nyctaper Recordings

[photo courtesy of Jason Persse]

Some nights I almost want to sprint home to hear the recording. Such was the case last night after I captured Superchunk at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The sound in the venue was outstanding, the band was smoking all night, there were neat special guests, and even an obscure punk cover. On their first major tour supporting their first new album in almost a decade, Superchunk worked out the kinks in Washington, played a well-received show at the Bowery on Saturday, and came into Sunday’s show running on all cylinders. As they opened with a blistering “Unbelievable Things”, each pogo-inducing song came one after another. A brief respite and a quick announcement and suddenly John Darnielle bounded down the steps to sing harmony on “Digging For Something”. John soon departed and without losing any steam, Superchunk immediately kicked up the momentum and worked through a setlist that mixed in classics with strong numbers from the new record Majesty Shredding — songs that stand up well with the older material. Of the many highlights were notable ragers “Everything At Once”, “Hello Hawk” and “Precision Auto”, and then a Misfits cover encore that featured Todd Barry on drums and Jon Wurster moving to vocals.

I recorded this show with the four microphone rig in the front left corner of the soundboard. The sound in the venue was outstanding and this capture reflects that quality. Enjoy!

Stream “Digging For Something” (with John Darnielle):
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S1909Superchunk1122/Superchunk%202010-09-19%20DIGGING%20FOR%20SOMETHING.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Superchunk
2010-09-19
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
2010-09-20

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:21:33]
01 [introduction]
02 Unbelievable Things
03 Skip Steps 1 & 3
04 [banter/guest intro]
05 Digging For Something*
06 [crowd]
07 Rosemarie
08 Art Class (Song For Yayoi Kusama)
09 Hello Hawk
10 [banter]
11 Fractures In Plaster
12 [tuning/banter]
13 So Convinced
14 Iron On
15 My Gap Feels Weird
16 Crossed Wires
17 [banter]
18 Mower
19 From The Curve
20 The First Part
21 Everything At Once
22 [encore break]
23 Horror Business (Misfits)**
24 Cast Iron
25 Slack Motherfucker
26 Precision Auto
*with John Darnielle backing vocals
**with Todd Barry on drums

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Superchunk, visit their website, and purchase Majesty Shredding from the Merge Records website [HERE].

[photo by nyctaper]

Like most music fans of another generation, back in the day I made hundreds of mixed tape cassettes for friends, girlfriends, and personal listening. For about a four year period (’86-’90), literally every single one of those cassettes included the Tommy Keene song “In Our Lives”. While not Keene’s most well-known song, this gem of pure power-pop brilliance combined the perfect balance of sweet melody, chiming guitars and hooks to spare. Like a musical sugar addiction, I couldn’t get enough of this song or the album on which it appeared, 1986’s Songs From The Film. I still have the well-worn vinyl. It was Keene’s major label debut, and while the Geffen record may have been more produced and polished than the break-out Places That Are Gone EP, it nevertheless was a full long-player of Keene’s irresistible guitar-driven pop songcraft. Tommy Keene is currently on tour playing the complete Film album, and on Wednesday that tour reached The Rock Shop. The set warmed up with two more recent numbers and then jumped right into the album. What was obvious from the chill-inspiring open riff of “Places” was that Tommy has aged extremely well. As the band ripped through each track — there isn’t a clunker on the entire record — it was also clear that the songs had aged well too. This album would be as relevant and inspired if it were released today.

This set was recorded in the same manner as my previous trips to Rock Shop and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “In Our Lives”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/T1509TommyKeene1020/Tommy%20Keene%202010-09-15%20IN%20OUR%20LIVES.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Tommy Keene
2010-09-15
The Rock Shop
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
2010-09-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:24:38]
01 Late Bright
02 A Secret Life of Stories
03 Places That Are Gone
04 In Our Lives
05 Listen To Me
06 Paper Words and Lies
07 Gold Town
08 Kill Your Sons (Lou Reed)
09 Call On Me
10 As Life Goes By
11 [band introductions]
12 My Mother Looked Like Marilyn Monroe
13 Underworld
14 Astronomy
15 The Story Ends
16 Black & White New York
17 Turning On Blue
18 Long Time Missing
19 [encore break]
20 Back To Zero Now
21 Love is a Dangerous Thing*
*with one verse of “Its Not True” (The Who)

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Tommy Keene, visit his website, and purchase his official releases directly from Merch Store at his website [HERE].

[iPhone photo by acidjack]

Fresh off a killer set at ATP New York 2010, Wooden Shjips seemed like about the only ATP-goers who weren’t burned out by that intense weekend of music.  Headlining an excellent Sunday night bill to celebrate the third year anniversary of Music Hall of Williamsburg, the Shjip’s set of pulsing psychedelic rock reminded us both of our recent experience of guitarist Erik “Ripley” Johnson’s side project Moon Duo (albeit with a denser, even bigger sound) as well as the Shjips’ Halloween set that we covered last year.  This band specializes in a narcotic, intense West Coast-influenced sound, and they held most of this crowd in rapture for their one-hour set (even in spite of the $3 beers on offer).  Congratulations to the Music Hall for three years of epic music in Williamsburg!

I recorded this set from our usual spot in the venue with the Schoeps hypercardiod microphones.  The sound is excellent.  Enjoy!

Stream “Motorbike”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W3110WoodenShjips2292/WoodenShjips-Motorbike.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Wooden Shjips
2010-09-06
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, 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: Clamp to left side of soundboard booth, 7.5ft, DIN
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (tracking, set fades, light EQ, downsample to 16bit, amplify and balance channels)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:03:12]
01 [unknown]
02 Motorbike
03 For So Long
04 Fallin
05 Aquarian Time
06 [unknown]
07 Death’s Not Your Friend
08 [unknown]
09 [encore break]
10 Vampire Blues [Neil Young]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wooden Shjips, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the Holy Mountain Records website [HERE].

