nyctaper Recordings

concert discussion and free flac downloads

The Antlers: May 19, 2011 Music Hall of Williamsburg – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 22, 2011
By


[Photo courtesy of Amanda Hatfield]

After a surprise midnight show a few weeks ago at the Knitting Factory (that recording here), The Antlers came back for a duo of proper hometown performances. The first of these, at the incredible-sounding Music Hall of Williamsburg, had the manic energy and theatricality (complete with billowing stage smoke and a happyface balloon tower) that I have come to expect from triumphant returns by Brooklyn bands in this venue. The Antlers won’t be staying in town long; they are back on the road for festivals on the West Coast at the end of this month, as well as a rigorous tour swing through the U.S. and Canada in June. With the new record Burst Apart now in stores and critically acclaimed, the band are delivering its songs live as if they’ve been playing these songs for years. The set focused heavily on the new material, including the standout first single, the Radiohead-referencing “Parentheses” and one of my personal favorites, “Rolled Together”. Peter Silberman’s voice soared to its usual operatic heights, and the band seems to enjoy sinking their teeth into the more rocking new material. The four-song encore including three of the strongest tracks from their breakout album Hospice – my personal favorite “Kettering,” the narrative masterpiece “Two,” and the set closer, “Wake.” As great as they are, the Hospice numbers didn’t overshadow the new songs; that record, and those songs, are incredible, but Burst Apart, as this show proved, stands on its own – and is possibly the better record to play live, with its denser atmospherics and slightly harder edge. Three albums in, The Antlers are still a young band, and one that, we are sure, will continue to evolve and grow.

We recorded this set from the center of the balcony with the Schoeps microphones on an extension arm lowered toward the stacks, running into an analog preamp to provide natural warmth. The DPA microphones were also used in a small amount to add some atmosphere and room feel to the recording. We are very pleased with the results. Enjoy!

The May 20 show at Bowery Ballroom was also recorded and will be posted shortly.

Stream “Rolled Together”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A3398Antlers3200/06 Rolled Together.mp3]

Stream “Kettering”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A3398Antlers3200/14 Kettering.mp3]

This recording is now available for download as FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

The Antlers
2011-05-19
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>Oade M248 + DPA 4021 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: Center balcony, on extension arm/clamps, DPA X/Y, Schoeps PAS
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ DPA source, mixdown, smooth peaks, set fades, amplify and balance, smooth peaks, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:32:11]
01 I Don’t Want Love
02 [banter]
03 No Widows
04 Parentheses
05 French Exit
06 Rolled Together
07 Bear
08 [banter]
09 Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
10 [banter]
11 Hounds
12 Putting the Dog to Sleep
13 [encore break]
14 Kettering
15 Corsicana
16 Two
17 [banter]
18 Wake

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Antlers, visit their website, and order Burst Apart from their site [HERE].

John Vanderslice: May 13, 2011 Rock Shop – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 21, 2011
By

John Vanderslice performs “I’ll Never Live Up To You” w/ Melodie Knight at The Rock Shop, Brooklyn from BlearyEyedBrooklyn.com on Vimeo.

A John Vanderslice concert is always an authentic communal experience. John often spends time to talk directly and candidly to the audience and performs his very personal songs in a manner to which his fans can relate. That is to say that he’s a performer without an ounce of pretense. On Friday night at packed Rock Shop, John added another dimension to the fan-friendly atmosphere — inviting them up on stage to perform. The pre-tour mailing list email promised that any fan with a talent could volunteer to perform, and in each city John has had several takers. While the Brooklyn show had four of them, in reality each of the performers were not strictly “fans”, but included Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, and the vocalist Melodie Knight from Damien Jurado’s opening set. The added bonus for this night was a “vision” that Rock Shop manager/booker Skippy had told John at SXSW. After the main set, John took the entire audience up to the roof deck of the venue and performed a four-song encore while circled by a fully participating audience. The result was a very memorable experience for Vanderslice fans from a performer who continues to provide meaningful gifts to the faithful.

I recorded the main set in the venue with our standard set-up — the DPA microphones mixed with a stellar feed from the board. For the roof deck encores, I unplugged from the board, and carried the mounted microphones with the recorder strapped over my shoulder. The main room sound quality is superb, while the roof deck is exactly what we experienced. Enjoy!

