nyctaper Recordings

[photo courtesy of Bill Holtzheimer]

Steve Wynn’s 50th birthday party was a Miracle 3 show before a packed crowd last night at the intimate Lakeside Lounge. Although the show was fairly low profile in terms of publicity, enough of the word got out to fill the place to capacity with friends and longtime fans. As Steve received many well wishes and congratulations, he gave back to the fans with an energetic ninety-minute set that featured a plethora of rare numbers, covers, and a special appearance from his Danny & Dusty partner Dan Stuart. Not content to complete the show after the traditional Lakeside hour, the band kept up the heat with a blistering trifecta finale of “Amphetamine” “Let it Rain” and “The Days of Wine and Roses”. Steve and the Miracle 3 are in the process of recording a new album, and will not perform again until May.

I recorded this set from the seated area ten feet from the stage. Although the modest sound system in the venue does not output much sonic power, the closeness of the microphones yielded a recording of great clarity and intimacy. Enjoy!

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

Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3
2010-02-19
Lakeside Lounge
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded Upfront
10 Feet from Stage

Neumann KM-150s > 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
2010-02-20

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:22:15]
01 Some Kinda Itch
02 Sustain
03 Out Of This World
04 Older
05 Cindy, It Was Always You
06 [banter]
07 The Side I’ll Never Show
08 No Tomorrow
09 [banter]
10 Baby, We All Gotta Go Down (Dan Stuart)
11 Why
12 [Happy Birthday]
13 The Deep End
14 Melting In The Dark
15 Amphetamine
16 Let It Rain (Clapton)
17 The Days Of Wine And Roses

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Steve Wynn, visit his website, visit his MySpace page, and purchase his official releases from the Steve Wynn Store at his website.

[photo courtesy of Maryanne Ventrice and Prefix Magazine]

Acidjack reports:
Brooklyn’s Bear In Heaven are increasingly looking like a band that is going places. After their sold out show at Mercury Lounge in January it was starting to look like the Pitchfork-acclaimed band was on its way to being the next big thing. Watching the crowd swell well beyond fire-hazard capacity at Glasslands last night, it is safe to say that is true. Every inch of the venue was stuffed with partiers and fans waiting to see this band open for Secret Machines, even though it was clear that they could easily have been the headliner. As was the case at Mercury, the band’s bass-driven sound caused some sound problems early on, but once that cleared up, fans seemed to get the point. The band’s set drew entirely from their recent Beast Rest Forth Mouth, including a typically rousing rendition of “Lovesick Teenager” that got the crowd moving.

I recorded this set from a clamp to the floor of the balcony, directly in front of the stacks. Although the difficulties in the house mix are evident in the first few songs, I have cleaned the sound up to make an excellent mix. Enjoy!”

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Bear In Heaven
2010-02-19
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack
Exclusive download at nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to center of balcony floor, DIN
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, EQ, amplify each channel)>FLAC ( level 8 )

01 Drug A Wheel
02 Fake Out
03 Ultimate Satisfaction
04 Wholehearted Mess
05 Lovesick Teenager
06 Beast In Peace
07 banter
08 Dust Cloud
09 You Do You
10 Casual Goodbye

If you email nyctaper for access to these recordings, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Bear in Heaven, visit their website, and purchase their official releases directly from the Hometapes Records site [HERE].

[photos courtesy of Drew Katchen]

Acidjack reports:
“Watching the mighty F*cked Up, you get the sense that lead singer Damian Abraham — such a student and fan of music that the band even has a song about collecting vinyl — studied everything he liked about punk rock shows, and decided to put it all into his own performances. Talk to the crowd — not too much, but just enough that they get to know you. Hell, take the mic and actually be in the crowd during some songs. Treat crowd surfers like your friends, instead of annoyances. Let fans sing into the mic, from time to time. If you talk to the crowd, be funny. Don’t be self conscious — at all. Oh–and be really, really good. F*cked Up do all of that, and all of that was on display this Thursday night. They treat their audience the way more bands ought to treat them — like friends, like part of the show (which in this band’s case, they often are). However, F*cked Up have earned their considerable “crossover” (read: Pitchfork instead of punk set) audience (and their 2009 Polaris Prize) ultimately on the strength of their musicianship, the intensity of the band’s delivery. This is the perfect band to see at Maxwell’s, which already can feel like your private indie rock living room filled with a few friends. This show featured the band doing some great covers of the Sex Pistols’ “Bodies” and Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown” as well as songs from their excellent The Chemistry of Common Life and their singles comp, Couple Tracks. I recorded this set from back at the soundboard with a stereo board feed plus Beyerdynamic hypercardioid mics. The band did not do a soundcheck, so the listener may find the guitar is a touch lower in the mix than normal due to not being run through the board or PA.

