

[photo courtesy of Rodney Boles]

For their final act of their day show at King’s, Triangle college radio stations WXDU, WKNC and WXYC outdid themselves with a three-way-combo of stringed instrument experts. Legendary improvisational guitarist and banjo player Eugene Chadbourne, whose long list of collaborators runs the gamut from Camper Van Beethoven to John Zorn, was joined by New Yorker and longtime site favorite Steve Gunn and the renowned experimental harpist Mary Lattimore. Having never played together before, the three worked out their collaborative style in real time, which was a fascinating process to watch, and even more of one to hear. It was fascinating to watch Lattimore turn an instrument known for its delicacy into an aggressive, atonal element, with her slapping at its sides for percussive effect. Gunn and Chadbourne likewise built off of each other, with Chadbourne providing emphatic bursts of noise at points on the banjo. The piece flowed from delicate and restrained to harsh and intense minute-to-minute, holding your attention as you wondered where the trio would end up next, and reveling in the fact that they might not be quite sure, either. Chadbourne even added some vocals at the end, with lines referencing the traditional song “I Wish I Was A Mole In the Ground.” It’s safe to say that nothing else about this unique meeting was “traditional.”

I recorded this set in the same manner as the day’s other recordings, with a soundboard feed from King’s engineer Justin together with Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage. There is a bit of DI hiss on the quiet passages, but overall the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:



Eugene Chadbourne, Steve Gunn & Mary Lattimore

WXDU/WKNC/WXYC Hopscotch Day Show

King’s

Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK4V (onstage, roughly ORTF)>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard (engineer: Justin)>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.5 (amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks

01 improvisation

Musicians:

Eugene Chadbourne – Banjo

Steve Gunn – Guitar

Mary Lattimore – Harp