A Chicago taper has perhaps the most important archive of American indie/underground live recordings ever made

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this is INSANE

https://archive.org/details/aadamjacobs

just look through this, you'll be amazed

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 22:26 (four months ago)

I was at that New Pornographers Hideout show in Feb 2001, but I was sure it ended with them covering Randy VanWarmer's "Just When I Needed You Most." (Maybe there was an earlier show?)

Anyway, I've seen Aadam at a million shows setting up his equipment in the years since then (as has our board's jaymc), and he was always skittish about letting folks listen to the recordings, so it's been especially fun that he dropped all of them at once.

Come On, (Eazy), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 22:35 (four months ago)

yeah def remember seeing this guy at shows all the time and being vaguely annoyed by his gear being up by the stage though now i appreciate the results

na (NA), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 22:47 (four months ago)

Collection is great - sole way I able to listen to the one Hüsker Dü show I went to (on my birthday!).

BlackIronPrison, Wednesday, 4 February 2026 22:51 (four months ago)

whoaaaaaa

donna rouge, Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:15 (four months ago)

well ok then, riding out the rest of my workday with a GBV set from 1995, LFG

donna rouge, Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:17 (four months ago)

Anyway, I've seen Aadam at a million shows setting up his equipment in the years since then (as has our board's jaymc)

Yup, Aadam is good people

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:19 (four months ago)

Damn Dirty 3 in 95

sarahell, Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:20 (four months ago)

Good profile of him from a few years ago:
https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/taping-guy/

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:20 (four months ago)

Wow, there are 10 of my old band's shows in the online archive, including our fourth show ever (opening for Earlimart in 2003).

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:24 (four months ago)

thought this was going to be about Malachi Ritscher,

Gentler Death Squads Please (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:28 (four months ago)

I'm surprised I or anyone hasn't posted about him and the archive yet. In fact I was worried for a second that he had died! When I get home I will post a link to the documentary on him.

Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:37 (four months ago)

remarkable, thanks ums

madame defarge supporters club (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 23:59 (four months ago)

https://vimeo.com/866218283

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 00:14 (four months ago)

could've sworn i started a thread about this when it all started going up ... but I guess not! a real treasure trove.

tylerw, Thursday, 5 February 2026 00:14 (four months ago)

Every time I go to the Hideout I now notice the outlet installed just for his use (as seen in this doc).

I feel like they have been uploading stuff to the archive for a couple of years now. Aadam is/was great, because while he had an allegiance to certain bands he was also a huge supporter of the Chicago scene in general. A couple of my bands, it was great to play a show at, say, Empty Bottle or Lounge Ax to a handful of people, and yet Aadam would still be there taping, as if the show were actually important.

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 00:18 (four months ago)

Looks like I did post about it here:

Live Music Archive Bootlegs Site

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 00:19 (four months ago)

saw fountains of wayne in there and my generation’s genetic coding required me go and i don’t regret it and 24 songs holy shit. valley winter song is now my substitute for two goddamn months at 65° in denver with only lots of rollerskiing

madame defarge supporters club (Hunt3r), Thursday, 5 February 2026 00:33 (four months ago)

Thanks! Really enjoying this 1993 Moonshake show (much better fidelity than the Philly 1993 show that's on YT): https://archive.org/details/ajc02228_moonshake_1993-07-02

Just listened to a little of this Boredoms show so far (live at Intonation Festival, 2006), and am appreciating the stereo separation of the two drums sets in the mix! Nice. https://archive.org/details/ajc00957_boredoms_2006-06-24

ernestp, Thursday, 5 February 2026 01:04 (four months ago)

This is amazing. Thank you ums and Josh.

Indexed, Thursday, 5 February 2026 15:28 (four months ago)

Looks like I did post about it here:

Live Music Archive Bootlegs Site

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, February 4, 2026 6:19 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i haven't worked as a writer professionally for a long time but i still have my clickbait headline instincts tbh

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 5 February 2026 16:04 (four months ago)

What This Chicago Man Taped Will Change the Way You Think About Music Forever

Evans on Hammond (evol j), Thursday, 5 February 2026 16:17 (four months ago)

haha ums i actually googled this thread title yesterday to see if you took it from a headline somewhere

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Thursday, 5 February 2026 16:17 (four months ago)

This One Simple Trick Will Allow You To Listen To Your Favorite Concerts Whenever You Want

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 16:21 (four months ago)

this site rules, I forget how I heard abt it, prob from tyler on bsky

vague facial gymnastics (sleeve), Thursday, 5 February 2026 16:23 (four months ago)

Holy moly. Searched up my era of Chicago showgoing (95-03) and in addition to all the stuff I went to, there's at least a dozen shows I suddenly remember being very mad about missing! Gonna be painful if the recordings are so good I get even more upset I wasn't there. Equally psyched to play through early-90s stuff I wasn't around for (Versus, Air Miami, Beat Happening, the one early Vandermark show) and maybe most of all to find out what it sounded like when Aluminum Group played the Fireside Bowl (the vibe-match between band and venue there feels both hard to imagine and also maybe perfectly Chicago?).