Thanks to F*cked Up, and in particular Sandy Miranda, for permitting this recording, and to Maxwell’s for the board feed. Also, as the band themselves asked the same, I encourage you in particular to purchase the band’s $.99 benefit single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas” which features several celebrity guests and benefits organizations working to bring an end to the epidemic of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. The track can be purchased (as Matador suggests) from iTunes here.
Enjoy!”

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE]

F*cked Up
2010-02-18
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ

An acidjack master recording
recorded and produced by acidjack
hosted at nyctaper.com

Equipment: Stereo soundboard feed + Beyerdynamic MC950 hypercardiods>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to back right of SBD cage, 9′ of height
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify channels to -0.1dB>FLAC ( level 8 )

Setlist:
01 intro
02 Twice Born
03 David Comes to Life
04 banter
05 Hold It
06 Son the Father
07 Black Albino Bones
08 Crusades
09 banter
10 Mustaa Lunta
11 I Hate Summer
12 banter
13 Baiting the Public
14 No Epiphany
15 banter
16 David’s Plan
17 Bodies (Sex Pistols)
18 banter
19 Police
20 encore break
21 Circling the Drain
22 Nervous Breakdown

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT F*cked Up, visit their blog, and purchase their official releases directly from their page at the Matador Records website [here].

[photo courtesy of Jonny Leather]

Acidjack reports:
Cincinnati, OH’s Bad Veins, the duo of lead singer/songwriter Benjamin Davis and percussionist Sebastien Schultz, are probably the first band I have seen use an old rotary phone as a mic (in addition to a regular mic).  Davis’ songs are instantly catchy, all pop hooks and easily discernible vocals (the easier to hum that way). Long after I had left the Knit, I found “I’m Afraid” and “Gold and Warm” stuck in my head, in particular. That rotary phone is used appropriately and sparingly, giving Davis’s otherwise rich, clean voice the necessary indiepop fuzz. The band are presently on tour behind their excellent record, Bad Veins, released last year on Dangerbird Records.  This set, opening for We Were Promised Jetpacks (the recording which we hope will be authorized by the band and posted shortly), was a relatively short one, but it gave an excellent sense of the promise of this band.  The recording was made using a high-quality stereo soundboard feed and DPA microphones from the optimum spot in the venue, and the sound is superior.  Enjoy!

Thanks to the Knitting Factory for the high-quality board feed, and to Bad Veins and Dangerbird Records for inviting nyctaper to record this performance.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Bad Veins
2010-02-15
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY

An acidjack master recording
recorded and produced by acidjack

Equipment: Stereo soundboard feed + DPA 4021 microphones>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to soundboard cage, mics at 9′, DIN
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify channel to -0.1dB)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Setlist:
01 Found
02 Gold and Warm
03 Crosseyed
04 Afraid
05 Dry Out
06 Falling Tide
07 The Lie

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Bad Veins, visit their website, and purchase their debut album directly from the Dangerbird Records website [here].

[photo by Victoria Renard]

Acidjack reports:
“Compared to some bands I have seen lately (like the totally unrelated Dinowalrus and Dinosaur Feathers, for example), The Vandelles have a readily classifiable sound. Their feedback-drenched, fuzzed-out surf-rock will be instantly recognizable to fans of bands like the Raveonettes, Singapore Sling, and recent tourmates Serena-Maneesh. That is not to say they are generic or uninteresting, however, as their songwriting and performance, including an all-female rhythm section, rises above their influences. At Littlefield last week, the band played with the lights off with only abstract video projections providing light, tearing through older material and songs from their self-titled EP, including their obvious bid for stardom, the soundtrack-ready (as in, easy to imagine in some sort of noir chase or murder scene) “Lovely Weather”. Even though, like Dinowalrus, the band had a few instances of equipment/sound desk trouble, their set was a strong end to another night of the Sounds Like Brooklyn festival.”

