Spending an evening with Chuck Johnson and his pedal steel guitar is a welcome respite from our over-scheduled, always-on age. The music drifts in open spaces, not hurried to any destination. Changes are subtle enough that you find yourself somewhere new without recalling how exactly you got there. It’s an overused metaphor surely, but in Chuck Johnson’s music the journey’s the thing.
Chuck’s recent set at Union Pool, opening for Suss, finds him mixing material from Balsams (one of them being “Calamus”) with some newer compositions—as with all his most recent work, boundaries are blurry. Midway through he introduces a loping percussive low end that orients the music without pushing too hard to get somewhere. The measured gait instead suggests an ever-present here—it’s a good place to spend some time.
For even more recent excursions from Chuck Johnson, check out his Bandcamp page for a few live recordings and even some music composed for PBS’s Food Town.
I recorded this from our usual location at Union Pool, room mics combined with a board feed from FOH Leslie Wolf. Thanks to her excellent mix and a quiet crowd, the sound is outstanding. Enjoy!
It had been ten years since we last encountered Monks Of Doom when this fortuitous event occurred. Those two shows in early 2009 at the now defunct Brooklyn venue Club Europa were the last time Monks appeared in the New York area. The Bay Area supergroup, containing mostly members of Camper Van Beethoven along with sometime CVB member and longtime guitarist for Counting Crows David Immerglück, tends to play intermittent west coast dates when the members’ other projects are not active. In 2018, the quartet finished an album that has been in the works for that last decade and went on tour for the first time in who knows how long. The Brönte Pin is the band’s first new material in twenty-five years, but sounds just as tight and focused as their best work. Immy shares lead vocal work with bassist Victor Krummenacher, with guitar wizard Greg Lisher and percussionist Chris Pedersen providing the backbone. This set opening for the special Escovedo/Barone show (here) was a treat that we literally had no idea was going to occur, and we hope it isn’t another ten years before the band comes back to NYC. In the spirit of long delays, I inadvertently sat on this recording for over a year, but I guess its better late than never.
I recorded this set in the same manner as the Escovedo recording and the sound is equally superb. Enjoy!
Download the Complete Show from Archive.org in FLAC or MP3 [HERE]
Stream the Complete Show via Archive.org:
Monks Of Doom
2018-05-23
Berlin
New York NY
Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Setlist:
[Total Time 47:35]
01 In Anticipation Of The Pope
02 Hieroglyphic
03 The Traveler
04 The Bastards Never Show Themselves
05 Going South
06 Up From The Cane
07 Oh Well [Fleetwood Mac]
08 Vaporize Your Crystals
09 [band introductions]
10 The Better Angels Of Our Nature
11 Tanguedia (Reprise)
12 Let’s Split
13 Ukrainian Technological Faith Dance
Steve Wynn is universally acknowledged as one of the true good guys in rock music, so its a very rewarding thing to see him and his legendary band The Dream Syndicate receiving a fresh wave of popularity and support. The two sold-out shows at Mercury Lounge were attended by a who’s-who of local music luminaries there to both pay tribute but also to celebrate the superb new album by the band, These Times. But if the crowd was expecting a nostalgia set, it got a very different experience. The Dream Syndicate came right out of the gate with raging versions of the new album and kept the pace up for the entire set. Wynn is the charismatic leader center-stage, but these late era DS shows have featured the incendiary guitar work of Jason Victor and on night one his genius was on full display. The band saved some of the older material for late in the set by which time the audience had already received its money’s worth.
Dream Syndicate continue this tour with shows in the midwest, including two nights at the Hideout in Chicago on May 31 and June 1, before the band goes to Europe through June, dates here.
I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards set up next to the soundboard cage, and blended with a fine board mixed by the band’s FOH Mark. The sound is quite excellent. Enjoy!
