The Soft Moon - Jan/Feb shows

What better way to celebrate my 100th post with posting some shows by THE group that pretty much revitalized my love of some of the groups that call this place home whom I've been fortunate enough to see perform.  Still amazes me I had no idea of what they were doing until another blogger (the guy who runs this site) made me aware of them.

The Soft Moon
2012-01-19
Cafe Du Nord
San Francisco CA

Recorded by thehappyone, with Church Audio mics into Olympus LS-5.  This ended up being a solo outing, as this show sold out, so my compatriot wasn't able to get tickets.

Setlist

...PA music, soundchecking...
We Are We
...we fucked up some shit on stage...
Alive
Dead Love
Into The Depths
Circles
Out Of Time
Breathe The Fire
When It's Over
Parallels
Total Decay
Tiny Spiders
Bones

Inaugural performance with Keven Tecon (Veil Veil Vanish/ Wax Idols) on the sticks.  There was NO announcement beforehand, this took me by surprise, but not unpleasantly since he had played with Justin before and fit right into the darkness woven by the prior three-piece, and definitely added some dynamics to the new songs, and was no worse than the drum machines for the tracks on the eponymous release.

Photoset (Flickr).  Most taken with Canon T2i, though clearly I was having trouble due to the strobe, a video would have been better.

It continues...

The Soft Moon - February 2011 shows

 The Soft Moon , Noise Pop 2011.  RIP Luis.

February 2011 was a fairly busy month for me (so busy I forgot that 2010 had passed, apologies for the incorrect labelling!), so I didn't have much in the way of downtime to catch my fellow readers/viewers/listeners up to some of my recent exploits.  So there will be a series of nightly posts which should allow me to catch up.

By far, one of the best discoveries of the past few years have to be The Soft Moon.  Led by Luis Vasquez, and also featuring Justin Anastassi (who also plays in Veil Veil Vanish) on bass and Damon Way on keyboards, they have astonished listeners and electrified audiences since they appeared out of the blue to claim the legacy for darkwave music in San Francisco set forth by bands like Chrome and Tuxedomoon (obscuros would also throw in Swell, but even I haven't heard any of their work).  But I ultimately think they have their own unique sound and approach, you'll just have to listen and form your own opinions.

You can go to a hundred other places if you want to get your fill in for superlative reviews; all I can tell you is that the moment I heard their self-titled album, I knew they were going to be something special.  And it doesn't hurt to be on one of the hottest labels presently operating, Captured Tracks.  If the hairs on the back of your neck don't stand up for "Into The Depths" and "We Are We", check your pulse, it has stopped.  And as amazing as their recorded output is, they're even better live, if you can believe it.

Anyway, I have several recordings to feature here, so without further ado, here they are.

SETLIST FOR ALL SHOWS

Into The Depths
 Dead Love
 Circles
 Breathe The Fire
We Are We
Out Of Time
Parallels
 Tiny Spiders 

2011-02-06  The Echo  Los Angeles CA

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

Kodak Zi8 (video) (720p, synced to above audio source)

Complete video recording

(on YouTube)

Alternate versions of Into The Depths, Dead Love, and Circles  (soldiersdisease)

Alternate version of Circles (0ariana0maria0)

Yet another alternate version of Circles (fatalblades)

Alternate version of We Are We (0ariana0maria0)

Alternate version of Tiny Spiders (soldiersdisease)

Pitchfork.com pro-shot footage of Tiny Spiders, in black and white

2011-02-10  Milk Bar  San Francisco CA

taper: TH1, Sony PCM-M10 built in mics 

Flip UltraHD (video) (720p, above audio source synced to digicam audio)

What Duvet Says blog review

Complete video recording 

(on YouTube)

 Alternate version of Into The Depths (blaire789, 22s)
 Alternate version of Dead Love (fuhserous, iPhone '8mm' app)
 Alternate version of Circles (phantonleader, HD)
 Alternate version of Breathe The Fire (bobduvet)

2011-02-25  Noise Pop  Cafe Du Nord  San Francisco CA

tapers: TZ0 + TH1 blend, Sonic Studios DSM mics (audio)

Flip UltraHD (720p video), synced to audio source

Complete video recording
(on YouTube)

Alternate version of We Are We (mhc660, HD)
 Alternate version of Out Of Time (mhc660, HD)
 Alternate version of Parallels (mhc660, HD)

All known footage of The Soft Moon is linked here.