nyctaper Recordings

[photo credit]

Its heartwarming when great things happen to nice people. Its also incredibly reassuring when an artist like Kimya Dawson, whose thoroughly unique and engaging singing and songwriting have entranced small audiences for more than a decade, reaches a wider audience. The sold-out Southpaw gig was a triumphant return “home” for Kimya, and she seemed genuinely touched and perhaps a little “freaked” (her word) by the overwhelmingly positive reception.

In a nice lesson in you reap what you sow, Kimya’s fans also happen to be a diverse crowd of genuinely nice people. This kind of feeling came to fruition when Kimya organized a post-show massive hand-circle and hug which included much of the crowd. If this sounds a bit too hokey for the average Brooklyn anti-folk fan, bear in mind that Kimya’s songs deal with a wide variety of serious issues, or “tough shit” as she said during some concert banter this afternoon. This concert featured a nice run through the strength of her catalog along with some new numbers from an upcoming “children’s album”.

Prior to this concert, Kimya responded promptly and positively to an email from nyctaper regarding recording the performance. We set up at the rail in the front, at the center of the venue above the crowd. Thanks to co-taper Brian, our microphones were positioned in the perfect location. Kimya’s “low-fi” audio perhaps prevents a perfect recording, but this one captures the true natural atmosphere of the venue and the performance and the magic we all experienced. Enjoy!

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

Kimya Dawson
2008-01-13
Southpaw
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board Dead Center
30 Feet from PA Stacks at Railing

DPA 4021s (9 ft Stand) > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, modify close clapping, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Many thanks to Kimya for permission to record, Southpaw for being
a excellent friendly venue, and Brian for the mic stand clamp.

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-01-13

Setlist:
[total time 58:55]
01 Tire Swing
02 Being Cool
03 Eleventeen
04 Underground
05 Chemistry
06 Fire
07 Henry Kelly
08 Little Monster Babies
09 Bobbio
10 Seven Hungry Tigers
11 The Smoothie Song
12 Little Panda Bear
13 Alpha Butt
14 Weatherman
15 Beer
16 Viva La Persistence
17 Singing Machine
18 I Like Giants
19 Loose Lips

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Kimya Dawson and visit her website. Kimya works with the independent record label K-Records. You can purchase her wonderful official releases by following the links to K-Records (here).

[photo credit]

Marco Benevento has invited an interesting and varied roster of guest performers for his Thursday night January residency at Sullivan Hall. This past Thursday was the second installment and featured his standard partner Joe Russo (drums) in addition to Brad Barr from The Slip on guitar. The improvisation was top notch, and combined elements of prog, jazz, fusion and trance. The open ended nature of the sessions allow each artist to stretch out the limits of the space and be free of genres.

Sullivan Hall is the old Lion’s Den after a complete over-hall. The inside layout is quite similar, but the changes resulted in serious upgrades to the sound system and facilities. The venue is extremely friendly to tapers, and Marco Benevento permits open taping.

Unfortunately, I arrived fairly late at the venue, and the crowd was packed. As a result, I set up in a very busy location which became unworkable about 30 minutes after Benevento & Guests began their set. I recorded a segment of the first set and offer it as a sample of the magic produced this night. I will be returning on the 31st to record the closing night of the Benevento residency. The sound of this recording is outstanding (except for the massive crowd and its chatter). I expect the quality will be superior on the 31st, as well as a complete concert recording. Enjoy this sample as a preview of the excellent music available at these shows. See the last three!

Marco Benevento continues with unique guests each Thursday for the remainder of the month:
January 17: with Stanton Moore and Marc Friedman
January 24: with Billy Martin, Calvin Weston, and Skerik
January 31: with Reed Mathis and Andrew Barr

Download this recording in FLAC [HERE].

Marco Benevento & Guests
2008-01-10
Sullivan Hall
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded Front of Board Left Center

DPA 4021s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge (levels and fades) > Flac Frontend

Recorded by nyctaper
Premiere download offered at
http://www.nyctaper.com

Partial First Set:
[total time 20:26]
01 Jam

Please SUPPORT Marco Benevento and visit his website, where you can purchase his official releases (here).

