nyctaper Recordings

[these amazing photos were taken for nyctaper by Kate Ehle — many more here]

We liked the Kittens Ablaze 2009 release The Monstrous Vanguard so much that we booked the band twice last Thursday. Kittens headlined the NYCTaper CMJ show at Bruar Falls, and also played the After The Jump showcase at Cake Shop later that evening. While the album is structured and melodic with a definite resemblance to early Death Cab, the live version of Kittens Ablaze is a completely different animal. While lead singer Tim Spellman is anchored to his drummer seat, the other five members of the band move boisterously about the stage in celebration of the music. What separates the band from their contemporaries — the interesting mix of violin, cello, synthesizer and guitars — also adds to the unique presentation of the live performance. Highlights of the show included the sing-along number “This Machine is Dying”, and the opening track on the album and perhaps the band’s strongest number “Gloom Doom Buttercups”.

We recorded this set with two microphones near the stage lip and a feed from the board. In a room of this small size some of the instruments were not sent through the system so there is a slight bit of unbalance to the recording. Otherwise, we are pleased with this capture. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Kittens Ablaze
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 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
2009-10-27

Setlist:
[Total Time 37:01]
01 Strobelight
02 This Machine is Dying
03 Gloom Doom Buttercups
04 Rabbit is a Livewire
05 Hotel Room
06 Evangeline
07 Branches (new song)
08 Wandering Song

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Kittens Ablaze, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase The Monstrous Vanguard from the links at their website [HERE].

[photo by Rez Avissar – courtesy of Pitchfork]

The Showpaper benefit at Market Hotel, produced by ToddP and curated by Ryan Schreiber of Pitchfork, was a marathon musical event but was infinitely worth the time and effort. One of the true revelations of the night, and indeed all of CMJ, was the performance by Real Estate. I had seen the band last summer opening for Love Is All at Music Hall, which was an unmemorable performance where the band suffered through some technical problems. On Saturday, Real Estate was in its element and brought a substantial fan base to the event. The band’s mix of freak folk-rock and psychedelia is rich in guitar band influences and punk ethos, but the most compelling element was the authenticity and the fun-without-self-consciousness in the performance. After a week of seeing far too many bands striking a pose, I welcomed the sounds of a band that seemed to like each other, like themselves, and like the music they were playing.

We recorded this set with the four-track recorder and captured a stereo feed from the board mixed with two Neumann mics in the room. As has been reported elsewhere, there were some significant issues with the sound system during the evening, but fortunately not during this set. The sound quality on this recording is quite clear but somewhat “raw” and unbalanced. With that caveat, enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Real Estate
2009-10-24
Market Hotel
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
2009-10-26

Setlist:
[Total Time 31:05]
01 Pool Swimmers
02 Basement
03 Beach Comber
04 Younger Than Yesterday
05 Suburban Beverage
06 The Mall (Ducktails)
07 Fake Blues

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Real Estate, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their releases from Woodist Records (currently sold out, new release on November 17), Half Machine Records, and Underwater Peoples (currently sold out).

[photo by Oliver Lopena]

What a difference a year can make in the music world. Eleven months ago, I went with The Antlers to a loft party in Fort Greene, where they basically played through someone’s home stereo. I was the only person there to see the Antlers. A couple of weeks later, they played before a crowd of six people in the Tap Room at the old Knitting Factory. At that point, Hospice was finished, the band had little success shopping it to the various record companies and the decision was made to self-release the album. Even the March CD release show, one of my favorite nights of the entire year, was an intimate crowd of family, friends and supporters at Union Hall.

Six months later, on the opening Tuesday night of CMJ at the brooklynvegan showcase, the band played to a sold out Music Hall — the type of big event I predicted for this band a year and a half ago. The packed crowd was there to see the Antlers — many departed after their set — and the band did not disappoint. In a validation for all of us who have followed and championed this band since the early days, the trio delivered a phenomenal performance of intensity and magnitude and wowed the many in attendance.

The Antlers left the U.S. today for an extensive west coast and European tour. Hospice will be released in Europe in November. On December 15, they return to NYC to headline Bowery Ballroom, with Sharon Van Etten as the opener.

We recorded this set with the four-microphone rig from a position in front of the soundboard. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

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

The Antlers
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

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2009-10-22

Setlist:
[Total Time 48:13]
01 Kettering
02 Sylvia
03 Bear
04 Thirteen
05 Atrophy
06 Two
07 Epilogue

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].

