Flipper - 2008-02-18 - Amoeba Records, SF

Flipper
2008-02-18
Amoeba Records
San Francisco CA
 

USA [country included for those lovely DIME mods and pedants who desire a ambiguous-free life, courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_%28disambiguation%29]

My first DIME seed for a while.

lineage: Belkin TuneTalk Stereo iPod classic 30Gb (in set) / iPod Nano 2nd gen (encore) > Adobe Audition 1.5 (normalization/fades) CD Wave Editor (tracking) FLAC (6)

*** No, you're not seeing things, I taped this with an iPod! ***

location:  about 20' away from stage right (that's the left hand side to normal people), a few feet left of the mixing board and a huge boom mic

Tracklisting

Ha Ha Ha
Night Falls Like Dirt Rocks (new one)

(Loose Talk)
Way Of The World

(alt video - end part)
Triple Mass Murder Suicide (new one)
Shed No Tears
Be A Good Child (new one)
Sacrifice
-------------------------------------
(encore) Shine

 

Notes

The indomitable Flipper (with ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic in tow) making a FREE appearance at the Amoeba Records shop on Haight St. in San Francisco.  Found out from a friend literally the hour before, and never having caught them in their heyday, plus having new kit to test out, was eager to head on out and make the drive up to the City to capture their set for posterity.  Considering I went to elementary  school a few blocks up the street, it was surprising that this only my second visit inside the SF Amoeba...though when I went to school in Berkeley I practically lived in the Amoeba there.

Was going to use the Nano for the main set, as I didn't want HD noise to enter into the picture, but it ended up locking up, so I went to the backup recorder, which had enough battery power to last about 30 minutes before conking out after the main set.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice it had run out until a couple of minutes into the encore, which gave me just enough time to swap in the now-resuscitated Nano to cover (most of) the encore.  I know there's another version out there that's complete which
may surface eventually...

The IDs for the new tracks comes from the following (now-archived) article:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/47783-flipper-recording-new-album-with-krist-novoselic

On my recording, the between-song banter is interesting enough to tracksplit on its own.  I have these segments labelled as 'Loose talk'...

Was a very entertaining listen, and Bruce Lose...er, LOOSE was a laugh riot, even accepting a roach that somebody down front had been puffing on.  Was a bit taken aback at how much hair Krist had lost...I guess I'm not the only one slowly losing it, but Ted Falconi had more than enough dreadlocks to go around, so I didn't sweat it.
 

And the recording came out splendidly, shocking the hell out of me considering I used an *iPod*

to tape this.  The thought of that still gives me the giggles.  And the photos were taken with my...wait for it...new iPhone (the TuneTalk mic isn't yet compatible with this piece of Apple  gear, but I have enough old players to open up my own Ebay store)...you can see the quite bizarre setup in the photos, most of the crowd was interspersed between rows of records and CDs, very convenient for Amoeba as many people were trapped browsing the aisles after the band had finished.  
 

The band also were signing copies of their newly re-released DVD of their Live Target Video VHS,but the thought of Flipper signing autographs pretty much defeats itself, which means they've once again failed at failing (or something like that), so on that thought we bid them farewell.

A shot goes out to the legendary Duncan.  But I did edit this on a PC. :(

 

lammah

DOWNLOAD / STREAM

(notes preserved as originally posted, except to add or update links.  Unfortunately, Amoeba's homepage link is broken as the Flipper Flash Video files aren't on their site anymore...so all we have that is below...if you look in that vid you can see me in the crowd, near the back)

 

WAY OF THE WORLD

 

Carta / The Drift / Savage Republic - 2008-01-04 - Cafe Du Nord SF

 

Photo from this article...

At this point, I've done this enough to not preface this with "My seventh recording..." which this was. 

Both of these shows were taped with my friend Tomzero's Sonic Studios DSM-6 mics, using a PA-6 battery box, plugged into a Sony MZ-RH10.

This was the first of nine times seeing Kyle / Ray / Sasha / Raj in Carta, and right off I can tell they had something special to their instrumental post-rock.  Here's a listing of shows that they have played over the years.

Carta

2008-01-04

Cafe Du Nord

San Francisco CA

Setlist

pre-gig PA music ("Coup" by 23 Skidoo), soundchecking

The Glass Bottom Boat

Burning Bridges

Who Killed The Clerk, Descension

Back To Nature (edited)

I may have dealing with something to do with nature at this point, hence the edit.

