Posts Tagged ‘ woods ’

Woods: September 28, 2019 Woodsist Festival

October 14, 2019
By
Photos courtesy of P Squared Photography

For the tenth annual Woodsist Festival, label founder and Woods vocalist/guitarist/founder Jeremy Earl brought the proceedings from the West Coast — where they enjoyed several successful years at Big Surprise — to upstate New York. Here in the tiny town of Accord, on the grounds of Arrowood Farm-Brewery, Woodsist showed what the purpose of a music festival ought to be.

It was: a cloudless day, not too warm; a gathering place where families with small kids, curious locals, and heads from near and far could converge to enjoy music, in an environment that welcomed all; sonically, a confluence of like-minded artists who knew each other well, who’ve cross-pollinated each other’s work in many cases and will do so again, and who shared many stages on this day. It was, in many ways, the perfect festival.

Woods has been one of the signature New York bands of this era since its inception, particularly so during this festival’s lifetime. They’re part of a rarified group whose shows are a virtual guarantee of something unique, that always leave you thinking about their music differently by the time you leave. It felt right, then, that this festival brought together the “2009 lineup,” including Kevin Morby and G Lucas Crane. Likewise, the setlist reflected the band’s best-known music from that time period, from “Rain On” and “Blood Dries Darker” to the classic one-two sequence of “jam songs,” “Bend Beyond” followed by “I Was Gone” (albeit, a short version this time).

Whatever its original intention, this ended up being more than a highlight set for this era of Woods. Several of these players were part of David Berman’s backing band for his final project, Purple Mountains, for which Jeremy Earl and Jarvis Taveniere were also producers. Berman’s suicide left a hole in music that can never be filled. For the many of us who had hoped to see him play music again (as was the plan with the Purple Mountains lineup), it was a generous and rare gift for the Woods crew to play two of his songs to close out the set. The first, “All My Happiness Is Gone” (with Little Wings‘ Kyle Field on vocals), was one of the darkest and most sobering songs on an LP full of them. Hearing it live for the first time in this context didn’t exactly change the song’s tone, but maybe it showed, in a small way, what could have been.

The set closed with Morby on vocals for “Random Rules,” from Silver Jews’ 1998 masterpiece American Water. It is, in my opinion, a perfect Berman song, a damaged plea to a former lover, whose series of brilliant couplets still make you crack a smile still on the thousandth listen, even with the melancholy at their core. For all the ache at its core, though, the song ends on a note of hope, however temporary: “Honey, we’ve got two lives to live tonight.” Despite the circumstances, it was a joy to hear Berman’s words sung from a stage again.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed provided by Evan, and Schoeps MK5 microphones in the FOH tent. It’s an excellent capture of the day. I hope you enjoy it — and please support this festival in the coming years!

Thanks to Woods for allowing us to record and share the set. Other recordings from the festival will be made available for those artists who permit.

Download the complete show from its page on the Live Music Archive

Or go here for Apple Lossless

Woods
2019-09-28
Woodist Festival
Arrowood Farm-Brewery
Accord, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Evan) + Schoeps MK5c (at SBD, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Sound Devices MixPre6>24/48 polyWAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.3.0>FLACS ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Out of the Eye
02 Blood Dries Darker
03 Find Them Empty
04 Pushing Onlys
05 Rain On
06 To Clean
07 Bend Beyond
08 I Was Gone
09 Suffering Season>
10 Military Madness
11 [banter/break]
12 All My Happiness Is Gone [Purple Mountains]*
13 Random Rules [Silver Jews]$

Joined by Kevin Morby (bass) and G Lucas Crane (vox, other) all set

* w/ Kyle Field on vocals
$ w/ Kevin Morby on vocals

Please support Woods: website | Facebook | store

Woods: May 7, 2016 Music Hall of Williamsburg

May 9, 2016
By

woodsmhow2016pp
[photo courtesy of P Squared Photography]

