Andrew's Collection
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum 03/16/2007
The Black Cat, Washington, DC
| Source | Audio Technica AT943-SP (cardioid pattern) > Sound Professionals battery box (SP-UPS-1) > Roland Edirol R-09 (mic-in, low cut & AGC both off, saved as mono 16 bit 44.1khz .WAV) > Audacity (normalized to -3dB, DC Offset corrected) > GoldWave ( |
| Media | Flac CDR 1 disc |
| Tech Notes | "SOUND QUALITY: A-/B+, thereabouts. Much nicer than the SC3 recording. Still a bit boxy in all the wrong ways. Torrented to DaD on 3/18/07 by ZaPenguin THE BAND: Carla Kihlstedt (violin, percussion guitar, voice) Dan Rathbun (bass, slide-piano log, pedal-action wiggler, cockroach, voice) Nils Frykdahl (guitar, voice) Matthias Bossi (drums, mallet percussion, oration, voice) Michael Mellender (ALL THINGS, voice) Shinichi Momo Koga (scowls and contortion) Allen Willner (lights and apples) Olivia Yamagata (sound and chess) MINI (or not) BIO: The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum opened its doors to the public in 1916, only to show them a well-managed fire. Its doors were closed shortly thereafter and remained so for the rest of the century. Almost. The last year of the 20th century found the improbable trio of words once again adorning a placard posted outside a derelict urban building, with the addendum- "No Humans Allowed." Indeed, the awkward re-inaugural movements were witnessed by a lone banana slug (Ariolimax dolichophallus)-- a suitable beginning for a group that would soon shelter Oakland California's hindmost interpreters of Anti-Humanist literature. Their incessant travels since 2001 have brought new life to the Movement. Like their namesake and its instigators (Futurist Lala Rolo and Black-Mathematician John Kane) the new museum embraces the essential weakness of the Movement. But also like their predecessors they reject the elitism of the avant-garde in favor of a reckless populism: They are entertainers. Though not without humor, their often wide-ranging musical and theatrical choices are rarely ironic. This sincerity extends to a passionate craftsmanship, as evidenced by: 1. The LIVE SHOW, a costumed festival of hyperventilating self-derangement, which has yet to include much of a puppet show, but has included human performers of varying stiffness (see Ink Boat). 2. The ALBUMS- Grand Opening and Closing (2001 Seeland/Chaosophy), a collection of boisterous laments for the failure of the millennial apocalypse; Live (2003 Sickroom), a collage of mishaps and singularities from various stages; and Of Natural History (2004 Mimicry), a setting, in part, of a debate between two contradictory pillars of 20th C. Anti-Humanism: The Futurists versus the Unabomber. 3. The INSTRUMENTS, many of which are homemade creations of bassist/producer/mechanic Dan Rathbun: The Slide-piano Log, the Percussion Guitar, the Electric Pancreas, the Vatican, & the Pedal-action Wiggler; or rare: Autoharp, Glockenspiel, Toy Piano, & Viking Rowboat. 4. The ROAD approached as (A) a place of potential learning: the bloody history of our doomed nation, its warm and varied current inhabitants- our hosts and their regional splendors, and (B) a scar which conducts us in our lumbering Green Bus into the temples of Nature: Forests, swamps, deserts, mountains, and coasts, with national parks and rest stops alike as places of reverence and study, sources of sound and vision, many of which appear on Of Natural History. 5. The FOOD, prepared on the bus kitchen in large pots, in quantities befitting a seven+ person crew, mixing local ingredients with reliable spices, beans, and the "other black meat"- coffee. The Museum are unified in these various crafts by the simplicity of their opposition to rock music. In the words of John Kane, "Nothing should be left undone which might contribute to its demise." To this end they employ a most tried and proven destructive force: rock. ROCK AGAINST ROCK. In this they were preceded by Oakland bands Idiot Flesh and Charming Hostess, which brought together Museum members Dan Rathbun, Carla Kihlstedt (violin+), and Nils Frykdahl (guitar+). SGM's initial writings and first shows were with drummer David Shamrock. Drummer Frank Grau, who co-released the first album and managed the band until recently, instigated touring in 2001. Industrial percussion-tornado Moe! Staiano brought his visceral spontaneity from the inception until late 2004. New life has arrived with drummer/orator Matthias Bossi, who took the throne on New Year's 2004, and blossomed like a menacing jungle flower. Finally, with the Of Natural History tour of fall 2004, Michael Mellender, player of percussion and ALL THINGS, rounded out the Museum with his singular brand of hyper-kinetic instrumental dysfunction. The group writing