Do you like volume, drone and repetition? Do you like feeling completely tranced out in a psychedelic, dissociated way? Does the idea of being suspended in a state of transcendental heavy post rock seem appealing? If yes, I have just the thing for you!
Water Damage is an Austin based band/collective of people wholly committed to forcing the listener into a state of disorientation. Has the same bar been repeated for the last thirty minutes? Will my hearing be intact when this is over? The answer, honestly, is irrelevant. What’s important is this will probably be the best set of music you see this month, possibly this year. It is intense and all encompassing and completely unavoidable. You can try and ignore it, but eventually its enormous force will swallow you. Imagine being crushed by a glacier. That’s kind of what it felt like watching them destroy the room. As they say, “MAXIMAL REPETITION, MINIMAL DEVIATION.”
NY heads have a chance to catch them tonight (6/13/24) on an incredible bill at Union Pool with site favorites Weak Signal and Gift Horse. Do not miss this. Bring ear plugs.
I recorded this from the usual spot at the soundboard, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. On play back, listeners should set a volume that, as Marc Ribot says, makes you wonder if one is “really placing their amps at risk.”
The NYCTaper coverage of Tubby’s Fifth Anniversary returns with Idle Ray!
Idle Ray’s set in the arc of the Tubby’s anniversary party was crucial. The day had started pretty bleak. Massive storms had essentially made travel out of New York City impossible, and several bands, and fans, had to cancel travel arrangements. I had been at the venue the previous night setting up gear and staff morale was super high. When I got back that afternoon I arrived to less than peak vibes, but things started turning around quickly. A couple drinks, the first band hitting the stage, a surprise fill in from Wild Pink and suddenly things were looking good. By the time Idle Ray hit, no one was talking about the storm. It was party time.
Idle Ray’s inclusion on the bill made perfect sense. Fred Thomas, Idle Ray’s primary songwriter, is a long time veteran of Detroit’s vibrant music scene with credits on far too many records to list. He has performed several times at Tubby’s as part of the excellent Detroit based DIY/Punk band Tyvek and is also in Winged Wheel with one of Tubby’s owners. Recorded mainly during Covid, the Idle Ray project was created as an attempt at “going back to basics of recording on cassette four-track and having it be more about interesting sounds and feel than perfect performances or getting an industry-standard snare sound.”
The studio recordings are all Fred. For this show, Fred handled guitar and lead vocals with Devon Clausen on bass and Frances Ma on guitar and lead vocals, with backing drum machine tracks. I was unfamiliar with the material before this, but the hooks are there. It took all of half of the set opener “Overlook” to be glad I had hit record. The trio brought all the fuzzy power pop glory anyone could want to the evening. Great songs, well played and a nice bonus of some great stage banter. Fred mentioned one of the songs was about the time his ex ran for Mayor of his town. His summation of the experience; “SSUUUCCCKKKEEEDDDD”. It never occurred to me that the only way the endless forced misery of political campaign advertisements could be more hellish is if your ex was featured in them.
You can catch Fred back in town playing with Winged Wheel at Bearsville theater (with Guided By Voices!) on 8/10. You can also catch Tyvek, sans Fred, at Tubby’s on 7/27.
Recording for this set differed pretty significantly from the normal Tubby’s set up. Since they had two “stages” with two different sets of speakers, I had to set up two different sets of mics and recorders and start and stop each between bands. Thankfully, I was able to get a board feed from the main console in the back for each “stage”. I combined the front room mics with the board feed for the recording you have here. It sounds excellent; full of life and screaming guitars. Crank it!
Writhing Squares has long been the duo of Kevin Nickles and Daniel Provenzano accompanied by a drum machine, both in the studio and live. But for their most recent album, Mythology, they changed things up a bit with a live drummer by bringing on board John Schoemaker. Embarking on a short tour for the album, the band brought along David Joachim to drum live. After a release show in their hometown of Philadelphia (which you can watch on YouTube) the trio hit Tubby’s at full volume. Most of their set hails from the aforementioned Mythology, plus “NFU” from Chart For the Solution and “Steely Eyed Missile Man” from Out of the Ether. There’s something ineffable about the Writhing Squares sound, especially in their pummeling live show. While Chart For the Solution conjures The Running Man with its dystopian Krautrock, Mythology is harder to pin down. It wasn’t until their final song, a cover, that I realized what they were channeling: the band leans in hard to their prog roots with a heavy, vigorous take on King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man.” There aren’t many bands that could pull off such a feat—all hail Writhing Squares!
I recorded this from our usual location at Tubby’s with a board feed from FOH, Will. As usually Tubby’s sounds great under Will’s boardwork and this recording reflects that. Enjoy!
