nyctaper Recordings

Becca Stevens is the lead vocalist for Bjorkestra, and her performance last night stands as a shining example of why Bjorkestra works so well. Becca is an extremely talented singer, and she performs Bjork’s music not as in imitation or a mimic. The compositions become Becca’s songs, and yet maintain faithful to the originals. A prime example is the encore of “Its Oh So Quiet” from last night. Becca performed the song in a more traditional big band jazz style than Bjork and provided her own flourishes, but maintained the dynamic of Bjork’s version.

The flac files posted below were recorded again from the prime location with my best equipment, with thanks again to Travis for permission and access. The recording has better stereo separtion, and a better vocal mix than the February recording.

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra
2007-06-15
Highline Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from in Front of the Soundboard Booth
Dead Center, approximately 40 feet from the PA

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime >
digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > flac

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:40:30]
01 Hunter
02 Hyperballad
03 I Go Humble
04 Jòga
05 Cocoon
06 Army of Me
07 Unravel
08 Alarm Call
09 Pluto
10 Show Me Forgiveness
11 Who Is It
12 [band introductions]
13 Human Behavior
14 Its Oh So Quiet

Please support this unique and compelling interpretation of the music of Bjork.
http://www.bjorkestra.com

Bjorkestra at Bowery Ballroom
January 20, 2006

As the founder and host of the Bjork Hub since March 2004, I’ve had a lot of contact with Bjork-related projects, some of which have worked with the hub in artist promotion. Of these, the Bjorkestra is by far the most rewarding.

Bjorkestra succeeds so effectively for two very distinct reasons: the quality of the musicians, and the content and vision of the creation. The musicians are essentially a “who’s who” in the new wave of young downtown NYC jazz musicians. The concept of Bjorkestra is quite simple, Bjork’s music set in big band brass arrangements–and the execution of that concept is quite superbly done. The arrangements are original, yet capture the essence of the music, and leave ample room for the musicians to breathe their own unique abilities into the framework of the songs. It also helps that Travis Sullivan is an engaging individual, and he stamps his gregarious personality all over the music.

Bjorkestra is performing on Friday June 15, at the Highline Ballroom in NYC. If you have the opportunity to attend this concert, by all means make your way to the venue and experience this superb act.

The performance captured in the recording posted below is both musically outstanding, and a very enjoyable listen. Travis was nice enough to place me on the guest list, and allow me to record from inside of the soundboard booth, with a microphone stand, using my best equipment. The result is an honest and clear capture of Bjorkestra.

Direct download of Complete show in FLAC is [HERE].

More about FLAC

Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra
2007-02-02
The Canal Room
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Inside the Soundboard Booth
Dead Center, approximately 30 feet from the PA

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime >
digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > flac

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:44:10]
01 Overture
02 Hyperballad
03 Alarm Call
04 Enjoy
05 Jòga
06 Army of Me
07 Unravel
08 Pluto
09 Show Me Forgiveness
10 Hunter
11 Who Is It
12 Cocoon
13 Human Behavior

Please support this unique and compelling interpretation of the music of Bjork, and visit the Bjorkestra site.

There are times when the planets align, and everything goes right. There are also times when history repeats itself. Both phenomena occurred on May 30, 2007 at Madison Square Garden, as Roger Waters returned to New York for the tail end of the lengthy Dark Side of the Moon tour. As in September, the concert was superb, and as you’ll find below, the recording conditions were optimal.

I recorded this concert from almost the exact position as the September 12, 2006 recording, and used comparable equipment. As a result, the recording is a faithful capture of the soundscape in the best sonic seat in the house–absolute center, about 30 feet in front of the Soundboard.

This recording is no longer available at nyctaper. You can probably find it on several sites on the web.

Roger Waters
2007-05-30
Madison Square Garden
New York, NY USA

“The Dark Side of Manhattan”
Pinkroioshn CDR-022 (PRS-CDR-022)

Digital Master FOB Recording
DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM)

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

First Set:
[total time 1:12:16]
01 In The Flesh
02 Mother
03 Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun
04 Shine On You Crazy Diamond
05 Have A Cigar
06 Wish You Were Here
07 Southampton Dock
08 The Fletcher Memorial Home
09 Perfect Sense Parts 1 and 2
10 Leaving Beirut
11 Sheep

Second Set
01 Dark Side of the Moon
Encores
02 Band Introductions
03 The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
04 Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)
05 Vera
06 Bring the Boys Back Home
07 Comfortably Numb

As with all the artists featured on this site, please SUPPORT the ARTIST and
purchase Roger Waters official recordings.

The Dark Side of the Moon Tour 2007 returned to the US last week, after 5 excellent concerts in the NY/NJ area in 2006. Musically, the concert is virtually identical to the 2006, but the stage show is significantly expanded and the band is naturally tighter and more cohesive after nearly a year of touring together.
The sound quality in the venue was superb, and my recording position was quite advantageous–right below the large left PA stack. The uni-directional DPA cardiod microphones were excellent for this situation, as the sound is quite upfront and clear and the persistent crowd chatter is diminished.

Unfortunately, due to a technical problem with my digital compact flash card, I was unable to record the last song of the Dark Side set, and did not record the encores. The first set is complete, and the sound quality is comparable to the Waters 2006 recording posted below.

This recording is no longer available at nyctaper. You can probably find it on several sites on the web.

