Posts Tagged ‘ Schoeps Mk41 ’

Steve Gunn: January 11, 2015 Rough Trade – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Full Set

January 15, 2015
By


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[photos by Jill Harrison]

One of the very best songs on Steve Gunn‘s Way Out Weather is a song inspired by Steve’s former noisy neighbor. In lesser hands, such banal subject matter might result in a bit of a dud. But Gunn turns the humble beginnings of “Milly’s Garden” into something wonderful and universal, a meditation on unease and the desire to move on. We last saw Gunn at Rough Trade in October, with his full band in tow, so this was a very different, but equally special kind of performance. Celebrating the first anniversary of the once-troubled (by noise complaints, at least) venue, Gunn played this gig solo but left the songs’ guitar explorations. Again, in lesser hands, a ten-plus minute “Old Strange” as a solo opener might not work — but Gunn’s kickoff to the night was magical. Poking fun at his trademark relaxed demeanor, Steve warned the Sunday afternoon crowd at the outset that they might fall asleep, but the house gave him their rapt attention, hanging on words shorn of everything surrounding them but his lone guitar. Gunn was in fine form, making us laugh in between songs that he played with dead-serious intent. To put an exclamation mark on the evening, Gunn closed with “Lurker”, which first debuted on the Three Lobed Recordings boxed set and was a treat as a full-band version back in October.

Since its inception, Rough Trade has been a valuable add to a neighborhood whose venues are depleting rapidly. Even if its surroundings may be fancier than the DIY spots that came before it, hosting an artist like Steve Gunn for your anniversary show proves that the Rough Trade folks intend to remain a credit to what this neighborhood was.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed from house engineer Kyle Lawrence. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show: 

Steve Gunn
2015-01-11
Rough Trade (1st Year Anniversary)
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (FOB/DFC/PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard (engineer: Kyle Lawrence)>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, harmonic exciter)>Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 57:47]
01 [intro banter]
02 Old Strange
03 Shadow Bros
04 Water Wheel
05 [banter2]
06 Wildwood
07 [banter3]
08 Way Out Weather
09 [banter4]
10 Milly’s Garden
11 [banter5]
12 Lurker

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Steve Gunn, visit his website, and buy his albums, all of which have “buy” links here.

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Deer Tick (performing Devo’s “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!”): December 29, 2014 Brooklyn Bowl – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

January 12, 2015
By



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[photos by acidjack]

Deer Tick celebrated their tenth anniversary as a band this year. In that ten-year span, they’ve pursued a musical vision that’s almost proudly unpopular, serving up Replacements-inspired traditional rock n’ roll during a time when the sampler became king. Not quite retro enough to attract that crowd, nor cutting-edge enough to make the critics swoon, the middle ground they pursued turned out to be a hit with one group that did matter — fans. They showed up in droves, on freezing weekday nights during a busy part of the year, to watch the band play a series of anniversary shows at Brooklyn Bowl that promised a new cover album each night, and slews of special guests. The band’s prowess as a cover band has been well-known for a while, popularized by their Nirvana-covering in particular.

Kurt Cobain loved the New Wave greats Devo, so it felt fitting to join Deer Tick for their cover of the band’s landmark album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! on the Monday night before New Year’s Eve. Joined at times by opener The Districts and former guitarist Ian O’Neill, the appropriately dressed “Deervo” didn’t let us down, giving renditions that hewed closely to the originals while adding John McCauley’s signature vocal grit. After burning through that 38-minute record, the band took a quick breather until returning as themselves for a second set that also leaned heavily on covers, from NRBQ’s “I Got A Rocket In My Pocket” to the closing medley of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues” and the unavoidable 80s classic “La Bamba”. McCauley’s wife Vanessa Carlton was in tow, joining the band on its own “In Our Time”. Deer Tick’s onstage antics may have mellowed some, probably for the better, but their music is still showing all the energy that drew those crowds in the first place. Here’s to another ten years.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from the band’s engineer Justin Ripley, with a mild amount of audience microphones from my Schoeps supercardiods thrown in. The house mix was highly compressed, as evidence on the recording, but the sound is overall quite good. Enjoy!

