Blog Archives

Cate Le Bon: January 26, 2017 The Bowery Ballroom

January 31, 2017
By


[photos courtesy of Will and We All Want Someone blog]

Cate Le Bon’s been awfully busy since we last saw her in 2014: in 2016 she released her fourth (and excellent) LP, Crab Day; she produced Tim Presley’s (also excellent) LP, The Wink; and last Friday she put out a followup to Crab Day, the companion EP Rock Pool. Fittingly, on her current tour with Tim Presley, Le Bon is pulling a double shift, contributing guitar and vocals in Presley’s backing band before playing her own headlining set. I’ll talk more about Presley’s set when we post it shortly, but the music on The Wink is so informed by Le Bon’s production that the night felt less like two co-headlining sets and more like a conjoined, ongoing collaboration between the two musicians. Later on in Le Bon’s set, Presley joined in on guitar for “What’s Not Mine,” a cover of Presley’s White Fence tune “Chairs in the Dark,” and “Are You With Me Now?” While Le Bon and Presley were obviously the focus of the evening, it would be criminal not to mention their crack shot backing band featuring JT, Stephen Black, and Daniel Ward. This set showcases mostly songs from the off-kilter Crab Day, two new ones from Rock Pool (“Aside From Growing Old” and “I Just Wanna Be Good”), plus a few older tracks like “No God,” “Greta,” “Sisters,” and the fan-favorite “Are You With Me Now?” The Le Bon/Presley tour soldiers on for a few more dates (here) and if you have the chance I highly recommend you not miss out on this one.

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue slightly to the left of soundboard in the balcony area, with a board feed from Bowery FOH Kenny. As usual for the venue, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Cate Le Bon
2017-01-26
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com
Photos by Will Oliver

Soundboard [engineer: Kenny] + AKG C480B/CK63 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:07:11]
01. Crab Day
02. Love is Not Love
03. Wonderful
04. No God
05. Aside From Growing Old
06. I’m a Dirty Attic
07. I Was Born on the Wrong Day
08. How Do You Know?
09. I Can’t Help You
10. I Just Wanna Be Good
11. Greta
12. Sisters
13. We Might Revolve
14. What’s Not Mine
15. [encore break]
16. Chairs in the Dark [White Fence]
17. Are You With Me Now?

• Website
• • Facebook
• • • Buy Crab Day and Rock Pool via Drag City

Lee Ranaldo: January 22, 2017 Park Church Co-op

January 26, 2017
By

For all the reasons I need not repeat here, protest music is perhaps more vital now than at any other time in my lifetime if not everyone’s. Lee Ranaldo’s engagement with Occupy Wall Street has been well documented; and it was around that time that he started performing Neil Young’s classic “Revolution Blues” regularly at shows. Coming off inauguration weekend, I think we can safely call all of the songs Ranaldo performed last Sunday protest music, each song imploring us in its own language to “resist, resist, resist, resist.”

Wrapping up his two-week tour with Meg Baird and Steve Gunn (Steve’s set here, Meg’s set here), Ranaldo showed up at Park Church Co-op with a slew of new material (some of which we’ve heard before), plus covers of The Velvet Underground’s “Ocean” and the aforementioned Neil Young tune. Will the help of a few friends—left to right in the above photo that’s Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, Lee, and Steve—the glorious crescendo of “Ocean” is as overwhelming as the lyrics’ crashing waves suggest. These days, we need art not only for protest but also to uplift, and this performance is nothing if not uplifting. Closing with “Revolution Blues,” Lee is joined by Steve Gunn and Meg Baird, both on guitar and vocals, Alan Licht on guitar, and Georgia Hubley on drums. We’ve heard Lee do this song a few times now, but trading verses with Meg the forty-year-old song and its lyrics feel refreshing as we listen with new ears.

I recorded this set from my improvised tapers section in front of board, combined with a feed from Park Church’s engineer Jasno Swarez. The sound is excellent. Enjoy—and resist!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Lee Ranaldo
2017-01-22
Park Church Co-op
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Jasno Swarez] + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:03:44]
01. Moroccan Mountains
02. Let’s Start Again
03. Circular
04. Electric Trim
05. [Uncle Skeleton intro]
06. Uncle Skeleton
07. Thrown Over the Wall (w/Alan Licht)
08. Last Looks (w/Meg Baird)
09. [Ocean intro]
10. Ocean [The Velvet Underground] (w/Alan, Steve Gunn, Georgia Hubley, and Ira Kaplan)
11. [Revolution Blues intro]
12. Revolution Blues [Neil Young] (w/Meg, Alan, Steve, and Georgia)

• Website
• • Facebook
• • • Buy Lee Ranaldo and the Dust records from Matador

And then, please consider donating to local organizations that support freedom and fair treatment for all, such as the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Immigration Coalition.

