Posts Tagged ‘ Rough Trade NYC ’

Dinosaur Jr.: August 5, 2016 Rough Trade NYC

August 9, 2016
By

IMG_1084

Any story about Dinosaur Jr. in New York really must start with the shows that didn’t appear on this site — the band’s singular string of seven shows at Bowery Ballroom back in December of 2015 (they’re going to be officially released in some form). There, the band celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of their debut album — an extraordinary feat for almost any act, even more of one for a band who some would argue didn’t hit their commercial potential even during the heyday of their style of music. Joined by an all-star roster of guests every night, J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph proved how much they’ve meant, and continued to mean, to the music that’s been made during their run. That old saw about being defined by the company you keep? There’s a reason for it.

Which brings us to this much more intimate show at Rough Trade NYC, on the heels of the band’s latest tour with fellow late 80s/90s stalwarts Jane’s Addiction. These homecoming nights are always fun, giving a band a chance to unwind in front of friends after a touring slog. The band rewarded us with some first-time playings of their just-released new record, Give A Glimpse of What Yer Not, which could as easily be the mantra of a band whose consistency and quality has been remarkable through lineup changes and a hiatus. If their first shot at “Goin’ Down” was a little rough (in Barlow’s opinion, anyway), the crowd wasn’t bugged by it, as the band showed off the new album tracks alongside many of their best-loved favorites, including their biggest commercial hit, “Feel the Pain.” Of course, the diehards were there for the older classics like “Freak Scene,” “Gargoyle” and “The Lung,” as well as my personal favorite, the night’s closer of “Out There.” If it wasn’t a two-plus hour bonanza of rare tracks and guest stars, this show was closer to what any band really wants to be about — enduring classics played to enduring fans, in a set that proves that their new material is just as vital as the old. After some much-needed rest, I’m sure we’ll see them back at it to tour the new record in full. We’ll be there.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones in our usual spot in the venue with an Aeta PSP3 preamp for extra clarity. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Thanks to Dinosaur Jr.’s management team and the Rough Trade staff for helping to make this happen.

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC/ALAC]

Stream the complete show:

Dinosaur Jr.
2016-08-05
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK5 (FOB, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Aeta PSP3>Zoom F8>24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:17:19]
01 The Lung
02 Goin’ Down
03 Love Is…
04 [banter1]
05 I Told Everyone
06 Pieces
07 Tiny
08 Feel the Pain
09 In A Jar
10 I Walk for Miles
11 Start Choppin
12 Freak Scene
13 Gargoyle
14 [encore break]
15 The Wagon
16 Out There

SUPPORT Dinosaur Jr.: Facebook | Website | Buy Their Records

Ought: May 8, 2016 Rough Trade NYC

June 2, 2016
By

ought
[photos by Jill Harrison]

Today, more than any other day. It’s effective as a song, even more effective as a mantra. The Montreal band Ought seem to be living by it well, unafraid to release precocious, ambitious music into the wild without precondition or posturing. Their new album, Sun Coming Down, starts off with a nearly eight-minute song, and that should tell you something about where this band’s collective head is at in terms of what their priorities are. Proudly off-kilter in some respects, but never veering from straight-up playing a good song, Ought are that band you wish your geek friend had managed to actually achieve — something smart, interesting, and also engaging. When singer-guitarist Tim Darcy makes his voice warble in that oh so strange way that he does on “The Combo” and elsewhere, it’s as if he’s making the joke you’re in on. People much older than him might look askance at acting a little silly, but he’s all-in. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to leave, but there’s no reason for that, really.

This set at Rough Trade focused on Sun Coming Down, and if that album lacks a bit of the exuberance of the debut, it makes up for it with even more ambition. The band’s years on the road have further tightened up the sound of an act that was once a lark among roommates; like many of their hometown brethren, Ought sound like they give a fuck, and whether or not the word “punk” falls into your label for them says a lot about what you think that word means. Darcy’s sing-speak, likened at times to Mark E. Smith, is neither spontaneous nor lazy, calculated to deliver the maximum impact of what he has to say. This Sunday night crowd knew it, too, and the band delivered. By the time their first album’s title track rolled around as the first encore, even the people who had to go to work the next day knew they’d made the right decision. In the end, there’s only today, and you might as well make the most of it.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones in our optimal spot in the venue, together with a soundboard feed from veteran engineer Kevin Mazzrelli. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Ought
2016-05-08
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK5c (at SBD, DFC)>KCY>Z-PFA>Aeta PSP-3 + Soundboard (engineer: Kevin Mazzarelli)>Zoom F8 (2x24bit/49kHz WAV)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5

