nyctaper Recordings

concert discussion and free flac downloads

Marnie Stern: September 5, 2013 Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh, NC (Hopscotch Music Festival) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 12, 2013
By

IMG_5730
[Photos by acidjack]

Normally when somebody plays finger-tapping guitar high up the neck the way that Marnie Stern does, the way that’s defined her sound, their style comes with a surfeit of leather and outdated machismo. Marnie Stern records for Pacific Northwest stalwarts Kill Rock Stars, and she’s reclaimed that technique for modern fans who’re as far away from the spandex-and-leather set as you can get. But for the boys down front in ironic headbands, leading between-song chants, there was nothing to worry about. Marnie’s got a sense of humor to go with the chops and the cred. This year’s The Chronicles of Marnia represented the apex-to-date of her career, and Marnie seems poised to take full advantage.

This Lincoln Theatre show, on the kickoff night of the Hopscotch Music Festival, gave Marnie a big-enough stage to let her rip, without compromising the intimacy of her personality or her performance. She may have begun with a hilariously off-color joke about getting older, but Marnie’s sound is as youthful and energetic as it was on her first record, In Advance of the Broken Arm, six years ago.

Marnie wasn’t even the headliner (that went to Kurt Vile), but she brought out a packed house that howled loudly for the favorites and even started a mosh pit. Marnie exudes energy and charisma of a kind that doesn’t require a larger band to do it. After delivering some of Chronicles of Marnia’s strongest numbers, plus older songs, she and the band closed out the show with a long-form rendition of “The Crippled Jazzer”, at more than twice the length of the other songs. Bonus points to bassist Nithin Kalvakota for playing along gamely to the hooker jokes throughout the night!

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V cardiod microphones from the ideal location in the venue. While I felt the vocals were a tad high in the house mix at times, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Year of the Glad”

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

IMG_5735

Marnie Stern
2013-09-05
Hopscotch Music Festival
Lincoln Theatre
Raleigh, NC USA

Schoeps MK4V (FOB, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, fades)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, amplify, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Please let me know any setlist corrections.

Tracks
01 The Chronicles of Marnia
02 [banter1]
03 Hell Yes
04 You Don’t Turn Down
05 [banter2]
06 Immortals
07 For Ash
08 Transformer
09 Nothing Is Easy
10 Risky Biz
11 Year of the Glad
12 The Crippled Jazzer

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Marnie Stern, visit her website, and buy her records from Kill Rock Stars.

Mikal Cronin: September 6, 2013 Pour House, Raleigh, NC (Hopscotch Music Festival) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 11, 2013
By


IMG_5805
[Photos by acidjack]

For the second year in a row, I joined my friends in Raleigh, North Carolina for the Hopscotch Music Festival, which finds top North Carolina-based talent (and the talent from many of North Carolina’s most famous labels) rubbing shoulders with giants of the national and international music scene.

Mikal Cronin happens to be from San Francisco rather than NC, but he’s also one of the hottest acts this year on Durham, NC’s Merge Records for good reason. With his new MCIIMikal established himself as a master of well-crafted power pop with his best work to date. He’s had exposure to some of the best in the field — including touring as part of Ty Segall’s band over the past year — but Cronin is very much his own man. As one would have to be with two well-regarded albums and a slew of seven inches and other output to their credit.

This show at Raleigh’s Pour House Music Hall proved to be the perfect way for Hopscotch revelers to end their second night. What sets Cronin apart almost immediately is the musicianship of he and his band, as they careened through thirteen tracks split between MCII and his Trouble In Mind debut, Mikal Cronin. Cronin isn’t the type to mug for attention — he set himself off to stage right, decidedly out of the spotlight — but anyone in the room that night couldn’t help but pay attention (even if you can hear people partying in the background of the recording). Of the standout tracks of the night, I was partial to “See It My Way”, streaming below, a perfect burst of a song that echoes predecessors like Sloan, Redd Kross and the band that made what Cronin identified at one point as his favorite album, Nirvana.

I recorded this set with my new Schoeps MK4V cardiod microphones and a soundboard feed by the longtime Pour  House engineer, Jac. As most instruments were running through on-stage amps, this recording favors the audience mics and picks up a bit more crowd, but overall, the recording is excellent. Enjoy!

Look for more many more Hopscotch Music Festival recordings to appear on this site in the coming weeks, as well as on future official releases on Three Lobed Recordings.