Stream “Exodus Damage”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/J8030JohnVanderslice3030/15.%20Exodus%20Damage.mp3]

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

John Vanderslice
2010-05-13
The Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + 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

Encores recorded on rooftop:
DPA 4021s (handheld on mount) > Edirol R-44

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-05-18

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:29:35]
01 [introduction]
02 Sunken Union Boat
03 Promising Actress
04 Scorpio Rising
05 Up Above The Sea
06 [banter- Jacob crowd surf]
07 Convict Lake
08 [banter- Iowa City]
09 The Parade
10 [banter- is Matthew here]
11 White Plains
12 Overcoat
13 [banter – moog]
14 Pale Horse
15 Exodus Damage
16 [banter – John crowd surf]
17 Kookaburra
18 [banter – Melodie]
19 I’ll Never Live Up to You
20 Do You Remember?
21 Underneath The Leaves
Encores on the Roof:
22 Nikki Oh Nikki
23 [banter – Skippy is Incredible]
24 Keep The Dream Alive
25 Time To Go
26 White Dove

Guests:
Zach Walker (Track 02)
Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) (Tracks 11, 12)
Melodie Knight (Damien Jurado vocalist) (Track 19)
Ian Bjornstad (Track 21)
The Entire Audience (Tracks 22-26)

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the links at his website [HERE].

John Vanderslice: May 12, 2011 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 19, 2011
By


[Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Weinberg.  See her outstanding photography here]

John Vanderslice has been another steady favorite of this site (one of his performances from back in October appeared in our Top 25 Concert Moments of 2010) and that status is well-earned through his universally strong performances, outstanding songwriting, and engaging rapport with his crowds.  Those qualities were all on display during this recent show at the Mercury Lounge, an epic 90+ minute performance that showed off some stripped-down versions of songs from his 2011 release, White Wilderness, including the brooding “Overcoat” with its boombox accompaniment, streaming below.  As some fans sat onstage (Vanderslice set up extra chairs so some of the more vertically challenged could see), the veteran, together with percussionist Jason Slota, gave an outstanding set filled with classic hits and other highlights.  Vanderslice kept things loose, chatting at times even during songs, and stopping once or twice to fix mistakes.  No less than six guests jointed him onstage at various points, including opener Damien Jurado during the encore, and Ian Bjornstad during “Underneath the Leaves.”  The show ended, in classic Mercury Lounge fashion, with Vanderslice, Slota and Jurado playing four songs unplugged from the center of the floor.  Jurado proclaimed it “the best show of the tour,” and why should we disagree?

hi and lo recorded this set from our usual location in the venue with the Schoeps microphones.  The sound quality is excellent, with the caveat that the four encore songs at the end, being unplugged and in the middle of the floor, are harder to hear and suffer from more crowd noise than the main set. Enjoy!

Stream “Overcoat”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/J8030JohnVanderslice3030/06 Overcoat.mp3]

Stream “Up Above the Sea”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/J8030JohnVanderslice3030/12 Up Above the Sea.mp3]

This Recording is now available to Download in FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

John Vanderslice
2011-05-12
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY, US

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded and produced by hi and lo for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps MK4v > Nbox+ > Sony PCM-M10 @ 24 bit / 44.1 kHz
Location: ~20 ft from stage, at right stack
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>WaveLab 5 (eq/fades/dither)>FLAC v1.2.1 (Level 8) with TLH v2.6.0 (Build 168)

Tracks [Run Time 1:38:01]

01. Intro
02. Scorpio Rising
03. Convict Lake
04. The Parade
05. White Plains
06. Overcoat
07. Trance Manual
08. Pale Horses
09. Exodus Damage
10. Kookaburra
11. Do You Remember
12. Up Above the Sea
13. I’ll Never Live Up to You
14. Too Much Time
15. Underneath the Leaves
16. Thule Fog
17. White Dove
18. It’s Time to Go
19. (Encore Call)
20. Nikki Oh Nikki

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the links at his website [HERE].

Antietam: May 10, 2011 Bell House – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 18, 2011
By


[photo by nyctaper]

Last Tuesday at Bell House was not just the first “wheel spin” Yo La Tengo show ever in NYC, it was also the CD release show from YLT friends and collaborators Antietam. In fact, Antietam was the headlining band at Yo La Tengo’s first-ever show at Maxwell’s in 1984. The latest Antietam release Tenth Life is their eighth studio album and first since 2008’s Opus Mixtum. At the Bell House, Antietam performed the entire album Tenth Life from start to finish, taking only a breather at what would be the end of Side A on the vinyl. The album continues in the same vein as the first CD of the two-disc Opus set (and this 2008 concert), with Tara Key’s aggressive gibson-guitar work out front and propelled by the Tim Harris’s bass and Josh Madell on drums. The no-nonsense approach to songwriting has been an Antietam staple, and Tenth Life is no exception.