At one point during this Woods show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, keyboard/sax player Kyle Forester remarked that North 6th Street in Brooklyn was like the “Broadway of shows.” Coming from the longtime New York musician, it was a statement both ironic and, weirdly, kind of true. It’s old news that what was once the epicenter of DIY has long-since ceded to luxury boutiques and corporate outposts, and, of course, Woods have been in the rotation at the city’s fancier clubs for some time now — we’ve covered them at Bowery Ballroom as far back as 2009, Music Hall as early as 2010. But there’s a message in there somewhere about the trajectory of this band versus their surroundings. Woods have never exactly been an overtly “anti-corporate” band — they simply haven’t played that game. Yet, to call them a “DIY” band understates the professionalism of what Jeremy Earl, as bandleader, has accomplished. If you compare the band that took the stage this Saturday to the one we saw at, say, Market Hotel in 2009, or now-defunct Monster Island in 2011, there is a “next level” that this band, and Earl’s vision, have reached without any of the negative trappings that tend to come with it. What you saw this past Saturday was a now-six-piece (seven when Cole Karmen-Green jumps in on trumpet) full-on spectacle of a rock band, creating some of the most musically complex work of their career.

The band was back in town after touring their latest and ninth album, City Sun Eater In the River of Light, and as tends to be the case with homecoming shows, they came ready to bring their best. The new material, with its sax, trumpets and Afro-Cuban style percussion, takes full advantage of the expanded band, with Aaron Neveu on main drums and John Andrews running a second kit and additional percussion. While this show reflected the new record’s relatively downshifted tempo and accessible, focused songwriting, Woods continued their tradition of adding new “jam songs” to the mix. In this case, that’d be “The Take,” which merge a 1970s Lauren Canyon vibe to the band’s trademark psychedelic sound. Likewise, “With Light and With Love,” from the band’s last album, continued its role as the band’s other longform offering, with a classic guitar freakout that gave Earl and Jarvis Taveniere the chance to fully stretch their wings. Not that the longtime fans weren’t taken care of by this set, either — among the band’s earlier tunes, the combo of “Suffering Season” and “Cali In A Cup” was there for the early decade stalwarts.

The band closed on the oldest number of the night, their cover of Graham Nash’s “Military Madness” from 2009’s Songs of Shame. We first recorded the band playing that song at that Market Hotel show in 2009, as ramshackle of an affair as this evening at Music Hall wasn’t. Since that time, that DIY club has closed and been reborn as a (mostly) grown-up venue, and Woods have produced an embarrassment of musical riches. In the end it isn’t the spaces in cities that matter, but what inhabits them. We continue to be grateful that Woods visits so many of ours.

I recorded this set from our usual spot in the venue, together with a direct feed of Kevin Mazzarelli’s flawless mix. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show from the Live Music Archive.

Woods
2016-05-07
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Kevin Mazzarelli) + Schoeps MK41V (at SBD, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Aeta PSP3>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, light compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:16:57]
01 Morning Light
02 Politics of Free
03 Leaves Like Glass>
04 Hollow Home
05 Sun City Creeps
06 The Take
07 [banter1]
08 Shepherd
09 Suffering Season>
10 Cali In A Cup
11 [banter2]
12 Creature Comfort
13 With Light and With Love
14 [encore break]
15 Moving to the Left
16 Military Madness [Graham Nash]

Band:
Jeremy Earl – vox / guitar
Jarvis Taveniere- guitar
Aaron Neveu – drums
Chuck Van Dyck- bass
Kyle Forester – keys / sax
John Andrews- percussion/ drums
Cole Karmen-Green – trumpet

Support Woods: websiteFacebook | store

Woods: June 16, 2015 Rough Trade – Flac/MP3/Streaming

June 24, 2015
By

Woods Rough Trade (2)
[photo by Shara]

To continue the theme from the Beach Fossils post on Monday, we saw Woods this past weekend at Rough Trade for the first time since our final night at Death By Audio in November. We’ve seen Woods many times over the years, including several other venues that no longer exist (Monster Island Basement, 285 Kent, The 1896) and one that been closed for a few years but will have a grand opening by the end of the year (Market Hotel). But things are going very well for Woods these days, and its really still all about the continued evolution of band who are now a tight, well-oiled machine. This show contained a similar setlist from the DBA show, but with the added bonus of a couple of encores that featured some classic Woods cuts that we haven’t heard lately.

