Got to see the Nels Cline Singers last night

[midwayfair]

At a small club in Baltimore, the Windup Space, which is probably my favorite club here -- never too loud for the room and it always sounds great, and the owner/bartender is one of the nicest guys around. Maybe 75 people there, with chairs set up. And for extra cool, he had Cyro Baptista on percussion! The playing was awesome of course (his upright bass player in particular was just insane), like listening to a soundtrack while you make up the movie, and all done with just real instruments, loopers, and "a few" effects. Actually, far fewer effects than I imagined -- aside from the chaos pad on the "noise" parts, there was delay on maybe two songs, vibrato on one song, and fuzz or overdrive on about half, running through a ZT lunchbox amp.

I'm not sure I'd see him again -- I mean, there's only so much avant-garde stuff I can listen to -- but it was certainly a good experience and I'd recommend seeing them at least once in your life.

[crashguitar]

Awesome. I have tickets to see him this Wednesday. I can't wait. I purchased the new cd last week when it was released and I am really digging some of the stuff on it. I am excited to see him and glad that you had a great time.

Was Yuka with them?

Chad

[midwayfair]

Was Yuka with them?

Band was
Nels Cline - guitars
Trevor Dunn - Bass
Scott Amendola - drums & electronics
Cyro Baptista - percussion

[lincolnic]

Nels is a monster. Does Trevor Dunn still have that ridiculous mustache?

[Bret608]

I haven't seen him live in so many years. When I lived in NYC in the late '90s I got to see him a number of times at the Cooler in the meatpacking district. Not sure if this place is still around. One time, he played with some jazz quartet he was with at the time, then they all left the stage and Thurston Moore came out and did a half-hour noise set with him! There were egg beaters involved. He really just had a Rat, a CS-2, a volume pedal, and maybe a DD-2.

I like the avant-garde stuff in reasonable doses. I've seen that kind of thing live much more than I've listened to it recorded. Somehow for me it translates better in a live setting.

[crashguitar]

So, I got to see them last night. It was incredible.
I did not get a good look at his pedals, but he was playing through a Fender combo amp. He has some technical issues for the fist couple songs, but he seemed to figure out what was going on. Later in the set I saw him take a pedal out of his signal chain.
My only complaint is that they had him booked for two shows, so the set was not as long as I would have liked. Not only was Nels great, but Trevor Dunn and Scott Amendola were amazing. I am not sure about Cyro Baptista, yet. I joked to my friend that he just packed everything he had in his garage. This may be my own dislike of hand percussion stuff.

Trevor Dunn was rocking a mustache.


Chad

[davent]

I like the avant-garde stuff in reasonable doses. I've seen that kind of thing live much more than I've listened to it recorded. Somehow for me it translates better in a live setting.

That's seems true for a lot of music, live is the only way to take it in.

Saw Wilco last summer, Nels and guest, Richard Thompson, had a nice edgy throwdown on Fairport's Sloth.

[lincolnic]

Trevor Dunn was rocking a mustache.

Ha! Awesome. Years ago, when I was still a studio assistant, he came in for a session. It was hard to get over his comedy porn mustache, but his playing speaks for itself.