I recorded this set with the four microphone rig mounted on a clamp at the front of the soundboard booth. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Big Bluff Love”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A0408Antietam8025/04.%20Big%20Bluff%20Love.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Antietam
2011-05-10
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded at the Soundboard Rail

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
2011-05-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 37:44]
01 Numbered Days
02 Something’s Gonna Give
03 Kick It Hard
04 Big Bluff Love
05 Things You Can’t Explain
06 [banter]
07 Clarion
08 Better Man
09 Basra Bound
10 Lucky Day
11 (Keep Me) Satisfied

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Antietam, visit their website, and purchase the new release Tenth Life directly from the Carrot Top Records website [HERE].

Cass McCombs: May 12, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 15, 2011
By


[photos by John Ruscher for Eardrum NYC]

Cass McCombs has created and performed superb music for nearly a decade. As he has recorded in locations from Baltimore to Southern California to Michigan to Chicago absorbing all of the musical influences that inform his songcraft, Cass remains an enigmatic and solitary performer whose music is as compelling as it is dark. The release of the brilliant Wit’s End (Domino Records) last month has gathered the standard critical praise for McCombs’ work. But Wit’s End is perhaps the album that will ultimately expose him to the wider audience that he has eluded over the last ten years. At a sold out Bowery Ballroom on Thursday night, the good and bad of that fate was obvious from the outset. A talkative and insufficiently attentive audience missed large portions of what was undoubtedly one of the best shows we’ll see all year. This is music that does not jump out at you, as the songs require concentration and close listening to appreciate the musical and lyrical subtleties. Cass requested that the lights be turned all the way down after the first song, and the stage illuminated the band only by the odd wall-of-lightbulbs backdrop thereafter. The band opened the set with the first three songs from Wit’s End — the Laurel Canyon-esque “County Line” is streaming below — and then performed a democratic selection of material from all of Cass’s releases, highlighted by “Don’t Vote”, “Equinox”, and reaching as far back as the title track from his debut EP “Not The Way”. The band matched the mood of the material perfectly and while there were abundant solos and extended jams (“Harmonia” extended past ten minutes), there were no flourishes or inauthentic stage theatrics. After a brief thanks to the crowd, Cass closed the set with a powerful eight-minute version of “Bobby, King of Boy’s Town” before the lights quickly came up. As the crowd filtered out, I couldn’t help but think that half of them had missed a truly great show.

I recorded this set from the balcony rail with the four-microphone rig and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Thanks to Cass and Domino Records for their courtesy and permission to record this show.

Stream “County Line”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/C1205Cass1102/03.%20County%20Line.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Cass McCombs
2011-05-12
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded at the Balcony Railing

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
2011-05-14

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:28:04]
01 Buried Alive
02 The Lonely Doll
03 County Line
04 Meet Me Here At Dawn
05 Prima Donna
06 Pregnant Pause
07 Harmonia
08 Meet Me At the Mannequin Gallery [new song]
09 Equinox
10 Don’t Vote
11 Not the Way
12 Aids in Africa
13 When the Bible Was Wrote
14 Bobby, King of Boy’s Town

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Cass McCombs, visit his website, and purchase Wit’s End from the Domino website [HERE].

Yo La Tengo: May 11, 2011 Bell House – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 15, 2011
By


[Photo from the 5/10 show courtesy of Chris Gerbeck at fucking nostalgic]

After an epic Tuesday night “Spin the Wheel” show that found Yo La Tengo playing a special “Name Game” first set, the second night kicked off with “I’d Like To Buy A Vowel,” a new wheel item that requires the band to play only songs of theirs that begin in vowels. In other words, the fans got some great music, but compared to having to, say, perform a classic sitcom, it was a fairly lucky and safe choice for the band. The safe moves ended after that, though, as they kicked off with the punked-up “Artificial Heart” that transitioned seamlessly into their more mellow classic, “Autumn Sweater.” From there the band played through the low-key trio of “If It’s True,” “I’m On My Way” and “Alyda” before kicking the tempo back up with the explosive (and rarely played) “86-Second Blowout” from 1992’s May I Sing With Me. After an inspired, noise-drenched “Outsmartener”, the band launched into an insane 14-minute version of “I Heard You Looking” that left it all on the stage. It was hard to imagine a band not finishing an entire show, let alone a set, after such a monster performance, but this being Yo La Tengo, they let us come down easy, wrapping up set one with the subdued Lou Reed cover, “It’s Alright (The Way That You Live).”

