Grails: April 24, 2011 The Knitting Factory – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

June 6, 2011
By

grails
[Grails at the Knitting Factory in 2008. Photos courtesy of davebgimp. See his Flickr stream here]

Portland’s Grails have been making genre-defying, intense, experimental and satisfying instrumental music for the better part of the last decade, but with 2011’s Deep Politics, their recent release on Temporary Residence Limited, they have hit the top of their game. Many of their past records have a deep psychedelic groove to them, drawing clear Eastern inspiration, but Deep Politics is an entirely different beast, focusing a bit more on pianist/bassist Bill Slater’s keyboard work and working with more varied textures. In the live setting, the band’s sound comes across as a good bit jazzier than one would expect, especially compared to some of the other bands they probably share a fan base with. This set at the Knitting Factory was one of the best performances I have seen this year and easily the strongest display of pure musicianship. This show was a special treat, as Grails’ tours tend to focus more heavily on Europe, and the band members have a variety of commitments. In fact, the members of Grails play in several other bands from time to time, and they also trade in-show duties depending on the demands of the specific song. Their technical virtuosity never falters, and they absolutely fill the room with sound. This set drew on a range of the band’s records, not drawing too heavily from Deep Politics but still showing off its live charms, including the epic show opener, “Almost Grew My Hair.” In fact, the set was so compelling that the Knit’s sound engineer Rob – who sees an awful lot of shows in a month from behind the board – was prompted to exclaim “Wow, I sure hope you got a good recording of that. Those guys were amazing.” I have to agree, and I hope he and everyone else is satisfied with the recording!

I recorded this set from our usual location in the Knit, using a combination of Schoeps Mk41 supercardiods pointed at the stacks and AKG 414 large diaphragm microphones in wide cardiod mode to capture the full feel of the room. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Thanks to the commenters to the corrections to three of the tracks.

Stream “Almost Grew My Hair”:

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Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

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Grails
2011-04-24
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY  USA

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

Equipment: Schoeps Mk41>CMC6 +AKG C414 B-XLS (wide cardiod)>Oade M248 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/44.1)
Position: At soundboard, slightly ROC, mics at 8.5 ft
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ AKGs, mixdown, EQ combined source, tracking, set fades, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:03:31]
01 [intro]
02 Almost Grew My Hair
03 [tuning]
04 All the Colors of the Dark
05 Immediate Mate
06 Back to the Monastery
07 Acid Rain
08 Take Refuge
09 Burning Off Impurities
10 [encore break]
11 Reincarnation Blues

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Grails, visit their website, and purchase Deep Politics directly from Temporary Residence Limited [HERE]

Delicate Steve: March 5, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

June 4, 2011
By


[photo courtesy of John Ruscher at Eardrum NYC]

When we saw Delicate Steve in February at Knitting Factory, it was the first night of their tour supporting Akron/Family. We posted that recording along with our favorable impression of Steve Marion’s touring band. By the final night of the tour, the bands had worked their way back to NYC and Bowery Ballroom. On this final night, Steve’s set was stretched out and the music seemed more relaxed and comfortable in the band setting. The players took their time developing each song and the result was a more rewarding experience than even their impressive Knit set from several weeks earlier. As Delicate Steve continues to grow and impress, their credentials have blossomed. The band will be playing many dates during the Summer, including a Northside Festival show and a night at Celebrate Brooklyn.

I recorded this set with the four microphone rig from the balcony rail and the sound quality is excellent. This is an improvement over the Knitting Factory recording from February. Enjoy!

Stream “Jungle”:

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Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Delicate Steve
2011-03-05
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded at 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
2011-06-04

Setlist:
[Total Time 40:27]
01 The Ballad of Speck and Pebble
02 Jungle
03 Sugar Splash
04 Wondervisions
05 Don’t Get Stuck (Proud Elephants)
06 Z Expression
07 [banter]
08 Wally Wilder
09 Butterfly

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Delicate Steve, visit his website, and purchase Wondervisions from the Luaka Bop Records website [HERE].

