After all the great club shows I’d seen them play, I was a bit skeptical about seeing Dirty Projectors outdoors in the afternoon.  My worries were unfounded, as their songs were effortlessly translated to a festival setting.  Their ability to present such complex compositions (“brain music”) and entertain a general audience, many of whom had probably never heard the band, is another testament to the genius and talent of Longstreth and Co.

Dirty Projectors
6.19.2010
Main Stage, Westword Music Showcase, Denver, CO

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 > digi-coax > Oade Mod Edirol R44 @ 24/48 > SDHC > Adobe Audition 3.0 > Resample to 16/44.1 > CDWave
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. intro
2. Robert Adams/New Topographics dedication
3. I Will Truck
4. No Intention
5. Knotty Pine
6. Fucked For Life
7. Temecula Sunrise
8. Cannibal Resource
9. Remade Horizon
10. Imagine It
11. Stillness Is The Move
12. Useful Chamber

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be found on Dime.

New Socks
1.02.2010
40 Watt Club, Athens, GA

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 > digi-coax > Oade Mod Edirol R-44 @ 24/48 > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > LAME > mp3
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. intro
2. Trampoline
3. Family Tree
4. Robin Skull
5. “Talk About”
6. Small Pieces
7. I Was Very Small in Her Stomach
8. Apple Farm
9. banter
10. “Record Shop” *
11. “Antennas” *

Notes:
* = w/ Black Mold Lightning

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

(Photo by Brian Carney.)

In what has been labeled by several as their favorite Denver show this year, Akron/Family concluded The Oriental’s St. Pat’s festivities with a two-hour performance that took the audience on an emotional roller coaster.  Boasting a dreadfully serious opening song, thundering jams with Pee Pee, punk rock, and singalongs in utter darkness, you won’t fully appreciate this journey by sampling one or two tracks.  Stay along for the entire ride, and you just might experience a renewed faith in the potential of experimental rock.

Akron/Family
3.17.2009
The Oriental Theater, Denver, CO

Source:  Mix [Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 > digi-coax] + [SBD > 1/4″] > Oade Mod Edirol R44 @ 24/48 > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > Resampe to 16/44.1 > CDWave > LAME > mp3
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. intro
2. Untitled (last song from s/t album)
3. River >
4. The Alps and Their Orange Evergreen >
5. Gravelly Mountains of The Moon >
6. Lake Song * >
7. Jam * >
8. Ed Is a Portal * >
9. Creatures > Jam * >
10. Everyone Is Guilty
11. MBF
12. Sun Will Shine *
13. Last Year
(Encore)
14. I Know You Rider
15. Crickets

Notes:
* = with members of Pee Pee

Tim Weilert has posted some great video footage of Pee Pee jam here, courtesy of Something Like Sound!

Zipfiles of the mp3s are available here:  Part 1, Part 2.
FLAC files are available via BitTorrent over at dime.

Evening two of the Arizona run:  We’re hanging out in a Scottsdale strip mall and break the news to Brian that it’s Valentine’s Day.  It’s only 30 minutes before doors, but you can see the mental gears grinding away, searching for material worthy of bolstering the Greeting Card Association membership’s market value.  An hour later, the homage is nothing less than genius!

Brian Dewan
2.14.2009
Chyro Arts Venue, Scottsdale, AZ

Source:  DPA 4060/Microtech Gefell M300 Mix > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave
Source #1: DPA 4060s (Core-Sound HEBs) clipped to vocal mic stand > battery box > M-Audio Microtrack 2 > CF
Source #2: Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. (Valentine’s Day intro)
2. I Will Give My Love an Apple [trad.]
3. I Hold Your Hand in Mine [Tom Lehrer]
4. Girl [Beatles]
5. Girls [Iggy Pop]
6. The Human Heart
7. (Brian tells a joke)
8. Brain Surgery Without Anesthesia
9. Sovey the Female Highwayman [trad.]
10. The True Lover’s Farewell [trad.]

