Blog Archives

AJJ: November 7, 2017 Bowery Ballroom

November 12, 2017
By


[photos by Ash Craiig]

This year is the tenth anniversary of AJJ’s (then known as Andrew Jackson Jihad) second release, their breakout album People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World. In celebration, the band’s founders Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty are touring as a duo and opening the shows by playing the album straight through. The second half of the show is a selection of material from this post-People period of their career. The tour reached Bowery Ballroom last week for an inspired and intimate show that permitted AJJ’s rabid fans an up close and personal experience of this duo show.

Sean and Ben were up for the challenge, as the acoustic guitar and stand-up bass/cello filled the room while Sean’s fervent vocals delivered the personal material with the commitment that made the album such an important step in the evolution of the anti-folk movement ten years ago. The sold out Bowery crowd sang along with every word and you can hear them clearly on the recording — not as hindrance but as a true part of the performance. AJJ also talked and joked with the crowd about a variety of experiences and random thoughts, so that it almost felt, as Ben quipped, like a session of “AJJ Storytellers”. There were a few positive wrinkles in the setlist for this show including a fan request honored for the Todd Snider cover “Just Like Old Times” that contained a very special introduction for us. AJJ also called a few audibles, the most notable being what appears to be the first tour appearance of “Small Red Boy”, the emotional center of the band’s most recent album The Bible 2. We are not sure when AJJ will return to NYC — likely on the cycle of a new album tour — but we’ll of course be there. The current tour continues throughout November and into December, all dates here. The band will also return East for what I believe is a full band show at the Front Bottoms Champagne Jam in Asbury Park NJ in December.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted in our standard place at the front of the balcony and mixed with a perfect feed from house FOH Danielle. The mix captures both the clear sound of the feed and the audience participation of the room mics for a superbly balanced recording. We’re really happy with this one. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

AJJ
2017-11-07
Bowery Ballroom
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Danielle] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:19:36]
01 [introduction]
02 Rejoice
03 Brave as a Noun
04 Survival Song
05 Bad Bad Things
06 No More Tears
07 Bells and Whistles
08 Randy’s House
09 [banter – Apple Kore]
10 A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit
11 People II The Reckoning
12 [banter – Creepy]
13 Personal Space Invader
14 People
15 American Body Rentals
16 Jesus Saves
17 American Tune
18 Fuckboi
19 Fucc The Devil
20 [banter – shoutout]
21 Just Like Old Times [Todd Snider]
22 All The Dead Kids
23 Unicron
24 Coffin Dance
25 [banter – yelling]
26 Growing Up
27 Sense and Sensibility
28 Small Red Boy
29 Linda Ronstadt
30 Little Prince
31 [banter – philharmonic]
32 Big Bird
33 [encore break]
34 American Body Rentals (again)

SUPPORT AJJ: Website | Facebook | Purchase The Bible 2 from SideOneDummy Records [HERE].

Horse Lords: March 25, 2017 Big Ears Festival – Knoxville TN

October 31, 2017
By


[photo by Johnson Giles – courtesy of Big Ears Festival]

As you may have noticed, we’re pretty excited here for tomorrow’s announcement of the 2018 lineup for the Big Ears Festival. As Fests go, this one is for the real music aficionados — the people who are just as comfortable listening to rock as they are noise, jazz or any amalgamation of genres. We will be there in full in March and can’t wait to see what treats await us. As we’ve been treating our viewers to outstanding recordings of last year’s fest, this Horse Lords set is pretty much exactly the kind of inventive and intelligent band we’d like to hear. It isn’t rock or jazz or noise, but Horse Lords are a quartet of superb musicians who create pretty unique music that draws in the listener from the very outset. We’ve see this band multiple times, the most recent of which was a killer set at Sunnyvale in June. This Big Ears set is similar but with a slightly rearranged setlist, drawing mostly from the band’s outstanding 2016 release Interventions (Northern Spy). They’ve also played one of our shows at Trans-Pecos in 2016, and we are guaranteed to continue to capture their sets moving forward. Horse Lords are a must see for us, they’re that good.

