Live music in SF/Oakland, and maybe elsewhere...
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This features the final March 2010 Thee Oh Sees recording, at the University Of Southern California. The last post covered opening group Entrance Band, as our recordist had got there a bit too late to capture opening act The Growlers set.
Thee Oh Sees 2010-03-28 Founders Park USC
Recorded directly in front of Brigid Dawson, by 'bcingyou' (Mark B.)
equipment:
M-Audio MicrotrackII + Sony ECM990-F > WAV(44.1 sample rate/16bit) > CD Wave Editor track split FLAC level 8
setlist:
intro / Enemy Destruct / Contraption / I Was Denied / Tidal Wave / Block Of Ice / Dead Energy / Crack In Your Eye / Ghost In The Trees / Quadrospazzed / Warm Slime
Third in a series of four March 2010 Southern California shows from the San Francisco-based quartet, taped by the indomitable bcingyou.
I was NOT denied...
La la la la la...
La la la la la...
Who but these guys would play in a portable CLASSROOM???
Four score people got the show of their lives. If this group isn't one of the best live bands on this planet and you don't groove when they play, you must be DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, DEAD...
from bcingyou:
"Wow...fucking Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 3rd night seeing Thee Oh Sees was a thrill ride....playing in a portable classroom on UC Irvine campus...I didn't think anyone would be able to find this place but the crazies came out of the woodwork and filled this classroom with a capacity of 80 max (campus security made sure no more got in)...easily the most energy intense show I've EVER attended....the only show where I got hit so hard from behind that my tomahawk mic went flying out of my hands and I was stunned wondering: "why are my hands empty and where's my mic"....landed next to Brigid's feet under her keyboard...4 a.m. and I'm still wired...."
THEE OH SEES
26 March 2010
Social Science Trailer #103, UC Irvine Campus, Irvine, CA
Audience Master Recording by bcingyou.
Recorded directly beside keyboardist, Brigid Dawson. Band and audience at floor level.
M-Audio MicrotrackII + Sony ECM990-F > WAV(44.1 sample rate/16bit) > CD Wave Editor track split > FLAC level 8
And Sandwitches...most of the songs they played are on their album 'How To Make Ambient Sadcake' but there's a couple that are pretty new which I can't identify.
SANDWITCHES
26 March 2010
Social Science Trailer #103, UC Irvine Campus, Irvine, CA
Second installment of Thee Oh See's "March Madness" shows in SoCal.
Dispatch from the front, courtesy of our correspondent bcingyou:
"Last Thursday's show is finished and I included all photos I took. This recording is AMAZING! I'm really proud of this and I fixed the problem that was causing some connector pops in the earlier Oh Sees recording. To my ears this sounds perfect raw with no post tampering required. This night they did Ghost In The Trees and an even more amazing version of new song
Summertime Jam (Warm Slime).
Attached a pic I found on Flicker from thurs show and one I took of John's beautiful green guitar [both on display here]."
THEE OH SEES
25 March 2010
CasualEncounters Warehouse, 1257 E. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA
Audience Master Recording by bcingyou.
Recorded directly in front of singer/guitarist John Dwyer. Band and audience at floor level. Equipment: M-Audio MicrotrackII + Sony ECM990-F > WAV(44.1 sample rate/16bit)> CD Wave Editor track split > FLAC level 8
(*) The identification of the last song is still tentative, as this song as far as I know remains unreleased, and this is the only live recording I have of it.
Unfortunately, I haven't yet turned up any video of this show, but there are plenty of good photos in the FLAC set above as well as the following:
While this is playing, and while the band is setting up, we spot a Nintendo DS (running Korg DS-10 software) that's being used as a sound generating (synth) by the group...this will feature throughout the set. I actually have one with presumably the same Korg software they were using, but not even a thousandth of the wherewithal to make all the twisted, glitchy noise on display here. Way earlier than anything Teenage Engineering was doing...
After "Black Drum Machine", some woman facetiously and asininely suggests to Jamie to cheer up. He tells her to fuck off.
