nyctaper Recordings

[photo courtesy of Tinnitus Photography]

Radio City Music Hall was the perfect venue for the Decemberists to present The Hazards of Love in its entirety. On Wednesday night, the band took to the big stage with an impressive backdrop and excellent mood lighting. The Hazards of Love narrates a fantasy story of forest-dwellers that seemed appropriate for the venue’s proximity to Broadway. As the Decemberists performed the album straight through as a suite, the strength of the music and the performance were as breathtaking as the setting. The guest performers Shara Worden and Becky Stark, outstanding artists in their own right, were strong complimentary figures who did not outshine the star of the evening — singer, guitarist and composer Colin Meloy.

We recorded from an outstanding location in this venue with our best mobile rig. We sat three rows directly in front of the soundboard in the dead center of the room. The sound for this cavernous venue was quite excellent, but we were unluckily seated next to three guys who felt compelled to scream like little girls on a regular basis. While they do not ruin the recording, their persistent idiocy is nevertheless apparent on many occasions during the recording. With that caveat, enjoy what is an excellent capture of a superb concert!

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

The Decemberists
2009-06-10
Radio City Music Hall
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from 3 Rows in Front of Soundboard
Dead Center Row E

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

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2009-06-13

Setlist:
Set 1: The Hazards of Love
[Total Time 56:42]
01 Prelude
02 The Hazards of Love 1
03 A Bower Scene
04 Won’t Want for Love
05 The Hazards of Love 2
06 Isn’t It a Lovely Night?
07 The Wanting Comes in Waves
08 An Interlude
09 The Rake’s Song
10 The Abduction of Margaret
11 The Queen’s Rebuke
12 The Crossing
13 Annan Water
14 Margaret in Captivity
15 The Hazards of Love 3
16 The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)
17 The Hazards of Love 4

Set 2
[Total Time 53:35]
01 //The Crane Wife 3
02 July, July!
03 Billy Liar
04 Sleepless
05 The Bachelor and the Bride
06 Dracula’s Daughter
07 O Valencia!
08 The Chimbley Sweep
09 Crazy on You (Heart)
10 [encore break]
11 Begin the Begin (REM)
12 Sons and Daughters

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Decemberists, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Decemberists Shop at their website [here].

[photo courtesy of Self-Titled Magazine – more here]

Its been almost a year since we last saw Fiery Furnaces live, at East River Park last July. In that time, the band has produced a new CD I’m Going Away, due to be released on July 1. At Le Poisson Rouge last night, the Furnaces performed “in the round”, or the center stage at LPR that permits the crowd to surround the performance area while the band can project in any direction — a set-up appropriate for this band.

The band consisted of the core touring band for the Furnaces, with Bob D’Amico on drums and Jason Loewenstein on bass, with Eleanor limited to vocals and Matt exclusively on guitar. It was strange to see the Furnaces without any keyboards on stage whatsoever (it was just 14 months ago at Southpaw when they were a two keyboard band!). As a guitar band, the quartet offered a straightforward rock version of the new I’m Going Away in its entirety, along with stripped down versions of nine other classics.

We recorded this set as a digital XLR plug-in to the state of the art multitrack digital soundboard at Le Poisson Rouge. We captured with the R-44 and the sound quality is superb, if a bit heavy on the vocals. Enjoy!

Exclusive: The next Fiery Furnaces concert in NYC will be the Williamsburg Waterfront Concerts on August 9.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Fiery Furnaces
2009-06-11
Le Poisson Rouge
New York, NY USA

Multitrack Digital Stereo Soundboard
Master Recording

Multitrack Digital Soundboard > XLR Monster Cables > Edirol R-44 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2009-06-12

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:28:48]
01 Here Comes the Summer
02 Leaky Tunnel
03 Chris Michaels
04 I’m Going Away
05 The End Is Near
06 Charmaine Champagne
07 Cut the Cake
08 Ray Bouvier
09 Staring at the Steeple
10 Even in the Rain
11 Keep Me in the Dark
12 Lost at Sea
13 Cups and Punches (Charmaine Champagne – alternate version)
14 Take Me Round Again
15 Drive To Dallas
16 Duplexes of the Dead
17 Automatic Husband
18 Ex-Guru
19 Worry Worry
20 Wolf Notes
21 [encore break]
22 Single Again

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.

The Decemberists concert at Radio City Music Hall tonight ended just a couple of hours ago. For the first encore, in a really nice surprise Colin Meloy brought Peter Buck on stage and the band performed a near-perfect rendition of the REM classic “Begin The Begin”, the opening track on 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant.

Download a flac or mp3 recording of this first time cover:
Decemberists (with Peter Buck) Begin The Begin – FLAC
Decemberists (with Peter Buck) Begin The Begin – MP3

We recorded the entire concert tonight, and it will appear on nyctaper within a couple of days.

