Mp3s: Explosions in the Sky live in NYC
Posted on December 15, 2005 at 3:14 pm | No Comments
So I just flew back from NYC and boy are my arms ears tired. Actually, my whole body is beat, and achey, and all sorts of other pain-related adjectives. Wrestled with a nasty cold during the entire trip, and was determined not to let the bug bring me down. Essentially pretending it didn’t exist, I went about my normal getaway plans… and am paying for it now. Wandering around a chilly city, seeing shows, drinkin’ beers, staying out too late, and crashing at the pads of kind friends is not the ideal cold remedy (and I can only pray I don’t repay my inviting hosts by infecting them… my fingers have been crossed for days, you guys).
I did a bunch of stuff while I was down there (and I’ll write about some of it later), but the capper of my four day visit was on the final night, when I caught Explosions in the Sky for the second of their three shows at the Bowery Ballroom. Here’s the set…
Live at the Bowery Ballroom
Manhattan, NYC
Monday, December 12th, 2005
(files removed on 3/1/2006)
1. First Breath After Coma
2. New Song?
3. Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean
4. Have You Passed Through The Night?
5. Memorial
6. The Moon Is Down
It was an excellent, ear-blistering set… the delicacy of their studio work was there, though trumped by the pedal-fueled moments of fury. These guys know how to swell to a sonic payoff, and they were as tight doing so as their recordings promised. Speaking of, I was finally able to pick up discs I’d only had as mp3s at their merch table, including the one-per-person / immediately-out-of-print Travels in Constants EP, ‘The Rescue‘, which includes these words in the liner notes:
“… for this, our idea was to take two weeks and write and record a song every day. (we ended up doing this for eight days and the rest of the two weeks was spent mixing the results). No riffs were to be written beforehand; things would be made up on the spot. It seemed daunting but fun and perhaps, instructive. A learning experience. A chance to try new instruments and new ways of thinking about writing songs.”
So that explains the ‘Day One’ through ‘Day Eight’ titles, for all you downloaders. The band is cool with you stealing that sucker online if you aren’t fortunate enough to find it at one of the few shows they’re playing right now. If you do get to see ’em in person, grab that EP early, because they were gone fast in NYC.
As you can see on the setlist, we got what I’d imagine is one of the new songs that will end up on their in-progress next album (did anyone else get different unveilings at other shows?). If it’s an old one I’m not familiar with, set me straight in the comments. For those upcoming show dates (two in LA this weekend, two in Texas next month), check out the EitS site, and for more frequent news updates, hit this excellent fan site. For a couple more pictures from the Bowery show, head over to my Flickr page. (12/19 eta: some excellent photos from the sunday show can be found at crackers united.)
As always, here comes the fine print: live songs are recorded with a Sony minidisc recorder, converted from .wav to 192kbps mp3s, and are made available for a few weeks. If the artist or anyone involved with making the music has an issue with them being shared here, just say the word… my email address is on the left.
Mp3s: Ride’s Mark Gardener live in Boston
Posted on December 5, 2005 at 3:22 pm | No Comments
Last night, while waiting for Dinosaur Jr. to take the stage at the Middle East Downstairs, just after enduring the crapfest that was the opening band, I was kinda conflicted. The crammed-in crowd, the $25 t-shirts, the terrible openers, the milking of (gimme) indie rock nostalgia… I just wasn’t feeling it. Sure, I’d seen Dinosaur at Avalon back in July (with an even more terrible opening band), and it was pretty great… but there was another show going on across the river, and I was struck by the feeling that it was over there I really belonged.
So I text-messaged my bandmate Randy, who was at the Paradise Lounge waiting for ex-Ride singer/guitarist Mark Gardener to take the stage with touring partners Goldrush backing him up. There was still time to make the quick drive, so I cruised over, found a perfect parking spot and joined a couple dozen fans for Mark’s great set of Ride songs and solid new solo material.
It was a truly memorable evening, as the too-small crowd put Mark & Co. in a conversational mood, chatting between songs, joking around… it felt more like a livingroom show than a club gig. He spoke of the tour so far, of electrical shocks, of dwarf tossing, of taking up a collection so that the Paradise could buy an extra ‘R’ for their marquee out front (He was “Mark Gardenep” on the sign that night). He kept tabs on another fan’s smoking habits, as it was impossible not to notice when she stepped out for a cigarette. “Nasty habit, that…” said Mark, and later on, “She’s back! Was it good?”. His concern seemed far less parental when he grabbed a quick smoke himself after the show.
It struck me as Mark and the band broke into ‘Taste‘, the first of four Ride songs they’d play, that it was probably a dozen or so years ago that I saw him on stage in this very same building, when Ride played with the Pale Saints in the much larger main room of the ‘Dise. A brilliant night, but then again, every time I saw Ride was. A lot of that came rushing back when the ‘Taste‘ bass intro started up… more than a little bit of bliss.
So while I have no doubt that Dinosaur Jr. was very good (and I’ll get to see for myself when the DVD they were filming eventually arrives), I know I made the right decision to flee the masses and head for the intimacy. Sitting there, relaxing with other Mark fans, drinking a beer with Jerad Driveblind, watching a guy from one of my favorite bands ever play songs from their best album… it was pretty near perfect.
And here, for you, is the set…
Live at the Paradise Lounge, Boston, MA
Sunday, December 4th, 2005
1. intro banter
2. Snow In Mexico
3. Getting Out Of Your Own Way
4. Taste
5. Summer Turns To Fall
6. Rhapsody
7. The Story Of The Eye
8. Where Are You Now?
9. Gravity Flow
10. Vapour Trail
11. Dreams Burn Down
12. In A Different Place
A couple of songs after Mark had joked “So, none of you could get tickets to Dinosaur Jr., huh?”, I approached the stage and handed him my used Dinosaur ticket stub. “Waitaminute, you went!? How was it?” Mark asked. “Yeah, I was there, but I left before they came on.” was my reply.
“Man, you just made my fucking night,” he said.
Nah, Mark… you made mine.
Some links for ya: Mark’s official site, his MySpace page, Piero’s Mark microsite, and the official Ride site. Buy Mark’s excellent new solo album from United For Opportunity right here, and check out a new interview with him in the Toronto Star.
Mark’s tour with Goldrush and Hopewell crosses the border into Canada today, with Montreal tomorrow night and Toronto on Wednesday. From there it’s on to Detroit, Chicago, and eventually the West Coast for the final six shows. Do go and see ’em.
(the fine print: live songs are recorded with a sony minidisc recorder, converted from .wav to 192kbps mp3s, and are made available for a few weeks. if the artist or anyone involved with making the music has an issue with them being shared here, just say the word… my email address is on the left.)