Posts Tagged ‘ hoboken ’

Speed the Plough: February 25, 2016 HiFi Bar

March 17, 2016
By

speedtheplough
[photo by Neil deMause]

Correspondent Neil D writes:

Explaining Speed the Plough’s connection with and distinction from the Feelies is a bit daunting, but here we go: The band first began as the Trypes, a Hoboken band that grew to incorporate Feelies’ guitarist/vocalists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million when their main band went on hiatus during the early ’80s. When the Feelies reformed in 1985, Mercer and Million took bassist Brenda Sauter and drummer Stan Demeski with them; when the Feelies went back on hiatus in the ’90s (after Million moved to Florida to become a locksmith at Disney World), Sauter and Demeski rejoined what was now known as Speed the Plough, only to depart again in 2008 when the Feelies re-re-formed. This left Speed the Plough with no actual Feelies veterans, but a who’s-who of the Feelies family tree, with Demeski’s brother-in-law John Baumgartner (keyboards, vocals), sister-in-law Toni Baumgartner (vocals, flute, clarinet, glockenspiel), son John Demeski (drums), and nephew Michael Baumgartner (guitar, vocals) all on board, along with Cindi Merklee on bass/vocals and Ed Seifert on guitar/vocals. And there’s a family feel to the shows as well, with everyone trading off on lead vocals and writing credits. (“Ed’s Song,” appropriately, is actually written and sung by John Baumgartner.)

Speed the Plough’s music itself is a somewhat more distant cousin to the Feelies’, with the similarities including clean melodies layered over crisp percussion, though much more varied in tone and instrumentation — there aren’t all that many glockenspiel solos in Feelies songs, for starters. This appearance, at Manhattan’s quickly-becoming-beloved HiFi Bar (in the former Brownies space, run by former Brownie Mike Stuto), was a record release show for Speed the Plough’s new LP “Now,” which the band played through in its entirety, followed by an encore of the title track from their 2010 album “Swerve.” The show was recorded with a mix of mics set up on the booths opposite the stage and the HiFi soundboard, and is an excellent capture of the intimate sound in that space, with not too much chatter filtering in from the bar area adjacent.

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Speed the Plough
2016-02-25
HiFi Bar
New York, NY
Soundboard > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) + CA-14 cardioid mics > Church Audio ugly battery box > iRiver H320 (Rockboxed) > AIFF (16.44.1) > Sound Studio (light EQ and mixing) > FLAC (16/44.1) > Tag > FLAC
Recorded and mastered by neil d

01 Matt Davis intro
02 S.O.S.
03 Midnight in the World
04 Garden
05 Be With You
06 Because
07 More and More
08 second set intro
09 Hey, Blue
10 Buttermilk Falls
11 Miss Amelia (for Carson McCullers)
12 On A New Day
13 Telegraph
14 Ed’s Song
15 Swerve

Pick up “Now” and other Speed the Plough goodies (their 2014 retrospective “The Plough and the Stars” makes an excellent starting point for acquainting yourself with their three-decade back catalogue) at: http://www.speedtheplough.com/

Lee Ranaldo: July 30, 2013 Maxwell’s – Flac/MP3/Streaming

August 6, 2013
By

lee-ranaldo-7
[Photo courtesy of Kenneth Bachor]

Since the apparent demise of his longtime band, Lee Ranaldo has been hard at work forging ahead with his solo career. Although last year’s Matador release Between the Times and the Tides certainly was not a “debut” album for Lee, it represented his first post Sonic Youth work and was a very strong “start”. We were present for two early gigs in support of the album, months before its release and while the band was certainly strong, there was perhaps a bit of trepidation about the new format. A year later, in the same venue as one of those early shows (Maxwells), Lee and the band (now called The Dust) were anything but shy — this is a powerful confident quartet performing material that has been fully developed live. As this night was the final regularly scheduled gig in the history of Maxwell’s, there was a weird kind of celebratory doom energy in the room which Lee likened to an “Irish wake”. After the gig opened with a wedding proposal from one former Maxwell’s employee to another, the band seemed to play off the weird energy and played with a sense of urgency and purpose. Lee and the Dust basically played their entire current catalog in a show that approached two hours. The setlist included the entire Time and Tides album, four new songs, one of Lee’s Sonic Youth tracks, and a handful of eclectic and excellent covers. At the conclusion of this night, I broke down my equipment, said thanks to the people involved in the venue, and walked out of Maxwell’s for the last time. The sadness of that exit overshadowed what I realize now — that Lee Ranaldo had closed Maxwell’s for me with one of the best shows we’ve seen all year.