This set was recorded under the same conditions as the Dinowalrus recording and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

The Vandelles are playing again this coming week on Friday February 26 at Cake Shop on an excellent bill that includes nyctaper favorites MiniBoone and El Jezel.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Vandelles
2010-02-04
Littlefield
Brooklyn, NY

an acidjack master recording

recorded and produced by acidjack
hosted by nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Center, micas at 8′, DIN
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify each channel, light EQ)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Setlist:
01 Get Down
02
03 banter/tuning
04 Bomb the Surf
05 banter/tuning
06 California Killer
07 banter/tuning
08 Lovely Weather
09 Swell to Heaven
10
11 Dash N’ Dive
12 Bad Volcano

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Vandelles, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases directly from the SVC Records [here].

[photo by nyctaper]

The last time we saw Frankie Rose and The Outs, they performed a too-brief seventeen minute set at the Slumberland Anniversary show. My vantage point at Bell House did not give me much of a feel for the band, but the recording captures the particular qualities of this group. Frankie’s experience with garage rock, Spector-style girl groups, and lo-fi all seemed to coalesce with the Outs into a harmony-rich guitar driven quintet with grit. At Monster Island on Saturday, we stood a couple of feet from the band and took in a real appreciation of the group in what would be an eight-song and fortunately longer set than in November. At this point, the band has only released one 7 inch (“Thee Only One” on Slumberland Records), but all the songs still seem vaguely familiar and some were played at Bell House. I expect when all the songs are compiled into an anticipated full length album, it will be a fine collection and a critical success. The quality of the performances bear that out.

Frankie and The Outs have several local gigs upcoming, including this Friday night at Europa, this Sunday night at Mercury Lounge, and an May date at Bell House opening for the Primitives.

We recorded this set with the same equipment and location as the So Cow recording and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Frankie Rose And The Outs
2010-02-13
Monster Island Basement
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 16bit 44.1kHz 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
2010-02-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 24:41]
01 Little Brown Hair
02 That’s What People Told Me
03 Save Me
04 [new song false start]
05 [new song]
06 Thee Only One
07 Must Be Nice
08 Don’t Tread on Me
09 Girlfriend

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Frankie Rose, visit her MySpace page, and purchase her new single “Thee Only One” from the Slumberland Records website [here].

[photo by nyctaper]

As the recording project of Galway County Ireland’s Brian Kelly, So Cow has produced a plethora of neat two-minute guitar punk-pop songs that have been compiled into two excellent albums. As a live band, So Cow is a guitar-bass-drums trio that emphasizes the punk element of the music with a clear focus on frenetic frontman Kelly. At Monster Island on Saturday night, So Cow distinguished themselves on the excellent five band bill with an energetic twelve-song twenty-nine minute set. The setlist was compiled from both l.p.’s, with an emphasis on 2009’s self-titled album. So Cow is in the early stages of a two-month US tour that will carry them across the country and back. I spoke to Kelly briefly after the show and he revealed that the band will return to NYC in early April for an as-yet unannounced Mercury Lounge show. We’ll be there.

I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones elevated at eight feet on the pole ten feet from the stage, and mixed it with a feed from the soundboard. The results are superb. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

So Cow
2010-02-13
Monster Island Basement
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 16bit 44.1kHz 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
2010-02-15

Setlist:
[Total Time 29:03]
01 So Cow Vs. The Future [false start]
02 So Cow Vs. The Future
03 Greetings
04 Ping Pong Rock
05 Bat Toes
06 Dunno
07 Girl Racer
08 One Hundred Helens
09 High Standards
10 Runaway (Del Shannon)
11 Moon Guen Young
12 Ain’t No Fun
13 [banter]
14 Casablanca

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT So Cow, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their two LPs from Tic Tac Totally! Records [HERE] and [HERE].

