BASIC: June 25, 2025 Tubby’s

July 22, 2025
By

Readers of this site should be well versed with Chris Forsyth’s work.  We have covered him extensively through the years with a variety of his projects.  Currently, his focus is on the trio Basic with Mikel Patrick Avery and Doug McCombs.

EricPh posted a fantastic Basic recording and interesting insight into the project’s formation just shy of a year ago. Since then, the band has released a new EP and, on this evening, even treated us to a couple of new and as of yet unnamed compositions. 

The project’s concept remains intact: a far-reaching combination of sampled and organic percussion, Forsyth’s always creative guitar playing, and McCombs somehow finding a pocket between the two. This project has matured quite a bit since its inception, and I find the new EP to be significantly stronger in both composition and performance. I think listeners can experience this firsthand with the performances of that material captured here.  

Aside from the new material Basic seems to be cooking up, all three members are working on other projects. Forsyth is debuting a new trio called  “What Is Now” in early August, McCombs is hitting the road with all-time greats Tortoise, and Avery has a Natural Information Society gig in October with Sterolab and Bitchin Bajas; talk about a stacked bill!  Plenty of opportunities for you to catch some tunes!

I recorded this for the normal spot in the back with my MBHOs and soundboard feed from ace FOH engineer Wil.  The sound quality is excellent!

Download and stream at the Live Music Archive!

Basic
2025-06-25
Tubby’s
Kingston, NY

Source: MBHO440 + SDB > SD MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag

Thanks to Tubby’s FOH engineer Wil for the board patch

  1. New Auspicious
  2. Nerve Time
  3. Changes, Changing
  4. New 2
  5. New 3
  6. Dream City
  7. Tension Envelope

Basic is:
Mikel Patrick Avery: percussion, electronics, drum machine
Chris Forsyth – Guitar
Doug McCombs – Bass

Support this excellent artist!
https://chrisforsyth1.bandcamp.com/album/dream-city-e-p

Support the venues bringing you interesting music!
https://www.tubbyskingston.com/music-calendar

Takaat: May 8, 2025 Tubby’s

July 8, 2025
By

At this point, I’m sure everyone reading this site is familiar with Mdou Moctar; our own AcidJack posted a killer recording of him from the 2017 Hopscotch fest. His version of Saharan folk music meets the unbridled shred of VH’s “Eruption” has caught the ears of curious listeners everywhere. I’ve seen them many times, and the shows are always a blast, not just for Mdou’s blazing guitar playing but also for the insanely tight backing band.

This backing band is now having its chance to be the centerpiece. The trio, comprised of Ahmoudou Madassane on Guitar and vocals, Souleymane Ibrahim on Drums, and Mikey Coltun on Bass, is touring as Takaat, and you really need to go see them. Takaat brings the same high-energy microtonal dance party vibe you get when Mdou is fronting, but here, the focus shifts more to the unrelenting groove the trio produces. Ahmoudou’s guitar playing is every bit as mind-boggling as you’d expect, but the center of this thing is the band’s ability to lock in behind his songs. These songs could be 5 minutes or 5 hours, and it would be equally engaging because I don’t think this band is capable of missing a step.

Certain shows are undeniable.  It’s impossible to miss the fact that something special is happening.  This was one of them. Tubby’s back room was packed elbow to elbow with everyone locked in. I’m fairly sure not one person left the live room for the duration of the set. Everyone stayed put, with the band’s stage spotlights blasting us like the Desert sun. Super fun anecdote – I noticed at least 4 people in the room that were also at BSP (RIP) many years ago when this band first came through town with Mdou.

This was recorded from my usually spot in the back with the MBHOs and an excellent board feed from Tubby’s FOH engineer Wil.  The quality is excellent, so crank it up. And if this show isn’t enough, friend of the site Richard Hayes has his recording from Milwaukee up on his excellent blog!

Download and stream from the Live Music Archive!

Takaat
2025-05-08
Tubby’s
Kingston, NY

Source: MBHO440 + SDB > SD MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag

Thanks to Tubby’s FOH engineer Will for the board patch!

  1. Amidinin
  2. Imajighan Anagrou
  3. Elwan
  4. Asuf D Alwa
  5. Oulhin Ay Rakhin

Takaat is:
Ahmoudou Madassane: Guitar, Vocals
Mikey Coltun: Bass
Souleymane Ibrahim: Drums

Support this excellent artist!
https://purplishrecords.bandcamp.com/album/takaat-is-noise-vol-1

Support the venues bringing you interesting music!
https://www.tubbyskingston.com/music-calendar

Peel Dream Magazine: March 06, 2025 Tubby’s

April 1, 2025
By

Winter break is over here at NYCTaper!  We return to our regularly scheduled program of bringing you sweet jams from bands you should be following.  Today’s installment features Peel Dream Magazine!