Dream Syndicate 2019-05-16 Mercury Lounge New York NY
Digital Master Recording Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Soundboard [Engineer: Mark Griffin] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
Setlist: [Total Time 1:21:52] 01 The Way In 02 Put Some Miles On 03 Filter Me Through You 04 Black Light 05 Out of My Head 06 How Did I Find Myself Here 07 [band introductions] 08 Bullet Holes 09 Still Here Now 10 Recovery Mode 11 That’s What You Always Say 12 Then She Remembers 13 [thanks] 14 Glide 15 [encore break] 16 Tell Me When It’s Over 17 Burn 18 The Days of Wine and Roses
For years, Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore have charted adjacent zones both musical and geographical. Listening to their eventual meeting/melding last year on Ghost Forests, you wonder how a collaboration so obviously natural didn’t spring up sooner. Baird’s guitar/voice and Lattimore’s harp are the immediately recognizable components of the album, but combined they forge new pathways. The album is best when the two find some space to meander, like on album opener “Between Two Worlds” where the hook resists easy discovery.
Last month Baird and Lattimore brought their Ghost Forests to Union Pool for a couple nights and we caught the first. They play most of Ghost Forests, adding “Stairs Climb Up the Vine” from Baird’s Seasons on Earth and take on the Neil Young (by way of Emmylou Harris) song “Wrecking Ball.”
Tracks [53:32]
01. Between Two Worlds
02. In Cedars
03. Painter of Tygers
04. Damaged Sunset
05. Stars Climb Up the Vine
06. Fair Annie
07. Wrecking Ball [Neil Young]
It was about eighteen months ago when the Mountain Goats played an epic show at Brooklyn Steel that we were fortunate to attend and capture. So the band’s return to the venue on the tour to support their excellent new album In League with Dragons, came with some real anticipation. And man, did the band deliver. John Darnielle was particularly loquacious on this evening (check out the number of “banter” tracks), but his comments were all on point. The Mountain Goats have achieved a level of stature that’s been earned in years of tours and albums, and it seems like the band has reached that point where it can enjoy and revel in its well-deserved respect. And while Dragons dominated the setlist early-on, the band did still deliver the types of old rare nuggets that still satisfy the grizzled veterans of tMG shows. Indeed rare songs like “Jaipur” (played less than 10 times in the last 10 years), “Spilling Toward Alpha” (3 times in the last decade) , and “The Coroner’s Gambit” (played two times before 2019) are the types of setlist surprises that make us keep coming year after year. But ultimately this night was about the new album, the strength of which makes us believe that the Mountain Goats will continue to be the gift that keeps giving.
I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards raised high inside the soundboard booth and mixed with a board feed mixed expertly as always by longtime tMG FOH Brandon. The result is another superb recording of this band from this venue. Enjoy!
Setlist: [Total Time 1:38:40] 01 [Vivaldi introduction] 02 Done Bleeding 03 Younger 04 [Coroner’s intro] 05 The Coroner’s Gambit 06 Jaipur 07 In League With Dragons 08 Sax Rohmer 1 09 [banter – old song partisans] 10 Spilling Toward Alpha 11 [banter – seeds] 12 Going to Port Washington 13 [banter – play what you want] 14 Maybe Sprout Wings 15 [banter – not going to die] 16 Waylon Jennings Live 17 [banter – country album] 18 Clemency for the Wizard King 19 [banter – pitchfork review] 20 Cotton 21 [banter – inner ear monitors] 22 Cadaver Sniffing Dog 23 [banter – Ozzy] 24 Passaic 1975 25 Lion’s Teeth 26 Sicilian Crest 27 [encore break] 28 Have to Explode 29 Possum by Night 30 See America Right 31 Game Shows Touch Our Lives 32 [banter – the long encore] 33 No Children 34 The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton 35 Spent Gladiator 2
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.
