nyctaper Recordings

[photo from YLT Hannukah Diary]

Yo La Tengo‘s set at the first night of Hannukah 2010 began as all Elvis Presley shows started in the 1970’s — with the theme music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was only a slight surprise then, although still bizarre, that the music kicked off with the appearance of a local Elvis impersonator for the opening “One Night With You”, appropriately re-titled for “Eight Nights”. The horn section fortuitously stayed on stage for several more numbers which added a nice touch to familiar songs — including “Mr. Tough” streaming below. When the stage was cleared of guests, the trio worked through a set of YLT classics, both quiet and noisy, before ending the set with an epic fourteen minute “I Heard You Looking”. After a lengthy YLT set, the encore segment was somewhat truncated, but did feature the surprise appearance of Nash Kato (Urge Overkill) on the obligatory Neil Diamond cover. “Elvis” returned to close the show before leaving the building.

We recorded this set with four microphones spaced in front of the soundboard booth and mixed with a mono soundboard feed. The DPAs were used to add some “warmth” to the sound, while the Neumanns are especially strong with the instrumental clarity. We are extremely pleased with the superb sound quality of this recording. Enjoy!

Stream “Mr. Tough”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/Yo%20La%20Tengo%20-%20Mr.%20Tough%20(live%20with%20horns)%202010-12-01.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2010-12-01
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Six Channel Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021s > 2x Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 3x 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 and acidjack
2010-12-03

[Thanks to Jesse for setlist help]
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:45:56]
01 [Also Sprach Zarathustra introduction]
02 One Night With You (“Eight Nights With You”)
03 Carnival Time (“Hannukah Time”)
04 [banter]
05 Mr. Tough
06 Moby Octopad
07 [banter]
08 Magnet [NRBQ]
09 How To Make A Baby Elephant Float
10 Saturday
11 More Stars Than There Are In Heaven
12 Autumn Sweater
13 [banter]
14 When It’s Dark
15 Cherry Chapstick
16 Decora
17 The Story of Jazz
18 Nothing To Hide
19 I Heard You Looking
20 [encore break]
21 Angst In My Pants [Sparks]
22 [banter]
23 Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon [Neil Diamond]
24 [banter]
25 Wear My Ring Around Your Neck [Elvis]
26 Burning Love [Elvis]

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].

[Photo from the Music Hall of Williamsburg show by Jessica Amaya]

It is fitting that Autolux hail from Los Angeles – they could easily be a Hollywood rendition of a band, the kind you can imagine playing in a nightclub scene right before Jason Statham or Bruce Willis blows the place up. The first time I saw them, they were so … perfect-looking, and their sound so au courant, that I did not know what to make of them. Their sound is Sonic Youth in clubland, distorted guitars with dreampop flourishes, showing a hint of gloss. Their polish is a strength – these musicians’ professionalism and attention to detail is evident, perhaps most obviously in the fact that, since 2004’s Future Perfect, the band took six years to produce its expertly crafted followup, Transit Transit, a record that has undoubtedly pleased the band’s fanbase, from the famous (hardly a review goes by that doesn’t name-check Thom Yorke, Trent Reznor, and PJ Harvey among the band’s fans) to the raucous crowd that jammed the Bowery Ballroom during that anticlimactic week before work and school get back in session.

In the live setting, Autolux’s music feels less blissed-out than on record, with a more jagged and welcome rock edge. The set led off with “The Science of Imaginary Solutions,” the slow burner that closes out Transit Transit, and covered the bulk of the band’s two records. “Turnstile Blues,” perhaps the band’s signature number, received a huge response, and rightly so – the song is massive, with a pounding Bonham-esque backbeat from drummer Carla Azar. I also loved the extended version of “Census”, another of the new numbers. Autolux ended the 71-minute set with a searing “Headless Sky”, sending the crowd back into the night, ready to face another long September.

While we realize this set is being posted a bit late due to a delay in clearance, we would like to emphasize our thanks to Autolux and their management for authorizing this recording. The Schoeps microphones were optimally placed just to the left of the sound staff, and this two-mic stereo pull is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Turnstile Blues”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A2680Autolux2010/Autolux-TurnstileBlues2010-08-26.mp3]

Stream “Supertoys”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A2680Autolux2010/Autolux-Supertoys2010-08-26.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Autolux
2010-08-26
Bowery Balroom
New York, NY USA

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

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: Balcony, immediately left of soundboard, clamp with arm extended to the right, pointed just outside stacks
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, light EQ, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total time 71min]
01 intro
02 The Science of Imaginary Solutions
03 Census
04 Census (cont’d)
05 Audience No. 2
06 Subzero Fun
07 The Bouncing Wall
08 Turnstile Blues
09 Supertoys
10 Spots
11 Kissproof
12 Robots In the Garden
13 Highchair
14 Blanket
15 Blanket (cont’d)
16 [encore break]
17 Plantlife
18 Headless Sky

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Autolux, visit their website, and purchase Transit Transit directly from the band here.

