nyctaper Recordings

concert discussion and free flac downloads

Queens of the Stone Age: March 25, 2011 Terminal 5 – FLAC / MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 26, 2011
By


[Photos courtesy of a.f. cortes.  See more of his outstanding work HERE]

It’s basic fact that Josh Homme has been one of the principle contributors to the stoner rock handbook and it would’ve made for a very different read without his input.  Starting with his first band, Kyuss, in the early 90’s and continuing through present day with Queens of the Stone Age, he’s been adding chapters to it ever since.  On tour to coincide with the re-release of their long-out-of-print debut album, the crux of these shows was to play it in its entirety; a popular trend that seems to be the case with many bands nowadays.  The sticking point is that the Queen’s self-titled first disc is brilliant, a touchstone of hard rock that many professional reviewers and fans alike have added to “must-have” rosters.  With many of these songs rarely showing up in setlists, it was a treat to hear them performed in a live setting.  In addition to surrounding himself with talented musicians that have great chops, Homme takes to the frontman role well and has a knack for keeping the audience entertained.  The proof being the crowd’s interaction with him, the adulation that teeters on the brink of feverish worship and the many declarations of love from female fans that I witnessed during this sell-out performance.  With devotees like that, I predict this band will have more continued years of success.

Per our usual in this venue, we were set up in the dead-center spot on the first balcony.  Terminal 5 can be tricky when it comes to getting the sound just right, so while the instruments sounded very good and are nicely balanced, the vocals were pretty low in the mix throughout most of the concert.  Nonetheless, the recording is solid and a great snapshot of the show.  Enjoy!

Stream “If Only”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/Q3052QOTSA1012/QOTSA_-_If_Only.mp3]

Direct download of the complete show in MP3 [HERE]
Direct download of the complete show in FLAC [HERE]

If either of the links are no longer working, email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the files.

Queens of the Stone Age
Friday, March 25, 2011
Terminal 5
New York, NY, USA
(opening band: The Dough Rollers)

Source: AUD > DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (WAV @ 24-bit/48kHz)
Lineage: R-44 > USB > PC > Adobe Audition (mixdown, adjust levels, downsample, dither, tracking) > WAV (16-bit/44.1kHz) > Trader’s Little Helper (check/fix SBE’s, FLAC conversion) > FLAC (level 8 )
Recorded and produced by: Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

SETLIST:
[Total time: 1:40:05]
01. Regular John
02. Avon
03. If Only
04. Walkin’ on the Sidewalks
05. You Would Know
06. How to Handle a Rope
07. Mexicola
08. [banter]
09. Hispanic Impressions
10. The Bronze
11. Give the Mule What He Wants
12. I Was a Teenage Hand Model
13. You Can’t Quit Me Baby
14. [1st encore break]
15. Turnin’ on the Screw
16. Long Slow Goodbye
17. Little Sister
18. [2nd encore break / banter]
19. Burn the Witch
20. [banter / band intros]
21. Make It Wit Chu
22. No One Knows

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Queens of the Stone Age, visit their website, visit their MySpace and Facebook pages, and purchase their official releases and merchandise [HERE].

Thurston Moore: May 20, 2011 Music Hall of Williamsburg – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 25, 2011
By


[photo by Bryan Bruchman]

Thurston Moore has a sweeping, almost uncontainable musical vision. He is an artist who I have personally seen, just in the past year, perform everything from a chaotic, sprawling noise collage to Sonic Youth’s classic postpunk to these, his somnolent, captivating acoustic meditations. He is in many ways the archetype of the modern New York musician to which almost anyone, in any genre, aspires, and he and his bandmates in Sonic Youth almost single-handedly revitalized and redefined the scene in the 80s and 90s. If you are trying to describe, using one person, everything that is honest and right and excellent and so very New York about modern New York rock musicians, look no further than Thurston Moore.