I recorded this show in the way we’ve done for the many years we recorded at this venue and the sound is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Lost”:

Stream “Revolution Blues” (Neil Young cover):

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Lee Ranaldo
2013-07-30
Maxwells
Hoboken NJ

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-08-03

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:45:23]
01 [intro/wedding proposal]
02 Stranded
03 Waiting on a Dream
04 [banter – irish wake]
05 Tomorrow Never Comes
06 Off The Wall
07 Angles
08 [Xtina intro]
09 Xtina as I Knew Her
10 Keyhole
11 Hammer Blows
12 Lost
13 [Shouts intro]
14 Shouts
15 Last Night on Earth
16 Everybody’s Been Burned [Byrds]
17 Thank You For Sending Me an Angel [Talking Heads]
18 Fire Island
19 She Cracked [Modern Lovers]
20 Lecce Leaving
21 [encore break]
22 Home Courts
23 Genetic
24 Revolution Blues [Neil Young]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Lee Ranaldo, visit his page at the Sonic Youth website, and purchase Between The Times and The Tides directly from the Matador Records website [HERE].

Mission of Burma: July 28, 2013 Maxwell’s (Early Show) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

August 2, 2013
By


Mission-Of-Burma4
[photos by PSquared Photography]

Mission of Burma didn’t hold back on this two set bill on the Maxwell’s closing weekend. Each of the two sets featured the same kind of raw energy that has represented not only this band and this club, but the best of independent music over the past 35 years. As we noted in our review of the late set, this was a night to acknowledge history, and this set did plenty of that, but it also reminded us that there is more to come. Many of the people I saw pumping their fists for Burma — myself included — were kids or not even born the first time they played there. On this night, songs like “7s” from their latest, Unsound, sounded right at home next to old, rare numbers like “Peking Spring”, which was first released on cassette in 1985 and didn’t see broader release until showing up on a 1993 CD compilation. As they did for the second set, the band closed with “Academy Fight Song”. Then I turned off my deck, took down my equipment, and took one last look. I would never set foot in Maxwell’s again, and after their second set, neither would they. Now Hoboken has gone quiet, but the echoes of thousands of memorable nights remain.

I recorded this set with MBHO cardiod microphones from our usual spot in the venue. Other than a few light spots of wind noise from the A/C ducts, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

This NYCTaper recording is being hosted on the Live Music Archive.  You can stream the entire show by clicking the song titles below.

Stream “Peking Spring”

Download the Complete Show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show

Mission-Of-Burma70

Mission of Burma
2013-07-28
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

MBHO KA200N>MBP603 (FOB/LOC/PAS)>Roland R-26>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.03 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:18:10]
01 Fell Into Water
02 7s
03 [Chupies]
04 Fun World
05 Dirt
06 Einstein’s Day
07 Outlaw
08 Peking Spring
09 This Is Not A Photograph
10 Dead Pool
11 [Panic]
12 Donna Sumeria
13 2wice
14 Let Yourself Go
15 That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate
16 Red
17 [encore break]
18 Secrets
19 Trem Two
20 Academy Fight Song

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mission of Burma, visit their website, and purchase Unsound from the Fire Records website [HERE] and purchase other Mission of Burma material from the Store at their website [HERE].

Mission Of Burma: July 28, 2013 Maxwells (Late Show) – Flac/MP3/Streaming

August 1, 2013
By

Mission-Of-Burma17
[photos by PSquared Photography]

Other than the Feelies, Mission is Burma is likely the only still-active band to have played Maxwell’s in the 1970s. The club closed for good last night, but in its final week we were treated to a series of outstanding concerts, not the least of which was the double shot of MOB for early and late shows on Sunday. Acidjack covered the early show, and I was there for the late. If on this night the band’s setlist was more geared towards older material than their recent shows (January at Bowery for instance), it was a fitting acknowledgement to a club that was, according to Clint Conley, a “safe place for weirdos” in the old days. Thirty-five years and thousands of shows later, on this night it was a place for memories and tributes, but more importantly still-vibrant music played by a band that virtually invented American post-punk.