The return of the Acid Mothers Temple stateside has become a yearly tradition and as a result the band has built its reputation in the U.S. as one of the most intense psych rock bands on the planet. This year the band agreed to play the show on the day that has become a kind of Christmas for heads — “4-20” at Market Hotel. Whether responding to the unique surroundings or the “holiday” atmosphere, AMT drew their largest crowd of the tour and played their longest set of the year. This show was 90 minutes of the most intense music we’ve ever seen from this band, which has evolved in personnel in recent years, but remains anchored by the ferocious lead guitar of Kawabata Makoto. New-ish guitarist and vocalist Jyonson Tsu was featured in Dark Star Blues and La Novia, and the band is blessed with Tsu’s intense vocals and intuitive interplay with Makoto. All in all, this was exactly what we’d hoped for from this band on this date, and judging by the diary entry for this date on Kawabata’s blog, the band was pretty stoked about the show too.
I recorded this set by substituting the Neumann hypers into the installed rig in the venue and the change was exactly perfect for this show. A small percentage of the board feed was used to fortify vocals and kick drum, and overall the sound is superb. Enjoy!
Download the Complete Show from Archive.org [HERE]
Acid Mothers Temple
2019-04-20
Market Hotel
Brooklyn NY
Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:23:43]
01 Blue Velvet Blues
02 Dark Star Blues
03 Chinese Flying Saucer
04 Flying Teapot
05 Disco Pink Lady Lemonade
06 La Novia
07 Pink Lady Lemonade Coda
08 Cometary Orbital Drive
Over the course of these residency shows (plus bonus Queens show), I’ve said my piece about Ryley Walker and “who” he is musically, so I won’t belabor the point. Suffice it to say that even if you follow all things Walker, this unique collaboration is a standout, something not likely to be repeated. Walker made it known what an honor it was for him to play with these musicians. It was equally our honor to have heard it.
I recorded this set in the same manner as the other Union Pool shows, with Doug Graham’s outstanding house mix leading the way. Enjoy!
Thanks to Union Pool and Will S for continuing to book and host interesting and experimental music in north Brooklyn.
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)
Those in the know around these parts have probably seen Garcia Peoples a handful of times or more by now — they’ve maintained a hyperkinetic schedule of local and tour shows that would be the envy of any hungry young band.
Listen to this set from Trans-Pecos a couple Sundays ago and you can understand why no promoter ever says no to these guys . This band is absolutely on fire right now, its players dialed in to a level that normally takes years. Being a private event, this was a “play what you want” set for the band, and they took that to heart, leading off with an extended improv that transitioned into their cover of “Laila Pt 2” by Agitation Free (which we first heard at Union Pool) followed by “High Noon Violence” from their brand-new breakout album, Natural Facts. After a spot-on “Total Yang,” the band were joined by Ryley Walker for an extended 16-minute improv that found Walker joining Tom Malach and Danny Arakaki as a third guitarist. Adding to the special nature of the proceedings, the band was joined by semi-regular member Pat Gubler (aka P.G. Six) on keys.
As the writer Jesse Jarnow memorably puts it, Garcia Peoples are “your heady, friendly reminder that it’s alright to let the sunshine in”. Arakaki, Malach, Derek Spaldo (bass) and Cesar Arakaki (drums) are after something here that’s so much more than being a Grateful Dead-referencing tribute band. In fact, their principal resemblance to a musician named Garcia is that each of these guys are skilled musicians with a hot improvisational streak, rarely playing a song the same way twice. Their sound lives in a zone all its own, and seems sure to cast a wide net far beyond the GD/Phish crowd. It’s no accident that they cover the likes of Agitation Free and Relatively Clean Rivers more frequently than, say, this alchemical rendition of “The Other One” with Chris Forsyth.
So yes, New York-based heads will probably end up seeing Garcia Peoples whether they specifically plan to or not. But really, you ought to plan to. A band this good should be top of mind for anyone who cares about how the best live music should sound.
I recorded this set with a soundboard feed and Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones onstage. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!
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