[Photos by acidjack]

Luke Rathborne is young, has an LP and two EPs under his belt, and he’s just getting started. Rathborne’s 2011 record, After Dark, was recorded when he was a young man of 17; he came here at 18. We found him at Glasslands less than two years later celebrating the release of a new album, SOFT, that refines the sound of those rawer earlier experiments. Styling the performing band simply Rathborne, the group took the stage and kicked off the Replacements-esque “Wanna Be You” without a second’s hesitation. Rathborne is a natural presence onstage, with a refreshing kindness and innocence to go with his rock poise. He may not have even been born then, but Rathborne is clearly a student of the 80s, particularly New Wave acts like the Cars. Most of the songs played clocked in under three minutes and exuded fresh energy. Rathborne closed the set with “So Long NYC”, about the all-too-common story of your dreams washing out. But for Luke Rathborne, his own dreams are very much alive.

I recorded this set with our Glasslands house setup, including Naiant microphones and a mix provided by house engineer Chris. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Last Forgiven”:

Stream “Deal”

Direct download of the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Rathborne
2013-05-14
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Naiant X-R (cardiod, DFC, ORTFish) + Soundboard (engineer: Chris)>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, tube effect)>Audacity 3.0 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, light parallel compression, tagging, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Wanna Be You
02 What More
03 I’m So Tired
04 [tuning/banter]
05 Eno
06 Last Forgiven
07 [banter1]
08 Nobody Knows
09 Soft
10 Why
11 Deal
12 Low!
13 Don’t Call Me Baby
14 So Long NYC

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Rathborne, visit their website, and pre-order SOFT [HERE]

[Photos by acidjack - the band and recording are much better than these photos]

Last time we saw Seattle’s Night Beats they blew us away with their energy and ability to delivery a set of straight-ahead garage rock full of songs you’d remember the next day. This show at Glasslands found them in the familiar spot of opening for another critically acclaimed band — in this case, Iceland’s Dead Skeletons — and Night Beats gave a performance that was every bit the equal of their earlier headlining set at the Knit. Even more special this time around, the band played almost entirely new material from their next record on Trouble In Mind, which drops in August. The band is not ready to share the titles of them yet, but it’s safe to say that if you dig their first LP and EP, the new songs will make you happy. The new material features some excellent guitar work at points, including some pretty serious shredding during the second of the new numbers. Keep an eye out in the coming months for more info on the new album.

I recorded this set with the Naiant X-R microphones mounted in the venue plus a soundboard feed from Jeremy, the night’s engineer. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “new song #2″

Stream “Puppet On A String”

Direct download of the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Night Beats
2013-05-08
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Naiant X-R (cardiod, DFC, ORTFish) + Soundboard (engineer: Jeremy)>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, tube effect)>Audacity 3.0 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, light parallel compression, tagging, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks (please let me know if any song titles are wrong)
01 Puppet On A String
02 Shadows In the Night
03 [new song 1]
04 [new song 2]
05 [new song 3]
06 [new song 4]
07 [new song 5]
08 [new song 6]
09 [new song 7]
10 [new song 8]
11 [new song 9]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Night Beats, like them on Facebook, and purchase their record directly from Trouble In Mind Records [HERE]

It was three years ago that we saw what I believe to have been one of the first Lady Lamb the Beekeeper shows in New York, a solo set at the opening night of the Rock Shop. That was back in the days when Skippy was still in NYC and billed a show for the ages that night — Sharon Van Etten and TuneYards headlined the bill. Aly Spaltro was still a teenager at that point, but it was obvious that she was abundantly talented with unlimited potential. She was signed to Bada Bing Records, and after several self-released albums, the first proper Lady Lamb album came out this year. Ripely Pine is a superb album that highlights Aly’s strengths — emotional vocals, intimate songwriting and aggressive musicianship. This is also an album that will profile her talents to a much wider audience. We saw the beginnings of that at a packed Glasslands on Saturday night. While the front half of the crowd consisted of fan-boys and fan-girls who seemed to know all the words to the songs, the back half of the crowd contained those “here to be seen” types who are both a blessing and a curse to an artist — more ticket sales but less attention. Aly’s set consisted of much of Ripely Pine and a few older songs. We were particularly impressed with “Bird Balloons” which opened the set with a fury that never let up. Lady Lamb continues the tour on the East Coast before heading to Europe in the end of May.