This is clearly too wonderful of a thing to criticize, but there is this funny thing where, years ago, taping a lot of the bigger acts here probably felt like capturing something marginal that would otherwise get lost, and there was no way to sense how many of them would end up in positions where their live material is pretty readily available — with some stuff I kind of wish he'd ended up capturing the openers and documenting more of the music that actually did fade away a bit! But you'd have to see the future to know that, and he's clearly done an amazing job capturing loads of key stuff in his taste zone, plus more than enough surprising or under-documenting things to spend months going through.

ን (nabisco), Thursday, 5 February 2026 16:42 (four months ago)

(Plus honestly it's probably mostly indierock dead-enders and/or people who were around at the time who crave documents of all the bubbling-under acts? Like, it was 100% unquestionably the correct call to use your tape on Pavement in 92 and not the opener Frances Gumm, even if a future dork like me might end up with copious digital access to the former and more curiosity about the latter.)

ን (nabisco), Thursday, 5 February 2026 16:50 (four months ago)

yeah tbh i'm bummed my old band isn't on here lol, i'm sure he was set up at at least one show we played

na (NA), Thursday, 5 February 2026 17:15 (four months ago)

Pretty sure he typically taped everything, openers and all. I haven't checked the site in a while, but he's not the one uploading the stuff, so maybe there is some editorializing/prioritizing going on?

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 17:17 (four months ago)

Found a couple of shows from a band I was in, cool!

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 17:20 (four months ago)

what is the current ability to tape such shows? with the change of the economics in music, and the ability to distribute online, has access changed? does free distrubution generate conflict? do bands insist on rights to control and own them?

madame defarge supporters club (Hunt3r), Thursday, 5 February 2026 17:33 (four months ago)

The band and venue had to be OK with it, and in the case of Aadam it was usually sort of an opt-out policy. It's also why he never really circulated his recordings himself, since he didn't want to be part of the bootleg eco system. That said, it seems everything gets or can be easily recorded or captured these days, at the least on phones, in pretty good quality. I doubt there is even a market for bootlegs. What made what Aadam did special is that he recorded a bunch of small audience stuff that was largely of interest to the (usually) few people who were in the room with him. For every Nirvana gig he recorded there were a dozen by Eleventh Dream Day. Though not (yet) the one that for years was my favorite show ever, EDD at Lounge Ax with Ira Kaplan on second guitar. Maybe 1994?

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 17:44 (four months ago)

yeah I have a recent Michael Hurley cassette tape bootleg that was recorded entirely on an iPhone

vague facial gymnastics (sleeve), Thursday, 5 February 2026 17:48 (four months ago)

i know that they put up a few yo la tengo tapes from aadam's collection and the band and/or label asked them to take them down ... it's sort of nebulous, but most bands I think are fine w/ audience tapes from days gone by showing up. no one is making money off of it anyway, a true labor of love from all involved.

tylerw, Thursday, 5 February 2026 17:57 (four months ago)

and though it's still more of a jam band thing, having good recordings on archive.org has been a net plus for a lot of bands, good advertisement for the live show etc. i like it anyway!

tylerw, Thursday, 5 February 2026 18:04 (four months ago)

For sure. It also raises an interesting philosophical paradox, in that you never know what recording may be of historical value until it's been recorded and history has caught up. And yet, you can't record everything, and even when you come close, or as close as possible, the volume itself becomes part of the value, a la this Aadam Jacobs archive, or the Dead or whatever else. Just think of the countless bands we *wish* were comprehensively documented. Then again, it becomes its own sort of Zeno's Paradox, in that it brings you the listener closer and closer to the band itself, while always being at a distant remove from the people on stage, their hours of rehearsals, their work in the studio, and so on. I'm always reminded of one of the funniest things I've ever heard at a show, an Eleventh Dream Day show, in fact. It was at the Empty Bottle, and some guy in the front yelled to Rick Rizzo that he'd been to every single Eleventh Dream Day show in Chicago. "Oh yeah?" Rizzo replied. "Well, I've been to every single Eleventh Dream Day show everywhere." We can only get so close.

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 February 2026 18:21 (four months ago)

ha over the past couple years i’ve ventured into archive site, sorta lost enthusiasm after i realized it’s jam fixation —incl somebody’s dorm trunk sourced 1984 digital video re recording of day 3 of the 72 kilauea fest with a 210 min take of space which was totally the phil zone— but i think i found a pair of great gybe shows

madame defarge supporters club (Hunt3r), Thursday, 5 February 2026 19:36 (four months ago)

recording of day 3 of the 72 kilauea fest with a 210 min take of space

please tell me this is real

vague facial gymnastics (sleeve), Thursday, 5 February 2026 19:37 (four months ago)

i both joek about and would check out but alas

madame defarge supporters club (Hunt3r), Thursday, 5 February 2026 19:55 (four months ago)

This is an incredible treasure trove and I've already downloaded a dozen things. That said--while also being loath to criticize this wonderful, free thing--did aadam not care much for jazz? Surprising to search for Fred Anderson, Brotzmann, et al and come up empty, given the locale and the time period. A small nitpick, really, as there's plenty here to keep us busy for a long time.

Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 5 February 2026 20:54 (four months ago)

Empty Bottle Tapes: https://corbettvsdempsey.com/records/the-bottle-tapes/

Gentler Death Squads Please (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 5 February 2026 20:56 (four months ago)

all taped by the late Malachi Ritschler

Gentler Death Squads Please (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 5 February 2026 20:57 (four months ago)

looks like only about ~15% of the collection's been uploaded so far

https://bsky.app/profile/ajc-project.bsky.social/post/3m5r4v4hhuk2t

, Thursday, 5 February 2026 21:11 (four months ago)

Was just looking into that. There are now 2,065 files on the Internet Archive (less than three months after that Bsky post, which says 1,500+), so it seems like things are chugging along.

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Thursday, 5 February 2026 21:19 (four months ago)

If I remember right, he also taped TJ & Dave performances (considered some of the best longform improv) and maybe other comedy/improv?

Come On, (Eazy), Thursday, 5 February 2026 21:35 (four months ago)

Chicago Reader article on this from over a year ago says it'll likely take at least five years (or I guess four now) to upload everything:

https://chicagoreader.com/music/gossip-wolf/aadam-jacobs-collection-internet-archive-concert-recordings/

birdistheword, Thursday, 5 February 2026 21:53 (four months ago)

If I remember right, he also taped TJ & Dave performances (considered some of the best longform improv) and maybe other comedy/improv?

― Come On, (Eazy), Thursday, February 5, 2026 4:35 PM (two hours ago)

He definitely did -- I have copies of a few TJ & Dave shows which were his filming (but I got from someone else), and I remember seeing him up front for at least one improv show I was in 20+ years ago. I don't know if this project will encompass the video stuff but I hope so.

city worker, Thursday, 5 February 2026 23:45 (four months ago)

as far as xpost jazz & related, I've found several shows involving Ken Vandermark. also, if you count improv, 75 Dollar Bill, and one so far by Tortoise. Just now, I thought to check for ones led by Jeff Parker, and yesss!

dow, Thursday, 5 February 2026 23:59 (four months ago)

oh dang Vandermark 5 was so great

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 6 February 2026 00:14 (four months ago)

Sunwatchers up in there too!

dow, Friday, 6 February 2026 03:57 (four months ago)

I listened to a Lambchop show this morning and was amazed at the sound quality for an audience recording.

WmC, Friday, 6 February 2026 04:17 (four months ago)

Bands should do a tribute album to this holy man. if they haven’t.

madame defarge supporters club (Hunt3r), Friday, 6 February 2026 04:28 (four months ago)

OMG. Truly an embarrassment of riches. Where to even start?

Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 February 2026 04:45 (four months ago)

jaymc, your band made the cut!

Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 February 2026 04:46 (four months ago)

Ten times, looks like

Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 February 2026 04:47 (four months ago)

I took the path of least resistance and played Blake Babies and then The Replacements.

Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 February 2026 05:06 (four months ago)

Ten times, looks like

Which you already mentioned upthread.

Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 February 2026 05:18 (four months ago)

Bleached Black AND Scruffy the Cat (x5)

Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 February 2026 05:23 (four months ago)

Blimey, how long is this going to hang around?

(unrelated, searching for The Fall...)

Mark G, Friday, 6 February 2026 10:15 (four months ago)

ach.

Still, Wire! The Cure! The Jesus & Mary Chain...

Bilinda Butchers ?

Mark G, Friday, 6 February 2026 10:21 (four months ago)

Actually, that J&MC one is all Psychocandy - Wow!

Mark G, Friday, 6 February 2026 10:29 (four months ago)

the medley of foreigner/steve perry/white stripes/grandaddy in the middle of radiation vibe makes the fow show seem very very joyful and is what i was hoping for in a fallen world.

madame defarge supporters club (Hunt3r), Friday, 6 February 2026 16:33 (four months ago)

Blimey, how long is this going to hang around?

It's the Internet Archive so hopefully as long as it does.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 6 February 2026 16:57 (four months ago)

Two Feelies shows, from '86 and '88.

Come On, (Eazy), Friday, 6 February 2026 16:59 (four months ago)

Great Camper Van Beethoven set, with their hipster sarcasm and spacerock tendencies tugging them to and fro.

https://archive.org/details/ajc02553_CVB1987-10-31.ajcproject/cvb1987-10-31t10.flac

punchy wunchy wikipedia woo (bendy), Friday, 6 February 2026 17:51 (four months ago)

omg yes

ILX is like synthpop Kerrang (sleeve), Friday, 6 February 2026 17:55 (four months ago)

maaaaaaaan

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 February 2026 18:01 (four months ago)

yeah yeah yeah yeah

a (waterface), Friday, 6 February 2026 19:18 (four months ago)

The Cure 1984, JAMC 1985, Nick Cave 1986, Sonic Youth 1988, Television 2001 aaaand Dungen shows on here are remarkable. Thanks for posting this link!!

completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 6 February 2026 20:35 (four months ago)

idly wondering if the exploding hearts every played in chicago and if so did this guy tape them

, Friday, 6 February 2026 21:05 (four months ago)