I recorded this set with the Neumann large diaphragm cardioids mounted at the front of the soundboard booth and the quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Trem Two”:

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

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Mission of Burma
2013-07-28
Late Show
Maxwells
Hoboken NJ

Digital Audience Master Recording

Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, EQ, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-07-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:10:16]
01 Opener
02 Sevens
03 Sectionals In Mourning
04 Fame and Fortune
05 Outlaw
06 Mica
07 Nu Disco
08 Devotion
09 Dumbells
10 Spider’s Web
11 2wice
12 Trem Two
13 [banter – Dirt]
14 Dust Devil
15 That’s When I Reach For My Revolver
16 [Johnny false start]
17 The Ballad Of Johnny Burma
18 Secrets
19 This Is Not A Photograph
20 [encore break]
21 Donna Sumeria
22 Academy Fight Song

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mission of Burma, visit their website, and purchase Unsound from the Fire Records website [HERE] and purchase other Mission of Burma material from the Store at their website [HERE].

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead: July 23, 2013 Maxwell’s – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

July 25, 2013
By

aywkubttod2013-07-23-4
[Photos by acidjack]

Part of the joy of seeing bands in a small venue is the unpredictability. Small venues, even the best ones, are always fighting hard to hold it together, and it’s often a losing battle. Gear breaks down, beverage lines go stale, some asshole from some opening band breaks your backline, the A/C goes out, the health inspector is on your case, someone’s stealing from the till, someone else called in sick, the toilet’s clogged — owning a small music venue isn’t an endeavor for the faint of heart, or someone who doesn’t want to work. But at the same time, small venues are also where bands take risks. At Madison Square Garden or something, with an enormous light system, you won’t be varying the setlist or stage diving or interacting with a crowd where the nearest people are six feet from the stage. And you don’t have the safety net of a video screen or some other gimmick to make people care. You make them care with your own sweat.

For longer than many of the people in this crowd for …And You Will Know It By the Trail of Dead‘s show had even been going to concerts, the crew at Maxwell’s worked tirelessly to make that club a place that musicians wanted to play, that real fans wanted to hang out in, and that represented the best of their home in Hoboken. And they succeeded, more than most could ever claim to, in all of that.

But you wouldn’t have blamed Trail of Dead if they’d thrown hissy fits and run offstage after the first issue with the circuit breaker shut off the entire PA. Or when a monitor malfunctioned. Or when the PA blew again. They’re a veteran band. They don’t need this shit. But if you want to be the kind of band that plays at Maxwell’s — that stays close to its audience, that remembers where it came from — then you learn to deal. And that’s exactly what the Austin band did. When “Another Morning Stoner” got cut off, they didn’t just move on to the next song. They played a shortened, stripped-down version. They also played one of the most memorable performances of theirs I’ve seen. Try to deny the power of “Will You Smile Again”, the first thing played after the gear got working again, or the searing “A Perfect Teenhood”, or the “Caterwaul” where guitarist/singer Jason Reece took the mic to the back of the room to sing, at one point doing so from inside the sound booth. (The above photo is taken from that area).

In taking a show that had its challenges — that in less cool hands could’ve been a shambolic mess — and turning into a night none of us would forget, they paid the most fitting tribute to the venue of all.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed combined with Schoeps MK5 microphones. While the overall sound quality is excellent, I’d like to emphasize again that the equipment issues are nobody’s “fault” — not the band’s, not the Maxwell’s staff’s. Sometimes, these things happen. Enjoy!

Stream “Caterwaul”

This NYCTaper recording is being hosted on the Live Music Archive.  You can stream the entire show by clicking the song titles below or download it via the links provided.