[photo by ceptorceptor]

Love Is All make up for their mistakes — however unintentional — with class and humor. Last night, near the end of their set, Love Is All welcomed Hamish Kilgore from the legendary New Zealand band The Clean for a rollicking version of “Wishing Well”, the Love Is All song that bears an uncomfortably striking melodic resemblance to The Clean’s 1981 song “Tally Ho”. The balance of the set, which also featured the Gary Olson (from Ladybug Transistor) on trumpet on several tracks, was an energetic run through highlights of the first two Love Is All albums, but also featured four new numbers.

We recorded with the four-mic mix from the balcony rail, about 20 feet from the stacks. While the spot was off-center, the closeness to the PA and the spread of the mics avoids any feeling of unbalance, and as a result this is a really excellent listen. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Love Is All
2009-06-05
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from First Row 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
2009-06-06

Setlist:
[Total Time 53:14]
01 Early Warnings
02 Give It Back
03 Ageing Had Never Been His Friend
04 Talk Talk Talk Talk (w/ Gary Olson)
05 Last Choice
06 Sea Sick
07 Jessica
08 King
09 Wishing Well (w/ Hamish Kilgour)
10 Busy Doing Nothing
11 Dust
12 Make Out Fall Out Make Up (w/Gary Olson)
13 [encore break]
14 New Beginnings
15 Spinning and Scratching
16 [second encore break]
17 Used Goods

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Love Is All, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new album A Hundred Things Keep Me up at Night from links at their MySpace page [HERE] or at the Whats Your Rupture Records MySpace page [HERE].

[photo courtesy of Dese’Rae L. Stage]

Thao Nguyen With the Get Down Stay Down toured the US throughout much of April and May. The last few dates of the tour saw them come East and on May 14, 2009, Thao performed at the Bowery Ballroom. Two weeks on the Bowery show has become, in the band’s own opinion the show of the tour. In Thao’s blog, she attributes much of the energy that night to the crowd — and she is right. The Bowery that evening was filled to capacity with fans, some quiet and some quite rowdy, but all clearly into the show. The bawdiest group of about a dozen people, who can be heard on this recording, were actually singing along with every song. The band obviously fed off of this energy and approached each song with fervor. In particular, the festive singalong version of “Bag of Hammers” segued perfectly into “Beat”. Thao and the band also performed a couple of new songs for an album that will be released this Fall.

We recorded from our standard location in this venue, at the balcony rail next to the soundboard. This was our first outing with the R-44 and four-microphone rig in Bowery and we’re excited at the combination of the upgraded equipment and the always-superb sound quality in this venue. The depth of this recording is outstanding and while the active crowd can be heard, this adds authenticity to the listening experience. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete Show in FLAC [HERE].

Thao With The Get Down Stay Down
2009-05-14
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail
Next to the 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
2009-05-15

Setlist:
[Total Time 57:37]
01 Easy [new song – not included per band request]
02 What About
03 Geography
04 Bag of Hammers
05 Beat (Health, Life and Fire)
06 [banter]
07 Swimming Pools
08 Violet
09 Body
10 Goodbye, Good Luck
11 Big Kid Table
12 Travel
13 Moped
14 Fear and Convenience
15 [encore break]
16 Feet Asleep

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Thao With The Get Down Stay Down, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their outstanding release We Brave Bee Stings and All from the KillRockStars Records site [here].

[photo and setlist help courtesy of Music Snobbery]

After two years of a complete cycle through the hype machine, the Vivian Girls have arrived on the other side alive, energetic and full of new ideas. At Bowery on Monday, the Vivs performed three strong songs from their anticipated September follow-up to last year’s acclaimed self-titled debut. The new “Out for the Sun” saw the Vivians stretch out and speed up a lengthy instrumental segment that was a fine harbinger of things to come. The band finished the set with a raucous nine-minute version of “Damaged” that left the stage in a cloud of noise and cacophony. The crowd hooted its approval at a band that continues to mature and cover new ground.

This set was recorded from the prime location in this venue, and acidjack has captured by far the best live recording of this band to date. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Vivian Girls
2009-05-11
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Front of Board Center
30 Feet from Stage

SP-CMC-8 (Audio Technica U853 Cardiod Capsules)> SP-SB-8 > Edirol R-09HR > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-05-13

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:13]
01 All the Time
02 Surfin’ Away
03 Walking Alone At Night
04 The End
05 Such A Joke
06 Never See Me Again
07 [banter]
08 When I Get Home
09 Out for the Sun
10 Second Date
11 Wild Eyes
12 Can’t Get Over You
13 Tell the World
14 Damaged

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Vivian Girls, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their releases from the links at their website, and links at MySpace.

