Roma di Luna @ The Varsity Torrent

Here's a link to the torrent.

Roma di Luna
The Varsity Theater
Minneapolis, MN
Friday September 21st 2007

Taper: empty (neveragain1980 AT yahoo DOT com)
Location: DINish, DFC - a hair right, 25' back, ~9' ^
Source: ADK 51TL cards > Mil Spec Silver Quad customs > UA-5 (BM2p+) > iRiver h120 (Optical @ 16bit 44.1kHz WAV)
Conversion: h120 > USB 2.0 > PC [WAV > FLAC Frontend 1.7.1 lvl 6 + Verify]
Edit: CD Wave (tracking) Sound Forge 9.0 (fades)
TRT: 38:14

Please Do Not sell this recording. Share & trade it freely.
Please Do Not circulate mp3s or other lossy formats.

01. Ice Cold Body
02. Plenty
03. The Romance Of Wolves
04. Silver Dagger *
05. Letter to a Young Poet
06. The Devil Walks
07. Bury Me (Beneath The Killing Fields)

* traditional

Roma di Luna is Alexei & Channy Moon Casselle on vocals, violin and gutiar but this set also features these fine musicians:

Jessi Wilemek - additional vocals
Steve Yasgar - drums
Ben Durrant - electric guitar
Mike Rossetto - banjo

www.romadiluna.com
www.myspace.com/romadiluna

Opening for Kill the Vultures.

Thanks to Alexei & Channy for allowing me to document their music. Thanks to Erik at the Varsity for always encouraging taping and thanks to my friend DK for the TLs fun.

Kill the Vultures @ The Varsity Torrent

Here's a link to the torrent.

Kill the Vultures
The Varsity Theater (Midnight Pine Release Party)
Minneapolis, MN
Friday September 21st 2007

Taper: empty (neveragain1980 AT yahoo DOT com)
Location: DINish, DFC - a hair right, 25' back, ~9' ^
Source: ADK 51TL cards > Mil Spec Silver Quad customs > UA-5 (BM2p+) > iRiver h120 (Optical @ 16bit 44.1kHz WAV)
Conversion: h120 > USB 2.0 > PC [WAV > FLAC Frontend 1.7.1 lvl 6 + Verify]
Edit: CD Wave (tracking) Sound Forge 9.0 (fades)
TRT: 60:18

Please Do Not sell this recording. Share & trade it freely.
Please Do Not circulate mp3s or other lossy formats.

01. Dirty Hands
02. Moonshine
03. The Spider's Eyes
04. Strangers In The Doorways
05. Where The Cutthroats Stay
06. Midnight Pine
07. Searchlights & Suspects
08. Birchwood
09. The Wine Thief
10. Vermillion
11. The Vultures
12. Sick Days Are Upons Us
13. Beasts Of Burden
14. freestyle
15. Behind These Eyes

Anatomy - beats
Crescent Moon - voice
Nomi - voice (11-15)

www.myspace.com/killthevultures

Thanks to Alexei, Stephen and the Varsity for being cool with taping. Thanks also go out to DK for the TLs fun.

A few different elements came together to make this a special evening. It was the first time as far as I know that KTV played a set along with a screening of the Midnight Pine film. The Midnight Pine EP is the soundtrack to the film. It was also the first time I've seen this combination of songs from all 3 of the releases played in the same set. Most important of all, to me at least is the fact that it was the first KTV show with Nomi in over a year. I actually can't remember when the last show with all 4 members took place but Advizer is in Chicago working on his masters and Nomi is living out in San Francisco recording as Power Struggle (www.myspace.com/powerstruggle). Roma di Luna and Digitata opened the festivities.

Since this is the first KTV tape I'm releasing a bit of background information is in order. Those familiar with Minneapolis/St. Paul hip hop may already have the details...

"Trying to make a living with music certainly isn't the oddest job around. But making music rarely provides you with a steady income. That's why musicians are prone to have odd jobs, second jobs that allow them to pursue their music career. The younger ones might additionally strive for some higher education. It's this everyday life enviroment that brings forth a group like Oddjobs. Emerging in 1996 out of the Minnesota-based Cases of Mistaken Identity crew, the group featured Minneapolis MC's Advizer and Crescent Moon and St. Paul DJ's Anatomy and Deetalx. Also coming out of the CMI camp, rapper Nomi completed the Oddjobs line-up a few years later. As they became part of the Minneapolis scene governed by the Rhymesayers crew (Eyedea & Abilities, Atmosphere), Oddjobs released their first full-length in 1999, titled "Conflict and Compromise". The group broke up in 2005, but reformed (minus DJ Deetalx) as Kill the Vultures."

- www.myspace.com/oddjobsfansite

Kill the Vultures Midnight Pine CD Release

My good amigo Dave and I went down to the Varsity for a bill that helped me get through the week. I'm usually running Studio Project's C4 mics but Dave want kind enough to let me check out the ADK 51TLs some sexy LSD (Large Stereo Diaphragm) condenser mics. Come to find out was we walked to the venue his ulterior motive was to do a comparison with his Nakamichi CM 1000s. Fine by me! OK to much taper dork speak?