[photo credit]

It was nearly 19 years ago when I last saw Natalie Merchant perform live. She was then the strong-voiced and charismatic singer of 10,000 Maniacs who was a bit quirky if not a little cold. After nearly two decades of success, including Maniacs charting singles, and a solo career that eclipsed her prior band, Natalie stopped touring and had a child.

Her announcement of six New York City dates — her first NYC concerts in 4 years — at the intimate Hiro Ballroom were a pleasant surprise, if not a complete shock. 2008 finds Natalie’s voice and charisma as strong and sharp as ever, but the years have added stage comfort, wit, and charming storytelling abilities that were a true pleasure to behold. Natalie’s interaction with the crowd throughout the night was warm and playful. Tuesday night’s show, at a Springsteen-like 2 hours and 20 minutes long, featured a series of new numbers from a pair of upcoming releases, including original adaptations of children’s poetry, along with the solo career standards.

This recording has been removed from the site at the request of the artist. nyctaper respects the artists wishes. Please do not email the site about this recording, it is not available.

Natalie Merchant
2008-01-08
Hiro Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Setlist:
[total time 2:16:54]
01 Carnival
02 Build a Levee
03 Break Your Heart
04 Too Long At The Fair
05 Shakespeare’s 73rd Sonnet
06 Equestrienne
07 The Janitor’s Boy
08 If No one Marries Me
09 The Man In The Wilderness
10 Texas
11 Life is Sweet
12 Wonder
13 Golden Boy
14 Go Down Moses
15 Giving Up Everything
16 The End
17 [encore break]
18 Village Green Preservation Society
19 Sweet Lady Genevieve (partial – Natalie acappella)
20 Tell Yourself
21 I Need Love
22 Kind & Generous
23 [second encore break]
24 Which Side are You On?
25 Butterfly Song
26 I’m Not Gonna Beg

Despite the removal of this recording, nyctaper encourages our readers to PLEASE SUPPORT Natalie Merchant and visit her website.

[photo credit]

moe.’s annual New Year’s warm-up gig was an intimate affair at a packed Irving Plaza. The special surprise guest was the (former) Allman Brothers legend Dicky Betts, who guided the band through an epic In Memory of Elizabeth Reed before joining in during Al Schnier’s Allmans-like Mexico.

This recording was made from the perfect location in this venue, and should be better than it is. In December, I sent my Neumann microphones to be serviced, and have used the DPA microphones exclusively. The quality of the two sets is fairly similar, but the Neumann’s have a -10db pad for situations like this concert. The sound in the venue was quite powerful and overwhelmed the DPA > Apogee system. I used the “soft-limiter” to prevent distortion, but during louder moments the sound is still “crunchy”. The problem was significantly reduced during the 2nd set. During quieter passages, particularly in Set 2, this recording is absolutely superb. Enjoy!

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

moe.
2007-12-30
Irving Plaza
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Front of Board
Dead Center approximately 40 feet from the stage

DPA 4021s (9 ft Stand) > Apogee Mini-Me > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, balance levels, dither, downsample, patch) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

*crossfade 1 minute and 10 seconds of patch material from an alternate recorder in the middle of Buster (thanks Eric)

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-01-05

Setlist:
Set 1
[total time 1:02:44]
01 Stranger Than Fiction
02 Runaway Overlude
03 Captain America
04 Seat Of My Pants
05 Sensory Deprivation Bank
06 Timmy Tucker

Set 2
[total time 2:05:25]
01 Opium
02 In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
03 St. Augustine
04 Where Does the Time Go?
05 Mexico
06 [encore break]
07 Spaz Medicine
08 Buster
09 Spaz Medicine

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT moe. and visit their website.
and purchase their latest official release:

The New York Dolls reunion is another one of those unlikely-but-true rock stories with a bittersweet happy ending. The band performed two nights at Irving this week, and while Syl Sylvain and David Johansen look fit and sang and played with focus, its hard to watch this band without realizing that its rhythm section and lead guitarist are no longer with us. The Dolls paid a fine tribute to Johnny Thunders when Syl pointed out Johnny’s daughter in the balcony before the dedication of Johnny’s classic “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” segued neatly into his Dolls composition “Lonely Planet Boy”. David also dedicated “Private World” to the late bassist Arthur Kane. While the “new” band members are unfamiliar, their instrumental backing was superb. All the classics were performed along with some of the numbers from their excellent new release.