I was very excited for this show. One of my best friends and chief musical advisors had seen them earlier on this tour when they hit Nashville and had rave reviews. So, going into this, I had hopes that the band’s shoegaze meets Stereolab amalgamation would result in a great experience, and it did.

The entire set was drenched in their unique version of beauty distilled through harmonies and effects. Beginning with the gentle “Dreams” off their most recent album, “Rose Main Reading Room,” the band lifted the audience on a soft cloud of acoustic guitar and duet harmonies. It’s interesting how much space they maintain, even in the live shows. Every sound seems to have its place to reside. 

It’s encouraging to see that the band seems committed to self-evolution. Listening to this version of “Qi Velocity” and the version on “Modern Meta Physic,” you can hear movement in focus. These sorts of decisions can help keep the music fresh and vital to listeners and musicians. They certainly kept my head bobbing throughout the set.

I was really surprised by how engaging a live band they were. I’d always considered the records to be headphone-type deep listening experiences, but I greatly appreciated the movement and bounce they brought to these songs live. 

I recorded this from my usual spot with an excellent board feed and general room mix from Tubby’s FOH engineer Kyle.  Enjoy!

Download and stream from the Live Music Archive!

Peel Dream Magazine
2025-03-06
Tubby’s
Kingston, NY

Source: MBHO440 + SDB > SD MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag

Thanks to Tubby’s FOH engineer Kyle for the board patch

  1. Dawn
  2. Central Park West
  3. I Wasn’t Made For War
  4. Up and Up
  5. Anorak
  6. Wish You Well
  7. Four Leaf Clover
  8. Qi Velocity
  9. Life in the Gutter
  10. Too Dumb
  11. Pill
  12. Counting Sheep
  13. Life at the Movies

Support this excellent artist!
https://peeldreammagazine.bandcamp.com/

Support the venues bringing you interesting music!
https://www.tubbyskingston.com/music-calendar

Color Green: November 21, 2024 Tubby’s

December 6, 2024
By

What would you do if I told you that a four-piece rock and roll band is driving around in a van and kicking all sorts of ass at venues across the country?  What if I also told you that it features screaming guitar harmonies with intricate melodic interplay propped up by one of the most badass rhythm sections you’ll see this year? What if I told you this band is called “Color Green,” and they are on tour right now?

What started as a duo recording project has morphed into a four-piece band. With that transition has come a clearer focus on the songs and playing. On their excellent new record, “Fool’s Parade,” the stoney haze of the earlier releases is joined by more focused songwriting, well-structured dueling guitars, and a rhythm section ready for battle. It’s like adding a touch of Heron Oblivion to your Burrito Brothers.

While standing outside preshow, Noah mentioned they would start us off slow before hitting the throttle, and that’s exactly how it played out. Opening with the contemplative “Through The Looking Glass,” the band and audience had a minute to calibrate before it was time, as Casey Rose stated, to “have some fun,” and, for the next 45 minutes, that’s precisely what happened.  The back half of this set, from “Coronado” through “Kick The Bucket,” featured wildly dynamic guitar playing that was a thrill to hear.  It’s rare to find two guitarists who so actively listen to each other to create that sort of experience.

Color Green is closing out its tour with only a few West Coast dates remaining. West Coast tapers get out to a show! The world needs more live Color Green!

You might notice that the picture at this post’s beginning isn’t very good. That’s because I was too busy standing in the back by my gear, crushing beers, and playing air guitar to remember to move up and get a quality shot. This was a straight-up scorcher, a no-bull-shit rock show. 

I recorded this from the usual spot with an excellent board feed from Tubby’s FOH engineer Wil.  The sound is fantastic.

Download and stream form the Live Music Archive!

Color Green
2024-11-21
Tubby’s
Kingston, NY

Source: MBHO 440 + SDB > MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag

Thanks to Tubby’s FOH engineer Wil for the board patch!

recorded and produced by kliked for nyctaper.com

  1. Intro
  2. Through the Looking Glass
  3. When The Clouds Roll In
  4. God In A $
  5. Sour Grapes
  6. Coronado
  7. Four Leaf Clover
  8. Night
  9. Kick The Bucket
  10. You Wreck Me

Support this excellent band!
https://colorgreen.bandcamp.com/

Support the venues bringing you interesting music!
https://www.tubbyskingston.com/music-calendar

Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears: August 10, 2024 Deep In The Valley

December 2, 2024
By

Photo by Christopher Bruno

The NYCTaper coverage of the 2024 Deep in the Valley festival continues with Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears!

I’m going to be completely upfront about this: This was the set I was most looking forward to going into the event, simply because I’d been pestering Andy from Raven Sings The Blues for at least two years to get Sean Thompson to play Deep In The Valley.

