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Jeff Kaisershot's Collection

Twin Earth   07/20/2007

Velvet Lounge, Washington, DC
Source Audio Technica AT943-SP (cardioid pattern) > Sound Professionals battery box (SP-UPS-1) > Roland Edirol R-09 (mic-in, low cut on & AGC off, saved as 16 bit 44.1khz .WAV) > CD-WAV (.FLAC level 8) > foobar2000 (tags + ReplayGain written)
Media FLAC
J-Card Comment Twin Earth
July 20th, 2007
Velvet Lounge
Washington, DC

Source: Audio Technica AT943-SP (cardioid pattern) > Sound Professionals battery box (SP-UPS-1) > Roland Edirol R-09 (mic-in, low cut on & AGC off, saved as 16 bit 44.1khz .WAV) > CD-WAV (.FLAC level 8) > foobar2000 (tags + ReplayGain written)

Location: House front-center, about ten feet from stage.

Taper: ZaPenguin (pjzyhfz02(AT)sneakemail.com or
http://db.etree.org/ZappaPenguin)


SOUND QUALITY: A-/B+, leaning towards A-: Distortion on the drums, sounds much more natural if you crank it way into the red - but I refrained from doing so to the files themselves, as such a change is, as the natives say, "irreversable".


THE BAND:

Chris - Drums, baldness
Mike - Guitar, E-Bow
David - Bass, glaring
Franco - Guitar, lanky
Patrick - Engineer; resident mascot



MINI BIO:
"Twin Earth play improvised music with a definite heavy/psych bent. Improvisation brings a pure experience to the music that is impossible to achieve via usual, tired song structures. The music takes on its own shape, color, and life — it breathes. We make music for the moment, in the moment."

BAND PAGE:
http://www.myspace.com/twinearthdc



SETLIST:
Jam
God
Alpha Centauri
Ultra Vires
Sky Below

Show Notes:

I won't overstay my welcome by mentioning how I find that Twin Earth still remains the most exciting band currently playing the D.C. metro area. Nor will I rehash my previous statements, comparing them to the droning jams of Sonic Youth, the spacey whatthefuck of the Spacemen 3, nor will I compare their songs to the hypnotic, entrancing repetition of Can. I have this phrase that I like to use that goes, "Twin Earth is conventional enough to not immediately alienate your girlfriend, but more than inventive enough to make each show a rewarding experience of its own". I won't waste time repeating it, as it's not only repetitive, but positively sexist. I won't even insult the reader's intelligence by pointing out my awe-inspiring use of Dramatic Irony in this paragraph. Like any good abusive relationship, I'll merely pretend to forgive, protend to fregot, harboring only nary a portman's two, and quickly carry up a carry-on, moving to the next paragraph with naryareflection.

Making up for the debacle of the previously scheduled show at the Velvet Lounge (in a nutshell, one band member got "sick", possibly to establish a pattern of excuses for the forthcoming trendy heroin habit), this show follows hot on the heels of a private investigator half-heartedly investigating a suspect who might have been seen at the venue the day after the previous show at the Artomatic. In other words, there was at least one month, possibly even two, without a Twin Earth show, but this show was (and is) definitely the very next one after the one that came before it.

While parts of tonight's show were sloppy (of all their live performances, I would go so far as to say that this was by far the sloppiest), parts were - however trite this may read - magical in their sheer unpredictability. There was a definite Tension Element on stage, with malfunctioning gear, ill-functioning monitors, and a band that may well have become slightly inebriated during an unforseen delay (for reasons still beyond the scope of this intrepid narrator, what was originally a 10pm start time eventually became 11:15pm). At times, this tension was frustrating - the introductory jam didn't seem to be given the patience it deserved, and the resulting segue into God was very half-assed. At times - such as when Franco became "stuck" in a drone during Alpha Centuari, resulting in Mike taking a very meandering, exploratory guitar solo - this tension, as tension oftimes does, resulted in new directions and general Positivity for all'n'thing involved.

While I cannot label this the best show Twin Earth has played, the highlights (the aforementioned guitar solo, as well as hearing all the frustration come to a musically cohesive head during the explosive ending of Alpha Centuari, and, oh, but wait, and also, the firery, pyrotechnic, downright viscreal climax of the still-new-as-a-babe Sky Below) more than make up for the occasional teeth-grinding moments (such as what may possibly be the most holistically out-of-whack bass ever played, heard during the introduction of Ultra Vires).

And, of course, even twenty seconds of horrible Twin Earth bass is more inspiring than an entire concert of ham-fisted, self-conscious and irony brought to you by Yet Another Goddamn Indie Pop Label. For whatever that's worth.


TRACK LIST:
01. tuning [0:21]
02. Jam [5:02]
03. God [6:33]
04. Alpha Centuari [12:28]
05. tuning [0:12]
06. Ultra Vires [7:36]
07. tuning [0:41]
08. Sky Below [10:13]

Note: I heartily advocate removing the tracks labelled "tuning", so as to enjoy a gapless forty-two minutes of musical bliss.


RECORDING NOTES:
Aside from some distortion coming from the drums, this is a rather pleasing - albiet monaural - recording.



REQUESTS & REMINDERS:

Do not sell this recording. Do not buy this recording. Do not sell this recording, then buy it from yourself. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Include this source information when trading.


Torrented by the taper: ZaPenguin

email - pjzyhfz02(AT)sneakemail.com
web - http://db.etree.org/zappapenguin (still woefully out of date)

Velvet Lounge page: http://www.velvetloungedc.com
Band page: http://www.myspace.com/twinearthdc
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 01 - tuning.flac:1731b8f0ddb5c7ac0b8876bfcd6963de
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 02 - Jam.flac:cb8e3f323d8a5c082b1d5ff52f761493
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 03 - God.flac:cfbbd86c91ddee474ad69eec870654ab
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 04 - Alpha Centauri.flac:96c9ac8315c743ad59380f28ae426e65
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 05 - tuning.flac:8ad1196f64c11c69de893ed03529e827
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 06 - Ultra Vires.flac:30679f3f2bbe1d64bcbd7816c28dc2cf
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 07 - tuning.flac:c8155810fcb40e3c99d88273bdd8bb4c
Twin Earth - 2007 07 20 - 08 - Sky Below.flac:92b3afe2159e2b8c9f7ace04a794f3fa
Trades Allowed Yes
Ratings Sound: A
Lists The Rest
Owned by Jeff Kaisershot · Last Updated May 23, 2023