(align, mix down, light compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:08:57]
01 Sun’s Coming Down
02 The Combo
03 Passionate Turn
04 Men For Miles
05 Beautiful Blue Sky
06 The Weather Song
07 On the Line
08 Habit
09 Never Better
10 [encore break]
11 Today, More Than Any Other Day
12 Pill

Support Ought: bandcamp | Constellation Records | facebook

Thurston Moore Group: April 28, 2016 Rough Trade NYC

May 1, 2016
By

Thurston Moore Group

Thurston Moore’s post-2011 career has cycled through a few different styles and band names, from the solo-credited, introspective Demolished Thoughts to the punk-rock Chelsea Light Moving, then solo again with The Best Day for which the band toured as Thurston Moore Band, now the Thurston Moore Group. At least that’s how they were billed for last week’s stop off at Rough Trade NYC. But despite the fluidity of the band’s name, the lineup still includes Steve Shelley on drums, James Sedwards on guitar, and Debbie Googe on bass. Their followup to The Best Day is due out this year, making this Thurston’s longest-running post-Sonic Youth lineup. And it’s surely a good thing that this band has found their groove, as the material is also some of Thurston’s strongest.

Initially an intimate warmup for the band’s appearance at the Levitation Festival—scheduled for this past weekend but unfortunately canceled due to bad weather—this instead became a one-off gig that found the band relaxed enough to try out some material new and old. From The Best Day, they play  “Speak to the Wild” and “Germs Burn” (dedicated to Darby Crash). New songs from the forthcoming Rock and Roll Consciousness include a few we saw last year: “Cease Fire,” “Turn On,” “Aphrodite,” plus the newest, the twelve-minute highlight “Exalted.” Returning to the stage for four encores, the band digs back to Psychic Hearts for a few classics we haven’t heard in a while: “Psychic Hearts,” “Ono Soul,” “Staring Statues,” and “Pretty Bad.” “Ono Soul” gets stretched into a longer noise tribute, similar to the epic, sidelong Caught on Tape version recently released on Three Lobed’s Parallelogram set.

Late breaking news: the Thurston Moore Group will play an extra special set tonight (May 1st) at Baby’s All Right, with Lee Ranaldo opening. Tickets are only 15 bucks and are on sale now!

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue with a board feed from Thurston’s FOH, Jack. The sound quality is absolutely outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Thurston Moore Group
2016-04-28
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Jack) + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:29:46]
01. Speak to the Wild
02. Cease Fire
03. Turn On
04. Germs Burn
05. Aphrodite
06. Psychic Hearts
07. [encore break]
08. Exalted
09. [encore break]
10. Ono Soul
11. [encore break]
12. Staring Statues
13. [encore break]
14. Pretty Bad

Support Thurston Moore: Website | Buy The Best Day from Matador | Preorder the lastest Sonic Youth archival release, Spinhead Sessions, via Midheaven.

Michael Chapman: October 9, 2015 Tompkins Square 10th Anniversary (Rough Trade NYC)

November 3, 2015
By

20151010-MichaelChapman-1
[photos by Jill Harrison]

The English folk artist Michael Chapman is a true survivor (as one of his album titles suggests), with a 30+ album catalog spanning six decades. From Rainmaker, his 1969 debut, to today, Chapman has explored both more traditional folk and rock music as well as contemporary and jazz guitar, bringing his unique, emotional style of playing to each. Reissue labels like Seattle’s Light in the Attic are furiously re-releasing Chapman’s early catalog, giving fans access to a body of work that belongs in the hands of any devotee of his styles. Chapman’s most recent release of new music, Fish, came out on the Tompkins Square label, and the 74-year old singer captivated the audience for the label’s 10th anniversary show at Rough Trade NYC.

Even with such a massive catalog, this set still managed to feature material that’s only seen the light of day on the live circuit, such as the opener “Two Trains.” There was the song “Fahey’s Flag,” too, a tribute to the American guitar great, who of course Chapman knew personally. That followed with a new vocal track that remains as-yet untitled, followed by another very special treat — “Another Story,” which appears on the forthcoming Parallelogram box set by Three Lobed Recordings (sharing an LP with Hiss Golden Messenger, I might add). Chapman closed with 2000’s “Shuffleboat River Farewell,” followed by the Spanish-inspired tune “La Madrugada,” which first appeared on 2002’s Americana II. The whole of this performance was deeply affecting, notable both for its breadth and intensity. Chapman’s not just a fully qualified survivor, but an innovator at his art.

