iamserio.us

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Red Sparowes for many months. On Monday night I finally got that chance and it was worth the price of admission. These guys put on an amazing show and I recommend seeing them.

I got a soundboard feed that wasn’t total shit so I ended up using it. There are some trade-offs to this because while it does give the instruments a cleaner sound and brought out the drums tremendously, it also picked up some of the effects the band’s soundguy was doing to the instruments on the fly. You couldn’t really hear these effects as well in the audiences but they’re very pronounced in the board feed. They sort of sound like glitches but they’re not. I watched the soundguy too… he was turning knobs like crazy at certain parts of the music.

I also taped William Elliott Whitmore and Saviours. I’ll probably put up the WEW set later tonight since I know there are some fans of his out there. I can put up Saviours too if there is any interest.

Red Sparowes – 2007-03-19 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Download: rs2007-03-19.akgc1000s.sbd.matrix.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: rs2007-03-19sample.mp3

Saviours – 2007-03-19 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Download: saviours2007-03-19.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: saviours2007-03-19sample.mp3

William Elliott Whitmore- 2007-03-19 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Download: wewhitmore2007-03-19.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: wewhitmore2007-03-19sample.mp3

In May I am going to tape the following dates of the Explosions In The Sky tour:

05-03: WOW Hall – Eugene OR
05-04: Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR
05-05: Croatian Culture Centre – Vancouver, BC
05-06: Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
05-07: Neumo’s – Seattle, WA

If you have a camcorder and are going to any of these dates, I need you! I’m looking to put together multi-cam recordings for all of these shows so if you are going to any of these shows and you have a camcorder, get in touch with me and let’s do this.

I will handle audio for all of these shows as well as maybe one camera if I can swing it. Some of these shows will have other tapers at them but that is not certain so I want to make sure this gets done right.

So let me know! I really want this to happen!

UPDATE:

I’ve got someone on-board to do a three-cam recording in Eugene and in Portland. I know I have one filmer in Vancouver so now it’s up to you Seattlites to come through!

In the world of instrumental rock, there are those who lead and there are those who follow. For every Explosions In The Sky there are dozens of “me too!” band that follow.

Do Make Say Think has always led. There is quite literally no other post-rock band that sounds like DMST. Their liberal use of saxophones and trumpets trademarks the jazzy sound that they have crafted over their five-album career of the last decade.

After opener The Berg Sans Nipple finished their set (which was actually very good, so check out that recording too), DMST took the stage and played for a solid hour and forty-five minutes. Some of the newer songs with vocals seemed to throw the flow of the set off a bit, but the inclusion of songs like Frederica, The Landlord Is Dead, and A Tender History In Rust; the set was more than satisfying.

So download this and enjoy it. I guess I don’t often say “This is a good one, listen to it!” because I think all of my recordings are that way to a certain degree. But in this case I am saying that. This is a good one. Listen to it.

The Berg Sans Nipple – 2007-03-07 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: bsn2007-03-07.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: bsn2007-03-07sample.mp3

Do Make Say Think – 2007-03-07 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: dmst2007-03-07.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: dmst2007-03-07sample.mp3

Yet again it takes me two weeks to put up a show. I used to be so good about doing it the next day.

This show was the final night of The Vera Project’s re-opening celebration. Let’s do a quick rundown of the show.

Ghost To Falco opened the show and I liked them. The third song they played had such a sweet looped guitar line in it so that song is highly recommended.

Tiny Vipers followed and she was just as good as the last time I saw her. She’s kind of like Joanna Newsom but instead of a harp she plays a guitar. Such a good voice.

The Holy Ghost Revival played third. Imagine if Axl Rose grew up on the Hog Farm. That’s what the lead singer embodies. This band really got the crowd going.

Headliner was Phil Elverum performing as Mt. Eerie. I’d never seen him perform before and I’d only listened to some of The Microphones’ material, so I didn’t really know what to expect. What he delivered was about an hour of endearing acoustic ballads about everything and anything. His performance style reminded me of Kimya Dawson a great deal. Highly recommended.

