nyctaper Recordings

[photo credit]

I would like to write about the live experience of Brilliant Sweaters, but to be honest with all the stages and multiple recording locations at the After the Jump Fest, I actually didn’t witness any of this 23 minute set. However, one of the nice parts of going back to review 12 hours of live material is the discovery of some pretty excellent music — and the Brilliant Sweaters were one of the sets that jumped out at me. They write catchy power-pop tunes and have a wicked sense of humor. We will certainly (actually) see them live this summer! Brilliant Sweaters perform at SEALAB744 tomorrow night (June 27) and also have a midnight gig at Cake Shop on August 15 that we will likely attend.

This recording is a superb capture, as the soundboard feed and Neumann microphone mix was balanced perfectly. The only flaw from this set seems to be a loose guitar cable that created some intermittent pops in the feed. Enjoy!

After The Jump is a charitable organization of NYC music bloggers who donate all proceeds of their events to the advancement of music in NYC schools. nyctaper requests that if you download this recording, that you support this cause. Selected tracks from the recordings to be featured on this site from the ATJ Festival will be produced into a compilation, with all proceeds being donated to the music programs in NYC schools. When the compilation becomes available, all nyctaper readers who downloaded ATJ sets will be expected to purchase the release.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Brilliant Sweaters
2008-06-21
Galapagos Main Stage
After The Jump Festival
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard/Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Front of Board Neumann KM-150s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, level adjustments) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-26

Setlist:
[total time 23:10]
01 Are You My Mother
02 I Dropped Out of High School
03 Sexy Genius
04 Black Toxic River
05 Pick Up the Phone
06 I Love You But You’re Worthless
07 Uncomfortable Places
08 Any Other Way
09 Mixed Up in the Business of Pleasure
10 Do It Again

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Brilliant Sweaters, visit their myspace page.

[photo courtesy of Bob Sanderson]

As with all the bands that were to appear at the amazing After the Jump Festival on Saturday in Williamsburg, we researched Ponytail listening to their songs and reading some reviews. Absolutely nothing we heard or saw could have prepared us for the live experience. This quartet from Baltimore present a truly original and undefinable approach to modern music.

My best comparison would be the early 80’s version of Pere Ubu — except that the singer is a 22-year old women named Mollie Siegel who looks about fourteen, instead of an obese savant. Each of the three musicians were quite proficient but we were particularly impressed with Dustin Wong who plays a frenetic mix of lead and rhythm guitars along with keyboards and backing vocals.

Ponytail are touring extensively in support of their brand new CD Ice Cream Spiritual. These dates include the July 12 ToddP show at the Yard, July 13 at Mercury Lounge, and July and August dates at the Knitting Factory. Visit their MySpace page for more tour dates and details.

We recorded this set from inside the soundboard booth with our DPA microphones mounted to the soundproofed wall above the booth. The sound in this venue is always outstanding and this recording reflects that quality. Enjoy!

After The Jump is a charitable organization of NYC music bloggers who donate all proceeds of their events to the advancement of music in NYC schools. nyctaper requests that if you download this recording, that you support this cause. Selected tracks from the recordings to be featured on this site from the ATJ Festival will be produced into a compilation, with all proceeds being donated to the music programs in NYC schools. When the compilation becomes available, all nyctaper readers who downloaded ATJ sets will be expected to purchase the release.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Ponytail
2008-06-21
After the Jump Festival
Music Hall of Williamsburg
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Inside Soundboard Booth

DPA 4021s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM Mod) > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, set fades) > CD Wave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-23

Setlist:
[Total time 33:21]
01 Late For School
02 G Shock
03 7 Souls
04 Music Tunes
05 Music Tunes Part 2
06 Beg Waves
07 Die Allman Bruder
08 Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Ponytail, visit their myspace page, and purchase their official releases [HERE] and [HERE].

[photo credit]

I did not recognize John McCauley standing by the soundboard booth as I set up to record the Deer Tick performance at tonight’s Rooftop Films concert. He has shaved his mustache and looks younger — a reminder that this enormously talented and poised performer with the world-weary voice is merely twenty-four years old. On the roof, Deer Tick performed the standard 30-minute pre-film set. Despite the inattentive movie crowd John managed to pull in quite a few of the restless throng with the opening Faron Young cover, the Deer Tick “MySpace hit” (“Art Isn’t Real”), and a strong “Baltimore Blues” closer.

