Fresh and Onlys / Tamaryn / Wax Idols - 2011-10-07 - Great American Music Hall SF

The Fresh & Onlys
2011-10-07
Great America Music Hall
San Francisco CA

All recordings are dual-sourced audience blends.

TZ0: Sonic Studios DSM-6s/L > Edirol R-09HR
TH1: Church Audio CA-11 > CA-9100 > Olympus LS-5

songs
 
Summer Of Love
Grey-Eyed Girl
Fascinated
What's His Shadow Still Doing Here?
Secret Walls
Waterfall
Strange Disposition
August In My Mind
You're Known To Wander
Dreaming Is Easy
Wash Over Us
Love & Kindness
Peacock & Wing
Diamond In The Dark

Dream Girls
Feelings In My Heart


Fresh...download (FLAC)



Tim Cohen and company put on a good show for a hometown crowd, even if I'm more than willing to admit I was primarily drawn to seeing Wax Idols and Tamaryn.  What struck me on playback is how tuneful F&Os are, along with Kelley Stoltz and Sonny and the Sunsets and the more laid-back Thee Oh Sees material, this is a signature San Francisco vibe (note: doesn't necessarily mean low-fi...)  

Speaking of which, spot anyone familiar?

JPD and Heidi Sandwitch

Opening acts after the jump...

Dum Dum Girls (w/Crocodiles and Colleen Green) - 2011-10-04 - Great American Music Hall

Dum Dum Girls
2011-10-04
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA


A TZ0/TH1 joint production.


Setlist

Bambi

Always Looking
Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout
Catholicked
I Will Be
Rest Of Our Lives
Bedroom Eyes
It Only Takes One Night
Wasted Away
Hold Your Hand
Teardrops On My Pillow

Sandra

He Gets Me High
In My Head
Jail La La
Heartbeat (Take It Away)
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out 
  [The Smiths]     (vid 1)  (vid 2)
 
---
Coming Down    (vid 1)  (vid 2)


The DDG recording is up on DIME.

Individual links are to YouTube videos.

I've been minimizing commentary (better to be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt) recently but have to say that the DDG set this time around, even with some technical difficulties surrounding Jules' guitar, was even more tight then the previous times we had seen them last year.  It's uncommon for me to enjoy a band's slower tracks more than their faster paced ones, but this was an exception...Kristin's...er, Dee Dee's vocal delivery was enough to bring the house down, especially on tracks like 'Hold Your Hand' and 'In My Head'...but most of all, the phenomenal encore track 'Coming Down'...I'm hoping they follow groups like The Joy Formidable in getting some national television exposure, even if I probably won't want to catch them in any venues much larger than the GAMH.

Opening bands after the break...

tUnE-yArDs - 2011-04-26 - GAMH SF

Not sure if any of you have heard of Tune-Yards, or any of their previous shows either tomzero or I have taped, but if they ever make it out your way GO SEE THEM.  This was taped last month by myself and tomzero, but I've only been able to get to it in the last couple of days.

The blend of our recordings sounds incredible, and it's an amazing performance...we made the right decision to hang back...as the PA mix was perfect from where we were at....keep your eye on DIME in the next hour or two.

I'm really tempted to seed this as 48kHz/24 bit...as this is a superlative recording, if I may say so.

Grab it here (DIME login required):  
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=357564

For the standard 44.1kHz/16 bit, you can just grab it via the usual
means:


Download FLACs in ZIP archive

Links feature all the YouTube video footage, including a couple of my own iPhone 4 efforts.


Setlist  


Do You Want To Live?
You Yes You
Gangsta     [alt from balcony]
Es-so       [alt from back (mine)]
Powa
Fiya        [alt from balcony pt 1  pt 2]
Bizness
Doorstep
Hatari
Killa

Real Live Flesh
My Country

Wolly Wolly Gong (mine)

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11403855@N08/sets/72157626594505374/

http://mavieenbeats.com/?p=309

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagelradio/5662384473/in/photostream/

Reviews:  

http://www.redefinemag.com/music/reviews_concert_2.php?artist=tUnE-yArDs-Buke-And-Gass&id=2411

http://eventseekr.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/tune-yards-at-the-great-american-music-hall-426-review/

HRO: (oy vey)  http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2011/04/broad-tune-yards-next-female-indie-sex-icon.html

We also taped the two opening acts.

Man-Machine (Sonics > Edirol only):

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UA4LB179

Setlist ...need help!

unknown song 01

unknown song 02
03

04

05

06

07

08

Buke and Gass (dual audience blend):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XCRP21SP

Setlist

Medicina

Medulla Oblongata

Your Face Left Before You

?

Sleep Gets Your Ghost

Page Break

Bundletuck

Red Hood Came Home

Revel In Contempt

?

