Posts Tagged ‘ joan of arc ’

Joan of Arc: October 7, 2016 Knitting Factory

October 31, 2016
By

img_0193

The last time we recorded Joan of Arc, I noted that they could be a bit of an acquired taste; that they are a band that rewards listeners who want to be challenged, not who show up for something typical. At this Knitting Factory performance, their first in New York in quite some time, they doubled down on that statement, as they played a set of songs that was alternately fascinating and head-scratching, but consistently expectation-defying. The current band includes Tim Kinsella on guitar and vocals, regulars Bobby Burg and Theo Katsaounis on bass and drums, Jeremy Boyle and the artist Melina Ausikaitis, who performed both an a cappella number mid-set and joined Kinsella on vocals at points in addition to playing some custom instruments.

This set was meant to showcase the band’s forthcoming album, He’s Got the Whole This Land Is Your Land In His Hands, which you can pre-order here, and which is of a piece with the band’s general perspective. The record contains a heavier emphasis on electronic instruments than one might expect from a member of the legendary Cap’n Jazz and the much-vaunted (or maligned, depending on your perspective) “emo” scene, which was a term that never really meant much of anything, but means even less when considered in light of this band. Songs like “This Must Be the Placenta” (the album’s first single) and “Stranged That Egg Yolk” are sure to stretch boundaries for some fans, and if their reception tonight was to be believed, Joan of Arc’s fans are ready for them. Things got weirder after we hit the halfway point, with Ausikaitis’ pseudo-Appalachian a cappella number followed by “The Hands” from the band’s first album, which then led into a lengthy aside by Kinsella about seeing the Misfits in a hockey arena, followed by two mostly-instrumental songs that I found to be the most compelling in the set (if these have names, please help me out), which made up a combined twenty minutes of the just-over-an-hour total.

In total, then, this show felt reminiscent of that show back in 2011: depending on one’s perspective, some things may have “worked” better than others, but you have to applaud the whole of it for its willingness to take risks, to let things go to uncomfortable places. Based on the preview tracks floating around on the Internet, the new album should be a more than worthy entry into the band’s canon, and represent some of the best of those experiments. Nearly twenty years after their first album was released, Joan of Arc know who they want to reach and how they want to reach them, and that has continued to make their story one worth following.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones next to the soundboard with a feed from house engineer Rob. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete set:

Joan of Arc
2016-10-07
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Rob) + Schoeps MK4V>KCY>Z-PFA>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (fades, align, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:07:10]
01 Explain Yourselves #2>instrumental
02 Stemingway and Heinbeck
03 Flowers
04 This Must Be The Placenta
05 Stranged That Egg Yolk
06 Staying Alive and Lovelessness
07 Shown and Told
08 “Red Headed Girl”
09 The Hands
10 [banter]
11 [new]>
12 [new2]

PLEASE SUPPORT Joan of Arc: Website | Pre-Order the new album

Owen: December 2, 2011 Glasslands – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

December 6, 2011
By


[Video stills courtesy of Ian Perlman and Oresti Tsonopoulos]

Mike Kinsella has been involved in many a highly-regarded project over the years – in particular, the Illinois native still does time in Joan of Arc with his brother Tim (our recent recording of them [HERE]), and before that, he and Tim were in Cap’n Jazz (our recent recording of them [HERE]). The man’s discography is longer than many artists twice his age – and most of it is quite good.

The latest Kinsella project to receive positive notice is his affecting solo effort, Owen, which he has been releasing albums under since 2001. Let me revise that – a lot of positive notice. I had not seen Glasslands this completely full in a long time, probably since the packed-to-the-rafters Yuck show last winter, or Bear In Heaven’s show there in 2009. Our friends at PopGun Booking knew what they were doing when they booked this for a Friday night.

Packed house or not, Kinsella made the show feel like an intimate evening in a family basement, with a freewheeling set that found him joking with the crowd during and in between songs, chatting with folks in the front row, riffing on fantasy football, hockey, airplane turbulence and (briefly) failed GOP contender Herman Cain, and making the best of some difficult technical issues. Alone onstage with his guitar (with audience members in his face on all sides), Kinsella delivered an hour’s worth of songs that were by turns melancholy, funny and whimsical, all in a trademark sweet voice that, for many of us, typifies the “emo” sound popularized in the 1990s. Even with such distractions as occasional PA buzzing and interference from Mike’s phone, his unadorned set was powerful and moving, and the crowd hung on every word. Much of his 2011 release Ghost Town was covered, but the set spanned the Owen catalog. Even Kinsella’s occasional flubs — a couple of songs ended prematurely — were greeted enthusiastically, to the point that he mocked the crowd for cheering for one aborted number. With some performers, this kind of thing could be annoying, but Kinsella is the type of amiable guy you can’t help but laugh with when things go wrong.  The show ended on that kind of note, when a massive equipment problem during the encore sent waves of static blasting through the PA. “That’s cool,” Kinsella said. “Thanks for coming guys. I’m done. It was fun. Now it’s over.” Mike smiled as he walked off, and the crowd roared its approval. It was that kind of night.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed and Schoeps MK22 “open cardioid” microphones in the usual location I use in the venue.  After extensive post-processing to reduce or eliminate most of the sound issues (which, it should be added, were not the fault of the Glasslands house team), I am quite pleased with the quality of the recording. Hear it for yourself below, and enjoy!