Was going to listen to the Ubu in Australia show, where they play early singles and all of The Modern Dance---but then I thought, good as it might be, this is 2013 Ubu, near the end---why not go back to the originals, which the taper also offers: 6 '76 A & B-sides, and all of Feb. '78's TMD: OMG---clearest they've ever sounded to me, and cleared my sinuses like Tabasco.

dow, Saturday, 7 February 2026 04:18 (three months ago)

(TMD's Side 2 mostly sounds as inherently hazy, despite/because of this aural clarity, as it did in daze ov weed yore, to my now ancient sobriety---still a subject for further study, though now I can't help but relate it to ex-Crocus's later art-rock studies, but this is better than a lot of that, cause still early Ubu.)

dow, Saturday, 7 February 2026 04:23 (three months ago)

(Don't get me rong: Side 2 was never a buzzkill, or even a plateau.)

dow, Saturday, 7 February 2026 04:26 (three months ago)

• Can now confirm that listening to Aluminum Group shows is a treat. Maybe especially if you nostalgically picture how gorgeous it'd have been to be around Fireside Bowl on a late-summer night hearing stuff like "Chocolates."

• I'm loving that he appears to have been a serious Randall Lee stan — there's loads of Ashtray Boy, Cannanes, and even a Nice show with a good capture of "Dear John," a song I adore and did not think I would ever, ever hear a live recording of.

• Dug into some satisfying Husker Du, Liz Phair, and Nymb as well, but damn, it's hard to make a plan of attack for even starting to sample everything that looks interesting. Might just start by doing, like, a Virtual Lounge Ax Era program for a while.

• Didn't realize there was so much left to come — this'll be fun to follow as it fills in over the years. The timing and the arc of his focusing on this is just wildly perfect. And yes, jazz over the same era was pretty much equally well-documented by Ritscher; I assume tapers are extremely cautious about overlapping beats.

• If this guy was born in 67 and went to Evanston Township, pretty sure that means he was in high school with John Cusack. That dude's made some money off rock-geek stuff, maybe someone should hit him up to chip in for processing tapes.

ን (nabisco), Saturday, 7 February 2026 05:29 (three months ago)

Never thought about looking for Ashtray Boy stuff, they were so fun live. We toured with them a couple of times and occasionally shared a guitarist and/or other band member.

My instinct, as a collector, is to download all my favorites sets, or anything that might be a favorite set, but then I'd basically end up with just a copy of a chunk of the site, which misses the point. I like nabisco's strategy of essentially setting up some restrictions and programming a playlist.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 7 February 2026 13:25 (three months ago)

When you said one of your bands was in here a part of me was like damnit, just one is gonna mean no Toulouse! There are more Hyde Park shows than I would have expected, though, so who knows what turns up eventually. Would make sense if uploads so far have focused on important acts, and could dip later toward the more local / ephemeral stuff I'd flip out over. A while back the Empty Bottle put out that book about its history, with a running sidebar listing every show since the beginning, and at some point I went through and made a list of all the area openers I'd sort of forgotten seeing a lot — will have to dig that up as a guide for stuff to search.

ን (nabisco), Saturday, 7 February 2026 14:59 (three months ago)

(I should say, it's not like regional-interest stuff is remotely absent, there are even Big'n and Yum-Yum shows in there.)

ን (nabisco), Saturday, 7 February 2026 15:12 (three months ago)

few shows if Green Bay joke punk legends Boris the Sprinkler

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 7 February 2026 17:24 (three months ago)

also Uncle Tupelo in 1991 was an absolutely smoking live band

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 7 February 2026 17:25 (three months ago)

the default view on archive.org is sorted by “most viewed”, which makes sense i guess but often

fun to check out just the 1980s shows, it’s only like a 100 or so so it’s way more digestible. i was listening to the 1985 JAMC show show, and saw the sonic youth smart bar 1985 show, one of the first ones in the collection! good job aadam!

https://archive.org/details/ajc01302_sonic-youth-1985-08-11soundcheck

z_tbd, Saturday, 7 February 2026 18:12 (three months ago)

no Toulouse!

Shockingly not well documented live, I don't think. Aside from whatever handful of cassettes and whatnot we have in a shoebox somewhere, lol.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 7 February 2026 19:26 (three months ago)

It’s funny, I associate Aadam with Thax Douglas, who, at many of the same shows, would get up and read one of his poems before the band played. Both guys relied on the goodwill of the performers to go with it.

Come On, (Eazy), Saturday, 7 February 2026 19:48 (three months ago)

i actually searched the archive for "thax douglas" the other day, thinking there might be a track listing starting with "01. thax douglas intro."

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Saturday, 7 February 2026 20:24 (three months ago)

I told Lucy Sante about this last night in a group email, and she said:

Some of you may already have seen this, but the tape I made at CBGB of a Television/Talking Heads show on January 24, 1976, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary by being shared all over the internet: https://archive.org/details/television1976-01-24.unk The T-Heads archivists had approached me and digitized and cleaned it, and I encouraged them to make it public. I'm sorry my batteries were dying during the second Television set; "Guiding Light" is especially wobbly. Overall, though, the tapes, made on generic cassettes with a cheapo recorder and stored in a shoebox all these years, sound at least as good as most of the commercially distributed bootlegs from those years. It's also ghostly for me, because at the end of some of the Television numbers you hear a whoop from my old girlfriend Eva, dead now almost 28 years. Oh, and the Talking Heads (trio and still pretty green): https://archive.org/details/th1976-01-24.unk.sante

Hadn't thought to look for T.Heads in Aadam's trove---

dow, Sunday, 8 February 2026 18:46 (three months ago)

There's a Bluesky page, not sure if these are new shows he's posting or just randomizing the archive hourly.