Outt

SFGate coverage of Buke and Gass:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/culture/detail?entry_id=87647

Bonus tUnE-yArds show after the jump...forgot that I had taped them twice last year, this is the second appearance which we saw during Popfest after being blown away at the Bottom Of The Hill show in late March.

Catwalk and Twin Shadow - 2011-04-19 - Great American Music Hall SF

Nick Hessler of Catwalk  (credit: tz0)

Catwalk
2011-04-19
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA

TZ0 recording.  Sonic Studios DSM-6L > Edirol R-09HR.

Setlist

Do It Again
(Please) Don't Break Me
No Room For Love
Always New
Home
All Around
Sun Bleach

Italicized songs are unreleased, so the the titles given for those are provisional.

Download/stream FLACs

Can Mike Sniper and his label do no wrong?  I guess not.  Nick Hessler and compatriots have succeeded in putting Oxnard, CA on the map.  I've heard the term 'beach music' applied to their songs...imagine the Beach Boys fronting a shoegaze group.  Okay, that comparison was a bit lame, but you get thie idea.

I encourage you to browse the Captured Tracks releases page and...buy everything on it...like now.



Twin Shadow
2011-04-19
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA

TZ0 recording.  Same as above.

Setlist

Shooting Holes
Tyrant Destroyed
When We're Dancing
Yellow Balloon
Slow
I Can't Wait
At My Heels
Castles In The Snow
Forget

Download/stream FLACs

For various reasons, like arriving a bit late for Catwalk, thus missing the first three songs, and not hitting record properly for Twin Shadow (meaning only caught the last part of 'I Can't Wait' and the last three songs), my own recordings ended up incomplete, but nonetheless I've made these available.  Sorry for dropping the ball on this one.

Download/stream FLACs. (TH1 version).


Given the blog's title derives from one of Twin Shadow's songs, you can imagine I'd be enthused to catch them live again.  And indeed, I was.  George Lewis, Jr had the crowd wrapped around his finger. 
According to this eyewitness report (for some reason this doesn't mention Catwalk), it seems the show may have sold out from people going to see Twin Shadow, even if they were one of the opening acts!

Both Catwalk (on Captured Tracks) and Twin Shadow (on 4AD) were excellent.  In fact, the audience reaction as positive and enthusiastic for Twin Shadow as it were for the headliners The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. 

Link for this is here:  TPOBPAH

Until next time...

Ty Segall - 2011-02-09 - Great American Music Hall

Quite a few updates coming your way, including a couple of Thee Oh Sees shows, including their headlining spot here, but first wanted to start in on the one of the opening acts, one that I shamefully missed when he played a free show at Serra Bowl, so was glad to finally get a chance to catch him and his group play.  

"Girlfriend" in particular rocked the house, check out the link to watch Ty and band get everybody hopping around like mad.


Any IDs of songs I don't have identified greatly appreciated!

Ty Segall
2011-02-09
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA
Coalition on Homeless benefit show

taped by: thehappyone, using Sony PCM-M10 w/built-in mics
          WAV > Adobe Audition 1.5 (heavy re-EQ'ing, tracksplits,
          downsample to 16/44.1 > FLAC

tracklist

intro / Finger / ? / Girlfriend / Standing At The Station / Sad Fuzz / Caesar / (new song) / Imaginary Person / ?

Video of the last four songs, filmed from the balcony.

Download FLACs (thehappyone recording, zip archive) 

Matrix mix (Two recordings blended together, FLAC format, zip archive)

Lots of other good stuff online:

Daytrotter Session
Amoeba Performance 12/2010

Sandwitches - 2010-02-09 - Great American Music Hall SF

Here's my recording of the Sandwitches set from their Great American Music Hall show.  I enjoyed their set, and will enjoy it even more once any of you who download the files also pledge to check out their upcoming album, as I plan to do once it's out!

Sandwitches

2011-02-09
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA
Coalition on Homeless benefit show

taped by:  thehappyone, using Sony PCM-M10 w/built-in mics.  WAV > Adobe Audition 1.5 (heavy re-EQ'ing, tracksplits, downsample to 16/44.1 > FLAC

Download (pCloud FLAC files in zipfile)

Alternate version, last three tracks only (pCloud FLACs in zipfile)

I only know the names of the second and third tracks (Lightfoot and Relax At The Beach), as I believe all the other songs are off their forthcoming "Mrs Jones Cookies" album, which you'll be able to pre-order here.

There's also some videos I've upped on YouTube:

 
First two songs, filmed from the balcony.

First four songs, filmed on the left side of the stage.

And the last song of the set, upped by 'megandabkowski'.

You can find older post about Sandwitches by clicking on this link.