[iPhone photo courtesy of Pat from Pop Tarts blog]

Spoon seems to seriously like their NYC fans. In the Spring, they sold out Radio City Music Hall, and in August they opened for Arcade Fire at Madison Square Garden. The “intimate” fans-only show planned for tonight is at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, but in an almost surreal treat, Spoon announced last night that they would play a free show at Cake Shop this afternoon. The set was a live video recording for the song “Nobody Gets Me But You” from 2010’s Transference, but the band continued on and played a forty-minute set of material from five different albums. Although the line outside the venue was long, and it was tight inside Cake Shop, it never got uncomfortable. Spoon made sure of that.

We recorded this set with the DPA microphones mounted six feet from the left side of the PA. Spoon brought along some large subs and as a result, this venue has never sounded better. The recording reflects that high quality. Enjoy!

Stream “Car Radio”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S4080Spoon0210/Spoon%202010-09-13%20CAR%20RADIO.mp3]

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

Spoon
2010-09-13
Cake Shop
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded Upfront
6 Feet from Right PA

DPA 4021s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2010-09-13

Setlist:
[Total Time 40:32]
01 [intro / ‘Nobody Gets Me’ false start]
02 Nobody Gets Me But You
03 The Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine
04 Someone Something
05 [‘Who Makes’ false start]
06 Who Makes Your Money
07 Don’t You Evah
08 The Mystery Zone
09 Don’t Make Me A Target
10 [banter / ‘Nobody Gets Me’ false start]
11 Nobody Gets Me But You
12 [banter]
13 Car Radio

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Spoon, visit their website, and purchase their official releases directly from Merge Records here.

[photo courtesy of mybrokenmouth]

One of the most anticipated albums for this Fall season is Panda Bear’s Tomboy, his follow-up to one of 2007’s albums of the year, Person Pitch. On Governor’s Island on Saturday night, Panda offered an excellent preview of the album and clearly whet the appetite of the fan’s anticipation. The set included nine of the announced eleven tracks from the album, along with a selection of earlier material. We’ll admit to being somewhat ambivalent about attending a show on 9/11, but after reading Panda’s excellent interview with brooklynvegan, we were certain that he understood the significance and respect for the date. The clear weather offered a spectacular view of NY Harbor, and the 9/11 memorial lights shown deep into the night. With that backdrop and some outstanding video work from Danny Perez, Panda was well served by the surroundings, and he delivered a powerful set. Highlights included a guitar-heavy and melodic reworked version of “Song For Ariel (Guys Eyes)” (streaming below), and the two best numbers from the new album, “Tomboy” and “Bullseye” (also streaming below).

This set was recorded with the four microphone mix from directly in front of the soundboard booth. I am elated at how well this recording came out — the mix in the venue was superb and the elements and crowd are not a factor. There is a little wind during the encore, but it is barely audible during the music. Enjoy!

Stream “”Song For Ariel (Guys Eyes)”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A2020AnimalCollective8008/Panda%20Bear%202010-09-11%20SONG%20FOR%20ARIEL.mp3]
Stream “Bullseye”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/A2020AnimalCollective8008/Panda%20Bear%202010-09-11%20BULLSEYE.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download The Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Panda Bear
2010-09-11
The Beach At Governor’s Island
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
2010-09-12

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:10:05]
01 Drone
02 Daily Routine
03 Tomboy
04 Song For Ariel (Guys Eyes)
05 Surfer’s Hymn
06 Ponytail
07 Last Night At The Jetty
08 Benfica
09 Comfy in Nautica
10 Slow Motion
11 Bullseye
12 You Can Count on Me
13 [encore break]
14 Alsatian Darn
15 Chores*
*with “I Think I Can” verses

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Panda Bear, visit his MySpace page, and purchase his official releases from the store at the Paw Tracks Records website [HERE].

[photo by Jeff K]

Franz Nicolay’s set at the sixth episode of the Backyard Brunch Sessions was an excellent preview of his latest full length album, Luck & Courage due in October. Franz has been particularly busy since his departure from the Hold Steady earlier this year, touring solo in support of his late 2009 EP St. Sebastian of the Short Stage, publishing and writing short stories, producing, and playing briefly as the touring keyboardist for the punk band Against Me. Perhaps as an escape from all this activity Luck & Courage is a personal album, structured around the relationship of its protagonists Felix and Adelita, whose names translate in Latin and Spanish to the album’s title. In the cozy backyard, Franz introduced each song with a story bringing every member of the intimate crowd inside of the songs. This approach will also be featured when Franz plays the next session of the superb Vivo in Vino series on September 28.

I recorded this set with four microphones — two for vocals and two for the instruments. The accordion songs feature a strong dose of the instrument, while the banjo songs are more vocal heavy. Overall, the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Jeff Penalty”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H6589HoldSteady1192/FranzNicolay2010-08-28_nyctaper_JEFF_PENALTY.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Franz Nicolay
2010-08-28
Backyard Brunch Sessions
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Onstage

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 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
2010-09-08

Setlist:
[Total Time 46:21]
01 [introduction]
02 For My Next Trick I’ll Need A Volunteer (Warren Zevon)
03 [banter]
04 Dead Sailors
05 [banter]
06 Felix & Adelita
07 [banter]
08 This Is Not A Pipe
09 [banter]
10 Jeff Penalty
11 [banter]
12 Job 35:10
13 The Ballad of Hollis Wadsworth Mason, Jr.
14 [banter]
15 Rock, Rinse, Repeat
16 [banter]
17 Cease-Fire
18 Luck & Courage
19 [banter]
20 Moon River (Mancini/Mercer)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Franz Nicolay, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the store at his website [HERE].