nyctaper Recordings

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!

Download and stream the complete show [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!

Download and stream the complete show [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!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/FieryFurnaces2009-12-11

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.

[photo courtesy of David Wells]

J. Tillman was interviewed by Jarrod Dicker for nyctaper (see above), so we will defer to Jarrod’s excellent interview for the biographical data regarding the artist. On this November Monday night at Bell House, Josh was backed by a band of Pacific Northwestern “best friends”, including brother Zach. The setlist drew almost exclusively from his two 2009 albums Vacilando Territory Blues and Year In The Kingdom. While the quieter numbers focused on Josh’s authentic and almost mystical rich vocal skills, the band numbers highlighted the tight structure of a country-folk unit well versed in the genre and with each other.

We recorded this set with a four channel feed from the audience and soundboard. The sound quality is quite excellent during the band numbers, but almost too quiet during the solo songs. A large enhancement of volume during the solo numbers did bring out some ambient noise from the room, which does not significantly detract from the listening experience. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/jtillman2009-11-16.nyctaper

J. Tillman
2009-11-16
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
2009-12-10

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:35:59]
01 All You See
02 When I Light Your Darkened Door
03 No Occasion
04 Firstborn
05 With Wolves
06 Vacilando Territory
07 [banter – tech problem]
08 Vessels
09 Howling Light
10 Crosswinds
11 Though I Have Wronged You
12 Barter Blues
13 Master’s House
14 [banter]
15 There Is No Good In Me
16 New Imperial Grand Blues
17 [encore break]
18 James Blues
19 The Last Black Sea
20 Year in the Kingdom

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT J. Tillman, visit his MySpace page, and purchase his official releases from the Bella Union Records website [HERE] and the Yer Bird Records website [HERE].

It must have been quite rewarding for Slumberland Records Mike Schulman that at the 20th Anniversary concerts, bands seemed to come out of the woodwork to play for him. The Ropers released one album and few 7″ records for Slumberland, but had broken up in the mid-90’s and had not released any new material since 1995. But at the anniversary concerts, as they opened with “Waiting” from their debut 7″, The Ropers sounded very much like they had fifteen years ago — tight, melodic dream-pop music.

This set was recorded as have been all the other ones from this show, and this particular mix is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/Ropers2009-11-14.nyctaper

Ropers
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
2009-12-09

Setlist: (setlist help via)
[Total Time 26:56]
01 Waiting
02 I Don’t Mind
03 Sweet Lord I Know
04 Revolver
05 Home
06 Empty Bottle
07 Please Understand
08 Paste

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Ropers, and purchase their releases which are still available from Slumberland Records website [here].

[photo by Jordan]

Of Sloan’s two local shows last week, Monday night at Maxwell’s was a much more intimate and loose show. The band worked quickly through some of the setlist and spent much of the night chatting and joking with the fanatics. When it came time for the encore segment, instead of performing just a couple of numbers, the band decided to employ the “Sloan Jukebox” and performed fast and furious sections of fan-requested songs. Teetering on the edge of cacophony, Sloan finished the set strongly with a rousing “Good in Everyone”.

Acidjack recorded this set from the standard location in this venue, in front of the right side of the soundboard. The DPA mics captured an excellent recording, rich with the band’s music and interplay with the crowd. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/Sloan2009-11-30.acidjack

Sloan
2009-11-30
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from front of Soundboard Booth

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, crossfade, level boost) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by Acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-12-08

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:04:49]
01 [introduction]
02 Take It Upon Yourself
03 Burn For It
04 Don’t You Believe a Word
05 Autobiography
06 [banter]
07 Stand By Me, Yeah
08 Who You Talkin’ To
09 Believe in Me
10 Fading Into Obscurity
11 The N.S.
12 [new song]
13 [banter]
14 The Great Wall
15 Where Are You Now?
16 Another Way I Could Do It
17 [encore break]
18 Marcus Said
19 [banter / aborted song]
20 Live On
21 Witch’s Wand
22 Bells On
23 [banter]
24 So Beyond Me
25 The Good In Everyone

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Sloan, visit their website, and purchase Sloan’s official releases, which are all available via digital download at the website in mp3, apple lossless and FLAC [HERE].