iamserio.us

So the second day of the Capitol Hill Block Party was today. I missed the first day because I was out of town visiting my folks, but I caught some of the second day.

I was hoping to be able to to tape Minus The Bear, The Black Angels and The Murder City Devils but things didn’t quite pan out. I got there too late to set up in time for Minus The Bear and after The Black Angels played I was too tired to sit through a hip-hop act to wait for The Murder City Devils, so I bounced.

Don’t worry about the MCD and MTB sets being taped, though. There were three other tapers covering the show so they got taped and will be torrented about the land I’m sure. Also, I’m seeing MCD play tomorrow night at The Showbox so I’ll tape them then.

The Black Angels – 2006-07-29 Capitol Hill Block Party – Seattle, WA
Download: ba2006-07-29.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: ba2006-07-29sample.mp3

I would put all of the bands in the post title but it’d be way too long and #12 was the headliner. Full line-up was:

I’ve been listening to a lot of Fall Of Troy lately so when I got a chance to go out and tape the other band of which Thom is a member (The Hills Have Eyes), I totally jumped on it. I went to the show with my full rig in tow, but I packed my stealth gear just in case the venue denied me… I’d never taped at Chop Suey before so I didn’t know what to expect.

When I got to the venue security asked to look in my bag as they always do and right when I opened the bag the security guard said “Oh you’ve got all of this shit, get on in here man!”. Like he’d been waiting for me or something. He was almost excited that I was there to tape. I love Chop Suey now.

The other great thing about this show was that the 21+ area was a ghost town. Since these bands don’t really attract anyone over the age of 16, the bar was empty. It was nice because it gave me a nice comfortable spot to set up my stand and I didn’t have to be super close to anybody. Security looked out for me all night and a good time was had by Brian.

As for the music, color me impressed. I don’t really listen to much *.*core music these days, but I liked what I heard tonight. Especially #12. Those guys know what the hell they’re doing, I’ll tell you what. The recordings came out really nice and I’m glad I got a chance to tape all of the bands.

The Hills Have Eyes – 2006-07-13 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download: hhe2006-07-13.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: hhe2006-07-13sample.mp3

The Jonbenet – 2006-07-13 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download: jonbenet2006-07-13.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: jonbenet2006-07-13sample.mp3

Heavy Heavy Low Low – 2006-07-13 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download: hhll2006-07-13.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: hhll2006-07-13sample.mp3

The #12 Looks Like You – 2006-07-13 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download: ntlly2006-07-13.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: ntlly2006-07-13sample.mp3

The Fall Of Troy is playing tomorrow in Redmond. Guess who’s gonna be there? This guy.

I’m glad I got another chance to see Kimya play before she (presumably) goes on a long vacation with her new baby. While the crowd was a lot quieter this time, this recording is a little boomy due to the acoustics of the venue and the type of music she plays.

Kimya Dawson – 2006-07-11 The Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: kdawson2006-07-11.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: kdawson2006-07-11sample.mp3

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Now It’s Overhead ever since my friend Trent showed me 6th Grade Roller back in our early days of college. Here I am five years later finally seeing them in concert and it was pretty damn impressive. A lot of well-timed guitar breakdowns and riffs that I can still play back in my head. Check out this set for some new songs from this band’s forthcoming LP in September.

EDIT: The text file in the zip says “Kimya Dawson” for the artist. That is incorrect (obviously). My bad.

Now It’s Overhead 2006-07-11 The Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: nio2006-07-11.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: nio2006-07-11sample.mp3

Now the headliner, Tilly & The Wall… I’ve never really paid attention either way so before I went to the show I didn’t know what to expect. I enjoyed the vocal harmonies and the tap dancing percussion, though I must admit that for the first few songs I didn’t realize she was tap dancing… it looked like someone was just dancing while they played. So, yeah…. good show. Good sets from all the bands and here they are for you.

Tilly & The Wall 2006-07-11 – The Paradox Theatre – Seattle, WA
Download: tatw2006-07-11.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: tatw2006-07-11sample.mp3

I know I’ve been hyping a lot of TFOT material lately but they played a free show downtown, so I just had to tape.

The opening act sucked and I don’t think I need to say anything more than this: they’re name was Kut U Up. Seriously, what else do you want me to say about that.

The Fall Of Troy, however, rocked pretty damn hard. They played their new-ish song A Man A Plan A Canal Panama which I’ve been waiting to hear for a while. Also, for the word-savvy, that is a palindrome.

The sound at this show sucked but I didn’t expect it to be stellar. It was outside in a parking lot downtown, kinda windy and the PA sucked. Tim’s bass sounded like a Moog and the vocals were way too loud. All things considered, the tape came out pretty nice.