Stream “The Armoire”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/O0212Owen0211/12%20The%20Armoire.mp3]

Stream “No Language”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/O0212Owen0211/24%20No%20Language.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct download of FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on twitter

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.

Owen
2011-12-02
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK22 (DFC, NOS)>KCY>Naiant littlebox + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown, noise reduction, EQ)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro banter]
02 Too Many Moons
03 [banter]
04 O, Evelyn
05 Abandoned Bridges
06 [banter/tuning]
07 The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi
08 An Animal
09 [banter]
10 The Anthropology Song
11 [banter]
12 The Armoire
13 No Place Like Home
14 [banter]
15 New Leaves
16 [banter]
17 Bad Backs and Hardwood Floors
18 [banter]
19 Bad News
20 A Bird In Hand
21 [banter]
22 Everyone’s Asleep in the House but Me
23 [banter]
24 No Language
25 [banter]
26 Broken Bones
27 [banter]
28 Good Friends Bad Habits

PLEASE SUPPORT Owen by visiting Mike’s MySpace page for the band, and buying the band’s records, including the 2011 release Ghost Town, directly from Polyvinyl [HERE]

Joan of Arc: August 10, 2011 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

August 27, 2011
By

joa2011-08-10-2
[Photo by acidjack]

Whether you find Joan of Arc frustrating or incredible is likely to come down to your overall view of what rock music is about: If you hold the attitude of “I am here, you must entertain me with classics and catchy tunes”, you are likely to be in the former camp.  You’re also probably that person that customizes every dinner order beyond recognition. A sauce-on-the-sider, if you will. People like you would do well to avoid bands like Joan of Arc, who tend to reward the other type of listener, who enjoys being challenged, who enjoys taking in the breadth of an artist’s vision, and who would rather see something new than something familiar.

Which is not to say that this set by Tim Kinsella’s main project of the past 15 years was not thoroughly entertaining. Kinsella, who made his name in Cap’n Jazz before that band split up (other than their brief reunion last summer that we recorded HERE and HERE), can put on a fierce live show, and keep some wacky stage banter in the mix as well. Eschewing emo-or-whatever-you-call-it tradition, Joan of Arc’s set is heavy on variety – a short burst of almost-pure pop here, a lengthy instrumental there. This set had both, as well as encore songs from another Kinsella side project, Owls. The band’s virtuosity couldn’t be denied – they rocked, time signature or structure-of-the-moment be damned. Songs thrive on dense, angular riffs and plaintive vocals. The resulting recording is a thing of beauty as well – as clear an indication if there ever was one that a small club, excellent sound engineer (Kevin, as usual) and band that knows what they’re doing is an unbeatable combination.

Kevin’s soundboard feed blended perfectly with the Schoeps supercardiod microphones, and the resulting recording is clear, crisp and excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Every Day I Saw Was the Same Face [Owls]”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/J8010JoanofArc2011/13 Every Day I Saw Was the Same Face.mp3]

Stream “I Saw the Messed Blinds of My Generation”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/J8010JoanofArc2011/08 I Saw the Messed Blinds of My Generation.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Follow acidjack on twitter

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.

Joan of Arc
2011-08-10
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Soundboard + Schoeps Mk41>CMC6 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: ROC, at soundboard, mics at 7.5′
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mix down, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks:
01 Night Life Style
02 Howdy Pardoner
03 Still Life
04 Let’s Wrestle
05 Who’s Afraid of Elizabeth Taylor?
06 On A Bedsheet In the Breeze on the Roof
07 [instrumental]
08 I Saw The Messed Blinds of My Generation
09 Love Life
10 [banter]
11 Like Minded
12 [long banter]
13 Every Day I Saw Was the Same Face [Owls]
14 [banter]
15 Anyone Can Have A Good Time [Owls]
16 My Summerlong High Wipeout

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Joan of Arc, visit their website, and purchase their products and releases from their online store [HERE]

SUPPORT NYCTaper




DISCLAIMER and LEGAL NOTICE

nyctaper.com is a live music blog that offers a new paradigm of music distribution on the web. The recordings are offered for free on this site as are the music posts, reviews and links to artist sites. All recordings are posted with artist permission or artists with an existing pro-taping policy.

All recordings and original content posted on this site are @nyctaper.com as live recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 106, et. seq. Redistribution of nyctaper recordings without consent of nyctaper.com is strictly prohibited.

nyctaper.com hereby waives all copyright claims to any and all recordings posted on this site to THE PERFORMERS ONLY. If any artist posted on this site requests that recordings be removed, those recordings will be removed forthwith.