The Wedding Present – Seaport 2010 [uncut#15]
New York City, Seaport Music Festival 13 August 2010
Set List ~ Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft > Corduroy > Deer Caught In The Head Lights > You’re Dead > Brassneck > Crushed > No > Thanks > Kennedy > What Have I Said Now? > Granadaland > Bewitched > Take Me > Be Honest
Geek Specs
A/V ~ Sony HVR-Z5U with Sennheiser MKH418S M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone > 1080i/60 HDV on Panasonic AY-DVM63PQUS > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
Words by Greg Peterson
If it came down to one thing, it was the sound of the guitars that caught my ear; the way they kept getting louder and more distorted and yet somehow still more melodic. They were doing a cover of Elton John’s “Step Into Christmas” on a compilation called A Lump Of Coal when I first heard The Wedding Present. It was probably in November of 1992. I was lucky that a few weeks later the one music store in town had a copy of their cassette Seamonsters, and about two minutes and forty five seconds into the first song, “Dalliance,” when the guitars and drums explode out of nowhere, it felt like my brain was exploding too. I had a new favorite band.
Up until then, I wanted to play guitar like Peter Buck. But here was a sound I had never imagined before. The distortion was so rich and full of character and unpredictable, like the midwestern thunderstorms that turn everything yellow before they come crashing down. The singer had a voice that sounded to me at the time a little bit like a sarcastic frog with a broken heart, and even if I couldn’t understand half of the words, I could feel his pain (pretty much all of the songs are about betrayal, in one way or another). The sound of the album (my first taste of Albini) was completely addictive: the manic strumming, the huge propulsive drums, the catchy and melancholy melodies, and the chord changes that felt like your heart had stopped. . . eventually this would be one of the few albums that I owned on cassette, CD, and LP.
The guitarist Peter Solowka left the band pretty much as I was discovering them, but the sounds he made still take me right back to my white Dodge Horizon with the tiny speakers pushed to their limit, driving into the mysterious adult world that apparently existed just beyond high school.
Brassneck
Savages – Public Assembly 2012 [uncut#14]
Brooklyn, Public Assembly 19 October 2012
Set List ~ No Face > City’s Full > I’m Here > Another War > Shut Up > She Will > Husbands
Geek Specs
A/V ~ Sony HVR-Z5U with Sennheiser MKH418S M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone > 1080i/60 HDV on Panasonic AY-DVM63PQUS > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
Don’t believe the hype [Public Enemy, 1987]
Shut Up
Ende Tymes: Novo Apocalypso 2013 [uncut#13]
Brooklyn, Silent Barn 24-26 May 2013
Full sets by E.S.P. Lab (NY) / Long Distance Poison (NY) / Breached Hull (OH) / GRKZGL (QC) / TAHNZZ (NM) / Developer+Diaphragmatic (OH) / Bhob Rainey and Witchbeam (PA/LA) / KILT (NM/NY) / Rusalka (BC) / Kakerlak (MD) / Crank Sturgeon (ME) / Oscillating Innards (OR) / PCRV (MT) / Macronympha (PA) / KHF (NY) / TOMB (PA) / ISA Christ (MA) / Plague Mother (OH) / Peter J Woods (WI) / Pod Blotz (CA) / Thomas Dimuzio (CA) / Gerritt Wittmer (CA) / Penny Royale (MA) / Clang Quartet (NC) / Dried Up Corpse (WA) / Aaron Dilloway (MI) / Francisco Meirino (CH) / Vomir (FR) / Vomir-Meirino-Wittmer Collaboration (FR/CH/CA)
Additional partial sets by Andy Ortmann (IL) / Collapsed Arc (OH) / IDM Theftable (ME) / Jeff Carey (MD) / Maria Chavez (NY) / Mister Matthews (NY) / Work/Death (RI)
Geek Specs
24th & 25th A/V recorded by (((unartig))) ~ Sony HVR-Z5U with Sennheiser MKH418S M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone > 1080i/60 HDV on Panasonic AY-DVM63PQUS > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
26th A/V recorded by Bob Bellerue ~ Canon EOS Rebel 2ti > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
Words by Jeff Conklin
There wasn’t much in the way of beats, melodies or even guitar at the 2013 installment of Ende Tymes—the “Festival of Noise and Experimental liberation” created by Bob Bellerue in 2011. What there was at the three-day affair was noise, and plenty of it. The gut-rattling, brain-singeing and eardrum-lancing came courtesy of over 40 performers from around North America and Europe. Ok, there were only two European artist present—Francisco Meirino from Switzerland and French harsh noise wall architect Vomir—but it was Vomir’s premiere US performance, which was kind of a big deal. At Ende Tymes, there were veterans (Aaron Dilloway, Macronympha, Skin Graft, Zaimph and Thomas DiMuzio), locals (Long Distance Poison, Maria Chavez, Nonhorse, Telecult Powers’ Mister Matthews and Witchbeam), performance art (Clang Quartet, Crank Sturgeon, Gerritt Wittmer) and, perhaps most importantly, plenty of rising artists (Tahnzz, Rusalka, Breached Hull). For three nights the PA at the freshly reopened Silent Barn (which was at capacity each night) was put to the test as molten drones, walls of static and crackling power electronics slithered and thrust from its speakers.