This Friday night show at Music Hall of Williamsburg celebrated the release of Moore’s most recent solo record, the Beck-produced Demolished Thoughts, which picks up on the quieter end of where his 2007 solo release Trees Outside the Academy left off. The set concentrated heavily on that record, as well as some songs from Trees Outside the Academy, and finished with the title track from Moore’s first proper solo outing, Psychic Hearts. While the songs in this set fall within the more conventional range of Moore’s spectrum, there was nothing banal about them, as each track demonstrated his virtuosity on the guitar – witness the back end of “Orchard Street” and his amazing consistency at writing catchy, interesting songs (“In Silver Rain With A Paper Key” being one). Moore was backed by a crack band of hyper-cool indie luminaries that included Keith Wood from Hush Arbors on guitar and John Moloney of Sunburned Hand of the Man, and they did the songs ample justice. Unlike most gigs Thurston Moore is involved in, this one never required earplugs – but it didn’t need the noise to be noticed.

I recorded this set from the left balcony of the venue with the Schoeps microphones on an extension arm pointed directly at the stacks, with tiny DPA omnidirectional microphones providing the room warmth and ambiance that usually lack from up-close recordings of this type. Both mics ran through quiet preamps that minimized hiss from this more quiet show. The results are excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “In Silver Rain With A Paper Key”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/S2111SonicYouth2222/13 In Silver Rain With A Paper Key.mp3]

Stream “Orchard Street”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/S2111SonicYouth2222/08 Orchard Street.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Direct download of lossless FLAC files [HERE]

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST THE DIRECT LINKS TO THESE FILES. IF YOU DO, WE WILL HAVE TO CHANGE THE LINKS, AND THEY WILL BE DEAD FOR  A PERIOD OF TIME.

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Thurston Moore
2011-05-20
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBpre2 + DPA 4061>Church Audio CA9200 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: Left balcony, about 15′ from stack, mics on extension arm split A/B
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (smooth peaks, hard limit and de-amplify applause, mixdown, downsample to 44.1kHz, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 intro
02 Mina Loy
03 Blood Never Lies
04 Never Day
05 [banter]
06 January
07 Space
08 Orchard Street
09 [banter]
10 Benediction
11 Illuminine
12 [banter]
13 In Silver Rain With A Paper Key
14 Circulation
15 [encore break]
16 Psychic Hearts

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Thurston Moore, visit his MySpace page, and purchase his official releases directly from his label, Ecstatic Peace, [HERE]

The Felice Brothers: May 18, 2011 Bell House – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 24, 2011
By

Felice Bell
[Video screenshot courtesy of D.F. Yonkman of Dead Elm]

From busking in NYC subway stations six years ago to selling out the Bell House two nights in a row this week, life for The Felice Brothers keeps evolving in a positive direction. Although they effectively got their start here in New York City, their sound and their approach are more informed by their hometown of Palenville, in the Catskill Mountains upstate. Their country-inflected rock is full of grit, with primary vocalist Ian Felice drawling out his lines in whiskey-drenched full throat, reminiscent at times of early Dylan, and brother James Felice adding meat to their delivery with his brawny vocals (plus his accordion, and piano work). The third brother, Simon Felice, left the band several years ago and tours on his own, but rest assured, the non-related remaining members of the band do an excellent job here, too. Their music isn’t prettified or trendy or arch; these are songs born for the barroom, suitable to a night of melancholy or getting ripshit with your oldest friends. Their lyrics brim with casual violence and the desolation of America’s darkest corners; a guy running an upstate meth lab might or might not listen to this, but these songs are often perilously close to his story.

These Brooklyn shows heralded the release of the band’s pathbreaking new record, Celebration, Florida (even the name of this central Florida planned town evokes something twisted). The new record takes a dramatic push beyond the basic strictures of the country/rock genome, incorporating such varied instrumentation as synths, a horn section, and drum machines, as well as some found sounds. The show kicked off with the first track from the album, “Fire At the Pageant,” and it was immediately evident that the new direction, while maybe a bit jarring at first listen, works to broaden the band’s palette without detracting from the raw, elemental sound that made fans fall in love. The band’s first new single, “Ponzi”, also demonstrated the new approach well, with its synth beats and politically current subject matter (you can probably guess from the title). Several special guests came out to show their love for the band, including former tourmate Conor Oberst on “Wonderful Life” (streaming below) and the searing finale, the fan favorite “Frankie’s Gun”, which also featured Deer Tick‘s Ian O’Neill and the opening act for the evening, South Carolina’s Shovels and Rope. The song, with the stage packed with musicians and friends of the band, was a fitting end to this first of two evenings in Brooklyn. Clearly, the Felice Brothers have plenty of friends here.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from the Bell House engineer Jeff, together with the Schoeps microphones. The recording is outstanding, and this audio will be featured in upcoming video footage from Dead Elm.

