Posts Tagged ‘ krautrock ’

Moon Duo: September 7, 2019 Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC)

September 27, 2019
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Not so long after catching an infrequent Wooden Shjips sighting at Brooklyn Bowl a few months back, we were lucky enough to see Ripley Johnson with his other (no less important) project Moon Duo close out the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC at our fave spot there, Kings.

Most exciting about this set was the fact that it comes just before the release of the band’s latest album, Stars Are the Light, a record that finds Sanae Yamada and Ripley wading further into the dance music arena. While you won’t find Moon Duo headlining a big EDM festival anytime soon, the vibe and texture of the new material has an airier lean to it. Yamada has cited disco as an inspiration for these songs, and you can hear it from the album’s title song as well as many of the new numbers that made their way into this night. If you’ve heard the second volume of Occult Architecture – billed the “light” side of that double album – then think of Stars Are the Light as the next logical evolution of that material. It’s a heck of a lot of fun to anytime, but it proved an especially fine coda to a multi-night music festival for me. Rounding out the new material, and the set, was a curveball cover, in this case Alan Vega’s “Jukebox Babe,” which the band released as a single last year.

Stars Are the Light hits the streets today, September 27, so do yourself a favor and head over to Sacred Bones Records or the band’s bandcamp to dig in.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed, together with MBHO mics and the Aerco preamp for some warm goodness. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Moon Duo
2019-09-07
Hopscotch Music Festival
Kings
Raleigh, NC USA

Soundboard + MBHO MBP603/KA200N>Aerco MP-2>>Sound Devices MixPre6>24/48 polyWAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.3.0>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Flying
02 The World and the Sun
03 Cold Fear
04 I Been Gone
05 Eternal Shore
06 Fever Night
07 Night Beat
08 White Rose
09 Jukebox Babe [Alan Vega]

Nest Egg: September 7, 2017 Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC)

October 6, 2017
By

Like any well-curated music festival, Hopscotch is very much an national and even global gathering, bringing in bands who otherwise might not make Raleigh, North Carolina one of their tour stops. But as much as Hopscotch should be celebrated for the riches it brings to the hometown crowd, it’s equally if not more responsible for giving a bigger platform to local and regional talent. To wit, on a stage that found Oh Sees and The Brian Jonestown Massacre headlining the night, the festival placed one of my favorite new bands of the festival, Asheville, North Carolina’s Nest Egg. With a dark, krautrock-inspired sound, Nest Egg went perfectly with the spooky light show and the “basement” (the giant bottom floor of the Raleigh Convention Center) setting. It’s hard to fully capture the effect of seeing this band live, but in person, the difference between them and the “merely OK” was evident; their sound is driving and delivered with precision, and that amplifies the already-considerable intensity of their music. In that respect, they remind me in a good way of the recently-disbanded Disappears, a longtime favorite of ours. Have a look at Nest Egg’s current material, and be on the lookout for future stuff from this outstanding band.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41V microphones inside the soundboard cage, coupled with a soundboard feed. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Nest Egg
2017-09-07
Hopscotch Music Festival
“The Basement”
Raleigh, NC USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack
Hosted at nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK4V (at SBD, DFC)>KCY>Z-PFA + Soundboard>Zoom F8 (24bit/48kHz WAV files)>Adobe Audition CC (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Eraser
02 Smgfx
03 Booze Your Illusion
04 Gore ’92
05 Nfo
06 Gocg
07 Dmtiv

SUPPORT NEST EGG: Pay to download this recording, and buy their records on bandcamp

Suuns: February 11, 2017 Saint Vitus (Early Show)

February 14, 2017
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It’s not easy to be a live band like Suuns. When you make spare, often trancelike music that relies on repetition, fueled by loops and electronics as well as live players, you need to be more than competent on your instruments; you need to be technically almost flawless. Their music can indeed put you in a trance, but the communion is broken if anything — almost anything — is out of time or introduced at the wrong moment. The amazing thing about Suuns is that nothing ever is — if “precision” was their band name instead, it wouldn’t be wrong. Their latest album Hold/Still continues their streak of infallible, tight production, made all the more impressive this time by the fact that they reputedly recorded most of it live. Hearing the songs live, it’s somewhat easier to believe. Suuns songs often tend toward modern paranoia and anxiety, but in execution of them, the band members’ melding of the human and technological is at ease.