In general, I felt like the sequencing of this show was a slight improvement over the previous night, though we have seen so many Yo La Tengo shows in the past 12 months, it is hard to play favorites. Still, the second set of this show felt incredibly cohesive, kicking off with “Walking Away From You,” a 12-minute “More Stars Than There Are In Heaven” and “False Alarm” all presented as a virtually seamless composition. The noisy side of Yo La Tengo has always been my favorite, so this trifecta pushed all the right buttons for me. Set 2 ended with another awesome 23-minute three-song series, of a monster “Big Day Coming” that found Ira in top form on guitar, jamming straight into “Tom Courtenay” and ending with the band’s reimagined version of Beach Boys’ “Little Honda”.

Perhaps feeling sheepish that they hadn’t been forced to play anything ridiculously out-of-the-box during their two Brooklyn shows, for the encore, the band decided to play a mini-set of three songs in their alter ego cover band mode, Condo Fucks. As with the first set, the encore ended on a quiet note, with another May I Sing With Me number, “Detouring America With Horns.” Few bands get the chance to do truly do whatever the want night after night in front of sell-out crowds, and Yo La Tengo have done everything possible to earn it. No matter how many shows you see, there are always new dimensions, new twists, new laughs, and new songs to be impressed and surprised by, and these two nights exemplified that perfectly.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps microphones running into an ultraquiet digital preamp, combined with an excellent soundboard feed. The results are outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “86-Second Blowout”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/08 86 Second Blowout.mp3]

Stream “It’s Alright (The Way That You Live) [Lou Reed]”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/11 It’s Alright (The Way That You Live).mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2011-05-11
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: SBD+Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBpre2>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: At soundboard, DFC, mics pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, smooth peaks, amplify and balance, downsample to 16bit/44.1kHz)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
Set I: I’d Like To Buy A Vowel
01 Game Show Intro
02 Artificial Heart>
03 Autumn Sweater
04 If It’s True
05 I’m On My Way
06 [banter]
07 Alyda
08 86 Second Blowout
09 Outsmartener
10 I Heard You Looking
11 It’s Alright (The Way That You Live) [Lou Reed]

Set II
12 Walking Away From You>
13 More Stars Than There Are In Heaven>
14 False Alarm
15 [banter]
16 The Weakest Part
17 [banter]
18 Mr. Tough
19 Satellite>Big Day Coming>
20 Tom Courtenay
21 Little Honda [Beach Boys]
22 [encore break]

Encore: (Mostly) Condo Fucks Set
23 Whatcha Gonna Do [Small Faces]
24 Come On Baby [Young Rascals]
25 Dog Meat [Flamin’ Groovies]
26 Detouring America With Horns

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the store at their website [HERE].

Yo La Tengo: May 10, 2011 Bell House – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 13, 2011
By


[photo by Chris Gersbeck at Fxxking Nostalgic]

We’ve seen Yo La Tengo countless times over the last several years, but their two shows this week were new to us. The “Wheel Spin” shows have been performed outside the NYC area, but Tuesday’s show at Bell House was the first time that this set structure was played here. The band took the stage to the theme music from Wheel of Fortune, and Ira brought out the spinning wheel, called a fan up on stage, and the “Name Game” was the winner — i.e., the first set contained only songs with names in them. The quiet “Griselda” opened the set, but it was the weird “Georgia vs. Yo La Tengo” that foreshadowed the strangeness to come. The band pivoted from quiet to noisy songs on a dime, and the set ended with a trio of songs played with such ferocity that long-time fans were shaking their heads. The highlight of the set and perhaps the evening was “Pass The Hatchet” (streaming below) which featured fourteen solid minutes of Ira shredding through 3 guitars, writhing on the floor and throwing himself into his guitar amp. This version surpassed even the phenomenal one we saw in March at Maxwell’s. After a break, YLT returned for another set, this time an hour of their non-themed music. Again segueing effortlessly from mellow to metal, folk to punk, the set’s highlights included “Barnaby” with Antietam’s Tara Key, a sweet rendition of James’s “Stockholm Syndrome” and the raging “I Heard You Looking” finale. Yo La Tengo plays a festival in Ohio this weekend, before heading over seas for two weeks of shows in Ireland, Scotland and England.