This recording is now on the Live Music Archive.
Download the complete set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete set: 

Deer Tick (performing as Deervo for Devo’s “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!”
2014-12-29
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Justin Ripley) + Schoeps MK41 (directly right of SBD, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.3 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
Set 1: performing as “Deervo” on Devo’s “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!”
Set Time [38:02]
01 Uncontrollable Urge
02 (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction [feat. The Districts]
03 Praying Hands
04 Space Junk
05 Mongoloid
06 Jocko Homo
07 Too Much Paranoias
08 Gut Feeling (Slap Your Mammy)
09 Come Back Jonee
10 Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’)
11 Shrivel Up

Set 2 [Set Time 53:36]
12 Easy
13 Born At Zero
14 The Curtain
15 The Dream’s In the Ditch
16 I Got A Rocket In My Pocket [NRBQ]
17 Twenty Miles
18 Something to Brag About
19 [banter1]
20 She’s Not Spanish
21 In Our Time [w/ Vanessa Carlton]
22 [banter2]
23 Mr. Sticks
24 [banter3]
25 Ashamed
26 White Freightliner Blues [Townes Van Zandt]
27 La Bamba [Ritchie Valens]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Deer Tick, visit their website, and buy their records in their online store.

Ultimate Painting: October 25, 2014 Rough Trade – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

January 6, 2015
By

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[photos by acidjack]

The UK band Ultimate Painting made a stealth infiltration of several year-end lists for 2014, despite a general lack of hype here in the U.S. We had an opportunity to catch them during CMJ at the showcase at Rough Trade for Chicago stalwart Trouble In Mind Records, and what we saw made us hope many more stateside appearances are in the future.

Led by their eponymous track, “Ultimate Painting”, the show began with one of the band’s best songs and went on to prove the quality of their songwriting and playing throughout. It shouldn’t be a complete surprise that the band members know what they’re doing; James Hoare was in the band Veronica Falls, and Jack Cooper hails from Mazes. The band’s most common name checks are Television and the Velvet Underground, which might be true, if either of those bands can simply be shorthand for well-written, ear-bending guitar rock in the best and most timeless sense. For those who oozed over fellow British breakouts Temples, Ultimate Painting may satisfy similar cravings, minus the sense of trying quite as hard.

The band’s record didn’t reach us until October, right around the time of this show, so you could be forgiven for losing it amidst the holiday season glut. Now’s the time to earn your penance and check it out. We’ll have this one on repeat well into 2015.

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

Stream the complete show:

Ultimate Painting
2014-10-25
Trouble In Mind CMJ Showcase
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Cam) + Schoeps MK41 (DFC, PAS, at SBD)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (exciter effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Ultimate Painting
02 Rolling In the Deep End
03 Riverside
04 Three Piers
05 Central Park Blues
06 Jane
07 Winter In Your Heart
08 Ten Street

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

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood: December 11, 2014 Terminal 5 – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

December 28, 2014
By


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It had been a whopping fifteen years since I last saw Medeski, Martin & Wood (at the Ritz in Raleigh, NC, during the Combustication days, if anyone’s counting), so I was grateful to get another bite at that apple on one of my final shows of the year. The addition of the guitarist John Scofield, the band’s longtime collaborator, made this show at Terminal 5 a special treat.

MMW always straddled the line between being a serious jazz unit and serving up the more funky, R&B and blues-driven music that endeared them to the jam band scene, which has always orbited around the band even though they’re not really a perfect fit for it. With Scofield in the lineup, the band becomes a bit more of a “rock” band, and that made Scofield an especially worthy addition in this cavernous room.

To that end, the first set of the performance worked better for me, kicking off with a few minutes of improv before delving into “Sham Time”, the leadoff track from the foursome’s 2014 album Juice, followed by perhaps the moment of the show, “Juicy Lucy”, featuring Martin’s mother Jean and Jerry Paris dancing together onstage. From there we got an older MSMW tune, “Chank”, followed by two more from Juice. 

The second set fell into the trap that I think befalls too many otherwise-talented bands followed by the “jam band” faithful — the curse of the Rock Canon. I find it unfortunate when a musician of any stripe can’t bring themselves to churn out something more inventive than covers of the best-loved songs of the sixties and seventies, but it’s especially unfortunate coming from what is ostensibly a jazz outfit. Each of “The Times They Are A-Changin'”, “Sunshine of Your Love” and The Doors’ heinous “Light My Fire” can be found on Juice, and none did much credit to these musicians on that album or in the room on this night. While the quartet found some new solo-worthy material to mine in each song, the fact remains that these three well-worn hits are better suited to a jukebox, rather than half of a live set by a band that’s still making quality new material.