I recorded this set with Dustin Myer’s soundboard feed combined with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete set (minus banter tracks):

Michael Chapman
2015-10-09
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Dustin Myers) + Schoeps MK4V (PAS, FOB)>KC5>CMC6>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, imaging, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Two Trains
02 [banter1]
03 Caddo Lake
04 [banter2]
05 Fahey’s Flag
06 [unknown]
07 [banter3]
08 Another Story
09 Shuffleboat River Farewell
10 [banter4]
11 La Madrugada

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE visit Michael Chapman’s website, buy Fish from Tompkins Square, and buy his other releases here.

Bob Brown: October 9, 2015 Tompkins Square 10th Anniversary, Rough Trade NYC

November 2, 2015
By

bob brown-2
[photos by Jill Harrison]

To kick off Tompkins Square’s tenth anniversary celebration at Rough Trade NYC, we were treated to a very special performance by Bob Brown, performing for the first time in 33 years. A longtime friend of Richie Havens, who produced Brown’s first LP, The Wall I Built Myself, Brown is what you might call a cult folk singer of astonishing quality. The “cult” part has more to do with that old bugbear, record labels, than the quality of his work. Brown has shared the stage with a number of noted musicians, including Tim Harden, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Eric Anderson, and Havens. Though identified primarily with the D.C. scene, Brown recorded his debut here in New York, crashing at the time at the Chelsea Hotel. His label, Havens’ Stormy Forest, got lost in the shuffle of big-label mergers, making further releases a challenge. As is so often the case, but not always deservedly so, Brown eventually retired from music, and his albums went out of print.

Doing what these boutique labels do best, Tompkins Square will be reissuing both The Wall I Built Myself and Willoughby’s Lament next year, finally bringing these masterpieces back to life. But for those lucky ones of us who attended this event, we got the even-rarer treat of seeing this music back on stage. Had he not said the moment was 33 years in the making, you wouldn’t have known it, as Brown capably and beautifully rendered five of his songs, spanning several of his key albums. Helping the cause was Ryley Walker’s crack jazz unit (who would return later in the evening with him), and even with only one rehearsal behind them, they captured the spirit of Brown’s work like the pros they are. Brown’s songs are pastoral, delicate affairs, often with a directness that makes them feel like missives to someone from Brown’s past. Even 45 years after it was written, a song like “Winds of Change” resonates even from its opening line, but each of the five songs played was special. You can hear the first three of the ones from these night on the two reissued albums; “Like A Fawn” is still in print, as is “Perfect Song” from Brown’s collaboration with Aleta GreeneLet Me Be Your Love. What a gift Tompkins Square will give us by letting us hear these original recordings again. We can only hope that Brown follows suit and pays us some future visits.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from engineer Dustin Meyers together with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show: 

Bob Brown
2015-10-09
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Dustin Myers) + Schoeps MK4V (PAS, FOB)>KC5>CMC6>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, imaging, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 It Takes the World to Make a Feather Fall
02 Winds of Change
03 Quiet Waterfall
04 Like A Fawn
05 Perfect Song

If you enjoyed this recording, please learn more about Bob Brown on his website, and visit Tompkins Square in 2016 to buy his records.

The Dead Tongues: September 23, 2015 Rough Trade NYC

October 22, 2015
By

IMG_3153

There’s plenty of heat coming out of Triangle music scene in North Carolina these days, as seems to be the case every half-decade or so. The reasons are several — the region’s overall economic and social diversification and success; the rise, congruent with that, of Durham as the region’s cultural third pillar as it already was a research, medical and education anchor with Raleigh and Chapel Hill; a stellar music festival to highlight the region’s best acts. But with the rise of an insular scene — fueled by a relatively condensed list of publications, social networks, venues and bands, where shows are a place where everybody knows your name, there’s a danger, too. Sometimes it’s hard for friends to be honest about the quality of their friends’ work; there’s a tendency [DUCKS] to promote at least some material that may not reach the heights promised by the homegrown hype.

Which is a long way of saying how refreshing it was to come across Ryan Gustafson, who plays both solo and as a band as The Dead Tongues. Because, even in a crowded field, Gustafson shines as a songwriter of exceptional merit. I first saw his band at Hopscotch, one of many that had been recommended to me as “really good” by various folks I know in the area (sadly, that recording is lost). I’ll beg Ryan’s forgiveness for taking that recommendation with a grain of salt, one which washed away quickly as I watched he and his full band perform.

