The Chicago band Clearance have been at it for a few years now, having first gained broader notice with a track debut from their current full-length, Rapid Rewards, on Stereogum. Various corners of the Internet have compared them to Pavement, having more (to this listener) to do with their wry sense of humor than their exact musical style, which falls into the broad camp of “indie rock” or “alt-rock” or “garage-rock” or whatever you want to call guitar-driven music that isn’t made by meatheads these days, but is delivered, at this stage, with a certain professionalism that wasn’t Pavement’s stock-in-trade until career end.
This set at Rough Trade NYC represents a solid eleven (with one additional that was aborted) song introduction to the band, including “You’ve Been Pre-Approved.” But among the set, I was most taken with the band’s latest single, “Are You Aware,” an upbeat burst of optimism that might fit less within the “ironic slacker” framework, but is just the dash of musical Prozac you want on a Friday after a wearying week. By the time the song downshifts in its final segment, you’re feeling the relaxation wash over you. We also got some new songs in the mix, including “Chances Are” and “Haven’t You Got the Time,” the latter of which has a bit more of a 90s Britpop feel than some of the band’s other songs. The band closed with the short-burst anthem “She’s A Peach,” which ended abruptly in under two minutes. At first it seemed like a mistake or a joke, but then it became clear — the song had said all it needed to say. Clearance are that kind of band.
I recorded this set in the same manner as the Widowspeak set, with Schoeps MK5 microphones and a soundboard feed from Jeremy. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!
Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC/ALAC]
Clearance
2017-10-13
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack
Soundboard (engineer: Jeremy) + Schoeps MK5 (DFC, at SBD, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Sound Devices MixPre6 (24/48)>polyWAV file>Adobe
Audition CC (align, mix down, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, dither, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks
01 Had A Fantastic
02 The Prospect
03 Destination Wedding
04 Frozen Orange / No Wonder
05 Gallery Glare
06 Are You Aware
07 You’ve Been Pre-Approved
08 Owner/Operator
09 Chances Are
10 Haven’t You Got The Time?
11 Another Arrow [stops]
12 She’s A Peach
Thanks much acidjack and NYCtaper for this! Clearance is my favorite local band, and it’s great to get a wonderful NYCtaper recording of them.
As for your comments about the pavement influence, it’s toned down on the album and newer material, but still noticeable. Listen to this, particularly tracks 1,2 and 4, and you’ll hear it much stronger: https://clearance.bandcamp.com/album/catalogue-nos-cs