I recorded this set in our usual manner in this venue, with the mounted Naiant cards matrixed with an excellent board feed mixed by Glasslands excellent house FOH Josh. The packed Saturday night crowd presented some challenges as the din of chatter is present at quiet moments. We were also visited by persistent thumps from the DJ at 285 next door. Otherwise the sound quality is excellent, and with those caveats, enjoy!

Stream “Bird Balloons”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
2013-05-11
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Naiant X-R Cardioid > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2013-05-12

Setlist
[Total Time 1:02:22]
01 Bird Balloons
02 [band intro]
03 Aubergine
04 [banter - TJ]
05 Hair to the Ferris Wheel
06 Between Two Trees
07 Florence Berlin
08 Milk Duds
09 Regarding Ascending the Stairs
10 You Are the Apple
11 [banter - thanks]
12 The Nothing Part Two
13 [banter - loud voice]
14 Crane Your Neck

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, visit her website, and purchase Ripely Pine from Bada Bing Records [HERE].

It was six years ago today, May 11, 2007 that I opened NYCTaper as an experiment in a new way to distribute live recordings in the context of a music blog. Today I can say that the site has exceeded my expectations in every imaginable way. Thanks for our faithful readers, the addition of three other excellent editors and multiple other contributors, the site is now a mainstay and something for which we can all be proud. So thanks for six great years!

Last year we had a big party for our Fifth Anniversary, an epic show at 285 Kent headlined by Oneida. Their set is still available [HERE].

[Photos courtesy of Dominick Mastrangelo Photography]

We were captivated by Lucius when they joined us for a Backyard Brunch Session last year, and since that time, their buzz has only grown. After being hailed as a “band to watch” by multiple outlets leading up to and after this year’s SXSW, the band landed a slot opening for Caveman on their headlining tour. This homecoming show at Webster Hall gave Lucius a chance to give it their all in front of the hometown fans. They showed off three new songs, in addition to some of the numbers we fell in love with during the session, like “Go Home”. One could be forgiven for mistaking Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig for sisters; the pair sing their harmonies so tightly you might think they’d been doing it since childhood. With a full band behind them for this set, their sound was able to fill the big room without losing the delicacy that made it special for us in that backyard in East Williamsburg. Look for the band to have an LP to share soon.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 supercardiod microphones from our usual spot in the venue, plus the soundboard feed used for the Caveman recording. There are a few trouble spots during the first song as the levels were getting dialed in by the engineer; otherwise the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Genevieve”

Direct download of the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Lucius
2013-04-10
Webster Hall
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by nyctaper and acidjack
Produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK41 (balcony, DFC, DINa)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre>Sony PCM-D50 + Soundboard>R-44 [OCM]>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, tape effect)>Audacity 3.0 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, parallel compression, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [new song 1]
02 Go Home
03 Don’t Just Sit There
04 Genevieve
05 [new song 2]
06 [new song 3]
07 Two Of Us
08 [banter]
09 Wildewoman

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Lucius, visit their website, and purchase their EP from [HERE] or on iTunes.

[Photos by acidjack]

Chicago’s Disappears distinguish themselves by being both consistent and prolific. Since their 2010 full-length debut, Lux, they’ve cranked out one consistent release after another, from 2011′s Guider EP to 2012′s Pre-Language plus a live album. This year has already seen two more releases, the 12″ EP Kone and single-sided and limited 12″ EP A New House In A New Town. Each of these releases has offered incremental refinements to their dark post-punk sound. This show at the Knitting Factory Brooklyn was my first time seeing  Kone done live, and the title song and its b-side “Kontakt” offer some clues as to where the band’s sound is heading. Both those songs represent longer-form compositions than the tightly-paced stuff from Pre Language, but the new style works for the band, broadening their palette a bit. But fear not, this set still featured several of the band’s floor-fillers, including the one-two punch of “Replicate” and “Pre Language early in the set. There were also a handful of songs I could not identify that I believe were either new or from the A New House In A New Town EP, but any more information would be appreciated. The band also played three new songs — “Girl”, “Power” and “Elite Typical” — from their forthcoming new LP, expected late this summer. Thanks to Disappears for clearing that up, and here’s to that new record!

