Live Archive

Killing Joke: Love Like Blood, Ghosts of Ladbroke Grove, Change (Live)

By
Mark
 – April 6, 2011Posted in: Live

Normally, I hate when an old school band plays a show and subjects us to every track on their new (usually not so good) album. Strangely enough, the opposite was the case with this Killing Joke show. In 2010, Killing Joke released their first album by the original line-up since 1982′s Revelations. The album is called Absolute Dissent, and it is absolutely fucking brilliant from top to bottom. Inspired by and dedicated to former bass player Paul Raven, who passed away in 2007,  the album is a combination of the many different styles that Killing Joke has adopted throughout their 30+ year career.

The last time I caught Killing Joke was in 2008 when they did a 2-night stand at this same venue, focusing one show on their first 2 albums and the other show on their mid to late-90s material. So as far as I was concerned, the band was free to play whatever they wanted, hopefully leaning heavily on Absolute Dissent. What I got was a mix of Absolute Dissent and the first 2 albums, with some perennial KJ favorites thrown in. The band sounded great, though I think the guitar was a bit low in the mix.  The only complaint I have is that they didn’t play “The Raven King” which is my favorite track off the new one.

Post- show, I linked up with TSOI operative Avalanche for some adult beverages at a watering hole conveniently located next to the backstage entrance to Irving Plaza. After about an hour or so, Jaz and Geordie happened to exit, so I decided to go in for the autograph. I grabbed some paper from my bag that turned out to be my homework for the class I was taking at the time. I ended up with some scribble that I can’t really decipher, (Geordie wrote something about “Spacial Awareness”, Jaz wrote “You Will Succeed”…I think). They weren’t exactly traditional autographs, but when you’re a founding member of Killing Joke, you can write whatever the fuck you want on my HVAC Design homework.

Even though there are literally 5 million recordings of “Love Like Blood” live (I counted), I included it because scientific studies have conclusively proven that it’s pretty much the best song ever written. I’ve also posted “Ghosts of Ladbroke Grove” off the new one as well as the classic ”Change” from the debut album.

Irving Plaza 12/03/10
Tomorrow’s World
Love Like Blood
In Excelsis
Wardance
Absolute Dissent
Bloodsport
European Super State
This World Hell
The Fall of Because
Ghosts of Ladbroke Grove
Madness
Requiem
Eighties
The Great Cull
Asteroid
The Wait

Encore:
Change
Complication
Pandemonium

Download: Love Like Blood (Live)


Download: Ghosts of Ladbroke Grove (Live)


Download: Change (Live)

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The Monday Set: Raphael Saadiq – Los Angeles – 3/23/11

By
Kevin
 – April 4, 2011Posted in: Live, Set

Raphael Saadiq
Grammy Museum Clive Davis Theater
Los Angeles, CA
3/23/11

I heard about a special Raphael Saadiq “American Express Card Holders Only” BS show that was going on at the Grammy Museum the day tickets were going on sale. Trying my luck, I busted out my corporate card (the only AmEx I have) and prayed to the Ticketmaster gods I would be one of the chose ones. As luck, and a $19 service fee would have it, I got through. For my effort, we were treated to a special Q&A session and then a short set featuring tracks off the forthcoming record in a very intimate 200 person theater. The downside is that they had about 7 people watching the crowd to make sure you weren’t taking pictures or recording the set. I set my recorder on the floor, so the quality of this recording pretty much sucks, but I figured I would share it anyway. I can’t speak for the other 198 people who were there, but we thought it was an amazing evening.

Setlist
1. Heart Attack
2. Radio
3. Day Dreams
4. Just Don’t
5. Stone Rollin’
6. Good Man

Download: Raphael Saadiq – Los Angeles – 3/23/11 – 146 MB

Sample: Heart Attack (Live)

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OMD: History of Modern-Part 1, Talking Lound and Clear (Live)

By
Avalanche LEED AP
 – March 29, 2011Posted in: Live

OMD, the UK based new-wave pioneers and all around synth pop greats, debuted their first release way back in 1978 on Manchester’s renowned Factory Records. Their new album, The History of Modern – a slab of amped-up blood-rushing synth washes – is so good that it makes their storied back catalog obsolete – well, to me anyway. As with some of the recent Echo and the Bunnymen releases, OMD’s new one makes listening to their great back-catalog seem comparatively, and improbably, thin – that is, I am far more excited by their current work than their past, however good, work. This new album, number two on my 2010 best-of list, has all the great synth-based hooks of classic OMD, but refined and updated to create a whole new OMD synth frontier. With so many young bands lifting from OMD and their early new-wave peers, it must be a bit frustrating that the most forward sounding (at least while The Knife are MIA) keyboard based band in 2010/2011 is the one that pretty much defined the genre 30 years ago.

