Yo La Tengo - Hamer Hall, 18 October 2013

Apparently this years Melbourne festival has been really financially successful. Which is great, but surprises me a bit because lots of the shows that I went to were pretty ambitious in terms of venue size or number of shows. Last time in Melbourne Yo La Tengo played the Forum, while this time they skipped other slightly larger venues and jumped to a venue that's literally twice the capacity of the Forum. That's pretty ambitious for a band like this, and they ended up having to sell discounted tickets on the day of the show.

The format of the show - acoustic half, followed by an electric half, with a 20 minute intermission sandwiched in between - required a seated venue, and worked well here. The crowd were relatively sedate, but that's hard to avoid in a large seated theatre. Both sections of the show worked really well, although the electric set was phenomenally loud. The sound quality of the recording is generally good, except for the final songs of the show when they played a couple of extremely quiet songs.


The band has already announced a return in 2014 for Golden Plains and a Sydney show in this format. Hopefully a Melbourne show hasn't been announced because it will be a smaller 'normal' Yo La Tengo show.


Ohm
Two Trains
Can't Forget
Periodically Double or Triple
Black Flowers
Cornelia and Jane
The Point of It
I'll Be Around
Better Things
Big Day Coming

Stupid Things
Is That Enough
Sudden Organ
Little Eyes
Mr Tough
Before We Run
Sugarcube
From a Motel 6
Ohm
Blue Line Swinger

I Heard Her Call My Name
The Farmer's Daughter
My Little Corner of the World

https://mega.co.nz/#F!EAEVjbCB!fBrPcDyK0iV9sbqrXifTTg

http://www.mediafire.com/folder/9it198eotc8cu/Yo_La_Tengo_-_Hamer_Hall%2C_18_Oct_2013

Neutral Milk Hotel - St Louis, 5 May 1997

The silver lining to the cancellation of Harvest is that we've now got two pretty phenomenal shows, headlined by Neutral Milk Hotel. There aren't many shows from these guys, this an acoustic show from prior to the release of In the Aeroplane... Another piece of good news - from reports from their first two shows the saw makes an appearance during some songs.  In case you missed it, I've already put up a Jeff Mangum solo set, which is probably a better place to start than this, but if you've already get that, check this one out.

She Did a Lot of Acid
Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone
Naomi
Engine
The King of Carrot Flowers Pt 3
Song Against Sex
The Fool
Oh Comely
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

https://mega.co.nz/#F!pMkigRib!UigFIEJah7QONWwUJRgPAQ

Handsome Family - The HiFi, 12 October 2013

I'm going to quite a few Melbourne Festival events. The first one was the Handsome Family at the HiFi. I'm only a very casual fan of the band, so I'm sure the experience of the hardcore fans was quite different. For me there was a mix of phenomenally good songs (So Much Wine and When That Helicopter Comes) and some fairly mediocre ones. The sound quality is really good, so for bigger fans of the band, this should be a pretty enjoyable set.

The Bottomless Hole
So Much Wine
The Woman Downstairs
Octopus
The Sad Milkman
My Sister's Tiny Hands
Arlene
Frogs
Linger, Let Me Linger
Woodpecker
The Loneliness of Magnets
Owls
Weightless Again

When That Helicopter Comes
Don't Be Scared

https://mega.co.nz/#F!wAc3wbzY!DMQANRqsLycVriVsdv3pvA

The War on Drugs - Slave Deviant Vol. 1: The War on Radio

I've mentioned many many times how great the War on Drugs is. Hopefully regular visitors will already know their greatness, or will have checked out some of their stuff after my frequent recommendations. But maybe some of you haven't. Or maybe you have and you're waiting for me to put up some more of their stuff.

Well here it is. I've been working on these for a while (and not just for the War on Drugs) - collecting all the TV and radio performances I can find from these guys and putting them into one wonderful collection. Well you'll have to wait for that, because first up I'm posting some more concise sets, for those who don't want to wade into the deep end of the War on Drugs pool. This is my picks of the best of their radio, TV and internet sessions. Volume 2 will cover their live shows, but that's still a way off. For now, check this out, if only for their phenomenal cover of A Pagan Place (I'll lose my shit if they play that in Melbourne - speaking of which, there are still tickets available).