That quibble aside, I’m excited to have seen MSMW for the first time, and to have (finally) caught MMW again after so long of a break.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 supercardiod microphones right at the soundboard, into the Aerco custom preamp for extra warmth and realism. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show:

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood
2014-12-11
Terminal 5
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acid jack

Schoeps MK41 (at SBD, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Aerco MP-2>Sony PCM-D50>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter, imaging)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (light dynamics)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Thanks to aaronji for the setlist/tracking assistance

Tracks
Set One [Time 52:06]
01 [improv]
02 Sham Time
03 Juicy Lucy
04 Chank
05 North London
06 Helium
07 [banter]

Set Two [Time: 1:02:14]
08 Louis the Shoplifter
09 Little Walter Rides Again
10 Sunshine of Your Love
11 I Know You
12 Light My Fire
13 [banter2/encore break]
14 The Times They Are A-Changin’

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT MMW, visit their website, and buy Juice from the band.

nyctaper Top 10 Concerts of 2014

December 27, 2014
By

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NYCTaper (the site) will have our “Top 25 Moments” post later this week, but in the meantime this is the nyctaper (the person) list of my Top 10 concerts of 2014. Since I recorded less than half of the recordings posted on the site this year, its by no means comprehensive but its a personal list I’ve done since the site began in 2007.

1. The War On Drugs: March 19 and 20 2014 Bowery Ballroom
2014 was pretty much the year of the The War On Drugs. Their album has been the consensus number one selection among a vast number of end-of-year lists — appearing at or near the top in every single list we’ve read recently. And we’re proud of the fact that we were there first. In my review of this show, I predicted that Lost In The Dream would be an album of the year candidate and would be in the decade discussion. The band played two flawless shows at Bowery Ballroom, bringing the new album’s material to life with passion and precision.

2. Wussy: October 10, 2014 Knitting Factory / October 11, 2014 Private House Larchmont NY
2014 was also the year of Wussy. As their album Attica continues to show up on virtually every knowledgeable year-end list, it appears that the world at large is finally catching on to a band we’ve been pushing for the last half-decade. In between these two shows — a full band set headlining the CBGB Fest at the Knit, and the following night playing acoustically at a private house show — Wussy filmed a segment with CBS national morning news that recently aired. It was their first national tv appearance, and I’m guessing it won’t be their last. Both of these shows were great for different reasons, but both indicated the strengths of this unconventional but extraordinary band.

3. Wilco: October 29, 2014 Capitol Theatre Port Chester NY
Of the three nights when Wilco celebrated their 20th anniversary and the tour came to the NYC area, this was my favorite night for variety of reasons. The performances on all three nights were top notch, but this night had the extra bonus of some older Wilco material that I had never heard live or hadn’t seen in years.

4. Ty Segall: September 17, 2014 Webster Hall
Ty Segall keeps churning out the records and they keep getting better. The shows are also genuinely the best show in town — crazy talented band, great songs and a crowd that matches the energy from stage top to bottom. This night at Webster was part of two consecutive sold-out shows for Ty and this set was easily one of my best of the year, notable for the force of the crowd causing the photo pit guardrails to be removed because of of the crush.

5. Marah: July 12, 2014 Bowery Electric
The story of Marah is one of redemption and ultimately an extraordinary reinvention. A fairly successful band from the aughts, Marah was dormant for a few years before rising up from the ashes into an eclectic Americana band whose project was to resurrect centuries-old Pennsylvania folk songs into a contemporary format. Add to the band a 10 year old child prodigy on fiddle and a PhD in rural cultures on banjo and you have one of the most unlikely success stories in recent memory. This show at Bowery Electric was a revelation in so many ways, it perhaps best to just listen to the show in its entirety.

6. Woods: November 4, 2014 Death By Audio
This night ended up being my last at Death By Audio. If recording your last show one of your favorite venues ever ends up being one of your favorite bands, then its all good. For this show, Woods reunited with former member Lucas for several songs including the transition jam from his set to the main Woods set that led into “Bend Beyond” — also one of the best single moments of the year.

7. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: October 13, 2014 Baby’s All Right
Their new album came out too late in the year to end up on too many end-of-year lists, but if it had been released in February or March it would be right there. King Gizzard is a band clearly on the rise and their shows are all out ragers. We saw them four times this year but this was the one that really kicked it in and took this band to an entire other level. The opening segue was the one of the best extended pieces of music we heard all year.

8. PUP: February 21, 2014 Cameo Gallery
This is likely the show that I saw this year where the most unbridled energy emanated from the stage. PUP is part of the burgeoning punk scene in Toronto and they toured North America and Europe persistently throughout the year in support of their self-titled debut on Side One Dummy Records. This night at Cameo pre-dated the release of the album and the crowd was a fraction of the fans they’d see before the end of the year, but PUP was simply one full hour of energy, humor and fun and this was one of my favorite nights of the year.

9. The Kickback: October 23, 2014 NYCTaper Unofficial CMJ Day Party, Cake Shop
I invited The Kickback to play our CMJ show because of one song in particular — a version of “Rob Our House” at Pianos that we had seen in June. But when the band played their afternoon set in the basement of Cake Shop, I soon learned that this was far from a one-song band as every track was more compelling than the next. Of course, “House” was the number that blew mostly everyone away when it closed the set, but in reality this entire performance was killer.

Read more »

Doug Tuttle: October 25, 2014 Trouble In Mind CMJ Showcase, Rough Trade – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

December 9, 2014
By


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The guitarist Doug Tuttle was one of the principal songwriters in a band we’ve spoken highly of on this site, MMOSS. In 2013, the New Hampshire band ceased to be, and Tuttle began writing on his own, wrestling not only with the band’s dissolution, but the loss of a relationship. Not shockingly, the song cycle he debuted on Trouble In Mind Records last year has a strong undercurrent of sadness running through its dreamy psychedelic melodies. This show, held at Trouble In Mind’s showcase at Rough Trade during CMJ, stuck with that material, and Tuttle’s assembled band proved as crack an outfit as his last group. All of those powers came to bear on the eight-minute “Turn This Love”, which exploded from a brooding first few verses into a spacey extended jam, anchored by the organ sounds that are essential to the band’s overall style and tone. While we’re sorry that MMOSS is no more, Tuttle has more than taken the reins with his new band, and we hope to see more of him in 2015.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the other recordings from the day, with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed from the Rough Trade engineer, Cam. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show: 

Doug Tuttle
2014-10-25
Trouble In Mind CMJ Showcase
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (DFC, PAS, at SBD)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard (engineer: Cam)>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 I Won’t Do
02 Lasting Away
03 With Us Soon
04 Forget the Days
05 Leave Your Body
06 Where You Plant Your Love.. Is Where It Grows
07 Turn This Love
08 I Will Leave

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Doug Tuttle, like him on facebook, and buy his self-titled solo record directly from Trouble In Mind.

Kevin Morby: October 24, 2014 Aquarium Drunkard CMJ Showcase, Rough Trade – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

December 1, 2014
By


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Expect to see Kevin Morby‘s outstanding 2014 release, Still Life, on many best-of lists here at year end. Since striking out on his own with Harlem River last year, the former Babies frontman and Woods member has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting songwriters of his generation. At Morby’s first solo show that we covered, Morby debuted several of the forthcoming Still Life tracks. Nine months later, Morby was at the Aquarium Drunkard showcase at Rough Trade ready to acquaint us with more of the new record. Though Morby arrived onstage last, after midnight, most of the crowd had stuck around to catch him, and he rewarded us with a poised set that showed his tour-worn comfort with the newer songs. He also played a classic number covered by one of our other favorite bands recently, Bill Fay’s “I Hear You Calling”. Morby’s sound congeals increasingly well with the West Coast move that in part prompted his solo breakout; his songs feel like a breeze blowing across your face as you lie on the hood of a car in a beach parking lot, staring at the coast. It was a fine way to end the night, not to mention this incredible showcase. Look for more material from it to come, joining this and the Ryley Walker set already posted.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 supercardiod microphones set up in our usual position in the venue. As it was the end of the night, and the soundboard feed was inadvertently turned off during this set, there is a bit more crowd chatter on this one than the other sets from the night, but the sound quality is nonetheless excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show: 

Kevin Morby
2014-10-24
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (DFC, PAS, at SBD)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (exciter effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 44:56]
01 Reign
02 Sucker In the Void (the Lone Mile)
03 Harlem River
04 I Hear You Calling [Bill Fay]
05 All of My Life
06 Amen
07 Miles, Miles, Miles
08 If You Leave And You Marry

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Kevin Morby, visit his website, and buy his releases from Woodsist.

