Stereolab w/Richard Swift - 2008-10-21 - The Fillmore SF

 

Stereolab
2008-10-21
The Fillmore
San Francisco CA

taper: lammah
equipment:  Sonic Studios DSM-6Ls > Sonic Studios PA-6 bat box > Edirol R-09HR (24 bit/48khZ) > Adobe Audition (decrackle; normalize) > FLAC24 (6)

Tracklist:

00 - intro  [1:21]
01 - Percolator  [3:36]
02 - Neon Beanbag  [5:03]
03 - Eye Of The Volcano  [4:23]
04 - Mountain  [3:19]
05 - Chemical Chords  [5:25]
06 - Two Finger Symphony  [3:18]
07 - Ping Pong  [3:09]
08 - Valley Hi!  [3:45]
09 - Lo Boob Oscillator  [8:19]
10 - The Ecstatic Static  [5:49]
11 - Double Rocker  [5:21]
12 - Silver Sands  [3:40]
13 - John Cage Bubblegum  [2:56]
14 - French Disko  [3:24]
15 - Cybele's Reverie  [5:32]
16 - pre-encore break  [1:45]
17 - Vortical  [3:29]  (introduced as a new song)
18 - The Emergency Kisses  [5:29]
19 - Stomach Worm  [12:30]

Total  [91:35]

2008-era notes:

My first outing with my new Edirol recorder, and as you're about to hear, the results were very good, but again, there was some crackle which I had to use Adobe Audition's pop/click removal to eradicate, though you'd be hard-pressed to hear any of it.  I'm wondering if the PA6 I have is malfunctioning  (or if the battery powering it was simply dead), next gig I think I'll try to go without it.

Only glitch here was when I decided to adjust volume at the start of Percolator (17 seconds in), which unfortunately, produces a stutter...I removed the worst of it, but you can here what sounds like the track speeding up for a split second as a result.  Every woven Persian rug has an imperfection; that is mine.

NOTE:  This is a 24 bit / 48khz seed, which will need to be downsampled to convert to CD-A format.

DOWNLOAD / STREAM (pCloud link)

REMEMBER - PLEASE don't leverage this recording for material gain, Stereolab is known to be taper-friendly,  so don't betray their faith in us.  And keep the MP3s to your iPods.

2020 note:  2008 me was pretty quaint in what I chose to focus on.  In reality, I didn't know very much about Stereolab and their importance to independent music, even if I had seen them once prior in 1993 at none other than Mod Lang Records in Berkeley CA.  I do have a full recording of it on VHS that I was loaned, but alas it's been misplaced to my utter shame.

The only track that seems to be online from this seminal performance is "John Cage Bubblegum".

UPDATE - not true any longer, back in 2021, I shared the complete recording of Mod Lang + Berkeley Square!

There's also some video from the 2008 Fillmore appearance on YouTube, which I've playlisted.  However, it seems that both filmers went to the following night's show (from 22nd October), and not the one I went to as Laetitia's outfit is different than in the pics that I took.  It's pretty fragmentary but I'll work at ID'ing the ones w/o titles...and see if I can sequence them better...

Cybele's Reverie (davidparkerl)

 

Playlist of all vids.

Opener Richard Swift after the jump... 

Wire - 2008-10-15 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA [atrocious SQ]

 

Wire

2008-10-15

The Fillmore

San Francisco CA

taper - thehappyone

kit - Apple iPhone

Yes, you read that right.  An iPhone.  And the sound quality is absolutely atrocious.

What happened?

Simple.  I got caught.  I was asked to check in my Edirol R-09HR, which I think I had just acquired.  So I did.  Arrived way too late to see the openers...

As I detailed an a later email....

I've been caught once. Trying to tape Wire at the Fillmore back in 2008. The staff just held the recorder for me and gave it back to me. Very nice about it too...think it was the band/touring manglement instructed the venue to put up no-taping signs, other shows I've been to there didn't have these... Ended up being one I "recorded" on my iPhone, with the built-ins. It's horribly distorted, all it's good for is hearing Colin Newman talking between songs and figuring out the setlist.

Anyway, it's here if you are morbidly curious...

WIRE - WARNING - HORRIBLE ATROCIOUS SQ 

 

...only useful for ID'ing tracks!!  Which are...

Our Time
Mr. Marx's Table
Comet
Being Sucked In Again
Mekon Headman
Perspex Icon
Advantage In Height
The Agfers Of Kodack
Silk Skin Paws
All Fours
One Of Us
Boiling Boy
The 15th
106 Beats That
I Don't Understand
He Knows
Pink Flag
Lowdown
Underwater Experiences
12XU

 

(Thanks to Lee McFadden for these)

 

I never bothered, but here's an Atlanta setlist from the 12th to compare this to if you want to try...i included an MP3 version because I was fiendishly contemplating sharing this on YouTube and the program I use is limited to 100Mb filesizes. Luckily, sanity won the day.