This set was recorded by sound engineer David Clifton using the H4 at the booth, mixing a superbly mixed soundboard feed with some room feel from the internal mics. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Horse Lords
2017-03-25
The Standard
Big Ears Festvial
Knoxville TN

Digital Master
Soundboard/Audience Matrix Recording

Soundboard + internal mics > Zoom H4 > wav file > Soundforge (post production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by David Clifton
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:02:05]
01 Truthers
02 Toward the Omega Point
03 Intervention II
04 Intervention III
05 Bending to the Lash
06 Encounters I – Transfinite Flow
07 Wildcat Strike

Please support Horse Lords: Facebook | Bandcamp | Tumblr

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: September 6, 2014 Lockn Festival

October 11, 2017
By


[screen shot from this video]

Since the sad and untimely death of the great Tom Petty, the tributes and remembrances have come in from all corners. Of those I was fortunate to read, the first-person tribute from Lucinda Williams seemed particularly heartfelt and authentic. Of the “fan” tributes, the writing of Patterson Hood from the Drive By Truckers seemed to mostly mirror my own personal experiences. Petty’s music provided a soundtrack of sorts for multiple periods of my life — from his early power-pop hits to his mid career LA-based American folk. He produced songs that instantaneously transport the listener back to that time in their life that the song represents. For me, the Full Moon Fever album represented my return to NYC to live full time and those songs bring me back to my first apartment in Sheridan Square. Oh, the days.

This performance at the second annual Lockn Festival is vintage Petty. The nearly two-hour Fest set draws from all periods in his career and while the tour was ostensibly to promote his then-new album Hypnotic Eye, which would sadly be his last album with The Heartbreakers, he didn’t rely heavily on new material performing just four songs from the record. The rest were the hits and some moderately deep cuts that had the crowd singing, swaying and cheering. This recording is our way to remember this truly great artist who left us all too soon.

The “legality” of NYCTaper hosting this recording is quite simple. The Lockn Festival is an open taping Festival, and indeed in 2014 the Fest’s website contained language that taping was “encouraged” and recordings could be distributed through free channels. With a written clear policy, Lockn Festival undoubtedly contracted with the artists who consented through their concert riders.

This excellent recording was captured by Kubacheck with the same equipment and location from the Wilco recording from this Festival posted on this site three years ago. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Runnin’ Down A Dream”:

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
2014-09-06
Lockn Festival
Arrington VA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded at Taper’s Section

MBHO 603a – KA-500 > Naiant Tinybox > Roland R-05 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac
(320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by Kubacheck
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:43:21]
01 So You Want to Be a Rock N Roll Star [Byrds]
02 Mary Jane’s Last Dance
03 American Dream Plan B
04 Into the Great Wide Open
05 Forgotten Man
06 [banter – happy birthday]
07 I Won’t Back Down
08 Free Fallin
09 [band introductions]
10 A Woman in Love
11 U Get Me High
12 Rebels
13 Yer So Bad
14 Learning to Fly
15 Shadow People
16 I Should Have Known It
17 Refugee
18 Runnin Down a Dream
19 [encore break]
20 You Wreck Me
21 American Girl

SUPPORT the legend of Tom Petty: Website | Store

Dinosaur Jr.: October 3, 2017 Brooklyn Bowl

October 5, 2017
By


[photo courtesy of Omar Kasrawi and Pancakes and Whiskey]

From the very outset of Tuesday night’s Dinosaur Jr. show at Brooklyn Bowl — the second of a two night run — it was fairly obvious that the sonic onslaught was in full on mode. Monday’s show was an extraordinary show that we were happy to have attended and recorded, but Tuesday was fully in your face. Any decibel restrictions that the venue may have sought to impose were disregarded as J Mascis’ Marshall guitar stack was well utilized, and the thumping bass of Lou Barlow and Murph’s monster percussion rattled the rib cage. The band also switched up the setlist, so we got some oldies for Bug fans (rare “Budge” and ubiquitous “Freak Scene”), and You’re Living All Over Me diehards (“Little Fury Things”). J and Lou also brought out old friend and Deep Wound bassist Scott Helland to perform one of the first songs the guys ever recorded for that band. We also saw a handful of guests for the “Sub Pop version of The Wagon” including legendary guitarist Don Fleming. And if that wasn’t enough, the show ended with a mini Negative Approach set as singer John Brannon (also of openers Easy Action), drummer Opie Moore and guitarist Harold Richardson joined J and Lou to play two of the seminal Michigan hardcore band’s songs. If we learned anything from this outstanding two-fer of Dinosaur Jr. shows at Brooklyn Bowl, its that this band remains a powerful presence in today’s music. Our still-ringing ears agree.