Not sure why I didn't feature this on AMH, as I didn't share it on DIME...maybe as a time capsule for an older self to reflect back on.
Think Jamie stepped away for a bit after this song (the video above cuts off at the end of the track) presumably not happy about something, but he did come back to perform about seven more songs including one of the standouts of Dear God, I Hate Myself ("This Too Shall Pass Away") and old chestnut "The Boy Soprano".
'I didn't realize the show started', said your humble narrator, as he pressed 'record'. As Sarah of Noveller built up her guitar drones via sample-and-hold looping, folks quieted down and stared forward, in rapt attention. I will not hopefully offend anyone (see Anonymous responding to my use of 'little person' in my Chameleons VOX post) if I happen to point out that this was being delivered by a very attractive young woman from Brooklyn.
Up until it all suddenly stopped. A photographer had inadvertently stepped on a power strip and brought it all to a halt, creating one of those memorable Awkward Moments this side of one of those Letterman interviews, forever seared into your mind.
'Um, can you please not lean on the power strip? Yeah, like, just...just, don't touch it at all, please.'.
Nonplussed, she introduced herself, and a bit unsure on how to proceed, then said she would fix it, and started the song 'St. Powers' over. And it was all better.
I'm not sure if 'Noveller' refers to the online microblogging site (subject to its fair share of satire) or arises from something buried deep in the collective conscience, but the music Sarah Lipstate makes is lovely beyond words.
When somebody who's been going to shows for thirty some-odd years says he's just been to the best one he's ever seen, you take notice. And when he comes back for more, not just once or twice, but *three* more times in the same month, the band in question has to be something special. And they are.
This is the first of a series of four bcingyou recordings of Thee Oh Sees from March of 2010. Enjoy! Thee Oh Sees 11 March 2010 Nomad Gallery, 1993 Blake Ave., Los Angeles, CA Audience Master Recording by bcingyou Recorded directly in front of singer/guitarist John Dwyer, band and audience at floor level. M-Audio MicrotrackII + Sony ECM990-F>WAV(44.1 sample rate/16bit)>CD Wave Editor track split 01. intro 02. Enemy Destruct 03. Contraption 04. I Was Denied (HD video: sallenp) 05. Block of Ice 06. Meat Step Lively 07. Crack In Your Eye 08. Mega Feast 09. AA Warm Breeze 10. Tidal Wave 11. Dead Energy 12. Warm Slime (Summertime Jam), at the 9:12 point the recording drops to mono due to mic connector 'pops' in one channel. Video footage here. Total Time – 50:25
Digging through this year's archives for this one. Have to say this was my second-or-third favorite performance of 2010.
tUnE-yArDs is Merrill Garbus, on loopstation, drums, ukelele, and earth-scorching, soulful vocals.
I had the extreme pleasure of seeing her open along with Noveller (featured in a previous post) for Xiu Xiu back in March.
If Merrill Garbus is ever in your vicinity, RUN, not walk, to see her perform. To be honest, not much that the legendary record label 4AD has signed over the past few years has caught my fancy...until tUnE-yArDs. A web search should turn up all the raves she's getting for her live performances...very much well deserved. She pretty much killed it, as the kids would say these days. Utterly, unbelievably good, trust me on this one. :) So good, I bought all the merch on offer, letting her pick the color of my T-Shirt (blue)...
She was joined by frequent cohort Nate Brenner on bass and a saxophonist who provided appropriate bleeting sounds at opportune intervals. Even the most grumpy rump-addled punter (meaning yours truly) started grooving and shaking their butts to the rhythms on display. Oh. My. Fucking. God. Just mind-blowing.
I felt sorry for Jamie Stewart, there would have been no way for Xiu Xiu to top what we had just seen here, short of acting out on the impulses which propel his quite extreme images in his lyrics...no fault of their own, but kudos to him for having her on board on tour to co-headline...even if he was Buzzcocks to her Joy Division.
M-Audio MicrotrackII + Sony ECM990-F > WAV(44.1 sample rate/16bit) > CD Wave Editor track split FLAC level 8