The recording was made from the ideal location at this venue, and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

This recording has been removed from nyctaper. Although we have not been contacted by NY Dolls or their representatives, it was announced on January 17, 2008 that portions of these two nights would appear on a live release (here). Please support NY Dolls and purchase the official version of these outstanding concerts.

New York Dolls
2007-12-29
Irving Plaza
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB Center
Dead Center 30 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

Premiere Download offered at
http://www.nyctaper.com
nyctaper@nyctaper.com

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:31:28]
01 Looking For a Kiss
02 Puss ‘N’ Boots
03 We’re All In Love
04 Piece of My Heart
05 Pills
06 Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano
07 Private World
08 I Aint Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore
09 Rainbow Store
10 Babylon
11 Plenty of Music
12 Human Being
13 You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory
14 Lonely Planet Boy
15 Who Are the Mystery Girls?
16 Dance Like A Monkey
17 Trash
18 Jet Boy
19 [encore break]
20 Personality Crisis
21 Gotta Get Away From Tommy

CD Cover Artwork (Thanks JohnE!):
coverart

Information:
txt file

Verification:
md5 file

If you download this recording PLEASE SUPPORT New York Dolls and visit their website.

[photo credit]

Friday night was the opening show of Gov’t Mule’s annual New Year’s run at the Beacon — and it was a barn-burner. Warren and company ripped through the usual Mule standards, and added a few inspired covers including Bob Marley, Van Morrison, Beatles, and Buffalo Springfield. The crowd was in a celebratory mood, and good will flowed all around. We were treated royally by security, fellow fans, and ultimately the band.

This recording was made from Row G, about 20 feet directly in front of the right PA stacks. The sound is crystal clear, and has a surprisingly deep soundstage, given our uncentered locale. We are extremely pleased with this recording. Enjoy!

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Govt Mule
2007-12-28
Beacon Theatre
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording

Recorded Front of Board
Right Side, Row G Seat 20
20 Feet in Front of Right PA Speakers

DPA 4021s (7 ft Stand) > Apogee Mini-Me > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, balance levels, dither, downsample) > CDWave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-29

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:14:57]
01 Brighter Days
02 32-20 Blues
03 No Need To Suffer
04 Have Mercy On The Criminal
05 Lively Up Yourself
06 Beautifully Broken*
07 Slackjaw Jezebel
08 He Ain’t Give You None
09 For What Its Worth

Set 2
[Total Time 1:29:08]
01 Child Of The Earth
02 Painted Silver Light
03 She Said, She Said
04 Tomorrow Never Knows
05 Streamline Woman
06 Drums
07 Unring The Bell
08 Bad Little Doggie
09 How Many More Years**
10 [encore break]
11 Long Distance Call
12 30 Days in the Hole

*With “When Doves Cry” verses
**With “Wang Dang Doodle” verses

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Gov’t Mule and visit their website. At their site you can purchase soundboard recordings of their concerts via Mule Tracks.

At a recent Pierce Turner gig, I ran into my old friend Fred Parcells from Black ’47. Fred has compiled an extraordinary history of Irish music (including an enormous Black ’47 archive) at his site (here).

There was a time back in the early 90’s when I saw Black ’47 once or twice every week at the old Paddy’s Reilly’s on Second Avenue and 28th Street (the new Reilly’s is on 29th). The combination of free-flowing Guinness, Irish politics, and rollicking Irish music created a captivating and exuberant experience. Black ’47 still plays regularly now at Connolly’s, and still performs about 100 gigs a year (tour info here).

