Monthly Archives: January 2009

Pierce Turner: St. Patrick’s Day at Joe’s Pub + City Winery Gig with Philip Glass

January 8, 2009
By


[photo credit]

Last year, Ireland’s premiere “celtic soul” singer-songwriter Pierce Turner performed his St. Patrick’s Day show at the authentic pub Puck Fair — and the size of the crowd was pressed against the walls in complete capacity. This year, the ever-popular show will be moved to Joe’s Pub where ticket sales will guarantee a limited entrance. Pierce is warning fans to buy early because this show will most certainly sell out, as many of his prior non-holiday Joe’s Pub shows have done. If the 7 p.m. show is indeed sold out, there is an open slot at 9 p.m. to add a late show, so all hope is not lost.

This is not yet formally announced, but Pierce Turner will also appear as a pianist at a special event at City Winery on April 5, 2009 as part of Philip Glass‘s ongoing series of performances at that new venue. A bit of trivia — the piano that sits in Pierce’s living room in his NYC home was a gift from Philip Glass upon the completion of Turner’s solo debut It’s Only A Long Way Across, which was produced by Glass. At this point, City Winery has only announced that Suzanne Vega will also perform at this event, but expect Turner to be added soon.

Phish Summer Tour Announced Today

January 8, 2009
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Alright, so we’re going to keep harping on this. We broke this story last August and while some people were appreciative of the news, we took a lot of crap here and elsewhere for posting all the way back in Summer of 2008 the news that Phish would tour in the Summer of 2009.

Today, finally, officially, we have our news confirmed. The Phish summer tour dates are posted at phish.com. Local dates include two at Jones Beach and one show in Camden. No NYC shows announced…yet.

News and Rumors: NYCTaper Show at Pianos on January 11

January 7, 2009
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We have read elsewhere and been told in emails that KEXP, a Seattle-based radio station that broadcasts locally in NYC on 91.5 FM has been reporting that the Sunday night show at Piano’s with Victor Krummenacher and Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven is actually a CVB secret show. As far as we know, this is not actually correct. Victor and Jonathan are each performing full band solo sets, and while we are told that all the members of CVB will be in attendance, there is currently no scheduled full band performance.

Rumors aside, this does however promise to be an outstanding night of music. Sharon Van Etten, who as our readers know is one of our favorite performers, is doing us a solid by agreeing to open this night at Pianos — a venue where she has headlined at least twice (here and here). Sharon begins her set at 9 p.m. Thereafter, Jonathan performs at 10 p.m., and his band includes Victor, Eszter Balint, Michael DuClos and Brian Geltner. The same band will play during Victor’s set, which is scheduled for 11 p.m.

Listen to streaming audio of a recent Victor Krummenacher set in the player below:

Naked Hearts: EP Release Show / NYCTaper Interview / East Coast Tour

January 6, 2009
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Naked Hearts quickly became one of our favorite new bands in NYC in the Fall of 2008. After we booked them blind for the NYCTaper CMJ show, we captured them live at Mercury Lounge in early October. That set was so impressive so that any trepidation about their CMJ appearance evaporated. A couple of weeks later, Naked Hearts absolutely energized the upstairs room at Cake Shop that CMJ day, to the point where they received a “can’t miss” profile at Deli Magazine. Again in November, they killed at Union Hall, and created much anticipation for the January release of their debut EP.

Well, January is upon us and the new Naked Hearts EP These Knees will be released on the 20th. In celebration, Amy and Noah will throw a CD release party at Cake Shop on January 22, and have invited along another nyctaper fave The Antlers.

These Knees is now available for Pre-Order at InSound [here].

______________

In December, we interviewed Amy Cooper of Naked Hearts about the new EP, the return to duo status as a band, and her recording experience.

NYCTaper: Please tell us about the new EP, due for release on January 20, 2009 — which songs are on it and who produced it?