In the next few days we’ll have a really special announcement about Woods’ next NYC show. Stay tuned.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted inside of the soundboard cage and mixed with an excellent feed provided by house FOH Kyle. Kyle did a really nice stereo pan and the result is that the recording has superb separation and overall quality. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Shepherd”:

Stream “Blood Dries Darker”:

Woods
2015-06-16
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Kyle] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:12:24]
01 Leaves Like Grass
02 Cali In A Cup
03 Shining
04 Bend Beyond
05 Size Meets the Sound
06 Is It Honest
07 [banter – wing mom]
08 It Ain’t Easy
09 [banter – tequila]
10 Shepherd
11 Full Moon
12 Moving To The Left
13 With Light and With Love
14 [encore break]
15 Rain On
16 Blood Dries Darker

If you download this recording from NYCTaper PLEASE SUPPORT Woods, visit their website, and purchase With Light and with Love from the Woodsist Records website [HERE].

NYCTaper Top 25 Moments of 2014

December 31, 2014
By

taper-larger

Here is our annual compilation of the 25 best “moments” of the entire year from our site to you. Its been another banner year at NYCTaper. We’ve managed to record and post nearly one show per day for the entire year and sometimes even more than one. Its a level of consistency for which we’ve striven for years and as the NYCTaper “team” has grown so has our ability to reach our goals. All of this would not be possible were it not for the bands — hundreds of amazingly talented artists who not only perform superb concerts but allow us to bring recordings of them to you, their fans. Thanks also of course to the venues who allow us to come into their locations and do what we do, the labels, managers, PR persons, photographers, fellow bloggers and countless other people whose assistance and cooperation help make this “NYCTaper” thing happen. Here’s to many more great years!

1. Jason Molina Tribute (mems. of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. w/ special guests) – January 11, 2014, Hideout, Chicago, IL

acidjack: For me, the most thrilling, moving concert moment came early in the year, and in another city, no less. Mike Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger guested with Magnolia Electric Co. on four special tribute shows around the country, including this one, but it was in Chicago that the majority of Molina’s former bands and supporters coalesced into an evolving unit that traded and vocalists and instrumentalists by the song. As I put it then:

The crowd’s largest response came to perhaps Molina’s best-known song (and inarguably one of his best), “Farewell Transmission”. In that song, Molina sings that the real truth about it is that no one gets it right, but we’re all supposed to try. Well, if Jason could have heard his former bandmates and friends on this night, I think he would agree that they got it right. And they proved another piece of truth from that great song, that he will be gone, but not forever. Because the real truth about it is, a great artist like Jason Molina doesn’t die, he just changes shape. In our hearts and minds, he is forever.

2. Wussy: October 11, 2014 Private House Larchmont NY

nyctaper: Lisa Walker’s voice is one of the most compelling in all of contemporary americana music in large part because as a person she’s real and unpretentious. Its a voice that can capture the longing and heartache of a beautifully sad song such as Lisa’s penned “Motorcycle”. The experience of watching the performance of that song from about ten feet away in a private house concert was moving and is undoubtedly my single “moment” of this year.

3. Hiss Golden Messenger – March 2, 2014 Mercury Lounge and September 18, 2014 Rough Trade

acidjack: Mike Taylor, aka Hiss Golden Messenger, broke in a big way in 2014, one of the most deserving artists in all the land to do so. In early 2014 Mike still toured alone, able to afford to do little more than sling a guitar over his back. By the time he hit Rough Trade in September, he had a record out on Durham, NC stalwart Merge, and a backing band replete with new and old collaborators. Not long after that, he and his new band were on Letterman. These two shows pretty much tell the story in miniature, of a band transformed, but an artist whose honesty and craft remain steadfast.

4. The War On Drugs – March 19 and March 20, 2014 Bowery Ballroom.

acidjack: We’ll probably have similar takes on this show, so I won’t waste words, but suffice it to say that Lost In the Dream was the album of the year, and this show, complete with a cover of John Lennon’s “Mind Games”, showed any doubters that the album’s greatness wasn’t just in the painstaking production.

nyctaper: At the time it was released, I called “Eyes To The Wind” a perfect song and I still believe that nearly a year later. It was the highlight of this show for me and will be a track to which I return for years.