All in all, a good show. And it was free too. So… win-win-win. We all win.

Ghost To Falco – 2007-02-25 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: gtf2007-02-25.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: gtf2007-02-25sample.mp3

Tiny Vipers – 2007-02-25 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: tv2007-02-25.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: tv2007-02-25sample.mp3

The Holy Ghost Revival – 2007-02-25 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: hgr2007-02-25.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: hgr2007-02-25sample.mp3

Mt. Eerie – 2007-02-25 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: mteerie2007-02-25.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: mteerie2007-02-25sample.mp3

Watching any performance that These Arms Are Snakes puts on is like dropping a ball of yarn off of the Empire State Building and holding onto to the end of the string. All you can do is watch it unravel and fly around.

Not to say that their shows are an ungodly mess. Quite the opposite. Their performance is an ungodly ball of awesome. It’s just that the frontman, Steve Snere, takes it upon himself to slowly lose it at every show. He doesn’t go into G.G. Allin territory or anything, but he certainly doesn’t “keep it together”. There is seductive dancing on top of the house stacks. There is “oh shut the fuck up” shouted at the crowd. There is undulating of hips on members of the crowd. All of these things and more can be had at a Snakes show.

They played a lot of stuff from the new album and since the new album is kickassawesome, this show was kickassawesome. Akimbo also trotted out some new songs with some face-melting shredding going on. All in all: a fun show to help commemorate the re-opening of The Vera.

Akimbo – 2007-02-24 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: akimbo2007-02-24.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: akimbo2007-02-24sample.mp3

These Arms Are Snakes – 2007-02-24 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: taas2007-02-24.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: taas2007-02-24sample.mp3

I know I taped this almost a month ago and I’m just now getting it uploaded. I sort of forgot that I recorded this and it sat on my hard drive until this weekend. Sorry.

Not much to say about this show. Three droner/stoner rock bands playing for what seemed like forever. I was a little drunk at the show so it was a good time to just stand there with a huge bottle of Red Stripe in my hand (I seriously didn’t know they made them that huge) and bob my head. And bob my head I did. Not much else you can do at a show like this. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Grey – 2007-02-03 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: grey2007-02-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: grey2007-02-03sample.mp3

Grails – 2007-02-03 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: grails2007-02-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: grails2007-02-03sample.mp3

Om – 2007-02-03 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: om2007-02-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: om2007-02-03sample.mp3

Last week I was at a Stephen Malkmus show (not taping) and about halfway through the show, a gentleman behind me made the following proclamation:

“These are the most boring people I’ve ever seen. Just look at them! They’re like fucking zombies!”

I really wanted to turn around and tell him “Hey guy. Turns out no one gives a shit.” but I didn’t. I guess he kind of has a point. Concert goers –especially in Seattle– have a penchant for standing and lightly bobbing their heads. And, honestly, can you blame them? Do you really want everyone doing The Jerk and The Pony to a fucking Stephen Malkmus song? Truth is, most rock music is head-bob-worthy but not really shake-your-ass-worthy. That’s just how rock music is.

I’ve read the opinions of Girl Talk’s detractors online and one thing that rubs a lot of the contrarians the wrong way is that Greg mashes top 40 hip-hop with seemingly unfitting pop radio hits (such as The 5 Stairsteps’ “Ooh Child”) and listeners are expected to lap it all up with a healthy spoonful of irony. Other people claim that mashups are just plain boring and uninspired. Still others say that his latest album Night Ripper is nothing more than a DJ set and not really an album worth praising.

I will say this, though: No matter what beef you have with Greg Gillis’ musicianship and “hipster cross-over” appeal, you cannot deny that, at the very least, he is forcing all of those asshole hipsters that the Internet loves to bash to gyrate their hips, shake their asses, raise their arms, and move their feet. And that is something that is inarguably good. Something that only happens because the Internet Hype Machine got the hipsters on board with Girl Talk but didn’t tell them that at the shows they’d have to actually participate and visibly have a good time.

