The Giraffes: February 5, 2011 Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Songs

[Photos courtesy of Todd Kancar]

I make no secret of my admiration for The Giraffes and have been consistently rewarded by them over the past 5+ years with amazing albums and some of the most incredible performances I’ve ever had the privilege to attend.  When I heard a rumor that this show would be lead singer Aaron Lazar’s last with the Brooklyn-based group and had the information confirmed, I was heartbroken.  And I wasn’t the only one.  As a testament to the popularity of this band (one that has been criminally overlooked by the mainstream), I personally received more requests to tape this night than every other show I’ve recorded combined; a few of them from South America and Europe.  Further fears were put to rest when I was assured that guitarist Damien Paris, drummer Andrew Totolos and bassist Jens Carstensen would continue on with The Giraffes.  Blazing through with nary a break, the gents brought out an impressive setlist that including superlative renditions of “Honey Baby Child”, “Sugarbomb” and the rare “On Lovers Lane”, among other gems.  The enthusiastic crowd, packed to the rafters in the sold-out venue, brought their A-game, too [see Todd Kancar’s photo below].  Riddled with stage divers, crowd surfers, people singing every word to every song and enough flashbulbs going off to induce an epileptic seizure, it wasn’t long before the gallons of alcoholic beverages flying through the air had covered nearly every available surface and person.  As I’ve remarked before, it takes an exceptional set of skills to be able to play under these conditions and, as always, these guys rose to the challenge.  We wish Aaron the best in his future endeavors and eagerly anticipate what Damien, Drew and Jens have in store for us with The Giraffes, v.4.0.

As a compliment to the mics, the always magnificent and accommodating house engineers, Kevin and Dan, supplied me with a feed from the board and were joined by guest engineer extraordinaire, Phil, for this set.  Aside from the bedlam unraveling on stage that resulted in the occasional, unavoidable vocal distortion and clipping from microphones being grabbed, dropped and yelled into by attendees, thanks to their first-rate work we have captured an excellent recording.  Enjoy and PLAY IT LOUD!!

Stream “Million $ Man”:

[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/G2808Giraffes9220/The%20Giraffes%20-%20Million%20$%20Man.mp3]

Stream “The City”:

[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/G2808Giraffes9220/The%20Giraffes%20-%20The%20City.mp3]

Download the FLAC/MP3 files and stream this entire show on the Live Music Archive [HERE]

The Giraffes
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY, USA

Source: SBD + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (WAV @ 24-bit/48kHz)
Lineage: R-44 (WAV @ 24-bit/48kHz) > USB > PC > Adobe Audition (mixdown, adjust levels, downsample, dither, tracking) > WAV (16-bit/44.1kHz) > Trader’s Little Helper (check/fix SBE’s, FLAC conversion) > FLAC ( level 8 )
Mercury Lounge house engineers: Kevin, Dan
Guest engineer: Phil
Recorded and produced by: Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

SETLIST:
[Total time: 1:42:00]
01. Damien’s rant
02. Smoke Machine
03. Million $ Man
04. Prime Motivator
05. Honest Men
06. Honey Baby Child [*]
07. Wage Earner
08. I’ll Be Your Daddy
09. On Lovers Lane
10. The Power Of Fatherhood
11. Medicaid Benefit Appliqué
12. Sugarbomb
13. banter
14. The Border
15. The Ballad Of Sissyfist
16. The City
17. Sickness (This Is)
18. Having Fun
19. Haunted Heaven
20. Clever Girl
21. Man U.
22. Done

* Pierre Michel song

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Giraffes, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases and merchandise.

Tags: dpa, DPA 4021, giraffes, johnny fried chicken boy, manhattan, mercury lounge, new york, soundboard, The Giraffes