Special thanks to the band’s management, Ravenhouse Ltd, for inviting us to the performance!

Stream “Wonderful Life”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/F1805FeliceBrothers0211/15 Wonderful Life.mp3]

Stream “Ponzi”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/F1805FeliceBrothers0211/06 Ponzi.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Direct download of FLAC files [HERE]

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST DIRECT LINKS TO EITHER THE MP3 OR FLAC FILES

Follow acidjack on Twitter

The Felice Brothers
2011-05-18
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Soundboard + Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBpre2 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: Clamp to soundboard booth, about 9ft up, PAS
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, downsample to 44.1kHz, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, smooth peaks, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:21:46]
01 intro
02 Fire at the Pageant
03 Run Chicken Run
04 White Limousine
06 Hey Hey Revolver
06 Ponzi>
07 Take This Bread
08 Back In the Dancehalls
09 Got What I Need
10 Iron Mike
11 Honda Civic
12 Greatest Show On Earth
13 The Big Surprise
14 [banter]
15 Wonderful Life
16 Love Me Tenderly
17 Stepdad
18 River Jordan
19 [encore break]
20 Whiskey In My Whiskey
21 Frankie’s Gun

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Felice Brothers, visit their website, and purchase their official releases directly from their web store [HERE]

The Antlers: May 20, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 22, 2011
By


[photos by Amanda Hatfield]

The dilemma with back to back concerts from the same band is the potential for a redundant and unsatisfying repeat. After an amazing night at Music Hall on Thursday when I had too good of a time (and acidjack did all the work), I approached Friday’s show from the Antlers with a lingering hangover, fatigue, and some trepidation. At the outset of the Antlers set, the vibe in the room was radically different — MHOW’s overwhelming reefer smell and party atmosphere was replaced by a seriousness and sense of purpose. After three songs, Darby remarked that the crowd was eerily silent between songs. As with the last time was saw the Antlers at Bowery (here), the attentiveness of the crowd reflected the audience’s respect for the seriousness of the music. While Burst Apart is a significantly more “hopeful” album than its predecessor, the manner by which the Antlers go about their craft certainly creates an atmosphere of reverence for the music. While the Hospice material received the more vocal crowd reception, it is rare that a band can open a show with five new songs and continue to draw in crowd support. A slightly re-arranged setlist from Thursday’s show contained many highlights, but we’ve chosen to stream “Teeth” as it was an extremely tight performance of a song that the band will feature as the first single from the album and which will be performed on some television shows in the near future — details to follow. This show also featured the four-song encore set with three Hospice songs surrounding “Corsicana”. The continuing development of “Two” as show-stopper was evident at this show and we’re also streaming this version below. As with the three times we’ve seen the Antlers this month, “Wake” was the powerful and quite appropriate closer to this extraordinary show.

The Antlers fly west for a performance at the Sasquatch Festival next weekend before heading out on tour.

I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones mounted in the standard balcony rail position and mixed with an excellent board feed. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/A3398Antlers3200/08.%20Every%20Night%20My%20Teeth%20Are%20Falling%20Out.mp3]

Stream “Two”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/A3398Antlers3200/17.%20Two.mp3]

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

The Antlers
2011-05-20
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2011-05-22

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:29:16]
01 I Don’t Want Love
02 Parentheses
03 No Widows
04 French Exit
05 [banter]
06 Rolled Together
07 Bear
08 Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
09 [crowd]
10 Hounds
11 [banter-thanks]
12 Putting the Dog to Sleep
13 [encore break]
14 Kettering
15 [banter – missed connection]
16 Corsicana
17 Two
18 Wake

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Antlers, visit their website, and purchase Burst Apart from their site [HERE].

