iamserio.us

I had a pretty good New Year’s Eve. I hope you did too.

I don’t normally do this kind of thing. See, I listen to a lot of bands. A lot of albums. A lot of songs. Sometimes I’m struck by a band and I think “Damn. That sure is a nice song.” Other times I’m simply floored by a band. You know, like the first time I listened to Explosions In The Sky.

Then I listen to a band and it goes beyond “floored”. It’s probably something that only happens once to everyone. When you listen to a band and your world is made better for it. Your life is better because of a body of music. That’s not something that does or should happen everyday.

I’m talking about this band El Ten Eleven. They’re everything that is perfect and good in this world encapsulated in two men playing a guitar and drums.

When I say “guitar” I don’t mean any old guitar either. He plays a double-neck Gibson that has a bass on one neck and a regular guitar on the other. At the same time. He’ll loop one riff into a DL4 then he’ll start a new one. Then he’ll lay some more bass on top. Then you’ll wonder why your mind is stuck inside of itself like a small child wearing a jacket that is much too large for him.

I want to take this opportunity to talk about one song on their self-titled album in particular. See, this song is called Fanshawe and it’s the most epic work on the entire thing. There is a part in the song. In this part the guitar starts making these tones that I call “the neeners”. It’s an army of neeners comprised of 1/8th notes and they fly all over the place. You might think that is a disorienting thing to endure. That’s why the bass guitar comes in to ground you. The bass line slides in ever so gently with a battalion of 1/4th notes and it lets you know that it’s ok to bob your head. Even though the neeners have established themselves as hegemon in the land of Fanshawe, you can still bob your head. Everything is going to be ok.

And they’re recording a new album. And that means they’ll be touring soon. And that means I’ll get to see them. And then nothing can go wrong.

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

If you have a DimeADozen account, get this Sufjan Stevens matrix now.

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

What’s beef?
Beef is when you need two gats to go to sleep.
Beef is when your moms ain’t safe up in the streets.
Beef is when I see you, guaranteed to be an ICU.

One more time, what’s beef?
Beef is when you make your enemies start your Jeep.
Beef is when you roll no less than thirty deep.
Beef is when I see you, guaranteed to be an ICU. Check it.

Ok so there wasn’t any actual beef going on last night, but I got a glimpse into some real hip-hop conflict last night at the Islands show.

Subtitle opened the show up and rapped to some pre-recorded beats on an iPod (not sure how hip-hop that is, but hey, dude’s gotta work with what he’s got). He probably did more talking than rapping because he was performing to about thirty people who weren’t that interested in anything at all. As he was talking, he got into how his new record was banned (re: recalled by the label). He went on to not so subtly mention that Madlib, who apparently gave him two beats to work with on the album, had some problem with him using the beats so the album had to go back on the shelf.

I’m not one to propagate beef nor am I one to hide the truth of the beef. Just know that I will be strapped and ready to throw down if, at any point, the beef is thrown down in front of me. Beef or no beef, I’m ready to beef it out. Ok, I just love using the term “beef” to refer to something other than meat. I’m a simpleton.

They see me rollin’. They hatin’.
Patrollin’ they tryin to catch me ridin dirty.
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
My music so loud. I’m swangin’.
They hopin’ that they gon’ catch me ridin’ dirty.
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty

So Blueprint was supposed to open the show but when the stage was ready to be rapped upon, he was nowhere to be found. That’s why Subtitle went on first. About halfway through Subtitle’s set, Blueprint rolls in carrying all of his DJ’s gear (but with no DJ).

After Subtitle finishes up, Blueprint starts to do his set by DJ’ing himself while he raps and he seems to be able to handle it just fine. A few minutes into his set, DJ Rare Groove runs on stage and starts doing his thing.

So the story behind all of this was that Blueprint and Rare Groove flew into Seattle that afternoon from Denmark and TSA found some “contraband” on Rare Groove and detained him and Blueprint. They let Blueprint go and he made it to the venue but they wouldn’t let Rare Groove go. I guess at some point they decided to let him out and he finally got to the venue.

I guess it could have all been a ruse but I’m pretty convinced this happened.