I recorded this set with MBHO KA200N cardiod microphones and an excellent soundboard feed of the house mix by the Knit engineer Rob and Disappears’ traveling FOH. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Kone”

Direct download of the entire show [MP3] | [FLAC]

Follow acidjack on twitter

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense.  The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Disappears
2013-04-25
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

MBHO KA200N>MBP603>Aerco MP-2 + Soundboard (engineer: Rob)>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 3.0 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [unknown1] Girl
02 Replicate
03 Pre Language
04 [unknown2] Power
05 [unknown3] Elite Typical
06 Minor Patterns
07 Kone
08 Love Drug
09 Joa
10 Kontakt

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Disappears, visit their website, and purchase their records, including Kone, from their online store [HERE]

If you’re the opening act and at the end of your set the crowd is literally chanting the name of your band, you’re doing something right. A couple of weeks back, the Brooklyn What opened for Dead Milkmen at Bowery Ballroom and their set was so damned entertaining that there was a mosh pit, stage diving and yes indeed, as you can hear at the end of the recording, the crowd chanting their name. The Brooklyn What are an amalgam of styles, with influences as wide at the New York Dolls, the Minutemen, and 1960s Brooklyn do-wop — performed with an uninhibited and indefatigable style. Lead singer and frontman Jamie Frey is a ball of energy who from the outset of the show engaged the crowd. As a result, the band got the attention they deserved throughout the set, built the momentum and finished with perhaps the best response we’ve ever seen from an opening set. The Brooklyn What played much of their new album Hot Wine, some older material and a couple of well-received covers. The band will play again later this month in a show at Shea Stadium on May 16.

We recorded this show in the same manner at the Dead Milkmen set and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “The Basement”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Brooklyn What
2013-04-21
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-05-02

Setlist:
[Total Time 35:35]
01 Catastrophe Kids
02 Come To Me
03 Punk Rock Loneliness
04 She Gives Me Spasms
05 Game Of Pricks [Guided By Voices]
06 Sledgehammer Night
07 Hot Wine
08 [banter]
09 The Basement
10 I Want You On A Saturday Night
11 I Wanna Be Your Dog [Stooges]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Brooklyn What, visit their Bandcamp page, visit their Facebook page, and purchase the new album Hot Wine from their Bandcamp page [HERE].

[Photos by Jill Harrison at For the Love of Brooklyn]

Paul Damian Hogan The Third (if you wonder why the full name, Google “Paul Hogan” — he’s Crocodile Dundee, in case you’re wondering) is one of those artists that doesn’t slow down. Visit his website and you’ll find links to no less than eight albums, film scores, compositions, production (Friend Roulette’s EP, strings on Passion Pit’s Manners), and a few TV commercials — oh, and he’s also in the bands Frances and Ta Da, in his spare time. I was lucky enough to be invited to this special event at The Bushwick Starr, a comfortable DIY theater and event space on Starr Street near the Jefferson L, which Paul had rented out for the night to debut his latest record, The House, which appropriately enough is the successor to The Hut from 2009. Surrounded by friends and joined by a number of special guests, Hogan played The House for us straight through, with several songs transitioning seamlessly into the others. Hearing him live, it’s no surprise that he spends significant time as an arranger and producer — or that he has a Ph.D. in music — as his compositions and arrangements are dense, varied and surprising, never going quite where you expect. This debut of the new record in this unique and intimate space was the perfect way to introduce us to Hogan’s latest effort.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 microphones in the center of the room with a wide pattern to capture the way it sounded live. Other than some PA hiss and occasional distortion, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Fooled”