Cotton Jones: March 11, 2011 Maxwell’s – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

June 3, 2011
By


[photo by nyctaper]

Cotton Jones is arguably the most underrated band playing around these days. I’ll cop to being a member of the under-appreciaters. Until now. When I saw them open for Nicole Atkins in March at Maxwell’s, their impressive set caught my eye, but unexplicably the recording has not been posted until now. Admittedly, I should have known that this band is the real deal — they’ve toured with friends of the site The Antlers, The Loom and Nicole. They’ve put out two outstanding records and a handful of EPs, including 2010’s excellent Tall Hours in the Glowstream (Suicide Squeeze Records) that would feel as comfortable sitting in the CD cabinet next to contemporaries like Deer Tick as much as with classics like Roy Orbison. But when the quality of Cotton Jones finally struck me was during the time I spent working on this recording and listening to it closely. Michael Nau has an obvious knack for songwriting, but the performances are so heartfelt and honest, that the songs naturally draw you in to their rustic roots. We’re streaming the opening track from Glowstream below, “Sail of The Silver Morning”, and its clear from very opening beat that this song speaks to the listener is a way that most bands can’t achieve. Perhaps its the unstriking standard appearance of the band, or their lack of a stage show, but under the unremarkable surface Cotton Jones is an extraordinarily compelling group that we’ll be spending more time getting to know in the near future. Cotton Jones is on tour now in the midwest, and the dates are [here].

I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones mounted at the front of the soundboard booth and mixed it with an excellent soundboard feed. The sound quality of this recording is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “”Sail of The Silver Morning”:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Cotton Jones
2011-03-11
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Four Channel Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > 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
2011-06-02

Setlist:
[Total Time 33:41]
01 Sail Of The Silver Morning
02 Down Beside Em
03 Midnight Monday and a Telescope
04 Blood Red Sentimental Blues
05 Dream on Columbia Street
06 Gotta Cheer Up
07 Somehow to Keep it Going
08 Egg On The Sea
09 [new song]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Cotton Jones, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Suicide Squeeze Records website [HERE].

Hamilton Leithauser: February 20, 2011 Cameo Gallery (Noncerts 1) – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 31, 2011
By

The first show in what promises to be a long-running charity series called Noncerts took place in the end of February at the Cameo Gallery. The main purpose of Noncerts is to purchase a piano for every public school in Brooklyn, and all proceeds from the events go towards that goal. The first night featured performances from Noncerts founder Dave Godowsky, superb songwriter David Dondero, Ween leader Gene Ween, and the lead singer of The Walkmen Hamilton Leithauser. Hamilton’s set threw us for a bit of a loop — but in a good way. Instead of solo Walkmen numbers, the entire Leithauser set consisted of fairly obscure but brilliant covers, which included nyctaper-favorite Cass McCombs (“Don’t Vote”), and DC political punk band Weird War (stream “See About Me” below) . We also recorded the second Noncerts show in the end of April, and hope to offer sets from that night soon.

I recorded this set with the Neumanns mounted at the front of the sound booth and mixed with an excellent soundboard feed. The sound quality of this set is superb. Enjoy!

Support Noncerts by following them on twitter [here].

Stream “See About Me” (Weird War cover):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Hamilton Leithauser
2011-02-20
Cameo Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > 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
2011-02-21

Setlist:
[Total Time 28:39]
01 [introduction]
02 Tall Tale Storyline [Mazarin]
03 [banter]
04 Don’t Vote [Cass McCombs]
05 [banter2]
06 Young Fool [Max St. Michael]
07 Road Song [Max St. Michael]
08 [banter3]
09 See About Me [Weird War]
10 [banter4]
11 Ballz [Josh Wise]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Hamilton Leithauser and The Walkmen, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Fat Possum Records website [HERE].