Stream “See It My Way”

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

IMG_5806

Mikal Cronin
2013-09-06
Hopscotch Music Festival
Pour House
Raleigh, NC USA

Schoeps MK4V>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard (engineer: Jac)>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, adjustments)>Izotope Ozone 5 (tube effect, EQ)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, fades, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Is It Alright
02 Situation
03 Apathy
04 Am I Wrong
05 [banter1]
06 You Gotta Have Someone
07 Get Along
08 Weight
09 See It My Way
10 Shout It Out
11 Again And Again
12 Change
13 Green and Blue
14 Gone

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Mikal Cronin, like him on Facebook, and buy MCII directly from Merge Records.

Blouse: August 31, 2013 Captured Tracks CT5 – Flac/MP3/Streaming

September 10, 2013
By

Blouse CT5 McCabe
[photo by Joe McCabe – courtesy of Hey Reverb]

We saw what I believe was Blouse’s first NYC show almost two years ago at 285 Kent. The band had recently signed with Captured Tracks and released their self-titled debut album. That album and show were impressive and we expected that Blouse would continue to produce solid music. This month the band returns with their follow-up album and the early returns are all positive. While the debut was very faithful to a mid-80s synth-Brit-pop sound, the new album Imperium stretched out and displays more of the band’s guitar talents. At the center is Charlie Hilton whose vocals and guitar set the tone for the band’s sound. At the Captured Tracks fest last week, Blouse played a 40-minute set with songs mixed between the two albums. Two years since we last saw them, the band has matured and seems tighter and more confident than their debut show. The Imperium material was solid and consistent and we expect that when the album is released next week it will further propel this excellent band forward.

I recorded this show in the same manner as the Mac Demarco set and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “In A Glass”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Blouse
2013-08-31
Captured Tracks CT5 Festival
The Well
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, downsample set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2013-09-08

Setlist:
[Total Time 36:15]
01 Arrested
02 Time Travel
03 Eyesite
04 White
05 Videotapes
06 In A Glass
07 1000 Years
08 No Shelter
09 Imperium
10 Into Black

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Blouse, visit their website, visit their artist page at the Captured Tracks website, and purchase the new album Imperium from the Captured Tracks website [HERE].

Mac DeMarco: August 31, 2013 Captured Tracks CT5 – Flac/MP3/Streaming

September 8, 2013
By

mac demarco ct5
[photo by Joe McCabe – courtesy of Hey Reverb]

If he is perhaps the least Captured Tracks-sounding band on the label, Mac DeMarco is certainly one of its most entertaining acts. On the first day of the Captured Tracks Festival (“CT5“) to celebrate the five years that this excellent label has released albums, one of its most successful artists delivered the performance of the day. Mac is certainly talented — his songs are tight and well written and his band is proficient. But the material is enhanced by the performer’s personality, his sense of humor, and his willingness to take chances. As when we saw Mac at Webster in February, one of the highlights of any Mac DeMarco set is when the band lets loose and runs through a semi-tongue in cheek set of classic rock covers. On this night, the improv section did not disappoint and gave us a few belly laughs along the way.

I recorded this set with the Neumann large diaphragm cards mounted high in front of the soundboard cage and mixed with a feed from the board. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Cooking Up Something Good”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Mac DeMarco
2013-08-31
Captured Tracks CT5 Festival
The Well
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann TLM-102s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, downsample set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2013-09-06

Setlist:
[Total Time 45:44]
01 Cooking Up Something Good
02 The Stars Keep On Calling My Name
03 Rock and Roll Nightclub
04 Ode To Viceroy
05 Annie
06 Freaking Out the Neighborhood
07 [banter – tuning]
08 Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans
09 I’m A Man
10 She’s Really All I Need
11 Takin Care of Business [BTO]
12 Blackbird [Beatles]
13 Schism [Tool]
14 Break Stuff [Limp Bizkit]
15 Cocaine [JJ Cale]
16 [aborted song – banter]
17 Still Together

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mac DeMarco, visit his artist page at Captured Tracks, and purchase his debut album 2 from Captured Tracks [HERE].

Ty Segall: August 30, 2013 Bowery Ballroom – Flac/MP3/Streaming

September 4, 2013
By

Ty-Segall48
[photos by PSquared Photography]

