[Photos courtesy of Patrick Proctor at Hippies Are Dead]
The Montreal band Plants and Animals has been at this for awhile now – they released their first EP in 2004 – and experience has clearly served them well, developing them into a band with considerable chops and obvious stage presence. This show at Mercury Lounge came on the heels of the release of their third record, The End of That, a document of the three-piece’s continuing commitment to big, 70s-inspired rock. Big is a broad but appropriate word for the sound of a band whose songs routinely stretch beyond five or even six minutes – Plants and Animals take their time building their satisfying rhythmic structures on songs like “Mercy” and “Crisis”. While many bands use the excuse of being the fourth or fifth band of the night to wrap things up early-style, Plants and Animals anchored a long Thursday night of music at Mercury Lounge to deliver an 80-minute set that covered their three big releases and some deeper cuts from their with/avec EP like “Lola Who” and the set closer, a nine-minute version of “Faerie Dance”. The crowd was most pumped for the band’s latest single, “Lightshow”, and deservedly so – it’s an instantly memorable song with a loud/soft dynamic and a mind-glue riff.
I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed courtesy of the Mercury Lounge staff. Unfortunately, this being the Mercury “late show” and it being a popular drinking night here in NY (well, aren’t they all…), the crowd was very noisy, forcing me to mix in more of the soundboard feed than I otherwise would have preferred. Although it is still a good capture, listeners on headphones may be distracted at times by the crowd chatter. With that caveat, enjoy!
Stream “Lightshow”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/P4018PlantsAnimals1220/13 Lightshow.mp3]
Stream “Crisis!”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/P4018PlantsAnimals1220/02 Crisis!.mp3]
Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]
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Plants and Animals
2012-04-18
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack
Schoeps MK41 (PAS, 7.5ft)>CMC6 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (align, mixdown, tracking, amplify and balance, set fades)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 1:21:17]
01 Bye Bye Bye
02 Crisis!
03 Good Friend
04 Control Me
05 Gameshows
06 No Idea
07 Lola Who?
08 The Mama Papa
09 Mercy
10 Why & Why
11 [banter]
12 Undone Melody
13 Lightshow
14 [encore break]
15 The End of That
16 Faerie Dance
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Plants and Animals, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from their online store [HERE]
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