Posts Tagged ‘ jonny leather ’

Howth: March 29, 2012 Cameo Gallery – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

April 1, 2012
By


[Photos courtesy of Jonny Leather and Mecca Lecca Recording Co.]

Our friend and longtime music blogger Jonny Leather has managed to achieve a dream that few music fans do – creating his own label, Mecca Lecca Recording Co., to release the music of the bands he loves. In a fairly short period of time, he has built up a strong roster of acts like Unicycle Loves You (a favorite of this site), Christopher Paul Stelling, and Ghastly City Sleep, among others.  But my favorite of all of them, and a band I had been wanting to see ever since I bought their first record on bandcamp, is Howth.  This recent show at Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn showcased the young band at the top of their game as they shared material from their forthcoming album (and Kickstarter success story) Newkirk.

The band’s bio styles their sound as “psychedelic folk”, but their rich, texturally varied sound belies that simple label.  In addition to their folk influences, I heard elements of the epic sweep of The Antlers in some of their songs like the set closer “Keep Me Away From the Mirror”; the off-kilter rock of Radiohead and Modest Mouse in a few others; and even a few moments when the vocal harmonies reminded me of doo-wop and 60s pop. Howth is a versatile, dynamic act that clearly has a lot of gas left in the tank musically, and has already shown a lot of growth over just two releases. That said, there is no denying some of the earlier songs like “Idaho #1”.  My favorite song of the set was probably “Only Right Turns” from Newkirk – the song has compelling guitar work, soaring vocals and a healthy dose of the loud/soft dynamic that a fan like me who grew up in the 90s is permanently addicted to. Even better, Jesse Newkirk of Steel Phantoms gave this version an extra-special touch.  Howth will release Newkirk on May 1st, followed by a record release show at Mercury Lounge.  I’d recommend putting both on your calendar.

I recorded this set with AKG 414 large-diaphragm mics that were specifically selected to accentuate the detail in Howth’s rich sound, and a soundboard feed from the Cameo staff. This outstanding recording should serve as a worthy introduction to the band and their latest material.  Enjoy!

Special thanks to Howth, Jonny Leather and Mecca Lecca for inviting us to record the show, and my apologies for it taking me this long to actually see the band!

Stream “Only Right Turns”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/H2930Howth0212/07 Only Right Turns.mp3]

Stream “Idaho #1”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/H2930Howth0212/03 Idaho1.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.

Howth
2012-03-29
Cameo Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

AKG C 414 B-XLS (cardiod, ORTF, DFC, FOB)>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition CS 5.5 (mixdown, adjust levels)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, limiter)>Audacity 2.0 (tracking, set fades, downsample to 16/44.1)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks
01 Out in Eagan
02 Snow Bank
03 Idaho #1
04 Wind Blows Cold
05 David
06 [banter]
07 Only Right Turns
08 Needles and Pins*
09 Keep Me Away From the Mirror

*with Jesse Newkirk of Steel Phantoms

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Howth, pre-order Newkirk on their bandcamp page, and check out their page and the other excellent roster of acts at Mecca Lecca Recording Co.

Medications: July 23, 2010 Littlefield – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

July 28, 2010
By


[Photos courtesy of Jonny Leather]

Our friend Jonny Leather has been putting on well-rounded and uniformly excellent showcase shows for awhile now, and we were pleased to have the chance to cover another of them last Friday night at Littlefield. As Jonny’s shows often do, this show spotlighted some bands from outside New York; in this case, the headliners Medications and Deleted Scenes are our Amtrak neighbors from Washington, D.C. Medications may not be a household name up here (yet), but they have an impeccable Dischord pedigree. The band is the brainchild of Devin Ocampo and Chad Molter, who also founded the influential math rock outfit Faraquet. Prior to that, Devin did time in one of my all-time favorite D.C. bands, the short-lived but phenomenal Smart Went Crazy. Medications are a more accessible band than either of its predecessors, retaining the intricate, instantly recognizable guitar work that Faraquet was known for, but with more melodic vocals and traditionally structured songs that reflect the members’ love of not only 70s punk and their contemporaries in the Dischord scene, but also their love of 60s pop. Despite the fact that all hell was breaking loose outside weather-wise, the weather couldn’t keep fans away from this show, which found the band playing through almost all of their recently released CompletelyRemoved, which is one of the strongest new records I have heard this year. Ocampo and Molter (as well as Mark Cisneros, who joined the band for this record) gave the crowd ample evidence of their chops at this show, playing the hell out of their instruments even after the PA feed was shut down due to the venue’s noise restrictions!

I recorded this set with a combination of a stereo soundboard feed provided by the Littlefield staff and the Schoeps microphones. The sound quality is excellent, though I do note that there were some fluctuations in the volume of the soundboard feed as the sound team had to reduce the volume due to the aforementioned noise restrictions. These adjustments should be mostly inaudible to the listener. All tracks are tagged for easy importing into iTunes or your favorite MP3 system. Enjoy!

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

Medications
2010-07-23
Littlefield
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641+Stereo Soundboard Feed>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: ROC, at left side of sound booth, mics at 7.5?, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, compression of peaks, set fades, volume adjustments, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks [Total Time 42:21]
01 Seasons
02 Home Is Where We Are
03 Long Day
04 [banter/tuning]
05 We Could Be Others
06 Tame on the Prowl
07 [tuning/banter]
08 Postcards
09 Brasil ‘07
10 Rising to Sleep
11 [tuning/banter]
12 For WMF

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Medications, visit their website, and purchase CompletelyRemoved direct from Dischord records 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.