Direct download of the entire show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the full set:

aywkubttod2013-07-23-1

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
2013-07-23
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineers: Mitch (house) and Matt (band)) + Schoeps MK5 (PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity 2.03 (patch bad section of SBD)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, tape exciter)>Audacity 2.03 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:22:41]
01 [intro]
02 It Was There That I Saw You
03 How Near How Far
04 Catatonic
05 Up To Infinity [gear issues]>
06 Flower Card Games [gear issues]
07 Another Morning Stoner [false start]
08 [banter/gear issues 1]
09 Another Morning Stoner [short version]
10 Spiral Jetty>
11 Weight of the Sun
12 Homage
13 [banter2]
14 Will You Smile Again
15 [banter3]
16 Aged Dolls>
17 A Perfect Teenhood
18 Caterwaul
19 [banter4]
20 Totally Natural
21 [encore “break”]
22 Relative Ways

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Trail of Dead, visit their website, and purchase Lost Songs at your favorite retailer, including here.

aywkubttod2013-07-23-2

Jon Langford: July 9, 2013 Maxwell’s – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 23, 2013
By

langford
[iphone photo by neild]

Longtime NYCTaper correspondent neild made his last trip to Maxwells:
“The very first time I went to a show at Maxwell’s in Hoboken was to see the Mekons, for a show in July 1991 when the Leeds-bred country-art-punk combo was touring in support of Curse of the Mekons, the album that got them kicked off A&M for being “commercially unsatisfactory.” This was at a time when the Mekons played in the New York area every few months (usually at Tramps or the Marquee), and I don’t remember much in particular about the show, except that Jon Langford and Sally Timms, then recently split as a couple, bickered both terribly and hilariously, and that the show ended with Jon and several other Mekons thrashing atop each other, and their guitars, on the floor. And that the whole thing was wonderful and anarchic and both so rock and roll and so anti-rock and roll in a way that only the Mekons have quite ever been able to pull off.

Almost 22 years later to the day, I made what will be my final visit to Maxwell’s to see Langford and his usual New York cohort (bassist Tony Maimone and drummer Steve Goulding, with only longtime violinist Jean Cook absent) play their farewell gig at the club, which as everyone reading this no doubt knows by now will close forever at the end of July. I was on vacation on the West Coast when I got an email about the show, which was due to take place just one day after I was to arrive back east on a red eye; of course, I immediately ordered tickets, because one more chance to see Jonboy at the greatest rock club in the world was something I couldn’t pass up, jet lag or no.

It didn’t disappoint. After taking the stage solo to play “Luxury” from his recent album Old Devils while waiting for Maimone and Goulding to make their way through the Maxwell’s crowd to the stage, Langford launched into full-band renditions of several songs from his 1998 solo debut Skull Orchard, a still-unparalleled masterpiece focused on his hometown of Newport, Wales (“Tubby Brothers” is about a real-life undertaking firm of that name); the rest of the set highlighted both Waco Brothers classics like “Walking on Hell’s Roof” and other solo material, including his recent, haunting Bloodshot single “Drone Operator.” After a break for drinks, the band returned to do a string of Mekons songs, more Jon solo material, and a set of covers before closing things out with the ur-Mekons track “Where Were You?”

It all amounted to both a eulogy for and a celebration of Maxwell’s, which was only fitting for an artist who’s spent the last several years selling paintings based on faded publicity photos of dead country music stars. For a fuller review, including a nice sampling of the jokes that peppered the evening (only some of which were about Sally Timms farting), see Will You Miss Me’s report on the evening.

This recording was made from two sources: a pair of cap-mounted Core Sound Binaural mics about ten feet from the stage, plus a soundboard feed. (Huge thanks for Maxwell’s soundman Mitch for his both his help in this area and his terrific mix for the night – NYC-area clubs, this man is a free agent come August 1, so get your dialing fingers working!) Despite some minor mishaps with a balky cable and some errant breezes from the Maxwell’s a/c system – one of the few things that’s changed there in the last 22 years – I was able to finesse it all in mixing into a recording I think you’ll all be happy with. Especially if you’re a fan of fart jokes.”

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

Stream the Entire Show:

Jon Langford
2013-07-09
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ

Recorded and mastered by neil d

CoreSound Binaurals + soundboard > MM-EBM-1 battery box (with bass roll-off) > Line In > iRiver H320 (Rockboxed) > AIFF > Sound Studio > FLAC > XAct (for SBE and tags) > FLAC

Tracks:
First set:
01 Luxury
02 [banter – Billy Bragg]
03 Tubby Brothers
04 Youghal
05 Butter Song
06 Trapdoor
07 Death of Country Music
08 [banter – did the Waco Brothers ever play here]
09 Walking on Hell’s Roof
10 Drone Operator
11 [banter – some of my friends’ fathers]
12 Pill Sailor
13 [banter – I went to the doctor]
14 X-Ray Style (Joe Strummer)
15 [banter – the Three Johns broke up in this room]
16 Death of the European
17 Deep Sea Diver