Talking Heads were probably already too big by the time Aadam started recording. I haven't checked thoroughly, but it seems like the Metro might be the largest venue he taped at.

That said, looking forward to those Sante links!

Come On, (Eazy), Sunday, 8 February 2026 19:02 (three months ago)

Bluesky feed is new uploads as they're uploaded, I believe

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Sunday, 8 February 2026 19:30 (three months ago)

rad

ILX is like synthpop Kerrang (sleeve), Sunday, 8 February 2026 19:40 (three months ago)

Thanks---link please?

dow, Sunday, 8 February 2026 20:17 (three months ago)

https://bsky.app/profile/ajcproject.mas.to.ap.brid.gy

Come On, (Eazy), Sunday, 8 February 2026 20:20 (three months ago)

Trying to sift through to find New Zealand acts who toured - there's a bunch of Clean / David Kilgour, some Tall Dwarfs, Alastair Galbraith ... the Renderers are alluded to on a Barbara Manning bootleg that they opened for, so hopefully that set was recorded and will make its way online eventually.

etc, Sunday, 8 February 2026 21:25 (three months ago)

yeah the aadamjacobs archive is one of the tabs i perpetually have open haha, me being me my first thought was "WOW LOOK AT ALL THOSE CHEER-ACCIDENT SHOWS"

i haven't checked it since aug 2025, probably due for a recheck

Kate (rushomancy), Sunday, 8 February 2026 21:50 (three months ago)

holy shit a tape of manishevitz encoring with "i heard her call my name"? there's a very niche audience for that and i'm part of it

Kate (rushomancy), Sunday, 8 February 2026 22:06 (three months ago)

Television!

Mark G, Sunday, 8 February 2026 23:25 (three months ago)

Bluesky feed is new uploads as they're uploaded, I believe

Put this link in your RSS reader and you'll see the new uploads when they happen
https://archive.org/services/collection-rss.php?collection=aadamjacobs

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 9 February 2026 03:09 (three months ago)

Okay, what do y'all think: use this thread or start a separate one for posting periodic "I found/recommend this cool thing in here" pointers?

ን (nabisco), Friday, 13 February 2026 16:01 (three months ago)

I say post 'em here

ILX is like synthpop Kerrang (sleeve), Friday, 13 February 2026 16:04 (three months ago)

yeah I think all of them here is best

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 13 February 2026 16:07 (three months ago)

one of the odder things in there — Phish opening for Alex Chilton at the Lounge Ax in 1990

https://archive.org/details/ajc01505_phish_1990-11-09

tylerw, Friday, 13 February 2026 16:19 (three months ago)

Infamously!

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 13 February 2026 17:07 (three months ago)

A Peter Jefferies set has just been posted:

https://archive.org/details/ajc02773_peter_jefferies_1993-08-13

Interestingly the notes refer to it being part of an Xpresseway tour, and a later joint set by Jefferies and Alastair Galbraith... also that Sandra Bull played that night, so maybe her set was recorded too? Keeping everything crossed!

riveter (strangeangel), Sunday, 22 February 2026 00:55 (three months ago)

yep the joint set is up now too

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Sunday, 22 February 2026 00:58 (three months ago)

so good

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Sunday, 22 February 2026 00:58 (three months ago)

Oh wow, and the Sandra Bell set!

https://archive.org/details/ajc02774_sandra_bell_1993-08-13

riveter (strangeangel), Sunday, 22 February 2026 01:01 (three months ago)

!!

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Sunday, 22 February 2026 01:02 (three months ago)

joint set for reference
https://archive.org/details/ajc02776_pj_ag_1993-08-13

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Sunday, 22 February 2026 01:03 (three months ago)

Sandra Bell:

https://archive.org/details/ajc02774_sandra_bell_1993-08-13

riveter (strangeangel), Sunday, 22 February 2026 01:05 (three months ago)

and the Galbraith solo, what an embarrassment of riches
https://archive.org/details/ajc02772_alastair_galbraith_1993-08-13

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Sunday, 22 February 2026 01:06 (three months ago)

"what an embarrassment of riches"

For that is surely what it is. Again, wow.

riveter (strangeangel), Sunday, 22 February 2026 01:10 (three months ago)

Oh yeah. Thank you both for the update!

sawdust lagoon, Sunday, 22 February 2026 03:45 (three months ago)

Yessssssssssss

Need to digitize the Head In The Clouds tour doco that those shows were part of!

etc, Sunday, 22 February 2026 06:10 (three months ago)

No details accompanying this 1998 tribute to Eric Dolphy at Velvet Lounge, but this show calendar lists it as:

Eric Dolphy Project: (Kyle Hernandez (bass), Jeb Bishop (trombone), Tim Mulvenna (drums), Ken Vandermark (reeds)

https://archive.org/details/ajc01320_tribute-to-eric-dolphy-1998-06-26

Come On, (Eazy), Sunday, 22 February 2026 06:28 (three months ago)

(Also, that show calendar is fun to browse if you're at all into improvised music. Lots of '98 opportunities to see Jim O'Rourke in a >50-seat venue.)