The Rosali/Mowed Sound tour supporting their new album, Bite Down, was one for the ages—think Neil and Crazy Horse in 1976. At each stop I heard from folks who were blown away by the songs and the energy. You can hear for yourself the band rock Tubby’s a few days before this gig at the new NYC Knitting Factory. While I didn’t quite capture same clarity as that recording, this stack tape complements the Tubby’s one nicely, giving you an upfront ear on crunchy guitar work from Rosali and James Schroeder. Kevin Donahue is the maybe the band’s unsung hero on drums—and of course David Nance’s bass-playing couldn’t be replicated by any other. I love seeing Rosali and him collaborating and can only hope one day we’ll get a duo record from the pair. Anyhow, I hear Nance and Mowed Sound will be back around later this year to tour their own self-titled record, which has been burning its own hole in my ears.
But while we’re waiting to hear about the Mowed Sound tour, Rosali’s Summer tour dates can be found on her website. New Yorkers will get the chance to see her again at this year’s Woodsist Festival. If you haven’t been, it’s the best multi-day fest in the area and the lineup this year is spectacular.
I recorded this from up front near the right stack at the Knitting Factory’s new Baker Falls location, in the former home of of the Pyramid Club. The venue sounds great and I can’t wait to get back there. Enjoy!
Tracks [1:16:257] 01. On Tonight 02. Hopeless 03. Change Is in the Form 04. Waited All Day 05. Hills on Fire 06. Mouth 07. Rewind 08. Slow Pain 09. My Kind 10. Bite Down 11. Tender Heart 12. Bones ---- 13. All This Lightning 14. Whatever Love
Rosali Middleman – Guitar, Vocals David Nance – Bass, Vocals Kevin Donahue – Drums, Vocals James Schroeder – Guitar, Vocals
The NYCTaper coverage of Tubby’s Fifth Anniversary returns with site favorites Mountain Movers!
The Movers have been at it for a while but still seem fresh. In fact, this was probably the most vibrant set I’d seen from them. They came out firing with “My Holy Shrine”; the first taste of the new material available on their forthcoming record “Walking After Dark”. This new gem was followed by old favorite, “Freeway,” with the Movers doing what they do best; washing the crowd in psychedelic guitar play, feedback and hypnotic rhythms. They are truly one of the most reliable purveyors of modern psych on the scene.
This excellent set gave us a first glimpse of some of the new material and the preview was mighty good. The new album is out May 17 on the always dependable Trouble In Mind records. NYC folks can also find the Movers as part of an excellent bill at The Broadway in Brooklyn on June 1. I expect, and hope, we will see move dates as the release gets closer.
I recorded this from the usual spot at the soundboard with my MBHOs and excellent board feed from Tubby’s FOH engineer Will. Enjoy!
In 2022 Rosali came to Tubbys and played the best set of music, by a significant margin, I saw that year. I always enjoyed her records. She is a masterful writer who brings raw-nerved honesty and beauty to life in every song. But what happened that night was something totally unexpected. Backed by David Nance’s band, Mowed Sound, they made those songs sound alternately like your favorite blanket during a thunderstorm or a freight train coming at you full speed. This felt like seeing The Band and Dylan finding their footing or Neil Young’s first jams with Crazy Horse. This serious praise probably seems hyperbolic, and maybe it is, but several people I spoke to after that night had similar feelings. At the end of that recording, you can hear me turn to Tubby’s ace FOH engineer Will and say, “HOLY SHIT!” I was hooked.
Flash forward to a few months back when Rosali announced her new album, “Bite Down,” (Merge Records) had been recorded as a band with this same ensemble. Excitement and expectations were high, and the final product delivered on every bit of that hope. The lead single, “Rewind” exhibits the ease with which this band finds its sound. A personal favorite, “My Kind,” is packed with the manic energy of love that makes you feel like you can run through a wall. It’s early in the year, but I struggle to see how this record doesn’t end up very high on my personal “best of” list.
The last test was the live show. Was the feeling in the room that night in 2022 an aberration? Was it really that good? Could it have been that good?
Yes. It’s that good. They are really that good.
Opening with the gentle “May it Be on Offer,” it’s immediately obvious that this is, somehow, a better version of that band from 2022. More comfortable with the dynamics of the songs and not as reliant on their obvious ability to lay waste to a room with force. The journey through the set list lets you experience that change in real time. Starting soft and ending with a ferocious guitar onslaught of “Bones.” If you close your eyes, you can see the faded glory of Rock and Roll and, for a moment, you can believe they are the last ones flying that flag.
I recorded this from the usually spot by the soundboard with my MBHOs and an excellent board patch from Tubby’s FOH engineer Wil. Enjoy!
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