Dinosaur Feathers: May 15, 2010 Pianos (NYCTaper 3rd Anniversary) – Flac and MP3 Downloads

May 22, 2010
By


[photos taken for nyctaper by David Andrako — click photos for higher resolution]

Although Dinosaur Feathers have appeared twice on nyctaper in the last six months, it had been last summer since I personally had last seen them live. In the intervening months, the band released their new album Fantasy Memorial, which has gathered a ton of glowing press (and one painfully overwritten pan by a low-rent pitchfork wannabe with issues). With the positive momentum behind them, Dinosaur Feathers went on a successful tour, booked high profile gigs (Sasquatch Festival and summer Pier shows included) and generally are playing with a ton of confidence. We were delighted to have beat the rush and booked them months ago for our anniversary show at Pianos this past Saturday. The three band members spent the entire show in the room, chatted with friends and cheered on the other bands — their success has not changed them from the friendly folks we met last year. The set was, by the band’s own account, one of the best shows they’ve played in a while. Greg and Duck were as one in unison on the harmonies, and new-ish bassist Ryan adds a palpable kinetic stage energy. The songs were primarily new album material, with one debut EP track and one new song included. The venue was packed when Dinosaur Feathers performed — you can literally hear the buzz of the room in between songs — and a large part of the success of our third anniversary show can be attributed to this band.

This set was recorded with a feed from the board mixed with two Neumann room mics and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Dinosaur Feathers
2010-05-15
NYCTaper 3rd Anniversary Concert
Pianos
New York, 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
2010-05-20

Setlist:
[Total Time 36:56]
01 I Ni Sogoma
02 Family Waves
03 Teenage Whore
04 Our Good Mother
05 Parallel July
06 Silhouette [new song]
07 Vendela Vida
08 Fantasy Memorial

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Dinosaur Feathers, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new album Fantasy Memorial from the BUY link at their website [HERE].

ArpLine: May 15, 2010 Piano’s (NYCTaper 3rd Anniversary Concert) – FLAC and MP3 Downloads

May 19, 2010
By


[Excellent photos taken for nyctaper by David Andrako]

Since it posted its inaugural recording back in 2007, nyctaper.com has tried to expose its readers to the latest music from well-known artists as well as promote newer bands that are worthy of attention.  The NYCTaper 3rd Anniversary Concert, held this year at the intimate Pianos in Manhattan, was particularly dedicated to honoring that second (and arguably more important) mission.  At a venue already legendary for exposing soon-to-be stars, four of our favorite bands took the stage and gave performances that matched or exceeded their strongest efforts to date.  Our headliner, ArpLine, has been playing nonstop in 2010, and their tightly-composed sets have continued to win over fans.  Combining technological prowess with stellar hooks and a focused delivery, ArpLine performances sound and feel big. This set, despite clocking in at a venue-mandated 36 minutes (the DJ party started at 1), did not disappoint, as the band kicked things off with their Village Voice-approved single, “Fold Up Like A Piece of Paper,” and wrapped up the night with my favorite of their songs, the rhythmic, head-bobbing “Parts Unknown.”  As this was my first full year as a contributor to the site, and one of the first bands that I weighed in for us to feature, I would like to extend my sincere personal thanks to ArpLine and their management not only for playing our show, but for their music.  And, of course, to the founder of nyctaper for making this all possible.  Most of all, I would like to thank our readers for their encouragement as well as criticism.

The sets of the other three acts, Dinosaur Feathers, Uninhabitable Mansions, and Natureboy, will be posted soon.   We recorded each of these sets with the Neumann hypercardiod microphones and a stereo soundboard feed provided by our hosts at Pianos.  The sound quality is excellent.  Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE].  Listen to “Parts Unknown” [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

ArpLine
2010-05-15
Pianos
New York, NY  USA

Equipment: Soundboard + Neumann KM150>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/48)
Position: Mics at ~7′, pointed at stacks from right corner of room
Mastering: 2×24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, downsample, amplify channels)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Setlist [Time 36:44]
01 Speed (Rush Ah)
02 Fold Up Like A Piece of Paper
03 Make It Rain
04 Sound and Versions
05 Amplify
06 Weekend in the Colonies
07 Rope
08 Parts Unknown

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT ArpLine, visit their website, and purchase their excellent debut album Travel Book, when it is released this fall (the band’s Bandcamp site is no more as the album will be officially released then).

