[Photos by Keith Haskel]
There is now no denying it – Bear In Heaven have arrived. Since we first saw the band back in October of 2009, the band has seen their exposure surge and their live set finally get the treatment it deserves. Thanks to the always-helpful combination of Pitchfork accolades and a lot of touring, the rest of the world has come to love this Brooklyn band as much as we do. This set at Music Hall of Williamsburg closed out Bear In Heaven’s latest tour, and this homecoming was massive in every way. Music Hall was packed and there was a line down the street to get in. The sound was dialed in (finally – neither the sold-out Mercury Lounge or Glasslands shows we saw could boast the best house mixes we’ve heard), with Philpot’s vocals penetrating through and the bass rich, deep and tight. The band used a simple but mesmerizing light show that punctuated the hypnotic and often dark nature of their songs. And finally, and most importantly, the band clearly knew it was on tonight – knew that things were different now, and knew they ought to give this eager audience the Bear In Heaven show they would always remember. And indeed, for a solid hour, the band held us captive to their druggy sonic dreamscape, playing all of the highlights of their groundbreaking Beast Rest Forth Mouth as well as (I think) two new numbers. After their usual encore of “Casual Goodbye,” there was nothing more to say – Bear In Heaven may be of Brooklyn, but they are far beyond a mere “Brooklyn band” now. At one point, Philpot noted, “One year ago we were playing at [cozy Brooklyn venue] Zebulon.” For better or worse, Jon, those days are over.
I recorded this set from the center of the balcony with the Schoeps microphones aimed down at the stacks. I am extremely pleased with the sound, which has virtually no crowd noise and has excellent clarity and detail. Enjoy!
Stream “Lovesick Teenager”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/B1027BearHeaven1122/BearInHeaven-LovesickTeenager2010-11-19.mp3]
Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE]
Bear In Heaven
2010-11-19
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA
An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com
Equipment: Schoeps CMC641>Naiant littlebox>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Balcony, center, mics pointed at stacks
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, light EQ)>FLAC Level 8
Tracks [Total Time 59:17]
01 Wholehearted Mess
02 Ultimate Satisfaction
03 Dust Cloud
04 Lovesick Teenager
05 Beast In Peace
06 Deafening Love
07 Drug A Wheel
08 You Do You
09 [banter]
10 [unknown]
11 Fake Out
12 [unknown]
13 [encore break]
14 Casual Goodbye
If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Bear in Heaven, visit their website, and purchase their official releases directly from the Hometapes Records’ site [HERE].
unknown #1 is a rework of “bag of bags” from their first record, and unknown #2 is a cover of lindstrom + christabelle’s “lovesick” from a 12″ split they did.