We recorded from 10 feet in front of the PA and as a result there is no crowd noise or wind on this recording. The basic sound system has some over-modulated vocals, but overall we are extremely happy with this recording. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Deer Tick
2008-06-20
Rooftop Films Concert Series
New Design High Rooftop
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Upfront
10 Feet from PA Stacks

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Marantz PMD-600 (Oade BCM Mod) > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, set fades) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-21

Setlist:
[Total time 30:12]
01 [introduction]
02 Live Fast Love Hard Die Young
03 Ashamed
04 Art Isn’t Real
05 Spend The Night
06 Straight Into A Storm
07 Little White Lies
08 Dirty Dishes
09 Diamond Rings 2007
10 Baltimore Blues No. 1

Deer Tick at Mercury Lounge March 30, 2008 is still available on nyctaper [HERE].

Deer Tick perform again tonight (June 21) at Silent Barn, and again on June 30 at Southpaw.

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Deer Tick, visit their website, visit their myspace page, and purchase the War Elephant release from Itunes, or emusic, or order it directly from Feow Records when its back in stock.

[photo by soundbites blog]

Oh! Custer is one of those rare bands who immediately caught our ear when we first heard them in a promotional email. Their CDs are released in the US through an independent label called Series Two Records. When we learned that Oh! Custer would play the NYC Popfest, we reached out to Series Two and the Popfest and received permission to record the performance.

The duo play a unique lo-fi guitar-oriented Swedish pop with Josef providing melodic electric guitar lines to Esbjörn’s vocals and rhythm guitar, and backed by laptop beats and ambient sounds. As the middle band in a 5-band bill on the opening night of the NYC Popfest, Oh! Custer had the unenviable task of keeping the momentum. With a persistent beat, strong songs and funny/friendly banter, Oh! Custer kept the crowd into the show and earned some new fans.

We recorded from the identical location as the Love Is All recording from later in the evening, but during Oh! Custer we moved the microphones to avoid the draft from the air conditioning duct. There is a some rumble from the air in the first 3 songs, but that is greatly decreased when the mics were moved. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Oh! Custer
2008-06-12
Cake Shop
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Upfront
10 Feet from the PA

DPA 4021s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample 16/44) > CD Wave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-19

Setlist:
[Total time 41:09]
01 Others
02 Keep it Coming
03 Late
04 Secrets
05 So Much Better
06 States
07 October
08 Post
09 Fields of Autumn
10 Spoiler
11 Your Name
12 Be Mine (Robyn cover)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Oh! Custer, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their CDs directly from the Series Two Records site.

[photo credit]

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, on May 31 Antietam played in a library with a special guest and a setlist organized by the Dewey Decimal System. Our intrepid nyctaper correspondent Neil d was there to witness the event and recorded it for the site. As we learned that night, due to thunderstorms the show was moved inside at the last moment, and the bands (Ladybug Transistor opened) performed in the Brooklyn Public Library‘s new auditorium.

The multi-generational and multi-ethnic crowd witnessed the “expanded five-piece Antietam,” with Josh Clark on second guitar and Ira Kaplan on keyboards. Guests also included Mark Howell on trumpet and Ladybug bassist Julia Rydholm on violin. The unique setlist idea featured a sketch pad mounted on the stage that included the name of each song, where to find its topic in the Dewey Decimal System, and a couple of Brooklyn neighborhoods for which each song was dedicated.

Neil recorded from upfront with a stereo Griffin I-Talk microphone into an I-Pod at lossless 16-bit. The quality of this recording is surprisingly good considering the basic nature of the equipment and the acoustics of a library auditorium not built for post-punk rock music. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Antietam
(with Ira Kaplan)
2008-05-31
Brooklyn Public Library Auditorium
Brooklyn NY USA

Digital Master Recording

Griffin I-Talk Stereo Microphone > I-Pod > 16bit 44.1 kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, level adjustments) > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by neil d
with permission from Antietam (thanks Tara!)
Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-17

Setlist:
[total time 1:31:30]
01 [introduction]
02 RPM
03 Time Creeps
04 Shipshape
05 Pennants and Flags
06 Turn It On Me
07 Miss Me Bliss
08 Needle and the Eye
09 1-2-1
10 The Moor
11 [instrumental]
12 Hasten
13 I Swear
14 Tranquility Base
15 The Gate Closed
16 New Parade
17 V.O.B.
18 That’s the Way It Is
19
20 You/I
21 Arrowhead Syrup
22

The nyctaper recording of Antietam in April at Southpaw is still available [HERE]

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Antietam, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase the new release Opus Mixtum directly from the Carrot Top Records website.