Ty Segall has had an impressive and prolific recording career thus far. The 26 year-old performer has released 8 solo albums, has been a member of four bands with recorded output, has done duo records with Mikal Cronin and with White Fence, and earlier this year released an album with Fuzz. But what Ty has done with his latest album Sleeper (Drag City) may be his most accomplished feat thus far. The album is lyrically his most personal and the primarily acoustic instrumentation is a great departure from his lo-fi garage roots. But its not the style change that is so remarkable, its the fact that Segall not only pulls off the tidal shift with such ease but that the album is so strong. And the tour band continues the theme. At Friday night’s Bowery Ballroom show, Ty’s band was a seated-foursome with two acoustic guitars, bass and drums, a far cry from the rabid punk show we saw just this past February at Webster Hall. It was clear from the outset that this was a different performer playing material with a very different vibe. But Ty’s talents seated were just as impressive as when he is standing — it was the quality and intensity of the music that kept the crowd craziness at bay as Ty and the band worked though Sleeper nearly in its entirety. We are streaming the second song and second track on the album “The Keepers”, a song the band played to perfection. It was midway through the show when the new material was complete that the show switched gears, gained some volume and the pit went wild. The band worked through some older Ty tracks before ending the set proper. We’re also streaming “Ghost” from the set of older material as it features an intense and extended guitar jam. The highlight of the encore set was Ty’s solo performance of the Bowie classic “Moonage Daydream”. While we don’t expect that Ty Segall will ever turn away from his garage roots, its very encouraging to know that this multi-talented performer is just as comfortable as a singer-songwriter than as a punk impresario. This Bowery show was that good.

I recorded this set with the Sennheiser cardioids mounted in our usual balcony spot. We’re extremely pleased with the results. Enjoy!

Stream “The Keepers”:

Stream “Ghost”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Ty-Segall51

Ty Segall
2013-08-30
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording

Sennheiser MKH-8040 Cardioids > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-09-03

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:03:34]
01 Sleeper
02 The Keepers
03 Crazy
04 The Man Man
05 She Don’t Care
06 [band intros]
07 6th Street
08 Sweet C.C.
09 For Those Who Weep
10 The West
11 [banter – thanks]
12 Queen Lullabye
13 Die Die Die
14 [banter]
15 Caesar
16 You’re The Doctor
17 Ghost
18 Sad Fuzz
19 Girlfriend
20 [encore break]
21 Moonage Daydream [Bowie]
22 You Make the Sun Fry
23 Live and Let Live [Love]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Ty Segall, visit his website, and purchase his latest album Sleeper from Drag City Records [HERE].

Ty-Segall86

She Keeps Bees: August 29, 2013 Glasslands – Flac/MP3/Streaming

September 3, 2013
By

SKB Glasslands Collabo 1
[screen caps courtesy of Jake Remington]

We have been big fans of She Keeps Bees here at NYCTaper for a few years. The duo have appeared on the site a good half-dozen times and we have not been shy with superlatives. The combination of Andy’s precise but aggressive percussion and Jess’s bluesy guitar is the perfect compliment for that voice — Jess’s innate ability to draw out complex and wide range of emotions in each and every song. At Glasslands last week, the band drew an impressive crowd for the dead week pre-Labor Day. The fans were also quite rambunctious as you can hear on this recording. We were encouraged to hear that She Keeps Bees is finishing up recording a new album, and several of those new songs were featured during the set. The band is seeking the right label to distribute the album, and we hope to see it released this Fall. We are streaming “Counter Charm”, which was the band’s 2012 single release.

I recorded this set with our installed rig in this venue and the sound is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Counter Charm”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

She Keeps Bees
2013-08-29
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Naiant X-R Cardioid > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-08-31

Setlist
[Total Time 41:33]
01 Owl
02 Is What It Is
03 Counter Charm
04 [banter – burpees]
05 Breezy
06 See Me
07 [banter – toilet water]
08 Eight Houses
09 [banter – patience]
10 Wasichu
11 Howl
12 Gimmie
13 All or None/Dark Horse
14 [encore break]
15 Release

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT She Keeps Bees, visit their bandcamp page, and purchase their official releases from the band’s Bandcamp page [HERE].

SKB Glasslands Collabo 2

Bent Shapes: August 25, 2013 South Street Seaport – Flac/MP3/Streaming

August 27, 2013
By

Bent Shapes Carrie
[photo by Carrie Lynch]

They don’t come often, perfect days in NYC. I made my way downtown to the South Street Seaport on Sunday for a show. As soon as I stepped outside, it was obvious that this was one of those late Summer afternoons when the oppressive heat is over and the chill of Autumn has yet to arrive, and there is not a cloud in the sky and the air quality is as perfect it can be in this City. At the Seaport, Bill Pearis has been producing the Soundbites Concert Series for several years now, and its a sin that I had never seen a single episode, despite that Bill’s musical knowledge and ability to pick next-big-thing bands is second to none. This year I made it just in time, since this week was this year’s final in the series and featured Boston’s Bent Shapes. The band had spent its first three years of existence known as Girlfriends, releasing several 7 inch singles, and becoming a regular in the local DIY scene. But 2013 turned a new page for the trio. The band changed its name to Bent Shapes and this month released its first full length album. Sunday’s thirty-minute 12-song set was an excellent lesson in getting to the point. Bent Shapes play what could be described as punk-pop, indie rock, or power pop — but forget the labels. This is a trio of excellent musicians who play excellent songs and don’t mess around.   In terms of the vitals, the set consisted of 7 of the 11 tracks from the new album Feels Weird (Father/Daughter Records), and couple of new songs.  When I came downtown the only thing left to convert a beautiful day into a perfect one was some superb music. On Sunday, that was Bent Shapes.

