Riverbed & Distort

Boduf Songs

December 2, 2008

The Cinemat

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

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I snuck in somewhere around the first or second song and caught most of Boduf Songs.  I had to share it.  Apache Dropout and When We Might also played but I missed them both as I was closing Bloomingfoods dish pit that winter.  There might have been color, but my memory reproduces mostly black and white.

Devil's Night Asshole:

Children of Scare-Midget/Angels of Pot

October 30, 2007

Recorded at The Cinemat

Angels of Pot: Last Tokes

January 29, 2008

Recorded at the Werehouse

Lather: Wash All the Time/Being Watched

February 8, 2008

Recorded at the Werehouse

Last Tokes Band: Last Tokes Release Prty

September 29, 2008

Recorded at TD's CDs & LPs

thx mkl

All sounds recorded by Ben Myers

CoSM=John Hardwick

AoP on Devil's Night=nearly everyone at the Cinemat

AoP's Last Tokes=Kray+Ben

Lather=Ben

LTB=Ben+Chris

I've Been a Body by Jandek

I Fall by The Damned

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Devil's Night, for me, marked the defined and impending end of the Angels of Pot.  I didn't want it to end; it was a bad relationship of broken promises and half-hearted attempts at working together but my hopes were attached to my perspective, so to speak, and the project ran on like a well meaning and rather informative, though annoying, sentence.  Children of Scare-Midget captivated the house and let me be honest it was fucking amazing.  Angels came forth...and the only word which has ever come to mind was clusterfuck.  It got to the point where I stood silently and watched the chaos and questioned the necessity of my colleagues' actions.  At one point the Baron raised his own keyboard to his chest and dropped it, but I didn't hear it then and I won't hear it on the recording, because the sound in that room was piercing and pipe-smashing.  Some things got destroyed or assisted along on their paths towards imminent death.  I walked outside and listed to the sounds beyond the wall and was sad.  When it was over Justin, a supporter throughout, accidentally said it best...

The Last Tokes tape is something I forgot about, found, and decided to release as it was the last recorded work from the Angels of Pot.  I also find it enjoyable, which is odd that our final moments would be pleasant. I nearly walked out or stopped practices or performances before.  I did walk out once, but returned.  The mob was too large for me to even approach without an outburst, the thought of which made me uncomfortable.  I released these on recycled cassettes wrapped in butcher's paper covered in art by myself and some accidental help by Oliver.  The artwork was a drawing I did, printed then painted by hand.  The cassette box is blinding, and the cassette enclosed has been scaled and painted and is sure to remind you of kind bud.  The sounds enclosed will hold you static like the hardest resin hit that lasts eternity.  Each tape is slightly different in artwork, extraneous sounds and price which of course was $42.00/lb.

This Lather track is most closely related to the artwork for the Last Tokes cassette, thus included. Paranoid, indeed.

For the "Release Prty" for the tape, Chris, Janice and I prepared snacks and crap including some sort of "pan-meat" (as in "all/any") dip...that tasted good.  We had deviled eggs with olive halos as well.  We listened to the tape and Chris and I performed two cover songs "which the Angels of Pot would have written if they had the capacity to write songs."  It was certainly an intimate event.

Jenny is a Boy

Dust From 1000 Yrs

May 23, 2008

Mike's House

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

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This was the party which was Mike's first party as full host, and from what I remember it went well.  There was an odd little alcove in the basement with an anti-stage and I think a fireplace where Ben stood on a stage above the pit, as it were.  The quality of this recording (as well as the excellent setlist) is rather swell, and other than the fact that Tony Lowry sat close to the microphone (giving us a very clear recording of his opinionated voice), this recording is probably perfect.  A great example of a frontman telling his audience to "shut the fuck up" and pay attention.  There was an upstairs if you didn't give a shit, but if you didn't you must be a dick.

Speaking of dicks, I got really drunk and somehow managed to make it home safely, but only recorded one full song and two halves of Jenny's.  I got a sweet field recording of outside the party, though.  Probably on my way out.