Life ain’t nothin but bitches and money,
Cause I’m tha type o’ nigga that’s built ta last.
If ya fuck wit me I’ll put a foot in ya ass.
See I don’t give a fuck ’cause I keep bailin.
Yo, what the fuck are they yellin?

Gangsta, Gangsta! That’s what they’re yellin.

Islands truly are gangstas. Gangstas of pop music, violins, bass clarinets, Nord leads, and everything perfect and good in music. They are gangstas in the truest sense of the word. You might even call them OG’s. You might, but you wouldn’t because that would be a lie. Real gangstas don’t lie (lest The Game make a documentary about your propensity for lying and everyone will know what a snitch and a liar you truly are. You don’t want that. Trust me.)

Check the new tunes. Not even the same new tunes they rocked last time. I’m talkin’ ’bout Bucky Little Wing, Quittez, We Swim, and The Arm. These songs make me so excited for the new record to drop. That’s what records to in the hip-hop world. They drop. I like to think that Islands are privy to that sort of slang, though, given their closeness to the hip-hop culture.

Subtitle – 2006-11-06 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: subtitle2006-11-06.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: subtitle2006-11-06sample.mp3

Blueprint – 2006-11-06 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: blueprint2006-11-06.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: blueprint2006-11-06sample.mp3

Islands – 2006-11-06 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: islands2006-11-06.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: islands2006-11-06sample.mp3

If I go to a show and there is one opening act, I’m in heaven. If there are two opening acts then I’m ok. If there are three opening acts then you might lose my attention and if, for whatever reason, there are four opening acts I am probably pissed. If two of those four acts are considered “experimental” then you can color me bored.

On Friday night, this happened. The first band to play was Parenthetical Girls. Oddly enough, they were my favorite act of the night. I wish they had been allowed a longer set.

After that was Grouper (aka Liz Harris) who performed with a guy named Ilyas Ahmed. In all honesty, since it was so early in the evening, I enjoyed it. Soothing guitar soundscapes is something I can get behind.

Following Grouper was Dirty Projectors which was enjoyable, quirky pop music. Some cool male/female vocal harmonies going on.

After Dirty Projectors was Congs For Brums, which is a solo thing the drummer for Xiu Xiu does involving drums and xylophone. At this point, I’d been at the concert for three hours and his performance lasted for about forty minutes. A man can only take so much drumming and xylophoning before he just doesn’t care.

So Xiu Xiu finally went on at about 11:30 (an hour and a half after they were scheduled) and they did their thing. Played some songs, rocked some bodies. Jamie Stewart did some breakdancing. Ok, no he didn’t.

For all of the sets I had a soundboard feed (which I’ve never been able to get at this venue before). Turns out, it’s not worth the hassle to begin with. First off, they run the PA in mono so I was only given one XLR cable. Second, they must not know how to mix the drums at all because they clip the entire time. At first I thought it was my fault for not bumping down the gain on my JB3 but then I realized that the signal itself was clipping, not my recording. I looked at the waveform in Audition and it peaks at about -6db, but is a constant brickwall. So, basically, the soundguy sent me a signal that is blown out and there was nothing I could do about it. It wasn’t too bad on the Parenthetical Girls set or the Congs For Brums sets so I used those. The other ones were pretty much useless, though.

Parenthetical Girls – 2006-11-03 Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: pg2006-11-03.akgc1000s.matrix.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: pg2006 -11-03sample.mp3

Grouper w/ Ilyas Ahmed – 2006-11-03 Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: grouper2006-11-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: grouper2006-11-03sample.mp3

Dirty Projectors – 2006-11-03 Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: dp2006-11-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: dp2006-11-03sample.mp3

Congs For Brums – 2006-11-03 Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: cfb2006-11-03.soundboard.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: cfb2006-11-03sample.mp3

Xiu Xiu – 2006-11-03 Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: xiuxiu2006-11-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: xiuxiu2006-11-03sample.mp3

Tank-FX will generate genuine reverb from inside of a huge ferroconcrete tank. Send in your audio and it will add the reverb!

I made some cover art for my Ratatat DVD. Preview is here.

Oh God this is awesome. Online NHL ’94!