As a live act, OMD has enjoyed world-wide and wide-spread success with the exception being the US, hence their over 20 year absence. They apparently had no interest in lugging over their vintage keyboards to play small clubs. Based on inter-song banter before “Talking Loud and Clear” (see below) at their first US show in New York earlier this month, they were genuinely relieved that people bothered to show up at all and pretty much giddy that tickets sales were such that the show sold out even after a venue capacity upgrade. Andy McCluskey, lead vocalist and bassist, feared aloud during the show that they expected to take a $100k hit coming to the US. With the success of their US show, and with a string of shows at SXSW, OMD intends to make another go of the US in the fall with an expanded stage show.

To all the upstart keyboard based bands, be sure to go check out these shows to see how it should be done, and how keyboards are supposed to sound. I would go so far as to say that any keyboard purchase should come with mandatory OMD ‘How-To’ tutorial.

Here is a killer new track and an old gem as performed at OMD‘s recent New York show.

NYC Setlist:
New Babies: New Toys
Messages
Tesla Girls
Radio Waves
History of Modern (Part I)
Forever
If You Leave
Souvenir
Joan of Arc
Maid of Orleans
New Holy Ground
Green
Talking Loud Clear
So in Love
Sister Marie Says
Locomotion
Dreaming
Seven Seas
Enola Gay

Encore:
Milky Way
Electricity

Download: History of Modern-Part 1 (Live)

 

Download: Talking Lound and Clear (Live)

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Kitten: Chinatown (Live)

By
Jbird
 – March 29, 2011Posted in: Live

Time for new tights?

 

Kitten is currently opening for Young the Giant’s national tour. This track, from their Sunday School EP, was recorded at Chelsea’s in Baton Rouge last Wednesday. I don’t know terribly much about them, except they’re from Los Angeles (any dirt, Kevin?). They are pleasantly high-energy pop, quite enjoyably reminiscent of Baton Rouge’s own We Landed on the Moon. Their pint-size vocalist, apparently an indie-rock prodigy, channels a spastic Karen O and steals the show a bit with her antics — climbing all over the band’s gear, shaking her head violently, literally swinging from the rafters.

(I really do love the fan’s comment at the very beginning of this track in response to the singer’s low-key “…and…we love Louisiana.”)

Download: Kitten: Chinatown (Live)

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Robyn: Be Mine, Indestructible, Konichiwa Bitches (Live)

By
Mark
 – March 16, 2011Posted in: Live

Up until quite recently, I vaguely remembered Robyn from hearing her song “Show Me Love” some time ago and passing it off as another forgettable song by one of the many interchangeable female pop stars that have dominated the pop culture landscape since the dawn of the music video. I also remember seeing her getting “interviewed” by Wyatt Cenac on The Daily Show a couple years ago and getting the impression that she was pretty clueless and humorless. Needless to say, I went into 2010 with a pretty low opinion of her.

I heard that for the past couple years, she had more or less abandoned the prefabricated pop stylings of her early material in favor of working with artists with some serious indie cred such as Royksopp and The Knife. I decided to give her new “Body Talk” 3-part album an unbiased spin and found myself thoroughly enjoying the material. The music is still unabashedly full on pop, but there’s something non-pretentious and honest about the way Robyn delivers her newer music. Despite the fact that most of her songs are about being in, wanting to be in, getting out of, or regretting ending a relationship, I’m able to look past the banality of the lyrics and still get down with the music.

Still, I had reservations about her live show. Based on the small amount of intel I have gleaned from awful, terrible, not good mainstream pop stars like Katy Perry and her ilk, I braced myself for an obnoxious stage production big on eye candy and low on substance. Backup dancers, choreographed dancing, an excessively large band, and worst of all, lip synching. Fortunately, I was way off again. Robyn capped her band member limit with a totally manageable number: 4. 2 synth players, 2 drummers, and her. That was it. And they sounded really fucking good.

Included here is “Indestructible”, “Konichiwa Bitches”, and an extremely kick ass version of “Be Mine”.

Terminal 5 Nov. 10, 2010
Setlist
Fembot
Cry When You Get Older
Cobrastyle
Dancing on My Own
We Dance to the Beat/Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do
Love Kills
The Girl and the Robot
Indestructible
Dream On
With Every Heartbeat

Encore 1
U Should Know Better
Konichiwa Bitches
Hang With Me
Be Mine

Encore 2
Dancehall Queen
Dancing Queen
Show Me Love

Download: Be Mine (Live)

 

Download: Indestructible (Live)

 

Download: Konichiwa Bitches (Live)

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The Monday Set: Air Miami – San Francisco – 10/11/94

By
Kevin
 – March 14, 2011Posted in: Live, Set

Air Miami
The Bottom Of The Hill
San Francisco, CA
10/11/94

Here’s one of the better live Air Miami recordings I’ve come across. It was recorded in San Francisco during the ’94 Teen Beat Circus tour which also featured a special one-off performance by Cath Carroll.