Sean is a guitar player, songwriter, and generally good dude from Nashville. I’ll skip the background info; you can get all that on a recent episode of Good Friend of the Site J. M. Hart’s consistently excellent Brokedown Podcast. The critical thing to glean from the interview is that Sean is now actively writing and focusing his energy on the “Weird Ears” project. 

I was lucky to sit with several people who were unfamiliar with Sean’s work before this set. With “country music,” in whatever that means, having a bit of a moment in the larger psych/improv/jam scene, it’s easy to draw comparisons to more well-known names. In the moment, I attempted to sell it to the uninitiated as “similar to the name brand country-tinged jam folks but more authentic, weirder, and much more psychedelic.” To me, that translates to way more interesting, but that doesn’t do Sean’s work justice, and, to be fair, it was just lazy on my part. 

Luckily for Sean, he doesn’t need me to sell you on this; him and his band will do it on their own.  This excellent-sounding set features tracks from his superb Selt Titled 2022 album as well as some new jammers, including the latest single, “Ridin’ In The Van,” which has a brand new video (debuting today!) to go along with it:

Ridin’ In the Van

Pre order your copy of the new Weird Ears album “Head In The Sand” (out February 7) here. If he makes it back to the Hudson Valley for a proper full length set you can be sure I’ll be there!

I recorded this set with my MBHOs at the stage lip and a phenomenal soundboard feed from FOH engineer Daniel Stout.  Play it LOUD.

Download and stream from the Live Music Archive!

Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears
2024-08-10
Deep in The Valley Festival
From The Ground Brewery
Red Hook, NY

Source: MBHO 440 + SDB > MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag

Recorded and produced by kliked for nyctaper.com

Thanks to FOH engineer Daniel Stout for the board patch!

  1. Raspberry Pie
  2. New Trailway Boogie
  3. Before The Flowers Bloom
  4. Ridin In The Van
  5. Street People

Please support this excellent artist!
https://seanthompsonsweirdears.bandcamp.com/

Please support Raven Sings The Blues!
https://www.ravensingstheblues.com/

Photo by Christopher Bruno:
https://christopherbrunophotography.pixieset.com

Weak Signal: October 4, 2024 Tubby’s

November 25, 2024
By

When you pull on the string dangling off Weak Signal’s hoodie what unravels is the last 60 years of NYC’s music history.  Which is probably why they aren’t huge.

I have this belief that some of the best things from New York, particularly NYC, can’t truly be understood by outsiders. In a just world, “I’m Waiting for the Man” would have been a far bigger hit in 1967 than “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie” just as M.O.P’s “Heistmasters” should have been a bigger hit than “Fantastic Voyage” in 1994. Maybe the grim realities of New York City are more than most people can, or want, to handle.  

There is a sound to NY, and anyone with the city in their bloodstream knows it. In his genuinely incredible piece on DJ Premiere’s work, Dave Thompkins wrote, “Premier’s loyalty to his sound is a dedication to neighborhoods still living the same crisis narrative that played out in his music two decades ago. Nothing will ever displace Group Home’s “Livin’ Proof” in a piercing January wind.” Listening to Weak Signal is hearing the street-wise coolness of the VU directly alongside the hard-hitting realities of Mobb Deep because it’s rooted in the same crisis narrative Premiere accessed: the reality of living and creating art in NY. This isn’t  a band built for Instagram and lifestyle influencers.  This is a band built for people who work in bars that don’t have websites; for the blue paper 10 ounce coffee cup that says “we are happy to serve you” in a vaguely Greek font.

On their new record, “Fine” (12XU), you’ll find the usual cocktail of snarling guitar tones mixed with equally cynical lyrics. They’ve added a floater to that of the most refined production of their career which helps to highlight bassist Sasha Vine and drummer Tran Huynh. I always found this to be one of the most exciting rhythm sections working today. You can really feel the swagger on this record. This is Weak Signal standing on the corner, taunting the condo developer while making sure Halal cart guy’s spot is secured. There will always be someone to represent the sound of NYC.  And right now, that’s Weak Signal.

I recorded this from my usual spot in the back with my MBHOs and an killer soundboard feed from Tubby’s FOH engineer Kyle. The sound quality is fantastic!

Download and stream form the live music archive!

Weak Signal
2024-10-04
Tubby’s
Kingston, NY

Source: MBHO440 + SDB > SD MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag

recorded and produced by kliked

Thanks to Tubby’s FOH engineer Kyle for the board patch

  1. Out On A Wire
  2. Poor People
  3. Hallelujah Baby
  4. Chill
  5. Rich Junkie
  6. Spooky Feeling
  7. Disappearing
  8. Yr Deal
  9. Wannabe
  10. Drugs In My System
  11. Tell Me How You Like It

Support this excellent artist:
https://weareweaksignal.bandcamp.com/

Support the venues bringing you interesting music!
https://www.tubbyskingston.com/music-calendar

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