Come On, (Eazy), Sunday, 22 February 2026 06:43 (three months ago)

Yes and speaking of improvised music, I found 75 Dollar Bill, Sunwatchers, Vandermark w Joe Morris as well as the 5, Jeff Parker (as leader or solo as well as w Tortoise), and

AMM Live at Arts Bar 1984-05-27 (Aadam's first recording)

https://archive.org/details/ajc02205_amm-1984-05-27

dow, Monday, 23 February 2026 00:10 (three months ago)

Need to digitize the Head In The Clouds tour doco that those shows were part of!

― etc

YSI???

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Monday, 23 February 2026 04:02 (three months ago)

I saw Jefferies on a tour with Two Foot Flame? did I imagine that? I swear that was the lineup, in the PNW circa 1995

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Monday, 23 February 2026 04:03 (three months ago)

(and yes I know he was in TFF)

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Monday, 23 February 2026 04:07 (three months ago)

Setlist.fm lists a Portland show in 1995 so you're prob not imagining. PJ relocated to Vancouver for a year or so around that time and moved in with Jean Smith of 2FF. He talks about this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAmdClWlBP8

sawdust lagoon, Monday, 23 February 2026 08:32 (three months ago)

Posted yesterday on Bluesky: Peter Jefferies set supporting Two Foot Flame in 1995...

https://archive.org/details/ajc02778_peter_jefferies_1995-10-21

riveter (strangeangel), Wednesday, 25 February 2026 03:13 (three months ago)

ha nice, so I didn't dream it - I remember being specifically excited about Morley's presence as I was familiar with his other work at that point

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Wednesday, 25 February 2026 03:15 (three months ago)

Also...

https://archive.org/details/ajc02777_peter_jefferies_1995-03-30

https://archive.org/details/ajc02771_peter_jefferies_1994-09-10

riveter (strangeangel), Wednesday, 25 February 2026 03:16 (three months ago)

xxxxpost speaking yet again ov improvised music---here's Edward Wilkerson, whom I knew (listening-wise) with 8 Bold Souls:
https://archive.org/details/ajc01454_edward-wilkerson-quartet-2005-03-05

dow, Friday, 27 February 2026 04:09 (three months ago)

some 2012 dino jr shows in the latest batch

, Monday, 2 March 2026 14:02 (three months ago)

Couple of Bardo Pond shows today...

https://archive.org/details/ajc02153_bardopond1995-06-08.ajcproject
https://archive.org/details/ajc02154_bardopond1995-06-09.ajcproject

riveter (strangeangel), Sunday, 8 March 2026 21:05 (two months ago)

Way xp —- so many names on that 1998 calendar who I haven’t thought about in years… I have even forgotten the funny anecdotes…

sarahell, Sunday, 8 March 2026 23:47 (two months ago)

lol I'm pretty sure I walked out of that Lounge Ax Bardo Pond show, not because of the music but because it was absolutely dense with cigarette smoke.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 March 2026 00:10 (two months ago)

ah, the 90s

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Monday, 9 March 2026 01:24 (two months ago)

I'm a full deadhead-level collector of Bardo Pond live recordings. Lucky to have seen them as many times as I did

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 13 March 2026 08:55 (two months ago)

Kinda geeking out on these three (!) Balancing Act shows that got added today. Loved that band.

j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Saturday, 14 March 2026 01:32 (two months ago)

@ElvisT:

The Bardo Pond show when they played at Crissy Field as the sun set under the Golden Gate Bridge was an insane set IRL, no idea how it holds up on tape without that context.

8/26/91 with Bonnie Prince Billy, Peaches, Jello Biafra, The Holmes Brothers, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Alejandro Escovedo, Mamadou Diabate, Nels Cline Singers & Santiago Jimenez Jr.

imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 14 March 2026 01:42 (two months ago)

Bailter Space set from 1995:

https://archive.org/details/ajc02142_bailter_space_1995-07-14

riveter (strangeangel), Saturday, 14 March 2026 11:00 (two months ago)

Turns out he went to the UK in 1987 and, while there, recorded the first headlining Sugarcubes show outside of Iceland, with The Chills opening:

https://archive.org/details/ajc03017_thesugarcubes1987-12-11

Come On, (Eazy), Tuesday, 17 March 2026 15:41 (two months ago)

There's a muted trumpet going the whole way through "Birthday" rather than just a few accents.

Come On, (Eazy), Tuesday, 17 March 2026 15:45 (two months ago)

(Not to digress, but seeing this fantastic SNL version of Birthday for the first time now helps the horn make more sense: the guy is front and center.)