Download the complete show [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Paul Damian Hogan the Third
2013-04-05
The Bushwick Starr
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK5 (cardiod, ORTF, DFC, FOB)>KCY>Z-PFA>Roland R-26>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 3.0 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, parallel compression, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro] (Matt Meade of Friend Roulette)
02 California Sands
03 Golden Cactus
04 Constellation
05 The Heat Stroke Song
06 The Really Really Long Road
07 Evil Wheel
08 Fooled
09 Cosmic Walkabout
10 The Fort

Players:
Paul Damian Hogan the Third (keys, vocals)
Matt Meade (guitar)
Kyle Olson (drums)

Guest appearances by:
John Stanesco (sax, bass clarinet)
Julia Tepper (violin, vox)
Stephanie Skaff (vox)

Live slide show by Brighid Greene and Stephanie Gould

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Paul Damian Hogan, visit his website, and purchase The House directly from him [HERE], including the limited vinyl edition.

We’re big fans of Crutchfields here at NYCTaper. First, there was Katie’s band Waxahatchee, from the Don Giovanni showcase earlier this year. Today its Swearin, the Brooklyn/Philly quartet co-fronted by Allison Crutchfield with Kyle Gilbride. Swearin were the third of the five band bill assembled at Maxwell’s to celebrate the new CD release by Shellshag on Saturday last. I was initially unfamiliar with the band, but immediately perked up my ears as their set contained instant catchy hooks and an energy that was hard to miss. As with their self-titled debut album, all of the songs in their set were 2-3 minute bursts of pop-punk goodness. We’re streaming “Movie Star” below which features Allison belting out her most heartfelt vocals of their short show. Swearin will play Death By Audio on May 10, also sharing a bill with Shellshag.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Screaming Females set, and except for some noticeable crowd chatter in between songs, the sound is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Movie Star”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Swearin
2013-04-20
Maxwells
Hoboken NJ

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-04-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 28:22]
01 Here to Hear
02 What a Dump
03 Mermaid
04 [new song]
05 Just
06 Crashing
07 Dusted
08 Kenosha
09 Movie Star
10 Kill em With Kindness

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Swearin, visit their Bandcamp page, and purchase their debut album and EP from the Bandcamp page [HERE].

To paraphrase the Beatles, I thought I knew Akron/Family, what did I know. A band that I had returned to see live ten or so times were “must-see” because their shows have always been immensely enjoyable — celebratory and tribal, the material has alternated between melodic and hypnotic jamming and sweet (and sometimes very quiet) ballads. The current tour for the new album Sub Verses (officially released today April 30) is a very different affair indeed. As I tweeted during the Bowery Ballroom show on Wednesday, this current incarnation of Akron/Family is dense and very heavy. There wasn’t much banter or crowd participation, as we’ve experienced at older A/F shows, but the music was equally moving in a profoundly different way. The band has added electronics wiz M Geddes Gengras for this tour and his contribution of throbbing electronic bass and crunch/noise fits perfectly with the thematic nature of Sub Verses, which has been described by the band as having a “SciFi aesthetic” and “propulsive and driven by it’s physicality”, which are both very much accurate. At Bowery, the band played all but one of the new album’s 10 tracks, and just two songs of older material. We are streaming “Sand Time” below. The current tour swings South this week before finishing in LA on May 8.

I recorded this set from our standard balcony rail location in this venue and mixed with an excellent board feed provided by Akron Family’s FOH Tom Tierney. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Sand Time”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Akron Family
2013-04-24
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-04-28

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:36:21]
01 [intro]
02 No Room
03 Way Up
04 Until The Morning
05 Sand Talk
06 Light Emerges
07 Sometimes I
08 Holy Bourbon
09 Drums
10 Sand Time
11 Samurai
12 [encore break]
13 When I Was Young
14 Ed Is a Portal

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Akron/Family, visit their website, and purchase Sub Verses from the Dead Oceans Records website [HERE].