...outro PA music (Section 25 - "Beneath The Blade")

Download/stream CARTA

The Drift

2008-01-04

Cafe Du Nord

San Francisco CA

pre-gig PA music

soundchecking, intro

Nozomi

Invisible Cities (edited)

unknown

Hearts Are Flowers

...outro PA music (Chameleons)

 

Don't remember much about these guys but they were also in the post-rock vein, and they had released Nozomi / Invisible Cities on a single a couple years prior.

Download/stream THE DRIFT.

 

I also recorded headliners Savage Republic, but per agreement with the band, I do not have permission to share this recording publicly.  I can disclose what songs were played, though, since it's already out there, as well as share these two previously unpublished photos from the show.

pre-gig PA music, soundchecking

Procession

Spice Fields

[interlude] There are some people here that saw us in Athens

O Andonis

[interlude] Ethan Port talks

Marshal Tito

[interlude] Is it my imagination

Siam

[interlude] Alan wants to take his short off

Jamahiriya

Mobilization

Ivory Coast

Torpedo

Tablula Rasa

1938

pre-encore PA, 'Kill The Fascists' (audience member), SR come back on

Viva Le Rock n' Roll [Alternative TV]

Real Men

 

NO DOWNLOAD for Savage Republic

I will instead feature this absolutely stunning recording of them 25 years prior, at the I-Beam.

My Sixth Recording - Xiu Xiu - 2007-04-23 - Bottom Of The Hill SF (incomplete)

photo by David Downs

Xiu Xiu

2007-04-23

Bottom Of The Hill

San Francisco CA

thehappyone recording, done with Sonic Studios DSM-6 into PA-6 batbox, plugged into a Sony MZ-RH10 MD recorder (PCM mode).

pre-gig PA tracks:

The Now - Mouthful of Bees

Punkrocker (Feat Iggy Pop) - Teddybears, Iggy Pop

soundchecking, Supernatural Car Lover - Robert Pollard

Brainstorm (live) - Arctic Monkeys

Setlist

intro

Sad Pony Guerilla Girl

Bishop, CA

Ceremony (cut)

I Luv The Valley OH! [not on recording]

Yellow Raspberry (start missing)

The Fox and the Rabbit

...

Also played:

Vulture Piano 

The Wig Master

I Broke Up

MP3s (in a zipfile) available here

Note: My recording only includes the first through start of the third song, and the fifth and sixth song. I was really bummed that it cut out during the start of "Ceremony", as it was an excellent version, too.  I didn't note what else was played, so I've had to piece together what would have been in the setlist based on reviews and whatever other recordings have surfaced.  

There's a Paper Heart, Phoenix recording from the month before (2007-03-25, to be exact) that has the following setlist:

Sad Pony Guerilla Girl
Bishop, CA
I Broke Up 
Sad Redux-o-Grapher
Boy Soprano
I Love The Valley OH!
The Fox and the Rabbit
Buzz Saw
Vulture Piano
Yellow Raspberry
Ceremony
Fabulous Muscles

So based on this, I'm pretty sure that at least Boy Soprano and Fabulous Muscles were performed...here's an list of all the other media I was able to turn up of this show...the record is somewhat fragmentary.

East Bay Express article, by David Downs, that states "Vulture Piano" and "The Wig Master" were played.

David Downs videos:

First bit of "Sad Pony Guerilla" (0:24)

 

...and the "Freakout" at end of "Sad Pony Guerilla". (also 0:24)

 

 

"I Luv The Valley OH!", last 1:14, later in the set...my recording cuts during the intro of "Ceremony"(dying battery) and I restarted it a bit further into the set and got a couple more tracks, but not this one.

 

End of "Yellow Raspberry" (0:25)

 

Ben Mirov videos, documenting one of their later songs:

"I Broke Up" (2:32)

 

Openers Sunset Rubdown - "Winged Wicked Things" (4:14)

I didn't record their set.

 

A less-than-positive review from vulpture...I don't know what this blogger was expecting...KC and the Sunshine Band?  Much of Xiu Xiu's material comes from a very dark place, and seems as pretentious and honest as art should be.  I know that they are a very acquired taste, so no worries if it is not your thing, and sometimes I find them awkward and forced, but when they make an impact, it is with the full force of the best music has to offer.

Their prior visit to BOTH, as featured here...

My Fifth Recording - The Fall - 2006-05-15 - The Independent SF

Photos by Brian McClowsky

The Fall - Reformation! (live review)

From an original audience tape by "Lammah". A good quality audience recording with all instruments being well represented. Initially vocals are a little quiet but pick up as the gig progresses.

