[photo by nyctaper]
We have read much about Crystal Stilts over the last couple of years, but by happenstance we had not seen them live until last Sunday night at Bowery. Crystal Stilts are currently on tour with Love Is All, and this was their hometown show — with a large and supportive crowd. The live performance of their reverb-heavy 60’s-influenced garage rock is really quite compelling. The guitar work which is somewhat muffled by the authentic feel of the mix on their new CD Alight of Night literally comes to “life” in the live setting and as a result the songs are brighter and more organic. Singer Brad Hargett provides the standard tenor-drone for this genre, but live adds a few grunts and groans with a little Ian Curtis thrown in for taste. The ubiquitous percussionist Frankie Rose has the minimalist drumming style down to an art. At the end of the Crystal Stilts set, there were quite a few well-deserved calls for an encore.
We recorded this set from the same location at the Love Is All set and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!
Crystal Stilts return from this US tour and have two dates in NYC before a lengthy European tour in early 2009. The two NYC shows are here:
Dec 17 2008 Le Poisson Rouge NYC
Jan 10 2009 Silent Barn (moved to) Market Hotel Brooklyn
Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].
Crystal Stilts
2008-12-07
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 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, slight EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-12-11
Setlist:
[Total Time 28:14]
01 [introduction]
02 Through The Floor
03 Crippled Croon
04 Shattered Shine
05 Converging in the Quiet
06 The City in the Sea
07 Seeds
08 The Dazzled
09 For The Love Of Ivy (Gun Club)
10 Love is a Wave
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Crystal Stilts, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new album Alight of Night from links at their MySpace page, including at Insound [here].
Would really love to hear this show, but the MP3 direct download link takes me to a link protection site that Firefox tells me is a site that can lead to viruses. Any chance of getting this fixed?
Oh yeah, and by the way, fantastic site you have here – some absolutely amazing stuff here !!