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I went to this show because Rex Ray from Phobophobe sent me an e-mail and invited me to come tape. That’s the first time that’s ever happened. Made me feel good.

Openers were Cock And Swan. They’re a sort of electronic indie pop band in the vein of Mum or Boards of Canada. Very subdued and lo-fi and very good. They also did a really great cover of The Flaming Lips’ In The Morning Of The Magicians. The bass player nailed the bass line in that song and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Phobophobe sounds nothing like Cock And Swan. They’re rock that reminds me of Joy Wants Eternity in a lot of ways. Their brand of post-rock incorporates vocals from time to time, but it’s about 90 percent pure guitars and drums. Some really great progressions and breakdowns going on in this set so I suggest you check it out. Better yet, go see them in Edmonds at the Halcyon on the 11th. I’m pretty sure I’ll be there.

Cock And Swan – 2006-10-24 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: cas2006-10-24.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: cas2006-10-24sample.mp3

Phobophobe – 2006-10-24 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: phobophobe2006-10-24.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: phobophobe2006-10-24sample.mp3

I’ve been waiting to see The Tyde live for a long long time. Since I first heard Twice I’ve been looking forward to seeing them reproduce those pop gems at a concert. Turns out, they never tour because their lead singer is a kindergarten teacher and he can’t very well just take time off when there are finger paintings to be made. I can forgive him for that. They played all of my favorite songs and it was everything I hoped it could be.

The last time I saw The Black Angels was at the Capitol Hill Block Party in July. It was outside. It was hot. It was bright. It didn’t sound that great. This time it was in a proper venue with their actual sound engineer working the boards. Vocals were echoed and boomy. Guitars were loud and blaring. The house was rocked. All around a really great set with a good crowd. Everyone seemed pretty “into it”.

I got a soundboard feed because I was helping the guys at Live Eye TV with audio and video. I tried matrixing my AUD source to the SBD source and realized I’m really bad at it. I don’t think I know the proper way to matrix a recording because whatever I’m doing isn’t working. The idea I’m using is that the SBD track is the main audio and the AUD track is the auxiliary audio. So in order to keep them in sync, I split up the AUD track by song and shift it so that it lines up with the beginning of the song in the SBD track. This doesn’t seem to work all that well. There has to be a better way… anyone have any advice?

Let me know what you think of the matrix mixes. If you think they suck, I’ll post the separate AUD source. I think The Tyde one is ok but the Black Angels one was tricky because they use so much reverb.

Voyager One – 2006-10-23 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: vo2006-10-23.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: vo2006-10-23sample.mp3

The Tyde – 2006-10-23 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: tyde2006-10-23.akgc1000s.matrix.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: tyde2006-10-23sample.mp3

The Black Angels – 2006-10-23 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: ba2006-10-23.akgc1000s.matrix.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: ba2006-10-23sample.mp3

Cursive is the kind of band that you listen to on CD and you wonder how well the lead singer really sounds live. It’s so smooth and velvety yet throaty and deep. If you’ve ever seen them live, you know that Tim Kasher’s voice translates perfectly to a live setting. He sounds just like on the albums. I’d wager he sounds even better actually.

Opening for Cursive were Chin Up Chin Up and The Thermals. Both sets were pretty great, I thought. All-around a good show.

Some facts that may interest you:

Chin Up Chin Up – 2006-10-20 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: cucu2006-10-20.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: cucu2006-10-20sample.mp3

The Thermals – 2006-10-20 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: thermals2006-10-20.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: thermals2006-10-20sample.mp3

Cursive – 2006-10-20 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: cursive2006-10-20.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: cursive2006-10-20sample.mp3

Retreivr will fetch you a photo from Flickr when you draw a sketch of what you think it looks like. I just like to draw boobs and see what it nets me.

Man. I’ve been going to a lot of shows lately. But, you know, I can’t just not go to them. That’s crazy talk for fools and gypsies. I am neither of those thing (no offense to gypsies) so I went to see The Elected and Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s last night at The Paradox. For the uninformed, The Elected is a side project of Rilo Kiley featuring Blake Sennett and Jason Boesel.

When I heard the band name “Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s” I immediately thought of synthy dreampop. I was expecting something straight out of the K Records catalog. You know; 606 drum tracks and a Nord Lead. Well, they had the Nord Lead but they also had: a Fender Rhoads, two guitarists, drums, trumpet, and auxiliary percussion. It was more like big-band alt-country than anything else. Powerfully earnest vocals backed by soft-spoken female harmonies; that sort of thing. Needless to say, it was good. It’s the kind of stuff I dig.

I’d never actually listened to The Elected before this show but I’m more inclined to do so now that I’ve seen them live. The ten minute version of “Biggest Star” impressed the hell out of me. The way Blake and Mike dueled with their guitars… it was like they were making out. The guitars I mean, not the guys. Also: some of the greatest on-stage banter I’ve heard in a while. I will quote:

I bet you can count the number of times someone puts ‘fucking’ in the middle of jelly beans on one hand each year. So, if nothing else, you saw that.

I’ll admit, the awe of being entertained by Joey ‘The Rat’ Epstein never really wore off. I really wanted to scream Live by the rat, die by the rat! at him but I thought that a) would piss him off and b) wouldn’t sound nearly as funny as it does in my head. I think I made a wise choice.

Margot… – 2006-10-17 The Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: margot2006-10-17.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: margot2006-10-17sample.mp3

The Elected – 2006-10-17 The Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: elected2006-10-17.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: elected2006-10-17sample.mp3