I'll instead feature my friend Mike's recording from 2000, which was shorter and from some accounts I've read, a much better set.

My Bloody Valentine + Spectrum - 2008-09-30 - Concourse Design Center SF

 

Photoset by Donte

This post is to fully document the MBV/Spectrum Concourse Design Center SF show, which is probably the loudest show most people who went have ever been to!

For more recollections, please visit the Alternapop site.

Spectrum
2008-09-30
Concourse Design Center
San Francisco CA USA

taper:      lammah
location:   About 20' in front of the mixing desk in the center of the warehouse
equipment:  Sonic Studios DSM-6L mics > bat box > iPod 5th gen classic w/Belkin Tunetalk mic/line-in >  Adobe Audition > CD Wave Editor (tracksplits) > FLAC(6)

tracklist:
01 - Transparent Radiation  (7:47)
02 - How You Satisfy Me   (5:27)
03 - When Tomorrow Hits   (5:13)
04 - Revolution  (11:51)
05 - Suicide   (11:32)

Total 41:46

SPECTRUM - DOWNLOAD / STREAM on pCloud

Peter Kember and company playing as "Spectrum"...almost lost in the Noise that is MBV.

The last gasp for this particular iPod as it had enough of being subjected to the aural assault of MBV and locked up.  Ended up having to pull out the HD and having to hook it up and recover the data on there, unfortunately damaging the internal cable soldered to the unit.  I did recover the MBV set (recorded up to midway of 'Soon') but the copy dmaster shared on DIME is far superior to mine, so I  don't think I'll be seeding it.  [note: mine will make its debut here!]

I had do some tweaking with this to get it to sound listenable, involving dealing with brickwalling due to overdriving the mic-in, parametric re-EQ and notching out an annoying 8500hz whine that for 
some reason I was picking up.  I did shortly afterwards purchase an Edirol... There's also a brief stutter at 3:55 of 'Transparent Radiation' no idea what caused that.  Nor can I explain the slagging-off of EAR at the start, to each their own I guess.

obEarplugs:  yes, I did take out my earplugs for MBV, which weren't the venue-supplied ones. For about 5 seconds.  One would have to have been insane or stoned (or at the very back) to listen to Shields and Co. without them, even to the songs before YMMR's 'holocaust' section.

PLEASE:  Do not redistribute for material gain or make MP3 transcodes of this recording publicly available

Video recordings 

Transparent Radiation (1:30, the second half audio-only)  (chasingphantoms)

This is the only known video for Spectrum, though I did find a clip from them playing at the Hemlock Tavern that got missed in my original compilation of Hemlock live clips.

Revolution, live 27 Sept 2008, Hemlock Tavern, 8:31, filmed by ymousavinia

Excellent quality!

MBV after the break....

Mission Of Burma - 2008-09-26 - The Independent SF

Mission Of Burma
2008-09-26
The Independent
San Francisco CA
USA

taper: lammah
equipment:  Sonic Studios DSM-6L binaurals > batbox > Belkin Tunetalk > iPod Nano 2nd gen
processing: Adobe Audition (re-EQ/declip/compression) > CD Wave Editor (tracksplits) > FLAC(6)

Setlist

00 - pre-gig  [12:33]
01 - Playland  [2:58]
02 - Peking Spring  [4:29]
03 - Nu Disco  [3:53]
04 - Eyes Of Men  [3:14]
05 - Anti-Aircraft Warning  [2:29]
06 - Academy Fight Song  [3:40]
07 - Max Ernst  [3:17]
08 - Devotion  [4:13]
09 - Execution  [2:42]
10 - That's When I Reach For My Revolver  [4:17]
11 - Outlaw  [3:16]
12 - Fame And Fortune  [3:49]
13 - This Is Not A Photograph  [7:12]
14 - All World Cowboy Romance  [6:33]
15 - 1001 Pleasant Dreams  [4:48]

16 - 2Wice  [3:35]
17 - Let Yourself Go  [4:00]

Total  81:06

DOWNLOAD / STREAM  some MoB....

(contemporaneous writeup)

Here they are, Mission Of Burma doing "Signals, Calls and Marches" in its entirety.  Well, almost, don't think they did "Red".  Can I get my money back?  Only kidding, these guys certainly didn't disappoint.  In fact, they smoked.

Amazing as their old stuff is (I have truly died happy seeing 'Revolver' played live), their lastest album (Obliterati) seems to pick up where they left off...2Wice (encored here) is simply an amazing song.

I'd say I was let down by my kit, but it should have been expected given the sheer volume of their sound, which caused the auto-leveller in the Belkin to muffle everything due to attack of the drums.  

I've tried best to correct it, but for these sorts of shows I'm better off using my Hi-MD recorder and setting levels manually, which I better do if I have any hope of capturing MBV next Tuesday night.  Still, it sounds pretty decent.  There's a brief cut partway into "Outlaw" due to the iPod deciding to tracksplit, but it's a very small bit, and I've trimmed a little bit off to get the drumbeat to line up.