On the road with Phil Cook as part of his “Guitarheels” band, Ryan opened that show at Rough Trade NYC with his own solo set consisting of entirely unreleased material, played by Ryan on banjo, guitar and harmonica. It’s almost unfair to compare him to the people who come to mind, so I won’t drop names, but suffice it to say Gustafson’s maturity and storytelling ability approach that of big names you’ve heard of. I’m especially partial to “The Broken Side of People,” “A Pair of Stained Glass Eyes” and “Wildflower Perfume,” but it’s hard to play favorites with Gustafson’s work. What’s for sure is that his forthcoming album (details TBD) is something that I’ll await, eagerly.

I recorded this set primarily with Rough Trade engineer Danielle DePalma’s soundboard mix, together with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show: 

The Dead Tongues
2015-06-26
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY

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

Soundboard (engineer: Danielle DePalma) + Schoeps MK4V (FOB, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Edirol R-44>24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, fades, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, dither, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Lost in Baton Rouge
02 [banter]
03 Graveyard Fields
04 My Companion
05 The Gold is Deep
06 The Broken Side of People Everywhere
07 A Pair Of Stained Glass Eyes
08 Embers of Midnight
09 Wildflower Perfume
10 Black Flower Blooming
11 Empire Builder

Musicians:
Ryan Gustafson (solo)

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The Dead Tongues by buying their music at their bandcamp page.

 

Ryley Walker: October 9, 2015 Rough Trade NYC (Tompkins Square 10th Anniversary)

October 16, 2015
By

20151010-RyleyWalker-3
[photos by Jill Harrison]

For the past decade, Tompkins Square Records has pursued the dual missions of enlightening listeners about the current state of folk and guitar music, as well as unearthing underappreciated classics, such as John Hulburt’s Opus III, compilations of gospel songs, and Harry Taussig’s Fate Is Only Once. But on the first side of that slate — current artists — is where Tompkins Square has stood out the most, offering up records by Daniel Bachman, Shawn David McMillen, and last year’s Grammy-nominated set of music from respected folk singer Alice Gerrard. The biggest single breakout, though, might be Ryley Walker, of Chicago, whose debut album the label released back in 2014. From there, things moved fast, with Walker blowing our minds at a full-band appearance at Hopscotch, releasing his second album, Primrose Green, in 2015 (and a live album with Bill MacKay in August), and ending up on the roster of, among others, the Pitchfork Music Festival, Levitation, and Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival. As followers of this site know, we’ve seen him a slew of times since that Hopscotch show, each revealing new songs and new dimensions of his style.

Fitting, then, that Ryley and his band would headline Tompkins Square’s tenth-anniversary celebration, at the top of a bill that also featured living legend Michael Chapman and the rediscovered D.C. folk musician Bob Brown, playing his first show in 30 years. Ryley said at the outset that he and his band didn’t deserve to be headlining over such company, and even if that wasn’t necessarily true, they certainly were the young guns among their peers. What followed that introduction was a sprawling, hour-plus set consisting of just four songs, all of them non-album material, two of them brand new to us. The band began with “The Roundabout,” a fitting metaphor for a song about possibilities that can just as easily turn into inertia. After that came the night’s sprawling centerpiece, “Sullen Mind,” which we first heard at Le Poisson Rouge back in June. This time, the song became a 25-minute showcase for the band and Ryley’s talents, the natural interplay among them obvious they grinned visibly at the transitions. “Funny Thing She Said” continued in that vein, giving sax man Levon Henry a showcase for his talents before Ryley even got to the first verse. This and “Sullen Mind” underscore how far Walker has come since even that 2014 Hopscotch performance; if one were inclined to accuse him of being a “traditional” folk musician, or some kind of tribute act for Van Morrison and the classics, his recent performances throw those assumptions out the window. What Walker is attempting here is something entirely different, and something that’s a total stranger to the Civil War-wave garbage that passes for modern folk or “indie” music on most stages these days. That he has already attempted it on the biggest stages, such as at Pitchfork, further proves that Walker isn’t taking the easy, commercial way here. More power to him.

