nyctaper Recordings

[Photo by Janice Chou for FREEwilliamsburg.  Used by permission.]

Brooklyn’s Keepaway are having quite a year.  Having just released their debut EP, Baby Style, they already scored an opening slot for Yeasayer at their recent Governor’s Island show.  That must have made for a logical pairing, as Keepaway serve up tribal, live dance music with beats and keys served up live along with drums and guitar – this is not “press play” dance music.  The closer dance music and rock music get, the tougher they are to tell apart, though it is fair to say that compared to, say, Yeasayer, these guys fall a bit further toward the dance side of things.  Drummer Frank Lyon anchors the trio with an unusual drum setup that abandons the kick drum (since the deep bass is coming from Mike Burakoff’s beats), while Nick Nauman rounds things out on guitar, with all three participating on the vocal end of things.  This show saw the band anchoring FREEwilliamsburg’s awesome Sunday night Northside Festival lineup at Brooklyn Bowl.  The venue’s massive sound system did Keepaway justice, with a bass-heavy, aggressive house mix that shook the entire place.  If you aren’t a fan yet, check out Keepaway and the other offerings from the well-curated Lefse Records, which is home to several excellent like-minded bands.

Thanks to FREEwilliamsburg for putting on this excellent showcase, and thanks to Lefse Records for their support of NYCTaper.  More recordings from this night and other Northside Festival showcases will be appearing on this site throughout the week.

I recorded this set in a somewhat unorthodox manner (for us, anyway), in that the layout of the room dictated placing my two Schoeps hypercardiod mics about 12ft from the right stack on a mic stand extended 11ft above the crowd.  While the sound is different than our normal offerings – which give a better sense of the room – it is an excellent capture.  You can stream the band’s first single, “Yellow Wings” below, and the entire show is properly tagged for importing into iTunes.  Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/keepaway2010-06-27.acidjack

Keepaway
2010-06-27
Brooklyn Bowl
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: ~12ft from right stack, mics A/B, pointed at stack, 12ft up
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, EQ, tracking, amplify channels)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks [Total Time 36:47]
01 5 Rings
02 Royal Jelly
03 Family of the son
04 Head
05 Sideways Smile
06 Yellow Wings
07 100

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Keepaway, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Baby Style (available on vinyl direct from Lefse Records, or on iTunes and other retailers for download).

[photo by nyctaper]

The Fiery Furnaces played three nights in the NYC area this weekend, but we only managed to catch the final show. From the scuttlebutt after their set, it seems like we picked the right night. From the very outset, the quartet was just electrifying. This tour’s setlist wrinkle is the twenty-eight song segue. The Furnaces opened with a little instrumental interlude which they would revisit several times during the set, and then immediately pounced on “Tropical Iceland”. For the next sixty-five minutes, the band never let up as they flowed complete and partial versions of cherry-picked multiple reworked numbers from their vast catalog one into the next. Highlights included the extra-melodic newest take on “Quay Cur” (stream below) and several songs from the under-appreciated masterpiece Bitter Tea. This show also featured a complete rarity — Eleanor’s mishandling of lyrics (“Straight Street”) — the shocking nature of the faux pas is a testament of her uncanny ability to master the voluminous and difficult word-strings that are Furnaces lyrics. The Furnaces also performed two new numbers which fit seamlessly into the massive segue — a good sign of things to come for the band.

This recording was captured with the Neumann microphones on a stand at the soundboard booth mixed with a soundboard feed. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/fiery-furnaces-2010-06-26.nyctaper

Fiery Furnaces
2010-06-26
Mercury Lounge
New York, 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
2009-06-27

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:14:59]
01 Tropical Iceland
02 Single Again
03 The Wayward Granddaughter
04 Benton Harbor Blues
05 Worry Worry
06 Wolf Notes
07 The Philadelphia Grand Jury
08 Black Hearted Boy
09 My Egyptian Grammar
10 Teach Me Sweetheart
11 Slavin’ Away
12 Even in the Rain
13 Take Me Round Again
14 Quay Cur
15 Clear Signal from Cairo
16 Keep Me in the Dark
17 Clothes Make The Man [new song]
18 I’m In No Mood To Comb My Hair
19 Restorative Beer
20 South Is Only A Home
21 Charmaine Champagne
22 Doctor in the Dungeon [new song]
23 I’m Going Away
24 My Little Thatched Hut
25 My Dog Was Lost But Now He’s Found
26 Straight Street
27 Bitter Tea
28 Chris Michaels
29 [band introductions / encore break]
30 Two Fat Feet
31 Asthma Attack
32 Japanese Slippers

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Fiery Furnaces, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Thrill Jockey Records site.