The Fall Of Troy – 2006-07-06 Zumiez Couch Tour – Seattle, WA
Download: fot2006-07-06.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: fot2006-07-06sample.mp3

I work for Suicide Squeeze and I told David (guy who owns the label) that I would make sure that all of the performances got recorded. True to my word, every band’s set is on file and sounds great. I even got soundboard feeds for the second and third night to make some badass matrix mixes (though I screwed up on the first night by bringing the wrong cable).

The good news is that the recordings sound really good. The bad news is that I can’t share them with anyone because I told David I wouldn’t. Who knows, maybe he’ll tell me to do whatever I want with them but until I hear from him, they’re going to stay uncirculated. I seriously doubt any commercial effort will come of these tapes since the label is so busy right now as it is; so maybe I’ll be able to post my recordings at a later date. I really hope so; the Minus The Bear matrix is so damn sweet sounding.

Here is a list of the bands I taped

Russian Circles (AUD)
These Arms Are Snakes (AUD)
Hella (AUD)
The Magic Magicians (AUD/SBD)
Crystal Skulls (AUD/SBD)
Chin Up Chin Up (AUD/SBD)
The Black Heart Procession (AUD/SBD)
Metal Hearts (AUD/SBD)
Headphones (AUD/SBD)
Earlimart (AUD/SBD)
Minus The Bear (AUD/SBD)

In other news, last week was my 23rd birthday. I only mention it because my family collectively bought me a 2006 Yamaha Vino 50cc scooter and it’s probably the greatest thing to ever happen. I’ve got big things planned for this lil’ guy… we’re gonna scoot all around town and maybe even out of state. Who knows.

I really want to take a long-ish trip down to Olympia and stay with The Weaver Brothers for a weekend. I’m thinking early August for some sweet black metal action. I’ll even pack my stealth taping rig so I can tape.

It’s going to be a good summer.

It was way too hot to stealth last night, so I only taped the first band. It wouldn’t have been so hot but the only clean jacket I had (in which to stuff my gear) was a heavy Carhartt one which made it unbearable to stealth. Add this to the fact that I’m sort of burned out on taping shows just to tape them and you come up with me being a total pussy.

So last night was Tapes ‘n Tapes with openers Cold War Kids and The Figurines, respectively. I taped Cold War Kids for my boss at Suicide Squeeze because she was raving about them all week and I thought she’d appreciate a recording. By the end of their set I was sweating balls and not feeling well, so the lady and I ditched and went home. I’ll just tell people I’m so indie that I buy tickets to sold out buzz-band shows and then leave after the opener plays. Shit yeah.

Cold War Kids – 2006-06-19 Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Download: cwk2006-06-19.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: cwk2006-06-19sample.mp3

Third night blazin’ through your modem. For the third night, BTS brought out Mess With Time and Sidewalk as newcomers to the setlist. Other than that, it’s the same jams you heard the first two nights. They also brought the Calvin Johnson skit back for this set.

The real downer of this show was the fact that the crowd was full of drunk assholes (moreso than the second night). It got so bad during Brett’s opening set that he stopped before his last song and bitched the crowd out for being so rude while he was playing. I was pretty much in agreement with him… concerts aren’t about the people in attendance; they’re about the people on the stage. That’s my stance at least.

Built To Spill – 2006-06-15 The Showbox – Seattle, WA
Download: bts2006-06-15.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: bts2006-06-15sample.mp3

EDIT: Removed opening sets to make space on the server.

Second night comin’ atcha. Opened and closed with the same tunes but the middle is where the creamy goodness lies. For the second night, BTS blessed Seattle with Liar, Life’s A Dream, Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss, and Gone.

The Calvin Johnson skit is missing from this night but they played two more songs total. Overall, the sound is a lot nicer and the band played tighter. The diginoise that I experienced on Tuesday night popped up again during Helvetia’s set but not during the other two bands. I’m going to sit down and figure out where the problem is (and I might run the JB3 as a backup if it is, in fact, the S/PDIF cable that is culprit).

Built To Spill – 2006-06-14 The Showbox – Seattle, WA
Download: bts2006-06-14.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: bts2006-06-14sample.mp3

EDIT: Removed opening sets to make space on the server.

What a night. Last night was the first time I’d ever taped with another taper and it was an all-around good time. I actually hadn’t planned on going to these BTS shows but a fellow taper had an extra ticket for Tuesday and Wednesday so I came along (seems like this happens a lot lately). So myself and this guy ran a stand from the bar and it was the most enjoyable taping experience I’ve ever had. We had chairs to sit in, a perfect view of the stage and we pretty much had a jovial time.

Last night was also the first time I’d ever dealt with a patcher. For the uninformed, a patcher is someone who goes to a show in hopes that a taper will be there so they can “patch out” of their deck and get an auxiliary feed from the mics. I really don’t have a problem with it and I think it’s a smart, inexpensive way for people who want to guarantee that they’ll get a copy of the show. What I didn’t like was that this guy was drunk, loud and expected me to run his Minidisc deck for him.

