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!
We here at nyctaper are fans of all things Ripley Johnson. Of late, that’s meant attending the shows of his excellent project Moon Duo, who’ve graced us here in NYC several times in the past few years. But as for his larger vehicle Wooden Shjips, it’s been since 2012 that we’ve caught a live show by the band.
I’m happy to say that drought has now ended, with a show worthy of the wait. Ripley and his bandmates rolled into Brooklyn Bowl with purpose and a light show that almost made you forget you were in a bowling alley. This set spanned the band’s entire career, including their most accessible album to date, V. Two of that album’s strongest songs, “Ride On” and “Staring at the Sun,” provided a mellow tempo downshift in the middle of a set that was largely a burner, including the very-early album track “Death’s Not Your Friend” into a Ripley-fied version of the VU’s “What Goes On” to close out the main set. Not to be ignored, too, is the band’s cover of New Zealand psych lords Snapper’s “Buddy,” which we’d last seen them play in 2011.
Ripley has another important piece of news today: It’s the release date of his latest project, Rose City Band, the name a nod to his current hometown of Portland. Hopefully we’ll be seeing them around these parts before too long — and it’ll be a shorter distance between our next cruise with the Shjips.
I recorded this set with MBHO microphones up front in the venue. The sound quality is excellent. Hope you dig it!
Tracks [Total Time: 1:14:44] 01 Eclipse 02 In the Fall 03 For So Long 04 Other Stars 05 Ride On 06 Staring at the Sun 07 Motorbike 08 Ghouls 09 Lazy Bones 10 Death’s Not Your Friend>What Goes On 11 These Shadows 12 Buddy [Snapper]
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]
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.
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.
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!
Listen to this recording for the in-between song comedy, if nothing else.
Huh? Oh, right, but this is Ryley Walker we’re talking about — the Very Serious Musician who writes Very Serious Songs and does Very Serious Things like 55 minute psych-improv blowouts with Steve Gunn and Ryan Jewell. This is Ryley Walker, who does a 2LP song-by-song cover of an unreleased Dave Matthews album as his second record of the year — a cover album so good that it convinces music snobs that yes, Dave Matthews is actually a pretty darn great musician. Come for comedy if you must, but become lifelong believer because of the music.
This was Ryley’s second of four residency shows this month at Union Pool. In addition to a truly hilarious extended riff about garage bands at SXSW circa 2009 (with a note-accurate parody song included) and Chicago bands who fail to get picked up by Touch N Go (with a note-accurate parody song based around the riff from June of 44’s “Dexterity of Luck”), Ryley and drummer Jewell delivered a new jam (title TBD), a very familiar cover (“If I Were A Carpenter”), songs from the exceptional 2018 LP Deafman Glance, and “Primrose Green,” from the 2015 album of the same name that seems like aeons ago musically. Whether or not certain naysayers at the time made lame Van Morrison comparisons (based as much on the album’s cover art as its sound), many of those songs are really good, and it’s a joy to see them coming back in the rotation.
As I’ve mentioned before, what feels like the biggest difference from the 2015-era shows is how Walker’s live renditions more closely match the album’s style. Sure, it’s still “sad acoustic guitar indie folk man” music in a sense (as Walker put it), but “Telluride Speed” and “Spoil With the Rest” were played here more or less in the style of the album versions, versus the 14-minute jam version of “Halfwit In Me” that’s long been a tour staple. I don’t know if it means that Walker feels more comfortable with the Deafman songs as the band played them in the studio, or if these songs are just waiting their turn for the extended treatment, but either way, it’s working.
This show also features a hilarious story about taking acid in relation to a King Crimson concert (listen to the story) and some self-deprecating musings about Primrose Green. This might be the first show I’ve witnessed by a serious musician that almost seemed to spawn a new genre: sort of a Yo La Tengo Hanukkah set with a comedian, except that the comedian appears during the set.
There are two more Tuesday nights this month where you can catch Ryley Walker at Union Pool, with more special guests promised. Based on the first two, it’s pretty clear that you shouldn’t come with any preconceived notion of what you’ll hear, but be prepared to enjoy yourself. Tickets for next week’s show are here.
Doug Graham once again outdid himself behind the board. Combined with my Schoeps MK5 mics, it’s yet another excellent recording for you to enjoy.
Tracks [Total Time 1:04:03] 01 [intro] 02 The Halfwit In Me 03 [diaper rap] 04 [new jam 1] 05 Spoil With the Rest 06 [garage rock and Thrill Jockey rap] 07 Telluride Speed 08 [King Crimson rap] 09 If I Were A Carpenter [Tim Hardin] 10 [primrose rap] 11 Primrose Green
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
Ryley Walker led off his March 2019 Union Pool residency with a shot of his usual self-deprecating humor, telling us he just got dumped and that this was his first show as a New Yorker (he’s lived here for months and performed quite a few sets here since). For those of us who’ve followed his career for the past five-plus years, we knew at least one thing to expect next: Ryley’s music is as serious as his stage persona is flippant.
Still, that couldn’t quite prepare us for the trio set with Steve Gunn and Ryan Jewell that followed. This trio could have done any number of things well, but what we ended up with reminded me tonally of Gunn’s collaborations with the drummer John Truscinski — with a hundred percent more guitar. Over the course of this 50 minute improvisational piece (titled by yours truly given the lack of a given one), I was struck by how, in the right hands, an instrument can be a person’s voice. Take Walker at his word — or put yourselves in the shoes of almost anyone who first moves to NYC from their hometown — and you knew what kind of energy he was working with: frenetic, exuberant and relentless. He played like a person aching to be seen, announcing themselves in an unfamiliar place. It wasn’t his first show as a New Yorker, but it might be the first one with that alchemical mix of awe, anxiety and urgency that turns you into the kind of person who belongs here.
Gunn’s trademark guitar tone undergirds the entire piece, a beacon for what’s to come. There’s a sweetness and calm to even Gunn’s noisiest work that’s of a piece to his own stage persona: confident but laid-back about it, extraordinary without overreaching. Like his recent guest appearance with William Tyler, this collaboration with Walker made for an incredible combination of peer guitarists operating at their creative and artistic peaks (not to say they won’t enjoy more). Likewise the conservatory-trained Jewell, an almost-constant among Ryley’s touring bandmates, who comes in and out of the foreground of this extended improv at the right moments, adding drone-style percussion at critical ebbs in the volume.
From his noise roots to his folk-leaning earlier albums to his wholly-new current material, Walker proves over and over that he refuses not to stretch himself artistically. It was hard to take photos of this show. You could get a clear shot of Steve, eyeing Ryley from stage left. But Ryley Walker, he was a blur, especially at this piece’s final, ecstatic climax. Like a true New Yorker, he never stops moving.
I recorded this set with a flawless feed from Union Pool’s engineer Doug Graham, together with Schoeps MK5 microphones at the soundboard. The quality is excellent. Enjoy!
Thanks as always to the artists and the Union Pool team for having us.
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!
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