2013-12-13

Permanent Collection - The Collection (2012)



Permanent Collection
"The Collection" (2012)

All my 2012 recordings of the group, six in total, as well as SR's absolutely gorgeous sights and sounds from the Barboza In Seattle (opening for Terry Malts), viewable right here:




To watch all the other videos of PermCol that are out there, you can see my playlist.

For all known audio recordings (MP3 format):


The Serra Bowl show is also featured in an older posting.

If you want to see what they're up to presently, they have a Bandcamp, where you can download their "No Void" EP.




2013-11-28

Beach Fossils - May 2012 West Coast shows

Dustin Paseuyr, be careful not to misspell!

Beach Fossils
2012-05-10
Neumo's 
Seattle, WA

Taped by SR with Schoepps MK4 active setup, amplified by a Naiant Tinybox, into a Sony PCM-M10 digital recorder.

Setlist


Cole in one of his trademark 
alpacan pullovers
I Fall
The Horse
Shallow
Lessons
Vacation
Moments >
What A Pleasure
Youth
Wide Awake
Golden Age
Sometime (DIIV cover)
Twelve Roses
Calyer
"encore one more song" 
  (satirical improvisation)
Daydream
"oh thank you" (satirical improvisation)

To download the entire set (MP3 format), go here.

If you want this in lossless, you'll have to brave the Incubation tracker.  This requires registration, but should otherwise hopefully be straightforward.

Videos that SR shot are linked above.  I've synchronized them to the outboard audio.

SR passed me on his footage late last year, but I was very lax in getting this out.  The sample-and-hold "satirical improvisations" are hilarious, apparently Beach Fossils have discovered that encores are a farce, something David Gedge could have told them ages ago... :-)

Anyway, best Thanksgiving wishes to you and yours!  A bonus show below the break.


2013-10-05

Gender Clichés - Women In Garage Rock (documentary)

Greer McGettrick (The Mallard), Adobe Books benefit 2012

I just received a communication via YouTube...
To: thehappyone
Hey! I know it's been a LONG time. But the documentary I worked on is finally up. We're still having issues with getting YouTube to understand that we got permissions for the songs, so it's unlisted for now. But pass around the link if you can! I hope you enjoy it!
The video is...was...here...would love to see it again...




The documentarian gave me her consent to upload it to my site. 

Right off the bat, this starts out with footage from the Mallard at the Adobe Books benefit from last April, and then interviews Dylan E. and Greer from the Mallard, Shannon Shaw from both Hunx and his Punx and Shannon and the Clams, and Emily Rose Epstein from Ty Segall.  

I can honestly say that the any thought that they were "good musicians/artists for being women" at no point ever crossed my mind when seeing any of these groups. 

Unfortunately, at least according to them, it seems to have crossed a lot of other people's, which makes me feel a bit shameful, but mostly puzzled.  I wished we lived in a world where one's gender (or any other identity someone holds dear to them) would be empowering and enabling, not conforming or demoralizing, and I struggle to imagine why anybody would ever not want to listen to Shannon when she tells them how she thinks she should sound.

That's not to say I didn't notice they were women...of course, I did, and all the attributes that go along with that.  I'm only human.  While gender does certainly inform what themes certain songs feature, there's nothing intrinsically "male" or "female" about the way a person approaches playing the drums, guitar, keyboard, or bass.  But at the same time, some of my favorite bands I've been blessed to experience (Lush, New Order, Vomit Launch, Thee Oh Sees, Quaaludes) have one or more women members...and I think they're all the more interesting for it!

Anyway, I don't want to prattle for longer than the length of the doc, so please spare a few minutes and give it a spin.  

Thanks!




2013-08-26

Vomit Launch - Shocking Early Works Vol 1




A complete change of pace, as there has been a lull in my recent outside activities.  We now turn to a Chico, CA group that is still somewhat obscure and has been a object of recent fascination. the shockingly named VOMIT LAUNCH.

Twenty-plus years after they played their final show in December 1992, and after their posthumous Not Even Pretty+ release on Mark Robinson's Teenbeat label, there is a new 7" release of songs, previously only available on the super-hard-to-find "Live In Chico" cassette.  

(by the way, they are not kidding about "Jah Lives At Joe's Barbecue"...if this ever gets out, it's likely to have you hurling and clawing your eyes out)

I wonder if the title of this derives from the Violent Onsen Geisha release of the same name.  That seems right up the alley of the material the BUFMS (Butte County Free Music Society) has been airing over the last several years, starting with their mammoth 4xLP plus "penalty CD", Induced Musical Spasticity, which also features some of the players involved on this.  The impetus of the re-release of this material was the passing away of original Vomit Launch member Tim Smyth, who is featured on the tracks that appear on this single.

