Steve Gunn

Similar to your experience (set list etc) though?

xp

Yeah, the three set lists from this tour I have seen have all been about the same. Performance I saw was exactly the same sequence-wise, but "Tommy's Congo" and "Way Out Weahter" were flipped and we didn't get to see "The Lurker". Performances similar, but of course they are riding the energy and improvising differently. This NYC show definitely smokes as Tyler puts it, but so did the show I saw. Just a damn good band.

new tune/video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsG0kDv2EGs&feature=youtu.be

It's ok, kinda sounds like a slightly more measured version of the recent jammy solo Malkmus stuff. Maybe that's Matador's fault?

yeah definitely the poppiest thing he's done so far ... think i dig it though.

i really wanna like this dude but i just cant get down with the vocals

what's wrong with them? too breathy/throaty? i feel like it suits the low-key vibe of the music well

^ agreed. if he sounded like Benjamin Booker or something, i'd understand.

just not very expressive or something

or maybe i just don't dig the melodies

If Time Off doesn't do it for you then yeah maybe it's just not your thing.

this is alright but he's definitely moving in a direction away from the things i've generally liked about him

this feels more indie than grateful dead meets fahey

know what you mean, but i'll reserve judgment til i hear the whole thing.
other news: three lobed has put the two OOP gunn-truscinski records together into a nice double LP set
http://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/ocean-parkway

Now that's more like it.

of course, i thought Way Out Weather sounded a bit too lush when i first heard it, and I totally grew to love that record...

i would totally see him live though

he kills live

was really glad to be able to see him at old familiar chime fest cuz i don't get the sense he does acoustic sets much anymore

He does! At least locally. Saw him go acoustic two consecutive weekends in a row in separate locations. Again though, NYC local here.

this leaked incredibly early

(and it's good)

yow, this gunn-truscinski set from a few weeks back is godlike: http://www.nyctaper.com/2016/04/gunn-truscinski-duo-march-26-2016-three-lobed-sweet-sixteen-spectacular-kings-raleigh-nc/

Oooooooh, definitely gonna check that!

that slays. thanks!

"banh mi ringtones" is tremendous, manuel göttsching style

yeah this rules

hoping these guys make another album -- with gunn moving in a more song-y direction, i hope he still indulges his jammed out side.
by the way, the new one is really growing on me. driving around a bit with it as the soundtrack last weekend was perfect.

EYES ON THE LINES.

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/10/477374821/songs-we-love-steve-gunn-ancient-jules

its lovely

im getting a kinda Allman Brothers vibe from it

sounds good as expected

it kinda shreds

I like this guy so far. Something bothers me a little bit about the English folk pretensions. Like a lot of artists of this generation, I feel like he's approximating via his record collection, and doing a pretty good job of it, but still it feels more like he took, idk, Tom Petty or something and added "English folk seasoning blend."

tom petty's song structures are way simpler tho--i don't really get that vibe from gunn

Yeah, I don't think Petty is really the right reference point, I just mean that I feel like he doesn't quite earn the English folkisms he throws in. IDK, I'm a little grumpy today, he's really pretty good.

earlier stuff on paradise of bachelors and elsewhere drew more from tompkins square ragga picking styles, along with tuareg-esque desert vibes. this matador album sounds more 'streamlined' but i'm liking it just fine

Yeah, it's a general complaint I have about today's eclecticism that there's a lot of rough imitation of different styles going on, sort of capturing the stylistic and sonic feel but not digging into what's going on musically.

I think Scott S had a good line somewhere on this board about great bands that are born of failed imitations of others' music. But the dilletantism of it still bothers me. Like those tuareg guitarists spend their careers just learning to play that style of guitar really well, and there's something kind of thin about just listening to some records of it and vaguely capturing the "vibes" of it.

no i totally get that!

Maybe it's also because I first heard about him via a Bert Jansch comparison and was a little let down after that.

this new one sounds way different than the other ones--this one sounds like late period Sonic Youth to me

I've just discovered this guy. Heard Eyes on the Lines first, and have since picked up Way Out Weather.

And I've just found out that he played here a few weeks back......

cancelled shows because his dad is sick

i like steve gunn, but he does have a bit of a 'boring' problem

i can't really hear much UK folk in him at all tbh, mostly Fahey/American Primitive filtered through the Grateful Dead but outside of like UK outliers like Mike Cooper or Michael Chapman who rolled more American anyway I don't hear heavy Jansch or Davey Jones or Renbourne in his playing at all

i can kinda hear some of the more architectural guitar structures that jansch/renbourn favored in gunn's playing, but that's kinda it as far as the britfolk stuff goes. not overt in the way that ryley walker has been anyway.
and i get the 'boring' comment -- i definitely like most everything he's done so far, but i can see it maybe wearing a bit thin if he keeps rolling in the same direction. but who knows!

tbh i think michael chapman is also a great guitarist and good songwriter whose stuff kind of flirts with 'boring' too, so it's appropriate that he protegee (?) is similar

I don't get British folk rock vibes from Steve Gunn at all. To me, he's much more along the lines of 70's roots rock like Neil Young and the more structured/poppier Grateful Dead.

tbh i get as much feelies as folk from him

(are the feelies folk-rock?)

(are the feelies folk-rock?)

I definitely think they have an inclination towards that end of spectrum. Especially when you consider their connection to the Trypes/Speed the Plough.

I get a strong acoustic Led Zep circa III vibe from "Way Out Weather". Haven't listened to the new one yet.

I liked his last solo album. Excited to hear this one

Spoke too soon, this new one is lovely. I really like it.

Ok. That's encouraging. I've not got round to it yet.

It's really hard to put my finger on what makes this so much more inviting than Unseen since much of it is still largely in the same vein, but it really is. I was won over fairly early on, but the instrumental track with Mary Lattimore is so beautiful that it took the record to a whole new level.

The guy is probably really beat up about Chapman. I feel bad for him.

As far as the albums go I really miss the loose jammy-ness of the first couple of records in his more recent stuff, but I haven't heard this one yet.

Yeah that instrumental track toward the end of the album was a surprising highlight.

is it just me or does the vocal on "Reflection" sound autotuned to shit?

Got the new one. I'm on first listen and I already like it. It's just more atmospheric (?) than the last one. Dunno. But a good thing.

I’d like to sink comfortably into the smooth acoustic groove web this guy weaves but something is just so grating. A song and a half is the most I can stand

I ate an edible and this album rules

<3

"tommy's congo" = song of the decade

― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, August 9, 2018 4:01 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://stevegunn.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-london

this must've been some show