We recorded this set with the mic stand about midway on the right side of the venue and nyctaper used Schoeps cards while acidjack employed Schoeps hypers. The full sonic blast of this show is faithfully captured in both recordings. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show:
nyctaper version [MP3] / [FLAC]
acidjack version [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream nyctaper version:

Stream acidjack version:

Dinosaur Jr
2017-10-03
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
FOB Audience

Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:25:03]
01 Thumb
02 Goin Down
03 Lost All Day
04 Left Right
05 Watch the Corners
06 Pieces
07 Out There
08 Feel the Pain
09 Little Fury Things
10 [banter – Wagon intro]
11 The Wagon
12 Budge
13 Start Choppin
14 Training Ground [Deep Wound]
15 Freak Scene
16 Gargoyle
17 [encore break]
18 Just Like Heaven [Cure]
19 [banter – Negative Approach intro]
20 Can’t Tell No One [Negative Approach]
21 Nothing [Negative Approach]

*******************************

Dinosaur Jr.
2017-10-03
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK41V (FOB, ROC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices MixPre6 (24/48)>WAV>Adobe Audition CC (fades, limiter, light compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, image, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:24:56]
01 Thumb
02 Goin’ Down
03 Lost All Day
04 Left/Right
05 Watch the Corners
06 Pieces
07 Out There
08 Feel the Pain
09 Little Fury Things
10 The Wagon*
11 Budge
12 Start Choppin’
13 Training Ground [Deep Wound]^
14 [tuning]
15 Freak Scene
16 Gargoyle
17 [encore break]
18 Just Like Heaven [The Cure]
19 Can’t Tell No One [Negative Approach]%
20 Nothing [Negative Approach]

*w/ Don Fleming, John Moloney and Marc Seedorf
^ w/ Scott Helland
% w/ Negative Approach

SUPPORT Dinosaur Jr.: Facebook | Website | Buy Their Records

Nicole Atkins: September 9, 2017 Mercury Lounge

September 25, 2017
By


[photos by Will Oliver and We All Want Someone To Shout For blog]

Its hard to believe that the last time we checked in with Nicole Atkins, it was three years ago. Our extended review of her album Slow Phaser and the Bowery Ballroom show that we recorded concentrated mostly on the record’s clear 1970s AM radio influences. For that album, Nicole put her stamp on the diverse styles prevalent in that decade’s pop. Three years later, several major events in Nicole’s life have guided her approach to the new album Goodnight Rhonda Lee, including her move to Nashville, dedication to sobriety, and marriage.

Goodnight Rhonda Lee is clearly an album faithful to its surroundings — both in the existence of multiple regional session players, and in the distinct sound of the record. Similarly to Slow Phaser, Goodnight Rhonda Lee is clearly influenced by the 1970s, perhaps not AM radio but more from that unique time in Nashville when the permissiveness of the 60s finally seeped into the old music town and brought a freedom to the country music capital that it had never experienced before. For about three or four years, the long hairs finally reached the mainstream — perhaps personified best through the career of Kris Kristofferson. When legend Johnny Cash recorded Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” in 1970 and took the song to Number 1, it represented the triumph of the new. And on the other side of Tennessee, Elvis welcomed new bloods Eddie Rabbit and Ronnie Milsap in the recording of his 1970 hit “Kentucky Rain”. Both songs communicate a drop-out melancholy that seemed to permeate the best of the new country during this time frame. But the melancholy also represented a distinctively different feel to the sound in the studio itself. The newly available technologies offered greater multi-tracking and effects not standard to country music that permitted the use of rock-styled guitars, reverbed piano, horns, and strings. Its that identifiable early 70s new Nashville sound that Nicole Atkins captured with stunning authenticity on Goodnight Rhonda Lee. Sure, there’s the album opener co-penned with Chris Isaak that could have been written for Patsy Cline or the neo-soul of “Listen Up” that would sound great covered by Aretha. But for the most part, the album really feels like a Nashville record and the songs themselves — struggles with alcohol, love, and a life in the music world feel at home in the country capital. And ultimately though its remarkable that the album itself wasn’t even recorded in Nashville, but rather at Niles City Sound in Fort Worth Texas.

