The Last Days Of April - 2008-03-18 - Cafe Du Nord SF

From the band's Tumbler

 

Last Days Of April

2008-03-18

Cafe Du Nord

San Francisco CA

taper: thehappyone

kit;  Sony ECM-MS907 > SS PA-06 batbox > iPod classic 5th gen 30Gb

 

Here's a recording that's not been made available before.

 

Looked them up and they seem like they are a Swedish act who are still around!

They have an official Tumblr which was being kept up to date.

There are 11 tracks in my recording.  I've done a re-EQ job since it seemed a bit boomy, as well as phase corrected.  Aside from the Flipper and Stephen Malkmus shows, which were done with a Belkin TuneTalk that I still have around here somewhere, I'd been using mics borrowed from friends and co-workers, with the Sony ECM-MS907 (one of the ones I borrowed) being one I used quite a bit in 2008-09, set aside for a couple of years and then used again from 2012-14 for a total of 50 performances, and then sent back last year as the person I had borrowed it from (Jason D.) had moved to Portland a number of years prior.

Also discovered I missed a couple of tracksplits.

As for the music from Karl Larsson....makes sense he's a big Lemonheads fan as this has the same breezy quality, but maybe more earnest.  I wonder if some of these tracks were ever released, there's a gap between the 2007 and 2010 albums which may offer some unreleased material, so don't have any track IDs, except for the last two songs in the main set (#10) called "Live The End" and (#11) called "At Your Most Beautiful", which was announced.

Sorry for the talking during tracks 9 and beyond, my friends showed up at that point, and had to share my assessment that they (the band, not my friends) were about "15 years late to the party" during that track.  I think for this reason it's why I've never shared it.  Sorry, Karl.

DOWNLOAD / STREAM

 

I found video footage of them from five days prior in Dallas TX (Granada Theatre) 13 March 2008.

 

Track #2

 

 

Who's One The Phone (not played in SF)

 

Live The End (track #10)

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - 2008-03-05 - Amoeba Records SF

 

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

2008-03-05

Amoeba Records

San Francisco CA

 

Recorded using Belkin Tunetalk > Apple Ipod Nano (1st gen) >
Adobe Audition 1.5 (normalization/fades) > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > FLAC(6) > you

This is my master recording.

Tracklisting

1. 00 - intro   1:40
2. 01 - Dragonfly Pie   6:40
3. 02 - Hopscotch Willie  7:17
4. 03 - Cold Son   4:47
5. 04 - Real Emotional Trash   10:09   
6. 05 - Out of Reaches   5:59
7. 06 - Gardenia    4:49
8. 07 - Elmo Delmo   7:20
9. 08 - outro   0:38

Total: 49:17

After the Flipper show a couple weeks back, it was time for another outing to the best record store in SF these days, which has also been a good place to catch free shows.  Hence, this recording, on the heels of their new album "Real Emotional Trash", featuring songs from that album, played in order (one was skipped to preserve the element of surprise in the set).

I had arrived just in the nick of time, and boosted the volume of first minute by +6dB since I was still making my way in.  You can see from the included photos about where I was in proximity to the stage, was about 20" behind the mixing board, which is where the boom mic in the photo is located.  Recording is very clear but not as 'hot' as the Flipper set, some compression can fix that, but by rule I do very little tinkering, leaving any possible remastering for others.

I didn't tracksplit the between-talk banter from Malkmus, which features various musings about his guitar, the now-defunct I-Beam club which was a couple of blocks away from where they played, LA vs SF (Dodgers vs. Giants, Germs vs. Dils, Plimsouls vs. Translator), and a bit about Geddy Lee from Rush being talented enough to play complicated bass parts AND sing.

Overall, an enjoyable set, and I'm not even a big Malkmus/Pavement fan!  Or wasn't...

PLEASE, FOLKS...

* No leveraging this recording for material gain.  Buy the album!  I just did (on Itunes), as I'd be a hypocrite otherwise...

* Do not redistribute in lossy form, keep your MP3 or AAC's on your iPod, and not in the trading pool.

 

DOWNLOAD / STREAM

 

Unlike with Flipper, the full set from the Amoeba stream is online, and obviously being taken from the mixing desk is a better listen.  Older Amoeba sharings use Flash Video so are not long for this world but luckily, this one has been captured and transcoded by "ilovewaterslides" and preserved on Ye Olde Tube. 

 

Oh, and that's Janet Weiss formerly of Sleater-Kinney on drums.  Didn't realize that at the time.

 

 

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...