[Photo courtesy of Jessica Amaya and Brooklynvegan]

ZaZa are a Brooklyn-based trio that boasts an unusual modus operandi – they never play the same exact set twice.  While the band, consisting of Jennifer Fraser (formerly of The Warlocks), Danny Taylor and Dru Prentiss currently has only their excellent Cameo EP to its name (with a full length on the way this year), they stretch their material by transitioning songs with unrehearsed free playing.  With a shoegaze-electronica sound that has landed them opening slots for like-minded bands such as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, ZaZa’s EP grabbed early attention, and this performance at the 2010 Northside Festival’s BrooklynVegan showcase at Music Hall was the type to guarantee more attention when the full record drops.  Although stuck with the unenviable task of taking the early slot, those who made it early were rewarded with a strong performance that debuted excellent new material (new to me/not on their EP in any case), including my personal favorite of the set, “Distance Creator”.

We recorded this set from our usual spot at Music Hall with the four-microphone rig.  The sound quality is outstanding.  Enjoy, and look for more Northside sets to be on this site in the coming days.  The entire ZaZa show is available for streaming on this site and the FLACs and MP3s are properly tagged for iTunes.

Thanks to BrooklynVegan for this outstanding showcase and their continued support of NYCTaper, and to the Northside Festival and The L Magazine for organizing it.  Finally, thanks to Danny from ZaZa for his help with the setlist, and a great performance!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/zaza2010-06-26.acidjack

ZaZa
2010-06-26
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY  USA

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

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641+DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to left side of sound booth, mics at 7.5?, DPAs ORTF, hypers pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2×24bit WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, EQ, light compression, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks
01 Sooner or Later
02 Are What You Aren’t
03 Arms Length
04 Distance Creator
05 Burn and Build
06 Faith in the Faithless

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT ZaZa, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their EP Cameo from Kanine Records here.

[The Fresh & Onlys at Monster Island Basement earlier this year. Photos courtesy of Erin Kilkenny]

The Fresh & Onlys have a delightfully San Francisco sound, modern rock n’ roll with just a dash of 60s hippie.  Despite getting lumped in with the garage/lo-fi crowd (in no small part due to the analog/DIY style of their latest, Grey Eyed Girls), these guys are serious players, and their live sound is transporting.  This show at the Woodsist showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg for the 2010 Northside Festival was a highlight of the festival so far (as was, frankly, every act on this bill).  I was first introduced to The Fresh & Onlys when they opened up for Thee Oh Sees last year at Mercury Lounge(Oh Sees recording here), and they have only gotten better since then.  We are pleased to offer both last night’s recording (in streaming and download) and that recording (download only) to our readers.  Many more Northside Festival sets will be posted in the coming days, but please do yourself a favor and come out and see the last day of shows.

Thanks to Jeremy and Woodsist for putting on an amazing showcase and their continued support of NYCTaper.

I recorded this set with a four-microphone setup from our usual spot at Music Hall, and the sound is excellent.  Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete shows [MUSIC HALL] / [MERCURY].

https://archive.org/details/freshonlys2010-06-25.acidjack

The Fresh & Onlys
2010-06-25
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY  USA

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

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641+DPA 4061>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: LOC, clamp to sound booth, 9ft, hypers DIN, omnis 1.5ft split
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, EQ, set fades, tracking, amplify channels, balance levels, downsample to 16bit>FLAC Level 8

Tracks
01 Fascinated
02 Feelings In My Heart
03 [unknown]
04 Endless Love
05 Invisible Forces
06 Grey-Eyed Girl
07 You’re Known to Wander
08 August In My Mind
09 Waterfall
10 Diamond In the Dark
11 I’m a Thief

https://archive.org/details/freshonlys2009-10-08.acidjack

The Fresh & Onlys2009-10-08

Mercury Lounge, New York, NY

An acidjack master recording

Equipment: AKG ck91 (Busman active mod)>custom BB>R-09HR (24/48)
Position: Clamp to right side of SBD cage, 11ft total height, DIN
Mastering: WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, EQ, downsample)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks
01 intro
02 D.Y.
03 Feelings In My Heart
04 Fascinated
05 Summer of Love
06 Grey-Eyed Girl
07 Invisible Forces
08 Come Dance With Me
09 Happy To Be Living
10 Endless Love
11 [unknown]
12 Clowns (Took My Baby Away)
13 Laughter Is Contagious

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Fresh & Onlys,visit their website, and purchase their records from Woodsist Records here.