Steve Gunn: January 22, 2017 Park Church Co-op

January 25, 2017
By


[Photo via @laurencebuisson]

Steve Gunn needs little introduction in these pages. We’re big fans—and no doubt you are too. Steve has been touring the US and Canada the last couple weeks along with Meg Baird and Lee Ranaldo, the trio making up the first must-see tour of 2017 and spreading some much needed solidarity, positive vibes, and resistance in these unfortunate times. The final weekend of the tour found them playing Washington, DC on the night of the inauguration, Philadelphia the night of the next day’s massive and exhilarating marches, and wrapping up Sunday night in Brooklyn at the Park Church Co-op. The success of the weekend’s protests had people feeling pretty hopeful by Sunday night and this solo set from Gunn feels great all the way through. Seeing him solo and in a smaller, less formal space than December’s Bell House gig brought back happy memories of the days when you could regularly catch Gunn doing an intimate set at Zebulon.

I recorded this set from in front of board, combined with a feed from Park Church’s engineer Jasno Swarez. The sound is excellent. Enjoy—and resist!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Steve Gunn
2017-01-22
Park Church Co-op
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Jasno Suarez] + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [60:52]
01. [Intro]
02. Old Strange
03. Milly’s Garden
04. Way Out Weather
05. Ark
06. Night Wander
07. Park Bench Smile
08. [Wildwood intro]
09. Wildwood
10. Mr. Franklin

PLEASE SUPPORT STEVE GUNN: Go to matadorrecords.com or your local record store and buy Eyes On the Lines and the recent “Ancient Jules” EP. 

And then, please consider donating to local organizations that support freedom and fair treatment for all, such as the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Immigration Coalition.

Girls Against Boys: November 3, 2016 Saint Vitus

December 20, 2016
By



It’s been quite a few years since I’ve gotten to see two Girls Against Boys shows in the same calendar year. So despite whatever else 2016 threw our way, I’ll always have that. While there are a few overlaps here with September’s Baby’s All Right setlist, this set from a couple months later at Saint Vitus goes significantly deeper. “Wilmington” was outed rarely back in the day; “Park Avenue” is the only song off 1998’s Freak*on*ica to be played in either set; and I can honestly say that in twenty-one years of seeing GVSB this is the first time I’ve seen them play “Wow Wow Wow” or “My Night of Pleasure,” both off the unfairly neglected Tropic of Scorpio. If September’s show came off energized if slightly rusty, this one finds the band a well-oiled machine, chugging through sixteen songs in a little over an hour.

I recorded this with the mics pretty much dead center, perfectly capturing the energy of the entire band here. The sound, as usual for Saint Vitus, is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Girls Against Boys
2016-11-03
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

AKG C480B/CK61 (DFC, PAS, at SBD) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [1:08:06]
01. Kill the Sexplayer
02. Cash Machine
03. TheKindaMzkYouLike
04. Super-fire
05. In Like Flynn
06. Wilmington
07. Click Click
08. Let Me Come Back
09. Park Avenue
10. Distracted
11. [banter]
12. Go Be Delighted
13. Bulletproof Cupid
14. Wow Wow Wow
15. Learned It
16. [encore break]
17. My Night of Pleasure
18. Crash 17 (X-Rated Car)

• Buy The Ghost List via Epitonic
• • Connect with the band via Facebook
• • • Visit gvsb.com

Rhyton: December 3, 2016 Union Pool

December 18, 2016
By

I love catching bands with whom we have an ongoing relationship, getting to hear new material or the refashioning of older material—and there’s a rare intimacy that develops when you’ve recorded and mixed and mastered someone’s music. We’ve been following Rhyton for a while now, since way back in 2012 when they played our Northside Showcase at 285 Kent. Each time it’s something different, some shows tending towards the band’s improvisational side, others outing songs or trying out brand new material. This set from a couple weeks back at Union Pool—the first we’ve seen since this year’s Redshift was released—splits the difference with a few songs off that album combined with the jams. “Turn to Stone” is a Joe Walsh/Eagles cover made Rhyton’s own and there’s a plenty good chance the band will have you unwittingly enjoying an Eagles tune, so watch out.