Come On, (Eazy), Tuesday, 17 March 2026 15:50 (two months ago)

"...with The Chills opening"

Fingers crossed he got The Chills' set!

riveter (strangeangel), Tuesday, 17 March 2026 23:55 (two months ago)

Seems they played the LSE a couple of days before so maybe he got out and about on his trip

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-chills/1987/london-school-of-economics-london-england-73ca7e05.html

you're not tarkovsky, get the fuck on with it (Matt #2), Wednesday, 18 March 2026 00:09 (two months ago)

some destroyer sets in the latest batch

, Friday, 20 March 2026 21:14 (two months ago)

Just noticed that he recorded a (retired?) ILXor's band
https://archive.org/details/ajc02995_thefakefictions2005-04-09

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 29 March 2026 10:17 (two months ago)

Several of us, in fact! (But hadn't seen the FFs in the archive before)

Come On, (Eazy), Sunday, 29 March 2026 11:22 (two months ago)

oh wow

na (NA), Sunday, 29 March 2026 16:01 (two months ago)

someone didn’t retire :D

mh, Monday, 30 March 2026 02:44 (two months ago)

thanks for pointing that out ET, i had actually emailed them a couple of months ago asking if they happened to have any FFs material that hadn't been digitized yet, since we were definitely playing around chicago a lot in that era and i was pretty sure i remembered aadam being set up at at least one show. when i emailed them, they weren't aware of any but i guess they dug this up.
listening to it it's pretty emblematic of the FF live experience (veers between locked-in and very sloppy, often within the same song) but i'm glad it's there since we don't have a lot of live recordings

na (NA), Monday, 30 March 2026 19:04 (two months ago)

ooof. dude needs some better shelves. i see some sagging!

a (waterface), Wednesday, 8 April 2026 15:08 (one month ago)

haha that was my first thought as well

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Wednesday, 8 April 2026 15:09 (one month ago)

lol, I've got worse sagging on my CD shelves. (Mass produced, not custom design.) It's bad enough where at minimum I need to flip the shelves every six months.

birdistheword, Wednesday, 8 April 2026 19:22 (one month ago)

there are better pictures of his stuff in this article that was posted upthread https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/taping-guy/

i love the ticket stub scrapbooking

, Wednesday, 8 April 2026 19:36 (one month ago)

the guy's bookshelves are plywood on cinderblocks, he's probably not concerned about sagging shelves tbh

, Wednesday, 8 April 2026 19:37 (one month ago)

Madder Rose! Four whole shows!!

an uncharacteristically irritated Mr. Rogers (stevie), Thursday, 9 April 2026 14:04 (one month ago)

And from a Facebook post from Aadam, he has contributed a part of his record collection to a new record store opening in Rogers Park.

Come On, (Eazy), Wednesday, 15 April 2026 14:45 (one month ago)

finally those shelves will get some relief

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Wednesday, 15 April 2026 14:48 (one month ago)

Gift link: The NY Times catches on, with a long-ish piece.

Asked to pick a concert he particularly enjoyed, Jacobs chose the underground Dutch band the Ex, which formed in 1979. Two of the band’s shows have been uploaded to the archive, one from 2003 and one from 2004.

“They are a collective,” Jacobs said. “Almost like a communist collective but in a good way and very, very left-wing politically, which works for me, and the records are intense and their live shows are even more intense. Extremely rhythmic, though they’ll bring in these beautiful melodies from folk songs anywhere on the globe."

“The two guitars are just amazing at their energy, and it’s really visceral,” Jacobs said. “It’s incredibly visceral, and I like that. Any opportunity to see them live should be jumped at. But, I mean, if you don’t like live, often atonal, not a great deal of melody — you know, like that kind of music — you’re not going to like it.”

Jacobs said he stopped taping shows about three years ago, but still goes to concerts about once a month. He is more focused on his business selling vinyl records online and at fairs. He said that he hoped to find more time to listen to his old recordings, and that he had found solace in sharing them with a wider audience.

“I may have taped someone who is or became very popular, but it doesn’t matter that much to me or at all,” Jacobs said. “I might not even know they became popular, but then these recordings get out there and the fans go gaga and are pleased as punch, and that’s cool because, I mean, there’s no reason for them to be sitting just collecting dust.”

Come On, (Eazy), Saturday, 18 April 2026 17:00 (one month ago)

ooh can some nice person link those Ex shows here?

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Saturday, 18 April 2026 17:22 (one month ago)

Here's one:

https://archive.org/details/ajc00859_the-ex-2004-09-15

Come On, (Eazy), Saturday, 18 April 2026 17:29 (one month ago)

awesome thx, I think this was the tour with the cello player which ruled

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Saturday, 18 April 2026 17:33 (one month ago)

Turn album lineup

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Saturday, 18 April 2026 17:33 (one month ago)

here's the other one
https://archive.org/details/ajc00858_the-ex-2003-09-05

there's also a KatJonBand show
https://archive.org/details/ajc01067_katjonband2006-06-05

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Saturday, 18 April 2026 17:34 (one month ago)

Welp, my old band (Rothko) has popped up here, which is really lovely to hear. He even recorded the soundcheck, lord knows why.

Maresn3st, Sunday, 19 April 2026 13:49 (one month ago)

TIL, Maresn3st was in Rothko. very cool!

