Monthly Archives: September 2008

Meat Puppets September 26, 2008 Terminal 5 – Flac and MP3 Downloads

September 30, 2008
By


[photo credit]

The Meat Puppets were simply one of the most unlikely but ultimately rewarding redemption stories of the entire year of 2007 in music. When we saw them perform at Knitting Factory in August of 2007, the band was tight, focused and performed a powerful set. The challenge for this band in 2008 has been to maintain that level of proficiency.

At Terminal 5 on Friday night, the Meat Puppets had the unenviable task of opening for two outstanding bands with strong fan bases and also had to begin their set at 7:30. Despite the restrictions, the band continued the momentum from last year and added something old and new — a reckless and devil-may-care energy to their music. The result was a set of standard Pups with some nice surprises and twists mixed in. While Johnny Cash’s “Tennessee Stud” was an inspired cover choice performed well, a cover of the Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” was a misstep that ended abruptly. “Up On the Sun” and its extended jam continues to be one of the set highlights, but the harder and faster version of “Lake of Fire” seemed somewhat unfocused. Overall though, the Meat Puppets remain one of the best resurrection stories in modern music, and if the band continues to perform energetic sets without allowing the recklessness to fuel discord, they may remain a vital unit for years.

We recorded the set from the same location as the two previous recordings. However, given that the venue was only half full for this performance, the recording has virtually no crowd noise and excellent clarity. Enjoy!

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

Meat Puppets
2008-09-26
Terminal 5
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Floor – Dead Center 100 Feet from Stage

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample 16/44) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-09-30

Setlist:
[total time 56:48]
01 Buckaroo
02 Sam
03 Up On The Sun
04 Snow
05 Touchdown King
06 Lost
07 The Whistling Song
08 Bali Hai
09 Coming Down
10 Look At The Rain
11 Oh, Me
12 Tennessee Stud (Johnny Cash)
13 Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles)*
14 Lake of Fire

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Meat Puppets, visit their website, and purchase their Official Releases directly from the Anodyne Records website [HERE].

Dinosaur Jr. September 26, 2008 Terminal 5 – Flac and MP3 Downloads

September 27, 2008
By


[photo credit]

We have a particular affinity for Dinosaur Jr. here at nyctaper. It was our recording of them in the first few weeks of this site that put us “on the map” as it were. A year and a half ago, that concert exceeded all of our expectations. Last night at Terminal 5, Dinosaur Jr. exhibited an energy and level of proficiency that completely floored us — the band was even better than last time. Lou Barlow was energetic, animated and played frenetic bass guitar, and Murph was pounding furiously and filling up the huge room with his pinpoint beat. But it was the guitar work of J Mascis which most impressed us. As he stood played in front of his huge stacks of Marshall amps, J absolutely shredded every solo — and in particular his extended work in “Pick Me Up” and “Gargoyle” was simply outstanding.

We recorded this set from the identical location as the Built to Spill recording. However, the massive volume of this set virtually eliminated all crowd noise so that this is a cleaner recording. Enjoy!

This recording is now available in FLAC and MP3 at the Dinosaur Jr. Archives at Free So Free [HERE].

Dinosaur Jr.
2008-09-26
Terminal 5
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Floor – Dead Center 100 Feet from Stage

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample 16/44) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-09-27

Setlist:
[total time 1:10:19]
01 The Lung
02 Been There All The Time
03 Back To Your Heart
04 No Bones
05 Out There
06 Feel the Pain
07 Pick Me Up
08 The Wagon
09 Repulsion
10 Raisans
11 Freak Scene
12 Gargoyle
13 Just Like Heaven
14 Chunks

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Dinosaur Jr., visit their website, and purchase their Official Releases directly from the Dinosaur Jr. Store at their website [HERE].

Built to Spill September 26, 2008 Terminal 5 – Flac and MP3 Downloads

September 27, 2008
By


[photo credit]

The concert last night at Terminal 5 was a musical extravaganza. The sold-out crowd was treated to four solid hours of outstanding music from three superb bands which was highlighted by the start-to-finish performance of Built to Spill‘s Perfect From Now On. The seminal album was released in early 1997 as Built to Spill‘s first CD with Warner and first consistently excellent album. Although the release did boost the profile of the band, Perfect From Now On was not an immediate breakthrough — the album has grown in popularity and influence over the last decade. As a matter of illustration, we saw Built to Spill live at a not-sold-out show at the relatively tiny Maxwell’s in 1998 (a recording is in the nyctaper archives).