The tour in support of Goodnight Rhonda Lee finds Nicole Atkins fronting a five piece band performing stripped down versions of the album material. There are no horns or strings but the album’s piano is present and guitarist Steven Cooper fills up the rest of the sound with tremendous tone and technique. Cooper is a young Nashville guitar wiz who seems destined for a long and productive career. At a packed Mercury Lounge last week, Nicole and the band performed a 75-minute set with much of the Rhonda Lee material and a few surprises. The set opened with a nice tribute to the recently passed Holger Czukay as Nicole brought back her cover of Can’s “Vitamin C”. Another major moment came when guest Tommy Stinson joined the band to perform a world premiere of his duet with Nicole called “Too Late”. The song was actually released this week. And the Slow Phaser track “Who Killed The Moonlight” took a detour through the Rolling Stones “Miss You” (remember that 70s pop influence). But the focus of this show was the fantastic material from the new album and it was clear that not only the massive talent of the singer but also a crack band were able to pull off the songs live. This show was that good.

Nicole Atkins has one more show on this tour, Friday night in Virgina. But she’ll be back with a bunch of shows in November, all dates [here].

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted at the soundboard and mixed with a perfect feed from house FOH Alex. This recording is absolutely superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Nicole Atkins
2017-09-09
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Alex] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:10:16]
01 Vitamin C [Can]
02 Darkness Falls so Quiet
03 Brokedown Luck
04 [banter – sinkhole]
05 A Little Crazy
06 Listen Up
07 Maybe Tonight
08 Cry Cry Cry
09 [banter – Louise Goffin]
10 If I Could
11 Goodnight Rhonda Lee
12 Who Killed The Moonlight/Miss You
13 [banter – Tommy intro]
14 Too Late [with Tommy Stinson]
15 [banter – so horny]
16 Sleepwalking
17 A Night Of Serious Drinking
18 A Dream Without Pain
19 [encore break]
20 The Way It Is

PLEASE SUPPORT Nicole Atkins: Website | Pledge Music | Single Lock Records

Diet Cig: September 8, 2017 Bowery Ballroom

September 14, 2017
By


[photos by Joe Saturday]

Its hard for me to imagine that someone exists who actually doesn’t like Diet Cig. The duo exudes such positive energy and real enthusiasm for their music that it’s infectious in a live setting. This is not world-changing music, but two-minute pop song relatable slices of life. When Pitchfork assigned an intern whose last piece was likely in an Annandale creative writing class to review Diet Cig’s most recent album, the result was a tragically misdirected hit piece that managed to be both tone-deaf and indicative of a wider problem with publications like Pitchfork. Sometimes music doesn’t have to have a larger meaning and when the writer savages the musicians for failing to meet a false standard, it says more about the writer’s inadequacies than anything the music set out to achieve. To paraphrase Billy Bragg, Diet Cig don’t want to change the world, they’re just looking to sing some pop songs.