The Antlers: May 19, 2011 Music Hall of Williamsburg – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 22, 2011
By


[Photo courtesy of Amanda Hatfield]

After a surprise midnight show a few weeks ago at the Knitting Factory (that recording here), The Antlers came back for a duo of proper hometown performances. The first of these, at the incredible-sounding Music Hall of Williamsburg, had the manic energy and theatricality (complete with billowing stage smoke and a happyface balloon tower) that I have come to expect from triumphant returns by Brooklyn bands in this venue. The Antlers won’t be staying in town long; they are back on the road for festivals on the West Coast at the end of this month, as well as a rigorous tour swing through the U.S. and Canada in June. With the new record Burst Apart now in stores and critically acclaimed, the band are delivering its songs live as if they’ve been playing these songs for years. The set focused heavily on the new material, including the standout first single, the Radiohead-referencing “Parentheses” and one of my personal favorites, “Rolled Together”. Peter Silberman’s voice soared to its usual operatic heights, and the band seems to enjoy sinking their teeth into the more rocking new material. The four-song encore including three of the strongest tracks from their breakout album Hospice – my personal favorite “Kettering,” the narrative masterpiece “Two,” and the set closer, “Wake.” As great as they are, the Hospice numbers didn’t overshadow the new songs; that record, and those songs, are incredible, but Burst Apart, as this show proved, stands on its own – and is possibly the better record to play live, with its denser atmospherics and slightly harder edge. Three albums in, The Antlers are still a young band, and one that, we are sure, will continue to evolve and grow.

We recorded this set from the center of the balcony with the Schoeps microphones on an extension arm lowered toward the stacks, running into an analog preamp to provide natural warmth. The DPA microphones were also used in a small amount to add some atmosphere and room feel to the recording. We are very pleased with the results. Enjoy!

The May 20 show at Bowery Ballroom was also recorded and will be posted shortly.

Stream “Rolled Together”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/A3398Antlers3200/06 Rolled Together.mp3]

Stream “Kettering”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/A3398Antlers3200/14 Kettering.mp3]

This recording is now available for download as FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

The Antlers
2011-05-19
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>Oade M248 + DPA 4021 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: Center balcony, on extension arm/clamps, DPA X/Y, Schoeps PAS
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ DPA source, mixdown, smooth peaks, set fades, amplify and balance, smooth peaks, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:32:11]
01 I Don’t Want Love
02 [banter]
03 No Widows
04 Parentheses
05 French Exit
06 Rolled Together
07 Bear
08 [banter]
09 Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
10 [banter]
11 Hounds
12 Putting the Dog to Sleep
13 [encore break]
14 Kettering
15 Corsicana
16 Two
17 [banter]
18 Wake

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Antlers, visit their website, and order Burst Apart from their site [HERE].

John Vanderslice: May 13, 2011 Rock Shop – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 21, 2011
By

John Vanderslice performs “I’ll Never Live Up To You” w/ Melodie Knight at The Rock Shop, Brooklyn from BlearyEyedBrooklyn.com on Vimeo.

A John Vanderslice concert is always an authentic communal experience. John often spends time to talk directly and candidly to the audience and performs his very personal songs in a manner to which his fans can relate. That is to say that he’s a performer without an ounce of pretense. On Friday night at packed Rock Shop, John added another dimension to the fan-friendly atmosphere — inviting them up on stage to perform. The pre-tour mailing list email promised that any fan with a talent could volunteer to perform, and in each city John has had several takers. While the Brooklyn show had four of them, in reality each of the performers were not strictly “fans”, but included Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, and the vocalist Melodie Knight from Damien Jurado’s opening set. The added bonus for this night was a “vision” that Rock Shop manager/booker Skippy had told John at SXSW. After the main set, John took the entire audience up to the roof deck of the venue and performed a four-song encore while circled by a fully participating audience. The result was a very memorable experience for Vanderslice fans from a performer who continues to provide meaningful gifts to the faithful.