process is at a new level of collaboration and the next album's songs are well underway. More U.S. touring is imminent. A European tour hovers. The stalwart Museum crew-- Neil Yamagata (sound/photography/field recording) and Allen Willner (lights/delicious stews)-- are ready for the road. 2005 saw the release of The Face, A DVD collaboration with Shinichi Momo Koga, The Last Human Being. A single 45 on Moe!'s label (Dephine Knormal) featuring SGM, Cheer-Accident, The Ex and Voodoo Muzak was also released. In January of 2006, amidst a clutter of cheesecake and frozen champagne, SGM singed the eyebrows of Andreas Katsambas. Who threatened them with a record deal? And assured the Museum that his label has been and would continue to be called The End Records? The very same Andreas Katsambas. With his pen and on his paper, on January 3rd, the Museum, as a formal entity, signed with this emminently appropriate label whose commitment to the forthcoming apocalypse is without question. Ambugaton. The list of SGM-related projects reads like a who's who of SGM-related projects: Carla: Tin Hat Trio, Two-Foot Yard, Book of Knots, InkBoat dance theater company Nils: Faun Fables, InkBoat Matthias: Book of Knots, Skeleton Key, Vic Thrill Michael: Immersion Composition Society, Japonize Elephants Dan: InkBoat, Producing SGM and countless others Moe!: Moe!kestra (massive conducted ensembles), Vacuum Tree Head Frank: Species Being David: Thin Pillow, Thinking Plague BAND PAGES: http://www.sleepytimegorillamuseum.com/ http://www.myspace.com/sleepytimegorillamuseum Setlist: unknown titles, most likely quite similar to previous shows Show Notes: This story was elaborated upon (possibly) in my notes to the Secret Chiefs 3 show from this same date, but for those of you who either never torrented that show, or are receiving this show in trade (all two and/or three of you), I'll summarize: Due to inclement weather, the Three Secret Chiefs were held up in traffic. By the time tickets went on sale, signs were up to the effect that the Secret Chiefs would definitely "NOT" be playing. However, this did not seem to have much effect on the turnout. Perhaps they just paled at the thought of returning in the snow and ice from whence they came, but the venue was nicely filled for Sleepytime. Enough bodies to show a sizeable amount of respect for the band, yet not so many that movement was made impossible. Nearly all of these bodies let out a loud cheer at the news that the Secret Chiefs 3 had once again changed their plans, and would in fact play a brief set. You too can let out your own cheer, as I split the Secret Chiefs 3 announcement into its own seperate track - track 03, to be precise. The show was fantastic. I recall seeing the Museum at some point when they co-headlined with Estradasphere, but I wasn't expressly blown away with them. I also saw a side-project (probably InkBoat) at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, and while Ms. Carla was mesmirizing, the music was a bit too laid-back for my mood at the time. This show was hardly laid-back, and I couldn't help but be blown away. Apparently, I was not alone - I've heard stories from this tour of SGM playing to a near-empty house (or at least, that's the way the stories come across) - but either there are a good number of psychic Secret Chiefs 3 fans in the DC area, or SGM just drew exceptionally well tonight. (or the stories are a load of B.S., but hey, let's not get carried away here!) For whatever reason, the audience response was very good - loud when they needed to be loud, yet not boisterous or rude during the quiet moments. I may be a biased source, but perhaps the Museum should consider a month-long residency in the D.C. area? ...worth a shot. Anyway. The music tonight was delicious - theatrical and dramatic, epic, moody, and somehow mysterious. Overblown, but hardly in a bad way - and lest you be scared off by even vague hints of "art rock"-ness, fret not - there are definitely portions of head-banging, tooth-vibrating, riff-rocking DOOM METAL. I owe a special thanks to a friend of mine, who surprised me (as friends are wont to do) by waiting until I was in line for tickets, then placing his head within inches of my ass and waiting for the inevitable. Luckily - no doubt influenced by my near-day-long fast from both chocolate and coffee - the inevitable in this case was closer to "gentle frottage" than "New Brown Clouds" of any sort. Conversation and beers were both had, and the latter had its inevitable effect on my person midway through the set. I managed to tough it out for ten minutes, but I truly could not take it anymore. I'm a man of discipline, but even I have my limits. Thankfully, Drob was there. So, rather than tape on a full bladder (a situation