Posts Tagged ‘ Tompkins Square ’

Kinloch Nelson: April 8, 2019 Troost

May 13, 2019
By

Kinloch Nelson’s Partly on Time: Recordings 1968–1970 is the latest archival release from the very home of solo guitar music, Tompkins Square. After some near misses and narrow escapes, these recordings are finally available after remaining unheard for 50 years. Once close to being released in a record deal that fell through, then almost lost forever when the tapes were in a car accident in 1970, the music sounds like a lost chapter in what we now call American Primitive.

Supporting Partly on Time, Nelson did a short East Coast tour, playing material from the album, covers, and more. His NYC stop was at Greenpoint’s Troost, an unassuming beer bar perhaps best known in music circles for 75 Dollar Bill’s frequent workouts there. Stationed in the corner near the door, with the Monday night bustle of Manhattan Avenue outside, Nelson played two sets, with each song punctuated by his tales about the histories of the songs he wrote and his relationship with each of the covers. The resulting portrait is one not only of himself but also of the circuitous routes of guitar music over the past half-century. When he talks of Partly on Time, there is a genuine wonder that not only are they finally available, but also that there persists an audience for solo guitar records that has grown in the intervening years. As it turns out, Kinloch Nelson might have arrived at just the right moment.

Download: [MP3/FLAC]

Kinloch Nelson
2019-04-08
Troost
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH
Additional editing by Kinloch Nelson

MBHO KA200N/603A > Naiant PFA >> Sound Devices MixPre-6 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (mixdown, compression, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, compression) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC

Set One:
01. Secret Love (S Fain & P Webster)
02. banter (America’s Sweetheart)
03. Tennessee Waltz (PW King & R Stewart)
04. banter (It’s about gratitude)
05. Afterthoughts (K. Nelson)
06. banter (in a closet full of shoes)
07. Kittens (K. Nelson)
08. banter (Martha Stewart, American Primitive guitar)
09. Funky Susan (K Nelson & Carter Redd)
10. banter (What is a harp guitar? Minimalist music)
11. The Eyes Of The Fair Molly (K. Nelson)
12. banter (Tonto, Lenny Breau and Jethro Tull)
13. On A Bach Bouree (JS Bach)
14. banter (45 and 33.3 RPM time warp)
15. Apache (J Lorden)

Set Two:
16. banter (Number one hits and a bowl of meat with noodles)
17. Sukiyaki/Buckeroo/Embryonic Journey (Nakamura/Morris /Kaukonen)
18. banter (a bonafide hit)
19. Land Of Make Believe (C Mangione)
20. banter (What are the songs about?)
21. Solitudes (K. Nelson)
22. banter (family, sailing, a big lake, a beautiful evening)
23. Oh Lovely Is The Evening/Tom Seibert’s Boat/Winnepesaukee Night (K. Nelson)
24. banter (Skyline Drive to Peru Thank you Tompkins Square)
25. Summer Farewell (K. Nelson)

Buy Partly on Time: Recordings 1968–1970 via Tompkins Square

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.

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.

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