I kinda took a hiatus from taping. It wasn’t because of a lack of concerts to go to but that I started concentrating on having a better diet and reading more. Somehow taping got the axe in that shift. I also applied to go to grad school at the University of Washington which required essays and letters of recommendation and GRE scores and blah blah fart. Still waiting to hear back from them.

But all of that’s done now and I’m back to being normal Brian for the most part. And now I’m taping more shows.

I picked a good night to go taping, though. It was a good time with friends who were all going to the show, the venue didn’t hassle me at all, the music was goddamn amazing, and my recording actually came out really nice considering I was running my mics at head height in the mezzanine.

So here you can enjoy this Ryan Adams recording. Setlist includes some older songs he hasn’t played in years such as “Come Pick Me Up” and and then let your body melt away to the soothing sounds of the piano as it lilts “Halloweenhead” to your dome.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – 2008-01-28 Paramount Theater – Seattle, WA
Download: radams2008-01-26.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: radams2008-01-26sample.mp3

• I’m going to start recording again soon. Ryan Adams coming up. Then DJ Shadow. Then Justice. #

• christ i can’t stand cory doctorow. #

Let’s get nerdy for a second.

The one piece of software I need on my computer is Launchy. When I hit alt+space it brings up a little window from which I can launch any program in my start menu, any bookmark from my favorites (including custom search bookmarks), and even do inline numerical calculations.

Turns out, you can do even more with the clever use of batch files. I found a post on LifeHacker about using Launchy to do more. I started using the custom batch files written in this post but became annoyed with the fact that every time I launched a batch file via Launchy, I’d see a black cmd window pop up to execute the command.

So let’s do it my way.

First, install the following executables to the path C:\WINDOWS:
1) nircmd (this is for commands)
2) curl (this is for http commands)

My buddy pointed out nircmd to me and I realized that with this tool I can do virtually anything through Launchy. Not only did it allow me to successfully launch the batch files silently, but it also gave me a quicker way to shut down and log off of my computer and an easy way to manage window arrangements (minimized, cascaded, etc.). Let me show you an example of how to make nircmd, curl and Launchy work together:

Example 1: Control XBMC with Launchy

1) Make a shortcut to nircmd:

2) Put that shortcut in C:\Program Files\Launchy\Utilities. This will be your template shortcut that you’ll copy and paste as you make new nircmd commands.

3) Make a copy of the shortcut and name it “Play.lnk”

4) Make a new batch file in Launchy’s Utilities directory called “Play.bat”. The file should contain this text (Where “ip#” is the ip number of your Xbox running XBMC with the web server turned on):

@echo off
cd c:\
cmd /c curl --basic http://ip#/xbmcCmds/xbmcForm?command=play
Echo Exiting...

5) Right click Play.lnk and go to “Properties”:

The text box for “Target” should read:

C:\WINDOWS\nircmd.exe execmd "C:\Program Files\Launchy\Utilities\play.bat"

6) No repeat steps 3-5 and replace the active function for “Pause” “Previous” “Next” and “Stop” commands as necessary. Rebuild your Launchy index and you’re good to go. Now you can control your Xbox with launchy.

Example 2: Play albums with Launchy

I also incorporated Launchy into my music listening habits by forcing it to index playlist files on my Music drive. At the time I had no playlist files for any of my albums so I had my friend write a script in lua that will build them automatically (based on my file structure, of course): cobble.zip

To automatically create m3u playlists using this script:

1) Unzip all of the files to the root directory of your music directory

2) Run cobble.bat

Note:
This script will work with a directory structure that looks like: artist\[year] album\files but I’m sure you can figure out how to suit it for your needs. It automatically corrects for conventions such as “Beatles, The” in your folder names and it also makes sure to ignore any files but audio files. At the end you should have an *.m3u file that is formatted as such: The Beatles – Abbey Road.m3u.

3) Bring up Launchy and go to the “Directories” window. Add your music directory and set Launchy to only index m3u files for that directory.

4) Rebuild Launchy’s index.

• this is some amazing craftsmanship: http://tinyurl.com/2fjmmp #
• will life be worth living in 2000 a.d.? http://www.pixelmatic.com.au/2000/ #

• check out these free fonts http://tinyurl.com/23apd4 #
• this portable version of indesign cs3 is amazing. ditto for photoshop cs3 portable #

• You can pre-order the new This Will Destroy You from http://www.magicbulletrecords.com/mailorder.html #
• i am currently planning a dvd/magazine for vol. 2 of my zine #

I’m lazy. I’m a lazy, lazy bum. This is fact.

Every so often, other tapers ask me to help them track out sets or figure out song titles or whatever. So I say “Sure, upload it to my ftp and I’ll take a look at it tonight.” Sure enough, “tonight” turns into “October of later that year.” and here we are.

First of all we have a tape by EmptyZero (I don’t think I know his actual name, actually). It’s a Jesu recording that he asked me to figure out song titles for the set. I ended up doing it but it took me a while. Read the first line again to remind yourself of why.

