nyctaper Recordings

[photo courtesy of Jessica Amaya and Stereogum]

Twice in a two-week period this Fall, we saw Crystal Stilts in two very varied venues. On Halloween, the band was part of an excellent bill at 171 Lombardy co-produced by ToddP and Sacred Bones Records that included the psychedelic sludge of Wooden Ships in a classic Todd-style DIY venue. Two Saturdays later, Crystal Stilts was the final band in the marathon Slumberland Records anniversary show at the excellent Bell House. Three of the bands members backed Amy Linton’s return to performance, and then Stilts began their set at 2 a.m. and worked through thirty minutes of their deeply reverbed psych-garage before all parties collapsed in exhaustion.

We recorded both of these set with a soundboard feed mixed together with the Neumann room microphones. The Bell House is a better recording in large part because of the superior sound system (beware of track 02 on the Halloween recording), but both shows are excellent listening experiences. Enjoy!

Direct download of Halloween MP3 files (HERE) and Bell House (HERE).

Download the Complete shows in FLAC: [Halloween] / [Bell House].

Crystal Stilts
2009-10-31
171 Lombardy
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
2009-12-24

Setlist:
[Total Time 30:26]
01 12 String
02
03 Black Hole
04 Seeds
05
06 For The Love Of Ivy (Gun Club)
07 Love Is A Wave
08 New Grave

************

Crystal Stilts
2009-11-14
Slumberland Records 20th Anniversary Concert
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 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
2009-12-24

Setlist:
[Total Time 27:22]
01 Love Is A Wave
02 [tuning – banter]
03 Black Hole
04 Shattered Shine
05 Seeds
06 Prismatic Room
07 New Grave
08 Through the Floor

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Crystal Stilts, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their latest album Alight of Night and other releases directly from Slumberland Records [HERE].

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

At Bowery last Saturday, the Brooklyn art and music collective Uninhabitable Mansions opened for the Antlers and provided the packed house with abundance of talent and songcraft. Drawing members from the bands Au Revoir Simone, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, and the late lamented Dirty on Purpose, UM performed a thirty-five minute set of material from their excellent new release Nature Is A Taker. The songs combine elements of indie-pop and shoegaze and highlight the vocal harmonies of Annie Hart and Robbie Guertin, while focusing on the interplay between melodic guitar lines, keyboards and Doug Marvin’s driving drums.

We recorded this set from the same location and with the same equipment as the Antlers recording, and the sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Uninhabitable Mansions
2009-12-15
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded Behind 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 by nyctaper and acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-12-22

Setlist:
[Total Time 35:34]
01 [introduction]
02 The Speed Is Deceiving
03 This Drift
04 [banter]
05 Static State
06 The Brain Is a Slow Wave
07 Big Kick
08 Ex-Explorers
09 We Already Know
10 Do You Have A Strategy?

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Uninhabitable Mansions, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their releases from the Shop at their website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of SPFlannigan]

Acidjack reports:
“Although the NYCTaper team was on hand at Cameo Gallery last Thursday night, Grandchildren was not originally the focus of the evening. In fact, the Philly-based band had slipped under our radar completely- which was our mistake. Sandwiched in the middle of a bill that featured avant-garde instrumentalists Dangeroo, the ethereal vocalist Julianna Barwick, our hosts Dinosaur Feathers, and the mighty Pterodactyl (all of whose sets are or will be made available here), Grandchildren still stood out among extremely eclectic New York-based bill.

The spare, pseudo-“speakeasy” Cameo Gallery, with its high ceilings and minimal HVAC system, did little to keep out the December cold, and most of the audience stayed bundled up throughout the various sets. That didn’t stop the crowd from responding to Grandchildren and their multi-instrumental approach. With multiple percussionists, keyboards, horns, guitars, bass and vocals, Grandchildren’s sound is large and expansive. With lengthy instrumental stretches with complex, often propulsive percussion and arrangements, as well as the folk-influenced vocal style popular in many quarters these days, Grandchildren sound a little bit like several different bands, but cannot be shoe-horned into any current subgenre. Compared to their current full-length, the excellent Quilts, and their newly-released Cold Warrior EP (from which several of the night’s songs were drawn) the band’s live presentation is wilder and more exuberant. When you share a room with Grandchildren, you quickly understand how accomplished and passionate the artists in this band are. Of the many bands I have had the chance to record and to see this year, Grandchildren were one of the most impressive, and one of the most delightful surprises.