We recorded this set with the Neumanns clamped to the front of the soundboard booth and raised to 10 feet, and mixed it with a feed from the soundboard. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Acidjack recorded the second night of YLT at Bell House (May 11) and it will be posted tomorrow.

Stream “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/Pass%20The%20Hatchet%20I%20Think%20I’m%20Goodkind.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2011-05-10
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY 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 by nyctaper, acidjack and hi and lo
Produced by nyctaper
2011-05-12

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 56:39]
01 [spin the wheel]
02 Griselda
03 Georgia vs Yo La Tengo
04 Song For Mahlia
05 Moby Octopad
06 Avalon or Someone Very Similar
07 Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House
08 Watch Out For Me, Ronnie
09 The Evil That Men Do
10 Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind

Set 2
[Total Time 1:09:12]
11 Our Way To Fall
12 Barnaby, Hardly Working
13 Demons
14 Stockholm Syndrome
15 The Crying of Lot G
16 [banter]
17 Double Dare
18 Nothing To Hide
19 Decora
20 I Heard You Looking
21 [encore break]
22 The Door Into Summer [Monkees]
23 Drug Test
24 For The Turnstiles [Neil Young]

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the store at their website [HERE].

Jukebox the Ghost: May 4, 2011 Rock Shop – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 12, 2011
By


[Photo courtesy of The Wild Honey Pie]

Things seem to be going well for Philly’s Jukebox the Ghost – not long after they booked this show at the intimate Rock Shop as the support act for tourmates Wakey Wakey!, they found themselves at the top of the bill at Bowery Ballroom the following night. It isn’t terribly surprising: Since their founding in their present incarnation in 2005, the band has toured extensively behind big name, accessible pop-rock acts like Ben Folds and Barenaked Ladies and released two strong albums, their 2008 debut, Let Live and Let Ghosts, and its 2010 followup, Everything Under the Sun, and in that time, they have made a name for themselves as a bouncy, fun and consistent pop act.  Much like Ben Folds Five, their music revolves around classically-trained keyboardist/vocalist Ben Thornewill’s upbeat piano melodies and the sugar-sweet vocal harmony of lead vocalists Tommy Siegel and Thornewill.  Songs like “Empire” are reminders of the power of a perfect pop song; JTG are neither angst-ridden nor ironic, nor even particularly earnest – their pop is served without pretension or anxiety. I heard several people in the crowd, who didn’t know the band at all, talking about how much they enjoyed the show – and how could you not? Jukebox the Ghost are pros, ladies and gentlemen, and they have the power to deliver a nice injection of optimism into a jaded city crowd. All that said, it’s hard to deny the highlight of the show – an only-somewhat-ironic cover, a mean version of Huey Lewis & the News’ “Power of Love”, the theme song from Back to the Future (with a little jam of the theme from Ghostbusters in there – it was an 80s kind of night, I guess).

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Wakey Wakey! recording, and the sound quality is once again outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Empire”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/J4005JukeboxGhost2011/06 Empire.mp3]

Stream “The Power of Love [Huey Lewis and the News]”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/J4005JukeboxGhost2011/15 The Power of Love.mp3]

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

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Jukebox the Ghost
2011-05-04
Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Sound Devices USBpre2+Soundboard>>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/44.1)
Position: LOC, mics at 7.5ft, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (balance, EQ right channel, mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

01 Mistletoe
02 Half Crazy
03 Hold It In
04 [banter]
05 The Stars
06 Empire
07 Summer Sun
08 [banter]
09 Don’t Let Me Fall Behind [new]
10 Nobody
11 Say When
12 Good Day
13 Static to the Heart
14 [banter]
15 The Power of Love [Huey Lewis & the News]
16 Schizophrenia

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Jukebox the Ghost, visit their website, and purchase Everything Under the Sun and their other official releases from the Yep Roc Records store [HERE]

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: May 6, 2011 Webster Hall – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 10, 2011
By

Pains
[Photo by acidjack]