Entrance Band - 2010-03-28 - Founders Park USC

These guys opened for Thee Oh Sees in the last of our series of four SoCal recordings on offer...and have been growing on me steadily.  It's a bit jam band meets the Cure, but the psych-tinged guitar stylings of Guy Blakslee, unlike what those [expletive deleted] at Pitchfork would have you believe, is better than just a "middling" guitarist.

Entrance Band

2010-03-26

Founders' Park, USC

Los Angeles, CA

taper:  bcingyou (Sony ECM-990F > M-Audio Microtrack II)

setlist:  Silence On A Crowded Train / Still Be There / MLK / Lookout! / 'Prayer' / Grim Reaper Blues

Download (FLAC)

Best Coast - 2010-10-26 - Great American Music Hall SF

Thanks to Julie W. for the above pics

One of 2010's so-called "buzz bands", Best Coast has been riding a wave of (mostly-deserved) hype, with Bethany Constantino appearing #4 on NME's coolest-of-2010 or somesuch.  The Great American was sold out in advance, and a lot of the concert-goers were younger than the band.  I had bought "Crazy For You" a month prior to the show on the strength of unforgettable, catchy songs like "Boyfriend" and "When I'm With You".

The last time Best Coast had appeared at the GAMH, it was to open for Camera Obscura.  Sadly, I missed this show, but I did tape them opening for Vivian Girls (see below)...


We were amazed to be treated to no less than 23 songs, which I imagine is probably almost all of their song catalogue presently.  We saw Bobb Bruno at the merch desk beforehand (to illustrate how unassuming he is to even man it as a part of the headlining act), but I didn't feel brave enough to approach him for some odd reason, maybe because he's so unassuming, it would feel like imposing.

Anyway, near the end of the set, the kids got rowdy.  There was even a stage diver at one point. 

SF Weekly's blog gives a good account which you can read here.


Recording after the jump...

Sonny and the Sunsets - 2010-10-26 - Great American Music Hall SF

credit: Julie W.

Opening for the exploding Best Coast's first San Francisco headlining show (I had caught them earlier in the year opening for Vivian Girls...stay tuned for that show) was Sonny and the Sunsets, fronted by Sonny Smith, who has more melody and garage pop hits in his little finger than most cities have in their population.  This is the guy responsible for the '100 Records' project...create 100 imaginary artists, each with their own single and artwork.

Kelley Stoltz and the cat-kit

The drummer for the Sunsets is none other than Kelley Stoltz, who's no slouch as an recording artist himself...he's probably best known for covering Echo and the Bunnymen's Crocodiles album start-to-finish, helped out by the guitarist from Pavement in live settings.  There's definitely something going on here with bands that capture a California sunny-dark psych-surf garage-punk-pop sound...another group that will be extensively featured here in an upcoming post, Thee Oh Sees, is also a purveyor of this sound, as are some of the other groups that have graced these posts over the past month.

In any event, it was the second time that I had caught the Sunsets, and they didn't disappoint.  Two new songs (Reflections On Youth, I Wanna Do) are featured in this set, which was chock-full of unreleased gems like 'Teenage Thugs'...hie on over to the Daytrotter Sessions site to check out some of the tracks that haven't yet made it onto their new album Tommorrow Is Alright.   The tunes are sticking to my head like glue, helped out by having tomzero also capturing some of the magic inside the Great American.

Recording details after the jump...

Futureheads w/Social Studies - 2010-10-02 - Great American Music Hall

Mr. Tomzero is my frequent partner in crime.  He's responsible for supplying the recordings that comprise this latest edition of AMH.  Over the weekend, he went to go see The Futureheads.

To me, their name sounds like they should be a techno group, but in fact they're a four-piece out of Sunderland, England.  I think some of the tracks off their debut album was produced by Andy Gill of Gang Of Four fame.  To be honest, they're more up Tomzero's alley then mine, as this is only the second thing I've ever heard by them.

Their latest album is called 'The Chaos', and can be picked up from their site.  What's interesting is that there's a download option that offers FLAC versions of the tracks, at the same price as MP3.  Pretty generous of them!  If you enjoyed this, please show your appreciation and buy their albums, see their shows, and buy their swag!

Anyway, enough of my sales pitch, here's your chance of hearing a quite entertaining performance, if like me you missed their (as of this writing) ongoing North American tour.

