[photo courtesy of Jonny Leather]

After a series of near-misses, we finally got the chance to catch the Vivian Girls and the scene could not have been more enjoyable. The band rocked on a beautiful day in the outdoor setting of the East Village Radio Fest and their pop-punk-surf-rave-ups fit the day perfectly. The Vivs managed to pack eleven powerful songs into a too-brief 25 minute set, and left us wanting more. Fortunately, the Vivian Girls are quite active. The official re-release of their album is due on October 7, and they will perform again in NYC at Cake Shop on September 19 (with Awesome Color).

We recorded this set from the same location as our Awesome Color recording, and the sound quality is quite similar except that there was a little more wind at this time. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Vivian Girls
2008-09-07
East Village Radio Festival
South Street Seaport
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Inside Front of Soundboard Tent
Approximately 50 Feet from Stage

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
2008-09-08

Setlist:
[Total time 23:53]
01 All The Time
02 I Can’t Stay
03 Tell The World
04 Never See Me Again
05 I Don’t Wanna
06 [new song]
07 [new song]
08
09
10 Girl Don’t Tell Me (Beach Boys)
11 Wild Eyes

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Vivian Girls, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their releases from the links at their website, and links at MySpace.

[photo courtesy of Jonny Leather]

We have not seen Awesome Color since their CD release concert in May at Glasslands. The most striking change in the band is the relaxed confidence that they have acquired after four months of touring around the world. Derek’s guitar work at the East Village Radio Fest was outstanding, and the rhythm section was tight and strong. The only drawback of this excellent set was its brevity — a festival-sized chunk of brilliance. Two new songs were featured, and the second one (Track 03) is one of the most powerful songs we have heard Awesome Color perform.

This Music Festival was a celebration of the five year anniversary of East Village Radio, the most diverse and comprehensive radio station on the web. The Festival was perhaps the most organized event we have attended this year, and all aspects were outstanding — from the venue sound, to the availability of information, to the pinpoint scheduling. Kudos to EVR!

We recorded from the front inside the soundboard area. The sound of this set is quite excellent, as the weather was clear and only slightly windy. Enjoy!

Vivian Girls, High Places and John Oliver were also recorded and will be featured on nyctaper in the coming days.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Awesome Color
2008-09-07
East Village Radio Festival
South Street Seaport
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Inside Front of Soundboard Tent
Approximately 50 Feet from Stage

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
2008-09-07

Setlist:
[Total time 20:05]
01 Eyes of Light
02 [new song]
03 [new song]
04 Flyin’
05 Already Down

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Awesome Color, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their latest CD release Electric Aborigines directly from the Ecstatic Peace website.

The story of Starling Electric is one of those tales about how the music industry is supposed to work. An excellent band from a small midwest city produces their own CD and releases it by themselves in 2006. The CD somehow finds its way into the player of an open-minded musical heavyweight (Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices), who spreads the word about the band. A year later, the same band finds themselves signed to a legendary indie label. Bar/None released Clouded Staircase in August and Starling Electric came to NYC for the CD release party at Mercury Lounge on August 19.

The set at Mercury featured eight of the eighteen tracks on Clouded Staircase and four new numbers. The strength of the new songs bodes well for an anticipated new release in 2009.

We recorded this set from the same location as the Hotel Lights and Shannon McArdle recordings from the same night and other than some minor fan-created draft the sound is superb. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Starling Electric
2008-08-19
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, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-09-07

Setlist:
[Total time 41:44]
01 The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
02 Lisa and The Devil
03 Clouded Staircase (Part II)
04 Prince of the Puff of Smoke
05 British Boots
06 Black Ghost/Black Girl
07 I Got Scared
08 Black-Collar Crime
09 To Flunker, With Love
10 Bad Blood
11 Camp-Fire
12 Operator

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Starling Electric, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase the new CD Clouded Staircase directly from the Bar/None site [HERE].

[photo credit]

Carla Bozulich has always been well ahead of her time. A decade ago, she led the Geraldine Fibbers, the unique noisy alt-country/goth band that also featured Nels Cline, and a band whose music still sounds fresh today. With Evangelista, Carla has taken her talents to the next level, with songs that touch on free-form jazz, beat poetry, hardcore and experimental. At Bowery Ballroom last Thursday, her band consisted of Ches Smith on various keyboards and effects, a cellist, violinist, bass, drums, trumpet and “screams”. The all-too-brief 40-minute set featured just two songs from the new Evangelista CD Hello, Voyager and three numbers from Carla’s Evangelista CD. The highlight was the 13-minute version of “Hello, Voyager!” where Carla let loose and even jumped into the crowd for several minutes.

We recorded from the exact location as the Xiu Xiu recording and the sound quality is nearly identical. However, the variances in stage volume are striking at times. We avoided any peak level distortion and did not damage the natural dynamics of the performance with normalization. Enjoy!

This Recording is now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Evangelista
2008-08-28
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB
Dead Center 30 Feet from PA

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-09-03

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:32]
01 Evangelista I
02 [band introductions]
03 Smooth Jazz
04 Pissing
05 Prince Of The World
06 Hello, Voyager!

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Evangelista, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases, including the latest CD Hello, Voyager at the Constellation Records website [HERE].