I've included some blurry photos (including a quite striking one of their backline which has OBURMA FOR OBAMA written on it) and a scan of the ticket. [P]

If you're wondering, I did tape the opening act (Hank IV, a local punk act best described as being fronted by a dead ringer for Christopher Hitchens w/o the posh UK accent) but accidentally deleted it!  Both tomzero and arrrrr32 say I didn't miss much, as while they were entertaining, their set wasn't one for the ages.  tomzero said he was writhing like Ian Curtis channeled through Ricky Gervais.  Ouch. [1]

REMEMBER, KIDS
*  While there's nothing I can do about this being converted to MP3 and being put up on Rapidshare, I'd prefer you dont.  Keep it lossless. [1]
*  Please do not leverage for material gain.  Bootlegging for profit sucks. [2]

lammah (my DIME handle)

Notes

[P]  This cam a month before the 2008 election where the "hope and change" of one Barack Obama would just turn out to be politics as usual.  Let's just say the president after him would deliver anything but, and of this writing is still scheming to stay in power even after his successor has won both the popular vote and the Electoral College.

[1]  This was written in 2008.  Turns out that I would catch Hank IV in May 2011, opening for A-Frames, and liked them quite a bit more than what my compatriots would have suggested, though perhaps even then they're still a bit PBN (Punk By Numbers)

[2]  Not as bothered now about K.I.L.L. (Keep It LossLess).  In fact, I'd subsequently start upping my recordings to YouTube.

[3] This is still very true!  

According to their Wikipedia, as of June 2020, the band is finished, so this is a good memento to document their live prowess.

I should add the following:

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Odessa Chen / Carta / John Vecchiarella - 2008-09-19 - Hotel Utah SF

 

All sets recorded by myself with the following rig:

Sonic Studios DSM-6L > SS PA-06 batbox > Belkin Tunetalk > iPod nano 2nd gen 8Gb

As far as I know, none of it has ever been circulated, though the tracksplits/preparation were done shortly after this was recorded.

John Vecchiarella 

 

sc/01 11:09 

sc/02  8:27 

   01  5:40 

   02  4:10  

   03  3:49

   04  4:45

   05  3:48

   06  4:15

   07  5:13

   08  5:34

   09  3:27

Sorry, I have no track IDs for these.  Seems to have featured quite a bit of handling noise, and a bit of conversation with Carta.

John Vecchiarella / link to stream or download

 

Carta 

 

 00 soundchecking  3:56 

 01 Sexton   5:18 

 02 Santander   4:34 

 03 Hourglass   5:28 

 04 Sidereal  5:19 

 05 Perdido  5:56 

 06 Descension  10:21

 07 outro   1:31  

 

For Carta, "Santander" / "Hourglass" / "Sidereal" / "Descension" was released on 2010's An Index Of Birds.  Perdido appears on 2007's The Glass Bottom Boat.  As far as I know, first track "Sexton" (which is outstanding) has never been officially released.

 

Carta / link for streaming or download

 

 

Odessa Chen 

 

00 soundchecking  5:42 

01 Kill The Lights  4:58 

02 Made Up My Mind   4:36 

03 Harm  6:10 

04 Between Twilight and the Morning (new one)   4:35 

05 Snow Angels  5:17 

06 'Your Arms Around Me'  6:32 

07 The Ballad Of Paper Ships  4:23 

08 Small Birds  5:35 

09 outro  0:52

 

Both of these acts have gorgeous instrumentation, and Odessa wass in fine voice here for this show.  I remember the acoustics were weird because the bar was outside of the interior gig room but seemed to wrap around, so you could never quite forget that playing at the Utah was still in effect a bar show.

A couple of notes for songs played by Odessa.

"Between Twilight and the Morning" (which I had listed as 'Between Today and Tomorrow' and have amended) is on her 2013 EP Invisible Stories. 

 

I'm not sure if 'Your Arms Around Me' was ever released.

 

She sang vocals on a couple of Carta songs on their first album.

Odessa Chen / streaming + download link 

 

 

Some videos....  they're linked to a playlist so it should show you others of here.

 

Kill The Lights

 

 

Harm

Finally, I saw this on her contact page. 

I’m well aware of my shortcomings…so please hold any criticism and use it to inform the creation of your own work.  - ODESSA CHEN 

Well said.   I can tell you having produced a few of my own original works... I am in no way qualified to inform my own works with any criticism I may have of others!  That's not to say I can't critique the phenomenon of someone like Miley Ray Cyrus in terms of the lack of equilibrium in terms of her position in the mainstream or as a part of the machinery inherent in the sausage grinder of late capitalism (versus her own musical ability and muses), but what have I done compared to someone like that, much less someone like Odessa?