[Photos by acidjack]
If certain people are to be believed, Birds of Maya is the best rock n’ roll band in Philadelphia. Which, considering how essential that city’s rock tradition has been to the genre in the last few years, is saying a hell of a lot. In recent years, acts like Purling Hiss (the newer vehicle of BoM’s Mike Polizze) and Spacin’ have gotten a lot of the ink, but Birds of Maya is what started it all. After killer sets from fellow Philadelphians Spacin’ and Chris Forsyth earlier in the day at the Paradise of Bachelors / WXYC day show during Hopscotch Music Festival, it was only fitting that the day ended with the BoM mothership blasting us off to 1969 with some epically heavy chooglin’. Rarely bothering with such studio niceties as polished production and carefully laid out song titles, Birds of Maya’s official releases soar on the pure adrenaline of monster riffs made with total commitment and no bad attitudes. Ready to Howl, for example, is a double LP consisting of three songs – “Friday”, “Saturday” and “Sunday”. That’s how they roll.
All of that made BoM an ideal coda to a perfect weekend outdoor show, as the band roared through four epic-length tracks. That old Spinal Tap line about cranking your amps to 11 isn’t, it turns out, a figure of speech — Birds of Maya pushed out enough onstage volume that the amps seethed with fuzz. This set of continuous music brought all the heat of the band’s LPs, with the spontaneity and good vibes of the live setting to boot. Just listen to “E.O.I.”, streaming below, to get an idea of how it felt to see these guys in action.
I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones and a soundboard feed. As noted, BoM’s amps were cranked, causing the board feed to distort a little. So, this sounds similar to a Birds of Maya album — loud, fuzzy and raw. It’s a thing of beauty. Enjoy!
Stream “E.O.I.”
Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]
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Birds of Maya
2013-09-07
Paradise of Bachelors /WXYC Day Show
Louise “Scottie” Stephenson Amphitheatre
Raleigh, NC USA
Schoeps MK4V>KC5>CMC6 + SBD>>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, adjustments, EQ to SBD)>Izotope Ozone 5 (tube effect, compression, EQ)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, fades, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Sie Kleben
03 E.O.I.
04 Black Foot Kin
05 Cosmic Honeyshaker
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AWESOME – thank you!!!
Thank you very much for this!!!