Mp3s: Low – Live Drums And Guns
Posted on June 20, 2007 at 12:43 pm | No Comments
Low has meant so much to me over the years that I have a tough time saying anything even slightly negative about ’em. Never so quickly has a band entered my all-time top ten than after my first full listen through 1996’s “The Curtain Hits The Cast”, and I’ve eagerly awaited every album since. I’ve found many things to love about each of their releases, and was never-less-than deeply moved every single time I saw them live. There are just certain artists that you know instantly: As long as they’re a band, I’m a fan.
So I was surprised to find myself, for the first time in 10 years, slightly disappointed by a live Low set in 2005, when I caught them at the Somerville Theatre with Pedro the Lion. I noted it at the time, but what I failed to mention was the disquieting stage presence of Alan Sparhawk, who occasionally twitched and jerked awkwardly during the set. I wondered at the time if something was wrong, and realized months later that it was likely due to the self-described difficult time he was going through, and which caused Low to cancel the rest of their 2005 tour dates. I’d never read such a candid message to fans from an artist I so respected. It made me admire him all the more, and wonder if, when, and how Low would return to the studio or stage.
Return they did, with tour dates in early 2006, and new member Matt Livingston replacing longtime bassist Zak Sally (who left to be a more-present dad, and to run his excellent La Mano 21 comics publishing imprint). A new Low album was bound to follow, and sure enough, word came that their second release for Sub Pop ,“Drums And Guns”, would arrive in March this year.
For any band with the longevity and unique identity of Low, it’s gotta be a struggle to strike that balance between consistency and sonic evolution. But they’ve walked that line so well over the years, stretching from the delicate tension of the early songs to incorporate more hooks, even straightforward catchiness at times, without giving up what makes them Low. Even the upped guitars of 2005’s “The Great Destroyer” worked in doses, juxtaposed with the fragile beauty that remained. And no matter what bed of music they make, they’re anchored by those voices, the married Mimi & Alan either switching off or blending together so perfectly… there’s no male/female vocal pairing that sounds remotely like them.
But even though “The Great Destroyer” marked somewhat of a departure for Low, it was nothing compared to what “Drums And Guns” would do to tweak their formula. Gone were the guitar chords, replaced with loops and sonic samples. In some songs, even Mimi’s sparse drumming took a backseat to programmed beats. For better or worse, much of the humanness was siphoned away, bringing the music to a whole new level of eerie sterility, leaving the vocals alone to carry the emotion, or lack of it. It was a daring experiment, and as much as I wanted it to work for me, it just didn’t. And it saddens me to admit I haven’t listened to it once since that first week.
Which, at last, brings me to the point of this here post. I didn’t know what to expect from Low’s live show this time around, and after hearing the new album I wondered if their studio experimentation would bleed onto the stage, with samplers and backing tracks either replacing parts or accenting the new songs. But when another show at the Somerville Theater was announced, I couldn’t not be there. Because it’s Low.
And it was f’in beautiful. Everything I didn’t get out of the new songs on record, I got from the band that night. With the studio filter removed, it was just three people making music; a backing track appeared for a song or two, a harmonium (I think) on another. Otherwise, it was the Low I knew and loved. “Breaker” was a revelation, fired up with a guitar that rivaled the loudest parts of “The Great Destroyer”. “Belarus” was chilling, “Murderer” mesmerizing. Not to mention the old stuff, which felt better than ever.
So to offset my disappointment with “Drums And Guns”, I’ve pulled together a disc of live versions of the songs off the album, with most coming from my recording of that show, three others from around the ‘net, and two missing that I don’t believe they’ve yet played live (if I’m wrong about this, leave a comment, and better yet, let me know where they can be found). This moderately-mastered collection is shared below in Mp3 form, along with the entire Somerville set. Enjoy.
