The Caribbean: June 5, 2011 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

June 18, 2011
By

carribean
[Photo by acidjack]

No, there is nothing tropical about The Caribbean. Hailing from Washington, D.C. (not exactly Antigua, by any stretch), this experimental pop trio has been putting out their challenging brand of music since 1999, after the DC bands Townies and one of my personal favorites, Smart Went Crazy, imploded. Their latest record, Discontinued Perfume, continues the band’s tradition of marrying traditional softcore indie rock songwriting to jazz and ambient textures. If you want fist-pumping, major-chord-driven rock, keep moving – The Caribbean aren’t interested in delivering the big hooks and immediate melodies that drive today’s car-commercials-first mainstream. Theirs is a style that rewards repeat listens and a little deep thinking. Lucky then, that we caught them on a very subdued Sunday night at the Mercury Lounge, where we had a chance to fully appreciate the band’s set without distraction. The material from Discontinued Perfume was the focus, and it deservedly stood out, including the closer (and one of the catchier songs on the record), “The Clock Tower.”

hi and lo and I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue with Schoeps supercardiod microphones running into an ultraquiet preamp. This is an excellent capture, especially thanks to the use of the high end preamp and the respectful crowd. Enjoy!

Stream “The Clock Tower”:

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Direct download of MP3 files [MP3]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

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The Caribbean
2011-06-05
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded by acidjack and hi and lo for nyctaper.com
Produced by acidjack

Equipment: Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>EAA PSP2>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: At soundboard, ROC, mics PAS
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Collapsitarians
02 Artist In Exile
03 [unknown]
04 Do You Believe in Dinosaurs?
05 Mr. Let’s Find Out
06 [tuning]
07 Supply Lines
08 [unknown]
09 The Clock Tower

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Caribbean, visit their website, and buy their records directly from Hometapes [HERE]

Mr. Dream: June 16, 2011 [Northside Festival] Glasslands, Brooklyn, NY – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 17, 2011
By

mr dream northside
[Photo courtesy of L Magazine]

This is the first in what will be a series of NYCTaper recordings from the Northside Festival 2011. Please check out Northside’s website for complete show listings, and especially check out the NYCTaper/Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Showcase on Sunday, 6/19 at Public Assembly!

Now seems like as good a time as any to address the old knock on New York audiences – that they tend to spend the entire show with their arms crossed, listless, distracted and bored. But let’s face it – we see a lot of bands here in New York City, and most of them don’t provide us any reason to do anything else. Not so the rapidly rising Mr. Dream. With their clean, crisp Pixies-inspired delivery, Mr. Dream manage to capture the energy of punk while making it clear that they actually care how they sound as they deliver their inspired head-banging tunes. The songs from their almost-debut record, Trash Hit, are a one-after-another string of great rock songs, and the title track “Trash Hit” in particular has that ability to lodge itself in your brain and not leave. This set on the kickoff night of the Northside Festival found the band playing to a friendly and familiar crowd that they rewarded by debuting three new songs, “Believing and Shitting,” “Moneybags” and “Suggested Plowing.” The band has been raising its profile of late, including with a video for the song “Croquet,” which they killed on this night, followed by the balls-to-the-wall “Winners.” In the short span since we saw them last, the band have gotten more confident and tighter, and drummer Nick Sylvester has emerged as the band’s true anchor with his massive work behind the kit. Hell, Mr. Dream may just be one of the best live bands in New York right now. So uncross those arms and turn off those iPhones, ladies and gentlemen, and get your ass ready for Mr. Dream.

hi and lo and I recorded this set from a central location in the venue with Schoeps omnidirectional mics to capture the maximum feel of the room. Although there is some faint buzzing at times in the left channel due to some wiring issues, the sound is overall excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Croquet”:

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Stream “Moneybags”:

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Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

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Mr. Dream
2011-06-16
Northside Festival
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded by acidjack and hi and lo
Produced by acidjack

Equipment: Schoeps Mk5 (omni)>EAA PSP2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: Clamp to center post, about 7.5ft up, 30cm split
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Knuckle Sandwich
02 Crime
03 Believing and Shitting
04 [banter]
05 Scarred For Life
06 Moneybags
07 Trash Hit
08 Suggested Plowing
09 Croquet
10 Winners
11 [banter]
12 Learn the Language
13 Knick Knack

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mr. Dream, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Trash Hit from Amazon or your favorite record store.