Roma di Luna started out the night which another tight 40 minute band set. Not much to say other than it was great and I could have listened to another 40 minutes. After the set I heard someone ask "How's the taping going?" I looked over and it was my friend Michael which was a pleasant surprise because I hadn't seen him since the last Face Candy show at the Artists' Quarter in August. As we were catching up Chris from Abzorbr came walking back from the front in awe of the set. I had no idea I would be running into either of these guys tonight and it was just another bonus to getting out of the house.

Unless you've been living under a rock you probably know who Digitata is. Check out the new LP II Daggers. Actually, check out anything released by Totally Gross National Product.

Man I need to start putting the scratch together for a video rig. I love the Varsity to begin with but any time music is played against film the show itself should be filmed. Midnight Pine is an indie urban noir film which Kill the Vultures composed the music for. Pick up a copy of this EP if you see it when you're out and about.

Holy shit, Nomi is in a building? The last 5 tracks of the tape stand as proof. Advizer was missed which is also documented on tape.

Roma di Luna @ The Cedar

Here's a link to the torrent.

Roma di Luna
Find Your Way Home CD Release
The Cedar Cultural Center
Minneapolis, MN
Thursday September 6th 2007

Taper: empty (neveragain1980 at yahoo dot com)
Location: DIN (20cm, ~85º) FOB, DFC, 30' back, ~10' ^
Source: Studio Projects C4's > Mil Spec Silver Quad customs > UA-5 (BM2p+) > iRiver h120 (Optical @ 16bit 44.1kHz WAV)
Conversion: h120 > USB 2.0 > PC [WAV > FLAC Frontend 1.7.1 lvl 6 + Verify]
Edit: CD Wave (tracking) Sound Forge 9.0 (fades)
TRT: 66:09

Please Do Not sell this recording. Share & trade it freely.
Please Do Not circulate mp3s or other lossy formats.

01. intro
02. Pass Me Not ^
03. Inside The Bells
04. I'm Gone
05. Tree Of Life
06. Face Of My Friends
07. The Devil Walks
08. Plenty
09. No Child Of My Own
10. Lion
11. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea *
12. Bury Me (Beneath The Killing Fields)
13. encore
14. These Tears Ain't Mine
15. The Romance Of Wolves

^ traditional
* Neutral Milk Hotel

Roma di Luna is Alexei & Channy Moon Casselle on vocals, violin and gutiar but various songs also feature these fine musicians:

Eliza Blue - additional vocals
Jessie Wilimek - additional vocals
Ben Durrant - electric guitar
JG Everest - bass guitar
Steve Yasgar - drums
Mike Rossetto - banjo
James Buckley - double bass

www.romadiluna.com
www.myspace.com/romadiluna

I think by now people realize that I enjoy taping and sharing shows but this is something that I am very happy to bring to you. Roma di Luna is one of my favorite bands and I look forward to taping many more shows to come. I'm not a "top ____ list" person but their debut LP Find Your Way Home will without a doubt be up there on my top 5 releases of 2007.

Eliza Blue is well known for her own music. I suggest you check it out. This is the first time I've run into Jessie Wilimek but hopefully she doesn't stop singing anytime soon. Ben Durrant can be found at Crazy Beast Studio in NE Minneapolis where he records for many bands including Roma di Luna's EP and LP. Steve Yasgar is a former and or current member of Be Lonna, Askeleton, The Swiss Army and Nick Robin & Friends to name of few. Mike Rossetto is a member of Spaghetti Western String Co. James Buckley is known for his work with Mystery Palace, Dubsack, Robert Skoro and the James Buckley trio for starters.

Caspian @ The Triple Rock

I had been wanting to see these guys for a long time. Great show Thursday night. Here's a torrent of Caspian's set.

The whole bill was tight. Constants (Boston), Empires (Minneapolis) and Battlefields (Minneapolis) also played.

Caspian
The Triple Rock Social Club
Minneapolis, MN
Thursday September 13th 2007

Taper: empty (neveragain1980 AT yahoo DOT com)
Location: DINish, 20cm, right drink rail, 20' back, ~10' ^
Source: Studio Projects C4's > Mil Spec Silver Quad customs > UA-5 (BM2p+) > iRiver h120 (Optical @ 16bit 44.1kHz WAV)
Conversion: h120 > USB 2.0 > PC [WAV > FLAC Frontend 1.7.1 lvl 6 + Verify]
Edit: CD Wave (tracking) Sound Forge 9.0 (fades)
TRT: 49:00

Please Do Not sell this recording. Share & trade it freely.
Please Do Not circulate mp3s or other lossy formats.

01. intro [01:05]
02. Moksha [12:16]
03. Quovis [01:42]
04. Further Up [04:28]
05. Further In [03:07]
06. Crawlspace [09:30]
07. Brombie [07:43]
08. Sycamore * [09:08]

* unreleased & unrecorded... from the future

www.caspianmusic.net
www.myspace.com/caspiantheband

I almost put a normalized version out there but the peaks are very nice in the -2.5dB to -0.1dB range with zero clips so the purist in me said to leave it be. Really happy with the turn out on this. Some of the nicest people you'll ever meet and extremely open taping. Five other shows can be downloaded on the Archive. You don't want to miss this tour.

