Daily Listen by Brian Brock

Bill Callahan - Tucson, 3 July 09 (hear “Rock Bottom Riser”)

At this point Bill Callahan has to pass from being under the radar to massed on the border, waiting to invade.  He came back from his disappointing Woke on a Whaleheart with an album as good as anything he’s done.  Even though in this show he seemed somewhat haggard, and he gave up a couple of times in the middle of songs, if he just continues to reach the same high points, all of a sudden people will just refer to him in the same context as Leonard Cohen, or one of those Lyle Lovetty sorts.

Download my not-too-awful recordings from right in front of the stage.  I edited out most of the chatter and eighty percent of one guy’s repeated “YEAAAAH!”s, and equalized it a bit for better listening.

Part 1 - Our Anniversary, Diamond Dancer, Sycamore, Too Many Birds, The Wind and the Dove, Cold Blooded Old Times - http://www.mediafire.com/?ajondn4jtym

Part 2 - Jim Cain, Rococo Zephyr, All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast, Rock Bottom Riser, Say Valley Maker, (noodling before Let Me See the Colts), Let Me See the Colts - http://www.mediafire.com/?mytynmout4g

The Grateful Dead - Live in Buffalo, June 6, 1992

I found audio of my first Dead show on archive.org.  It’s great to hear it, because my primary memories of the show were:

a) being kept even more awake than I already was by someone in a tent five feet away from mine, playing the Pogues’ “Christmas in New York” over and over again at Two O’clock in the morning.

b) at Niagara Falls the next day, playing with a fountain which made a single unbroken inch-thick arc of water.  I found I could cut the flow with my hands and watch little water cylinders follow their intended path.  That was pure joy, making little rhythmic patterns.

The music was good, too.  I had this song, “He’s Gone”, stuck in my head for the rest of the trip, and listening back, it is still my favorite.

I never before realized how similar Will Oldham’s singing is to Jerry Garcia’s.

Times New Viking - Live at Modified in Phoenix 29 November 2008

Times New Viking is my new favorite band.  They wallop such enormous ass it’s like they are friends with the class clown in a school for fat kids.  “Kick me” signs printed on Kinko’s’s full assortment of paper colors pour out of their amplifiers like rainbows of blood.  Don’t worry, it’s actually ketchup, made from heirloom tomatoes and sea salt.

The band is completely in the moment but executing very well prepared ideas.  They come out of chaos on a dime and switch gears at will.  They have real songs, and can play their instruments.

The crowd was super-excited.  Right in front of me, a few cool kids straight out of the cool-kid catalog (hair scragged, goofy smiles, talking full of ideas) were ready to mosh, but only ironically.  They waited a couple of songs, then began jostling each other.  Then they “moshed”, disappearing briefly into a mess of bodies - then they were just standing again, having referred to a known quantity to a satisfying degree while staying far enough removed for coolth.

Modified exemplifies what I look for in a venue.  There’s nothing precious about it, there’s plenty of places to be, and it’s easy to get in and out of.  You can escape in two directions, because the main area is shaped like a donut - the bathroom is in the middle, which is a little smelly, but whatever it’s ***k rock.  I suspect this shape, combined with the plywood floor, is what leads to the decent acoustics.

In a rare case of actually having my head in the right place at the right time, I recorded this show.  Here is a .zip with mp3s all nicely edited for you.  Use it wisely.

http://www.mediafire.com/?wxjhjnzkmzk

Deerhunter also played.  It felt like watching the Beatles and Pink Floyd play back to back, or Sonic Youth and Joy Division.  Deerhunter was way too loud, though.

Dominic Duval’s String Ensemble - Live in Concert

It’s a spider web of extruded aluminum.  Minnows and geese are caught up, bubbling and squawking while the Mrs. winds them up, and the goose tries to eat the fish.

Listen to this stuff loud, if possible.  The amount of attention you give to good free jazz is directly proportional to the enjoyment you can reap from it.  It sounds like shit if you don’t pay attention.  This is only true up to a point - the good associations developed from listening to it eventually overwhelm the disorienting squall and you can do the dishes or cook while it plays.

The texture changes clearly from track to track in this music, which signals that they are not just hacking away at “free jazz” but actually doing something specific in each piece.

There’s some odd dated liner notes in this CD (from 1998) about cyberspace.  Check it out in the next post.

Polysics w/ Jaguar Love, live in Tempe AZ (part 2)

As promised Jaguar Love live and in tune.

Well, I never promised they’d be in tune.