Giant Sand, Live at Mad Dog Studios/The Atlantic Session (01/30/90)

R-12505948-1536611502-6236.jpeg.jpg

I don’t know if it’s still around, but when we lived in KY (roughly 2002-2005), I was part of The Sandman Series. This was a CDR series of bootlegs organized by Jim Blackman and Howe Gelb. Basically, the way it worked was that CDRs were sent out to “seeders.” I was a seeder. The seeders committed to recording and mailing the CDRs to a certain number of people (I think it was around 10 but I really don’t remember). I seeded several different discs, but the one I still return to most was called The Atlantic Session.

The core group (at that time) of Howe Gelb, John Convertino and Joey Burns recorded this set as a demo for Atlantic Records at Mad Dog Studios in CA. It was never officially released until the Sandman Series helped bring it to the light of day. As the name suggests, this is a studio recording. The band is tight and the tunes are bitchin.

The set is available at the fantastic Archive.org.

Dive right in.

  • Visit Giant Sand/Howe Gelb’s official website.

  • Follow Giant Sand at Facebook.

  • Follow Howe Gelb at Facebook.

  • Visit the Archive.org page for the show.

  • Browse all posts marked “Giant Sand” here at Holiday at the Sea.

  • Purchase Giant Sand music at Amazon.

Ryley Walker's "Psych-Jam" Set At Union Pool

ryley.jpeg

I haven’t been feeling well lately, so I missed out on seeing Ryley Walker at Valley Bar, one of my favorite Phoenix venues. But don’t worry, I’m sure that staying home sick as a parent to 8 kids was just as fun as seeing a great artist in an intimate venue.

Though I have been tempted to drown my sorrows in Hot Toddys (or is the plural “Hot Toddies”?), instead I am listening to Walker’s “Psych Jam” set at NYC’s Union Pool from NYC Taper.

The show’s page provides context:

Ryley Walker’s March residency at Union Pool covered all the bases of Walker’s sound, from relatively “straight-ahead” song-based performances to instrumental blowouts with friends and colleagues like Ryan Jewell and Steve Gunn. Count this final night’s performance firmly in the latter camp, as Walker and residency mainstay Jewell were joined by David Grubbs (Gastr del Sol, others) and C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) for a full set of avant-garde experimentation that found Walker stepping away from the mic but fully present as guitarist and spiritual force.”

Enough talking. Let’s jam.