On this winter night, the band played two full sold-out sets at Saint Vitus, an intimate, appropriate clime for the band’s dark, almost claustrophobic sound. Drawing on elements of krautrock and electronic music, Suuns’ sound is as distinct as it is penetrating. If escapist fare like “La La Land” and whatever pabulum won most Grammys last night is hailed as the right cultural output for our times precisely due to its unreality, Suuns owes equal claim to the title precisely because it sounds like just this moment. When vocalist Ben Shemie intones the single lyric from “Resistance,” over a fractured guitar line and its vaguely militaristic backbeat, you almost forget that this song was actually written in 2015. It meant something different to me when I first saw it, nearly two years ago to the date.

To that end, another exciting song to see come to fruition was “Infinity,” a number the band has worked on in various forms for several years, but finally laid down for Hold/Still. After a solid dose of newer material for the bulk of the set, Suuns took us back to their first record, Zeroes QC, for a bit, with “Arena” making an appearance, and the set closing with one of their best early songs, “Pie IX.” If Hold/Still is any guide, this band’s next few years are going to be equally fertile ones.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones and a soundboard feed. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC/Apple Lossless]

Stream the complete show:

Suuns
2017-02-11
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK4V (at SBD, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.0.5>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:01:12]
01 Images du Futur
02 Music Won’t Save You
03 Powers of Ten
04 Instrument
05 Translate
06 2020
07 Resistance
08 Infinity
09 Paralyzer
10 Arena
11 Edie’s Dream
12 Pie IX

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Suuns, visit their Facebook page, and buy their albums on their bandcamp site or from Secretly Canadian.

Faust: March 30, 2016 Market Hotel

April 6, 2016
By

Faust
[photo by Peter Cauvel]

Difficult. Inscrutable. Brilliant. Faust’s current U.S. tour is leaving concertgoers baffled in every city they’ve visited. Those expecting to hear the greatest hits, a complete performance of Faust IV, or even something simply coherent might be disappointed. But those of us open to the experience, a “happening” as Jean-Hervé Peron calls it, were rewarded with a unique set from the krautrock legends. The band graced us with three local stops on their tour, with one show in Jersey City at WFMU Monty Hall and a two-night stand at Market Hotel. We caught the last of those and it’s really something.

Jean-Hervé Peron is less frontman and more mouthpiece or director of the group, which also includes original member Werner “Zappi” Diermaier, Maxime Manac’h, and Pas Musique. The loose collective has been going since 1971 and surprisingly for a band celebrating 45 years, the past isn’t its focus. After securing blankets for the knitting ladies in front of the stage—and yes, that is a consistent feature of Faust shows on this tour—the band opens with an at least partly improvised drone that segues into the most krautrock-y song they’ll play the entire evening, “Fresh Air.” If you’re timid or maybe approaching Faust for the first time, this track is the place to start. Next is noise-improv and Dadaist poem, “Harlekin,” followed by a song called “Chlorophyll” (probably). “Partitur” is the crowd-participation part of the evening, where all leave the stage save for Zappi on drums, who orchestrates the graphic score. “Tell the Bitch to Go Home” is from a more recent Faust album, Something Dirty, while “Lass Mich” is from the band’s collaboration with Nurse With Wound. “Listen to the Fish” is another latter day Faust classic and then Peron encores with a solo performance of “Cendre” (again, probably). I have to admit that not all made it through to the end of this challenging set. But no one can deny that Faust is a singular band and anyone there to witness this performance won’t soon forget it.

I recorded this set with our installed Audio Technica 4051 mics and a board feed from Market Hotel FOH Jason. The quality is excellent. Enjoy!  (Please note: at the band’s request this is offered for streaming only.)

Stream the complete show:

Faust
2016-03-30
Market Hotel
Brooklyn, NY

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

Soundboard (engineer: Jason) + AT4051 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:12:57]
01. [Intro]
02. Drone
03. Fresh Air
04. Harlekin
05. Chlorophyll
06. Partitur
07. Tell the Bitch to Go Home
08. Lass Mich
09. Listen to the Fish
10. [encore and band intros]
11. Cendre

Support Faust: Website | Buy Tony Conrad With Faust, Outside the Dream Syndicate via Superior Viaduct

Disappears: February 20, 2016 Baby’s All Right (incl. complete set of David Bowie’s “Low”)

February 21, 2016
By

IMG_1624

Let’s get this out of the way: this is not some thrown-together “tribute”; Disappears had this idea long before Bowie’s recent passing. You can hear the evidence on their 2015 live LP, in fact (which you can still find if you look), which captures their full performances at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art as part of a “Bowie Changes” series of events. Given what’s happened since, this Brooklyn redux of that memorable night took on new meaning, and showed us so much of what to appreciate about live rock music, and Bowie, who was one of the best.