Vomir
Aaron Dilloway
Secret Chiefs 3 – The Stone 2013 [uncut#12]
New York City, The Stone 02 June 2013
Set List 8PM Show ~ Escape From New York > The Thing > Zombievision/Halloween > Danse Macabre > Vajra > Sophia’s Theme > Saptarshi > Exodus
Set List 10PM Show ~ Sheburiel > Akramachamarei > Shoel > Barakiel > Bezriel > Kemuel > Labbiel > Asron > Balberith > Omael
Geek Specs
A/V ~ Sony HVR-Z5U with Sennheiser MKH418S M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone > 1080i/60 HDV on Panasonic AY-DVM63PQUS > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
A complete recording of Secret Chiefs 3’s last two performances from their 6 night residency at The Stone in New York City. During soundcheck, a couple of familiar faces popped their heads in. Longtime friends and collaborators John Zorn and Mike Patton hung around for a 3 song practice session before Patton had to head over to Best Buy Theatre in Times Square for his own show with Tomahawk. All that and more in the video edits below.
Escape from New York
Cobalt – Saint Vitus 2013 [uncut#11]
Brooklyn, Saint Vitus 31 May 2013
Set List ~ Gin > Arsonry > Throat > Stomach > Blood Eagle Sacrifice > Witherer > Pregnant Insect > Eater of Birds
Geek Specs
A/V ~ Sony HVR-Z5U with Sennheiser MKH418S M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone > 1080i/60 HDV on Panasonic AY-DVM63PQUS > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
The things you thought you’d never see.
Bitch Magnet – Le Poisson Rouge 2012 [uncut#9]
New York City, (le) Poisson Rouge 25 October 2012
Set List ~ Dragoon > Valmead > Navajo Ace > Ducks and Drakes > Motor > Goat-Legged Country God > Big Pining > Joan of Arc > Americruiser > Seap of Pearls > Filler [Minor Threat]
Geek Specs
A/V ~ Sony HVR-Z5U with Sennheiser MKH418S M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone > 1080i/60 HDV on Panasonic AY-DVM63PQUS > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
Many moons before Temporary Residence’s 2011 3LP discography, Bitch Magnet was a band I admired with an infant-like naïveté. In the 80’s and early 90’s I used to make VHS mixtapes for myself, recording all the good stuff that aired on MTV’s 120 Minutes and Headbangers Ball. Bitch Magnet’s video for Mesentery made it onto one of those compilations. However, there was simply no info to be found on them in my neck of the woods. They were a total mystery band. Needless to say, in a pre-internet world it made the little ‘undiscovered’ gem stone feel all the more special. Seeing Bitch Magnet play at (le) Poisson Rouge in 2012 brought back many memories of those days in which music wasn’t instantly accessible all the time. It felt good and exciting to be part of this time traveling nostalgia ride. Because as great as today’s transparent data highway is in theory, love is lost when universal availability is just a mouse click away.
Deafheaven – Saint Vitus 2013 [uncut#8]
Brooklyn, Saint Vitus 22 February 2013
Set List ~ Violet > Language Games > Unrequited > Punk Rock/Cody [Mogwai] > Dream House
A collaborative A/V presentation by NYCTaper and (((unartig)))
Video ~ Sony HVR-Z5U > 1080i/60 HDV on Panasonic AY-DVM63PQUS > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro 7 > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps
Audio ~ Soundboard + Sennheiser 8040 Cardioids > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > uncut 24bit 48kHz wav file – Download the full FLAC audio directly from NYCTaper.