At Bowery Ballroom on Friday night, the band played to a sold-out crowd and all of the good vibes coming from the stage were returned all night. This was a crowd in love with the band for all the right reasons. Sure, lead singer Alex Luciano opened the set by declaring that all of the band’s show are safe spaces and later she gently chided the dancers in front to keep it fun and not too physical, but it was more than that. Luciano played a wireless guitar on a nearly bare stage — drummer Noah Bowman was set up to the far left — in order to be able to dance, run, jump and literally never stop moving throughout the set. Her unbridled ebullience drove the hour-long set from start to finish, to the point where the briefest of breaks were only to catch her breath. Diet Cig performed just about every song they’ve ever recorded — from their debut EP and a double-sided single on Father/Daughter Records, and all but one song from their first album I Swear I’m Good At This released this year on Frenchkiss. The show also featured the debut performance of the song the band wrote for the Amazon tv show “American Girl” called “Together We Can Conquer Whatever”. When the band returned to play their very first recorded track “Harvard” as an encore, it brought me back to the initial time I heard a pre-release promo of that very track. The song made me smile that day and a few years later, this Bowery show did it again many times over.

Diet Cig has a handful of US dates remaining before they spend much of the Fall touring throughout Europe, all dates here.

I recorded this set in our usual manner in this venue, Schoeps from the front of the balcony mixed with a board feed. Other than a few bits of static from Alex’s wireless guitar, the sound quality is very representative of the set with bundles of energy and non-stop movement. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Diet Cig
2017-09-08
Bowery Ballroom
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 51:00]
01 [introduction]
02 Sixteen
03 Bite Back
04 Leo
05 Dinner Date
06 [banter – slumber party]
07 Cardboard
08 Sleep Talk
09 Breathless
10 [banter – rollercoaster]
11 Scene Sick
12 Pool Boyz
13 Apricots
14 Maid of the Mist
15 [Tummy intro]
16 Tummy Ache
17 Blob Zombie
18 [Conquer intro]
19 Together We Can Conquer Whatever
20 Link in Bio
21 Bath Bomb
22 Barf Day
23 [encore break]
24 Harvard

PLEASE SUPPORT Diet Cig: Website | Frenchkiss Records Page | Father/Daughter Records Page | Bandcamp

A Place To Bury Strangers: July 16, 2017 Out In The Street Festival

August 28, 2017
By


[photo by nyctaper]

It was ten years ago when A Place To Bury Strangers broke. It was during that small window of time when blogs were tastemakers and willy-nilly determined random band flavors of the month. Except when it came to APTBS, their talent and depth were hard to get wrong. This was a band whose intensity was clear and whose ability to project a wall of sound was magnified by Oliver Ackermann’s world class pedal business. The Death By Audio pedal company pre-dated and survived the venue of the same name and the electroncic wizardry and meticulous and inventive craft propelled noise makers of all shapes and sizes, but none more directly than APTBS.

The second day of the annual Out In The Streets Fest was headlined by APTBS and the band came prepared. Before doors even opened for the day, Oliver spent several minutes playing with gadgets in the middle of the floor and he and bassist Dion Lunadon did some neat improv. Hours later in the pitch dark APTBS began their sonic assault and did not let up for the better part of an hour. The band last released an album in 2015 (Transfixiation on Dead Oceans) and several of those songs were featured in the set. But there also seemed to be a handful of newer songs that may feature on an upcoming release. At least it seems that APTBS is gearing up for recording and working out the material on the road — their packed tour schedule cuts through most of Europe through September, October and part of November (dates here). This band still very much has the intensity that first brought them into prominence and this set was our confirmation of that fact. We’ll be back when they return to the US.

I recorded this set with the Neumann large diaphragm cardioids mounted in the center of the floor in front of the soundboard and mixed with an excellent feed from the board. This set was intensely loud and the band was plentiful in its use of effects, so there are some moments where the mix is rough, but overall this is an excellent representation of a tremendous set. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Set:

A Place To Bury Strangers
2017-07-16
Out in the Streets Fest
The Well
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Cliff Ribeiro] + Neumann TLM-102s > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:44]
01 [intro]
02 We’ve Come So Far
03 [unknown 1]
04 Deadbeat
05 Drill It Up
06 [unknown 2]
07 Situations Change
08 Ocean
09 Never Hold Back
10 [unknown 3]
11 [unknown 4]
12 [unknown 5]

(Any help with titles of songs marked unknown would be much appreciated)

PLEASE SUPPORT A Place To Bury Strangers: Website | Dead Oceans Page | Store

NYCTaper Upcoming Schedule: Fall/Winter 2017

August 25, 2017
By

Its been a quiet August, so its time to look forward to a nice slate of shows in the Fall.