5. Woods: November 6, 2014 Death By Audio

nyctaper: 2014 was also a year to say goodbye to some places that meant a lot to NYCTaper over the years. Death By Audio was one of those venues and our last show at the venue was a special one. We’ve attended many Woods shows, and invariably the song that is often the centerpiece of the night is “Bend Beyond” — a terrific song that also offers the band a chance to stretch out and improvise. At this DBA show, Woods was reunited for one night with former member G. Lucas Crane whose preceding set transitioned into a Woods jam that evolved into this song. It was a fairly dramatic moment and was musically right there. A definitely highlight of the year.

6. Ryley Walker – September 6, 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival, Raleigh, NC and October 24, 2014 Rough Trade

acidjack: Ryley Walker seems poised for a similar trajectory to Hiss Golden Messenger — he’s an incinerating songwriter whose ability to make an emotional connection should bring him to many larger places. In a bit of a reverse of this year’s HGM experience, I saw Walker for the first time at Hopscotch Music Festival, backed by a full band on the broad stage of the Fletcher Opera Theater. A little over a month later, he was back on the road in his natural state, a man with his guitar (with upright bassist in tow for a few songs before he left for another gig). In my book, this “Summer Dress” from Rough Trade during CMJ blows away the full-band version — and that’s saying something.

7. Nicole Atkins: June 18, 2014 Madison Square Park

nyctaper: She put out one of the best records of the year, Slow Phaser, and by the time she and her new band returned to NYC, Nicole Atkins had found her live groove. This show at Madison Square Park was a strange one, with families on blankets, roaming kids, and what seemed like a never ending parade of police sirens. But for this one magical song, “Its Only Chemistry”, Nicole Atkins was the brightest light in this huge city park.

8. The Coup – March 13, 2014 South By Southwest

acidjack: Despite that SXSW has outstayed both its literal and cultural welcome, this day show, put on by our friend Steve, hearkened back to what it ought to be about. The bill had huge range, free tacos and beer were to be had, and people were there for music, not scenemaking. Boots Riley and his crew of left-leaning, hard-swinging, hip-shaking funk geniuses stormed the joint and never looked back.

9. Smashing Pumpkins: December 8, 2014 Webster Hall

nyctaper: A Smashing Pumpkins concert at a venue the size of Webster Hall is a special event in and of itself. But this year has been a productive one for Billy Corgan and his band. Their new album is Monuments to an Elegy is really quite excellent and the new touring band is a superb collection of pros. But the most memorable moment from this show for me was the finale — “Burnt Orange-Black” a powerful dirge that will appear on next year’s album. Its already a stunner and one of the best new songs we heard all year.

10. The Growlers: September 18, 2014 Bowery Ballroom

nyctaper: This show was fairly epic at two hours and it included nearly thirty distinct songs. But the highlight was the truly surreal mid-show appearance of two huge Chinese New Year’s styled dragons and a drum parade that entered through the back of the Bowery and worked through the packed crowd to the stage. The parade drumming transitioned into the titled track from The Growlers excellent new album Chinese Fountain, in what was an odd but very memorable moment.

11. Marah: July 12, 2014 Bowery Electric

nyctaper: A band with a ten year old prodigy that plays fiddle like a man five times his age would have to be a yearly highlight, but really Marah is much more than that. This show at Bowery Electric was a revelation and this performance of an old Marah song (when it was a completely different band) was one of the best things we saw all year particularly the sweet fiddle solo by Gus Tritsch and that moment when band leader David Bielanko realized in his mid-song monologue just exactly how special this band has become.

12. Yellow Ostrich – December 8, 2014 Glasslands

acidjack: This was one of those end-of-an-era shows in two ways — both the last by a beloved band, and in the final month of a venue where I spent a lot of time, Glasslands. We were sorry to see Yellow Ostrich go, but we’re glad they didn’t overstay their welcome. Alex Schaaf and his band exited at the top of their game, and we were honored to be part of it.

13. Dream Syndicate: November 16, 2014 Rough Trade

nyctaper: We’ve chronicled the solo career of Steve Wynn pretty regularly on this site, but I had personally not seen The Dream Syndicate in more than thirty years. The band’s reunion finally made it to NYC this Fall and it was certainly worth the wait. The last time I saw them, Dream Syndicate opened with “Tell Me When Its Over” and this past month it was the second song of the set and just as sweet.