I recorded the main set in the venue with our standard set-up — the DPA microphones mixed with a stellar feed from the board. For the roof deck encores, I unplugged from the board, and carried the mounted microphones with the recorder strapped over my shoulder. The main room sound quality is superb, while the roof deck is exactly what we experienced. Enjoy!

Stream “Exodus Damage”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/J8030JohnVanderslice3030/15.%20Exodus%20Damage.mp3]

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

John Vanderslice
2010-05-13
The Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + DPA 4021s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) >
2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown,
set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Encores recorded on rooftop:
DPA 4021s (handheld on mount) > Edirol R-44

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-05-18

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:29:35]
01 [introduction]
02 Sunken Union Boat
03 Promising Actress
04 Scorpio Rising
05 Up Above The Sea
06 [banter- Jacob crowd surf]
07 Convict Lake
08 [banter- Iowa City]
09 The Parade
10 [banter- is Matthew here]
11 White Plains
12 Overcoat
13 [banter – moog]
14 Pale Horse
15 Exodus Damage
16 [banter – John crowd surf]
17 Kookaburra
18 [banter – Melodie]
19 I’ll Never Live Up to You
20 Do You Remember?
21 Underneath The Leaves
Encores on the Roof:
22 Nikki Oh Nikki
23 [banter – Skippy is Incredible]
24 Keep The Dream Alive
25 Time To Go
26 White Dove

Guests:
Zach Walker (Track 02)
Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) (Tracks 11, 12)
Melodie Knight (Damien Jurado vocalist) (Track 19)
Ian Bjornstad (Track 21)
The Entire Audience (Tracks 22-26)

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the links at his website [HERE].

John Vanderslice: May 12, 2011 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 19, 2011
By


[Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Weinberg.  See her outstanding photography here]

John Vanderslice has been another steady favorite of this site (one of his performances from back in October appeared in our Top 25 Concert Moments of 2010) and that status is well-earned through his universally strong performances, outstanding songwriting, and engaging rapport with his crowds.  Those qualities were all on display during this recent show at the Mercury Lounge, an epic 90+ minute performance that showed off some stripped-down versions of songs from his 2011 release, White Wilderness, including the brooding “Overcoat” with its boombox accompaniment, streaming below.  As some fans sat onstage (Vanderslice set up extra chairs so some of the more vertically challenged could see), the veteran, together with percussionist Jason Slota, gave an outstanding set filled with classic hits and other highlights.  Vanderslice kept things loose, chatting at times even during songs, and stopping once or twice to fix mistakes.  No less than six guests jointed him onstage at various points, including opener Damien Jurado during the encore, and Ian Bjornstad during “Underneath the Leaves.”  The show ended, in classic Mercury Lounge fashion, with Vanderslice, Slota and Jurado playing four songs unplugged from the center of the floor.  Jurado proclaimed it “the best show of the tour,” and why should we disagree?

hi and lo recorded this set from our usual location in the venue with the Schoeps microphones.  The sound quality is excellent, with the caveat that the four encore songs at the end, being unplugged and in the middle of the floor, are harder to hear and suffer from more crowd noise than the main set. Enjoy!

Stream “Overcoat”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/J8030JohnVanderslice3030/06 Overcoat.mp3]

Stream “Up Above the Sea”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/J8030JohnVanderslice3030/12 Up Above the Sea.mp3]

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

John Vanderslice
2011-05-12
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY, US

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded and produced by hi and lo for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps MK4v > Nbox+ > Sony PCM-M10 @ 24 bit / 44.1 kHz
Location: ~20 ft from stage, at right stack
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>WaveLab 5 (eq/fades/dither)>FLAC v1.2.1 (Level 8) with TLH v2.6.0 (Build 168)

Tracks [Run Time 1:38:01]

01. Intro
02. Scorpio Rising
03. Convict Lake
04. The Parade
05. White Plains
06. Overcoat
07. Trance Manual
08. Pale Horses
09. Exodus Damage
10. Kookaburra
11. Do You Remember
12. Up Above the Sea
13. I’ll Never Live Up to You
14. Too Much Time
15. Underneath the Leaves
16. Thule Fog
17. White Dove
18. It’s Time to Go
19. (Encore Call)
20. Nikki Oh Nikki

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the links at his website [HERE].

