Lindi Ortega
Red Room @ Caf� 939
Boston, Massachusetts
USA
October 22, 2013 [2013-10-22]

It�ll be interesting to see how many people grab this. Right after this show (6 months ago) I thought it might be a suitable upload - - - but when I did a search to see what else by her there was on DIME, there was not a single thing. This led me to believe that either

a) this wasn�t the kind of music that anyone on this list would be interested in, or (more likely)
b) she was so far under the radar that people in the taping community hadn�t heard of her yet.

In either event it seemed it would be a mismanagement of resources to master up and upload a concert that no-one else would be interested in. BUT� a few weeks ago I noticed that valued DIME member mdekoning had uploaded a Lindi Ortega show from Holland (oooops, sorry: Netherlands):

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=483409

So far 40 people have snatched it, so I guess that means that [out of the over a quarter million on DIME] at least 40 people have heard of her or else are willing to take a chance on something new.

To be honest, before I went to this show I hadn�t heard of her either! I just happened to see a glowing preview in a Boston newspaper. It described her music as rockabilly - - - I�m not sure that that�s completely apropos, but narrow labels are always thorny. Going to a show by somebody I wasn�t familiar with (or indeed, had never heard of before) reminded me of the heyday of my taping career, when I was determined to record every gig in sight. Some of the artists that I went to see �pig-in-a-poke� (Steve Earle at The Rat [based on a review in the NY times that compared him (favourably) to Springsteen], Robyn Hitchcock [dragged from Boston to Irving Plaza NY by a fervid friend], Billy Bragg [happenstance - - - he was opening for Link Wray!]) became some of my all-time favourites. So I decided that it was again my turn to take a chance on something new. The piece in The Globe made it sound like she was somebody I would really like.

She did not disappoint.

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PERSONNEL
Lindi Ortega
James Robertson (guitar)
Tristan Henderson (drums)
- - - they did it �White Stripes�-style : no bass player (but it was rockin�: didn�t need one)

TRACKLISTING
01 - introduction / enter LO / Tin Star
02 � Hard As This
03 - Waitin� On My Luck To Change
04 - Voodoo Mama
05 - Demons Don�t Get Me Down
06 - Something For You
07 - Little Lie
08 - Lived And Died Alone
09 - Desperado [Eagles (via Linda Ronstadt?)] (LO on piano)
10 - Ashes
11 - I Want You
12 - Heaven Has No Vacancy (guest co-vocal: Brett Detar)
13 - High
14 - band introductions / All These Cats
encore:
15 - Ring Of Fire [Johnny Cash]
16 - Songs About (LO on piano)

I�m not really certain about the title of track #10. As LO announced during the show it�s a new song, so there�s no official release to consult. I tried looking it up online, but it seemed that all the names I found (Cold Dark Ashes, Ashes Of Your Love) were guesses also. The most definitive reference I could find was a picture of an official setlist, where the title was shown simply as it's listed here. The only troubling aspect of my conjecture�s possibly being wrong is that it would rather invalidate the accompanying artwork. But I�m pretty confident about my guess - - - based on the names of her other songs, LO seems to favour short (Iggy-style?) songtitles - - - no Simple Desultory Philippics here.

total duration = 78m:38s (will fit on one CD)

PERFORMANCE NOTES
While introducing the show, the club manager (Jackie Indrisano) makes the remark ��we all wish.� She is referring to The Red Sox, who had a game that same night. (I think some people had been watching it in the adjoining bar before coming into the performance space.)

LO switches [from guitar] to piano for a couple of songs (noted above). She disparages her piano playing after Desperado, but clearly she is quite good. (It always kills me when people do that.)

Opening act Brett Detar contribute guest vocals for Heaven Has No Vacancy. He was Lindi Ortega�s invited opener for the tour. His set was extremely good also, if a little emtionally downbeat (sort of James McMurtry-ish). If there were any interest I could post his bit at a later time.

Before the start proper of High, guitarist James Robertson plays a few licks from Caravan, and LO remarks that maybe that will give some clue about the subject matter of the song (I guess a reference to the idea that drugs come from the Mystic East).