14. Tweedy – June 7, 2014 Mountain Jam, Hunter, NY

acidjack: I had minimal hopes for this father-son band; nothing about nepotism tends to go well. But the Tweedy team proved doubters totally wrong, with a record that, if anything, exceeded Wilco’s recent output. The “band” debuted their entire new album for us on the Mountain Jam stage. Even if everyone wasn’t paying attention during that mid-afternoon set, the ones that mattered were.

15. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: October 13, 2014 Baby’s All Right

nyctaper: When I hear music scene veterans claim that there’s just nothing new that exciting, I happily point to bands like King Gizzard. The band came all the way from Australia to perform some shows this Summer, and we caught one of those shows, but it wasn’t until this night at Baby’s All Right that the lure of the Gizz fully clicked for us. A youthful and energetic take on neo-psych, this band’s new album is extraordinarily good and for this night at Baby’s they opened the show with the five-song segue that opens the album — after which there was a lot of affirmative head-shaking in the crowd. The Gizz had arrived and we can’t wait until they grace our shores again.

16. Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show – September 5, 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival

acidjack: I might as well just put this on my list for every year — this showcase, jointly produced by Three Lobed Recordings and the Durham, NC radio station WXDU, produces the most consistently incredible lineup of challenging music that I see. This year’s lineup boasted The Little Black Egg Big Band (featuring Steve Gunn, William Tyler and members of Yo La Tengo), MV & EE, Rose Cross North Carolina, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Thurston Moore/Mary Lattimore/Ryan Sawyer, and Daniel Bachman/Nathaniel Bowles. Beyond the quality of the music, the show always brings its own special crowd, the die-hards and the heads whose lack of strength is numbers is more than made up for in passion.

17. Yo La Tengo: December 6, 2014 Trocadero Philly

nyctaper: I traveled to Philly to catch my only Yo La Tengo show this year, and of course it was infinitely worth it. But what separated this show from the “standard” YLT show was the ferocious and simply awe-inspiring version of “Story” that closed the set. The guitar-crushing noise jam that concludes the song stretched the entire number to twenty-two minutes and elevated this to epic proportions. The was the band’s last show of their 30th anniversary tour and they ended it in very appropriate fashion.

18. Steve Gunn – October 12, 2014 Rough Trade

acidjack: Steve Gunn’s name always comes up among the biggest names in current American guitar music. What he accomplished with this year’s “Wildwood” took him beyond those confines, as the wider world began to view him as equal in his songwriting to what he had been recognized for on the guitar. This show at Rough Trade put that all on display, as Gunn and his band didn’t let a grueling slog up the East Coast keep them from giving a signature performance.

19. The Kickback: June 10, 2014 Pianos

nyctaper: There are very few times when I can confess to literally gasping at a live performance. The Kickback came to town for the New Music Festival and Jeff from the Syndicate recommended that I check them out. The band was quite good but it was the last number of their set that took this show to entire other level. Billy Yost’s intensity during “Rob Our House” was as breathtaking as it was simply pure rock excellence. Based on this show we invited the band to play our CMJ show where they again played one of the best sets we saw all year.

20. Strand of Oaks – December 4, 2014 Bowery Ballroom

acidjack: Tim Showalter is one of those almost comically earnest musicians, a man whose heart is as big as his sound. Strand of Oaks isn’t a new band, but it might as well be, given how meteoric Showalter’s rise has been this year. He started the year at Mercury Lounge and ended it at Bowery Ballroom, and the ceiling is far from there. Strand of Oaks has that mainstream approachability and big tent emotion that serves rock colossuses like U2 so well, but Showalter actually believes what’s coming out of his mouth.

21. PUP: February 21, 2014 Cameo Gallery

nyctaper: A long time ago, I was suspended for a week from the college radio station where I worked for playing the Dead Kennedys’ “Too Drunk To Fuck” on the air. Given the times and my position, it was a fair cop. I’m happy to still be around when the song is now a quaint old punk novelty and can be played by a band with a sense of humor and a sense of history with no repercussions whatsoever. PUP’s performance gave me a big smile to cap off an excellent night.