I recorded this set by mounting the Sennheiser cards at the stage lip and mixing with a board feed. The mics picked up primarily the instruments on stage and the board was vocal heavy, but mixed together the sources created an ideal mix and an outstanding recording. Enjoy!

Stream “What We Do is Public”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Bent Shapes
2013-08-26
South Street Seaport
Soundbites Concert Series
New York, NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-08-26

Setlist:
[Total Time 29:58]
01 Big Machines
02 Bites and Scratches
03 Leave It Til You Need It
04 86d in 03
05 Panel of Experts
06 [banter]
07 Hex Maneuvers
08 It Seems Dumb
09 Leave Some Space
10 What Do You Get
11 What We Do is Public
12 [banter – thanks]
13 Norms Out
14 Behead Yrself Pt 2

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Bent Shapes, visit their bandcamp page and their tumblr page, and purchase Feels Weird from the band’s Bandcamp page or the Father/Daughter Records site [HERE].

Ski Lodge: August 20, 2013 Glasslands – Flac/MP3/Streaming

August 25, 2013
By

Ski Lodge Perlman
[photo by Ian Perlman]

It was a little more than a year ago when acidjack predicted the success of Ski Lodge on these very pages. That 2012 Northside show was a precursor of what we see now in this band — strong 80s-influenced songcraft performed by a tight and talented quintet. Ski Lodge has now released their debut album Big Heart and Tuesday night at Glasslands was the CD release show. As lead singer Andrew Marr noted during the show, it was encouraging that on a late summer midweek night the band still managed to pack Glasslands with an animated crowd. The first few rows were consistently dancing throughout the set and the band obliged with perky indie-pop numbers that made moving easy. The setlist included 8 of the album’s 11 tracks and two songs from the band’s debut EP. We’re streaming the set finale, a scorching version of “Just To Be Like You” that closed the set in appropriate fashion and left the frenetic crowd wanting more.

I recorded this set in our usual manner in this venue and the sound is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Just To Be Like You”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Ski Lodge
2013-08-20
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Naiant X-R Cardioid > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2013-08-21

Setlist
[Total Time 39:24]
01 I Would Die To Be
02 I Always Thought
03 Does It Bring You Down
04 [banter – new record]
05 Dragging Me To Hell
06 Down On This Southern Tip
07 Big Heart
08 Anything To Hurt You
09 Looking For A Change
10 Boy
11 Just To Be Like You

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Ski Lodge, visit their website, and purchase Big Heart from the Shop at her website or at the Dovecote Records site [HERE].

Ume: July 23, 2013 Maxwell’s – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

August 22, 2013
By


UME-Lopena
[Photo courtesy of Oliver Lopena]

There are many reasons to like the Austin band Ume, who’ve been hailed as a Next Big Thing in guitar rock more than a few times by people in the know. They’ve built that reputation on a few solid pillars, the first being an excellent live show helmed by vocalist/guitarist Lauren Langner Larson. Larson is a riot of thrashing hair and gravelly vocals onstage, almost impossible not to watch. The band coasted into Maxwell’s for one of its final nights riding a wave of SXSW buzz and ready to warm up for a show or two in Manhattan in the next days. These shows would also give the band a chance to test out some of the songs for the follow-up to their 2011 album, Phantoms, a cohesive set of music best experienced at high volumes, even better, live in a room.

Ume came out strong on this night with “The Conductor”, one of the highlights from Phantoms, followed by a song they’re calling “Bass Face” for now. They were sharp, intense, rabid — real guitar rock, and proud of it. Then, in the middle of yet another semi-titled song, “Curish”, the band’s momentum took a devastating hit when some house gear blew, causing them to lose guitars. “Curish” stopped.

These are the moments that solidify or break young bands. They either pull through, or they don’t. Ume took a few minutes to re-group, re-write their setlist, switch out gear. Then they pummeled us with another new one, called “On the One” right now. Three more songs after that, whose intensity made up for lost time and momentum. For the band, the night went less-than-ideal. For people like me, who’d never seen them before, it gave a lot of reasons to see them again.