“All my prophets were singers of sad songs” [Waxwing, 2000]
Codeine – Bell House 2012 [uncut#7]
Brooklyn, Bell House 29 June 2012
Set List: D > Cigarette Machine > Median > Tom > Sea > Pickup Song > Jr > Loss Leader > Barely Real > Washed Up > Cave-In > Pea > Promise of Love > Broken-Hearted Wine
Words by Brandon Stosuy
The N.Y. slowcore trio Codeine were one of my favorite live acts in the early 90s because of the emotional and musical weight of their sets, a heaviness intensified by the glacial pace of the music. (Their drummers, first Chris Brokaw and then Doug Scharin, looked like they were playing in slow motion underwater.) The band also possessed a cleanness and clarity, something echoed in the icy, spare covers of their two Sub Pop full lengths, 1990’s Frigid Stars and 1994s White Birch, and reflected in the eyes of sad-sack vocalist and bassist Stephen Immerwahr (at the time, those eyes reminded me of pools of slush). But there was power and strength in the sadness: Masters of an intense concision, Codeine made some of the heaviest music I’ve ever heard.
And it’s aged well. Their output– the aforementioned LPs plus 1992’s Barely Real EP — was reissued last year, and Immerwahr and guitarist John Engle got back together to play shows with Brokaw. They didn’t get “fancy” or add anything to the originals, and the shows were as powerful as the ones they did 20 years ago. In an age of excess, Codeine remain a band that knows each element has its place and that there needs to be space for these things to breath.
Cave-in
Tools: Sony HVR-Z5U, Sennheiser MKH418S – M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone
Xiu Xiu / Deerhoof – Unknown Pleasures 2010 [uncut#6]
Brooklyn, Williamsburg Waterfront at East River State Park 11 July 2010
Set List: Disorder > Day of the lords > Candidate > Insight > New dawn fades > She’s lost control > Shadowplay > Wilderness > Interzone > I remember nothing
It was the day that The Netherlands lost yet another World Cup final when Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu played “Unknown Pleasure” in its entirety. The show had all the potential in the world to be as big a failure as the Dutch soccer squad. Only, it was nothing but a triumph. A glorious tribute to the single most amazing band to come out of the late 70’s punk aftermath.
Tools: Sony HVR-A1U, Sony ECMHST1
She’s lost control
Alcest – Public Assembly 2012 [uncut#5]
Brooklyn, Public Assembly 31 March 2012
Set List: Autre temps > Les Iris > Là où naissent les couleurs nouvelles > Les Voyages De L’Âme > Printemps émeraude > Écailles de lune – Part 1 > Sur l’océan couleur de fer > Percées de lumière > Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde > Summer’s Glory
Words by Lauren Jackson
Artwork by Karlynn Holland
Tools: Sony HVR-Z5U, Sennheiser MKH418S – M/S Stereo Shotgun Microphone
As a self-described hardcore fan, people are often confused when they find out I listen to black metal, especially black metal in the vein of Alcest.
How, they question, can someone who identifies so strongly with hardcore—typified by raw emotion and simplistically fast chord progressions—also identify with the complexity of a band like Alcest, a band whose influences and songwriting are as convoluted as the muddle of syllables in each French song title?
The answer is simple: For all its stylization, Alcest is at its core telling a simple story, just like any hardcore band.
Neige, who founded Alcest in 2000, isn’t crafting songs; he’s crafting portals into new worlds; worlds that the esotericists would call the invisible cosmos—places where all beings (both human and non-human) converge. Alcest’s music is spiritual, but without dogma. It is, as the title of their 2012 album suggests, les voyages de l’ame—travels of the soul.
Alcest transcends the bounds of black metal, shoegaze, post-metal or whatever other arbitrary terms one might apply to its sound because Alcest isn’t about genre—it’s about storytelling. And the story it tells (unlike most other extreme bands) is innocent and hopeful…hopeful in the way a crewman on a ship is hopeful that, after a long journey, he will one day wake up to land.
Les Iris
UNARTIG 
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