The show was amazing and epic. He comes out in a full sweatsuit and cheap sunglasses while his intro plays. Throughout the set he gets sweatier and sweatier until he’s just wearing pants. And he’s not just getting sweaty because the stage lights are hot; no, he’s breaking a sweat because he takes every opportunity to dance with the crowd that has formed on stage with him or crowd surf on the audience below him. During his finale Nirvana cover, he was hanging upside down from the rafters above the stage lip and shouting into the microphone while the audience held him up.

And there was dancing of all kinds. The same “zombies” you see at Sonic Youth shows staring at Thurston’s pedal boards were busting moves, cutting rugs, popping, locking, and getting their collective freak on.

Girl Talk – 2007-01-27 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download FLAC: gtalk2007-01-27.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
Download MP3 gtalk2007-01-27.akgc1000s.mp3.zip
MP3 Sample: gtalk2007-01-27sample.mp3

Vellela Vellela – 2007-01-27 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download: vv2007-01-27.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: vv2007-01-27sample.mp3

I haven’t taped a lot of shows in the past few weeks. Part of that is being busy with friends and part of it is being busy with work (and part of that is the fact that I now have three jobs and I’m working 65 hours a week).

In any case, now is not the time to fret. Taping is still fun and I love doing it. I’m going to go to the Girl Talk show at the end of the month and stealth tape that. I might also tape Justin King at the end of the month as well. Then I’m doing Do Make Say Think, Annuals, and #12 Looks Like You in February, Red Sparowes in March, and who knows what else after that.

So anyway, like I promised before: here are some shows I taped but never put on the site. If you’re a fan of These Arms Are Snakes then you will enjoy this post. There should be something for everyone in this post, though, really.

The Advantage – 2006-01-06 Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: advantage2006-01-06.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: advantage2006-01-06sample.mp3

These Arms Are Snakes – 2006-01-28 The Showbox – Seattle, WA
Download: taas2006-01-28.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: taas2006-01-28sample.mp3

Minus The Bear – 2006-01-28 The Showbox – Seattle, WA
Download: mtb2006-01-28.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: mtb2006-01-28sample.mp3

These Arms Are Snakes – 2006-02-22 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: taas2006-02-22.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: taas2006-02-22sample.mp3

Animal Collective – 2006-03-02 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: ac2006-03-02.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: ac2006-03-02sample.mp3

Band Of Horses – 2006-03-04 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: boh2006-03-04.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: boh2006-03-04sample.mp3

These Arms Are Snakes – 2006-03-31 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: taas2006-03-31.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: taas2006-03-31sample.mp3

Drove up to Bellingham to catch Ratatat because their show with The Faint in Seattle was sold out.

Both recordings turned out ok for a stealth job. Thanks to the douchebag who kept shouting “SEVENTEEN YEARS!” during and in between every song. Yeah, he’s the same guy you’ll hear clapping throughout the recording. He pretty much single-handedly ruined the tape.

Oh well.

Panther – 2006-12-01 WWU – Bellingham, WA
Download: panther2006-12-01.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: panther2006-12-01sample.mp3

Ratatat – 2006-12-01 WWU – Bellingham, WA
Download: ratatat2006-12-01.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: ratatat2006-12-01sample.mp3

I was in the mood to drone out to some noise. Some tones. Some frequencies. You know, something that requires me to glaze my eyes over and nod my head to a beat that isn’t there.

I stealthed because, you know, dude who runs sound at The Crocodile requires explicit permission from every band you want to tape and I didn’t have that. Oh well. They played for a solid hour and I’ll tell you what; I nearly bagged it and went home about three quarters of the way through. But, being the trouper that I am, I stuck it out. Like a man. Like a man’s man. Because that’s what I am.

Wolf Eyes – 2006-11-09 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: we2006-11-09.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: we2006-11-09sample.mp3