I recorded this and the other sets with the DPA 4021 microphones set up on a stand slightly to the left side of the room in the band, with the microphones about 10 feet up. According to the members of Grandchildren, this is the best recording of them yet!

Thanks to Dinosaur Feathers for inviting and hosting NYCTaper, and to Grandchildren for permitting us to post this recording. Enjoy! ”

Direct download of Grandchildren MP3 files (HERE)

MP3 files of the Julianna Barwick, Dangeroo and Pterodactyl sets are available here [link], here [link] and here [link]. The Dinosaur Feathers set will be a featured download on the site in the next few days.

Download the Complete Grandchildren set in FLAC [HERE].

Grandchildren
2009-12-17
Cameo Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

An ACIDJACK master recording

Recorded and produced by acidjack
Hosted at nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Marantz PMD660 (Oade Concert Mod) (16/44.1)
Position: Slightly LOC, stand at 11′, DIN
Mastering: 16/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (tracking, smooth peaks, amplify each channel, set fades)>FLAC ( level 8 )

I apologize in advance for any tracking errors. Many songs flowed seamlessly and it was at times difficult to discern song breaks.

Setlist:
01 Cold Warrior
02 [crowd]
03 Winterlude
04 Heartbreaker
05 Saturn Returns
06 OK I’m Waiting
07 When You’re Not Looking
08 Anthill
09 Toss and Turn

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Grandchildren, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their EP when it is released by Green Owl Records [HERE].

[photo by nyctaper]

On the Saturday night of the Great Blizzard of 2009, Grant Hart performed before a fairly modest crowd at the 92Y Tribeca. Ever gregarious, Grant chatted with the diehards before, during and after the show. His inspired set drew equally from the three phases of his career, with seven Husker Du numbers scattered among a twenty-one song set that also included Nova Mob and solo material. Grant is currently on tour in support of his latest album Hot Wax. Grant Hart returns to NYC next month for gigs at Cake Shop on January 14, Knitting Factory on January 15, and also an as yet unconfirmed date at either Bell House or Union Hall.

We recorded this set with a soundboard feed supplemented with the Neumann microphones mounted fifteen feet from the stage. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Grant Hart
2009-12-19
92Y Tribeca
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
2009-12-20

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:16:38]
01 You’re the Reflection of the Moon on the Water
02 [banter]
03 Please Don’t Ask
04 Little Miss Information
05 [banter]
06 Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely
07 No One Cares for Me
08 Remains To Be Seen
09 Books About UFOs
10 Narcissus Narcissus
11 [banter]
12 Barbara
13 Green Eyes
14 California Zephyr
15 2541
16 Terms of Psychic Warfare
17 [banter]
18 [new song]
19 Turn on the News
20 The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
21 My Regrets
22 Admiral of the Sea
23 The Last Days of Pompeii
24 [encore break]
25 Pink Turns to Blue
26 Shoot Your Way To Freedom

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Grant Hart, visit his website, and purchase his new album Hot Wax from the links at his website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of Jeremy Arambulo]

Acidjack reports:
“JEFF the Brotherhood (yes, that is the proper capitalization) is a throwback to the nights when you rode around in your buddy’s Camaro, getting mellow on that patented combination of High Life and bong hits, listening to a brand of rock and roll that didn’t pretend to be more than it was – the soundtrack to a good time. As artrocker.com put it, “if Queens of the Stone Age were cooler, less annoyingly precise and more punk rock then they’d probably sound like The Brotherhood. There are monstrous riffs, gnarly solos, metal fuzz, sing along choruses. And then there’s PIL style atonal tunery and Misfits mosh parts.”

Opening for Ted Leo and the Pharmacists on a Sunday night is probably not the ideal way to experience JtB, a Nashville two piece that executes the well-received two-man-party-jam formula with great success. These are Friday night songs, and indeed, JtB rocked the house as if that were the case. From the Sabbath-inspired chords of “Mind Ride” straight through, JtB’s set was light on filler, heavy on fun and inflected with a sense of humor that is sometimes missing from bands on the NYC scene. Don’t miss them the next time they come through. No Camaro required.”

This set was recorded under the same circumstances as the Ted Leo recording and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

JEFF the Brotherhood
2009-12-06
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

An ACIDJACK master recording

Recorded and produced by acidjack
Hosted at nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Marantz PMD660 (16/44.1)
Position: Clamp to left side of soundboard, 8′ height, DIN
Mastering: 16/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify each channel)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks (some setlist help needed)
01 Mind Ride
02 U Got the Look
03 Heavy Damage
04 crowd
05
06 Bone Jam
07 Dreamscape
08 crowd
09
10
11

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT JEFF the Brotherhood, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new album Heavy Days from the Infinity Cat Records website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of Tim Griffin – posted originally at brooklynvegan]

Fanfarlo play NYC again tomorrow night, December 18 at Webster Hall. Tickets are still available.