RECORDING NOTES
source: audience

recording gear:
Zoom H2N w. internal mikes (4 channel MS/XY mode @ 44.1 kHz / 16 bit) > Sandisk SD card

recording location: trade secret

recorded by: Isotope Feeney

This was not only my first time seeing Lindi Ortega, it was also my first time at this particular venue. It�s affiliated with Berklee School of Music, so most of the acts there seem more jazz- than rock-oriented (which is all well and nice, but I have to admit that most of the names I see listed on the club�s schedule are unfamiliar to me). After scoping out the situation once I got in, I picked what I thought was the most felicitous spot to place a recorder. It was elevated above the audience (to minimize crowd chatter), but unfortunately it was facing outwards (toward the audience, not towards the stage). It was right next to a PA horn, so I hoped that the vocals would therefore be appropriately �forward� in the recording even though the internal mikes were facing away from vocals' soundsource. Unfortunately they aren�t as prominent in the capture as I would prefer. The setup wasn�t ideal, but it was the best I could figure out under the circumstances.

AUDIO NOTES
imaging: stereo

sound quality: very good (8 out of 10?) (mp3 sample in comments below: portions of 1 softer song & 1 louder song)
I think it sounds a little less distance-y than the torrent referenced above (�Bailiff, bring in the jury.�)

TECHNICAL NOTES
generation: mixdown from MASTER recording

transfer lineage:
44.1 / 16 .wav files > HD >
Sound Forge v. 4.5 (EQ, balance L&R channels, slight edits, volume adjustments) >
Audacity v. 1.2.6 (track splits) >
Traders Little Helper v. 2.7.0 (align SBEs, create FLAC (level 8) files) >
DIME >
Infinity and Beyond!

format: 44.1 kHz / 16 bit [CD compliant]

file size: 240 MB

MIXING/EDITING NOTES
Some DIMErs make quite a display of the fact that they present soundfiles in their native (unremixed) state. I�m not an adherent to that philosophy. Every commercially released recording (live or studio) that you�ve ever heard has been mixed� so all the more rationale for using the available tools (limited as they may be) on recordings made under amateur (well, at least unsanctioned) circumstances. This recording was done utilizing the MS/XY mode of Zoom H2N, resulting in 4 discrete channels of audio (6 if you decode the MS file > 2nd XY file - - - which I did, and one of those thus decoded channels became one of the ones used in final stereo mixdown). This makes moot the idea of presenting the soundfiles unmodified.

Plus what�s wrong with trying to make something sound better?

sound design by Isotope Feeney:
after careful listening, the 2 best audiotracks (out of 6 available) were chosen to create a stereo L/R soundstream

separate paragraphic EQ applied to each channel, mostly to emphasize vocals (see above)

L & R channel volumes balanced

between song stagebanter increased c. + 3db to make it more audible (some of it was off-mike)

a few slight edits made:
some �dead air� between songs edited out (no talking or musical notes, just silence)

some crowd chitchat* excised - - - especially the running commentary by one animated (if overly vocal) audience member. I was not standing next to recording device during the performance, so I didn�t get to hear his interjections until I played things back later. I usually try not to be that judgmental about other people�s manner of enjoying themselves, but believe me, after awhile his constant presence gets a bit distracting. Due to its overlapping the music in some spots, or because of interaction w. performer, it was necessary to leave some of this latter-day Aristotle�s pronouncements in the edit: f�rinstance, he can be heard (R channel) reassuring us that �Jesus is in the house� at beginning of Waitin� On My Luck To Change, and at the beginning of Ashes observing that �Love is the breath of life.� Wowie zowie!

audience applause before encore truncated (enough left in to make it obvious band had left the stage then returned)

a couple of digital artifacts (glitches) removed

damped a few drum hits during I Want You to avoid clipping

usual fades: up @ beginning and down @ end

* ��I don�t mind ordinary conversation, but I hate to chitchat�: �Lydia Crosswaithe� on The Andy Griffith Show [Season 3, Episode 6: 11-5-62]


ARTWORK
in comments


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PROHIBITION
This is where people list all their proscriptions: don�t sell, don�t convert to mp3, don�t text while driving. What�s the point? - - - how would I know? (That�s right, if I hear about your re-encoding this to lossy format, I�m coming thru your skylight on a bat-rope to give you 40 lashes with a wet noodle!). BUT� the one thing I WOULD be able to see is someone else posting my recordings on another tracker. Please don�t. To paraphrase J.R.R. Tolkien�s disclaimer on the back of the authorized paperback editions of Lord Of The Rings trilogy:

�This tracker, and no other, has listed this torrent with my consent and co-operation. Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living tapers will leave it here and post it nowhere else.�

- IF -