[photo by nyctaper]

Talent is an amazing thing to behold up close. When it comes to professional athletes, when you see them in person their amazing physicality is intimidating. Television does not do them justice. Its the same with musical performers. On Saturday, we were invited to capture a private performance at a “backyard brunch” series being presented weekly this summer. Nicole Atkins is a performer of some renowned, as Neptune City her 2007 release on Columbia Records reached number 20 in the Billboard “heatseeker” chart. But from five feet away in a relaxed backyard setting, Nicole’s talent is breathtaking. The Backyard Brunch series is unamplified, and yet even without the benefit of a sound system, her sweet yet powerful voice carried through all the ambient noise of a Saturday afternoon in Williamsburg to thoroughly entertain the intimate crowd. Nicole set included two songs from Neptune City and several songs that we anticipate will appear on her forthcoming album. Nicole Atkins performs again in NYC at the City Winery on August 7, when she returns from an extensive European tour.

I recorded this set with four microphones placed within a few feet of the artist. Other than a few moments of wind and some outside noise, this is quite an exceptional capture. Enjoy!

Stream “Call Me The Witch”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/N1906NicoleAtkins1020/3%20NicoleAtkins2010-06-19_nyctaper_t03.mp3]

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

Nicole Atkins
2010-06-19
Private Backyard Barbeque
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Onstage

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
2010-06-20

Setlist:
[Total Time 34:50]
01 The Way It Is
02 Cry Cry Cry
03 Call Me The Witch
04 [tuning/banter]
05 Monterey Honey
06 Baby Don’t Lie
07 Hotel Plaster
08 The Tower
09 Neptune City

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Nicole Atkins, visit her website, and purchase her official releases and other merch [HERE].

[acidjack is getting a new iPhone soon, and with it, he hopes to take at least somewhat better photos]

You may have noticed that we don’t post recordings by bands that we don’t like.  Therefore, our reviews are almost uniformly positive – which may make it difficult at times to tell the bands we think are really good, and the ones we think are, well, just good.  I hope to clear up any confusion about how I feel about Tidal Arms – these guys, who have been around for less than a year, kick ass. Maybe it was the fact that this show at Cake Shop had lots of good music, but no other heavy bands, and Tidal Arms filled an important void.  It could be that, but I attribute my instantly positive reaction to this band to their musical style and the quality of their playing.  They are heavy, for sure – loud guitars, pounding drums and driving bass – but they don’t fall into the all-too-common trap of one-song-after-another of what sounds like the same song.   Each of their songs, from the slower dirges to the faster numbers, has its own feel, and vocalist/guitarist Tom Tierney mixes up the vocal styles too, with some songs sung and others belted in a metal-ish growl.  Tierney is also a studio guy, so the house sound was particularly dialed in for Tidal Arms’ loud set.

Although Tidal Arms are a new band, their members have a varied history going back several years.  Tierney and bassist Patrick Southern are friends from college, where they studied jazz and played in an electric blues band.  The final piece of the puzzle was drummer Francis Mark, who met Tierney when he stepped in as replacement guitarist for Mark’s previous band, the much-loved stoner metal band Warship.  Over time, the band members have played almost everything: folk, blues, hardcore, metal, and indie pop.  According to Tierney, Tidal Arms now represents the music these guys truly want to make.

Tidal Arms have two shows coming up:  July 24 at Vibe Lounge in Rockville Center, NY and August 14 at The Studio at Webster Hall.  You can also download their new single, “Flooded Meadows” for free (temporarily) on bandcamp.

This set was recorded in the same manner as the Miracles of Modern Science recording, with ceiling-mounted DPA omnidirectional mics and DPA cardioid mics in the audience.  Due in large part to the strong house mix, this recording is even better than the MOMS recording.  You can stream “Flooded Meadows” from this show below, and the MP3 downloads are properly tagged for importing into iTunes.  Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/tidalarms2010-06-17.acidjack

Tidal Arms
2010-06-17
Cake Shop
New York, NY  USA

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

Equipment: DPA 4021+DPA 4061>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: 4021s 6ft from right stack, A-B; 4061s mounted at 3? split above stage
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify/balance channels, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC Level 8

01 Several Circles
02 Wooly Pictures
03 Flooded Meadows
04 The Sun Exploding
05 [tuning]
06 Social Landlord
07 Hair and Teeth

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Tidal Arms, attend their shows, visit their MySpace page, and check out their new single, “Flooded Meadows” which will shortly be available as a 7? and is currently available for free download to the first 500 people who get there on the band’s bandcamp site.