Also, Hot Fighter #1 were supposed to perform.  Listen to the show to find out why they did not.

Smut

June 11, 2009

The Sauce Box

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

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This show marked the tenth of Smut: Justin Rhody and Keith Wright, of Friends & Relatives Records. This was a huge show and if you want to know about the rest of it you can check it out on Facebook but I'm only going to talk about Smut because I really showed up, they played, and I then left.  I shared a rare cigarette with perhaps Nathan Warrick and talked about being a dad.  I had worked that day and wanted to catch at least Smut.  I was pleased to find that they were next, and I meandered the odd party for a few minutes then planted myself close enough to feel the drums and inserted my earplugs.  Even those were not enough.  If you listen to this you will find yourself turning the volume down repeatedly and still having pain in your ears.  Justin, in an attempt fix some reverb issue I couldn't even hear (due to the massive sound spikes reaching in every pore), left his strings to sit and sing in and out of themselves.  The duo touched a softer side of Smut rarely seen, which in this case means they play in a moderate tempo with a plodding, stoned pulse.  Overall the experience was great fun, and I'm glad I have this to share for the 11th year in Smut.  There's another show since then I have to dig out eventually at Dylan's place with Liturgy, Hail and OS.  Sweet.  I hope you're excited.

drekka

OS

lather.

December 2, 2007

The Waldron Firebay

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

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Sweet show.  I opened up with snares a blaring placed spectacularly in front of the huge Peavey cabinet.  The focus was on resonating the snare and then the entire room.  Did I mention I also like dynamic changes?  OS was fairly subdued for the evening, a slow study on guitar strings with a sliding pitch mass much like some of Ligeti's works.  I think Hien was in the group back then, and I was always slightly mystified in terms of what sound he produced.  I'm pretty positive the high frequencies which sound like feedback are him.  They do a nice rolling thundercloud interpretation towards the end.  drekka pulled out the piano kept in the Firebay and put a mic in it through his trademarked drekka pedal, also playing a recording done previously.  His performance was a slow reflection on David Bowie's Subterraneans (off Low) which I am not familiar with even after 2.5 years.  I found they have it at MCPL so I'll be changing that.  If you like what you hear then you might be interested to know that you can purchase a remixed (with the prerecorded portion) Subterraneans 3" CD-R over at RC Legacy, home of the incredible Ben & Bruno.  If you missed A Hard History you should be sore at yourself.

Redbird

Hermit Thrushes

Ben Fowler

April 28, 2010

The Bishop

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

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Keep This Boat Afloat: Learn about the situation with which the Fowlers are struggling and find out how you can help.

The "Yer Mom Likes to Party" series consists of benefit shows for Ben Fowler and his mother, who had an unfortunate accident which was followed by several highly unethical events motivated by other parties.  You can read about it above.  She was there at the show selling cookies and talking to people.

Ben opened the show with a solo set, a mix of covers and originals.  Hermit Thrushes played fourteen songs in just over thirty minutes, with breaks for beer and dialogue.  Whew.  Their sound bounces around within songs between sweetly flowing melodies and cacophony punctuated by jerking rhythms.  I had never seen Redbird before, and seeing as by now they have played their last show, it was a treat.  This group has some delayed downbeats and stuttering in their songs, giving their sound a greater sense of having been mulled over for quite some time, as opposed to the urgency found in the Thrushes' quick and quickly changing songs. In the words of Dr. Steve Brule: "Check it out!"

OS

Nux Vomica

Hail Architeuthis!

September 29, 2009

The Bishop

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

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I recall this show being tons of fun.  That is, except for those dicks who kept talking loudly (but luckily not during a band's set) about some joke band they were going to start called Butt Piss.  I bet they'd blow if any of them even played instruments.  Wait they're playing in a thunderstorm today at the skate park.  Totally going.