[photo by nyctaper]

Deakin (Josh Dibb) will release his debut solo album sometime in 2011. In a recent interview with Jarrod Dicker that we published on this site, Deakin discussed the idea that his new songs were “taking their time working themselves out”. These two recordings are evidence of that process. At the early part of his tour with Prince Rama, Deakin played a hour-long set at Glasslands, a gig which was essentially his first solo show in NYC. With working song titles, he performed all new material. While the songs maintained a loose melodic structure, the sound was heavy in vocal reverb and musical echo. As the tour progressed, the songs began to take shape, so that by the time Deakin returned to NYC to perform a set at Music Hall of Williamsburg in November, the material contained tighter melodies and relied significantly less on echo effects. The songs still are labeled with working titles, but are far closer to the anticipated finished versions than in September. Josh provided us with the titles and track breaks for both of these recordings and approved the post with the caveat that these performances represent stages or snapshots in the evolution of the material. We expect that the songs will continue to develop and the finished product may not even closely resemble what you hear on these recordings.

The Glasslands set was recorded with a soundboard feed mixed with the Neumann microphones placed in front of the soundboard booth. The sound quality is quite clear, if a bit lacking in room feel. The Music Hall recording was captured with the four microphone rig from directly in front of the board cage. The sound quality on each recording is distinctly different from the other, but the overall quality is excellent. Enjoy!

These Recordings are now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 and to Stream at Archive.org:
Music Hall [HERE]
Glasslands [HERE]

Deakin
2010-11-02
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
2010-11-22

Setlist:
[Total Time 35:26]
01 Island Chase
02 II
03 2Friends
04 Footy
05 Own Mind
06 Good House
___________

Deakin
2010-09-13
Glasslands Gallery
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 and Produced by nyctaper
2010-11-22

Setlist:
[Total Time 56:46]
01 Good House
02 Island Chase
03 II
04 Footy
05 2Friends
06 Own Mind
07 Guggenheim Jam
08 Elastik

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Deakin, visit his MySpace page, and purchase his debut solo album when it is released by Paw Tracks Records in 2011.

[photo courtesy of podbay]

In their twenty-five year existence, Buffalo Tom has run the gamut of band identities — from late-80s up-and-comers taken under the wing of Dinosaur Jr., to early-mid 90s major label alt-rock juggernaut, to early an 00s hiatus, and ultimately as a current rejuvenated success story. At a packed Mercury Lounge for last Thursday’s early show, the Tom revealed that early 2011 will see the release of a new album. Several new songs were unveiled throughout the set, including rockers “Guilty Girls” and “Down”, and the quality of the new material holds up well to the classics featured during the show — “Taillights Fade”, “Sodajerk” and “Staples” (streaming below). Bill spent much of the show engaged in comedic and good-natured banter with the crowd, who sang along throughout the show. As a band that’s truly comfortable in their skin, Buffalo Tom shows no signs of moving onto any nostalgia phase, but continue to make engaging and relevant music.

I recorded this set with the four microphone rig placed at the front right corner of the soundboard booth. While there is some chatter during the quieter numbers, the rich bass presence and vocal clarity of this recording make it an excellent listen. Enjoy!

Stream “Staples”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/B1811BuffaloTom2010/Buffalo%20Tom%20-%20Staples%20(Live)%202010-11-18.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Buffalo Tom
2010-11-18
Mercury Lounge
New York, 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
2010-11-21

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:25:01]
01 Rachael
02 Guilty Girls
03 [banter]
04 Larry
05 I’m Allowed
06 Tree House
07 [banter]
08 Summer
09 [banter]
10 Arise, Watch
11 Think About It
12 You’ll Never Catch Him
13 [banter]
14 Kitchen Door
15 [Cortez The Killer intro]
16 Taillights Fade
17 Staples
18 [banter]
19 Frozen Lake
20 [banter]
21 Clobbered
22 [banter]
23 Down
24 Crutch
25 [encore break]
26 Tangerine
27 Sodajerk
28 Late At Night
29 [banter]
30 Death Party [Gun Club]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Buffalo Tom, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Store at their website [HERE] or from the New West Records website [HERE].