22. Spacin’/Purling Hiss – September 5, 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival

acidjack: Two of our favorite Philly bands formed an impromptu whole to replace someone I’ve already forgotten about on the end of this bill. While Mark Kozelek was being a dick over in the Lincoln Theatre on this night, those in the know caught this juggernaut (joined, just for good measure, by Steve Gunn and Mary Lattimore on the last song) playing real rock n’ roll that no crowd noise could keep down.

23. Hurray For The Riff Raff: July 26, 2014 XPonential Fest

nyctaper: acidjack and I went down to Camden for the Saturday of XPonential Fest and it was one of the best days we had all year. Its a great event and we’re hoping to do multiple days of XPN’s Fest in 2015. One of the reasons we made the trip was to see NYCTaper faves Hurray For The Riff Raff. The band continues to grow in stature and its fun to follow their ascent. “The Body Electric” is a song Alynda wrote as an “anti” murder ballad — the shaming of the idea that in traditional folk songs the protagonist is always the man killing a woman. The song was particularly poignant in a year when domestic violence was in the forefront of the news. The song’s powerful message earned it significant media attention including year end awards from the likes of NPR.

24. Herbcraft – January 24, 2014 Mercury Lounge

acidjack: I had no idea who Herbcraft even were when I arrived at this show, and barely got my recording equipment set up in time. They weren’t even the headliner. But what came next was no afterthought — this Woodsist band owned the stage, proving the real power of live music to expose you to new music in a way that clicking around on Spotify will never be able to top. Perhaps most notably, this post got several comments from people who felt the same way — that they couldn’t believe this band had slipped underneath their radar.

25. Dva – January 9, 2014 Trans Pecos

nyctaper: I attended this concert on the recommendation of Adam from Northern Spy and I’ll admit that I had no idea what to expect. At the end of the event, I was thanking Adam for inviting me because Dva is an amazing act and their live show has to be seen to be truly experienced. “Mulatu” was the first single from this Czech duo’s first US release and it encapsulates everything that’s great and interesting about Dva.

nyctaper Top 10 Concerts of 2014

December 27, 2014
By

taper-larger

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.

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

December 1, 2014
By


IMG_0379

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.

Woods: November 6, 2014 Death By Audio – Flac/MP3/Streaming

November 9, 2014
By

Woods DBA 2014
[photo by nyctaper]

In the final days of the great Death By Audio, the appearance of Woods as a special guest on Thursday was appropriate on so many levels. Of all the accomplished DIY bands of Brooklyn in the aughts, Woods perhaps best epitomized the ability to both stay true to your roots while evolving as a band. In short, they’ve managed to grow in their abilities and their popularity without selling out. The same can be said for Death By Audio, a venue that perfected a very workman-like authentic DIY aesthetic — consistently booking local and out of town touring bands while mixing in the occasional huge show. The special feature of this show was that Woods were reunited with founding member G. Lucas Crane, who parted ways with the group a few years ago to pursue his solo projects and also to concentrate on his work as one of the primary forces behind the Silent Barn. Lucas performed a brief solo set, mixing his special cassettes in a soundscape that segued nicely into the opening of the Woods set as the band joined him onstage in a seamless transition into an epic 15-minute “Bend Beyond”. We’ve seen several mindbending versions of this song over the years, but this take on ‘Beyond’ was truly remarkable as the band pushed the boundaries of the song through several jam sequences undoubtedly motivated by the historical nature of the occasion. We are streaming it below.

When ‘Beyond’ ended and Lucas left the stage, one would think that there would have been a little letdown, but this was clearly not the case. Woods was on a mission — whether it be welcoming old friend Alex Bleeker on “Cali In A Cup”, or dedicating “It Ain’t Easy” to the late Brooklyn musician and band friend Jamie Ewing, breaking out old material (“Rain On”), or multiple mentions and thanks to Edan and Death By Audio. This is a band who knows from whence they came and returned to old haunts to pay tribute in the best way possible, by playing a show that is perhaps the best night we’ve had all year. The capacity crowd seemed to feel that same way as they simply would not let the band leave despite equipment problems. When Edan located a spare drum pedal all was fixed and the show went on. The first of two encores was the band’s superb take on the Pink Floyd classic “Green Is The Colour”, a recent nyctaper recording of which ended up on a split single of Woods and MV+EE takes on the song on Piccadilly Records. The show ended with another of the band’s anthems, “Be All Be Easy”, which we are also streaming below.