Second set:
18 Memphis, Egypt
19 Lonely and Wet
20 [banter – Rico’s accordion is dead]
21 Slightly South of the Border
22 Dickie, Chalkie and Nobby
23 [banter – smells and tastes]
24 Millionaire
25 [banter – ooh, doggie]
26 Are You an Entertainer
27 Good Year for the Roses (George Jones)
28 Before I Grow Too Old (Fats Domino)
29 Sentimental Marching Song
30 [banter – a funny joke in Chicago]
31 Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You (Dolly Parton)
32 It’s Not Enough
33 [banter – guitar solo]
34 Big River (Johnny Cash)
35 Nashville Radio
36 Big Spender (Shirley Bassey)
37 Wild and Blue (John Anderson)
38 Wreck on the Highway (Dorsey Dixon)
39 Where Were You

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Jon Langford, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the Bloodshot Records Website [HERE].

Miracle of 86: June 14, 2013 Maxwells – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 4, 2013
By

miracle-of-86-16
[photo by Sean O’Kane]

Kevin Devine is such a nice guy that its hard for me to believe that he was once in a band that broke up. The Miracle of 86 was a popular Staten Island based power pop quartet who toured and recorded from 1998 to 2003, before Kevin launched his solo career. Following the tragic events of the superstorm and the massive damage to their home borough, the band reunited on Staten Island for a benefit concert in January. The experience was so positive that Miracle of 86 decided to keep it going — with two shows in June. We attended the Maxwells date a couple of weeks back, and it was a show that felt very much like a bunch of old friends getting together to play some songs. The stage banter was friendly and funny and the performance of the old material was both inspired and surprisingly tight. We’re streaming “Sunday School”, which was so well played that it could be released tomorrow. Miracle of 86 could very well play more reunion shows, but for now Kevin will be concentrating, after his hugely successful Kickstarter (for two albums!) on his solo career. Expect a show in NYC in late summer / early fall.

I recorded this show in our usual manner in this venue and the sound is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Sunday School”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Miracle Of 86
2013-06-14
Maxwells
Hoboken NJ

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-06-26

Setlist:
[Total Time 58:02]
01 [intro]
02 Sleep All Damn Day
03 G Song
04 Every Famous Last Word
05 [banter – stripes]
06 Surprise Me
07 Southern State
08 Dance Dance Revolution
09 [banter – Bryan Adams]
10 Knife
11 When Its on My Mind
12 [banter – Alice in Chains teaser]
13 Call Off The Cops
14 I Think You Meant to Say No
15 A Less Important Place
16 Nice Shirt Salvador Dali
17 Your Quicksilver Moment
18 Sunday School
19 [banter]
20 Red 19
21 [outro]

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Miracle of 86 alumnus Kevin Devine, visit his website, and purchase is official releases from Razor and Tie Records [HERE].

Yo La Tengo: June 15, 2013 Maxwell’s – Flac/MP3/Streaming

June 19, 2013
By

YLT PP1
[photos by PSquared Photography – courtesy of brooklynvegan]

When I first began going to Maxwell’s back some 25 years ago, it was to me just another of the excellent NYC-area clubs that hosted the bands I preferred. Its been the last decade where the club began to mean much more to me. While I was somewhat late to the Maxwell’s admiration party, it still hit me like a punch to the stomach when the news broke that the club would be closing for good at the end of July. In recent years as is well documented on the pages of this site, we’ve taken many trips over to Hoboken for some of the best shows I’ve seen in my entire life. The club became a home away from home — when I came in through the side door often much earlier than the time for doors, I was certain that I had a night of great music, good food, fine beer and welcome company ahead of me. Going to Maxwell’s was an escape of sorts, but more importantly it was about people — those that make a night of entertainment enjoyable in all aspects. The refreshing thing about Maxwell’s was that it was entirely free of the venue politics that plague many local venues. When I came in the door, I was welcome. And since I came so often, the staff were all familiar and friendly faces. I didn’t know all of their names, but every server, bartender, and bouncer were all the kind of people that you’d hope would run a music venue. Of particular note for me was Mike the ticket/door man who often allowed me to enter the venue early to set up equipment, and of course Carson Kopp, the venue’s head sound technician whose sound talents are well documented on this site but whose generosity, patience and sense of humor were always second to none. I expect that all of the people involved in this special place with land on their feet wherever they go, but somehow it will never be the same.

