[photo courtesy of Edan at thepiratehat]

The first time that I saw These Are Powers live was about a year ago, early in the morning in a smokey venue with a cranky old sound system. I absolutely hated them. It never occurred to me that I might just be wrong about them, and that maybe the only thing that was really cranky and old that night was me. Several months later, I read a series of glowing reviews of These Are Powers performance at Siren Festival and had some reservations. Perhaps I should give them a “second chance”.

Friday night at Bell House, the performance by These Are Powers was truly a revelation. We were not distracted by negative conditions and simply concentrated on the band. We got it. These Are Powers create a textured beat and layer it with bass, keyboard effects and processed vocals. The influences are as diverse as German techno, Remain in Light and late-era Butthole Surfers. The band also seems to have a wicked sense of humor, which juxtaposes nicely with the sometime dark elements of the music.

The set included material from the upcoming release from These Are Powers entitled All Aboard Future. The release party for this new CD will take place on February 13, 2009 at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn. These Are Powers will also perform this Friday January 30 at the DanBro space in Brooklyn in a ToddP event that features NYC bands and Baltimore bands in a “competition”.

We recorded this set from the same location as the Ponytail recording and the sound is excellent.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

These Are Powers
2009-01-23
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded Next to Soundboard

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2009-01-26

Setlist:
[Total time 34:14]
01 Cockles
02 Double Double Yolk
03 Chipping Ice
04 Adams Turtle
05 Life of Birds
06 Easy Answers
07 World Class Peoples

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT These Are Powers, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the Dead Oceans site [HERE].

[photo courtesy of Jonny Leather]

Its almost unfair to offer this show as simply an audio recording. A huge aspect of the experience of a live Ponytail performance is the visualization of the unique quartet feeding off the manic energy of the crowd. Last night at a packed Bell House, as lead singer Molly Siegel gyrated to the beat, the entire front half of the audience followed in sync. Her yips and yelps provided the fourth layer of a soundscape that begins with a feverish beat and two frantic lead guitars. We had not seen Ponytail since their Mercury gig in July, but were impressed at their level of maturity in the last six months — which is remarkable considering that nyctaper selected their June ATJ performance at one of the top ten shows of the year.

We recorded this set inside of the roped-off and elevated soundboard area. We offer many thanks to Bell House for their courtesy and the band for their permission. The sound quality of this recording is superb. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Ponytail
2009-01-23
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded Next to Soundboard

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2009-01-24

Setlist:
[Total time 46:09]
01 7 Souls
02 Beg Waves
03 Late For School
04 Untitled [new song]
05 Music Tunes
06 Bermuda Triangle
07 Die Allman Bruder
08 Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)
09 [encore break]
10 Small Wevs

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Ponytail, visit their myspace page, and purchase their official releases [HERE] and [HERE].

[all of the excellent photos on this page are by J Caldwell and Alexis Stember – click on the photos here for links to full resolution versions]

If Tuesday night was a celebration of history, Wednesday night at Bowery Ballroom, Animal Collective exhibited why they deserve the accolades. In the most intimate venue they may ever play, AC performed a ninety minute set of near perfection — an impressive balance of energy and proficiency. The Grand Ballroom began slowly and built the energy. The Bowery Ballroom started with an explosive “Also Frightened” that segued neatly into “My Girls. As Animal Collective worked through a setlist front-loaded with trance-inducing tribal chant numbers, the only point in which the show relaxed was the encore segment where the reworked “Winters Love” flowed seamlessly into Panda Bear’s “Comfy in Nautica”. Other highlights again included “Fireworks”, where during the jam segment we focused on the manic percussion work of Panda, and the new number “Blue Sky” (working title) — but in reality, the entire show was a highlight.

[nyctaper vantage point!]

We recorded this set under the most ideal conditions. The sound quality is the venue was outstanding, and the sound staff mixed the band to perfection. The photographers J and Alexis provided us with a “buffer” against any crowd chatter, and our location was a direct line to the PA stacks. The result is a recording that we are confident in declaring is the best unofficial live recording of Animal Collective that you will ever hear. It gives us great pleasure to present a recording of this quality. Enjoy!

Listen to this recording in streaming audio or download below:

These are direct downloads in FLAC and MP3 from another server (right click and “save file as” or “save target as”), or use a download manager.

Firefox users can Down Them All! at once (here).

More about FLAC

Animal Collective
2009-01-21
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail
Next to Soundboard

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, Downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2009-01-22

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:28:44]
01 Also Frightened [FLAC] [MP3]
02 My Girls [FLAC] [MP3]
03 Blue Sky [FLAC] [MP3]
04 Slippi [FLAC] [MP3]
05 Leaf House [FLAC] [MP3]
06 Summertime Clothes [FLAC] [MP3]
07 Guys Eyes [FLAC] [MP3]
08 Lablakley Dress [FLAC] [MP3]
09 Fireworks [FLAC] [MP3]
10 Lion in a Coma [FLAC] [MP3]
11 Brother Sport [FLAC] [MP3]
12 [encore break] [FLAC] [MP3]
13 Winters Love [FLAC] [MP3]
14 Comfy in Nautica [FLAC] [MP3]

Information: [TXT FILE]
Verification: [MD5 FILE]

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Animal Collective, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases directly from Domino Records site [HERE].