[photo by nyctaper]

In his thirty years in the music industry, Richard Barone has played just about every role imaginable — singer, writer, producer, director, promoter, musical director, and author. Last Saturday, he returned to the place where it all began, Maxwell’s. Barone led the very first band to perform in the venue in 1980, and his Bongos appeared there more than any other band over the years. The occasion last weekend was the release of Richard’s album Glow. Co-produced by the legendary Tony Visconti, Glow is a stunning achievement — his first studio album in seventeen years and an album which rivals the pop brilliance of his best work, 1987’s Cool Blue Halo. The show opened with the first two tracks from the album, and for the next seventy minutes, the crowd was treated to much of the new material along with career highlights. The set also contained three Bongos songs, including “Numbers With Wings” (streaming below) and the classic “Barbarella” as the encore. Several times, Richard noted the outstanding performance of his band, which includes long time collaborator Nick Celeste, and the excellent electric violinist Deni Bonet. Richard Barone is currently on tour, but returns to NYC on December 1, for a special show at St. Mark’s Church in the East Village.

We recorded this set as we do most of the captures from Maxwells, with the mic stand mounted inside the right front corner of the soundboard booth and mixed with a soundboard feed. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Numbers With Wings”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/R1312RichardBarone1020/Richard%20Barone%20Numbers%20With%20Wings%20(Live)%202010-11-13.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Richard Barone
2010-11-13
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ 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

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-11-18

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:09:50]
01 [introduction]
02 Gravity’s Pull
03 Glow
04 [banter]
05 Girl (T Rex)
06 Tiger Nights
07 Odd Girl Out
08 [banter]
09 I Belong To Me
10 Flew A Falcon
11 Radio Silence
12 Satellite of Love (Lou Reed)
13 River To River
14 Its Only Love (Beatles)
15 [banter]
16 Candied Babes
17 Numbers With Wings
18 [banter/band introductions]
19 Yet Another Midnight
20 Glow
21 Barbarella

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Richard Barone, visit his website, and purchase Glow from the Bar-None Records website [HERE].

[Screenshots provided by West Egg Productions]

Until recently, ARMS was the solo project of Brooklyn’s Todd Goldstein, who until last year was the guitarist in the now-defunct band Harlem Shakes.  Now, Goldstein has assembled a full band to help him realize his vision.  Goldstein’s songs are emotional, melodic parables of heartbreak and longing, framed around his distinctive vocals.  Goldstein’s music has a verifiable emo bent, and he doesn’t shy from the type of melodramatic vocal turns that are uncommon in today’s present shoegaze revival.  The result is songs that are surprisingly soundtrack-ready (any rom-com would be lucky to have these tunes), and if not out of step with the current moment, certainly not overly concerned with it.  This performance, as part of the “Brunch After Dark” show by our friends at the Backyard Brunch Sessions, was a fine introduction to the band, with ARMS covering a range of their material, including from their self-titled EP available for free download right now on their MySpace page.   These songs were well suited to the big chaotic room – they force you to pay attention.  That was important on this particular night, as ARMS had the unenviable task of closing out the show at the end of a five-act bill on a Tuesday night.  The crowd that stayed were more than fairly rewarded.

ARMS are currently in the studio recording their second full length, Summer Skills, which they promise to deliver later this month.

I recorded this set with a high-quality soundboard feed from the Brooklyn Bowl staff, as well as the Schoeps microphones.  The recording heavily emphasizes the board feed due to the distance of the mics from the stage and my desire to minimize the sounds of talking, bowling and the other non-music activities going on during the show.  The sound quality is excellent, albeit with a bit less room ambiance than I personally prefer.  Enjoy!

Stream “Fleeced”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A0811ARMS0210/ARMS-Fleeced2010-11-08.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

ARMS
2010-11-08
Brunch After Dark
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: Soundboard+Schoeps CMC641>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/48)
Position: At soundboard, slightly ROC, 12? up
Mastering: 2×24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ, mixdown, set fades, limit peaks, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample to 16bit/44.1kHz)>FLAC (level 8 )

Tracks
01 Tiger Tamer
02 Dog Days
03 Fleeced
04 High Heels
05 Floaters
06 banter
07 Emily Sue, Cont’d
08 Sore
09 banter
10 Face Gravity
11 banter
12 Heat & Hot Water

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT ARMS, visit their website (where you can download their EP for free), and purchase their music from your preferred retailer.