Mp3s: The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo live in Boston
Posted on November 19, 2007 at 12:01 am | No Comments
Let us be very thankful for Yo La Tengo. It would be easy to take them for granted: A 22-year career of releasing consistently solid albums and playing wide-ranging venues, relatively drama-free, hype-free, and falter-free. And for the past 16 years, the same three talented people writing songs that are often shifting in style, shining a light on usually-obscure cover songs, all the while making everything they perform just so perfectly, well, “Yo La Tengo”-sounding.
If a visiting time-traveler had shown me each incredibly-varied setlist from the band’s just finished “The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo” tour, and allowed me to pick just one show to attend, it would have been exactly the one I ended up at: The early installment of their two-show visit to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston this past Thursday. So many personal YLT faves were performed, it was as if it was tailor-made for my ears, but really, I owe that mostly to fellow fans and their requests during the free-form Q&A sessions that happened between many of the songs. “Stockholm Syndrome“, “Decora“, “Big Day Coming“, “One PM Again“, “Today Is The Day“, “Pablo and Andrea“, “Deeper Into Movies“, “Detouring American With Horns“: all songs that would end up on my own “best of Yo La Tengo” mix. Throw in both a Bob Dylan and a Neil Young cover, and I honestly couldn’t imagine a better YLT show.
I’m also pretty thankful that I was even able to be there in the first place, after missing out on tickets when I wasn’t sure I’d be free that evening. Unsurprisingly, both shows sold out quickly, and there were more beggars than offerers on craigslist that day. I thought I’d struck a deal for a ticket that afternoon, but the impatient seller sold it out from under me after saying it was available and all mine. So in the end, I owe my attendance to a kind soul with an extra guestlist spot. Had I not made it in after coming so close, and then saw this setlist, well, I’ll just say I’m thankful it worked out…
Live at The Museum of Fine Arts Boston
in Boston, Massachusetts
6:30pm show on Thursday, November 15th, 2007
01. Beanbag Chair
02. Stockholm Syndrome
03. freewheeling banter 1
04. Decora
05. freewheeling banter 2
06. Be Thankful For What You’ve Got (William DeVaughn)
07. freewheeling banter 3
08. You Tore Me Down (Flaming Groovies)
09. freewheeling banter 4
10. Big Day Coming
11. freewheeling banter 5
12. Mr. Tough
13. freewheeling banter 6
14. Gentle Hour (Snapper)
15. freewheeling banter 7
16. One PM Again
17. freewheeling banter 8
18. Today Is The Day
19. freewheeling banter 9
20. No Water
21. freewheeling banter 10
22. 4th Time Around (Dylan)
23. freewheeling banter 11
24. Pablo and Andrea
25. freewheeling banter 12
26. Deeper Into Movies
27. Emulsified (Rex Garvin & the Mighty Cravers)
encore…
28. Don’t Cry No Tears (Neil Young)
29. Detouring America With Horns
Some Yo La linkage…
Their official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, and Matador Records page. Additional Audio: NYCtaper recorded the next (and final) night of the Freewheeling YLT tour, and has offered lossless files over here. Some Mp3s from the Yo La Tengo site…
Mp3: Yo La Tengo – “The Summer“
(live on KEXP 10/15/07)Mp3: Yo La Tengo – “I Feel Like Going Home“
(live on KCMP 10/07/07)Mp3: Yo La Tengo – “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind“
Mp3: Yo La Tengo – “Beanbag Chair“
(both from their latest album, “IANAOYAIWBYA“)There are more Mp3s to be had at the band’s own audio page.
Hip 2 Be Square was at the show as well, and you can read Kip’s write-up here. Video: Official clips for “Tom Courtenay“ and “Sugarcube“. Many, many live videos can also be found using a YouTube Yo La Tengo search. Photos: My Flickr-hosted shots are here. Check out the full Yo La Tengo Flickr tag search. And as the band mentions above (thanks to an informed audience member), they played on (an unbroadcasted) Saturday Night Live over the weekend, performing “Mr. Tough” and another song. There’s visual confirmation of this happening right here, in the form of a New York Times photo. Upcoming live dates:
Yo La Tengo is once again performing their series of Hanukkah shows this year at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ, starting on December 4th and ending on the 11th. All eight shows feature special surprise openers, and all are already sold out.
Listen to all ‘Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.
the fine print… If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the ‘nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav, edited for leveling, then converted to 192kbps Mp3s w/Lame. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.
[Live MP3s] The Soft Drugs in Cambridge, MA 2007
Posted on November 18, 2007 at 6:22 pm | No Comments
Of all the shows I’ve captured and shared, I don’t think I’ve ever been fortunate enough to record a band’s official live debut. Not that you’d know by this recording that the four men who make up the Soft Drugs had never set foot on a stage together before the small one at TT the Bears in Cambridge last month… they were super-tight and totally smooth, which isn’t so surprising given the collective experience of the players involved.
A bit of background: TW Walsh and his family left Seattle and moved to the Boston area earlier this year, and it didn’t take him long to pull together some top-notch players to fill out a new version of his solo vehicle. Joining TW, who sings his songs from behind his drum kit, is Michael Murray on guitar, John Beck III on Wurlitzer, guitar, & percussion, and Ken Maiuri on bass (all three provide backing vocals as well). Drew O’Doherty, who played a solo set of his own to open the evening, also sat in on guitar for a couple of songs in the middle of the 8-song TT’s set. It was a friend-filled night, as headlining was David Bazan, TW’s former bandmate under the now-abandoned Pedro the Lion moniker (interesting that as DB decided to stop using PTL in favor of his own name early last year, TW decided to start delivering his own solo stuff under a band name… and so the universe remains in balance).
The Soft Drugs publicly came into being in the summer of ’06, with the arrival of the five-song “In Moderation” EP, which soon became a free download under a Creative Commons license. A Seattle-based version of the band played a few shows before the Walsh clan relocated, but soon after TW settled back in Boston, like-minded Boston-area musicians and friends were brought in to help bring the Soft Drugs to life on East Coast stages. And so it was that on Saturday, October 27th, the quartet did just that in front of an appreciative crowd…
Live at TT the Bears
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
on Saturday, October 27th, 2007
01. Defending The Paint
02. The Pitch
03. Pawn Shop Guns
04. Build Me A Ballpark
05. Badge
06. Don’t Sweat It
07. Borrow My Vibe
08. Family of Four
As you’ll notice, the song “Badge” remains unshared (at TW’s request), but you’ll likely be able to hear that one on the eventual release of the Soft Drugs’ planned full-band debut full-lengther. Demos are in the works, and we’ll hopefully stay updated via his blog or the SD MySpace page as recording sessions take place.
Some links, Soft Drugs style……
[MP3] The Soft Drugs – “Family of Four“
For the unaware, before becoming part of Pedro the Lion, TW put out a few releases under his own name between 1999 and 2002, including the fantastic “Blue Laws” album. They’re worth hunting down if you can find ’em.
Tuesday, Nov. 27th – TW Walsh solo @ UMass Lowell in Lowell, Massachusetts
Wednesday, Nov 28th – The Soft Drugs @ The Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Maritime & The One AM Radio
the fine print… If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the ‘nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.