MV & EE: May 13, 2010 Abrons Arts Center – FLAC and MP3 Downloads

May 17, 2010
By


[Photos courtesy of John Ruscher with nyctaper favorites Eardrum NYC]

MV & EE is the brainchild of Matt Valentine and Erika Elder, whose recording career as has seen collaborations with dozens of other serious players.  Unsurprisingly, the band’s sound focuses heavily on Valentine and Elder’s string work, with Valentine on various guitars and Elder on pedal steel and electric mandolin.  That sound has been described as a combination of American folk and Indian ragas, or as the the Wikipedia entry puts it, “Indian raga style composition with Appalachian folk and post-psychedelic electrical experimentalism. They use Western and Eastern acoustic instruments amplified and augmented with effects such as reverb, delay, and flange. Their compositions occasionally feature vocals, which are off-kilter and rambling, while seeming drugged.”  If you happened to fall into that last category yourself last Thursday night (that is, drugged), you were well served by this set, which like the Woods set that followed, was played against the soaring, psychedelic backdrop of the Joshua Light Show.  The set was a journey that almost demanded displacement from the here and now; letting it absorb you, rather than simply paying attention, was the only way to fully get it (and maybe why The New York Times apparently didn’t).  The band played a number of new songs, as well as a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street.”

I recorded this set from the center of the balcony with the DPA microphones, as with the Woods recording, and the sound is excellent.  Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

MV & EE
2010-05-13
Abrons Arts Center
New York, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com
Available for exclusive free download at nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod)
Position: Balcony, DFC, ORTF
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify channels, EQ (trim 100-400Hz, boost 10-20kHz))>FLAC Level 8

1. Intro
2. Sideswipe
3. Easy Livin’
4. [unknown]
5. Positively 4th Street [Bob Dylan]
6. [unknown]
7. [unknown instrumental]
8. Get Right Church
9. [goodbye banter]

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT MV&EE, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from Ecstatic Peace records [HERE].

Woods: May 13, 2010 Abrons Arts Center – FLAC and MP3 Downloads (with bonus Bell House download)

May 16, 2010
By


[Photo courtesy of John Ruscher with nyctaper favorites Eardrum NYC]

Whoa.  The first few times I saw Woods, I enjoyed it – I have a soft spot for their particular brand of folkish, ramshackle psychedelia.  Back then, the band came across onstage much as they did on record, as a very DIY affair.  Which is not to say they were unusually rough around the edges for a late-2000s vintage Brooklyn band, or that they didn’t have the songwriting chops (they had been hailed early on by Pitchfork and others for songs like “Rain On”).  But they were nothing like the polished, free-jamming foursome that I saw this Thursday at Abrons Arts Center.  Backed by the Joshua Light Show, who projected molting swirls and swatches of color behind them, Woods played now-common favorites like “Rain On” and “Blood Dries Darker,” but they also demonstrated their status as the preeminent indie rock jam band.  That term, of course, is pejorative in the circles this band belongs in, but it seems fitting for a set that included an 8-minute “The Hold” and another song that stretched an impressive 16 minutes!   Joshua Light Show concerts are legendary and rare, and in honor of that, Woods came out and slayed it, giving one of the best performances I have seen this year.   With the swirling colors behind them, the band members’ interplay seemed almost magical, mesmerizing the crowd as the colors matched their rhythms.   These light shows are particularly special in that they are performed live with liquids and other mysterious ingredients, so no two shows are alike.  Do yourself a favor, and put any future Joshua Light Show concerts high on your list.  To see what The New York Times had to say, click here.

I recorded this set from dead center on the balcony with the DPA microphones.  The sound is superb.  As an added bonus, I have included a link to an earlier Woods show that I recorded on August 14, 2009 at the Bell House, when they opened for Dungen.  The evolution in even this short amount of time is, I think, revealing.

Download the complete shows on the Live Music Archive: [ABRONS ARTS CENTER] | [BELL HOUSE]

ABRONS ARTS CENTER SHOW:

BELL HOUSE SHOW:

Woods
2010-05-13
Abrons Arts Center
New York, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com
Premiere download exclusively at nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod)
Position: Balcony, DFC, ORTF
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify channels, EQ (trim 100-400Hz, boost 10-20kHz))>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Intro
02 Creeps
03 Blood Dries Darker
04 To Clean>Get Back
05 Bend Beyond
06 Rain On
07 Suffering Season
08 Down This Road>The Hold
09 The Hold (continued)
10 I Was Gone
11 [Goodbye banter]

BONUS RECORDING

Woods
2009-08-14
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording

Equipment: AKG ck91 cardiod capsules (Busman active mod)>custom battery box>R-09HR (24bit/48kHz)
Location: Mics mounted DIN on custom kwon bar on pole clamped to left corner of SBD cage, 10ft total height
Processing: WAV>Audacity (smooth peaks, tracking, downsample to 16bit/44.1kHz, amplify each channel to -0.1dB)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks:
1. Intro
2. The Creeps
3. Blood Dries Darker
4. [banter]
5. Rain On
6. [segue/soundcheck]
7. Get Back
8. To Clean
9. The Number
10. Down This Road
11. The Hold
12. The Hold Cont.
13. Twisted Tongue

If you email nyctaper for access to these recordings, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Woods, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases, including their latest, At Echo Lake, from Woodsist Records.