The first leg of the 2006 American tour completed with a stunning night at The Independant in San Francisco. The relatively new backing line-up play magnificently and the "new" track "Systematic Abuse" gets a re-working. Some incredible mixing and use of echo on various numbers transports the classic Fall sound into new dimensions. Tim Presleys guitar work adds new value to the Fall sound and Rob Barbato provides stunning but solid underpinning to the group sound. Orpheo McCord is an excellent drummer and adds significantly to the dynamic of the bands live sound.

There have been mixed feelings about the standard of this band and the recent sackings of three long-standing members. However the general view would appear to be that this iteration of the Fall is the most accomplished in some time bringing in a new era and providing a transition from the "garage" sound which has predominated for the last three to four years.


Download in MP3 format

Source: AUD - Sonic Studios DSM-6L > bat box > Sony MZ-RH10 Hi-MD (PCM) > Sonic Stage (for WAV conversion) > CD Wave Editor > FLAC (5)

No Re-EQ'ing, compression, or anything else done!

Quality: EX- pretty much centered, fairly minimal annoying audience chatter, only thing I hear that's annoying is my mic cut out for a split second at about 0:14 of 'What About Us'.

Setlist

01 - intro [0:54]
02 - Bo Demmick [9:00]
03 - Pacifying Joint [6:14]
04 - Theme From Sparta FC [4:45]
05 - Mountain Energei [9:37]
06 - Wrong Place Right Time [6:51]
07 - What About Us [9:31]
08 - I Can Hear The Grass Grow [3:16]
09 - pre-encore cheering [2:18]
10 - Systematic Abuse [8:10]
11 - Mr. Pharmacist [2:44]
12 - outro [1:48]

Total: 1:05:12

My notes:

They sound even better than what I heard from tomzero's seed from the night before. I was expecting a shambles, what I got was a band tighter than a duck's behind, even though they have been together only for a week, as Mark's former band (sans Elena, of course) along with their tour manager had bailed and flown back to England after a disastrous show in Phoenix.

My Fourth Recording - Peter Hook DJ Set - 2005-10-28 - Mezzanine SF

Hooky gives the thumbs up!

(written back in 2005)

It's weird going to any dance club alone. 

This was a social event more than a flesh exchange, so, luckily, nobody hit on me. Though somebody did come up to me to ask something...more on that later.

Apparently, Stüssy (umlaut over the u), which is a clothing company, was having some sort of celebration so all of their folks had all-access. Last time (when Hooky dropped by Popscene), I dragged my wife along, and had to leave early because she wanted to get home and we needed to get an early start for the next day...well, that was the day before Kaiser and my trip to So. Cal to see Coachella.  Not sure how long he played, but this time, it was for about three hours! Popscene was packed.  For some reason, this event was more sparsely attended, and the location is about 2x the size of Popscene to boot. 

The special guest (whom I found out only last night) was Andy Rourke formerly of the Smiths. He's looking all right these days, he was drinking quite a bit during his set, which was basically performed with an iBook.  I happened to tape much of his set, so you you can hear for yourself that he's basically just playing music and not doing much in the way of mixing. [Hooky, too, it turns out, to quite an infamous reaction].  I didn't get a chance to go up to him, but a couple of people asked for (and got) autographs and took pictures with him. One disappointing note.  No Freebass tracks, as far as I tell. 

Doubly curious since 2/3's [well, not really, but that's what I thought back then] of the group were there. So, while I'm watching Andy do his thing, none other than the man himself comes walking by...but by the time I react, he's well past me, and there's nothing worse than chasing, both in poker and in brushes with greatness.  However, Hooky and a young man came by again, and I had a brief chance to talk to him. I found out that he's working with LTM on releasing all the gems he has in his vaults....no, just kidding. I only had the werewithal to ask him how long Andy Rourke had been beatmixing... er, DJ'ing. Hooky laughed, shrugged, and referred me to the young man that was next to him.  At the time, I didn't figure out until afterwards that young man was his son Jack! The cool part is that I was taping at this point, so you'll likely be able to hear this.  I'm about 90% sure this was Jack, since I recall reading that he would accompany the old man on his nights out, but I'm not totally positive about it, but he does bear a bit of resemblance to his father, but has curly hair and will probably have no trouble with the ladies. 

The first part of Hooky's set was the pretty bog-standard sequence (Captain and Tennile's Love Will Keep Us Together mixed with LWTUA followed by Grace Jones' SLC, etc)...a well-put together set, actually, which, by the end turned into an 'Item' listening party, with New Order track after New Order track.  This is not a bad thing at all, mind you, as there's nothing more transcendent than having tracks played to you by one of the people responsible for their composition, especially by the person I daresay is now [was] the heart and soul of the group.  