So, in deference to the band, please listen to the concert captured here with this caveat: I can’t claim it’s this band at their best, because they don’t. We felt, and the band agreed, that as this would be their only show at the now-closed legendary club, it was worth having out there as a document for history. And really — if this isn’t this band at their absolute best, how good must that be? I’d urge you to find out by streaming and buying their tracks on bandcamp, and more importantly, seeing them on tour.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 microphones and a soundboard feed from Mitch, a Maxwell’s engineer. The sound quality of the capture it excellent despite the equipment issues on stage.

Stream “The Conductor”

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.


[Photo courtesy of Chris Casciano and available for sale on his site]

Ume
2013-07-23
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Mitch) + Schoeps MK5 (PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, tape exciter)>Audacity 2.03 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 The Conductor
02 Bass Face $
03 Curish *
04 On The One $
05 Chase It Down
06 Xie Xie
07 Black Stone

$ working title
* working title/gear issues and cuts out

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ume, visit their website, visit their bandcamp page, and purchase their music there and from their online store.

Hiss Golden Messenger: August 17, 2013 Glasslands – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

August 20, 2013
By

Hiss-Golden-Messenger26
[Photos courtesy of P Squared Photography]

A man can make complicated music these days in a room alone with a machine. Create a symphony out of bits and bytes, a hit single out of a 4/4 beat and an idea. If you look at what’s celebrated most often in music these days it’s one person transcending the limits of money and time and space and the need for bandmates, usually because of his or her skill with a machine. In case you forgot, men alone have been doing that for decades, centuries, eons. Just the machines were simpler.

Hiss Golden Messenger has more words in its name than regular band members. In the studio the band is MC Taylor, former lead singer of beloved San Francisco band The Court & Spark, and longtime collaborator Scott Hirsch, plus the cream of available guest players. On the road, it’s often Taylor alone.

What started it all — a rough-hewn bit of work called Bad Debt — was nothing more than Taylor banging out songs with a guitar and a tape deck in his kitchen, while his baby slept. If it sounds old-fashioned, way more old-fashioned than some wide-eyed impresario making beats with a MacBook Pro and Ableton, well, that’s because it is. Sometimes the best things are the simplest things, the ones made how we used to before everything got too easy. But to hear the deep feeling and rich meaning that Taylor can put into a song with the tools he has, well, the old way starts to look economical. Take the Bad Debt spirit, add a band and unforced, high-quality production, and you’ve got masterpieces like his two primary releases on North Carolina imprint Paradise of Bachelors Poor Moon and this year’s Haw, which are probably my two favorite records of the past two years.

This night’s show at Glasslands — Taylor’s first New York show in four years — brought us back to the Bad Debt days, with Taylor alone at a guitar in front of a room that, with no disrespect to the night’s headliner Daughn Gibson, seemed to include a lot of folks, myself included, who’d come to see him. We were rewarded again and again. Taylor’s typical set-starting song, “Father Sky” found itself replaced with his version of a traditional song, most recently popularized as “When I Was A Young Girl” by Nina Simone. Two new numbers, possibly to appear on an upcoming EP, showed up for the first time I’ve heard them. “Southern Grammar”, streaming below, was particularly breathtaking, continuing Mike’s ongoing lyrical struggles with faith. On stage sitting down in old jeans, a white tank top and a Caterpillar hat, Mike looked like an anachronism, especially on a Saturday night. He didn’t have much for us to look at, gimmicks to parlay into Twitter excitement or iPhone photos. Hiss Golden Messenger had nothing but music, and words. He sang, and the world went still.

This recording is primarily the soundboard feed of engineer Josh Thiel’s house mix, plus a small amount of the house mics for ambiance. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Southern Grammar”

Stream “The Serpent Is Kind (Compared to Man)”

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

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Hiss-Golden-Messenger19

Hiss Golden Messenger
2013-08-17
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Josh Thiel) + Naiant XR>Sound Devices USBPre2>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (light reverb to SBD)>Izotope Ozone 5 (tape effect)>Audacity (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 38:28]
01 When I Was A Young (Boy) [Nina Simone]
02 [banter1]
03 Blue Country Mystic
04 Call Him Daylight
05 [banter2]
06 O Little Light
07 He Wrote the Book
08 Southern Grammar
09 [banter3]
10 Chapter & Verse
11 The Serpent Is Kind (Compared To Man)
12 [banter4]
13 I’ve Got A Name For The Newborn Child

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Hiss Golden Messenger, like him on Facebook, and purchase Haw and his other releases on digital or vinyl from Paradise of Bachelors [HERE], or all of his releases on vinyl [HERE].

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