Caveat: Below is the updated schedule. We expect to attend and record these events. However, circumstances will prevent some of these from being done, and others will be added in the meantime. Feel free to make suggestions or point out shows we missed or invite us to your shows!

Schedule:

Doug Tuttle / Sunburned Hand Of The Man:
August 28, 2017 Rough Trade BK

Hopscotch Festival:
September 7-10, 2017 Various Artists and Venues, NC

Diet Cig:
September 8, 2017 Bowery Ballroom NY

Upper Wilds / YVETTE / Sunwatchers / Gold Dime:
September 8, 2017 Secret Project Robot BK

Nicole Atkins:
September 9, 2017 Mercury Lounge NYC

Protomartyr:
September 13, 2017 Saint Vitus BK

The War On Drugs:
September 19, 2017 Terminal 5 NYC (permission pending)

Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band:
September 21, 2017 Union Pool BK

Liars:
September 21, 2017 Warsaw BK (permission pending)

Cap’n Jazz:
September 23, 2017 Brooklyn Steel

Dinosaur Jr.:
October 3, 2017 Brooklyn Bowl (permission pending)

Guerilla Toss:
October 6, 2017 Our Wicked Lady BK

Widowspeak:
October 13, 2017 Rough Trade BK

Pujol:
October 25, 2107 Alphaville BK

Beach Fossils:
October 28, 2017 Brooklyn Steel

AJJ:
November 7, 2017 Bowery Ballroom NYC

the Mountain Goats:
November 10, 2017 White Eagle Hall, Jersey City NJ

The Deslondes:
November 11, 2017 Rough Trade BK

the Mountain Goats:
November 12, 2017 Brooklyn Steel

Iron & Wine:
November 14, 2017 Brooklyn Steel (permission pending)

Circuit des Yeux:
November 15, 2017 Rough Trade BK

Luna / Chris Forsyth:
November 18, 2017 Brooklyn Steel

Spoon:
November 29, 2017 Brooklyn Steel (permission pending)

The Hold Steady:
December 1, 2017 Brooklyn Bowl (permission pending)

Dream Syndicate:
December 2, 2017 Bowery Ballroom

Chad VanGaalen:
December 6, 2017 Rough Trade BK

Hiss Golden Messenger:
December 7-8, 2017 Bowery Ballroom NYC

Creeper Lagoon: August 10, 2017 Mercury Lounge

August 15, 2017
By


[photo from Chris Quartly twitter]

The relative enjoyability quotient of a band reunion almost always depends upon the reason for the get together. When long-departed groups decide to get together and play shows for the simple fun of it, count us in. Creeper Lagoon had a brief but productive career that petered out in 2004. After being named Spin’s Best New Artist in 1998, the band went on to produce a couple of major label releases before splitting up after a difficult European tour. The 2001 release Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday remains the peak of the Creeper Lagoon catalog and the music sounds as vibrant now as it did nearly two decades ago. After the split, all of the band members went on to successful careers and happy lives outside of the music industry. This excellent interview of band founder Sharky Laguana gives all the details, but suffice to say that all of the band member were in a good place when this reunion was contemplated and then announced late last year. After a couple of shows at the Noise Pop Fest’s 25th Anniversary in San Francisco in February, Creeper came to NYC for their first show in 16 years, a one-off at Mercury Lounge with no plans to return.

The excitement of the event was evident in the crowd from the outset as the band interactions will attest. Mercury was quite sold out and Creeper Lagoon’s energy reflected that fact throughout the night. The setlist was a lengthy run through the band’s back catalog with a nice cross-section of material. Universe was well represented as expected. The reality is that this night was exactly the reunion show you would have hoped for if you’re a Creeper Lagoon fan — fun, interactive, energetic, and well paced. If the reactions of the many fans who approached me after the show asking about the recording is any evidence, this document should also be exactly what the fans want.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted in front of the Soundboard and mixed with a superb feed provided by the band’s FOH Kim Griess. This was a rambunctious and happy crowd, although there was a near-fight audible to my left during the encore break. Other than that and some other obvious chatter, the sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download and Stream the Complete Show from our Bandcamp Page:

Creeper Lagoon
2017-08-10
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Kim Griess] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:32:34]
01 Chance of a Lifetime
02 Claustrophobia
03 Under the Tracks
04 Dead Man Saloon
05 Second Chance
06 [Tracy false start]
07 Tracy
08 [Patrick intro]
09 Dreaming Again
10 Sylvia
11 Empty Ships
12 Motor Away [Guided By Voices]
13 [banter – lawyer shit]
14 Hey Sister
15 Roman Hearts
16 Wrecking Ball
17 Bloodbuzz Ohio [National]
18 Sunfair
19 Keep from Moving
20 [encore break]
21 [Tonight long intro]
22 Tonight Was Fun
23 Wonderful Love
24 Dear Deadly

SUPPORT Creeper Lagoon: Website | Facebook

Phish: August 4, 2017 Madison Square Garden

August 5, 2017
By

Phish did it again last night. On the 11th night of the historic Baker’s Dozen shows at Madison Square Garden, this one themed on a Lemon donut, the band again delivered a unique set of breakouts, first-time covers, and surprisingly placed jams. You could excuse Phish for maybe missing the mark once on this run, but its clear that every single show has been an all-timer and this is why we continue to insist that this a bellwether stand for the band.

Last night’s set opened with a first-time cover of the blues standard “See That My Grave is Kept Clean” or “One Kind Favor”, performed by a litany of artists but first attributed to Blind Lemon (get it?) Jefferson. The set also featured stand-out performances of not-classics “Ocelot” and “Winterqueen”, two songs of recent vintage that got the full jam treatment at this show. The set finale of “First Tube” was truly remarkable, an intensely jammed version that ended with Trey literally waving his guitar around above his head in some sort of feedback devotional ritual.

The second set started off slowly with a puzzling silly acapella “Dem Bones” but quickly moved into jam mode. “No Man’s Land” is another new-y that got some peak extended play, before unfinished it quietly segued into a song that had some heads scratching and phones clicking. Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place” fit the theme (“sucking a lemon”) but certainly seemed like “worlds colliding” of musical genres. But the band did a bang-up job on the number — if a bit spacier than the original. Moving forward, a sample of the “sucking a lemon” vocals would continue to pop up during the set. Phish continued this strong set with a “Scent and Subtle Sounds” which not only reached jammy peaks but also contained a neatly interposed reprise of “No Man’s Land” tucked into the jam. The set ended with crowd-favorites “Prince Caspian” and a now-infrequent visit with “Fluffhead” before the band returned with a non-unfamiliar cover of the Edgar Winter Group’s classic “Frankenstein”.

This was my own personal final show of this run — acidjack is scheduled to capture tonight’s show — but I have to remark that this was all-in-all clearly the highlight of my lengthy but limited relationship with Phish. I suspect its also a highlight of the long-time and truly dedicated Phishheads, and that’s saying something.

I recorded this show from the dead center area of the taper’s section on the rail behind the video cage. The sound in the venue was extraordinary this night and our centered position was advantageous. As a result, the sound quality is superb and I believe this is my best sounding recording of the three shows I attended. Enjoy!

Download The Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Phish
2017-08-04
Madison Square Garden
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Sixth Row Center Tapers Section

Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (post production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:09:49]
01 See That My Grave Is Kept Clean [Blind Lemon Jefferson]
02 Punch You in the Eye
03 Party Time
04 Big Black Furry Creature From Mars
05 Dinner and a Movie
06 Ocelot
07 Poor Heart
08 Winterqueen
09 Bold as Love [Hendrix]
10 First Tube

Set 2:
[Total Time 1:24:19]
11 Dem Bones
12 No Men in No Man’s Land
13 Everything in Its Right Place [Radiohead]
14 What’s the Use
15 Scents and Subtle Sounds*
16 Prince Caspian
17 Fluffhead
18 [encore break]
19 Frankenstein [Edgar Winter]

*with No Man’s Land Reprise

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