This soundboard recording captures a typically excellent Saturday night at Paddy Reilly’s, when Black ’47 ruled the roost and played tirelessly. The outstanding soundboard mix was done by Johnny Murphy, Black ’47’s soundman at the time. All the instruments are well-balanced, and the sound is bright, clean and energetic. Enjoy!

Download Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Black ’47
1996-12-28
Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar
New York, New York USA

Master Digital Soundboard Recording
Soundboard > Sony D-7 DAT

DAT Master > Panasonic SV-3800 > digital coaxial > Audigy 2 ZS Platinum > Soundforge > 16 bit 44.1 wav > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7,align sector boundaries) > flac

[total time: 1:47:03]
Tracklist:
01 Big Fellah
02 Oh Maureen
03 Fire of Freedom
04 Green Suede Shoes
05 Danny Boy
06 Reels
07 Walk All the Days
08 Livin’ in America
09 Funky Céilí
10 40 Shades of Blue
11 Czechoslovakia
12 Rockin’ the Bronx
13 Who Killed Bobby Fuller?
14 Losin’ It
15 Maria’s Wedding
Encores
16 Gloria
17 I Fought the Law

If you download this recording PLEASE SUPPORT Black ’47 and visit their website.

This month Sigur Ros released Heima — the DVD of their 2006 tour of Iceland. This film captured the band’s return to their homeland after a worldwide tour in support of Takk, their brilliant 2006 release. This past October, nyctaper was fortunate to experience the limited acoustic/film screening sets in NYC. The recording is still available for download at nyctaper.com (here).

Early in the Takk tour, nyctaper recorded the Sigur Ros set at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden. This was a breathtaking experience, as the music and its setting were perfectly matched, and the band performed flawlessly accompanied by a rare appearance of a complete brass section.

nyctaper recorded with small stealth microphones from a decent seat in the 200’s. This is a fine recording, with only some accompanying chatter between songs. Enjoy!

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Sigur Ros
2006-02-09
The Theatre at Madison Square Garden
New York, NY USA

Master Audience Recording
Section 204 Row H, Seat 13,
approximately 75 feet directly in front of left PA speaker

Core Sound Cardiods > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > .wav > Soundforge* > CDWave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

recorded and edited by
nyctaper
2006-02-10

Tracklist:
01 Takk/Glósóli
02 Ný Batterí
03 Saeglopur
04 Gong
05 Andvari
06 Hoppípolla
07 Meo Blódnasir
08 Sé Lest
09 Olsen Olsen
10 Viõrar Vel Til Loftárasa
11 Svo Hljótt
12 Heysátan
Encores:
13 Starálfur
14 Hafssól
15 Untitled #8 (Popplagið)

CD Artwork is in the FLAC folder.

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Sigur Ros and visit their website

[photo credit]

This week has been an anniversary of sorts for Neil Young and I. It was 30 years ago — Christmas of 1977 — when I became a Neil Young fan for life. I received the three-l.p. vinyl Decade as a gift, and wore holes through the grooves playing it so often. When Neil toured the following year with a batch of new songs that would later become Rust Never Sleeps, I was at the Nassau Coliseum show:

Neil Young has been a constant through those entire 30 years, through my passing fads of fanship in punk, post-punk, anti-folk, jamband, et. al. When Neil suffered a serious aneurysm in 2005, it looked as if the career of rock’s most diverse and yet consistently excellent performer would either be curtailed or come to an end. Fortunately, the post-aneurysm Neil was as productive as ever, producing Prairie Wind, appearing in Jonathan Demme’s Heart of Gold, and producing an new album (Living With War) and a full tour with old friends CSNY (a recording of the Jones Beach CSNY 2006 concert is in the nyctaper archives).