Ex Cops: November 25, 2014 Glasslands – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

November 30, 2014
By


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[photos by acidjack]

Just two years after bursting onto the scene with their “You Are A Lamb, I Am A Lion” single, the duo (touring trio) Ex Cops are two albums in and continuing to hone their craft. This show, coming near the end of the run for beloved Williamsburg venue Glasslands, celebrated the release of the band’s latest effort, Daggers, a full-length chock-full of ear-catching dream pop hooks and key guest appearances by Ariel Pink and LP. The synth-driven pop created by Amalie Bruun and Brian Harding seems tailor-made to reach larger audiences, and with the backing of both Billy Corgan and Sky Ferreira producer Justin Raisen, it seems likely that it will.

Unlike some of their peers, Ex Cops separate themselves from the pack by splitting the difference between straight synth pop and rock, with Harding’s guitar leads trading focus with Bruun’s work on the keys depending on the song. While Ariel Pink wasn’t in attendance for “Tragically Alright”, the Daggers track on which he participates, the band still made the downbeat number one of the night’s highlights. It’s a welcome stylistic counterpoint to the strong first single, “Black Soap”, which seems as dancefloor-ready as the former track is for the trip home. This tidy half-hour set focused on the new record, though it led off with a slowed-down version of “Separator”, one of the strongest songs off of last year’s album, True Hallucinations. The set left us wanting more, while confirming that the band has the live chops to go with the songcraft we’d already come to dig. The band played their first show at Glasslands, and while this will be their last in the venue, I’m confident we’ll be seeing them out and about in other places plenty in 2015.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a custom soundboard feed from Glasslands engineer Mathew Scheiner. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show:

Ex-Cops
2014-11-25
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (ROC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard (engineer: Mathew Scheiner>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, limiter, light dynamics)>Izotope Ozone 5 (image, EQ, exciter)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Separator
02 Black Soap
03 Burnt Out Love
04 White Noise
05 Tragically Alright
06 Wanna Be
07 Rooms

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ex Cops, visit their website, and buy Daggers on iTunes or grab it from your favorite streaming service.

Lucero: November 5, 2014 Bowery Ballroom – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Full Set

November 26, 2014
By

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The three-night stand at Bowery Ballroom by the beloved Memphis band Lucero gave us a prime example of life imitating art. A quick survey of the band’s song titles gives you a clear eye to their themes: drinking, women, loneliness, women, more drinking. For the Bowery Presents gang, three shows by this band on the first three nights of the week has to be an early Christmas, as the fan base has always proven as willing to indulge the band’s favorite vice as the band themselves. What felt like a shift was the degree to which the band made booze the night’s central theme, from the bordering-on-annoying number of references to being (or having recently been) drunk from frontman Ben Nichols, to the beers being slugged by him not just between, but during songs, including a couple to which he forgot the words. Rock n’ roll has never been a teetotaler’s game, and it probably shouldn’t be. But when you’re a band at Lucero’s level — booking the city’s best venue for three nights straight at a tariff of thirty bucks a head — the line between a get-along good time and unprofessionalism grows thin. That glorified bar-band schtick also sells these guys short — Lucero have some great songs, and on the whole, they’re still a heck of an act at performing them.