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

Joining The Music Tapes and Nana Grizol on their recent tour, Brian Dewan schooled punctual E6 fans on the physics of making dead-serious musical historiography and eccentricity converge.   Brian is very fervent about the traditional songs he unearths for listeners, yet never fails to inject a breath of humor into every performance.  Every geek musical fact withdrawn from the treasury comes with a joke stashed away in a separate account.  Every antique zither or film projector on-stage comes with a ridiculous suit jacket or tie.

This set from Solar Culture in Tucson was comprised primarily of material from The Operating Theater and Words of Wisdom.  Most tunes can’t be pegged to a single songwriter, any accreditation having been lost to the winds of time, but we can at least give Brian the credit of delivering them to our ears.

Brian Dewan
2.13.2009
Solar Culture, Tucson, AZ

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. Big Rock Candy Mountains
2. The Kettle Valley Line
3. The Mountaineer’s Wedding
4. Niagara Falls
5. Where They Belong
6. Home Movies
7. Fruitless Labors
8. Kids
9. Rumpelstiltskin
10. Flexible Flyer
11. Cadavers
12. unknown
13. The Mistletoe

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

Larkin Grimm (with John Houx)
2.25.2009
The Oriental Theater, Denver, CO

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. intro
2. unknown
3. Anger In Your Liver
4. Dominican Rum
5. Blond and Golden Johns
6. They Were Wrong
7. Ride That Cyclone *
8. Durge
9. My Justine
10. Hope For The Hopeless
11. Be My Host
12. Apple on a Table, Green @
13. Parplar
14. The Last Tree

Notes:
* = with Laura Goldhamer
@ = John Houx solo

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland is hitting the road next week in support of their self-titled sophomore release, and the tour will include two stops here in Colorado:

May 08 – Hi-Dive, Denver, CO
May 09 – B Side Lounge, Boulder, CO

Seeing these dates surface convinced me to dust off another 2006 Folks Festival recording.  This performance occurred six months before the release of Ash Wednesday, so most of us festivarians were unprepared for the brilliance that lay ahead.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland
8.19.2006
Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, Planet Bluegrass, Lyons, CO

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > Firewire > CoolEdit Pro > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

One Disc:
1. intro
2. While You Were Sleeping
3. Hey
4. Emile’s Vietnam in the Sky
5. All the Night Without Love
6. The Rain Song
7. Impromptu and Variations on a Theme by Phil Spector
8. Doomsday
9. Ash Wednesday
10. Shampoo
11. The Night & The Liquor
12. Sleep Sandwich
13. May Day
14. 1-2-3 Goodbye

FLAC files can be downloaded via BitTorrent at cotapers.
A single zipfile of the mp3s is available here.

One of my favorite shows from 2007: Dirty Projectors at the Hi-Dive!  (If you’re wondering what’s up with Jona’s speech before the show, he was just messing with the crowd.  The truth–exclusivity clauses prevented him from playing Denver within two weeks of the Monolith Festival.)

Dirty Projectors
9.04.2007
The Hi-Dive, Denver, CO

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > Firewire > CoolEdit Pro > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

One Disc:
1. YACHT speech/intro
2. Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie
3. What I See
4. Thirsty and Miserable
5. Depression
6. Not Having Found
7. New New Attitude
8. Imagine It
9. Fucked For Life
10. Rise Above

FLAC files can be downloaded via BitTorrent here.
A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.

(Photo by Dilip Barman.)

Here’s a set from Benyaro frontman Ben Musser.  Ben will be back at the Meadowlark for another solo performance on 3/14/2009.

Ben Musser (of Benyaro)
1.10.2009
The Meadowlark, Denver, CO

Source:  DPA 4060s (Core-Sound HEBs) > battery box > Apogee MiniMe > M-Audio Microtrack 2 > CF > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. To the Homeland
2. Bullet Like Belief
3. Feelin’ Low
4. Long Shot *
5. Time To Kill *
6. unknown

Notes:
* = w/ Laura Jensen on vocals

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

Purchase Benyaro albums:
2007 – Self-titled (via CD Baby)