Baby’s All Right was its typical self on Saturday night, a convivial hub for Williamsburg partiers and people of good musical taste. Disappears’ crowd was one of the better ones, composed mainly of the band’s regulars, scenesters and Bowie diehards interested in hearing the band’s take. Disappears’ material usually draws more comparisons to Joy Division and the Fall than the Thin White Duke, but only if you forget that Bowie had his own krautrock streak, evidenced on Station to Station as well as Low itself, a dissonant, dark piece of work that added to Bowie’s mystique as a musical chameleon whose taste rarely missed.

Before any Bowie, of course, Disappears had a full set for us of their own material, kicking off with the propulsive “Joa” followed by “Another Thought” and “I/O,” also from last year’s excellent Irreal, they decided to play some new material. Of these, my favorite might be “Silencing,” a mid-tempo meditation that continues in Irreal’s more subdued, textured vein but goes further down that path. Brian Case and bandmates Damon Carruesco, Jonathan van Herik, and Noah Leger (I’ve said this before, but damn can this guy drum) not only form one of the tightest units in music today, but they carry themselves with an understated poise that you wish you saw more often. Disappears is a band best seen from the front row, where you can watch both Case’s kinetic vocal delivery and get the full effect of the hammering of the drums and slink of the bass, urging on the dual guitars. This recording was made from onstage, making it about the closest thing to that experience.

Of course, everyone wants to know about the Bowie set. There are umpteen “tributes” going on these days, many of them hastily arranged for a quick buck and/or nostalgia jolt, and some of the highest-profile events to date have either reeked of gimmickry or have simply fallen flat. Disappears’ move was not only refreshing because it actually wasn’t a “response” to the artist’s passing, but because it took the most direct route: playing a Bowie album with an obvious relationship to Disappears’ vision. It’s the best kind of tribute, one that honored Bowie by letting his music, alongside Disappears’ own, speak for itself.

Most striking about Low as a live set is how distinct the album is to the LP format, with a clear side A of somewhat more conventional rock tracks followed by the dramatic shift of the Eno-driven side B, a languid, ambient affair that felt much farther afield than the rest of the set. That Disappears not only held our attention, but managed to recreate this album live without many of the electronics that defined the album, testifies to their skill as a band. Similarly, side B isn’t exactly a party-rock record, but for this crowd, “Warszawa” and “Art Decade” weren’t going to clear the room; the crowd tightened in, holding on for the surge of “Weeping Wall,” whose operatic sweep might’ve made you think, had you closed your eyes, that it was Godspeed You! Black Emperor up there making noise with its gaggle of musicians, not four guys. “Subterraneans” made for a subdued ending after that obvious climax, but once again, Disappears gave it the attention it deserved, straight through to the end.

While this Low performance won’t be the only one of the tour, there are only a few others scheduled, interspersed among the band’s regular tour schedule. You can catch the band Monday in Philly, and Tuesday in Pittsburgh (where they’ll do Low again).

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK22 open cardiod microphones onstage for an expansive, up front sound, combined with a soundboard feed of Disappears’ FOH Jason Balla’s mix, with assistance from Harrison Fore of Baby’s in setting it up. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/Apple Lossless/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Disappears
2016-02-20
Baby’s All Right
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Disappears FOH Jason Balla) + Schoeps MK22 (onstage, ORTF)>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (adjust stereo image on audience, align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

[Total Time: 1:37:05]
Set One (Disappears songs)
01 JOA
02 Another Thought
03 I/O
04 11 Mile House
05 Ultra
06 Alarm
07 Silencing
08 Elite Typical
09 Halcyon Days

Set Two (David Bowie’s “Low”)
10 [intro]
11 Speed of Life
12 Breaking Glass
13 What In the World
14 Sound and Vision
15 Always Crashing In the Same Car
16 Be My Wife
17 A New Career In A New Town
18 Warszawa
19 Art Decade
20 Weeping Wall
21 Subterraneans

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Disappears, visit their website, and buy Irreal and their other releases here.

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