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue, with a board feed from Union Pool FOH, Doug. Despite some chatter in the quieter passages, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download and Stream via Bandcamp:

Rhyton
2016-12-03
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Doug] + AKG C480B/CK63 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [37:50]
01. Intro Jam
02. Redshift > Jam
03. The Nine
04. Turn to Stone [Joe Walsh]

• Buy Rhyton’s Redshift (and other Rhyton records) via Thrill Jockey
• • Connect with the band on Facebook

Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band: December 3, 2016 Union Pool

December 6, 2016
By

Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band

We’re always happy to have a new Solar Motel Band tape to share; even more so when that tape features three brand new jams. Appearing this past Saturday night at Union Pool as a trio (that’s Chris Forsyth, Peter Kerlin, and Ray Kubian), the band came prepared with some previously unheard funk. Maybe it’s just because Forsyth has been soundtracking the Stones film Cocksucker Blues recently, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of later 70’s Rolling Stones—especially on the eighteen-minute closer, “American History & Science Fiction” (working title). But whatever far-out rock gods these guys are channeling these days, it sounds damn fine.

I recorded this from our usual location in the venue, with a board feed from Union Pool engineer Doug. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Downloads are available at the Live Music Archive

Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band
2016-12-03
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Doug] + AKG C480B/CK63 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [43:10]
01. Dreaming In The Non-Dream, Parts I-II
02. Mistaken The Bottle
03. American History & Science Fiction

Support Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band: Website | Facebook | Buy The Rarity of Experience from No Quarter

Chris Forsyth x Nick Millevoi Duo: November 13, 2015 Trans-Pecos

November 23, 2016
By

Chris and Nick

Yep, you read that right: November 13, 2015. This one’s from the archives, at a fan’s request. This is Chris and Nick in Solar Motel Duo form, opening up for Lee Ranaldo the night after I had seen the full band opening for Futurebirds at the Bowery Ballroom. What can I say except that I’ve seen a lot of Solar Motel shows and this one’s something unique—just a pure dual guitar mindmeld on some Solar Motel tracks you know and love.

I recorded this at the stage lip, the left mic picking up mostly Nick’s guitar and the right Chris’s guitar. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Downloads are available at the Live Music Archive

Chris Forsyth x Nick Millevoi Duo
2015-11-13
Trans-Pecos
Queens, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

AKG C480B/CK61 (stage lip) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (normalize, fades) > Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [43:56]
01. Paranoid Cat
02. The Ballad of Freer Hollow
03. Harmonious Dance

Support Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band: Website | Facebook | Buy The Rarity of Experience from No Quarter

Hiss Golden Messenger – November 15, 2016 Music Hall of Williamsburg

November 20, 2016
By

Hiss Golden Messenger

Hiss Golden Messenger’s new album, Heart Like a Levee, is one for dark times—and dark times we’ve got in abundance. Still, last week’s tour stop at the Music Hall of Williamsburg was nothing if not uplifting. “Red Rose Nantahala,” normally dedicated to North Carolina’s horrid (and hopefully former) governor, is here dedicated to “a whole bunch of people,” and I think the whole room here in Brooklyn more than ever felt the import of those lyrics, “Well let me be the one I want / Well let me love the one I want.” On the lighter side, it was the band’s cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Brown-Eyed Women” that stole the show. Their version appeared originally on the Day of the Dead compilation and this was apparently the first time it had been attempted live. The epic, thirteen-minute closer “Brother, Do You Know the Road?” (a personal favorite among HGM tunes), fittingly performed to end a set of songs about finding your way home, and on one of the last dates of their tour, will send you off feeling pretty good.

I recorded this set with the mics set up at the soundboard combined with a board feed from the band’s touring engineer, Luke. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Hiss Golden Messenger
2016-11-15
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Luke] + AKG C480B/CK63 (DFC, PAS, at SBD) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [2:07:11]
01. As the Crow Flies
02. Biloxi
03. Saturday’s Song
04. Mahogany Dread
05. Red Rose Nantahala
06. Day O Day (A Love So Free)
07. [banter]
08. Heart Like a Levee
09. Tell Her I’m Just Dancing
10. O Happy Day
11. Like a Mirror Loves a Hammer
12. Call Him Daylight
13. I’ve Got a Name For the Newborn Child
14. [banter]
15. I’m a Raven (Shake Children)
16. [banter]
17. O Little Light
18. Flags and Banners [Faces]
19. Say It Like You Mean It
20. Cracked Windshield
21. Lucia
22. Southern Grammar
23. [encore break]
24. Brown-Eyed Women [Grateful Dead]
25. Brother, Do You Know the Road?

