Blog Archives

[photo by Alexis Maindrault – courtesy of The Music Slut]

Ted Leo has momentum. After two years of infrequent performances and no new releases, in December Ted played a powerful show at Bowery Ballroom that previewed many of the new songs that now appear on his outstanding new release Brutalist Bricks, released in March on Matador. The first tour in support of the album has been an unqualified success as each show features Ted’s unbridled energy, the tight backing of the Pharmacists, and Leo classics sprinkled liberally into a setlist heavy on the outstanding new material — 9 of the album’s 13 songs were played here. Last night at Irving Plaza was a homecoming of sorts, as Ted welcomed a large contingent of bridge and tunnel fans from New Jersey who came to support their Bloomfield boy. From the opening raging “The Mighty Sparrow” through the five-song encore segment, Ted never let go of the momentum and delivered one of the best performances we’ve seen this year.

We recorded this set with the four-microphone rig from the center of the floor and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

This Recording is now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 via Archive.org [HERE].

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
2010-04-09
Irving Plaza
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Four-Track Master Recording
Recorded from Center of the Floor

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-04-10

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:32:38]
01 [introduction]
02 The Mighty Sparrow
03 Heart Problems
04 Mourning In America
05 Me and Mia
06 Under The Hedge
07 Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone
08 Even Heroes Have To Die
09 Ativan Eyes
10 The Stick
11 [banter]
12 The High Party
13 One Polaroid A Day
14 Counting Down The Hours
15 Where Was My Brain?
16 Little Dawn
17 Bottled In Cork
18 Colleen
19 [banter]
20 A Bottle Of Buckie
21 Gimme The Wire
22 Biomusicology
23 [encore break/banter]
24 Bleeding Powers
25 Fisherman’s Blues (The Waterboys)
26 Timorous Me
27 Parallel Or Together?
28 Angelfuck (The Misfits)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, visit their website, and purchase Brutalist Bricks from the Matador Records website [HERE].

[photo by nyctaper]

A few days ago, in Pitchfork’s ebullient review of the new Love Is All album Two Thousand And Ten Injuries, lead singer Josephine Olausson was touted as “one of the early 21st century’s great poets of romantic dissatisfaction”, a description she found so silly that she tweeted about it. The pretentious Pitchfork writing aside, the live Love Is All is really all about unselfconscious joy. Last night at Maxwell’s, the band played their first live show in nine months, but picked up right where they left off. Despite the addition of a new guitarist (his first show) and first-time ever performances of some of the new album tracks, Love Is All displayed the type of unbridled energy and irreverent wit that has made them a must-see band when they come over to the US. The setlist combined six Two Thousand tracks with a nice selection of the older numbers, the highlights of which included the two-song show finale of “Make Out” and “Wishing Well”, and the crazy encore segment which concluded with personal favorite “Busy Doing Nothing”.

We recorded this set from our standard location in this venue. The sound mix and sound quality in the venue was superb and the result is an excellent recording. Enjoy!

Love Is All play Knitting Factory in Brooklyn in a few hours. We expect to also record that show.

The Crystal Stilts set from last night was also recorded.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Love Is All
2010-03-27
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-03-28

Setlist:
[Total Time 49:47]
01 Bigger Bolder
02 Repetition
03 From Love Corner
04 Talk Talk Talk Talk
05 [banter]
06 Never Now
07 Early Warnings
08 Ageing Had Never Been His Friend
09 Sea Sick
10 Dust
11 Kungen
12 Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up
13 Wishing Well
14 [encore break]
15 Spinning and Scratching
16 Busy Doing Nothing

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Love Is All, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new album Two Thousand And Ten Injuries from the Polyvinyl website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of brooklyngringo]

The proverbial hardest act to follow is the band who has just stolen the show and who bears a striking resemblance to the music you are about to play. Last week at the brooklynvegan pre-SXSW show at Knitting Factory, WhoMadeWho, a dance-rock band from Copenhagen, wowed the crowd with an impressive set. Casiokids, a dance-rock band from Norway, followed with a tall order. Fortunately for the quartet, the party atmosphere and their own irreverent stage style made the job a little easier. For forty-five minutes, Casiokids never let go of the beat and even while liberally instrument-swapping, convinced the packed crowd that their set was equal to their predecessor.