A large reason why Maxwell’s was the locale for so many of the special nights we’ve experienced was the “house band” — Yo La Tengo. We’ve seen them at times other than Hanukkah, but the vast majority of our YLT shows were during the eight day holiday. Due to some unforseen circumstances, on Saturday night a show originally billed as “Condo Fucks” in an opening slot became a two-set Yo La Tengo Maxwell’s show, and will be the final show of the band at its home venue. With that knowledge, the band’s entrance on stage in front of the red velvet curtain was instantly emotional. It was both hard to fathom and hard to accept that the band’s familiar position was its final night on this stage. Yo La Tengo has always had a keen awareness of its circumstances and its surroundings, and the setlist seemed uniquely fashioned for this night. Indeed, as “Mr. Tough” was dedicated to venue manager Todd Abramson, it occurred to me that the lyrics “we’ll forget about our problems / Ignore them for a little while / And leave our worries in the corner” quite well summarized the feeling of entering Maxwell’s for a night of music. While the weird sense of current enjoyment and the dread of the ending of something magical permeated my feelings throughout the set, it wasn’t until a beautiful quiet version of “Tom Courtenay” that the lump in my throat evolved into real tears. Its hard to lose something this special, but Yo La Tengo’s quiet first set was the cathartic remedy that we needed to help us accept our fate. After a break, the band returned with a full electric “Condo Fucks” set of garage-rock covers. It was exactly what was necessary at the exact right time — the chance to celebrate what Maxwell’s was really all about, no frills and unpretentious rock and roll simply for its own sake. The band’s final song, a super quiet and oh so appropriate cover of the Kinks’ “This Is Where I Belong” wasn’t so much a crying song as it was a wave goodbye. Ira Kaplan introduced the song by humbly noting that “this band does not exist without this club.” Indeed, much of the most important alternative rock of the last 30 years doesn’t either, and for that we can always thank and remember fondly Maxwell’s in Hoboken.

I recorded this set in the manner we’ve always been lucky to be permitted to record in this venue, and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Yo La Tengo is going to be on tour for the next several months and the dates are [HERE].

Stream “Tom Courtenay”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Yo La Tengo
2013-06-15
Maxwells
Hoboken NJ

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-06-19

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:35:17]
Set One [Acoustic YLT]
01 [introduction]
02 Big Day Coming
03 The Point Of It
04 [3 Blocks intro]
05 Three Blocks From Groove Street
06 [banter – libretto]
07 Mr. Tough
08 Swing For Life
09 Speeding Motorcycle [Daniel Johnston]
10 I’ll Be Around
11 Tom Courtenay
12 Ohm

Set Two [Condo Fucks]
13 [introduction set two]
14 Outrage [Booker T]
15 The Last Time [Rolling Stones]
16 Last Time Around [The Del-Vetts]
17 Frenzy [The Fugs]
18 Mystery Action [The Rezillos]
19 Whatcha Gonna Do About It [Small Faces]
20 Right Side of My Mind [Angry Samoans]
21 I Want You To Be My Boy [The Exciters]
22 I’m Your Man [Richard Hell]
23 Accident [Electric Eels]
24 With A Girl Like You [The Troggs]
25 Tiger In Your Tank [Muddy Waters]
26 Dog Meat [Flamin Groovies]
27 Get Down [Half Life]
28 Come On Up [Young Rascals]
29 Gudbuy T’Jane [Slade]
30 [encore break]
31 This Is Where I Belong [The Kinks]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, and purchase their latest album Fade from Matador Records [HERE].

Mountain Goats: June 5, 2013 Maxwells – Flac/MP3/Streaming

June 13, 2013
By

mountain goats maxwells
[photo by Peggy Nelling]

The current Mountain Goats tour is a bit of a throwback of sorts. After tours as a trio with drummer Jon Wurster and tours where the band added new players such as horns, a second guitarist, and various special guests, this month the Mountain Goats is a John Darnielle and Peter Hughes duo. The stripped down stage show gives the band a chance to take some chances. Last week at Maxwell’s, this included some older and rare numbers, including the twelve year old never-heard-before track from the Alpha series, “Alpha Chum Gatherer” (streaming below), and some out of the blue covers (“Ripple” streaming below). This tour is also playing to much smaller rooms than Mountain Goats tend to play these days, and the chance to experience the band in an intimate setting like Maxwell’s was a treat. This tour continues through the month of June in the Midwest and South.