On the opening night of CMJ 2009, Fanfarlo headlined the Brooklynvegan CMJ show at Music Hall to a packed house. Earlier in the day, we literally struggled with the crowd to get into the main room of Pianos to see Fanfarlo at the Music Slut party. On the heels of their outstanding debut album Reservoir, Fanfarlo quickly became a worthy CMJ “buzz band”. Their music combines traditional folk instruments (violin, mandolin, accordian) with indie-pop and adds a lead trumpet to attain a fairly unique mix of styles. The band members hail from England, Sweden and Belgium. The set from this particular show focused primarily on the album material, and closed the set with an excellent verion of the early single “The Few Outsiders”.

We recorded this set in the same location and with the same equipment as the Antlers recording from the same night, but this set contains more audience chatter. With that caveat, enjoy!

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

Fanfarlo
2009-10-20
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

Premiere Download offered at
https://www.nyctaper.com
nyctaper@nyctaper.com

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2009-12-17

Setlist:
[Total Time 48:30]
01 Drowning Men
02 I’m A Pilot
03 [banter]
04 Finish Line
05 Harold T. Wilkins
06 [new song]
07 The Walls Are Coming Down
08 Comets
09 Luna
10 [encore break]
11 Ghosts
12 You Are One Of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Fanfarlo, visit their website, and purchase Reservoir directly from Store at their website [HERE].

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

As the climax of what Peter Silberman called the “best year of [his] life” from the stage last night, The Antlers performed consensus album of the year Hospice songs to a sold out Bowery Ballroom — a room packed to walls yet eerily quiet during the music. We have meticulously chronicled the band’s evolution over these last few years, and last night was certainly the intensely satisfying culmination of many aspirations and expectations. In today’s New York Times, Jon Parales described the concert:

In an enthralling concert at the Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night, playing the songs from “Hospice” to a rapt audience, the Antlers (from Brooklyn) made clear that the music was not just a vehicle for the story. It was its own molten element, moving at its own pace. Songs emerged from, and sometimes dissolved back into, stretches of abstract sound: Mr. Silberman’s guitar feedback darkening like storm clouds, Darby Cicci’s hissing or whooshing keyboard sounds, Michael Lerner’s atmospheric cymbals, the band’s loops and layers of static and effects that only gradually led into chords and rhythms. Eventually they were topped by the words.

At nearly ninety minutes, The Antlers performed what Peter later described to me as the longest set they have ever played. The band also debuted an as yet untitled new song. Additionally, there was a special appearance by Sharon Van Etten on both “Thirteen”, which she sings on the album, but also on the set-closing epic “Wake”. The intensity of the performance of the album’s climax moment was awe-inspiring as Peter, Sharon and Darby sang the final words “don’t ever let anyone tell you you deserve that” in perfect harmony and unison. It was a moment that we will not soon forget.

This set was recorded by both nyctaper and acidjack. We set up in the center of the balcony and rose the microphone pole up over 10 feet with four microphones. This excellent recording captures the excellent sound quality in the venue and the depth of the performance. Enjoy!

Uninhabitable Mansions and Sharon Van Etten were also recorded and will be posted soon.

FLAC and MP3 Downloads of this show are now available at Archive.org [HERE]

Antlers
2009-12-15
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded Behind 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 by nyctaper and acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-12-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:24:29]
01 Thirteen*
02 Kettering
03 Sylvia
04 Bear
05 Atrophy
06 [Untitled new song]
07 Two
08 Shiva
09 [banter]
10 Wake*
11 [encore break]
12 Cold War
13 Epilogue
*with Sharon Van Etten

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Antlers, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Hospice directly from Frenchkiss Records [HERE].

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

John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats has a tremendous knack for selecting instinctually perfectly-matching opening bands for his tours. Recent openers have included John Vanderslice and Kaki King, but for the just-finished tour the immensely talented Canadian artist Owen Pallett was selected. Owen’s solo project Final Fantasy builds each song as a musical mosaic, layering individually played samples of violin, keyboards and effects into his own solo symphony. Like the Mountain Goats, Owen’s lyrics create a little world within each song and use intentionally exaggerated metaphor to convey complex internal emotions often with a satirical edge. While onstage he appears as the proverbial serious musician, its the lighter and off-beat edgier side that makes Owen’s music so interesting. Accompanied on this tour by the guitarist Thomas Gill, Final Fantasy performed an exceptional forty-five minute set at Webster Hall which featured five songs from his much anticipated January release of Heartland.