All three of the Bowery shows, of which this was the last, were divided into an acoustic and electric set with no opener. This band is nothing if not giving, with almost three hours split between the hour-long acoustic and nearly two-hour electric set. The band came strong out of the gate with “That Much Further West”, and the acoustic set held together throughout, with the packed house singing along to Nichols’ often-melancholy lyrics (two songs with the word “lonesome” in a row, in fact). As the show went on, things turned a bit more shambolic, as Nichols helped himself to the shots being offered up by the crowd. In spite or maybe because of the whiskey flowing, the band’s electric songs took on a certain wanton urgency, with the signature tune “Nights Like These” earning many a fist-pump from swaying hordes in front. Nichols spelled the band at a few points to do solo or duo numbers, including a memorable “Last Pale Light in the West” from his first solo album by the same name. The final encore, “Here at the Starlite” was yet another tale of woe belied by the rock n’ roll swagger still holding together onstage. It’s a strange dichotomy, the sad songs and the party atmosphere they create. But for Lucero, it seems to still be working.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 supercardiod microphones from our usual spot in the venue. The microphones rejected much of the crowd noise, providing for a nice, balanced recording of the night’s proceedings. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Permanent links if the above are not working: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream “That Much Further West” from the acoustic set

Stream “Nights Like These” from the electric set

Lucero
2014-11-05
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (slightly LOC, PAS, at SBD)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (exciter effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Acoustic Set
01 Into Your Eyes
02 That Much Further West
03 Wandering Star
04 When You Decided to Leave
05 Across the River
06 Hello Sadness
07 Last Night In Town
08 Better Than This
09 In Lonesome Times
10 Other Side of Lonesome
11 Hold Fast
12 The Last Song
13 Ain’t So Lonely
14 Hate and Jealousy
15 Shelter

Electric Set
16 Downtown/On My Way Downtown
17 Kiss the Bottle
18 Hey Darlin’ Do You Gamble?
19 Women & Work
20 Texas & Tennessee
21 [banter1]
22 Union Pacific Line
23 Nights Like These
24 Sounds of the City
25 Chain Link Fence
26 I Can’t Stand To Leave You
27 [banter2]
28 Tonight Ain’t Gonna Be Good
29 Little Silver Heart
30 Sixes & Sevens
31 Goodbye Again
32 All Sewn Up
33 [banter3]
34 She Wakes When She Dreams
35 [banter4]
36 The War
37 [banter5]
38 Tears Don’t Matter Much
39 Fistful of Tears
40 [encore break]
41 Last Pale Light in the West
42 Here at the Starlite

Thanks to Kronosphere for the setlist.

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Lucero, visit their website, and buy their records in their online store.

Survival Knife: November 22, 2014 Brooklyn Night Bazaar – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Set

November 25, 2014
By


IMG_0042
[photos by acidjack]

Survival Knife have a storied pedigree, having emerged in part from the remnants of the legendary ’90s post-hardcore band Unwound. Members Justin Trosper and Brandt Sandeno both hail from that band, and while Trosper’s voice and playing on Survival Knife’s first full-length, Loose Power, are hard to miss, Survival Knife feels very much like a distinct project. With Survival Knife, you can find the expected driving guitars and angsty post-punk vocals combined with a willingness to let things get proggy, such as on the extended “Heaven Has No Eyes” that closed the set.

We caught the band on the tail end of a whip through the East Coast, playing a free gig as part of the Brooklyn Night Bazaar. I was excited to check the Bazaar out, having noticed its excellent booking for a while. I’m pleased to report that although the shows hosted here are very much part of a broader holiday food/shopping bazaar, the concert experience still feels very much like a concert experience, with the show going on in its own corner of the room with plenty of seating and floor space for a crowd. Despite the cold night the Knife brought out a good-size crowd, and delivered a set focusing mostly on their only full-length, but adding in some new stuff — “Thud of the Jackboot” and “Tropic of Chaos” — from their Survivalized tour-only EP. For those of us that mourned the passing of Unwound, seeing this next project swing into action is all the sweeter. Check them out the next time they’re around.

I recorded this set from inside the soundboard cage at the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed that included the engineer, Kenny’s, mics at either side of the stage. While the venue design (not, after all, actually a concert hall) presents some challenges, the sound is overall quite good. Enjoy!

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

Stream the full set

Survival Knife
2014-11-22
Brooklyn Night Bazaar
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard w/ onstage mics (engineer: Kenny) + Schoeps MK41 (LOC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.5 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Tropic of Chaos
02 Thud of the Jackboot
03 Gold Widow
04 Snakebit
05 Loose Power
06 [tuning]
07 Cut the Quick
08 Crystalline
09 [tuning2]
10 Heaven Has No Eyes

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Survival Knife, like them on Facebook, and buy Loose Power from Fat Possum Records. 

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