The Futureheads - 2010-10-02 San Francisco, Great American Music Hall

Sonic Studio mics -> Edirol R-09HR (24 bit / 48 kHz) -> Nero (level boost & downsample to 16 bit / 44.1 k) -> cd wav -> flac level 8

01 intro
02 The Chaos
03 Area
04 Struck Dumb
05 Heartbeat Song
06 Decent Days And Nights
07 I Can Do That
08 Worry About It Later
09 Skip To The End
10 Sun Goes Down
11 Work Is Never Done
12 Beginning Of The Twist
13 Carnival Kids
14 Hounds Of Love
15 Jupiter
16 He Knows
17 The Connector
18 Man Ray

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum w/Fred Frith - 2009-05-10 - Great American Music Hall SF

 

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
2009-05-10
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA

taper:  lammah
equipment:  Sonic Studios DSM-6/L > Edirol R-09HR
postion:  stage right, in front of Carla, and 1" in front of front fill stack
editing:  Adobe Audition 1.5 (normalization/balancing/attenuation of audience clapping/re-EQ) > CD Wave (tracksplits > FLAC(6) > here

Tracks

01 - (entrance march) 5:29
02 - bring back the apocalypse 7:12
03 - headless corpses enactment 5:50
04 - phthisis 7:06
05 - (luciano vox) 3:41
06 - norgarden nyvla [Fred Frith on bass guitar] 6:21
07 - the salt crown 9:02
08 - the last human being 6:01
09 - salamander 8:04
10 - the only dance 7:47
11 - the old grey heron 9:37
12 - a hymn to the morning star 5:26
13 - the donkey-headed adversary of humanity opens the discussion 7:35
__
14 - angle of repose 10:21
15 - 1997 (tonight we're gonna party like it's...) 10:23

TOTAL  110:02

bonus: FF01 Fred Frith (opening act)  35:23

I've heard SGH's albums, and thought they were good, but they pale compared to catching them
live.  Wow!

This was a tour-end show so had a few special additions, like the absolutely unforgettable entrance march, still something I've not see any other band try to pull off.

Took a very interesting position, right in front of Carla Kihlstedt, who is just an amazing musician and performer.  The others are talented too. :)  Thus, the original recording is unbalanced toward the left channel, as that was picking up the fill stack 1" in front of my left mic.  Along with re-EQing some bass, I've fixed this in the mastered version.

A photo of the setlist can be found here, taken by my friend Jason:

There's also other photos of the band you can peruse at your leisure.   Haha, I'm joking, these were *only* available via the Wayback Machine, which I've managed to collect and extract for your convenience.

I've also included Fred Frith's opening set, which was a single long 30+ minute song.
Apologies for any talking you can hear during this...it is what it is.  As for video there are bits from other Great American shows but none from this as far as I've been able to search.

REMEMBER

* Do not leverage this recording for material gain.  Not cool.

* MP3 transcodes are fine (but not on DIME of course), just keep the original info file...

* Above all, enjoy!


LISTEN TO SGM  (pCloud fileset)

Spectrum w/Entrance Band - 2009-05-07 - GAMH SF

Spectrum
2009-05-07
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA

taper: lammah (me)
equipment: Sonic Studios DSM-6/L > Edirol R-09HR
editing: Adobe Audition (normalization|limiter on clapping|48/32 to 44.1/16) >
CD Wave (tracksplits) > FLAC(6)

tracklist:
00s0 - soundchecking  [3:29]
00s1 - pre-gig backing music  [5:43]  

[left out of original seed, but re-included here]

01 - Mary Anne  [9:41]
02 - Transparent Radiation  [7:23]
03 - Set Me Free  [7:38]
04 - How You Satisfy Me  [6:10]

05 - Ché  [6:01]
06 - When Tomorrow Hits  [7:20]
07 - Revolution  [12:23
08 - War Sucks [Red Crayola]  [7:46]
09 - Suicide  [22:04]

TOTAL: 89:59 -> 95:42

Another outing from Peter Kember and the boys. First time at the GAMH for me, if you can believe it! Great-looking place with a stage not too high up, so you feel like you're right there.

Apparently, he had a sore throat and was losing his voice, so he had throat spray right up on stage and was using it copiously. Music to take sore throat spray to listen to music to.

 
Got almost all of the Spectrum set, ran out of battery the last couple of minutes but got almost all of the feedback freakout at the end of Suicide.  Killer set otherwise, you won't be disappointed.

I taped both openers, though the Dora Flood set apparently got written over.  There was one other taper lurking about, who may have taped this.

The Entrance Band set I have...and for the first time it is being shared here, their first song was amazing, but it then descended to a bit of a Hendrix power trio-jamband thing, others enjoyed it but not 100% my cup of tea. At one point the singer, some guy dressed all in white, decided to soak in a bit of Spectrum and stood in the audience right in front of us, which was cool.

REMEMBER:
* Leveraging this recording for material gain is seriously uncool.
* I'm okay with MP3 transcodes (or YouTube of course) as long as this info file is kept and/or reference to the original link is retained, which it probably won't be.
* Enjoy the music!

WHITE LIGHT WHITE PETE  (FLACset of audio)