Roger Waters
2007-05-24
Continental Airlines Arena
East Rutherford, NJ USA

“Swamp Moon”
Pinkroioshn CDR-021 (PRS-CDR-021)

Digital Master FOB Recording
DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM)

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

First Set:
[total time 1:12:16]
01 In The Flesh
02 Mother
03 Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun
04 Shine On You Crazy Diamond
05 Have A Cigar
06 Wish You Were Here
07 Southampton Dock
08 The Fletcher Memorial Home
09 Perfect Sense Parts 1 and 2
10 Leaving Beirut
11 Sheep

Second Set
01 Dark Side of the Moon
(Encores not Recorded – see above)

Information: txt file
Verification: Set 1 md5 file
Set 2 md5 file

As with all the artists featured on this site, please SUPPORT the ARTIST and
purchase Roger Waters official recordings.

Roger Waters, joined by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, surrounded by a band of ringers, performing the entire Dark Side of the Moon suite start to finish.

Some nights the stars just seem to align and everything goes right. Such was September 12, 2006 at Madison Square Garden. A flawless show, the perfect seats, my best equipment, and ultimately what you will hear is the best recording I have ever made, and likely will ever make.

If you have not downloaded this elsewhere, do yourself a favor and grab it now.

This recording is no longer available at nyctaper. You can probably find it on several sites on the web.

Roger Waters
2006-09-12
Madison Square Garden
New York, NY USA

First Set
01 In The Flesh
02 Mother
03 Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun
04 Shine On You Crazy Diamond
05 Have A Cigar
06 Wish You Were Here
07 Southampton Dock
08 The Fletcher Memorial Home
09 Perfect Sense Parts 1 and 2
10 Leaving Beirut
11 Sheep

Second Set
01 Dark Side of the Moon
(Encores)
02 Band Introductions/The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
03 Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)
04 Vera
05 Bring the Boys Back Home
06 Comfortably Numb

Information txt file
Verification md5 file

CD Artwork may be downloaded here.

This download will remain on the site until May 24, when nyctaper will premiere a new Roger Waters recording from New Jersey.

As with all the artists featured on this site, please SUPPORT the ARTIST and
purchase Roger Waters official recordings.

It was announced in September, and it almost seemed too miraculous to be true. The concert was scheduled on my actual Birthday! But when the travel package was posted on the icelandair website, the concept of flying 2500 miles to Iceland became a reality.

Oh, and what a reality–four days of celebration in a city that loves its nightlife. Reykjavik is perhaps the most fun city in Europe. Sandwiched in the middle was the reunion concert, which as you can tell from this recording, was sublimely magnificent. The band was tight, energetic, motivated, and was having a ball. As were we.

If you were interested in this concert, you’ve undoubtedly seen many youtube clips of varying quality. At some point there was discussion of an official release, but all the members have moved on, and that seems highly unlikely. What nyctaper.com presents is the only complete recording of this concert, and in outstanding audio quality. I was able to record the concert with my best equipment, and the Icelandic audience was attentive and charming.

nyctaper.com presents as its premiere free lossless download recording:

Direct Download of FLAC files [HERE].

The Sugarcubes
2006-11-17
Laugardalsholl
Reykjavi­k Iceland
20th Anniversary Reunion Concert

01 Traitor (Icelandic [I])
02 Leash Called Love
03 Deus (I)
04 Water (I)
05 Bee (I)
06 Planet
07 Shoot Him (I)
08 Walkabout
09 Mama
10 Pump (I)
11 Regina (I)
12 A Day Called Zero
13 Ammæli
14 Coldsweat
15 Blue Eyed Pop
16 Motorcrash
17 Delicious Demon
Encores:
18 Hit
19 F*cking in Rhythm & Sorrow
20 Luftgitar**

**With Johnny Triumph and various band members’ children

As with all artists to be featured on this site, please SUPPORT the ARTIST
and buy their official releases. This concert itself was a benefit to support
the Smekkleysa/Bad Taste Label. Excellent Sugarcubes releases are available at:
Bad Taste Online Shop

Flac is the most common form of lossless compression. This form of file compression does not remove from the audio files any data, as do mp3 and other lossy schemes.

Flac has developed into a cross-platform format. Free software downloads are available for all potential uses of flac audio files, including computer listening and CD burning:

To listen to Flac files on your computer, 4 different programs are suggested:
Foobar is an advanced audio player for Windows.
Winamp is another windows based audio player

For Mac users, VLC is a cross-platform multi-media player which supports flac files
Cog is a Mac program (OS-X) with lossless codecs already installed to play flac on a Mac.

Flac files can be burned to audio CD either by direct burning with a flac plug-in, or by
converting to wav and burning to disc.

Nero is a commercial product which supports directly burning to disc with flac plugin. Unfortunately, although Nero is popular product it is prone to frequent crashes, and disc errors.

Roxio is a commercial product that offers a comparable but more stable software than Nero.
Download Roxio Software at Roxio.com

Multiple alternatives to Nero are located here

Flac Frontend is the flagship program for the flac format in the Windows format. It will convert to wav, which can be burned by any pre-installed CD burner.

For Mac users, an excellent compression toolkit is xACT

This Sourceforge page contains many other flac program downloads and very useful information. A visit to the Sourceforge page is very much recommended.

Trader’s Little Helper is a fine all-in-one lossless toolkit for Windows users.