The performance at Terminal 5 was well-executed and workmanlike, although not thoroughly inspired. In particular, in recent years “Randy Described Eternity” has become a bell weather for the strength of the show — we saw an eighteen-minute blistering version at Irving Plaza in 2006 (also in the nyctaper archives). Last night, “Randy” was much closer to the album version. The highlight of Perfect last night was the album’s strong finish of “Kicked It in the Sun” and “Untrustable”. But it was the “bonus” material where the band let loose and shined, ironically performing consecutively the first three numbers of Perfect’s follow-up album, the arguably stronger Keep It Like a Secret. “Carry The Zero” devolved into complete mayhem, as members of Dinosaur Jr. and Meat Puppets joined in a bizarre jam session with liberal instrument-switching and stage antics.

While the music onstage was almost universally excellent, the most unfortunate aspect of the show last night was the crowd — a Friday night midtown crowd with no apparent interest in anything other than being drunk, loud and obnoxious. It was one of the worst out of control groups we have experienced in three decades of concert-going.

We recorded from the rear of the floor directly in front of the drink rail. The sound in the venue was not optimal and some of the crowd behavior is evident on the recording. While this is not one of our best efforts, under the circumstances the quality of this recording is quite acceptable. Enjoy!

Dinosaur Jr. and Meat Puppets were also recorded and will be featured on nyctaper in the coming days.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Built to Spill
2008-09-26
Terminal 5
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Floor – Dead Center 100 Feet from Stage

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample 16/44) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-09-27

Setlist:
[total time 1:35:15]
01 Randy Described Eternity
02 I Would Hurt a Fly
03 Stop the Show
04 Made-Up Dreams
05 Velvet Waltz
06 Out of Site
07 Kicked It in the Sun
08 Untrustable/Part 2 (About Someone Else)
09 The Plan
10 Center of the Universe
11 Carry The Zero
12 Jam

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Built to Spill, visit their website, and purchase their Official Releases directly from the Built to Spill Store at their website [HERE].

The Error 503 Problem: nyctaper Server Issues

September 24, 2008
By

If you’ve seen this error lately, here’s why. The popularity of four recordings in one week — Robert Forster, two Sigur Ros shows, and The Feelies — has stretched the server to its limit. Our host server limited this site to 1000 concurrent unique connections after the fiasco last October. If you are connection number 1001, you will get the Error 503 message.

There are several possible solutions to this problem, none of which seem feasible at this point. I have discussed an unlimited dedicated server with my host, but unfortunately the cost is quite prohibitive. There is a small cap and any bandwidth and storage above that cap is charged at an alarming rate considering the amount of traffic nyctaper receives. This is not a pay site, will never be a pay site, and will remain free.

This is also an ad-free site. There are plenty of commercial blogs that shill for their advertisers and post irresponsible and inflammatory material to generate traffic. This is not one of those blogs. Due to the popularity of this site we have reached a Page Rank 5 level and get about 10,000 hits a day. As a result, we have received multiple overtures from advertisers and advertising sites which we have rejected. We reject advertising for two main reasons — to remain objective and free from influence, and as a sign of respect to the artists whose music we feature.

We do not expect any quick solution to the server limitation problem. When our two-year package with our current server host expires in May, we expect to look around for a more stable and perhaps higher speed host. In the meantime, the only other solution we can imagine would be a “white knight” — an unlimited free server like the archive.org host.

Until that pie in the sky solution materializes, all we can ask from our faithful readers is patience and discretion. Please only download one or two recordings at a time and don’t hammer the server. On Sunday, there were 73,000 connection attempts from one IP address in Germany and on Monday, there were 900 files downloaded from an IP address at the University of New Orleans Lakefront Campus.  nyctaper can not tolerate or survive abuse.  We hope that our readers will bear with us and respect the site and its limitations.

Pledge to VOTE and Get a Free Wilco Download

September 24, 2008
By

Wilco offer a free download today if you pledge to vote. At Wilcoworld, when you provide your name and email address, and pledge to vote on November 4, Wilco will mail a location to download a cover of Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” recorded (with Fleet Foxes) in Bend Oregon on August 23, 2008.

nyctaper also recorded Wilco in August, and we want you to vote too!