After begging from the audience, the band closed with an even-newer tune, “The Great and Undecided,” a slightly more traditional number (so far) that we’re excited to hear develop. As Ryley enlightened us at the outset of this show, Tompkins Square has been delivering “sick nugs” for ten years now. I feel confident saying Ryley Walker will keep doing the same. He represents the best of the future, as well as the past.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from engineer Dustin Meyers together with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC] | [Apple Lossless]

Stream the complete show (note: banter tracks removed. Enjoy them on the download versions):

Ryley Walker
2015-10-09
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Dustin Myers) + Schoeps MK4V (PAS, FOB)>KC5>CMC6>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, imaging, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:05:05]
01 [intro banter]
02 The Roundabout
03 Sullen Mind
04 [tuning]
05 Funny Thing She Said
06 [encore break]
07 The Great and Undecided

Band:
Ryley Walker
Ben Boye – Keys
Brian Sulpizio – Guitar
Anton Hatwich – Bass
Ryan Jewell – Drums
Levon Henry – Sax

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ryley Walker, like him on Facebook, and buy All Kinds of You and The West Wind EP on Tompkins Square and Primrose Green from Dead Oceans. Also, check out Ryley’s new acoustic live album with Bill MacKay, which you can stream and buy here.

20151010-RyleyWalker-4

Ultimate Painting: September 18, 2015 Rough Trade NYC – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 29, 2015
By

ultimate-painting-25
[photos courtesy of P Squared Photography]

I’ll give myself a pat on the back for being ahead of the curve on Ultimate Painting, who we caught almost a full year ago at CMJ. The band was so happy with that recording that they offered a few of the tracks from the show alongside some others on a “live tour bootleg” cassette. After last year’s excellent self-titled debut, they went right ahead this year and dropped Green Lanes, which is one of those follow-ups that doesn’t change trajectory, but adds another dozen really good songs to already-strong repertoire.

New and old were on display side-by-side at this show at Rough Trade NYC, where the band took the stage and launched promptly into “Ultimate Painting,” “Rolling In the Deep End” and “Riverside” from their first album before the new “(I’ve Got The) Sanctioned Blues” came in for a visit. The band’s love of classic English rock is obvious, and they honor their musical taste with some of the best and most approachable new writing in the genre among just about anyone from their native UK. Of the new material, the band’s strongest entrant might well be the album’s first song, “Kodiak,” a sunny jaunt that shows off the band’s trademark skill at making rock hooks. To wind things up, the band played “Ten Street” from the first album, turning it into a 13-minute guitar centerpiece. When their 50 minutes were up, the band didn’t tease us with a will-they-or-won’t-they encore situation. They had said what they were going to say, and informed us that we could meet them at the merch booth. Anything else would be un-Britishly improper.

hi and lo recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Rough Trade engineer Dustin, together with Schoeps MK4 microphones from our usual “FOB” location. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Ultimate Painting
2015-09-18
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by hi and lo
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Dustin) + Schoeps MK4 (FOB, PAS)>Custom Cables>PFA>>Sound Devices 744t>4x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 51:39]
01 Ultimate Painting
02 Rolling In the Deep End
03 Riverside
04 (I’ve Got the) Sanctioned Blues
05 Break the Chain
06 Central Park Blues
07 The Ocean
08 Kodiak
09 Out In the Cold
10 Ten Street

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ultimate Painting, visit their website, and buy their albums from Trouble In Mind Records.

Ty Segall: June 26, 2015 Rough Trade NYC – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

July 9, 2015
By

ty-segall-7
[photos from the Bell House show by P Squared Photography]

Two things you can’t say about Ty Segall: That he doesn’t work hard enough, and that his songs don’t stand up without all the fuzz attached. While a lot of garage rock acts would fall apart without the 110dB of drums and electric guitars around them, what this series of acoustic shows by Segall around the New York area a few weeks ago proved was exactly how good his songs are on their own. If it wasn’t quite as revelatory as Nirvana Unplugged, these shows had much more in terms of set size and variety.

This show at Rough Trade was the second of Ty’s two performances of the night, following stints at Baby’s All Right (coming soon), Bell House, and Mercury Lounge earlier the same night (download here). By the time the set began around midnight, Ty was loose and ready to have a good time, making this set, possibly even more than the others, an extravaganza of both new material and covers both common (two Beatles tunes and Neil Diamond) and obscure (the Groundhogs and the Urinals). Joined again by Cory Hanson of Wand (who we recorded earlier this year), Ty took us on a winding tour through his material, both from Ty Segall Band and Fuzz, and it was hard to pick a favorite among them. A few repeats of the Mercury set are here, but most of this is new, including one song we don’t have the title for, tentatively called “She Is A Beam.” In the acoustic set, Segall occupies a comfortable place between cafe troubadour and the impish garage-rock persona for which he’s better known. That is,  he’ll deliver a moving “Bob Dylan Blues” to kick things off — but as soon as the applause goes up, he’s kidding around about dropping his pick in his guitar. Ty’s music is serious, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously. That humility is not only part of why his popularity continues to explode, but it makes him the kind of guy who’s willing to take chances, such as these four shows. We’re here to tell you that the experiment succeeded.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Kameron Biehl of Rough Trade and Schoeps MK41V supercardiod microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Ty Segall
2015-06-26
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY

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

Soundboard (engineer: Kameron Biehl) + Schoeps MK41V (PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Roland R-26>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, studio reverb, fades, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Bob Dylan Blues [Syd Barrett]
03 Lucy Leave [Syd Barrett]
04 Crazy
05 [banter1]
06 Sleeper
07 Breakfast Eggs [new]
08 Finger
09 [banter2]
10 Don’t You Want to Know (Sue)?*
11 Yer Blues [The Beatles]>Why Don’t We Do It In the Road [The Beatles]*
12 “She Is A Beam” [new song by Ty and Cory]*
13 The Feels*
14 Emotional Mugger [new]*
15 [banter3]
16 Orange Colored Lady [new]*
17 [banter4]
18 Wave Goodbye
19 California Hills [new]
20 Fine
21 I’m A Bug [Urinals]
22 [encore break]
23 Rich Man, Poor Man [Groundhogs]
24 You Make the Sun Fry
25 Cherry, Cherry [Neil Diamond]

* w/ Cory Hanson

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ty Segall, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the Drag City Records website [HERE].

The Space Merchants: June 8, 2015 Rough Trade – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

June 25, 2015
By

IMG_2151

Brooklyn’s The Space Merchants gathered us together a couple Mondays ago at Rough Trade to celebrate the release of their stellar self-titled debut album on the tiny imprint Aqualamb Records. The band’s sound boasts a cohesive but diverse set of rock influences, from the Velvet Underground to Black Sabbath to Bobbie Gentry (per a recent profile), and you feel the weight of those influences equally in a number of songs (take, for example, the stellar “One Cut Like the Moon”). Onstage, the Merchants are a cohesive unit both when they’re playing and not — I laughed at guitarist/singer Michael Guggino and keyboardist/singer Ani Monteleone bantering about who, exactly, the band’s rather novel release format (a 100-page book of custom images, with a download code at the back) was intended for. Guggino comes to the Merchants from beloved Brooklyn “stoner punk boogie metal” band Mount Olympus, which didn’t take itself very seriously (songs like “Get Yer Ass to Mars”), but musically was no joke, and we recently caught drummer Carter Logan playing with his other band, Jim Jarmusch and Jozef Van Wissim’s SQÜRL, at this very venue. Keyboardist/vocalist Monteleone and bassist Aileen Brophy have popped up in a variety of local bands and music-related ventures as well, making it a bit less surprising that The Space Merchants would be so dialed-in at a relatively early point in their cycle (not that they haven’t already opened for Acid Mothers Temple, among others).

Though they lead off the night, the Merchants played a tight set to a full floor, launching straight away into the stoner-metal crunch of “Kiss The Sky,” which gave Guggino a chance at some guitar pyrotechnics that would’ve made Mount Olympus proud. After the almost comically upbeat “Beatniks” the band took us back to earth with the sludgy “1000 Years of Boredom.” Then we got a non-album track, “Transcendental Superconscious State,” which with any luck will end up on official release somewhere. For my money, the deep groove of “One Cut Like the Moon” makes it my favorite of the band’s songs, but it’s hard to argue with “Evil Itch,” the song that they chose to close with, and the album’s lead single. Monteleone’s lead vocal, the mid-song tempo downshift, and the surge that follows sound exactly like Magnet described it — “the emerging days of California’s acid-rock scene and the final days of Woodstock.” With many positive mentions coming in for the record, and with a live show like this, The Space Merchants should be a don’t-miss on your Brooklyn concert schedule.

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

The Space Merchants
2015-06-08
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK4V (PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA + Soundboard (engineer: Nic Cameron)>>Roland R-26>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, fades, limit peaks)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 34:07]
01 Kiss the Sky
02 Beatniks
03 1000 Years of Boredom
04 Transcendental Superconscious State
05 One Cut Like the Moon
06 Mainline the Sun
07 Evil Itch

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The Space Merchants, visit their facebook page, and buy their album from Aqualamb Records.

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.