[photo courtesy of You Ain’t No Picasso – View all of Matt’s amazing photos HERE]

We are a few days behind the news cycle on this show. If you’re an Of Montreal fan, by now you have read about the concert at Roseland on Friday night, and its extraordinary and thoroughly original stage show. Suffice to say, we have never seen a concert where a song was performed on top of a white horse, or where the lead singer sang several numbers dressed as the Pope (in red), or where the lead singer was dropped realistically from an old style hangman’s noose.

Musically, this was by far the longest Of Montreal show we have seen, and outlasted last year’s Roseland show by more than forty minutes. While the setlist drew heavily from Skeletal Lamping, there were an equal number of selections from the previous three albums and one memorable cover — 24 songs in total.

After last year’s difficult time at Roseland, we made a persistent effort to arrange all the recording permissions in advance for this show. Thanks to Michael the Of Montreal road manager, The Late B.P. Helium, and the Roseland crew, this recording outing was perfect in all respects. We captured this concert from the front and center of the balcony railing. While the distance from the stage was greater than last year, we are extremely pleased with the soundstage and depth of this recording. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

of Montreal
2008-10-10
Roseland Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail
Dead Center

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, slight EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-10-11

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:47:25]
01 Introduction
02 Id Engager
03 So Begins Our Alabee
04 Triphallus, To Punctuate!
05 She’s a Rejecter
06 For Our Elegant Caste
07 Touched Something’s Hollow
08 An Eluardian Instance
09 Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
10 Gallery Piece
11 Wraith Pinned To The Mist (And Other Games)
12 Women’s Studies Victims
13 St. Exquisite Confessions
14 Eros’ Entropic Tundra
15 Nonpareil Of Favor
16 October is Eternal
17 Wicked Wisdom
18 Disconnect the Dots / Knight Rider
19 And I’ve Seen A Bloody Shadow
20 Plastis Wafers
21 Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
22 Mingusings
23 A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger
24 [encore break]
25 Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)*
26 Gronlandic Edit

*with Andrew VanWyngarden (MGMT)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Of Montreal, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new CD Skeletal Lamping at the Polyvinyl website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of stereoactivenyc]

Of all the bands scheduled to appear at the NYCTaper CMJ Showcase, Naked Hearts are the artist with whom we are least familiar. Initially, the band contacted us about a gig at Death by Audio, and we also read a recent review at the Ear Farm blog. After we sampled the excellent tracks at their MySpace page (“Cat and Mouse” is a hit waiting to happen), the CMJ invitation was offered.

On Monday night at Mercury Lounge, we experienced Naked Hearts for the first time live and the end result is that NYCTaper is very lucky to have this band perform at our Showcase. Naked Hearts can’t miss. The combination of neat melodic hooks, sweet harmonies, and musical dexterity are on obvious display at the live show, and the trio presents a confident and relaxed presence on stage that belies the “newness” of the band.

We recorded this set from our standard location at Mercury Lounge. The sound mix was quite good and the crowd was very attentive — one of the least “chatty” crowds we have encountered recently. The recording is therefore quite excellent and captures this outstanding new band in a very positive light. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Naked Hearts
2008-10-06
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board

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
2008-10-08

Setlist:
[Total time 25:46]
01 Like I Do
02 Mass Hysteria
03 Only For You
04 Cat and Mouse
05 One False Move
06 Crashing Horses
07 Call Me

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Naked Hearts, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and come to see them perform at the NYCTaper CMJ Showcase!