The Joy Formidable: May 10, 2010 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads

May 15, 2010
By


[Photos courtesy of Anthony Cuellar at TLC Blog]

Someone forgot to tell The Joy Formidable (that’s for-MID-able for those of us in the U.S.) that they aren’t playing in stadiums just yet.  We have raved about them repeatedly on NYCTaper, and if you read this site, the facts are well-known to you.  By which, I mean that the band delivers a set that is beautifully cacophonous, filling every inch of whatever space they are in, making their music larger than they are.  They bring a pop sensibility to a dense, wall-of-sound style that sounds like My Bloody Valentine had a baby with Annie Lennox (or something like that).  As bands these days go, TJF give off that ‘pre-rockstar’ vibe a bit more than most; the sense that while not many are seeing them now, many more will, soon enough.  This Welsh band (now by way of London) arrived in the U.S. back in January as an unknown quantity.  In the space of four months, they have played the hell out of NYC and elsewhere, with the crowds becoming larger and larger as they’ve continued.  This Mercury Lounge show was an unplanned coda to their latest U.S. jaunt, and a resplendent one.  Industry honchos and increasingly fervent fans packed Mercury despite the early set time (9pm), and the band delivered what we have now come to expect, a short, tight, dramatic set that covered most of the landscape of their newly released EP, A Balloon Called Moaning as well as some additional songs, including the new (to me, at least) “Anemone”.  This show ended, and enough had been said: They have proven what they came here to prove.

But if you read this site, you don’t need convincing.  This is a document of the last time anyone will see this band in a venue as small as Mercury Lounge for quite awhile (or so I predict).  As with our other recordings, I recorded this set with a combination of the soundboard feed and mics.  A word of listener advice – if you are playing this back on a more modest system (say, a car stereo or inexpensive earbuds), you will likely want to turn the bass down a bit for maximum enjoyment.  Our rig captured the wall of sound perfectly, but the house mix was not timid in any way.  Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Joy Formidable
2010-05-10
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY  USA

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

Equipment: Soundboard+DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod)
Position: Clamp to right of soundboard cage, about 9.5? up
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV files>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, EQ, tracking, amplify channels, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks: [Total Time: 44:00:00]
01 The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade
02 Cradle
03 The Last Drop
04 Austere
05 Ostrich
06 Greyhounds In The Slips
07 banter
08 Anemone
09 intro/banter
10 Whirring

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Joy Formidable, visit their website, and purchase their debut EP A Balloon Called Moaning from the Black Bell Records website [here] or from the store at the TJF website [here].

Reminder: Tonight is the NYCTaper 3rd Anniversary Show at Pianos

May 15, 2010
By


[poster created by Fumi at Miniminiaturemouse.com]

Tonight NYCTaper is celebrating our 3rd Anniversary with a special concert at Pianos. Doors are at 8 p.m., and the first performer begins at 9 p.m. Our recommendation is that if you plan to come to this show, be there early. The music begins with the superb Natureboy who are back from Truck America Festival where their performance generated some well-deserved buzz. By 10 pm, when Uninhabitable Mansions take the stage, the venue may be too packed to guarantee admission. The Facebook page for this show has over 90 confirmed attendees and with the guest list, the showroom at Pianos may be above capacity. Dinosaur Feathers (11 p.m.) and ArpLine (midnight) have been getting a ton of press lately, and may be too big to play a venue this size again.

If you plan to attend for one or two particular acts, you may not gain admission if you arrive at the time of their set. Again, please be early to be able to get in.

I will be posting regular updates on the NYCTaper Twitter account, so follow our twitter for ongoing reports about the show.

Here are the details:
NYCTaper 3rd Anniversary Concert
Saturday May 15, 2010
Pianos
158 Ludlow Street (MAP)
Lower East Side NYC
$10

8 p.m. Doors
9 p.m. Natureboy
10 p.m. Uninhabitable Mansions
11 p.m. Dinosaur Feathers
12 p.m. ArpLine

Facebook Invite Page

Pianos listing

SUPPORT NYCTaper




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