Naked Hearts (Amy): THESE KNEES was recorded/mixed in ten days at Headgear Studios in Brooklyn in JULY 2008. We recorded all the songs onto 2″ tape and mixed directly to 1/2″. Luckily, we were working with Dan Long, engineer and co-owner of the studio, who is great with working with tape and super fun to work with in general.
We recorded six of our newest songs:
CALL ME
CAT & MOUSE
NO ONE NOTHING
ONE FALSE MOVE
CRASHING HORSES
ONLY FOR YOU

NYCT: You are back to being a two-piece, which is how Naked Hearts started out. The most obvious difference is that Noah is now the drummer live instead of out front on the bass. Is this how you imagine Naked Hearts will remain in the future?

NH: Yes. We always had the vision of the band being the two of us and are happy and relieved we figured out a way to make it work.

NYCT: I see you are going on an East Coast tour to support “These Knees” and there are two dates with the Antlers. I know that two of them were in the audience at your CMJ set at Cake Shop, is that where the two bands met?

NH: Actually, I believe we met at a Sharon van Etten show; which actually ties into the NYCTaper showcase. Sharon had mentioned the Antlers to me a few times, saying we would be great together. So I checked them out for the first time earlier that CMJ week and thought they were great, so I asked them to play a few shows with us!

NYCT: The CD release show is on for January 22 at Cake Shop, anything special planned for that night?

NH: Yeah, we’re going to make it super fun party! Some of our favorite bands are playing Air Waves, MKNG Friends, & The Antlers. It is at our favorite venue, Cake Shop. We’ll have our vinyl for sale, and fun t-shirt giveaways throughout the night. There will be DJ sets and hopefully people will be down for some dirty dancing!

NYCT: Amy and I have a common friend in John Vanderslice, who produced Amy’s solo album a few years ago. Is there anything that you learned at the Tiny Telephone studios that you put to use on this new EP?

NH: Well #1, when an option, I learned to record using tape, of any size. John and Scott Solter are masters of analog recording. They taught me the importance of performance and the sacredness of mistakes. They taught me that the quality of sound is the most important thing. I tried my best to uphold everything I learned from them on this EP.

__________

For those of you outside of the NYC area, Naked Hearts will embark on an East Coast tour after the EP release show. Here is the schedule:

Jan 23 2009 9:00PM THE FIRE Philadelphia, PA.
Jan 24 2009 9:00PM GARFIELD ARTWORKS Pittsburgh, PA.
Jan 25 2009 9:00PM TREEHOUSE Columbus, OH.
Jan 26 2009 9:00PM THE BLUE NILE Harrisonburg, VA.
Jan 27 2009 9:00PM NARA SUSHI Richmond, VA.
Jan 28 2009 8:00PM THE CAVE Chapel Hill, NC.
Jan 29 2009 9:00PM THE RED & THE BLACK Washington D.C.
Feb 06 2009 9:00PM Death by Audio Brooklyn, NY.

Willie Alexander and The Boom Boom Band: December 27, 2008 Maxwell’s – Flac and MP3 Downloads

January 5, 2009
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[photo from Ira’s Hanukkah Diary]

When we posted the nyctaper recording of Yo La Tengo’s performance from this seventh night of the Hanukkah shows, we spoke about their encyclopedic knowledge of popular music. In the selection of Willie Alexander and The Boom Boom Band to open this night, it was as if YLT covered an entire volume of that history. In a forty year career, Willie has in Zelig-like fashion crossed paths with almost all elements of popular culture — from the Velvet Underground to the Rathskeller in Boston to French New Wave to even Stephen King. A summary of his career biography reads like a novel.

It was with that level of experience that The Boom Boom Band took the stage Saturday last, and in true rock-n-roll fashion delivered a non-stop blistering forty-five minute set of pub/punk/power/poetic pop. As if undeterred by the passing of time, the band whose debut album appeared in 1978 performed energetic renditions of a career’s worth of material, and finished the set with an appropriately manic “Dirty Eddie”.