Go tape this band! Run, don't walk.

P.O.S. Comes Home...

I was so jazzed to tape one of the P.O.S. homecoming show. I won't lie, I like an AA show, I like getting home by 10 but when I saw Kill the Vultures on on the Late bill that pretty much made the decision for me. No offense to Sarah Johnson who are great and were playing the AA show. I was also looking forward to seeing the Millionth Word (no site or recordings, sup with that) again who I had taped at the Triple Rock's 7-7-07 show. Catching a Digitata set is always a good time so it was a solid bill all the way around.

I got some tickets for the better half and I early figuring it was going to sell out. Our good friend Sarah came with us but I headed down early an hour ahead of the ladies to set up. I had talked to Alexei from KTV earlier in the day about getting in a few minutes before doors but ended up arriving a bit before he was there. I politely told the guy at the side door that I had a ticket in hand and permission from the bands to tape. Long story short (or maybe not so short) I was told that P.O.S.'s manager was not going to allow taping that night because he was playing new material. Realizing that I wasn't going to be able to tape P.O.S.'s set I wasn't going to just walk away. I asked if I could please have a minute to speak with his manger and he was cool enough to come out and chat with me. I will say right now that he was polite about the whole deal. I gave him my word that I would tape the first 3 bands and the first 3 bands only. Once I assured him that the mics were coming down after KTV's set he was willing to let me in to set up my stand as long as I came back out and stood in line to get in. I'm not an ego maniac but being that I had a ticket in my hand and that it's usually not a problem for the Entry or a number of other Twin Cities venues to let someone chill after setting up this was a little annoying. He could have been a prick but he was being really cool about so I was down to follow this order.

At some point during this exchange outside Stef walked by the doorway and I politely brought him into the conversation. I thought things might change for about 15 seconds. I mentioned to his manger that I had taped Doomtree and Building Better Bombs several times and that Stef knows I do not circulate things I am asked not to. Stef did back me up on this saying that he really appreciated the fact that I come out and tape shows and abide by requests to not circulate certain sets. The two of them basically told me that they believed that I would not circulate the recording but even still had to take all possible precautions regardless. This was fair enough and in the end they were even a little apologetic.

Did I want to tape all 4 sets? Yes. Did I want to make enemies, risking future opportunities to tape Doomtree and Building Better Bombs? Nope.

I'm going to wrap this up and maybe come back for an edit. Like anyone will be reading this anyways!

I made audience and soundboard recordings for the first 3 bands. ALL three sets were tight. The P.O.S. tape would have smoked.

P.O.S.'s set was awesome as well, super duper fun. I really wanted to tape the last half of the set (after all of the old and "new P.O.S. songs" were played) which was basically a Doomtree show but being Sneaky McSneakerson isn't going to do much in the way of building a reputation as an honest taper. A lot of the same material from the Turf Club show in July was played. That's one of my favorite tapes and the crew record is going to be sick. I'm excited and you should be too.

Hey thanks for reading this (Sarah?)...maybe I just needed to vent a little bit. Don't worry Stef, I still love you.

Roma di Luna CD Release

Roma di Luna is without a doubt one of my favorite Minneapolis bands and the debut LP is amazing. This show had been on my schedule for a while, as soon as I found out about it. I was even more excited that it was going to be held at the stellar sounding Cedar Cultural Center.

I had never seen JoAnna James before but really enjoyed her set. She played a solid hour with her band.

I'm not going to yack on and on about Roma di Luna's set. It was one of the best shows I have seen in a long time. All and all it was just over an hour including the two song encore. The only other thing I could have ask for was Alexei doing the title track from the LP but it's understand that perhaps they wanted to keep the vibe 'up beat.' They had brought Steve into the fold on drums at the Entry back in March but this was the first time I had seen them with a full band. Ben Durant from Crazy Beast Studio in NE Minneapolis who recorded both the EP and the LP was on electric guitar. Steve Yasgar (Be Lonna, Askeleton, The Swiss Army, Nick Robin and others) was on drums. JG Everest was on bass and vocals. Mike Rossetto from Spaghetti Western String Co. was on banjo and James Buckley (James Buckley trio, Mystery Palace, Dubsack, Robert Skoro) was on upright bass for the Neutral Milk Hotel cover of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea which brilliantly closes the LP.

My friend Dean and I had headed down together to each tape audio of the show. We ended up running into two other local tapers. Geek fest at the Cedar. Add to that 3-4 video cameras and numerous video people trying to get patched out of the board...the event was well documented. They could make a swell DVD once everything is pulled together.

Maybe I should start using this thing?

I don't care for myspace beyond communicating with bands regarding taping and the occasional friend that I don't talk to "offline" regularly. Previously I had a thread at ts.com that I was editing with shows I had planned on taping but I think it's going to make more sense to just keep this updated.