Antietam: May 10, 2011 Bell House – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 18, 2011
By


[photo by nyctaper]

Last Tuesday at Bell House was not just the first “wheel spin” Yo La Tengo show ever in NYC, it was also the CD release show from YLT friends and collaborators Antietam. In fact, Antietam was the headlining band at Yo La Tengo’s first-ever show at Maxwell’s in 1984. The latest Antietam release Tenth Life is their eighth studio album and first since 2008’s Opus Mixtum. At the Bell House, Antietam performed the entire album Tenth Life from start to finish, taking only a breather at what would be the end of Side A on the vinyl. The album continues in the same vein as the first CD of the two-disc Opus set (and this 2008 concert), with Tara Key’s aggressive gibson-guitar work out front and propelled by the Tim Harris’s bass and Josh Madell on drums. The no-nonsense approach to songwriting has been an Antietam staple, and Tenth Life is no exception.

I recorded this set with the four microphone rig mounted on a clamp at the front of the soundboard booth. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Big Bluff Love”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/A0408Antietam8025/04.%20Big%20Bluff%20Love.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Antietam
2011-05-10
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded at the Soundboard Rail

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2011-05-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 37:44]
01 Numbered Days
02 Something’s Gonna Give
03 Kick It Hard
04 Big Bluff Love
05 Things You Can’t Explain
06 [banter]
07 Clarion
08 Better Man
09 Basra Bound
10 Lucky Day
11 (Keep Me) Satisfied

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Antietam, visit their website, and purchase the new release Tenth Life directly from the Carrot Top Records website [HERE].

Cass McCombs: May 12, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 15, 2011
By


[photos by John Ruscher for Eardrum NYC]

Cass McCombs has created and performed superb music for nearly a decade. As he has recorded in locations from Baltimore to Southern California to Michigan to Chicago absorbing all of the musical influences that inform his songcraft, Cass remains an enigmatic and solitary performer whose music is as compelling as it is dark. The release of the brilliant Wit’s End (Domino Records) last month has gathered the standard critical praise for McCombs’ work. But Wit’s End is perhaps the album that will ultimately expose him to the wider audience that he has eluded over the last ten years. At a sold out Bowery Ballroom on Thursday night, the good and bad of that fate was obvious from the outset. A talkative and insufficiently attentive audience missed large portions of what was undoubtedly one of the best shows we’ll see all year. This is music that does not jump out at you, as the songs require concentration and close listening to appreciate the musical and lyrical subtleties. Cass requested that the lights be turned all the way down after the first song, and the stage illuminated the band only by the odd wall-of-lightbulbs backdrop thereafter. The band opened the set with the first three songs from Wit’s End — the Laurel Canyon-esque “County Line” is streaming below — and then performed a democratic selection of material from all of Cass’s releases, highlighted by “Don’t Vote”, “Equinox”, and reaching as far back as the title track from his debut EP “Not The Way”. The band matched the mood of the material perfectly and while there were abundant solos and extended jams (“Harmonia” extended past ten minutes), there were no flourishes or inauthentic stage theatrics. After a brief thanks to the crowd, Cass closed the set with a powerful eight-minute version of “Bobby, King of Boy’s Town” before the lights quickly came up. As the crowd filtered out, I couldn’t help but think that half of them had missed a truly great show.

I recorded this set from the balcony rail with the four-microphone rig and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Thanks to Cass and Domino Records for their courtesy and permission to record this show.

Stream “County Line”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/C1205Cass1102/03.%20County%20Line.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Cass McCombs
2011-05-12
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded at the Balcony Railing

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2011-05-14

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:28:04]
01 Buried Alive
02 The Lonely Doll
03 County Line
04 Meet Me Here At Dawn
05 Prima Donna
06 Pregnant Pause
07 Harmonia
08 Meet Me At the Mannequin Gallery [new song]
09 Equinox
10 Don’t Vote
11 Not the Way
12 Aids in Africa
13 When the Bible Was Wrote
14 Bobby, King of Boy’s Town

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Cass McCombs, visit his website, and purchase Wit’s End from the Domino website [HERE].

