[all of the excellent photos on this page are by J Caldwell and Alexis Stember – click on the photos here for links to full resolution versions]
If Tuesday night was a celebration of history, Wednesday night at Bowery Ballroom, Animal Collective exhibited why they deserve the accolades. In the most intimate venue they may ever play, AC performed a ninety minute set of near perfection — an impressive balance of energy and proficiency. The Grand Ballroom began slowly and built the energy. The Bowery Ballroom started with an explosive “Also Frightened” that segued neatly into “My Girls. As Animal Collective worked through a setlist front-loaded with trance-inducing tribal chant numbers, the only point in which the show relaxed was the encore segment where the reworked “Winters Love” flowed seamlessly into Panda Bear’s “Comfy in Nautica”. Other highlights again included “Fireworks”, where during the jam segment we focused on the manic percussion work of Panda, and the new number “Blue Sky” (working title) — but in reality, the entire show was a highlight.
We recorded this set under the most ideal conditions. The sound quality is the venue was outstanding, and the sound staff mixed the band to perfection. The photographers J and Alexis provided us with a “buffer” against any crowd chatter, and our location was a direct line to the PA stacks. The result is a recording that we are confident in declaring is the best unofficial live recording of Animal Collective that you will ever hear. It gives us great pleasure to present a recording of this quality. Enjoy!
Listen to this recording in streaming audio or download below:
These are direct downloads in FLAC and MP3 from another server (right click and “save file as” or “save target as”), or use a download manager.
Firefox users can Down Them All! at once (here).
Animal Collective
2009-01-21
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA
Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail
Next to Soundboard
Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, Downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2009-01-22
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:28:44]
01 Also Frightened [FLAC] [MP3]
02 My Girls [FLAC] [MP3]
03 Blue Sky [FLAC] [MP3]
04 Slippi [FLAC] [MP3]
05 Leaf House [FLAC] [MP3]
06 Summertime Clothes [FLAC] [MP3]
07 Guys Eyes [FLAC] [MP3]
08 Lablakley Dress [FLAC] [MP3]
09 Fireworks [FLAC] [MP3]
10 Lion in a Coma [FLAC] [MP3]
11 Brother Sport [FLAC] [MP3]
12 [encore break] [FLAC] [MP3]
13 Winters Love [FLAC] [MP3]
14 Comfy in Nautica [FLAC] [MP3]
Information: [TXT FILE]
Verification: [MD5 FILE]
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Animal Collective, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases directly from Domino Records site [HERE].
THANK YOU!
Although – and this is entirely possibly – I may have lost my mind because I do not see any links.
but THANK YOU!
You’re not crazy. I published this too early (hit the wrong button). The links are coming soon, just hang for a little bit. More amazing photos too.
Sorry – the excitement got the best of me! Take your time!
this is too awesome!
i love in the top photos (alexis’) you can see avey’s sister abby watching the show!
This is great. Thanks!
Thanks man — this is great.
Thanks, you really outdid yourself.
Keep up the amazing work.
i’ve been waiting for this. thanks!
You weren’t kidding, Dan. Sound absolutely spectacular. Glad J and I could be your buffers ;)
we are spoiled
THANK YOU
This sounds incredible. I also enjoyed the Grand Ballroom boot. Thanks for your hard work dude.
you rock
I had not been around this website for a while, and that won’t happen again. Thanks a lot! This is an amazing surprise.
really appreciate the great work nyctaper! both the grand ballroom and bowery recordings are pretty much perfect… i was at bowery and this is dead on. you rock!
Thanks man. This is a great recording of what was an awesome concert. Cheers!
Thank you for the concerts. Missing the presence and bass but still are worthy recordings.
Again…Merci…
this recording is pristine. the sound in that room was incredible and these tapes capture that feeling very well. many thanks for this.
Another amazing ac boot from nyctaper. Thanks a million.
Sounds excellent, Dan.
Thank you so much to join this kind of bands that never will gig in my country.
hey dan – thank you for doing all that you do
Thanks for these terrific recordings! I saw AC in Berlin a few days before these shows, so it is great to compare sets and revisit the show.
AC are a revelation – they’re neo-psychedelic but not – thanks to NYC Taper for another sweet turn on!
Peace, Adam
oh my god, thank you. i was sick that i missed this show.
What happened to the links? Am I late to the party?
No, the links are still good. It just looks like archive.org, where the links are posted, had a little hiccup. They seem to be working now.
If these guys want to be as legendary as they very well should be, they ought to learn how to play their stuff live. Kudos on the recordings man, but their live performances are really disappointing. For all the praise that is heaped upon them you think Avey and Panda would learn how to sing without AutoTune. Here’s hoping they read this and gets to practicing so they can be as legendary as I really want to see them be! Your records are so effing good!!!!!
Thanks so much for posting this. I can’t wait to hear the show….
Though I will correct you on this being the most intimate show they will ever play; keep in mind that in May they will perform to 300 people at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, CA. And yes, I am going.
Thank you so much!
I’ve missed them in Berlin, and I regret it so much…
wow flac versions thanks!!!!!!!!
Damn, this is AWESOME. You were right, the best live AC recording I’ve ever heard.
One question though: how on earth do you know the second to last track is Winters Love? It sounds NOTHING like the album version and I can’t make out any of the lyrics. I mean, believe you, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell.
Your recordings are amazing. I have enjoyed a lot some of previous posts. Great job, thanks.
FANTASTIC!