The Babies: May 27, 2011 Knitting Factory – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

June 17, 2011
By

babies acidjack
[Photo by acidjack]

When we first saw The Babies at the beginning of last year (that recording here), they were a brand-new band mostly known as a side project of Cassie Ramone of the Vivian Girls and Kevin Morby of Woods. They rocked the hell out of Glasslands that night and left us wanting more – especially a new record. More than a year later, they gave us what we had hoped for in the form of a delightfully just-polished-enough eponymous debut album on the Shrimper imprint. This Knitting Factory show, opening for Times New Viking, found them working through many of the album tracks as well as some new and unfamiliar numbers. While the band’s sound owes more to Ramone’s Vivians than to Woods, the Babies have developed a solid identity of their own, marrying some of the surf vibe of the Vivians with a slightly harder-edged sound. We expect many more good things from the Babies – but in the meantime, just don’t call them a “Brooklyn Supergroup”.

I recorded this set from the same location as the Times New Viking recording, with the AKG large diaphragm mics set to a tighter pattern to reject more reflections from the room, as well as a soundboard feed. This one is probably the best recording of the night. Enjoy!

The Babies will be playing the Northside Festival this Saturday at McCarren Park with Guided By Voices. NYCTaper will be recording all sets at that show, and many other sets throughout the festival. Check out The Babies as well our NYCTaper/Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Showcase at Public Assembly on Sunday the 19th.

Stream “Here Comes Trouble”:

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Direct download of MP3 files [MP3]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

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The Babies
2011-05-27
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: AKG C 414 B-XLS (hypercardiod)>Sound Devices USBpre2 + Soundboard>>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: At soundboard, slightly ROC, mics at 7ft, PAS
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Run Me Over
02 Sunset
03 Breakin’ the Law
04 [unknown]
05 Sick Kid
06 Wild 2
07 All Things Come To Pass>Meet Me In the City
08 [unknown]
09 Here Comes Trouble
10 Caroline

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Babies, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their debut album [HERE].

Melvins: June 7, 2011 Music Hall of Williamsburg – FLAC / MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 15, 2011
By


[Photos courtesy of Dana (distortion) Yavin.  See more of her excellent work HERE.]

After the previous night’s epic tooth-rattling concert featuring the ‘Eggnog‘, ‘Lysol‘ and ‘Houdini‘ albums, I was wondering what the response would be to this nights playing of ‘Bullhead‘ and ‘Stoner Witch‘.  Two great records that bookend the other three, they are generally lesser known by the masses but equally crucial to the Melvins catalog.  I needn’t have worried as the crowd seemed to build on the intensity that began the night before.  The band’s no nonsense approach didn’t stray from the track listings of the two discs, but their intense live renditions will never be mistaken for the studio versions.  Anything but workman-like, the Melvins imbued new life and twists into these songs.  Among others, this included the set-enders: extended opus, “Boris”, and the night’s closer, “Shevil”, which gave Dale Crover and Coady Willis a jumping off point for a 12 minute drum workout.  Joined by skinsman Vinny Signorelli from Brooklyn-based Unsane, thunder pealed through the venue and left many attendees with their ears pleasantly ringing.

Set up in the dead-center spot on the balcony, the resultant recording is excellent and surprisingly clear considering the sheer volume in the venue; a testament to the engineer’s skills and how good the P.A. is in the Music Hall of Williamsburg.  That said, if you like heavy low-end, this recording is for you.  Enjoy and PLAY IT LOUD!!

Stream “It’s Shoved”:

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Stream “Queen”:

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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.

