[photo by Bob Sanderson]

Pela‘s set at After the Jump Fest in June was inspirational for all the right reasons — perseverance, tenacity and positive energy — in a year when the band was in the news for all the wrong reasons. In March, vocalist/guitarist Billy McCarthy had a terrible accident at a show in Chicago that left him without use of his left hand and which required surgery. The medical bills were so overwhelming that a fund was set up to help out Billy.

On the main street stage in Williamsburg redemption was at hand. Pela performed the longest set of the Festival based primarily on songs from their excellent 2007 release Anytown Graffiti. After a rousing “Cavalry”, the standard set closer and the song during which he was injured in Chicago, Billy thanked the fans for their generous support and well-wishes. It was a moment of poignant sincerity that spoke well for the grassroots appeal of this superb band.

We recorded from in front of the soundboard booth at the outdoor stage. The location and sound were quite good, except for some wind noise, crowd noise and the humming sound of a generator behind the stage. Overall this is an excellent capture under the circumstances, and we’re happy with the results. Enjoy!

After The Jump is a charitable organization of NYC music bloggers who donate all proceeds of their events to the advancement of music in NYC schools. nyctaper requests that if you download this recording, that you support this cause. Selected tracks from the recordings to be featured on this site from the ATJ Festival will be produced into a compilation, with all proceeds being donated to the music programs in NYC schools. When the compilation becomes available, all nyctaper readers who downloaded ATJ sets will be expected to purchase the release.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Pela
2008-06-21
After the Jump Festival
Main Stage (on N. 6th Street)
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from in Front of Soundboard Booth

Neumann KM-150s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, slight level adjustments) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-07-16

Setlist:
[Total time 1:03:52]
01 [soundcheck]
02 Waiting On The Stairs
03 Lost To The Lonesome
04 Drop Me Off
05 The Trouble With River Cities
06 Song Writes Itself
07 California’s Son
08 Your Desert’s Not a Desert at All
09 Philadelphia
10
11
12 Tenement Teeth
13 Cavalry
14 [banter]
15 Juarez

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

[photo credit]

After Ponytail‘s excellent set at Mercury Lounge on Sunday night, we experienced a first for nyctaper — our own personal handwritten setlist. We spoke at length with guitarist Ken Seeno, who was so refreshingly enthusiastic about our recordings and our support of the band that he grabbed a cocktail napkin and a pen and wrote out a setlist (see below) and left us with huge smile. This is the kind of positive energy that emanates from the stage when Ponytail unleashes its sonic overdrive and all four instruments coalesce as one, as Sunday night’s set was thirty-four minutes of pure musical exuberance.

We recorded from our standard location in this venue, at the right and slightly in front of the soundboard booth. The sound quality in the venue was outstanding as the Mercury board was manned by an experienced pro technician. We raised the pole to maximum length and avoided all crowd noise with a direct line to the speakers. We are extremely pleased with the quality of this recording. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Ponytail
2008-07-13
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
2008-07-15

Setlist:
[Total time 33:41]
01 Sky Drool
02 Small Wevs
03 G Shock
04 Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)
05 Music Tunes
06 7 Souls
07 Beg Waves

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].

[photo credit]

One of the nice things about the atmosphere at After The Jump Fest in June was the camaraderie among the musicians and the staff. Several hours after their set ended, late in the afternoon I ran into the guys from Bridges and Powerlines who were watching other performances and we chatted about the Fest, their set and other assorted tidbits. Andrew in particular was pretty stoked about their performance and when I went back to review the recordings he was right. Bridges and Powerlines played the ATJ Fest with energy and proficiency that at previous gigs they had only hinted. This was their unique power pop at its best.

We recorded this matrix recording from the same equipment and location as all the Galapagos stage sets. Enjoy!

After The Jump is a charitable organization of NYC music bloggers who donate all proceeds of their events to the advancement of music in NYC schools. nyctaper requests that if you download this recording, that you support this cause. Selected tracks from the recordings to be featured on this site from the ATJ Festival will be produced into a compilation, with all proceeds being donated to the music programs in NYC schools. When the compilation becomes available, all nyctaper readers who downloaded ATJ sets will be expected to purchase the release.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Bridges and Powerlines
2008-06-21
Galapagos Main Stage
After The Jump Festival
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard/Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Front of Board Neumann KM-150s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, level adjustments) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-07-14

Setlist:
[total time 26:26]
01 Middle Child
02 The Cave-In
03 Half a Cent
04 Carmen
05 Uncalibrated
06 The Beach Animals
07 The Golden Age

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Bridges and Powerlines, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase the new CD Ghost Types directly from the Citybird records webpage.