My Bloody Valentine & DIIV
Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC
November 12, 2013

24 bit/48 kHz recording shared as 16 bit/44.1 kHz FLACs

DIIV set:

01-Druun
02-Past Lives
03-
04-Air Conditioning
05-Wait
06-Oshun
07-Dust
08-Doused

My Bloody Valentine set:

09-Sometimes
10-I Only Said
11-When You Sleep
12-New You
13-You Never Should
14-Honey Power
15-Cigarette in Your Bed
16-Only Tomorrow
17-Come In Alone
18-Only Shalow
19-Thorn / Nothing Much to Lose
20-Who Sees You
21-To Here Knows When
22-Wonder 2
23-Soon
24-Feed Me With Your Kiss
25-You Made Me Realise


Lineage: Stealth recorded and minimally produced by mrsaureus, and being shared for the first time. Standing center floor fifth row using Core-Sound High End Binaurals (DPA-4060 capsules) to Sony PCM-M10 (48 kHZ, 24 bit), WavePad Sound Editor to chop and FLAC only. This is an audience recording that aims to document the experience of being in the crowd at the show, and features occasionally loud but appropriate crowd noise.


I have that phrase in the boilerplate paragraph above that says that I aim for the recording to �document the experience of being in the crowd at the show�, and most of the time I think it hits pretty close to the mark. But no recording, live or studio, can really prepare someone for the sonic powerwashing that is an mbv show. Some of the other mbv tour dates posted on DIME have reported sound problems that diminished the experience, but the PA�s were up and blasting at Hammerstein Ballroom. I�ve never been to any other show where the music is so physically present. That�s because it�s loud, obviously, but it�s not just that (although the venue was handing out earplugs, and I�ve never seen that before.) I�ve been to plenty of loud shows, but only at mbv did I alternately feel like the music was going to grab me, shove me, embrace me, give me a prostate exam, massage me, and maybe beat me up a little and take my wallet. You probably won�t get any of that from the recording: you really need to go to the live show for the full experience, which is why mbv tours are legendary. But what you will get even from the recording is curtains of velvety sonic spackle and bits that sounds terrific even at normal volumes.

Indie rock prince Zachary Cole Smith brought his outfit DIIV to open the show, and even had indie rock princess Sky Ferriera on hand in the wings. These guys have been working really hard lately, opening all over the place. This is the third time I�ve seen them in a couple of months, and if you haven�t heard them, they are definitely worth checking out. Lots of good new music in Brooklyn right now, and although Parquet Courts is getting most of the attention, DIIV and Spires are bands to keep an eye on.