Denver newcomers Churchill impressed the Meadowlark crowd with their first official performance last week.  The show started as a duo, with Tim Bruns on acoustic and Mike Morter on mandolin.  Later in the set, Bethany Kelly shared the vocal duties and Amy Moyer completed the ensemble with a cello.  One listener likened their sound to acoustic Counting Crows.   While I suppose the comparison is accurate, Churchill is rooted much deeper in bluegrass and country territory.

Churchill
3.04.2009
The Meadowlark, Denver, CO

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. Love Is A Lottery Game
2. unknown
3. The Surgeon
4. How To Speak
5. Call Me Man
6. Fact and Feeling
7. Wrong In Words
8. Coming Clean

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

With instantly accessible melodies and catchy lyrics, The Build-Up put on an great indie-rock show, and this set from The Oriental will attest to.

The Build-Up
2.19.2009
The Oriental Theater, Denver, CO

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. intro
2. Winter Dress (instrumental) > unknown
3. Go It Alone
4. Braver
5. unknown
6. California Stars
7. Vinyl
8. New House Hotel
9. Box of Plastic
10. Like a Violin

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

Mike Marchant just won’t relent on the songwriting process.  Less than two month after his solo EP release, the setlists are comprised mostly of new material!  This is a fun basement performance featuring Maria Kohler on accompanying vocals.

Mike Marchant and Maria Kohler
2.28.2009
The Meadowlark, Denver, CO

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. intro
2. “Sunken Ships”
3. “I Remember A Time”
4. Space Never Strays
5. Moonshining
6. Surround Me
7. “The Bar Where Lines Cross”
8. Amazing Grace

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

Evening two of the Arizona run:  We’re hanging out in a Scottsdale strip mall and break the news to Brian that it’s Valentine’s Day.  It’s only 30 minutes before doors, but you can see the mental gears grinding away, searching for material worthy of bolstering the Greeting Card Association membership’s market value.  An hour later, the homage is nothing less than genius!

Brian Dewan
2.14.2009
Chyro Arts Venue, Scottsdale, AZ

Source:  DPA 4060/Microtech Gefell M300 Mix > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave
Source #1: DPA 4060s (Core-Sound HEBs) clipped to vocal mic stand > battery box > M-Audio Microtrack 2 > CF
Source #2: Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. (Valentine’s Day intro)
2. I Will Give My Love an Apple [trad.]
3. I Hold Your Hand in Mine [Tom Lehrer]
4. Girl [Beatles]
5. Girls [Iggy Pop]
6. The Human Heart
7. (Brian tells a joke)
8. Brain Surgery Without Anesthesia
9. Sovey the Female Highwayman [trad.]
10. The True Lover’s Farewell [trad.]

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.

Joining The Music Tapes and Nana Grizol on their recent tour, Brian Dewan schooled punctual E6 fans on the physics of making dead-serious musical historiography and eccentricity converge.   Brian is very fervent about the traditional songs he unearths for listeners, yet never fails to inject a breath of humor into every performance.  Every geek musical fact withdrawn from the treasury comes with a joke stashed away in a separate account.  Every antique zither or film projector on-stage comes with a ridiculous suit jacket or tie.

This set from Solar Culture in Tucson was comprised primarily of material from The Operating Theater and Words of Wisdom.  Most tunes can’t be pegged to a single songwriter, any accreditation having been lost to the winds of time, but we can at least give Brian the credit of delivering them to our ears.

Brian Dewan
2.13.2009
Solar Culture, Tucson, AZ

Source:  Microtech Gefell M300’s > Lunatec V3 (opti-mod) > Nomad JB3 > WAV > Adobe Audition 3.0 > CDWave > Flac16
Taped by:  Lance Stack

Setlist:
1. Big Rock Candy Mountains
2. The Kettle Valley Line
3. The Mountaineer’s Wedding
4. Niagara Falls
5. Where They Belong
6. Home Movies
7. Fruitless Labors
8. Kids
9. Rumpelstiltskin
10. Flexible Flyer
11. Cadavers
12. unknown
13. The Mistletoe

A zipfile of the mp3s is available here.
FLAC files can be downloaded as a zipfile here.