Feelies September 20, 2008 Music Hall – Flac and MP3 Downloads

September 21, 2008
By


[photo by nyctaper correspondent neild]

If the July Feelies concerts at Maxwell’s and Battery Park were celebratory affairs simply because the band was back and sounded great, last night’s concert at The Music Hall of Williamsburg was special for a whole different reason — the Feelies absolutely rocked. This was a band that did not sound as if they were playing their 5th gig after a decade and half of “down time”. Last night, the Feelies were tight as always, but added a significant amount of energy and animation to the stage show. Perhaps spurred on by the boisterous and vocal Saturday night crowd, each song seemed to reach a trademark Feelies crescendo with extra energy. “Deep Fascination” and “Slipping (Into Something)” in particular evolved into truly joyous cacophony.

When we glanced at the soundboard booth prior to the show and saw the longtime Feelies soundboard tech Andy behind the board, we knew the sound in the venue would be terrific and we were not disappointed. This show was mixed to perfection and featured a full and rich soundstage. Our recording was captured from a prime location and we are extremely indebted to the talents of Andy for the quality of this recording. Enjoy!

The Feelies perform again tonight at Bowery Ballroom!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Feelies
2008-09-20
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB
Dead Center 20 Feet from PA

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-09-21

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:12:05]
01 On The Roof
02 The High Road
03 Nobody Knows
04 Let’s Go
05 Deep Fascination
06 Higher Ground
07 The Final Word
08 Time Is Right
09 Away
10 Slipping (Into Something)
11 Doin’ It Again
12 Too Far Gone
13 Raised Eyebrows
14 Crazy Rhythms
15 [encore break]
16 She Said She Said (Beatles)
17 Paint it Black (Rolling Stones)
18 [second encore break]
19 I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms (Modern Lovers)
20 Outdoor Miner (Wire)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Feelies and visit their official MySpace page, and purchase their official releases at various commercial outlets. They are working on new songs. Purchase their new CD when it is released!

Sigur Ros September 18, 2008 United Palace Theatre – Flac and MP3 Downloads

September 19, 2008
By


[photo courtesy of The Music Slut blog]

The second night of Sigur Ros 2-night run at United Palace was another amazing performance which was executed to perfection. Although Jonsi again apologized for high notes not reached during “Svefn-G-Englar”, the balance of the evening was flawless — the songs, the lighting, the stage backdrop, the props, and even the drumming accompaniment on “Gobbledigook”. We would have preferred some variety to the setlist, but the debut performance of “Illgresi” from the new CD Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust in the first encore slot was quite special.

We recorded this show from the second row of the “upper” loge, which given the layout of the balcony of this venue is actually geographically closer to the stage than our floor seat from the previous evening. We were fortunate to have a direct line to the PA stacks and as a result this recording has excellent clarity and balance. We believe this recording improves upon the quality of the first night. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Sigur Ros
2008-09-18
United Palace Theatre
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Upper Loge Row B Right Side

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-09-19

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:50:26]
01 Svefn-G-Englar
02 Glósóli
03 Ný Batteri
04 Fljótavík
05 Við Spilum Endalaust
06 Hoppípolla
07 Með Blóðnasir / Svo Hljótt
08 Heysátan
09 Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
10 Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
11 Sæglópur
12 Hafsól
13 Gobbledigook
14 [encore break]
15 Illgresi
16 Popplagið

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Sigur Ros, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new CD Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust directly from their website.

Sigur Ros September 17, 2008 United Palace Theatre – Flac and MP3 Downloads

September 18, 2008
By


[photo courtesy of The Music Slut blog]

The Sigur Ros performance we experienced at the Manhattan Center Ballroom in June was undoubtedly the best concert we have seen this year, if not ever. It was a performance of majestic brilliance and musical perfection that brought the crowd to call for three encores of the band’s stage bowing after the music ended. That night the band included the Amiina accompaniment and a complete horn section.

Last night’s Sigur Ros show at United Palace was a scaled down affair, as this tour consists of the main four members of the band. While the absence of strings and horns was apparent at some points last night, Sigur Ros replaced the majesty with subtlety. Although the first night of the tour had some minor equipment issues and Jonsi had some trouble reaching his highest notes (for which he added a polite “excuse me”), the last hour of this concert reached the heights scaled at Manhattan Center. The songs from the new CD Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust have developed quite nicely to the point where highlights included the joyous “Við Spilum Endalaust” and the full audience participation of “Gobbledigook”.