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT by buying Hiss Golden Messenger’s records from Paradise of Bachelors and Merge Records, as well as HGM’s online store.

Animal Collective: November 2, 2016 Terminal 5

November 6, 2016
By

Animal Collective
[photos courtesy of Will and We All Want Someone blog]

If you read this site frequently enough to discern a variety of personas behind the reviews and recordings, you may have noted that I usually don’t go out for the big shows. A dislike of crowds combined with a simple preference for many smaller acts in intimate venues informs most of my concert-going. I skipped Animal Collective’s two-night stand at Irving Plaza this past February for these very reasons; however, upon hearing NYCTaper’s recording of night two I was filled instantly with pangs of regret for having missed some clearly excellent Animal Collective shows. So when the band announced their November tour stop at Terminal 5, I cast aside my usual reservations about the venue and bought a ticket—and my faith was rewarded thoroughly. Terminal 5 is a cavernous room and as NYCTaper notes the last time we saw Animal Collective there, it has the capacity to swallow up the sound. But not on this night: the sound in the venue was dialed in perfectly and the quality of this recording is a reflection of that. I couldn’t be happier with how this recording turned out and I’m sure you’ll agree.

On to the music: now two albums past their breakout, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective have made it quite clear that they won’t be content to remake versions of their most popular record over and over again. Instead they’ll push forward as they’ve been doing since the early aughts, always something new. Every tour for Animal Collective is different, but the trend for the last few years since Centipede HZ is towards their jammy side with lengthy transitions between songs (here including a nod to the Dead’s “The Other One” and also a short burst of Panda Bear’s “Drone”). Animal Collective has become of those bands you need to revisit each tour to hear the new arrangements of songs you’ve heard live before plus out-of-the-blue setlist additions you never would have imagined (like “Bees” on the last tour or “Kids on Holiday” here). This nearly two-hour show captures nearly all of the band’s current setlist and is a pretty much perfect document of the current tour. Speaking of which: the tour is still going on and you’d be a fool to miss out. Do it.

I recorded this set with the AKGs clamped at the lip of the balcony, directly over the sound engineer’s head. The quality of this recording is simply stunning. Enjoy!

Download the complete show in a variety of formats at the Live Music Archive.

Stream:

Animal Collective

Animal Collective
2016-11-02
Terminal 5
New York, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com
Photos by Will Oliver

AKG C480B/CK63 (DFC, at SBD, PAS) > Roland R-26 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (compression, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [1:52:26]
01. Recycling
02. Lying in the Grass
03. Golden Gal
04. Summing the Wretch
05. Loch Raven
06. On Delay
07. Jimmy Mack [Martha Reeves and The Vandellas]
08. Water Curses
09. FloriDada
10. The Burglars
11. Kids on Holiday
12. [encore break]
13. Hocus Pocus
14. Guys Eyes
15. Summertime Clothes

SUPPORT ANIMAL COLLECTIVE: Website | Buy Painting With | Facebook

James Jackson Toth & William Fowler Collins: October 5, 2016 Park Church Co-op

October 20, 2016
By

JJT & WFC

There’s nothing like a church performance to put a fine point on the meditative-spiritual practice of listening to music. Earlier this year James Jackson Toth (aka Wooden Wand) teamed up with drone/ambient musician William Fowler Collins for an album of modern pastorals, Under Stars and Smoke. Over three tracks, the album is stark and intimate, something you might listen to on headphones late at night when no one else is around. The inner workings of the collaboration are a mystery in terms of who-plays-what and how the duo’s individual contributions form the whole. Seeing them live, though, you can start to piece together a more complete picture of the composition. The performance we captured here, part of the excellent Music off McGolrick series at the Park Church Co-op in Greenpoint, finds the duo recreating most of album live in a single piece. Collins plays guitar throughout (often played with a brush), while Toth contributes vocals, harmonium, and guitar. Their performance comes off on the shorter side at under twenty-five minutes, but it’s riveting all the way through.

I recorded this with the mics way up close, capturing the music clearly as well as some of the unique acoustics of the church. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download: [FLAC/MP3]

Stream:

James Jackson Toth & William Fowler Collins
2016-10-05
Park Church Co-op
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (balance, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [23:39]
01. Live at Park Church Co-op

• Buy Under Stars and Smoke digitally from Bandcamp or on vinyl from Bear Tree Records
• • Buy Toth’s new tape Kilim at Bandcamp
• • • Buy William Fowler Collins music at Bandcamp

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