Times New Viking: May 27, 2011 Knitting Factory – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 31, 2011
By


[Photo by acidjack]

The term “lo-fi” gets thrown around a lot, but when you’re talking about the Columbus, OH three-piece Times New Viking, it is impossible to avoid it. Where a lot of bands earn the label by dint of using cheap gear and not giving a shit, for TNV, the scratchy, blown-out, distorted sound is an important part of their aesthetic. Their songs arrive in short bursts, almost universally under the three- or even two-minute mark, in a similar vein to kindred spirits and sometime tourmates Guided by Voices. While their new release on Merge Records (their first for the label), Dancer Equired, utilizes more legitimate studio production than their past records – a pretty low bar to set considering that their four previous efforts were recorded to lo-fi analog media such as cassettes and VHS – their live show still has the perverse characteristic of sounding more glossy than most of their recorded work. This Friday night show at the Knitting Factory – well attended despite coming at the start of Memorial Day weekend – found TNV blasting through 22 songs in 50 minutes (including an encore break). The set represented the new Dancer Equired material well, but also gave fans plenty to like from all of their records, including a mean “The Early 80s” from their breakout 2008 record, Rip It Off. Catchy, irreverent, and indisputably rocking, this night with TNV was a perfect way to kick off a Williamsburg Memorial Day weekend.

I recorded this set with AKG large-diaphragm microphones set up near the soundboard, together with a soundboard feed prepared by Rob, one of the outstanding house engineers at the Knitting Factory. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy! (And please feel free to let me know what the few songs I didn’t know the titles of are)

Stream “Try Harder”:

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Stream “The Early 80s”:

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Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Times New Viking
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 (cardiod)>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 (EQ audience source, mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Intro
02 It’s A Culture
03 [unknown]
04 Don’t Go to Liverpool
05 Busy Making Love & War
06 The Apt.
07 [banter]
08 Ever Falling In Love
09 Try Harder
10 No Room To Live
11 City On Drugs
12 [unknown]
13 The Early 80s
14 Devo & Wine
15 Telephone
16 [unknown]
17 Fuck Her Tears
18 Move to California
19 Ways To Go
20 New Vertical Dwellings
21 Teenage Lust!
22 [encore break]
23 My Head
24 [unknown]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Times New Viking, visit their web site, and purchase Dancer Equired directly from Merge Records [HERE]

Little Scream: May 20, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 30, 2011
By


[photo by Amanda Hatfield]

I like to think we have a pretty solid record here at nyctaper of predicting future success for emerging artists — particularly those of the female persuasion. Admittedly, we’ve jumped on the already moving bandwagons of Holly Miranda and Nicole Atkins, but in recent years we’ve sung early praises for current movers such as Jessica Lea Mayfield, Alela Diane and of course Sharon Van Etten. A few months ago we foresaw the current success of Tristen. Last week at Music Hall and Bowery, our new can’t-miss performer Little Scream opened two shows for the Antlers and proved why her April-release debut album The Golden Record (Secretly Canadian) is already an album of the year contender. Little Scream began as the solo recording project for US ex-pat and currently Montreal resident Laurel Sprengelmeyer but at the recent performances she was joined by a crack band which included along with the standard band format, a flutist and synthesizers. At Bowery, the Little Scream band worked through much of the new album in order, skipping only a couple of the quieter numbers. We’re streaming a very strong version of “People Is Place”, which begins as a melodic solo guitar number before tasteful additions from the band complete the narrative. Lauren chose to end the set solo with a poignant new number (“Letter”) that she appropriately dedicated to her cohort and fellow riser Sharon Van Etten.

I recorded this set with the exact setup as the Antlers set and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “People Is Place”:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Little Scream
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
2011-05-25

Setlist:
[Total Time 38:45]
01 The Lamb
02 Cannons
03 The Heron And The Fox
04 [banter – tuning]
05 Your Radio
06 Boatman
07 [banter – russian baths]
08 People Is Place
09 Red Hunting Jacket
10 [banter – thanks]
11 Letter

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Little Scream, visit their website, and purchase The Golden Record from the Secretly Canadian Records website [HERE].

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