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Last Wednesday, High Places performed outside of their standard Brooklyn DIY and club scene. The Oval at Stuyvesant Town has had weekly Wednesday concerts for quite some time, but for years the bands have been local acts and cover bands. As the community has gone through some substantial upgrades, the Summer music series booked its first legitimate act.

The video embedded above appeared on youtube yesterday, and has created a bit of stir in the blogs. While the video seems to indicate that High Places only performed to a group of toddlers, the shot is quite misleading. This footage was taken during the day when High Places did their soundcheck to the afternoon crowd at the Oval — primarily children and older people. When the actual performance took place, the grass area in front of the stage was filled with people of all ages who included many fans of the band, local residents and curious onlookers — all very supportive of the interesting and excellent music on stage.

High Places is a taper friendly band, as our friend baltimore-taper recorded them last year. We recorded this set with a direct line from the soundboard. The signal is fairly clear, but there is a noticeable hum/buzz from the board that also was apparent in the PA stacks. During louder moments the well mixed board is outstanding, while during the quieter points the hum can be distracting. With that caveat enjoy this excellent band!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

High Places
2008-07-02
Stuyvesant Town Oval
New York, NY USA

Digital Soundboard Master

Soundboard > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustment, downsample, dither, EQ) > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
nyctaper
[email protected]
2008-07-07

Setlist:
[total time 39:18]
01 /Banana Slugs
02 Sandy Feat
03 The Storm
04 Golden
05 The Tree
06 Oceanus
07 Head Spins
08 Namer
09 Gold Coin
10 New Grace
11 Stardust
12 Vision’s The First…
13 Universe
14 Freaked Flight

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT High Places and visit their MySpace page, where you can follow the links to buy official releases. The High Places artist page on Thrill Jockey Records is (here). You can purchase High Places CD 03/07 – 09/07 at Emusic (here).

[photo by neil d] [higher resolution photos (HERE) and (HERE)]

Our Intrepid Correspondent Reports:

The weather report was for a high of 80 with a 50% chance of thunderstorms — so of course the day turned out to be hot and muggy with almost no rain to speak of. I arrived at 12:45 for 2 pm doors, expecting a huge crowd wanting to get there early for the Feelies. Instead, I was maybe the 50th person on line, and got a prime spot about 30 feet from the stage, right in front of the stage-right speakers.

The Feelies were just great – I’d never seen them live before except on video, but it didn’t seem like they’d missed a beat after their 16-year layoff. Watching Dave Weckerman play whatever bit of percussion he was responsible for at any moment (a tambourine, a maraca) as if it took every fiber of his being was especially great fun. Ira Kaplan was about ten feet directly in front of us, rocking out for the entire Feelies set.

Sonic Youth were excellent as well, with a set heavy on songs from Daydream Nation. (Hey Joni, Silver Rocket… several others, I forget which right now.) Kim Gordon looks amazing for a 55-year-old. Anyway, you can hear the SY set on WFMU’s site, if you haven’t already.

Afterwards, we sat on the Battery Park lawn finishing our picnic food and watching the eight billion fireflies, then headed over to the East River for the fireworks. The fireworks themselves were great, though, so hard to complain about any part of the day.

A regular nyctaper reader pointed us to his ebay auction for a Feelies rarity — the limited edition promotional Away EP autographed by all of the Feelies. All proceeds from this auction will be donated to the charity of choice of the winning bidder!

The Recording:
As our recorder noted to me, the stacks were very bass heavy, and as a result quite a bit of EQ was applied in post-production. This is a clear upfront recording which is subject only to the limitations of the sound system and the outdoor conditions. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Feelies
2008-07-04
Battery Park
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded 30 Feet from Right PA Stacks

CoreSound Binaurals > MM-EBM-1 battery box > Sony MZ-NH900 > Audiophile 2496 > Sound Studio > 16bit 44kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, level adjustments, EQ) > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by neil d
Produced by nyctaper
2008-07-06

Setlist
[total time 46:22]
01 [introduction]
02 On The Roof
03 The High Road
04 Nobody Knows
05 Let’s Go
06 Higher Ground
07 Away
08 Time is Right
09 Slipping (Into Something)
10 Doin’ It Again
11 Raised Eyebrows
12 Crazy Rhythms
13 [encore break]
14 Outdoor Miner (Wire)
15 Fa Ce-La

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!

[photo by Ryan Muir]

In our critical post about Dan Deacon‘s set from this concert, the comments suggested that somehow we did not understand the concept of fun. The truth is that we understand the difference between foolishness and the Tom Tom Club‘s “fun natural fun”. The set that immediately followed Deacon’s nonsense was the return of Tom Tom Club to NYC, the place where 30 years earlier Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz had literally been the rhythm section for one of the most influential bands in the history of modern music. The stark contrast and upgrade in musical quality when Tom Tom Club took the stage helped elucidate the fact that Tina and Chris’s “other band” has had its own profound musical influence.