We recorded this set in the same manner as the previous two sets from this night and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Casiokids
2010-03-15
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-03-19

Setlist:
[Total Time 43:11]
08 Tracks (setlist help needed)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Casiokids, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the Polyvinyl Records website [here].

[photo from WMW MySpace page]

WhoMadeWho stole the show on Monday night at the BrooklynVegan Pre-SXSW show at Knitting Factory. At 11 p.m., the Danish dance/funk/electronica trio turned the machines on, started the beat, and never let up. The packed crowd by necessity opened up in the middle of the room for a make-shift dance floor, and it seemed like the only thing missing was a rotating mirror ball. For their part, WhoMadeWho exhibited a ton of energy and good humor from the stage — their songs can be both playful and dark at the same moment — so that the cycle of fun was complete. The band are in the US through the end of the week in Austin.

We recorded this set in the same location as the Wave Pictures recording and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

WhoMadeWho
2010-03-15
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-03-17

Setlist:
[Total Time 43:11]
01 Small Town City
02 [new song “Outside World”]
03 Space For Rent
04 Rose
05 [new song “Time”]
06 Keep Me In My Plane
07 [new song “Got To Get it Right”]
08 Satisfaction

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT WhoMadeWho, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the Gomma Records site [here].

[photo by Michaela Ripl – from Wave Pictures website]

One of the greatest obstacles to the discovery of excellent music is the Atlantic Ocean. Oftentimes, its only when British bands make their way across to play NYC shows, that we “discover” them — Bearsuit, Richard Hawley and The Joy Formidable are recent examples. When a twelve year old band with smart and funny lyrics, excellent musicianship and an entertaining stage presence, who have collaborated with the likes of the Mountain Goats and Daniel Johnston somehow falls under our radar, its easy to blame space rather than our own inefficient personal musical encyclopedia. Thankfully, last night at the Brooklynvegan Pre-SXSW show at the Knitting Factory, all was forgiven. The Wave Pictures managed the rare trifecta of amusing, impressing and entertaining the crowd, which swelled to capacity during their set. Singer/guitarist David Tattersall even managed to make the embarrassing accidental unplugging of his guitar cable in mid-solo a mere prelude to one of the more hilarious stage banter recoveries in recent memory.

The Wave Pictures will perform at one of the many brooklynvegan showcases in Austin, at Club DeVille on Friday March 19. The band returns to NYC on Sunday March 28 for a show at the Mercury Lounge on the last night of their US tour.

This set was recorded with the Neumanns in front of the soundboard mixed with a stereo board feed. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Wave Pictures
2010-03-15
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-03-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 37:47]
01 Canary Wharf
02 Leave The Scene Behind
03 [banter]
04 Walk The Backstairs Quiet
05 [banter]
06 Friday Night in Loughborough
07 [banter]
08 Sleepy Eye
09 Holding Hands
10 Now You Are Pregnant
11 [banter]
12 I Love You Like A Madman

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Wave Pictures, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Shop at their website [here].

[photo courtesy of Frank Siringo]

These days, any attempt to pigeonhole Woods as a “freak folk” band seems trite and wholly inadequate. On Friday night at Music Hall, the unique quartet opened their set with a lengthy psychedelic-style instrumental piece, mixed in a few songs that weren’t folk songs as much as deconstructions of the genre, and ended with two completely divergent covers — Blind Melon’s “No Rain” and Graham Nash’s “Military Madness”. The sheer breadth of the stylistic variations of Woods’ music is not necessarily evident in their albums, the latest of which, At Echo Lake, was announced last week and will be released on May 11. But it is the live Woods which stretches the material to these lengths and Friday’s show was an excellent example. Woods tour continues through the Midwest to SXSW before finishing up through the end of March down South. Woods next plays NYC on May 13 at the Abrons Arts Center.

We recorded this set from the same location as the Real Estate set and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Woods
2010-03-12
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Soundboard Booth

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2010-03-14

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:14:32]
01 Creeps
02 Blood Dries Darker > To Clean
03 [banter]
04 Get Back
05 Rain On
06 Suffering Season
07 Down This Road
08 The Hold
09 The Dark
10 Twisted Tongue
11 I Was Gone
12 Death Rattles
13 [crowd]
14 Keep It On
15 [banter – set up]
16 No Rain (Blind Melon)*
17 [encore break]
18 Military Madness (Graham Nash)*
*with Real Estate

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Woods, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from Woodsist Records.