which, unfortunately, has cropped up from time to time), I finally experienced the freedom of the average concert-goer - the God-given freedom every man should possess - the freedom of marching straight out of the main stage and indulging myself in a delicious, two-minute solid piss (that is to say, a healthy urination lasting two solid minutes in duration - not to be confused with any medical anomaly). After a brief nudge in the ribs and explanation of my troubles, Drob was only too happy to assist by wearing my glasses, to which I had clipped the microphone. So it is thanks to Drob's selfless act that this recording is complete, and that I am of healthy enough bladder to torrent it at this date. If you'd like to thank Drob, swing by archive.org and pick up a few Mosquito Death Squadron shows. They're similar to a small-scale Secret Chiefs 3 in a lot of ways. The resulting track is a bit "sharper" - some might even say it borders on "tinny" - than the rest of the show, no doubt due to Drob's added foot of height. I guess taping off the stacks, with the woofer on the bottom and tweeter on the top, is one of the few areas where us shorter guys have the advantage. But it exists, and that's the important part. Thanks, Drob! Torrent notes: Track and edit list: (NOTE: DESPITE THE GAPS IN TRACK #S, THE SHOW IS COMPLETE FROM MY MASTER. - ZP) 01. [01:11]* 02. [11:25] 03. [00:39]* 04. [06:20] 05. [06:23] 06. [09:30] 07. [09:13] (two seconds of static edited out) 09. [00:38]* 10. [16:24] 11. [00:53]* 12. [04:19] (conversation with Drob and a friend edited out) 14. [18:38] * - dialogue / banter track Only sure of a few titles here and there, and I figure a unified lack of titles is better than a disorganized brouhaha of titles and non. Tracks 10 and 14 are very, very long - it's entirely possible I overlooked a segue. Let me know if this is the case. A setlist would, of course, be greatly appreciated. As a result of track 13 being edited out, the bulk of the encore-demanding cheers are likewise missing. No music missing. Recording Notes: Once again, thanks to Drob for helping me get Track 07 committed to waveform. The recording suffers from, I don't know, something. I'll be fixing the Edirol as soon as this torrent goes up, so hopefully this will be the last time I'll have to use mic-in on a loud show. As briefly mentioned above, tracks 08 and 13 are missing. This is fully intended - rather than waste whole minutes throwing the waveform between CD-WAV and GoldWave, I chose to use the CD-WAV track marks to edit out two irrelevant portions. Probably could have manually fixed the track names, but hey. Requests: Do not sell this recording. Do not buy this recording. Do not sell this recording, then buy it from yourself. If you are approached by an eccentric but trustworthy rich man, who offers you a suitcase full of reputable currency in exchange for this recording, sell it to him only if you will share the rewards with myself and the band. Contact the taper before bartering with an eccentric rich woman or child. Include this source information when trading or selling to eccentric rich folk. ============== Feel ABSOLUTELY FREE to convert to MP3, OGG, or even, under particularly dire circumstances, WMA/AAC. There are people out there who are bandwidth or disk-space deprived, and there's absolutely no reason why a bunch of pretentious taper egos should cause these potential fans to miss out on a new experience. And hey, it's not like words in an info.txt file have ever prevented any misdeeds. ============== Those of you uneasy about ending up with MP3 sourced material in trade (thanks mostly to clueless idiot chucklefucks who don't know what they're doing and shouldn't be trading in the first place) should do yourselves a favor, and visit http://www.audiohub.org/get/fa/fa.htm - a webpage that explains, on pretty idiot-friendly level, how to detect lossy sourced audio, using free programs such as EAC and TAU. When setting up your trades, ask for a minute long .FLAC sample, if you're that utterly paranoid, and you can see just what kind of lineage you're getting. And, finally, to borrow a line from one of the classics of American TV: Keep circulating the tapes (/CDs/DVDs/Hard drives/Shows in general) I'm always looking to trade shows and share banter. Visit my etree.org page or drop me a line. Torrented by the taper: ZaPenguin email - pjzyhfz02(AT)sneakemail.com web - http://db.etree.org/zappapenguin (always out of date) With thanks to Drob: web - http://www.myspace.com/mosquitodeathsquadron Band pages: http://www.sleepytimegorillamuseum.com/ http://www.myspace.com/sleepytimegorillamuseum" |
| Trades Allowed | Yes |
| Ratings | Show: A Sound: A- |
Owned by Andrew
· Last Updated May 23, 2023
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