The current tour, which ended its US leg on Wednesday night at the United Palace Theatre, has been a complete triumph in support of another superb Neil release Chrome Dreams II. Neil has performed the standard Acoustic/Electric set split, with the appearance of some rare chestnuts mixed in with consistent classics, and new numbers. Wednesday’s show featured the tour’s star revival “Out on the Weekend” as the first set closer. Other highlights included “Journey Through the Past”, “Winterlong”, “Cowgirl in the Sand”, and completely shredded 26-minute “No Hidden Path” as the second set closer.

Some readers may have followed my efforts to attend one of these concerts, which ultimately came to a happy ending when I found a cancellation ticket on ticketmaster on the morning of the 19th. My seat was in Row N, slightly left of center, about 10 rows behind the Soundboard and under the overhang. This is not an optimal recording position, and the problems were exacerbated by the low volume of the PA during the acoustic set and a couple of clowns in the audience around me. The final disaster was my batteries running out during the last few notes of No Hidden Path. After a significant amount of post-production (removing idiotic yelling is excruciatingly difficult), and the very generous offer of the balance of the concert from an alternate recorder thanks to “zuma11”, nyctaper is finally pleased to present a really excellent version of this concert. Enjoy!

This recording is no longer available at nyctaper. If you look around the web, you’ll likely find a copy.

Neil Young
2007-12-19
United Palace Theatre
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Row N
Left Center, 10 Rows Behind Soundboard

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boosts, close clapping and crowd noise edits, slight eq, crossfade patch material) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Premiere Download offered at
http://www.nyctaper.com
nyctaper@nyctaper.com

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-22

Setlist:
Acoustic Set
[total time 1:04:36]
01 From Hank to Hendrix
02 Ambulance Blues
03 Sad Movies
04 A Man Needs a Maid
05 No One Seems To Know
06 Harvest
07 Try
08 Journey Through the Past
09 Mellow My Mind
10 Love Art Blues
11 Cowgirl In the Sand
12 Out On the Weekend

Electric Set
[total time 1:29:01]
01 Mr. Soul
02 Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
03 Dirty Old Man
04 Spirit Road
05 Bad Fog of Loneliness
06 Winterlong
07 Oh, Lonesome Me
08 The Believer
09 No Hidden Path**
Encores
10 [encore break]**
11 Cinnamon Girl**
12 Cortez the Killer**
13 The Sultan**
[**patch material — thanks zuma 11]

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Neil Young and visit his website.

The 1997 and 1998 Fleadh Festivals on Randall’s Island were the greatest live musical experiences of my life. I volunteered to work on the crew for Pierce Turner, and as a result was able to witness a plethora of great music from stage-side, including Patti Smith, Wilco (twice), Van Morrison, X, Shane McGowan, Suzanne Vega, Black ’47, John Prine, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Freedy Johnston, and a host of others.

I recorded several of the acts with a small set of core-sound microphones and a portable DAT. Of these recordings, this Richard Thompson is the best sounding and greatest performance. Thompson performed a solo acoustic set of numbers typical from this era, including his classics “Beeswing” and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” with subtle power and poignancy.

This recording is no longer available at nyctaper. If you look around the web, you’ll likely find a copy.

Richard Thompson
1997-06-15
Fleadh Festival
Randall’s Island
New York, NY USA

Audience Master Recording
Recorded 20 feet in front of left PA speaker

Core Sound Cardiods > Sony D-7 DAT
DAT Master > Panasonic SV-3800 > digital coaxial > Audigy 2 ZS
Platinum > Soundforge > 16 bit 44.1 wav > CD Wave (tracking) >
Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
http://www.nyctaper.com
nyctaper@nyctaper.com
2005-12-12

(Total Time 49:42)
Setlist:
01 Turning of the Tide
02 The Ghost of You Walks
03 I Feel So Good
04 Galway to Graceland
05 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
06 Lottery Land
07 Razor Dance
08 Beeswing
09 Hamlet
10 Wall of Death
11 Dimming of the Day
12 Keep That Wheel A-Turning

Information:
txt file

Verification:
md5 file

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT this outstanding artist and visit his website.