This is Your Brain on the War on Drugs
Best Night
Black Water Falls
Interview
I Was There
Your Love is Calling My Name
The Animator
Come to the City
Comin' Through
Buenos Aires Beach
Best Night
Show Me the Coast
Baby Missiles
A Needle in Your Eye #16
A Pagan Place

https://mega.co.nz/#F!NMUB3LzL!MRCvGRilFhYPGKQbcqZvBA

Tiger Bones - When You Die

As this free album thing progresses it's going to get harder an harder to focus only on free albums by well known bands. The flip side of that it that this is an opportunity to check out some bands that you (and I) might not otherwise encounter. In this vein - Tiger Bones. This album is one I've been listening to a lot since I downloaded it. The sound is a very indie Joy Division. Perhaps not super original, but originality is often overrated, when the key is quality, which this has in buckets.

http://www.candydinner.com/album/tiger-bones-when-you-die/

Modest Mouse - Sasquatch! Festival, 29 May 2011

I've been putting up lots of shows for bands who are touring Australia soon, but here's one just because it's great. This was only a few months before Modest Mouse's last Australian tour, but unlike that one, which was strange and awkward, this show is really great, even if Isaac Brock's comments are as weird as ever.

The set itself is quite long and varied and the sound quality is outstanding. There is a very long break before the encore, where it sounds as if it isn't clear if they'll be allowed to return, but eventually play three more.


It's been a long time since these guys have released an album, but hopefully one isn't far away and we see them return for a show of this kind of quality.

https://mega.co.nz/#F!1UNjzCQI!JbjkG0Q7c8JWwPppDgoNDw

Pearl Jam - Anything in Between

For anyone who wants a more bite size dose of Pearl Jam, here's a relatively rare disc. This was circulated internally within their record company to set out the type of thing that they were imagining Lost Dogs might be. Although some of the material ended up on Lost Dogs (or released elsewhere), some of this has never seen the light of day. Probably no real hidden gems, but still some solid songs.

I know said when I put up Pearl Jam's Xmas singles that I wasn't going to put up a live show since they're all so easily available, but I've changed my mind somewhat. Since there are some great sites that cover everything you could ever want, I'll put up a post linking to what I think are the best shows covering Pearl Jam's career.

Anything in Between
In the Moonlight
Fatal
Sad
Wishing Well
Hitchhiker
Puzzles and Games
Education
Sweet Lew
Sunburn
Hold On
Just a Girl
Alone
Brother
Don't Gimme No Lip
Bee Girl
Against the 70's
New Jeremy

https://mega.co.nz/#F!wFNizCzI!EP5M_ldVY-MM9X53esMOMQ

Otis Redding - Ready, Steady, Go!

I love Otis Redding a lot. Like Van Morrison, I think his popularity is probably strongly related to the success of a song - Dock of the Bay (or in Morrison's case Brown Eyed Girl) - that completely atypical. So for anyone that doesn't like Dock of the Bay, download this and check out something a lot more typical of Otis' sound.

This is just a short 20 minute set (although sets then tended to be a lot shorter) on British TV. In addition to Otis, Eric Burden and Chris Farlowe each play a soul classic and then sing with Otis for the remainder of the set. This is an incredibly high energy set and sounds great.

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
My Girl
Respect
Hold On, I'm Comin' (Eric Burdon)
It's a Man's Man's Man's World (Chris Farlowe)
Pain in My Heart
I Can't Turn You Loose
Shake

https://mega.co.nz/#F!BQ83TTyT!cPz5qDCa3xc9TqumfNJXhw

Deerhunter - Washington DC, 12 October 2010

Yet another amazing band with an Australian show coming up. I haven't had a chance to listen to Monomania yet, but I've got a ticket to the show based on the strength of Microcastle/Weird Era Continued and Halcyon Digest, which are both phenomenal.

This is a show from early in the Halcyon Digest and features Basement Scene which they don't seem to play often. The sound is really really good, even if it sounds like there aren't any crowd mics. I've listened to this quite a bit and I'd strongly recommend it for anyone going to Deerhunter's show or wondering if they should.

Basement Scene
Desire Lines
Hazel St
Never Stops
Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Don't Cry
Revival
Memory Boy
Little Kids
Fountain Stairs
Nothing Ever Happened
Helicopter
He Would Have Laughed

Spring Hall Convert
Flourescent Grey

https://mega.co.nz/#F!RFtkQCxQ!TEFJYSBYkOpzPycwVWhIPQ