The first thing that needs to be said about the entire National take-down from earlier this week is that the band themselves had nothing to do with the removal. In fact, in the discussions and negotiations to work out a solution to repost the recording, the support of The National and their representatives for the idea of a reposting of the recording was perhaps the tipping point in amicable solution of this entire situation. We are doubly indebted to this band for the initial performance and their openness and desire to allow the fans to hear the music.

Adam from Beggar’s Group ended up being a nice guy with a perfectly reasonable reason for the initial take-down — looking out for the band and the charity project. He was also reasonable enough to revisit the idea, discuss it with many people internally, and ultimately work out a solution.

The solution is simple — the desire of everyone involved to benefit the charity. In that regard, this recording is being offered for download with one very simple condition. If you download the recording, you contribute to the cause. If you email nyctaper for access to this recording (or if you downloaded from the original post), we expect that you will have either purchased the CD, contributed to the cause, or will contribute.

While we are relying on people’s goodwill in this endeavor and not strictly enforcing the condition of contribution, it would benefit all involved if readers would voluntarily email some proof of their contribution when requesting access to the files. On a selfish note, this kind of concrete proof of the positive contributions of nyctaper readers would also benefit the site in future situations of this nature — it would be great to have statistical evidence that nyctaper matters.

Read this very thorough review of the show.

DONATE TO RED HOT, THE ORGANIZATION BEHIND THE ENTIRE DARK WAS THE NIGHT PROJECT, HERE:
RED HOT STORE

-or-

OR CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY TO ANY ONE OF THE RED HOT CHARITIES HERE:
RED HOT SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

-or-

PURCHASE THE DARK WAS THE NIGHT BENEFIT CD HERE:
DARK WAS THE NIGHT

Email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the mp3 and/or FLAC files. Please include some indication of your support with the email request (voluntary).

The National
2009-05-03
Radio City Music Hall
Dark Was the Night Benefit Concert
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Row E, Center Orchestra

SP-CMC-8 (Audio Technica U853 Cardiod Capsules)> SP-SB-8 > Edirol R-09HR > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-05-05

Setlist:
[Total Time 26:11]
01 Slow Show
02 England
03 So Far Around The Bend
04 Vanderlylle Cry Baby
Bonus:
05 Big Red Machine (Matt + Bon Iver)

Be extra charitable and purchase the official releases from The National’s Merch store directly.

[photo courtesy of self-titled mag – more here]

In the spirit of Mogwai performing significantly different setlists on each night of this three-show run at the Music Hall, we now offer our readers a completely different listening experience. The recording of the 29th offered below has received some excellent reviews on the web, but this capture of the April 28 show is a different animal entirely. Acidjack recorded this set from almost directly in front of the PA (with earplugs!) with the DPA 4061 ommi’s. The result is an intense in-your-face recording which offers the listener an alternative take on a Mogwai concert. Enjoy!

Download the MP3 and FLAC files and stream the entire show on the Live Music Archive [HERE]

Mogwai
2009-04-28
The Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Up Front
10 Feet from Stacks

DPA 4061> CoreSound Battery Box > Edirol R-09HR > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-05-04

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:33:58]
01 Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home
02 Hunted By A Freak
03 Scotland’s Shame
04 Cody
05 Summer
06 Small Children in the Background
07 Friend of the Night
08 Autorock
09 I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead
10 I Love You, I’m Going to Blow Up Your School
11 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
12 We’re No Here
13 [encore break]
14 Like Herod
15 Batcat

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mogwai, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from The Store at their website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of Music Snobbery]

We were first introduced to the music of Motel Motel when they headlined one of Jonny Leather’s excellent charity concerts. We heard the mp3s, but could not attend the show and filed the band under the “need to see live” category. Sunday night’s Music Snobbery Anniversary show presented that opportunity and what a revelation this band provided. Motel Motel has roots in South Carolina, but currently reside in Brooklyn. Their music has elements of Americana, country, indie rock and folk — but the complex multi-layered songs have melody and time changes reminiscent of early 70s prog. At Maxwell’s, the band played a 45 minute set with six songs, each of which was an impressive display of songwriting and musicianship. Its natural to focus on lead singer Eric Engel, but the proficient play of each of the members of the band are equally impressive. Expect to see more of Motel Motel on nyctaper in the future.

We recorded this set with the same equipment and location at the Crystal Stilts set. However, as this was the first set of the night, we set the digital gain of the soundboard feed too high and their was substantial brickwalling in the soundboard channels. We did not use the line feed in the final mix, and relied solely on the two channels from the room mix. Fortunately, the Neumann’s captured an exceptionally nice recording and this is quite an excellent listen nonetheless. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Motel Motel
2009-04-26
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Audience Recording

Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, downsample, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2009-04-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:23]
01 [introduction]
02 Courage
03 Panda
04 River
05 Forest
06 Coffee
07 Cowboy

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Motel Motel, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new CD New Denver from the links at their MySpace page [HERE].