We recorded this set from the same location as the YLT recording and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band
2008-12-27
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front Corner of Sound Desk
Dead Center, approximately 30 feet from the PA

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR Cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2009-01-05

Setlist:
[Total Time 43:35]
01 High Tide Heroes
02 [Charles Olson]
03 Fred Buck’s Footsteps
04 Hey Kid
05 Hit Her Wid de Axe
06 Looking Like a Bimbo
07 Aaww
08 Hair
09 Radio Heart
10 Dirty Eddie

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Willie Alexander, visit his website, and purchase his official releases directly from the store at his website [HERE].

NYCTaper Upcoming Events

January 3, 2009
By


[image by Songbirdnest]

Happy 2009 to all of our readers. This promises to be an interesting year for NYCTaper. There are four major areas of development for the site, with more details to follow. NYCTaper has been invited to produce a weekly radio show for a large new fledgling web radio station. The details are still being worked out, but expect more information in the Spring. We also expect to present more concerts this year, the first of which is our exciting show on January 11 at Pianos, featuring members of Camper Van Beethoven and special guests. One other development is too early to announce, but involves a new association with some excellent people in the web music industry. And one final major piece of news we are obligated by law not to discuss at all, but its huge, believe me.

In 2009, nyctaper will continue to offer music news, reviews, and of course free downloads of our many live recordings. We expect to attend the following shows, with the caveat that more will be added and some changed.

Upcoming Shows:
The Antlers / Sharon Van Etten / Pet Ghost Project:
January 3, 2009 Cake Shop

Camper Van Beethoven:
January 9 and January 10, 2009 Bowery Ballroom NYC

Jonathan Segel (of Camper Van Beethoven) / Victor Krummenacher (of Camper Van Beethoven) / Sharon Van Etten / and Special Guests:
January 11, 2009 NYCTaper Presents Sunday Night at Pianos

The Loom / Treasure:
January 13, 2009 Pianos NYC

Animal Collective:
January 20, 2009 Manhattan Center Ballroom NYC

Animal Collective:
January 21, 2009 Bowery Ballroom NYC

Naked Hearts:
January 22, 2009 Cake Shop NYC (CD Release Show)

Ponytail:
January 23, 2009 The Bell House Brooklyn

The Annuals:
January 28, 2009 Bowery Ballroom NYC

Blank Dogs / Woods:
February 6, 2009 Market Hotel Brooklyn
February 7, 2009 Less Artists More Condos NYC

Jason Isbell:
February 26, 2009 Bowery Ballroom NYC

Grizzly Bear:
February 28, 2009 BAM Brooklyn

Blank Dogs Shows Scheduled for Market Hotel and Less Artists

January 2, 2009
By


[photo by Impose Magazine]

When Blank Dogs were announced for No Fun Fest a few weeks ago, they were also set for ToddP shows on February 6 and February 7 with venues TBA. Today Todd posted the venues — the Blank Dogs show on February 6 will be at the Market Hotel and February 7 is tentatively (now confirmed) for Less Artists More Condos. These shows will be recorded by nyctaper.

Both the dates include Woods on the bill. Our one experience with Woods was our positive impression of the opening set at Monster Island with Love Is All. Woods are also scheduled to play Bard College and Vassar College in early February.

Sharon Van Etten: December 8, 2008 Pianos – Flac and MP3 Downloads + January Gigs!

January 2, 2009
By


[photo by Matt]

This is another one of those recordings that sounds a lot better than we originally thought. The process of recording Sharon Van Etten is always subject to the room noise, and during this particular night at Pianos there was much — including what sounded like a reconstruction of the soundboard booth directly behind us. Fortunately, the directional microphones avoided a good amount of the noise so that this is definitely a very listenable capture. In terms of a review of the performance, we will defer to Matt from The Music Slut blog, who wrote an excellent piece on this Sharon show the day after the event. Read it [HERE].

Sharon Van Etten will perform quite a bit this month. Tomorrow night, she appears at Cake Shop with The Antlers and Pet Ghost Project. And on January 11, she will open the NYCTaper Presents show at Pianos with members of Camper Van Beethoven. Sharon will also perform this month at Zebulon, Glasslands, Secret Project Robot and Joe’s Pub. Complete information is at her MySpace page.