“Live Drums And Guns”
01. Pretty People (Colorado Springs 2006-10-28)
02. Belarus (Somerville 2007-04-07)
03. Breaker (Somerville 2007-04-07)
04. Dragonfly (Somerville 2007-04-07)
05. Sandinista (Somerville 2007-04-07)
06. Always Fade (missing)
07. Dust On The Window (missing)
08. Hatchet (Amsterdam 2007-05-07)
09. Your Poison (Philadelphia 2006-02-07)
10. Take Your Time (Somerville 2007-04-07)
11. In Silence (Somerville 2007-04-07)
12. Murderer (Somerville 2007-04-07)
13. Violent Past (Somerville 2007-04-07)
Bonus: Retribution Gospel Choir – “Hatchet“
(from the out-of-print 2005 RGC Summer Tour EP)
Live at the Somerville Theater
in Somerville, Massachusetts
on Saturday, April 7th, 2007
01. Cue the Strings
02. Sandinista
03. In Silence
04. Dragonfly
05. Belarus
06. Breaker
07. Point of Disgust
08. Lion / Lamb
09. Take Your Time
10. July
11. The Plan
12. Like A Forest
13. Pissing
14. Violent Past
15. Murderer
encore…
16. encore banter
17. Silver Rider
18. fire alarm banter
19. Last Snowstorm of the Year
20. Lust
A little Low linkage…
Their official site, Wikipedia entry, MySpace page, and the band’s Sub Pop Records page. Mp3s: NPR broadcasted Low’s April 10th appearance at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, and you can download the entire set here. There are also many live Low recordings available at the Live Music Archive. I highly recommend downloading their Black Sessions, recorded for Radio France on April 23rd, 2007. Video: The cake-filled clip for “Breaker“, the more recent video for “Belarus“, a live in-studio performance of “Murderer“, and more live clips on YouTube. Minnesota Public Radio had Low in their studio to perform a few songs live: “Sandinista,” “Murderer,” “Violent Past,” and “Breaker“. A few more of my photos from the show are available here. Listen to all ‘Nac-hosted tracks on the Hype Machine.
the post’s post-script… 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.
Mp3s: Dinosaur Jr. at Urban Outfitters
Posted on June 14, 2007 at 12:08 pm | No Comments
Yes, you read that title correctly. This past Monday night, J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph brought their reunited rock to the Harvard Square location of Urban Outfitters. From the moment the free, corporate-sponsored show was announced, the cynic in me was slightly amused/befuddled, thinking that Dinosaur Jr.‘s desire for the tall reunion dollars had finally driven them over some surreal line (and had driven them there in a custom-painted Toyota Yaris, no less). Even on Monday afternoon I wasn’t sure I wanted to go… I figured the crowd would be massive (it was), the wait would be long (yup), the personal space inside U.O. would be scarce (yeah), and the set could be short and even restrained (oh, how wrong I was).
But it was Dinosaur freakin’ Jr., and too close to home base, so Amie and I wandered to the square well before door time to find a line that stretched from the store’s east entrance, around the block, and far beyond the one on the opposite side. My ambivalence returned, but before bailing, I had to check in with Jay Clicky Clicky (read his coverage here) to see if his impressive blogger credentials had secured him access. And after meeting up for a quick beer across the street, lo and behold, a simple wave of our hands at the doorpeople and the intonation of “these are not the Boston music bloggers you’re looking for” got us inside.
While the considerate gentlemen who appeared to be in charge snagged a chair for the very-pregnant Amie (if you didn’t know, um, surprise), Jay and I headed down in front near the stage. Waitaminute, there’s an actual stage? Yeah, the organizers did this thing up right, setting up a not-unimpressive (although not very elevated) stage against the store windows that contained nearly all of Dino Jr.’s regular gear (Mascis may have been short a Marshall stack or two). This was to be no stripped down in-store; The 400 of us who got in were about to see the real deal. I started to get excited. And glad I brought the earplugs.
Knowing I was about to see this long-loved trio just a few feet in front of my face tempered the occasional wave of that ol’ corporate-induced cynicism… it was hard to fight it when Jay pointed out the mural behind the band’s gear: brightly inked Urban Outfitters and Toyota text scattered amongst the band’s name, WERS’ call letters, and actual little dinosaurs. When I tried to get a photo of that slightly silly backdrop and the crowd in front of it, I was quickly tapped on the arm and told, very matter of factly: “No. Photos”. Every not-sneaky-enough kid with a camera phone out was getting the warning. Yet another aspect of the event that raised the “ick” level a bit… the days of successfully squashing such things are long past, and it’d been awhile since I’d seen that level of image-controlling uptighted-ness. But knowing this whole thing was drawing a bunch of attention to the independent Emerson college radio station WERS and other commercial-free stations around the country (through the Free YR Radio program) made that arbitrary rule, and the rest of the marketing mania, much easier to swallow.
When the band came out, even they looked a little struck by the surreality of the scene… maybe I was projecting, but Murph and Lou’s sheepish smiles betrayed not only amusement but a hint of discomfort. Earplugs in, a few stick clicks from Murph, and they ripped into “Almost Ready“, the first track from “Beyond”, their new album that by all rights shouldn’t even exist, much less be so damn good. The show’s soundperson deserves some major praise, as the live mix was excellent, far better than I expected from an in-store setup. And while it wasn’t as loud as your normal club show, it was still likely louder than anything Harvard Square was used to. Just after I noticed an unprotected girl next to me, both index fingers shoved well into her ears, Lou handed out some plugs after finishing “Back To Your Heart“, and she fortunately snagged a pair.
