brooded and whistled. At its beginning, the piece felt unsettling, like a late-afternoon hike into an unfamiliar wood. Band members began the set on the floor, turning knobs that would anchor the piece’s future movements. What there were of lyrics came just over twelve minutes in, in the form of chants and spoken/read lyrics, supplied by Greta Svalberg.  As the guitars turned up and the drums kicked in, the atmospheric sounds turned to a slow burn, psychedelic groove, pushed and pulled by Moloney’s expressive drumming and Adam Langellotti’s elastic bass.  Labrecque’s guitar work becomes more and more frantic, while Cooper’s homemade electronics continue to ramp up the intensity.  The band threatens to collapse upon itself a couple of times, coming out on the other side heavier and insurgent each time, before finishing in a blazing, explosive three minute stomp that melted a few faces.  In short, this half hour set is an excellent summation of everything that makes this band great, unpredictable, and worthy of exploring their vast catalog of recorded music.

I recorded this set in the same manner as all of the recordings from this showcase, with Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage and a soundboard feed. The sound quality is phenomenal on this one, maybe the best of the entire day show (which is saying a lot). Enjoy!

Download the full set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the full set: 

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. Feel free to re-post the Soundcloud links.

Sunburned Hand of the Man
2014-09-05
Three Lobed Recordings / WXDU Day Show
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK4V (on stage pair)>KC5>CMC6>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, fade, amplify, balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Track
01 Blues for Richard

Musicians
Chad Cooper – electronics / percussion
Paul Labrecque – guitar / electronics
Adam Langellotti – bass / electronics
John Moloney – drums
Greta Svalberg – vocals

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Sunburned Hand of the Man, visit their facebook page, and buy their records. A lengthy discography is here, and your best bet to buy all in one place is probably Discogs.

Spacin’ & Purling Hiss: September 5, 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival, Tir na Nog, Raleigh, NC (FLAC/MP3/Streaming)

September 17, 2014
By


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[photos by acidjack]

Day two of the Hopscotch Music Festival was one filled with surprises. I started the day with the Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show and its many one-off collaborations, and ended with this last-minute collision between Philadelphia’s twin scuzz-rock juggernauts. Purling Hiss and Spacin‘ are the best kind of kindred spirits, both being offshoots of the band Birds of Maya. That, and each of them crank their amps to eleven and check any and all pretension at the door. The combined band played three of each others’ songs each, including Spacin’s classic cover of MC5’s “American Ruse”. The six songs stretched for a total of forty-five minutes, offering ample opportunities for guitar pyrotechnics from all. If minds hadn’t been blown enough already, the band was joined for the final number, Hiss’ “Almost Washed My Hair”, by Philadelphia harpist Mary Lattimore (fresh from her Three Lobed/WXDU collab with Thurston Moore) and Steve Gunn (similarly on deck after an epic performance with William Tyler and members of Yo La Tengo, which is posted here). If you doubt how a harpist can make her presence felt with four blaring guitars already on stage, well, you ought to get to know Lattimore, who added a layer of musical complexity to the roaring proceedings. If today was the day of collaborations, there couldn’t have been a better way to end it.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Tir Na Nog engineer Brandon plus Audio Technica 3031 microphones back by the board. Unfortunately, my request to place the mics onstage was denied, meaning they were fairly far back in an echo-y room. As our recordings go on this site, the quality is not the best, but the vibe comes through loud and clear. As the band’s own albums hew to a “lo-fi” aesthetic, perhaps in some ways the recording is true to that. With that caveat, enjoy this exceptional performance!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

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.

Spacin’/Purling Hiss
2014-09-05
Hopscotch Music Festival
Tir na Nog
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
recorded and produced by acidjack

Audio Technica 3031 (at SBD, ROC)+Soundboard (engineer: Brandon)>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, levels, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, fades, dither and downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 45:49]
01 Sunshine No Shoes [Spacin’]
02 Titchy [Spacin’]>American Ruse [MC5]
03 Learning Slowly [Purling Hiss]
04 Run From the City [Purling Hiss]
05 [tuning]
06 Almost Washed My Hair [Purling Hiss]*

* with Mary Lattimore on harp and Steve Gunn on guitar

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT these musicians. You can pick up Spacin’s records at their bandcamp page, and Purling Hiss’s records at their bandcamp page and their latest Weirdon over at Drag City.

Daniel Bachman and Nathan Bowles: September 5, 2014 Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show, King’s, Raleigh, NC (FLAC/MP3/Streaming)

September 16, 2014
By

"photo by PJ Sykes"
[Photo by PJ Sykes]

As I said in our last post about the co-sponsored Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show during Hopscotch Music Festival, one of the things that made this best-curated-of-the-fest day so special were the number of one-off collaborations that went down. Nathan Bowles has been all around the scene for a while now, lending his banjo and other skills to such diverse acts as the drone wizards Pelt, the Appalachian-influenced Black Twig Pickers, Steve Gunn, plus his solo work. Daniel Bachman, who has been on the site twice, is as prolific as he is talented. His latest release, Orange Co. Serenade appeared on the tiny North Carolina imprint Bathetic Records around the same time that the Virginian chose to relocate to Durham, NC.

For this very special first-time collaboration, Bachman and Bowles (joined by local guitarist Zeke Graves) chose to pay tribute to classic southern sounds, first serving up an acoustic version of Jeffrey Cain’s “Moonshine Is the Sunshine” from his 1970 album For You, followed by the legendary North Carolina guitarist Link Wray’s “Waterboy”, which turned into a massive sixteen-minute guitar freakout with Graves and Bachman’s dueling electric guitars backed by Bowles doing a turn on percussion. From the day’s first act, we ended up hearing one of the highlights of the entire show.

I recorded this set, as with all of these sets, with Schoeps MK4V microphones on stage and a soundboard feed from the King’s staff. The sound quality, particularly on the Link Wray song, is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the recording: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the full set:

Daniel Bachman and Nathaniel Bowles
2014-09-05
Three Lobed Recordings / WXDU Day Show
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK4V (on stage pair)>KC5>CMC6>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, fade, amplify, balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 32:10]
01 [intro]
02 Moonshine Is the Sunshine [Jeffrey Cain]
03 Waterboy [Link Wray]

Musicians (in alphabetical order)
Daniel Bachman – acoustic and electric guitars, vocals
Nathaniel Bowles – banjo, percussion, vocals
Zeke Graves – electric guitar, sruti box

If you enjoyed this recording, SUPPORT these musicians by visiting their sites and buying their stuff. You can find Nathan Bowles here and buy his stuff here; Daniel Bachman’s latest can be purchased from Bathetic Records here.

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