Yo La Tengo: May 11, 2011 Bell House – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 15, 2011
By


[Photo from the 5/10 show courtesy of Chris Gerbeck at fucking nostalgic]

After an epic Tuesday night “Spin the Wheel” show that found Yo La Tengo playing a special “Name Game” first set, the second night kicked off with “I’d Like To Buy A Vowel,” a new wheel item that requires the band to play only songs of theirs that begin in vowels. In other words, the fans got some great music, but compared to having to, say, perform a classic sitcom, it was a fairly lucky and safe choice for the band. The safe moves ended after that, though, as they kicked off with the punked-up “Artificial Heart” that transitioned seamlessly into their more mellow classic, “Autumn Sweater.” From there the band played through the low-key trio of “If It’s True,” “I’m On My Way” and “Alyda” before kicking the tempo back up with the explosive (and rarely played) “86-Second Blowout” from 1992’s May I Sing With Me. After an inspired, noise-drenched “Outsmartener”, the band launched into an insane 14-minute version of “I Heard You Looking” that left it all on the stage. It was hard to imagine a band not finishing an entire show, let alone a set, after such a monster performance, but this being Yo La Tengo, they let us come down easy, wrapping up set one with the subdued Lou Reed cover, “It’s Alright (The Way That You Live).”

In general, I felt like the sequencing of this show was a slight improvement over the previous night, though we have seen so many Yo La Tengo shows in the past 12 months, it is hard to play favorites. Still, the second set of this show felt incredibly cohesive, kicking off with “Walking Away From You,” a 12-minute “More Stars Than There Are In Heaven” and “False Alarm” all presented as a virtually seamless composition. The noisy side of Yo La Tengo has always been my favorite, so this trifecta pushed all the right buttons for me. Set 2 ended with another awesome 23-minute three-song series, of a monster “Big Day Coming” that found Ira in top form on guitar, jamming straight into “Tom Courtenay” and ending with the band’s reimagined version of Beach Boys’ “Little Honda”.

Perhaps feeling sheepish that they hadn’t been forced to play anything ridiculously out-of-the-box during their two Brooklyn shows, for the encore, the band decided to play a mini-set of three songs in their alter ego cover band mode, Condo Fucks. As with the first set, the encore ended on a quiet note, with another May I Sing With Me number, “Detouring America With Horns.” Few bands get the chance to do truly do whatever the want night after night in front of sell-out crowds, and Yo La Tengo have done everything possible to earn it. No matter how many shows you see, there are always new dimensions, new twists, new laughs, and new songs to be impressed and surprised by, and these two nights exemplified that perfectly.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps microphones running into an ultraquiet digital preamp, combined with an excellent soundboard feed. The results are outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “86-Second Blowout”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/08 86 Second Blowout.mp3]

Stream “It’s Alright (The Way That You Live) [Lou Reed]”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/11 It’s Alright (The Way That You Live).mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2011-05-11
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: SBD+Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBpre2>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: At soundboard, DFC, mics pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, smooth peaks, amplify and balance, downsample to 16bit/44.1kHz)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
Set I: I’d Like To Buy A Vowel
01 Game Show Intro
02 Artificial Heart>
03 Autumn Sweater
04 If It’s True
05 I’m On My Way
06 [banter]
07 Alyda
08 86 Second Blowout
09 Outsmartener
10 I Heard You Looking
11 It’s Alright (The Way That You Live) [Lou Reed]

Set II
12 Walking Away From You>
13 More Stars Than There Are In Heaven>
14 False Alarm
15 [banter]
16 The Weakest Part
17 [banter]
18 Mr. Tough
19 Satellite>Big Day Coming>
20 Tom Courtenay
21 Little Honda [Beach Boys]
22 [encore break]

Encore: (Mostly) Condo Fucks Set
23 Whatcha Gonna Do [Small Faces]
24 Come On Baby [Young Rascals]
25 Dog Meat [Flamin’ Groovies]
26 Detouring America With Horns

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the store at their website [HERE].

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