As good as the first few songs sounded (despite the PA failing briefly during “Back To Your Heart“), it wasn’t until the band broke into “Out There” that they seemed to hit a stride, that I got carried away and really started feeling that we were at a bona fide rock show, environment be damned. That song apparently convinced Lou (who had already left the band when it was originally recorded), too, as he joked for reassurance: “It’s kinda like a real show, come on!“. No ‘kinda like’ qualifier needed there. I was surprised to find myself having more fun than I did at their first Boston reunion at Avalon almost two years ago. Jay and I figured they’d do a standard in-store set of 6, maybe 8 songs, but they gave us a much-appreciated 11. New stuff, old stuff, even another song recorded after Lou had left the band: “Feel The Pain“. They hadn’t mined the riches of their post-Lou material on the 2005 reunion tour, so to see those two songs was something special.
But the kicker, and I think Jay CC agrees with me, was the one-two headpunch of “Kracked” into “Sludgefeast“, exactly as they appear on their 1987 SST masterpiece (and 2005 Merge re-release) “You’re Living All Over Me”. I’ve listened to that album so much that my brain automatically kicks into “Sludgefeast” after “Kracked“, and to see that happen so powerfully in front of me was just glorious.
The show could have ended right there, and it felt like it would as the band left the stage, but they reappeared and delivered an ace version of “Pick Me Up” by request, probably my favorite track off the new record. It’s remarkable how smoothly material from what is ostensibly the band’s third phase blends so well with the stuff from the first two, and how some of the mostly-young crowd had apparently adopted those songs equally. And while it’s easy for me to feel old in a crowd filled with college-aged kids (and in this case, even younger), this time I was energized. Many who hadn’t even existed when the first few Dino Jr. records came out were smiling, sweating, and totally in awe of Mascis’ undeniable guitar skills. And so was I.
Here are the Mp3s from the set. Head over to Clicky Clicky for Jay’s take on the whole thing…
Live at Urban Outfitters
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
on Monday, June 11th, 2007
1. Almost Ready
2. Budge
3. Back To Your Heart
4. Been There All The Time
5. Out There
6. This Is All I Came To Do
7. Feel The Pain
8. Freak Scene
9. Kracked
10. Sludgefeast
encore…
11. Pick Me Up
Some Dinosaur Jr. linkage…
Their official site, Wikipedia entry, MySpace page, Freak Scene links page, official forums, the band’s Merge Records page, and the excellent Keeblin Discography. Mp3s: You’ll find no better Dinosaur Jr. audio resource than FreeSoFree.net, where the band allows the sharing of high-quality recordings of so many of their shows. Bless them. I hope to upload the .flac versions of my files there soon. You can also find a lossless version of the band’s recent NYC set at Irving Plaza over at NYCtaper. Video: Of course, there’s the treasure trove that is a DJr. YouTube search, but if you’re a fan, you must pick up a copy of the recently-released Dinosaur Jr.: Live at the Middle East DVD. In addition to Jay and I, Landon wrote a bit about the show at his MySpace page, and shared a few photos. The Free YR Radio site has almost 40 fantastic snaps to share as well, available as a 9.5 MB .zip file, including one of the guys and their custom car. If you download them all, have a look at the one titled Yaris146.jpg. Can’t miss the back of my red Homestar Runner t-shirt. Flickr member Keith Pierce also took a bunch of nice shots at the U.O. show; looks like he must have been one of the few with photo permission. The Boston Globe gave the show a token mention, complete with cheesy headline and no insight whatsoever. Well, they did catch Mascis comparing himself to Prince. The band also garnered themselves some Associated Press coverage this week, with an article titled “Dinosaur Jr. Reunites After 20 Years“. A headline that comes officially two years after the fact. There are some pictures of the guys in NYC as well, which can amusingly be found in the Yahoo “Dinosaurs and Fossils” photo category & slideshow. Reviews of a couple other recent Dinosaur Jr. sets can be found at False 45th (Burlington, VT show) and Prefix (Los Angeles show). Catch the band as they continue on tour with stops in Colorado, Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee in the coming week before they head overseas for the rest of the summer. Listen to all ‘Nac-hosted tracks on the Hype Machine.
the post’s post-script… 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.