We recorded from about two-thirds back on the floor and while this was not a prime location, the sound quality in the venue was quite excellent and we are very pleasantly surprised with the quality of this capture. There is a slight “hissing” sound at the most quiet moments which was the result of the air conditioning vent behind us. Otherwise, this is an outstanding recording! Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Sigur Ros
2008-09-17
United Palace Theatre
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Floor Row Q Left Side

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-09-18

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:55:40]
01 Svefn-G-Englar
02 Glósóli
03 Ny Batteri
04 Fljótavík
05 Við Spilum Endalaust
06 Hoppípolla
07 Með Blóðnasir / Svo Hljótt
08 Heysátan
09 Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
10 Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
11 Sæglópur
12 Hafsól
13 Gobbledigook
14 [encore break]
15 All Alright
16 Popplagið

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Sigur Rós, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new CD Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust directly from their website.

Kri­a Brekkan and Olof Arnalds Performed at Lutheran Messiah Church in Brooklyn Last Night

September 17, 2008
By

It was almost exactly a year ago when we saw Kria Brekkan last perform a solo concert. That event also took place in a church — St. Mark’s in Manhattan — and featured as an opening act a young Icelandic folk singer performing for the first time in the United States. It was not until last night that we finally realized that young singer was in fact Olof Arnalds. In the year that followed, Olof Arnalds has seen her career bloom to the point where last night, she was the headliner.

However, while last year was a fairly relaxed event, last night’s concert was a strange affair. Kria spent much of her set fiddling with her effects box and actually prematurely ended two numbers as a result. When the scene did work for her, Kria played and sang beautifully.

It was during Olof when things turned strange. After some equipment difficulties, she began her set with a breathtaking acapella Icelandic ballad and proceeded on to several similarly wonderful numbers. At one point, a baby began to cry and when the song ended, Olof revealed that it was her eight-month old son who was crying. The child was brought to the stage and after some fairly awkward moments, eventually the child was placated and removed from the stage. The imbedded video above is quite dark, but it captured that moment. The balance of the show was a series of outstanding numbers with a guest violinist and three songs with Kria. The closing song, a cover of “Lucky Old Sun” was quite moving.

We recorded audio of both sets, except for the first three minutes of Kria’s set. The acoustics, equipment issues, and off-mic performances will make this a diffcult show to master but we expect to offer recordings of both sets in the near future. As a side note, I believe that there is a recording of Olof’s US debut in the nyctaper archives but I have to find it!

In the meantime, Kria set from St. Mark’s Church, September 9, 2007 is still available on nyctaper [HERE].

Robert Forster September 15, 2008 Joe’s Pub – Soundboard Flac and MP3 Downloads

September 16, 2008
By


[photo credit]

By his own words, Robert Forster performed one of the best sets of music he has ever played last night at Joe’s Pub. The seventy-minute set was tight, well-paced and executed to perfection. The setlist drew from classic Go-Betweens numbers, Robert’s solo career, one Velvets cover, and a couple of numbers from his excellent new release The Evangelist. Of particular poignancy was Robert’s heartfelt rendition of “Demon Days”, one of final collaborations between Forster and his longtime Go-Betweens writing partner the late Grant McLennan. Robert’s musical accompaniment was also outstanding — including the tremendous bass guitar work from former Go-Betweens Adele Pickvance. Adele’s solo on “I Can Do” was one of the highlights of the evening.

We recorded this show directly from the soundboard under the best possible circumstances and the result is a professional quality recording. We used XLR cables from the board directly into the Apogee pre-amp and digitally captured in 24-bit with the Microtrack. This is a true digital soundboard recording. The soundboard tech at Joe’s Pub mixed the show to perfection, and the capture mix, the levels, and the soundstage are all outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Robert Forster
2008-09-15
Late Show
Joe’s Pub
New York, NY USA

Digital Soundboard Recording

Soundboard > XLR > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, downsample, dither) > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-09-16

Setlist:
[Total time 1:16:08]
01 121
02 German Farmhouse
03 Head Full of Steam
04 Temptation Inside Your Heart (VU)
05 Pandanus
06 Draining The Pool For You
07 Too Much Of One Thing
08 Demon Days
09 Clouds
10 Darlinghurst Nights
11 I Can Do
12 Surfing Magazines
13 Did She Overtake You
14 Quiet Heart
15 Born To A Family
16 [banter]
17 Spring Rain

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Robert Forster, visit his website, visit the Go-Betweens website, and purchase Robert’s new CD The Evangelist directly from the Yep Roc website [HERE].

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