I recorded this set with the Sennheiser cards on a small stand in the front and center of the stage and mixed the on-stage sound with an excellent soundboard mix provided by DBA’s Edan. The mix combines primarily vocals and drums from the board complimenting the clear guitar and bass from the stage. The sound quality is simply stunning. Enjoy!

Stream “Bend Beyond”:

Stream “Be All Be Easy”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

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, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

Woods
2014-11-06
Death By Audio
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + On-Stage Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Edan] + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:04:28]
01 Bend Beyond
02 Leaves Like Glass
03 Cali In A Cup
04 Shining
05 Jam
06 Size Meets The Sound
07 Is It Honest
08 It Ain’t Easy
09 Shepherd
10 Rain On
11 With Light and With Love
12 [encore break]
13 Green is the Colour [Pink Floyd]
14 Be All Be Easy

If you download this recording from NYCTaper PLEASE SUPPORT Woods, visit their website, and purchase With Light and with Love from the Woodsist Records website [HERE].

Woods: April 22, 2014 Baby’s All Right – FLAC/MP3/Full Set Streaming

July 17, 2014
By

woods-mittal-1
[photo from the May 16 Bowery Show by Sachyn Mital]

 

 

Before sharing their latest sounds at yet another blockbuster of a show at the Bowery Ballroom in May, which we recorded, Woods kicked off their tour with a more intimate show at the Williamsburg clubhouse Baby’s All Right, curated by our friends at BrooklynVegan. Meant to also celebrate the release of their latest album, With Light and With Love. If band founder, lead singer and guitarist Jeremy Earl had any concerns that this first outing with the new stuff might come off ragged but right, he needn’t have had them — at least about the “ragged” part. This show displayed the band’s now-familiar virtuosity and served as a preview of what was to come later in the tour. This night, as at Bowery, the band pulled off a tight segue of “Shining” into the classic jam song “Bend Beyond” that exited into “Size Meets The Sound”, proving that the more approachable sound of With Light and With Love felt right at home with the band’s earlier material. It is always a treat to catch a Woods show, but especially so in a club of this size; this is a band that fills and belongs in bigger venues, but hasn’t forgotten where they came from.

This set was recorded on the Baby’s All Right house multitrack and, as usual, the sound quality is outstanding. The full set is streaming below as well as FLAC and MP3 downloads as usual. Enjoy!

Download the complete show at the Live Music Archive [here]

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 download links or the files on other sites without our permission. Feel free to re-post the Soundcloud link. Please respect our request.

Woods
2014-04-22
Baby’s All Right
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by Devin Foley
Produced by acidjack

Multitrack digital soundboard>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, fades, compression, effects)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Leaves Like Glass
03 Full Moon
04 Cali In A Cup
05 Shining>
06 Bend Beyond>
07 Size Meets the Sound
08 Shepherd
09 Only the Lonely
10 Moving To the Left>
11 Twin Steps
12 With Light and With Love
13 [encore break music]
14 Green Is the Color [Pink Floyd]
15 Find Them Empty

If you download this recording from NYCTaper PLEASE SUPPORT Woods, visit their website, and purchase With Light and with Love from the Woodsist Records website [HERE].

Woods: May 16, 2014 Bowery Ballroom – Flac/MP3/Streaming

May 21, 2014
By

woodsquilt07
[photos by Sachyn Mital]