Patcher: HAY! Are you the ‘purveyor of the microphones’?
Me: Sure, I guess.
Patcher: Do you have a headphone out I could use?!
Me: Uh, yeah sure. You’re going to need a 1/4″ adapter
Patcher: Yeah I got that covered, man!
Me: Ok, yeah. Here you go.
Patcher: ALRIGHT! I’ve got levels and I’m good to go! So when the band starts just hit this button and then this button and when it’s done hit the button again. THANKS DUDE!
Me: Uh, sure.

Minidisc players aren’t rocket science so I could handle it, but it was a little rude of him to presume that I would want to. He stopped by later to make sure everything was going well by giving me a “thumbs up” coupled with a questioning look in his eyes. I returned the gesture to let him know that everything was ok (or I thought it was, I still don’t know if his MD got a proper recording).

At the end of the night I still had his deck and the guy was nowhere to be found. I was about to just leave his deck at the bar when some guy came up to me to retrieve it, but it wasn’t the original drunky. The guy informed me that he was picking up the deck because the guy who owned it had been kicked out of the venue. To quote my fellow taper: “Imagine that. We definitely didn’t see that one coming.”

So that’s my story that you probably don’t care about. Concerning the actual music: it was an alright show. The openers were decent, if a little on the subdued side and Built To Spill blew me away as they always do. Doug opened with Car and that pretty much sold it for me. They could have played noodly jams the rest of the night for all I cared because that song is pretty much the best BTS song ever.

The recordings turned out fairly clear and decent, but not as good as I had hoped/expected. It was nice that we had our mics at the bar because it’s on a 3′ platform. This made it possible to fly our mics 11′ up (plus everyone around the mics was sitting down). For some reason, Bret Netson’s set has some weird crackling in the waveform and I don’t know why. I saw it happening during the recording because the MT’s peak lights were going off at times when there is no possible way the audio would be clipping. I think it’s time to invest in a better S/PDIF cable.

Built To Spill – 2006-06-13 The Showbox – Seattle, WA
Download: bts2006-06-13.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: bts2006-06-13sample.mp3

EDIT: Removed opening sets to make space on the server.

Within the taper community the mantra is Quality is king!. Tapers pride themselves on getting a quality recording and most are insulted at the thought of raping their waveform with a lossy codec like MP3, and rightly so.

See, when you encode a WAV to MP3 a lot of information is left out. MP3 leaves out everything above ~15kHz because the average person (and even most audiophiles I’d wager) can’t hear those frequencies anyway. So who cares? Well, a lot of people, and here is why.

1) Once it’s gone it’s gone.

See, when you encode a WAV to an MP3 and it loses that data, you can’t get that data back. That’s not a huge deal in regards to albums because people can always go out and buy the CD if they want to hear the original files. With live recordings however, they’re not as easy to locate and sometimes the source recording is lost forever if a taper loses his source recording or if he just disappears from the scene completely. It’s up to the members of the taping community to maintain the integrity of the recordings for everyone.

2) Once it starts, it’s hard to stop it.

Say I post a show of mine in MP3 format and a dozen people download it. Then a few of those people burn the MP3s to a CD for listening on-the-go and their friends want copies. So they take those CDs and rip them to MP3 (using only god knows with which to encode). Now you’ve got MP3 > WAV > MP3 lineage going on and it just keeps going from there. It’s a slippery slope folks.

Even bearing both of those important points in mind, I still understand why people want MP3s instead of FLAC. iPods don’t play FLAC files and most people have those, Winamp doesn’t play FLAC files out of the box and iTunes flat out refuses to play them, and the files are 4-5 times bigger than MP3s. The reasons are varied, but they’re all quite valid. Trust me, I’m on your side on most of the points.

So I’ve given it some thought and decided a compromise is in order. No, I’m not going to start hosting MP3s. That’s crazy talk. What I will do, however, is make it easy for the end-user to convert the FLACs to MP3 with a click, a wish and a prayer. Enter: FLAC2MP3.

Download: FLAC2MP3.zip

Ok so I didn’t write this script, but a buddy of mine sure did when I asked him to because he’s all kinds of crazy cool like that. Written in WSH, FLAC2MP3 will take any set of FLAC files and decompress them to WAV, then encode them to MP3 and delete the remaining WAVs. It even transfers over the metadata!

This way I still get to force the quality of lossless files on the unwashed masses and you get to listen to your filthy MP3s on your lil’ beatbox! Just make sure that when someone asks you for a copy of that smokin’ tape you give them FLACs (or at least a straight audio cd sourced from the FLACs).