In their hour-long set at McCarren Pool last week, Tom Tom Club performed their best known songs with two interesting covers, a goofy 70s Brit-dance hit and one of the staples of The Talking Heads repertoire. The obvious highlight was “Genius of Love“, a song with an earworm melody that has worked its way into the lexicon of music and is perhaps the most sampled song in music today.

We recorded from the same location as the Devo set, but there was more wind during this set which can be heard primarily in the stage microphones. We avoided much of the gusts and as a result while there is some phasing on this recording, it has exceptionally clarity considering the outdoor conditions. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Tom Tom Club
2008-06-26
McCarren Park Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from FOB Dead Center
50 Feet from Stage

DPA 4021s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM Mod) > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, slight EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Many Thanks to Chris and Tina for permission to record this performance!

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-07-03

Setlist
[total time 59:14]
01 Suboceana
02 Punk Lolita
03 L’Elephant
04 She’s Dangerous
05 Time To Bounce
06 The Man With the 4-Way Hips
07 [band introductions]
08 Genius of Love
09 You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate)
10 Wordy Rappinghood
11 Take Me To The River

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Tom Tom Club, visit their website, where you can purchase their official releases at the Tom Tom Club Store.

[photo credit]

Twenty years seems to be the magic number. Last night at Maxwell’s, The Feelies became the latest in a long of line of bands to stretch out over two decades and reclaim old magic. The band was tight as always, and performed two sets of nearly two hours of flawless music which included 5 encores. We last saw the Feelies at the old Ritz in 1988 when interestingly Big Dipper was the opener. In the last year, we have experienced Dinosaur Jr., Mission of Burma, Was Not Was, and of course Big Dipper turn back the hands of time, but for The Feelies this show had the added dimension of taking place at their old regular stomping grounds — the equally legendary Maxwell’s.

The crowd (which included such local luminaries at Yo La Tengo‘s Ira Kaplan) were almost reverential. Between each number, after the audience cheered there was an eerie silence as The Feelies tuned for their next number. When a rowdy patron near the bar was chatting too loud he was actually shushed by members of the audience. In the end, the church of the Feelies would not be denied after three encores, and called the band back for a second two-song encore.

The setlist was quite comprehensive as the band worked through much of their recorded material and sprinkled in some standard covers (two Velvet Underground staples) along with one interesting Neil Young number (“Barstool Blues”).

We arrived during the first song, so that we were not able to set up and record the first set. In between sets we assumed our usual location in this venue and recorded a matrix with the Neumanns and a soundboard feed of the entire second half and encores. The sound quality in the venue was absolutely superb and The Feelies crew did an outstanding job. We were fortunate to capture that quality. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete 2nd Set recording in FLAC [HERE].

Feelies
2008-07-01
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard/Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Front of Board Neumann KM-150s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, slight level boost, downsample, dither) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-07-02

Setlist:
[First Set was Not Recorded]
Second Set:
[Total Time 51:21]
01 Dancing Barefoot (Patti Smith)
02 Original Love
03 Deep Fascination
04 Outdoor Miner (Wire)
05 The Final Word
06 Sooner Or Later
07 Too Far Gone
08 Time is Right
09 Fa Cé-La
10 [encore break]
11 She Said (Beatles)
12 Barstool Blues (Neil Young)
13 We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together (VU)
14 [second encore break]
15 Fun To Be Happy (Love Tractor)
16 What Goes On (VU)

CD Cover Art [HERE] (Thanks Mark!)

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. While all Feelies albums are out of print, and there are no plans to tour beyond this week of shows, they are working on new songs. Purchase their new CD when it is released!

[photo by gregpphoto]

When we last saw this amazing trio, it was at Sullivan Hall and they played all night — or at least until after 2 a.m. Last Tuesday at Le Poisson Rouge, Marco Benevento Trio were under a tighter schedule. There were no 23-minute songs, but what the trio packed into an 80-minute set was tight, focused and aggressive. We were happy to have been wrong when we previewed this show, as Reed Mathis did appear on bass.

This was our first trip to Le Poisson Rouge. The venue is indeed impressive and has implemented an excellent sound system, with PA speakers strategically placed around the venue to create a room with literally no dead spots. We recorded from inside the soundboard booth, which was unfortunately not a prime location as it sat elevated in the back of the room. The result is a boomy recording, which does not accurately reflect the excellent sound in the room that night. When we next visit this excellent venue, the microphones will be more strategically placed.

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

Marco Benevento Trio
2008-06-24
Le Poisson Rouge
New York NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Inside Soundboard Booth
Rear of Venue

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

Band:
Marco Benevento: piano, keyboards, effects
Reed Mathis: bass guitar
Andrew Barr: drums

Recorded and Produced
nyctaper
2008-06-30

Setlist
[total time 1:16:57]
01 [introduction]
02 Atari
03 Bus Ride
04 Record Book
05 Twin Killers (Deerhoof)
06 Are You The Favorite Person Of Anybody
07 You Must Be A Lion
08 The Real Morning Party
09 Golden (MMJ)
10 Fearless (Pink Floyd)
11 Kissing The Lipless (The Shins)
12

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Marco Benevento and visit his website, where you can purchase his new CD Invisible Baby and purchase all of his official releases (here).