Melvins
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY, USA

Source: AUD > AKG C 414 B-XLS’s + Audio-Technica AT3031’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) > TLH (check/fix SBE’s, FLAC conversion) > FLAC ( level 8 )
Recorded and produced by: Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

1st SET: ‘Bullhead‘
[Total time: 37:11]
01. intro (Blazing Saddles theme)
02. Ligature
03. It’s Shoved
04. If I Had an Exorcism
05. Zodiac
06. Anaconda
07. Cow
08. Your Blessened
09. Boris

2nd SET: ‘Stoner Witch‘
[Total time: 58:16]
10. intro (The Great Escape theme)
11. Lividity
12. Skweetis
13. Sweet Willy Rollbar
14. Revolve
15. June Bug
16. Roadbull
17. Goose Freight Train
18. Queen
19. At the Stake
20. Magic Pig Detective
21. Shevil > drums

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

Purling Hiss: June 11, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

June 14, 2011
By


[photo courtesy of Daniel Doherty and Impose Magazine. All Rights Reserved]

A friend recommended that I get to Bowery Ballroom early on Saturday night as to be there when Purling Hiss played their set opening for Kurt Vile. He called it amazing “guitar freakout” music. While Mike Polizze’s guitar is certainly the center of the band’s sound, Purling Hiss is more of an amalgam of styles — Harvey Milk’s sludgecore, Dinosaur Jr’s post-punk, and Stooges-style Detroit rock among them. The final result is no-nonsense guitar-oriented rock played at high volume, the higher the better. The set at Bowery featured three tracks from their new 6-song EP Lounge Lizards (Mexican Summer Records), due for release today, June 14. Lizards is the most “produced” of their studio releases, which tend toward the raw and lo-fi techniques. We are not sure whether the cleaner production is a step towards more recognition, but with a band whose live set is as impressive as we saw at Bowery last week, that kind of success is inevitable. Purling Hiss is currently on tour in the Northeast, which will carry them to an appearance at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival from June 24-26.

I recorded this set at our standard balcony rail position with the four microphone rig. Bowery Ballroom has upgraded their soundboard, improving the already-best sounding room in the City. The quality of this recording is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Almost Washed My Hair”:

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Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Purling Hiss
2011-06-11
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded 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
2011-06-14

Setlist:
[Total Time 37:39]
01 [instrumental]
02 Been Teased
03 Run From The City
04 Passenger Queen
05 Voices
06 [new song]
07 The Hoodoo
08 Don’t Even Try It
09 Almost Washed My Hair

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Purling Hiss, visit their Facebook page, and purchase Lounge Lizards from the Mexican Summer website [HERE], and their other releases from Woodsist Records [HERE].

Real Estate: May 20, 2011 Bell House – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 14, 2011
By


[Photos courtesy of Jill of fortheloveofbrooklyn photoblog]

Our friends Real Estate have spent the past few years doing it “the right way” – garnering critical attention for the debut LP and building off of that with varied, exciting and packed live shows. Their hard work has paid off in the form of an exciting new deal that finds them leaving one of our absolute favorite boutique labels – Woodsist – for one of the best-curated international indie labels, Domino Records. Per Domino’s press release, a new record is expected in October of 2011. Giving a treat to a Friday night crowd that the band said was one of their best NYC crowds in years, the band played a bunch of new material, including a number of songs we had not heard before. The new songs do not deviate wildly from the old material – call them evolutionary rather than revolutionary – but demonstrate their continuing overall improvement as a band and as songwriters. Ridgewood’s finest will no doubt play some local shows before that new record comes out, and we expect to enjoy hearing more of the new material between now and then.

hi and lo recorded this set with the Schoeps microphones in our usual location in the venue. As with the Julian Lynch recording, these accurate microphones picked up a lot of natural reverberance of the wide room. However, the house mix was stronger, and the crowd a bit less chatty, so with additional mastering efforts, this recording is the much better of the two. Enjoy!

Stream “Easy” [new song]:

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Stream “Younger Than Yesterday”:

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Direct download of MP3 files [MP3]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Real Estate
2011-05-20
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: Schoeps Mk5 (cardiod)>NBox+>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to soundboard, mics DINa
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, EQ, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:15:54]
01 instrumental
02 Suburban Beverage
03 [banter/tuning]
04 Easy [new]
05 Pool Swimmers
06 [unknown]
07 Younger Than Yesterday
08 [unknown] – new
09 [banter]
10 Fake Blues
11 [banter]
12 [unknown-new]
13 [banter]
14 [unknown]
15 All The Same
16 [unknown]
17 Atlantic City
18 Beach Comber
19 [encore break]
20 Black Lake
21 Out of Tune

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Real Estate, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their releases from Woodist Records, Half Machine Records, and Underwater Peoples, plus check out their forthcoming release this October on Domino Records.

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