The conventional and somewhat lazy take on the new Woods album With Light and with Love is that its a radical departure for the band — a more refined and pop-oriented record. The reality is that With Light is the natural progression of a band that’s been growing and evolving since we first saw them back in 2008. With the exit of excellent bassist (and all around good guy) Kevin Morby to pursue his solo career, Woods is now down to two original members. Original drummer Jarvis Taveniere moved to guitar several years ago and his signature is all over the new album with universally positive results. The lead guitar work on With Light has both melodic structure and experimental elements when appropriate. “Moving to the Left” begins with a wah-wah lead line that propels the song until the band opens up the song for an extended instrumental passage. Its perhaps the signature Woods song on the album, and the live version (streaming below) was equally strong. At the center of the band remains Jeremy Earl whose songwriting chops continue to grow. The album contains some truly beautiful songs and the lyrical content shows great maturity. Jeremy lives upstate, owns his own record label and runs his own festival every year — he has adult responsibilities and the music reflects that kind of wisdom. At Bowery Ballroom on Friday night, Woods returned to Manhattan for the first time since last summer and the new album clearly dominated the setlist. In fact, the band played 8 of the album’s ten tracks, three songs from the previous album (2012’s Bend Beyond), one song from 2011’s Sun and Shade and one phenomenal Pink Floyd cover (streaming below). As this show comes a few weeks into the tour, the band’s new additions (organ and bass) have become truly integrated and as a result the set was tight and well structured but left plenty of room to jam — much like all of the excellent Woods shows we’ve recorded over the years.

I recorded this set from our usual balcony spot at this venue and mixed with an excellent feed from Bowery legend Kenny. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Moving to the Left”:

Stream “Green Is The Colour” (Pink Floyd cover):

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

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 download links or the files on other sites without our permission. Feel free to re-post the Soundcloud link. Please respect our request.

Woods
2014-05-16
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Kenny] + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:06:02]
01 [intro]
02 Leaves Like Glass
03 Full Moon
04 Cali In A Cup
05 Shining
06 Bend Beyond
07 Size Meets The Sound
08 Shepherd
09 [banter – Chuck]
10 Only the Lonely
11 Moving to the Left
12 Twin Steps
13 With Light and With Love
14 [encore break]
15 Green Is The Colour [Pink Floyd]
16 Be All Be Easy

If you download this recording from NYCTaper PLEASE SUPPORT Woods, visit their website, and purchase With Light and with Love from the Woodsist Records website [HERE].

Axxa / Abraxas: March 21, 2014 Baby’s All Right – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

April 2, 2014
By


IMG_7010
[photos by acidjack]

The Brooklyn band Axxa / Abraxas, like many of their Captured Tracks forebears, began in a bedroom. In this case, the bedroom of Atlanta native Ben Asbury, who drew influences near his hometown as well as his current home to create his self-titled debut. That record, produced by Jarvis Taveniere of Woods, owes Taveniere’s main project an obvious debt, from the jangly guitars to a Jeremy Earl-style high falsetto vocal on some songs. What’s missed there, but more evident live, is the free-flowing style of the Elephant 6 collective from nearby Athens, Georgia, whose members are as legendary for their live shows as for their far-out styles. Bringing out these tunes live at Baby’s All Right must’ve been no easy task for Asbury and his bandmates, as the record’s slick production style doesn’t necessarily tell all of the band’s story. What you find out in the live setting is that the core of this music is Asbury’s skill at the axe; at age 23, he’s dropping some serious solos. Axxa / Abraxas feels more like a Brooklyn band at the start of their career than the polished crew you hear on the LP, and in many ways, that’s a good thing. One of this band’s greatest assets is youthful exuberance, and you could feel that in the room in a way you can’t on an album. You get the sense that, with more time with this material under their belt, it’ll only get better. Asbury’s best days are yet to come, and it’s going to be a great ride.

I recorded this set with the digital multitrack system at Baby’s All Right, set up by engineer David Lefcourt, together with an onstage pair of Naiant X-X omnidirectional microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Painted Blue”

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

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.

Axxa /Abraxas
2014-03-21
Baby’s All Right
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by David Lefcourt and acidjack
Produced by acidjack

Digital multitrack soundboard (Engineer: David Lefcourt) + Naiant X-X (omni, onstage)>Pro Tools>Numerous 24bit/48kHz WAVs>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (various dynamics, compression, alignment, mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, stereo imaging, dynamics)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, fades, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Ryan Michalak (Is Coming to Town) (fades in)
02 Going Forth
03 I Almost Fell
04 Beyond the Wind
05 Same Signs
06 So Far Away
07 Ride Into the Night
08 Painted Blue
09 On the Run
10 All That’s Passed
11 Anything Could Happen [The Clean]

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Axxa / Abraxas, like them on Facebook, and buy their self-titled LP from Captured Tracks.

SUPPORT NYCTaper




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