On the A side, we are greeted with the sighing ennui-laden downward spiral of "The Only Way Is Down"...the band warn us at the start that they would be cribbing lyrics, and indeed, one hears the 'I put my trust in you' lyric from Joy Division's "A Means To An End".  

The flip features a *very* early skeletal take of "Swelling Admiration" that sounds like the Shaggs getting assaulted by the asshole fratboys serving as the antagonists of the song, and a gonzo, off-the-meds version of Flipper's "Sex Bomb", which itself is gonzo off-the-meds to begin with.

Bizarre, and utterly essential.  Order from Tedium House here.

There's precious little out there for Vomit Launch available available online that you cannot find on iTunes/Amazon, etc. 
or on their official website, but I can at least feature the one video they made, for "Switch" on Mr. Spench.  This almost got aired on MTV's 120 Minutes, who instead put up the outtakes for it instead and called it a day, what do you expect from pigfuckers who would go on to bring you The Real World and only now serve to keep right-thinking folks the hell away from whatever they're dishing up presently.





2013-07-14

Hopped up on Quaaludes!

Quaaludes in action at El Rio
Morgan (g), Suzy (d), Aimee (v), Megan (b)



I'm back!  Did you miss me?  Rather than go into a bunch of excuses, most of them lame, a few of them not, I'll just get right into it. 

One of my faves for two thousand thirteen so far has been this
local punk group.  I've seen Quaalude Megan before as part of shoegazers Permanent Collection, but not any of the others, so didn't know what to expect when I got the word to drop by local Mission watering hole the Knockout to see them.  Boy, was I knocked out, spellbound by Aimee's soaring, whooping vocals, and the mixture of fast jams and post-punk throbbers.

I love these (non-)guys so much, I took the liberty of taking one
of their songs and assembling my version of it, mainly to make it last longer than the original sub-two minute version. 

You can grab a copy of it here exclusively in lossless FLAC:

Quaaludes - Know Wada Mean [Frank N. Christ mix]

We'll see how long it takes for East Bay Ray and Klaus Fluoride to send me a C&D, haha...in the meantime, I'll just get right into the audiovisuals.  If you want to find out more, y'all are quite capable of of finding their Radio Valencia interview or even their NBC Bay Area writeup (but I'll assist anyway).

Here's my recording of them from El Rio from June 18th, 2013.
Done with Sony ECM-MS907s into Olympus LS-5.

Setlist

soundchecking
Blood On The Ice
Call You Up
Mistake
Hate Mail
Monsters
Iso
Stiff Little Single
Know Wada Mean
I Don't Care

Quaaludes - 2013-06-18 - El Rio - San Francisco CA
(FLACs in a zipfile)

Photoset from El Rio (Flickr)

And here's a vid of the group at Pink String in Oakland in May.
(I prepared this from footage shot by Azuza Kimchi)


Tracks

intro 
Blood On The Ice
Know Wada Mean
Hate Mail
Monsters
I So 
Stiff Little Single
Call U Up 
I Don't Care

(intro/Blood/I So not videoed)

Quaaludes - 2013-05-10 - Pink String - Oakland CA
(FLACs in a zipfile, capture done with Olympus LS-5's built-ins)

Photoset (Flickr)

Lastly, here's what I think was their third ever show, at the Knockout on Tax Day.  Video filmed by yours truly, and I wasn't even the only one there documenting this...



Tracks


Blood On The Ice
Call You Up
Mistake
Hate Mail
Monsters
Stiff Little Single
Gin
Know Wada Mean

(FLACs in a zipfile, capture done with the
Olympus LS-5's built-ins)

Both video versions featured my audio capture blended with the digicam capture, and I think sound somewhat better for it.

If you dig them like I do, it's imperative that you pay a visit to their Bandcamp site and listen to the tracks on their 'She's Weird Like Us' EP and their Live at the Stork Club set and support the band by 
buying stuff from them, going to see them live, and buying their merch and releases.  This is how it happens.

2013-04-10

The Mallard (2010-2013) RIP



What's going on?  Another group that I've featured on here that was gaining some serious traction (The Mallard) is now breaking up, according to this SF Weekly article.

Here's my writeups for when I first caught them live....




[NOTE: you'll need to register, but it's free]  

At some point, these will appear on the blog proper.

Recently, instead of playing their regular set, the Mallard instead switched it up and performed their cover of Throbbing Gristle's "Very Friendly".  Martin Hardee in his Lines Overlapping blog has a great writeup (and a short clip), check it out.
Part One


Part Two.