Setlist:
1. Stop Sign
2. Bubble Shield
3. Neely
4. Pucker
5. Airplane Rider
6. Special Angel
7. Adidas My Ass
8. I Hate Milk

Download: Air Miami – San Francisco – 10/11/94 – 172 MB

Sample: Airplane Rider (Live)

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The Stone Roses: Here It Comes (Live Video)

By
Kevin
 – March 11, 2011Posted in: Live, Video

Here It Comes
The Hacienda
Manchester, UK
8/15/85

First off I have to get this out of the way. I cannot believe this was recorded nearly 30 years ago. Though their debut album which rocketed them into fame didn’t come out for another 4 years after this was recorded, the track sounds really polished and close to it’s final form.

Download: The Stone Roses: Here It Comes (Live Video)

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The Monday Set: Acid House Kings – New York City – 7/8/06

By
Kevin
 – March 7, 2011Posted in: Live, Set

Photo Taken From The Always Great Bradley’s Almanac

Acid House Kings
Cake Shop
New York City, NY
7/8/06

Acid House Kings released a new single earlier this month and have a brand spanking new LP set to drop later this month. One of TSOI’s writers (Avalanche) caught Acid House Kings on their last US tour nearly 5 years ago. Here’s a recording of one of their two NYC dates back in 2006.

Download: Acid House Kings – New York City – 7/8/06 – 164 MB

Sample: Yes! You Love Me (Live)

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The Monday Set: Magic Bullets – Los Angeles – 2/19/11

By
Kevin
 – February 28, 2011Posted in: Live, Set

Magic Bullets
Origami Vinyl
Los Angeles, CA
2/19/11

On a last minute whim we decided to check out San Francisco’s Magic Bullets‘ instore performance at Origami Vinyl a couple of weekends ago. I wasn’t that familiar with the band and had only heard a few tracks streamed from MySpace, but since it was a free show we had nothing to lose.

I flat out loved their sound! A nice mixture of C86 80′s alt rock bands grabbing liberally from Close Lobsters and The Mighty Lemon Drops. This live recording includes a few tracks that I recognized, plus a few that will be making it to vinyl in the not too distant future.

Download: Magic Bullets – Los Angeles – 2/19/11 – 182 MB

Sample: Laying Around (Live)

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Rammstein: Feuer Frei, Haifisch (Live)

By
Mark
 – February 23, 2011Posted in: Live


Rammstein sold out Madison Square Garden. In 15 minutes. I still find it hard to believe that this actually happened. I suppose it is a testament to the law of “supply and demand” being that it was Rammstein’s 1st U.S. show in 10 years. But still, this is Rammstein we’re talking about, a band that most everyone I knows thinks is a complete joke and/or a bunch of Nazi sympathizers. Well, it happened, and I probably wouldn’t have believed it except for the fact that I was there and saw an arena full of Americans going batshit for Rammstein. 

The reasons for the band skipping over the US for so many years is pretty simple. Rammstein’s infamous stage show consists of large quantities of fire, explosions, props, and flaming props that explode. This requires that their shows take place in arenas, stadiums, and similarly sized venues. In Europe, Asia, and South America, this is not a problem, as the band has been selling out arenas in those places for quite some time. Bringing their stage show to America to play for a half empty arena would be a risky proposition, financially. Bringing their stage show to a large theater or club in America would be even riskier, possibly resulting in hundreds of deaths (search Google for “Great White, The Station, fire”).

Most Americans still think of Rammstein as the band responsible for “Du Hast“, the band’s lone hit on these shores in the late 90s. After that time period, America stopped paying attention and a funny thing happened; they got much better. The follow up albums “Mutter” and “Reise Reise” demonstrated much deeper and complex songwriting, as well as illustrating vocalist Til Lindemann’s fluency in languages other than the bands’ native German.

The set was heavy on the bands latest album, “Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da”, but they threw in some older gems. While I would’ve liked to have heard more songs that haven’t yet been played in the US, I’ll take what I can get from these guys. I was also thoroughly amused by the white foam shooting mechanical penis that made an appearance during “Pussy“. The band seemed to have been satisfied with their foray into the American market, as they just announced a US tour set to start in May.

 Madison Square Garden Dec 11, 2010
Rammlied
B**********
Weidmann’s Heil
Keine Lust
Weisses Fleisch
Feuer Frei
Weiner Blut
Fruhling in Paris
Ich Tu Dir Weh
Du Riechst So Gut
Benzin
Links 2-3-4
Du Hast
Pussy

Encore 1
Sonne
Haifisch
Ich Will

Encore 2
Engel

Download: Rammstein: Feuer Frei (Live)

 

Download: Rammstein: Haifisch (Live)

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