Final Fantasy returns to NYC to perform at Bowery Ballroom on January 18.

We recorded this set from the same location as the Mountain Goats set, but used the DPA microphones in combination with the stereo soundboard feed to maximize the room feel. This is another outstanding capture of this amazing night of music. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Final Fantasy
2009-12-01
Webster Hall
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + DPA 4021s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 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
2009-12-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:26]
01 [introduction]
02 Keep The Dog Quiet
03 The Great Elsewhere
04 Flare Gun
05 The Butcher
06 He Poos Clouds
07 The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead
08 Independence Is No Solution (The Blankket)
09 Many Lives -> 49 MP
10 Lewis Takes Action
11 Midnight Directives
12 Lewis Takes Off His Shirt

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Final Fantasy, visit the website, visit the MySpace page, and pre-order Heartland (January release) from the Domino Records website [HERE].

[photos courtesy of Maryanne Ventrice]

On a night of celebration, O’Death played an energetic and thoroughly entertaining set in what may be their last show for quite some time. Last night at Brooklyn Bowl, the band headlined a show that was both the holiday show for The Music Slut blog and a birthday celebration for TMS’s founder Jen. Apart from the surroundings, what made this show special was the extraordinary effort of one member of the band — a truly remarkable exercise in courage and fortitude. O’Death drummer Dave Rogers-Berry is fighting cancer and will be going through another series of procedures this coming week. If any of the fans attending the concert were unaware of this fact, the music coming from the stage would not have given them a clue. Dave played as he has always performed at O’Death shows, enthusiastic and indefatigable. In their fifty-minute set, the band split the setlist evenly among their two excellent full-lengths, Head Home and Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin, and finished the set with a rousing “Allie Mae”.

We recorded this set with a four-channel mix of the soundboard and two microphones set back at the board cage. The room noise (bowling!) was not nearly as loud as the last time we visited this venue. Nevertheless, the mix is 70% board and 30% audience, and the potential delay or drift was remedied in post production with a time shift. The result in a superb capture of an outstanding concert. Enjoy!

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

O’Death
2009-12-12
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 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
2009-12-13

Setlist:
[Total Time 49:37]
01 Underwater Nightmare
02 Adelita
03 On An Aching Sea
04 Only Daughter
05 Spider Home
06 Fire On Peshtigo
07 Mountain Shifts
08 Legs To Sin
09 Home
10 Lowtide
11 Down To Rest
12 A Light That Does Not Dim
13 [tuning – banter]
14 Allie Mae Reynolds

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT O’Death, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their latest CD from the Store at the O’Death website [HERE]

[still photo from this video]

The video linked above is from the Bowery Ballroom last night, the second of two shows the Fiery Furnaces played this weekend. After trips to Europe and the West coast, the Furnaces returned home to play Music Hall on Friday night. In a venue with which the band is intimately familiar — they’ve played here going all the way back to its existence as North Sixth, and friends of the band actually live in the building — Fiery Furnaces displayed the incredible musical interplay that has developed within the band. Throughout the night, Matt on guitar and Jason Loewenstein on bass prodded and cajoled each other, at times jokingly misplaying the downbeats (“Automatic Husband”) and during other number expanding the music to newer and deeper places (“Japanese Slippers”). The setlist was somewhat similar to the November show at Maxwell’s, and while this is the eleventh time we have recorded Fiery Furnaces for nyctaper, its the first time we have ever seen “Crystal Clear” and only the second time for “Asthma Attack”.

This set was recorded from the front left corner of the soundboard with the four-microphone rig and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Fiery Furnaces
2009-12-11
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
2009-12-12

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:23:28]
01 Rub Alcohol Blues
02 Charmaine Champagne
03 Duplexes Of The Dead
04 Automatic Husband
05 Ex-Guru
06 Chris Michaels
07 The End Is Near
08 Keep Me in the Dark
09 Up In The North
10 Staring at the Steeple
11 Drive to Dallas
12 Evergreen
13 Crystal Clear
14 Cut The Cake
15 Ray Bouvier
16 Worry Worry
17 [encore break]
18 Japanese Slippers
19 Navy Nurse
20 Two Fat Feet
21 Asthma Attack
22 I’m In No Mood / Candymaker’s Knife / I’m In No Mood
23 Tropical Iceland
24 Here Comes The Summer

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.