I recorded this set in our usual manner at this venue. The band’s outstanding FOH Brandon Eggleston is responsible for the superb mix of this particular show and the prime quality of this recording is a tribute to his talents. Enjoy!

Stream “Alpha Chum Gatherer”:

Stream “Ripple” (Grateful Dead cover):

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

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Mountain Goats
2013-06-05
Maxwells
Hoboken NJ

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-06-10

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:41:00]
01 [music intro]
02 Pure Gold
03 [banter – red tape]
04 Linda Blair Was Born Innocent
05 The Diaz Brothers
06 Love Love Love
07 [banter – Peter and John]
08 Heretic Pride
09 [banter – setlist]
10 Nine Black Poppies
11 [banter – sitting down]
12 Dutch Orchestra Blues
13 Tallahassee
14 [banter – Paul Stanley]
15 Wild Sage
16 [banter – crystal healer]
17 Samuel 15:23
18 The Recognition Scene
19 Song for Mark and Joel
20 Cobscook Bay
21 [banter – business models]
22 Alpha Chum Gatherer
23 [banter – color my cheeks]
24 Alpha Rats Nest
25 Woke Up New
26 [banter – audibles]
27 The Fall Of The Star High School Running Back
28 [banter – capo]
29 No Children
30 [encore break]
31 Alpha Omega
32 International Small Arms Traffic Blues
33 Ripple [Grateful Dead]
34 See America Right
35 California Song

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT the Mountain Goats, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Mountain Goats Store [HERE].

Thermals: March 9, 2013 Maxwell’s – Flac/MP3/Streaming

March 10, 2013
By

Thermals Maxwells
[still from this video]

The Thermals signed to Saddle Creek Records in January and in April will release Desperate Ground, their first album in three years. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the release of their outstanding debut album More Parts per Million. On their current tour, the Thermals are featuring hefty doses of each of the career bookend albums in the setlist. Last night at Maxwell’s, the band delivered an extremely energetic show to a raucous crowd. From the very first drum beat, the front half of the crowd were relentlessly dancing, moshing and reveling in the band’s high-speed performance. The Thermals played twenty-three songs in a little over an hour, almost without coming up for air. The band also showed their appreciation for the rabid fans in other ways. I saw bassist Kathy Foster in the hallway leading the venue taking much time before the show talking to the fans, signing albums, and generally just hanging. Throughout the set, Hutch Harris interacted with the crowd, played off-stage inside the audience, and did a few stage dives. And at the very end of the set, each band member hi-fived the entire front of the crowd and stuck around after the set to socialize. The Thermals are a band who seem to be having an absolute ball playing their music and the positivity is infectious. The band even took time to give a shoutout to the legendary John Agnello, who recorded their new album in New Jersey. The Thermals will play an afternoon set on Monday at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan before heading down to SXSW and then finishing up their tour on the West Coast, dates here.

I recorded this set with the new Neumann TLM 102 large diaphragm cardioids mounted inside the soundboard cage and mixed with a fine feed from veteran Maxwell’s FOH Carson Kopp. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Returning to the Fold”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Thermals
2013-03-09
Maxwells
Hoboken NJ

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-03-10

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:02:11]
01 Faces Stay With Me
02 Its Trivia
03 Brace and Break
04 Born to Kill
05 You Will Be Free
06 Returning To The Fold
07 My Little Machine
08 Goddamn the Light
09 [banter]
10 The Howl of the Winds
11 Time To Lose
12 Born Dead
13 The Sword By My Side
14 A Pillar Of Salt
15 Our Love Survives
16 Back to Gray
17 You Will Find Me
18 A Passing Feeling
19 The Sunset
20 Overgrown Overblown
21 Where I Stand
22 Here’s Your Future
23 [encore break]
24 Capture With A Magnet
25 No Culture Icons

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Thermals, visit their website, purchase their official releases from the Store at their website [HERE] and Pre-Order Desperate Ground from Saddle Creek Records [HERE].

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