This Recording is now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Sharon Van Etten
2008-12-08
Pianos
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board
30 Feet from Stage

Neumann KM-150s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, slight level boost, resample 16/44) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
[email protected]
2009-01-01

Setlist:
[total time 43:15]
01 Consolation Prize
02 Strong (false start/tech problems)
03 Strong
04 I Fold
05 I Am Giving Up On You
06 Call It a Joke
07 You Didn’t Really Do That
08 Picking Up Rocks
09
10 I Wish I Knew
11 Damn Right

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Sharon Van Etten, visit her website, visit her MySpace page, purchase one of her custom-made self-released CDs directly from her website, and purchase her new CD Because I Was In Love when it is released in 2009.

“The Dead” to Tour in Spring of 2009

January 1, 2009
By

This was just announced this morning, that “The Dead”, which includes original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and longtime member Mickey Hart, will tour the East coast in April and May. The band also includes Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti.

The local dates include one MSG date, two shows in the Meadowlands, and one at Nassau. The presale date is January 13, and the regular onsale date is January 23.


April 12 Greensboro NC Greensboro Coliseum
April 14 Washington DC Verizon Center
April 15 Charlottville VA John Paul Jones Arena
April 17 Albany NY Times Union Center
April 18 Worcester MA DCU Center
April 19 Worcester MA DCU Center
April 21 Buffalo NY HSBC Arena
April 22 WilkesBarre PA Wachovia Arena
April 24 Uniondale NY Nassau Coliseum
April 25 New York NY Madison Square Garden
April 26 Hartford CT XL Center
April 28 E. Ruther NJ IZOD Center
April 29 E. Ruther NJ IZOD Center
May 1 Philadphia PA Wachovia Spectrum
May 2 Philadphia PA Wachovia Spectrum
May 5 Chicago IL All State Arena
May 7 Denver CO Pepsi Center
May 9 Los Angel CA The Forum
May 10 MountView CA Shoreline Amphitheater

Best Friends Forever: October 23, 2008 NYCTaper CMJ Show at Cake Shop – Flac and MP3 Downloads (Soundboard!)

January 1, 2009
By


[ Best Friends Forever in Philly this summer: photo credit]

We became big fans of Best Friends Forever this year. We saw them live four times in 2008, including this opening set of the NYCTaper CMJ show. The band had three shows scheduled that day, but still agreed to do our show, for which we are eternally grateful. The downstairs of Cake Shop quickly filled for their 3:30 set and BFF delivered a burst of their energetic pop to start off the day. Expect to hear more from BFF in 2009, as they have gathered some major label interest.

This recording was a surprise holiday present. We were going through some old wav files, including the soundboard feed that we ran for this CMJ show — a recording we originally thought was unusable. Fortunately, while the rest of the downstairs sets have problems, the BFF set is actually quite well mixed soundboard recording and has very little of the peak distortion that plagues the others. Enjoy!

The nyctaper recordings of Best Friends Forever in August and at another CMJ show are [here] and [here].

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Best Friends Forever
2008-10-23
NYCTaper CMJ Show
Cake Shop
New York, NY USA

Digital Soundboard Master Recording

Soundboard > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, set fades) > CD Wave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-12-31

Setlist:
[Total time 18:42]
01 Eisenhower is the Father
02 HWF
03 Circus
04 Handpocket
05 Twins in Love
06 Disaster

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Best Friends Forever, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases at the Plan-It-X Records Website [HERE].

SUPPORT NYCTaper




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nyctaper.com is a live music blog that offers a new paradigm of music distribution on the web. The recordings are offered for free on this site as are the music posts, reviews and links to artist sites. All recordings are posted with artist permission or artists with an existing pro-taping policy.

All recordings and original content posted on this site are @nyctaper.com as live recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 106, et. seq. Redistribution of nyctaper recordings without consent of nyctaper.com is strictly prohibited.

nyctaper.com hereby waives all copyright claims to any and all recordings posted on this site to THE PERFORMERS ONLY. If any artist posted on this site requests that recordings be removed, those recordings will be removed forthwith.