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are one of the latter half of the last decade’s local success stories. They’re a band that has a hard-won and devoted following that hangs on every word, and rightly so. Their well-crafted and well-written songs of love, yearning and loss may stylistically reference an earlier era, but they make a timeless point. Lyrically, of course, these subjects never grow old, but musically, a tightly written, approachable indiepop song never does, either. Pains are the kind of band you root for – obviously nice people, talented, enthusiastic musicians, and a band that still has more to say. Following up on their eponymous debut, their new record, Belong, continues to display their abilities at songcraft, from the title track to other strong numbers like “Heart In Your Heartbreak” and “Strange”. While a lot of bands fail to make the transition from the smaller clubs – or even the mid-size venues like Bowery Ballroom – to the larger spaces like Webster Hall, Pains easily dominated the room with a dense sound and an enthusiastic, energized performance that balanced their new and old material equally. The band closed with their eponymous anthem, “The Pains of Being Pure At Heart”. The power of that signature chorus ringing out out through the cavernous old theater – “We will never die, no, no, we will never die” – was so powerful, it almost made you believe it. They couldn’t have asked for a better end to another national tour.

Because my usual spot in the venue was not available, I recorded this set from the right balcony close to the right speaker stack, giving more of an “upfront” sound than many recordings from this site, which offers excellent clarity but little sense of the room. Enjoy!

Thanks to Slumberland Records for allowing us to record this performance. Please support Slumberland and the band by purchasing Belong from the links below.

Stream “Heart In Your Heartbreak”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/P1411Pains2292/05 Heart In Your Heartbreak.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2011-05-06
Webster Hall
New York, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Oade M248>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Right balcony, about 20 ft from right stack
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, EQ, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 56:29]
01 Belong
02 This Love is Fucking Right
03 A Teenager in Love
04 [banter]
05 Heart In Your Heartbreak
06 The Body
07 Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now
08 Stay Alive
09 My Terrible Friend
10 [banter]
11 Come Saturday
12 Young Adult Friction
13 [banter]
14 Strange
15 [encore break]>Contender
16 Everything With You
17 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, visit their website, and purchase Belong directly from Slumberland Records [HERE].

Wakey Wakey!: May 4, 2011 Rock Shop – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

May 9, 2011
By


[Wakey Wakey! at SXSW 2011. Photos courtesy of James Buchan – check out his Flickr stream [HERE]]

A lot can be learned about Brooklyn’s Wakey Wakey! by considering the following anecdote from last Wednesday’s show at Rock Shop. It was the third song in their headlining set, following an outstanding set from tourmates Jukebox the Ghost. Keyboardist/vocalist/frontman Mike Grubbs dismisses the band from the stage and launches into a quiet solo number. As he sings the first line, peals of laughter erupt – he is covering Madonna’s Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” But what is more surprising and refreshing about this tour staple is the fact that Mike completely transforms the song, finding a sad, wistful undercurrent to what has to be one of the most bouncy, ridiculous songs of the 1980s. Plus, he just sings the hell out of it. With folk/pop music like this that can at times veer into melancholy territory, that very lack of self-seriousness, and the willingness to have fun, are essential ingredients. This set – a homecoming for the band after a long tour – was strong throughout, with Grubbs and his bandmates on-point musically and loose with the crowd, having fun with this intimate group before their big night at Bowery Ballroom the following evening. This show was so intimate, in fact, that one couple got a chance to talk to Mike about how they got engaged just before the show!

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue with the DPA microphones and an outstanding soundboard feed from the house engineer, Shane. The quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun [Cyndi Lauper]”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W0504WakeyWakey2011/06 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.mp3]

Stream “War Sweater”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W0504WakeyWakey2011/03 War Sweater.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Direct download of FLAC files [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Wakey Wakey!
2011-05-04
Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Sound Devices USBpre2+Soundboard>>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/44.1)
Position: LOC, mics at 7.5ft, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (balance, mixdown, set fades, tracking, downsample)

Tracks [Total Time 51:58]
01 [intro]
02 Square Peg, Round Hole
03 War Sweater
04 Light Outside
05 [banter]
06 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun [Madonna] [Cyndi Lauper]
07 [banter]
08 Got It All Wrong
09 [banter]
10 Dance So Good
11 1876
12 Feral Love
13 Take It Like A Man
14 [banter]
15 Brooklyn
16 [banter]
17 Almost Everything
18 [banter]
19 Car Crash

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wakey Wakey!, visit their website, and buy their latest releases from Family Records [HERE]

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