Jesu – 2007-03-25 Triple Rock Social Club – Minneapolis, MN
Download: jesu2007-03-25sample.mp3
MP3 Sample: jesu2007-03-25.sp-c4.flac16.zip

Next I have a tape from Jackson Barnes. Jackson asked me to track out his Minus The Bear recording from The Vera Project earlier this year and here it is:

Minus The Bear – 2007-04-26 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: mtb2007-04-26.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: mtb2007 -04-26sample.mp3

Next we have two alternate sources for the 2007-05-07 Explosions In The Sky show at Neumo’s taped by OasisDouglas. He asked me to track out the set for him because he didn’t know the song transitions or titles. Choice is always good:

Explosions In The Sky – 2007-05-07 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: eits2007-05-07.okmIIr.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: eits2007-05-07.okmIIr.flac16.zip

Explosions In The Sky – 2007-05-07 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: eits2007-05-07.sonics.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: eits2007-05-07.sonics.flac16.zip

Next we have something that a few people have emailed me about since I posted about it…. well, last year. Here I have the Murder City Devils set from last year’s Capitol Hill Block Party as recorded by Jarod Watson. I tracked this one out because Jarod isn’t at all familiar with their music. It just took me a little while to get to doing it.

The Murder City Devils – 2006-07-29 Capitol Hill Block Party – Seattle, WA
Download: mcd2006-07-29.mbho603.ka200n.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: mcd2006-07-29sample.mp3

And finally, here are a few recordings from me.

The first is a concert I recorded for Live Eye TV in July at the Comet Tavern. It was right after the Block Party wrapped up for the night and involved local act Das Llamas and Brooklyn troupe Aa (pronounced “Big A, little a”). The Pleasureboaters also played but I didn’t tape them (regretfully).

Das Llamas – 2007-07-28 The Comet Tavern – Seattle, WA
Download: dl2007-07-28.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: dl2007-07-28sample.mp3

Aa – 2007-07-28 The Comet Tavern – Seattle, WA
Download: aa2007-07-28.akgc1000s.sbd.matrix.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: aa2007-07-28sample.mp3

Next is a Marnie Stern concert I recorded in June. Not much to say other than she is cute as a button and Zach Hill is a monster on the drums. I recorded video of this show and I have it all captured on my hard drive… I just have to get it all authored into a DVD… which takes, you know, effort.

Marnie Stern – 2007-06-24 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download: mstern2007-06-24.akgc1000s.sbd.matrix.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: mstern2007-06-24sample.mp3

Next we have the opening sets from the Girl Talk show at the Block Party. I’ve had a few people ask me for The Trucks’ set and I want to put the Cancer Rising set out there so that more people can hear these guys.

Cancer Rising – 2007-07-27 Capitol Hill Block Party – Seattle, WA
Download: cr2007-07-27.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: cr2007-07-27sample.mp3

The Trucks – 2007-07-27 Capitol Hill Block Party – Seattle, WA
Download: trucks2007-07-27.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: trucks2007-07-27sample.mp3

Finally we have a show from June that a taper asked me to help him with. About halfway through filming the opener (Electric Soft Parade) I started to feel sick but I finished filming. At the end of their set I had to bail and go home because I felt really sick so I missed the headliners (can’t even remember who it was). Anyway, here is ESP’s set:

Electric Soft Parade – 2007-06-04 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
Download: esp2007-06-04.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: esp2007-06-04sample.mp3

That does it for the wrap-up, kids. Stay tuned to find out if I can actually get off of my ass and torrent the half-dozen DVDs I have yet to author.

So this tour sort of fell apart. Originally it was 65daysofstatic/This Will Destroy You/Hot Cross/Fear Before The March of Flames but then Hot Cross broke up mid-tour and TWDY had to hop off the tour due to medical reasons. To fix the diminished lineup, You In Series was added to the bill. Results: ugh.

At first I thought it was kind of a cool idea to have some sort of crossover tour and it probably would have been pretty cool if the four original bands had played. But the three-band bill at El Corazon last night felt like being at a hardcore show with a few nerds mixed in to fellate applaud the post-rock band.

I filmed up front so there was no one to block my stand in the back. Unfortunately, this means that there were no less than six kids under my mics when I got back to my gear. A quick listen to the quiet parts on the recording reveal that they’re quite apparent on the recording. Oh well, I got some sick footage and the recording turned out ok considering the venue.

I didn’t stick around to tape FBTMOF because I was tired and bored and I’m not posting the You In Series recording because the band was awful.

65daysofstatic – 2007-08-06 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Download: 65dos2007-08-06.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: 65dos2007-08-06sample.mp3
SD FLV (373 MB): 65dos2007-08-06.flv
HD MP4 (1.8 GB): 65dos2007-08-06.mp4

65daysofstatic – El Corazon – Seattle, WA

Not that many updates recently which is a culmination of factors. Mostly because there haven’t been a lot of shows worth going to lately and I’ve been kinda doing nothing all summer. Finally a few shows cropped up that I had the energy to go to and tape.

So here is Girl Talk from Friday night at the block party. I’ll put up the openers soon (Cancer Rising and The Trucks) but I figure most people just want to get let their freak flag fly to some Girl Talk as soon as possible.

Also: Within the next few days I’m going to post the audio from the Marnie Stern show I went to last month. I keep meaning to do it but I forget or I get lazy or BLAH BLAH FART. I also recorded some video at that show so I’ll try to torrent that as well.

Girl Talk – 2007-07-27 Capitol Hill Block Party – Seattle, WA
Download: gtalk2007-07-27.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: gtalk2007-07-27sample.mp3