Horse Lords take a collage-like, mixtape approach to song and setlist construction, balancing instrumental jams with electronic texture pieces. Rather than beginning and ending, songs morph into one another, blurring the lines between compositions and styles. Hailing from Baltimore, a city that’s become well known for its rich music scene, Horse Lords perform a tightly-wound mathrock that blends the influence of African polyrhythms with motorik beats. Opening up for Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band at Union Pool, their set features four untitled tracks followed by their signature tune, “Outer East,” a twelve-minute jam that explores each aspect of their sound. That song also appears on their second album, Hidden Cities, which came out on NNA Tapes this past November. It follows a few self-released mixtapes and a self-titled LP on Baltimore weirdo label, Ehse Records. What’s impressive about their performance is each player’s ability to play in the spaces between the other instruments. Nowhere does it sound like like these guys are playing over one another, despite the complex interlaced rhythms. Percussion is central to their mission. Many tracks feature two drum kits, but there’s also a percussive element to the way the other instruments (guitar, bass, saxophone, and electronics) are handled. While it was a New Yorker recommendation for Chris Forsyth that ensured a packed house, the crowd was up for diverse and experimental music and Horse Lords elicited a well-deserved, rapturous response.
I recorded this set with the AKGs clamped to the balcony combined with a board feed from Union Pool FOH Leah. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!
You can catch Horse Lords on tour with Liturgy in early April. Dates are listed on their website.
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Horse Lords
2015-02-05
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH
Soundboard (engineer: Leah) + AKG C480B/CK61 (FOB, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, EQ, mixdown) > Audacity 2.0.5 (amplify, fades, downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)
Tracks [38:17]
01. Untitled
02. Untitled
03. Untitled
04. Untitled
05. Outer East
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Horse Lords. Visit their Bandcamp page, like them on Facebook, and buy Hidden Cities from NNA Tapes.
Glad that someone else enjoys this band as much as I do — thanks for posting!