He was clearly enjoying himself, at several points trying to get a cute-looking girl who was probably affiliated with the club to help mix.  And at one point Jack grabbed her to keep her from going. Smart lad, that apple doesn't fall very far from the tree, as they say. 

By the time Hooky was done, there were only myself and 20 other diehards out of the total of 100-something from before left... we were having a blast, singing along and dancing along like the drunkards most of the group were at that point, I only had a single Pale Ale, I'm dangerous enough as it is without getting pissed.  I taped most of it, but ran out of disc (and battery) during the latter part of Crystal, after approximately 2hr 40m of music. Not bad, and I may have gotten even more had I used the wall outlet AC instead of USB to charge it (the MD-RZ10 also takes a single AA attachment to extend battery life).  I could have probably gotten a couple more hours of bat life (and certainly enough room on a single 1Gb disc) had I recorded in ATRAC SP mode, but I believe in keeping it lossless if at all possible.  [funny that I've only sharing this in MP3 format]

And unlike my Kaiser recording, this one was quite listenable without any further processing. In fact, it turned out surprisingly good. The AGC on those units is wicked fast, it's not easy to tell that the unit is constantly volume limiting. So I missed out on (going by memory) EGG, Temptation ('83 version), True Faith, Regret, WIM (full singalong in effect), and the first part of Moby's Temptation to chill-out and give the message to the faithful to sod off, even I was yelling out, "Haven't you lot had enough?". 

It was well worth the price of admission plus nearly that much to park. As I was walking out, a couple of the lads were putting their best Blighty on and singing to WIM and "Manchester, la-la-la" as they staggered out the door. Well, I use "lads" loosely, one was wearing a nose ring. I'm sure they're NOOL'ers...didn't run into anybody I had met earlier, though I did recognize one lady from Popscene. Near the end, one individual goes up to me and asks whether I'm Arthur Baker! I nearly doubled up from laughing, but still had enough breath to tell him that nope, I wasn't, pointing out that Arthur Baker is quite a bit fatter and older than I am. I'm not sure if this made the tape or it had cut out by then [ed: it made in onto the recording]. 

I managed to give Hooky a copy of 'Excerpts From Recycle'. He accepted it and shook my hand...For all I know he might bin it, and it's a bit late to the part after Item, but there's still a few interesting things on there.  Will be interesting to see if anything comes of it. He might even play a track off of it, who knows.

One other bit of trivia. Hooky was smoking at a couple points, and so was Jack. Shhh...Don't tell...

 

Hooky waves at yours truly.

Setlist for Peter Hook

Captain And Tenille - Love Will Keep Us Together vs. JD - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Malcolm McLaren)
Grace Jones - She's Lost Control vs Ian Curtis original vocal
Dub Pistols - World Gone Crazy
Tom Neville - Just Fuck
Benny Benassi Presents The Biz - No Matter What You Do
The Shapeshifter's - Lola's Theme (internal cut at 1m50s swapping MDs)
Steve 'Silk' Hurley - Jack Your Body
New Order - Krafty (Morels Pink Noise vocal)
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle (remix)
Bodyrockers - I Like The Way
La Phaze - Rude Boy
Sugirumn - Boogie Nights
Karl Bartos - 15 Minutes Of Fame
Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
Chemical Brothers - Out Of Control
The Killers - Mr Brightside
The Killers - All These Things I've Done (remix - includes Hooky bass bit)
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People (Jon Carter mix)
Joy Division - Transmission (with Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love teaser)
Monaco - What Do You Want From Me
Johnny Cash - A Thing Called Love (Jerry Reed Hubbard)
New Order - Blue Monday (remix)
New Order - Crystal (cut)

Download link (MP3)

Setlist for Andy Rourke

Chris Issak - I Dont' Want To Fall In Love (end) 
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Annie - Chewing Gum (Mylo remix, radio edit) (cut) [missing Herbie Hancock - Rockit from source]
Le Tigre - Decptacon
The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
Ian Brown - F.E.A.R.
The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers
Happy Monday - Halleujah
Marlena Shaw - California Soul
New Order - Blue Monday (mash-up with 'We Can Make Sandwiches')
The Breeders - Cannonball
Elastica - Connection
The Pixies - Debaser
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
The Clash - Train In Vain
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy

Download link (MP3)

(Lossless for both sets available upon request.  Maybe.)

Videos

New Order - Krafty

Joy Division - Transmission + Monaco WDYWFM

New Order - Blue Monday