[photo by nyctaper]

In a week where they played at the fancy Le Poisson Rouge, at MoMA, and at the architectural wonder The New Museum, on Saturday night No Age returned to their lo-fi roots and their longtime friend ToddP and played a venue that was essentially a warehouse and parking garage in Bushwick. The forty-minute set was a non-stop bundle of power and energy, and excited the frantic crowd to the point of a near riot. The set featured a couple of numbers from their new EP Losing Feeling which was released last week. While the band calmly requested that the non-stop crowd jumpers and surfers avoid crashing into the equipment and not hurt themselves, the show came to a halt when one over-ambitious jumper hit the stage and began bleeding at the end of the song — and you can’t make this stuff up — called “Get Hurt”. The band responded to a strong call to return and finished the show at 2 am with a two-song encore.

ToddP brought in an excellent sound system for this show and the sound in the venue, considering the horrendous acoustics in the warehouse, was actually quite good. We recorded with a stereo feed from the board mixed with the Neumann’s lifted to maximum height at the soundboard area. The result is a really superb capture of this classic DIY event. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

No Age
2009-10-17
Above The Auto Parts Store
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
2009-10-18

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:37]
01 Teen Creeps
02 You’re A Target
03 Here Should Be My Home
04 [new song]
05 Cappo
06 [new song]
07 Every Artist Needs A Tragedy
08 Genie
09 Sleeper Hold
10 Eraser
11 Brain Burner
12 Get Hurt
13 Ripped Knees
14 Boy Void

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT No Age, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the Sub Pop Records website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of David Wells]

The Dodos are currently on an extensive tour in support of their new CD Time to Die. On Tuesday at Music Hall, the trio performed a set consisting primarily of the new album (all but one of the songs were played) in their inimitable hyper-percussive style. Meric Long’s light-speed strumming and fingerpicking guitar work provides the bulk of the melodic structure, but the band’s style is driven by the omnipresent drums of Logan Kroeber. The addition of multi-instrumentalist Keaton Snyder on xylophone and (what else) drums increases the depth of The Dodos sound, but ultimately its still all about the beats. For the set’s highlight number, an eleven-minute version of “The Season”, Meric even got into the drumming spirit, attacking a spare bass drum at the back of the stage before setting the drumsticks upon his prone guitar in a stretched out noisy jam that brought the set to a powerful close.

We recorded this set from the front and center of the balcony. While the instrumentation is quite clear, the sound quality upstairs this night was a bit muddy and the vocals are somewhat buried in the mix. With that caveat, enjoy this excellent set!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Dodos
2009-10-13
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Center Balcony Rail

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
2009-10-14

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:20:00]
01 Small Deaths
02 Two Medicines
03 Paint The Rust
04 Longform
05 Fables
06 Jodi
07 Troll Nacht
08 Acorn Factory
09 Time To Die
10 This Is a Business
11 Red and Purple
12 [encore break]
13 Ashley
14 The Season

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

[photo courtesy of Jack Crank at NGNV — more here]

Acidjack Reports:
“San Francisco’s Om bring a new aesthetic to what could traditionally be considered metal, though it can be hard to put a finger on exactly what to call it. With a steady, brooding cadence, Om’s music has little to nothing in common with the speed demon riffage that typifies the genre — which also explains why their record label and fan base seem to fall, for the most part, decidedly in the indie rock camp. They are playing ATP’s ten-year anniversary show this year, after all. For one, Om do not use standard guitars at all, relying instead of vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros’ bass as the only string instrument. As a result, the sound is heavy (at times overwhelmingly so) with the vocals intoned as much as sung. Some have called it “stoner metal,” but that feels reductionist (not to mention lazy). Om’s sound feels very intentional – their musical structure is said to be informed, in part, by Tibetan chanting, and incorporates some samples Eastern instrumentation – and however much THC may enhance the experience, it is hardly a necessity.

Europa – or Club Europa, as it is known on most nights, when it is “Brooklyn’s most popular Polish-American night club” – was at near-capacity for this show, and Om whipped that crowd into a frenzy despite it being an autumnal Sunday night. Europa’s sound team held nothing back, pushing the house system to capacity to reward the audience with a dense wall of sound. Enjoy!”

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Om
2009-10-11
Europa
Brooklyn, NY USA

An ACIDJACK master recording

Equipment: AKG ck91 carded capsules (Busman Active Mod)>custom battery box>R-09HR (24/48)
Position: Clamp to corner of raised soundboard cage, about 11′ above floor level
Mastering: WAV>Audacity (tracking, downsample, set fades)

1. Rays of the Sun/To the Shrinebuilder
2. Meditation Is the Practice of Death
3. Cremation Ghat I
4. Cremation Ghat II
5. Bhima’s Theme (short version)
6. Flight of the Eagle (encore)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Om, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Om official releases from the Holy Mountain website [HERE].