[photos taken for nyctaper by Kate Ehle – many more here]

Back in October, fresh off their sell-out coming-out show at Joe’s Pub, Emanuel and The Fear played the NYCTaper CMJ show at Bruar Falls. Their thirty minute set was well received by the crowd, as the nearly dozen band members squeezed onto to the small stage. For the last several months, the band has been in the studio and finished their debut full-length, which is due on March 9.

On March 10, Emanuel and The Fear will celebrate the release of the album Listen with a special show at Gramercy Theatre that features the NYU Symphony Orchestra, along with The Fear — which increases the size of the band from eleven to 25!

This CMJ show was recorded with the Neumann microphones on stage mixed with a feed from the soundboard. While its not a multi-track that would be necessary to capture an ideal recording of this band, the sound quality is nevertheless quite excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Emanuel And The Fear
2009-10-22
Bruar Falls
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 16bit 44.1kHz 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
2010-02-10

Setlist:
[Total Time 24:32]
01 Guatemala
02 [banter]
03 Jimme’s Song
04 Song For a Girl
05 Free Life
06 Want To Be

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Emanuel and The Fear, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their debut EP and their debut album Listen (due on March 9) from Paper Garden Records [HERE].

[photo courtesy of Rebecca Smeyne]

Acidjack reports:
“Dinowalrus co-headlined a night of the Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival at the out of the way and wildly underappreciated Littlefield, a venue that, with a great space, reasonably priced drinks, and a good sound system, deserves your love. Dinowalrus sound very little like anything else out there. The band brings it with the feedback-drenched guitar that is at times reminiscent of early Sonic Youth, and their arrangements can stretch well beyond the five-minute mark, but they certainly aren’t a “noise” or “drone” band by any stretch of the imagination, mixing spastic bursts of noise, keyboards and drum machines into their ever-evolving sound. Despite some difficulty getting things in line sound-wise, the band put on a strong six-song set that, surprisingly (but as they warned) did not focus heavily on their new release, %. The highlight was probably the closing 10-minute jam with the Vandelles, whose set will appear on nyctaper in the coming days.”

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Dinowalrus
2010-02-04
Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival
Littlefield
Brooklyn, NY

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

Equipment: DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Center, rear of room, mics at 8′, DIN
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, slight EQ, amplify each channel)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 intro
02
03
04 No Vacancies
05
06 banter
07 Nuke Duke ‘Em
08

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Dinowalrus, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases directly from the MERCH section of their website (here) or from Kanine Records [here].

[photo courtesy of Adam Weinberg]

Acidjack Reports:
“The Midnight Masses MySpace page describes their genre as “soul.” Some dude at the Music Hall bar said, “that guy sounds like the guy from Kings of Leon!” I’m not really sure either of those are true. People hear a lot of influences from this band: The Doors, Spiritualized, Billie Holliday(!), and that may be because they don’t quite sound like anybody, though Time Out called them “jaw-droppingly good.” That, I can agree with. Midnight Masses in its current incarnation is a large band of collaborators (featuring members of Trail of Dead and Here We Go Magic, among others) with a big, rich sound that includes a string section and heartfelt lyrics from singer Autry Rene Fulbright, who wrote many of these songs about the passing of his father. As such, the band’s live show manages to be both grandiose and intensely personal– and as a result, captivating. At this Music Hall performance, the band delved into a rendition of Sonic Youth’s “Do You Believe In Rapture?” that puts an entirely new spin on the song, and can also be heard on Midnight Masses’ excellent EP, Rapture Ready I Gazed at the Body. Check them out, both their great EPs and their upcoming residence every Wednesday in February at Union Pool.

I recorded this set with the DPA microphones on a pole clamped to the soundboard cage, with the mics well above the crowd to minimize crowd noise. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!”

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Midnight Masses
2010-01-29
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY

An acidjack master recording

Equipment: DPA 4021>Naiant littlebox>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to left side of SBD cage, 10′ of total height
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify each channel)>FLAC ( level 8 )

09 Tracks (setlist help needed)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Midnight Masses, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new EPs directly from the Team Love Records website (here).