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 19 April 2026 14:26 (one month ago)

maybe you've mentioned it before? Folks here should check 'em out

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 19 April 2026 14:30 (one month ago)

I've brought it up once or twice, some people on here know me from back then. Somewhat horrifying to consider that this was close to 30 years ago.

Maresn3st, Sunday, 19 April 2026 18:05 (one month ago)

*gets everything confused and goes around claiming Maresn3st is Mark Rothko*

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 19 April 2026 20:00 (one month ago)

Still not sure why this guy's archive has only just blown up now, when Josh in Chicago posted about it over a year ago. If I was him I'd be somewhat miffed.

There's not a whole lot of artists listed on this that I'm interested in, but I jumped on the AMM recording only to find that the recording quality was unlistenable.

bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Sunday, 19 April 2026 20:56 (one month ago)

Welp, my old band (Rothko) has popped up here

You played the US?

brian of britain (Matt #2), Sunday, 19 April 2026 21:11 (one month ago)

i took this photo in the lobby of my kid's orthodontist office

https://i.imgur.com/bct4mwr.jpeg

omar little, Sunday, 19 April 2026 21:15 (one month ago)

sorry if huge

omar little, Sunday, 19 April 2026 21:16 (one month ago)

wow

there was also some relatively high profile article recently that I saw a bunch of people sharing, my stepfather even sent it to me with "I'm sure you know about this but just in case" added

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Sunday, 19 April 2026 21:20 (one month ago)

XXXP - Nah Matt, Amsterdam was about the furthest we ever got from the Dublin Castle. Seems this guy got around quite a bit and gawd bless his taping/documenting pathology.

Maresn3st, Sunday, 19 April 2026 21:45 (one month ago)

I should look for that Congress Theater Shellax/The Ex/Fugazi show, band for band probably the best show I ever saw, all three were in top form

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 19 April 2026 22:12 (one month ago)

Shellax the Skrillex/Shellac mashup band lol

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 19 April 2026 22:13 (one month ago)

damn that sounds amazing

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Sunday, 19 April 2026 22:20 (one month ago)

Welp, my old band (Rothko) has popped up here, which is really lovely to hear. He even recorded the soundcheck, lord knows why.

Oh man, I loved Rothko. I’m fairly sure I reviewed you guys in Melody Maker back in the day!

an uncharacteristically irritated Mr. Rogers (stevie), Sunday, 19 April 2026 22:37 (one month ago)

xxp their chill-out album is skrillacs

mh, Monday, 20 April 2026 01:55 (one month ago)

did Rothko (the band) have three bass players? If so I remember seeing them too!

Critique of the Goth Programme (Neil S), Monday, 20 April 2026 08:39 (one month ago)

Yes, three bassists only

brian of britain (Matt #2), Monday, 20 April 2026 08:41 (one month ago)

For the first four years it was three bass players, then Jon and I left to pursue our other bands, and Mark kept going with a variety of musicians or by himself.

Maresn3st, Monday, 20 April 2026 09:56 (one month ago)

Maresn3st throwing up a huge "I'm in the band" smokescreen here to avert eyes from the fact that their show is actually Rothko (ft. Ricky Gervais)

Position Position, Monday, 20 April 2026 22:32 (one month ago)

Yeah, weird one, the gig was part of a day's demonstration in opposition to the original XFM being bought and somewhat neutered by the Capital Radio group. Gervais had his show on there, and other than John Kennedy, perhaps, he was the most visible presenter and compered the evening. I have no memory of him being there whatsoever, and was kinda surprised to hear the introduction.

Maresn3st, Tuesday, 21 April 2026 09:04 (one month ago)

I was literally talking to Reg from Seam about that Minutemen show a week ago!

Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 April 2026 16:35 (one month ago)

Honestly insane that my band is ranked #11 (right behind Fred Armisen's)

jaymc, Tuesday, 5 May 2026 16:49 (one month ago)

Next step world conquest.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 5 May 2026 17:47 (one month ago)

Robbie Fulks is thee best, nice to see him so prominently represented even though it means nothing

alpine static, Tuesday, 5 May 2026 19:10 (one month ago)

The Chills

https://archive.org/details/ajc03078_thechills_2019-02-27

riveter (strangeangel), Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:47 (two weeks ago)

I was at that show, so good, bought a shirt.

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:52 (two weeks ago)

Man ...

https://archive.org/details/ajc03483_sineadoconnor_1988-04-11

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 17 May 2026 19:59 (two weeks ago)

Jeez a show that ENDS with "Troy"? That would have left me unable to do anything for a few days.

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 17 May 2026 21:37 (two weeks ago)

I heard some of these are getting takedown notices (e.g. Tracy Chapman), so grab 'em when you see 'em

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Friday, 22 May 2026 16:35 (two weeks ago)

I didn't know he had a youtube channel!

http://www.youtube.com/@AadamJacobsTube

A lot of it is just stuff from TV and whatnot, but there are some shows, like this just posted ripper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkRIiRiwwMs

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 June 2026 16:53 (five days ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDedad86XQ

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 June 2026 16:54 (five days ago)


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