2013-04-03

Blasted Canyons 2010-2013 (RIP)




Blasted Canyons (2010-2013)

The group announced yesterday via their Facebook that they have disbanded.

Here's some jams and stuff to remember them by, as they were a formidable presence playing live, with all three members exchanging instruments and working together to brew a cauldron of psych-noize for anybody lucky enough to have caught them (I saw them eight times myself) 

Not sure if all the links contained in the below still work, but if you want something and notice that it's not available, feel free to request.  I have a few more things out there, so I'll add to the list as time permits.

2012-05-23 - The Rickshaw Stop SF
(video of two songs) 

2012-03-27 - New Frontier Tacoma, WA
(video of complete performance) 

2012-03-25 - Linen Building, Boise ID
(video of 'Holy Geometry' filmed by Daniel Yoshida)

2012-03-10 - Pehrspace LA
(video of complete performance)

2012-01-29 - The Knockout SF  
(writeup, includes link to pictures and audio)

2011-12-15 - Thee Parkside SF
(writeup, includes links to pictures, audio, video)

July-Aug 2011 shows
(writeup of three seperate shows, including audio)

2010-11-14 - Eagles Tavern SF
(w/Thee Oh Sees, includes link to audio and two videos)





2013-03-18

Terry Malts - Noise Pop 2013


Terry Malts
2013-02-27
Noise Pop
Rickshaw Stop SF

Setlist

Living With The Human Race
What Was It?
Not Far From It
'malternate tuning' (interlude)
Where Is The Weekend
They're Feeding (Subway version)
new one  ('I Don't Wanna Go')
Tumble Down
I Do
Walking With You
Life's A Dream
No Tomorrow
No Sir, I'm Not A Christian
Something About You

They weren't the headliners for this show, but more than one person noticed that the place was most full with the Malts on.
I didn't stay for more than a few songs for the last act, having been sated by seeing TM and Synthetic ID before them.

"They're Feeding" was punctuated by a mock-rep for Subway taking the group for task for being in breach of contract, as they were supposed to have been promoting the foot-long February $5 deal.

(Ed.'s admission: I had many a $5 footlong during that month, as there's a Subway right near work...right next to it is a McDonald's)

Otherwise, aside from a 'malternate tuning' between Not Far From It and Where Is The Weekend it was an onslaught of old faves (good to hear No Sir again, a few people were shouting for it) and new songs that will hopefully be on their upcoming LP.





More photos can be found here.





2013-03-16

Synthetic ID - Noise Pop 2013





Synthetic ID
2013-02-27
Noise Pop @ Rickshaw Stop
San Francisco, CA

setlist

new instrumental
Between The Lines
No Context
Like Clockwork
Pressure Gauge
Waterlogged
Facade
Killing Time
Throwaway

My compatriot and I made it to the Rickshaw just in time to catch Nick, Will, Paul, and Jake put some noise back into Noise Pop, and captivate the audience (most of whom were probably still getting there) with the best set of the night.  I had seen these guys last year, and they were even better this time...two adjectives I'd use are economical and dystopian, nothing was wasted, nothing was superfluous, nothing was all right with the world, except right here, in front of Synthetic ID performing.










More photos can be found here.


2013-03-15

The Missing Boy (returns)

Vini Reilly



There was a boy
I almost knew him
A glance exchanged
Made me feel good
Leaving some signs

Now a legend

The dream was wrought

Where thoughts were heard
Love is reserved
From previous times


[chorus]

Like a dead bird in the dirt
Like a rusty can on the ground
I don't believe in stardom
Machinery in action
Full of experts
Full of experts
Same old order
Same old order
Same old order


Watch with obsession
Some accident of beauty
Try to capture
As the light begins to fail
Shapes to compose
Shadows of frailty
The dream is better
Dissolves into softness
But the end
The end is always the same


[chorus]


There was a boy
I almost knew him
A glance exchanged
Made me feel good
Leaving some signs
Now a legend

---

Been out of commission for a few months, working on other projects, really.


But I'm back for another go-round!

Will start up again with resuscitating links from December 2010, which I'll do over the course of next week.

Then my live jaunts start up again, as I'll be seeing the following groups:

2/27 Synthetic ID + Terry Malts - Noise Pop - Rickshaw Stop SF [*]
3/22 The Joy Formidable - The Fillmore SF
4/05 Thee Oh Sees - Verdi Club SF
4/09 Sparks - The Chapel SF
4/18 Savages - The Independent SF

There may be others.

--

[*] Yes, this post postdates this show by about two weeks, so to make up for it, I'll be putting up my recordings for these groups over the weekend!