Hail opened up and ripped through "Herald the Harbinger...", interrupted slightly when a member of Nux Vomica tripped on a cable and unplugged Bruce's gear.  Nux Vomica owned the night, though.  They played three epic thrashy black metal songs before breaking a bass string and realizing they didn't have a spare and that neither Hail nor OS currently had a bassist. OS clawed a void open in the room and sucked the light to a point. Ryan and Adam plus tapes for that evening. Highly recommended.

Bunny Hoover vs. Lather

Whatfunnybirdsdiveintowater

Oscine

May 13, 2009

The Cinemat

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

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Because the two artists share similar worldviews but have completely different ideas on how the world will ultimately be affected by people, Bunny Hoover being an entity from space whose mission is to help humans save themselves and Lather being a human whose faith in mankind died long ago.  By now Lather's lack of faith has led him to antagonize those who lost respect for their earth and each other, catalyzing their behavior towards a more swift and guaranteed extinction, carrying a large percentage of the other species with them.  In the end, the battle was deemed a stalemate, and the two shall battle again over the airwaves and internets of WFHB radio on Wednesday, June 23 from 9:30-10:00pm.

Chris opened the show as a solo performer as Oscine, due to a lack of practices due to Atem's birth.  Somebody was curious about the voice recorder so there's a small chunk of time cut out when it got turned off, was playing back while Chris was singing, and I resumed recording.  I guess I didn't have the lock on.  Nobody fessed up, dick.

WFBDIW were wonderful--seemingly folk songs hidden behind a wall of electronic squalor and live drums.  I would draw comparisons to Animal Collective with more of a meandering approach to song and much less emphasis on danceability.

Dust From 1000 Yrs

Pants

Howard's Dilemma

Strictly Off the Record

Bunny Hoover

April 15, 2009

The Bungalow

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Chris Couchman

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I made an appearance at this show for a few minutes, with Janice and Atem (then 3 months old).  You can hear him crying upstairs right before Company Slogan.  I can only form opinions based on the recordings.  Dust plays a beautiful set consisting of Naptown/Thanksgiving/Natives-era songs, Chris plays in Pants on this evening, and they are an interesting machine together.  The mash of musical connotations is breathtaking.  Howard's Dilemma would be an extremely interesting live show; the recording loses much of the visual performance aspect, therefore the recording seems odd and lacking some element.  The laughter of the crowd creates the wall which shows the void.  I would warn anyone who has extreme reactions to dangling participles: Stay away from track 11.  If hearing someone's participles dangle is a comedic thing to you, then by all means put this on repeat.  Strictly Off the Record is a rock band.  They remind me of being in middle and high school during the latter half and out of the nineties.  They are a good band; pretty sweet guitar work and emotional pauses.  Then drunken pauses of music...on to Bunny Hoover.  As another performance artist, BH is best experienced either live or while reading the comic book...if you have seen it.  I am including parts of the soundcheck because they sound great and give a great representation of the evening, meaning that a whole bunch of people showed up to see Strictly Off the Record and didn't give a mole's penis about any other bands.  Except maybe Howard's Dilemma, somebody did keep saying "Best Thing Ever" but the crowd that was a respectful portion was small and patient.  Check it all out.  It's all at least good, most is wonderfully great and amazing.

Awesome Color

Dinosaur jr.

April 10, 2009

The Bluebird

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Chris Couchman

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I cannot give a review of the show since I did not attend, but I will warn you that due to the excessive (or not) sound pressure levels at this show there is severe digital clipping.  I gave Chris my Olympus DS-50 so that he could record.  Aside from that, it's a good representation of the show.  I know Chris had fun.  He also didn't know how to lock the buttons and it got turned off at some point when he was bumped.  Luckily he checked it, and resumed recording.

I never EQ these puppies; I just don't have time.  Unless you want to pay me for my time that I could take off from work so I can do this sort of stuff for work; I'd love to.  I'd even be able to provide minimal clipping.  Probably.  Also, if anyone decides they don't want their performance up here, let me know.

Whoever you are, I know you're out there.