[photo by soundbites blog]

On one of the busiest calendar days in the history of NYC live music, the closing night of the NYC Popfest at Music Hall of Williamsburg was understandably under capacity. Thematically, the attendance fit well with one of the most under-appreciated bands in music today. The Ladybug Transistor has released a series of excellent CDs over a 10 year career and yet their catalog has basically gone under the radar. Gary Olson crafts intelligent pop songs, and the live execution of the material is tight and focused. The band has performed infrequently this year, after an extensive tour in the Fall in support of the superb 2007 release Can’t Wait Another Day on Merge Records. The performance on Saturday night drew heavily from the Can’t Wait release, and the band’s relaxed energy and playfulness served the material well.

We are again indebted to our friends at Merge for the existence of this recording. Arrangements were made through Merge, and ultimately we received friendly emails with permission from Gary. This recording was captured from the prime location in this venue with our best mobile rig and we are very pleased with the results. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Ladybug Transistor
2008-06-14
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB
Dead Center 30 Feet from PA

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
2008-06-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:05:53]
01 Lord, Don’t Pass Me By
02 Song For Ending
03 Like A Summer Rain
04 I’m Not Mad Enough
05 Nico Norte
06 Gospel
07 The Reclusive Hero
08 A Burial At Sea
09 NY-San Anton
10 In-Between
11 Terry
12 Three Days From Now
13 Always On The Telephone
14 Rushes Of Pure Spring
15 [encore break]
16 Please Don’t Be Long
17 Different Drummer

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Ladybug Transistor, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their CDs directly from their website or from the store at Merge Records.

[photo credit]

In a packed, hot and sweaty Cake Shop last night, Love Is All performed an extraordinarily tight and entertaining set of some new material, songs from their excellent CD Nine Times That Same Song, and completed wowed the opening night crowd of the NYC Popfest. This was power-pop-punk at its finest and most fun, full of boundless energy and spirit. We had only heard Love Is All on CD before, but this live performance was one of the most impressive we’ve seen thus far this year.

We recorded from far upfront, with our microphones taped to the wall 10 feet from the right PA speakers. The result is an outstanding clear and well balanced recording which captures the music and the crowd energy without any interruption. The only slight flaw is a minor wooshing noise evident between songs which is the result of the air conditioning duct above us. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Love Is All
2008-06-12
Cake Shop
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Upfront
10 Feet from the PA

DPA 4021s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample 16/44) > CD Wave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-13

Setlist:
[Total time 44:22]
01 [introduction]
02 Wishing Well
03 Give it Back
04 Last Choice
05 Talk Talk Talk Talk
06 Ageing Had Never Been His Friend
07 Seasick
08 I Ran
09 Turn The Radio Off
10 New Beginnings
11 Busy Doing Nothing
12 Make Out Fall Out Make Up
13 [encore break]
14 Spinning and Scratching

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 CD directly from the Love Is All merch site.

[photo credit]

Death Cab For Cutie are currently on tour in support of their new album Narrow Stairs, which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts at its May release. In the press which has followed, both new and old media outlets have been puzzled to explain the widespread popularity of a band that does not fit within any conventional buzzword-definable mold.

We were particularly annoyed at an absurd article about Death Cab in the Sunday New York Times a few weeks ago. That article seemed obsessed with the concept that Death Cab’s popularity was not the result of “blogger buzz”, but rather was earned in some fictitious old-fashioned way (“clubland” and “honing their sound”) — “before blog buzz mattered”. This is an excellent point if you believe that the internet was created in 2004, or that commercial blogs are currently the only means by which fans learn about bands. Death Cab has been an internet-savvy band for over a decade, and indeed owes much of its success to its ubiquitous web presence at its website, forum, archive.org, and the spread of its music through bit torrent. Indeed, when bit torrent broke on the web in 2003, one of the first “leaked” albums we saw was Death Cab’s Transatlanticism, which appeared on SuprNova a good four months before its ultimate release.

Before he wrote the entertaining blog Parlando, the writer Soren deSelby often posted informative and well-written pieces on the original internet “blog”, the Well. A Seattle native, deSelby was one of the first internet writers to recognize the abilities of Death Cab, and to write about them on the Well. It was based on one of those posts that we purchased Something About Airplanes and began a decade-long interest in this band. In a very real way, Death Cab is the first band to parallel the advances of internet technology throughout its career in order the maintain a consistent trajectory that has ultimately placed them at number one on the charts.

__________________

So how was the concert, Mrs. Lincoln?

McCarren Pool on a 90+ degree day did not seem like the ideal venue to experience Death Cab, but by the first notes at 8:10 p.m. the heat was no longer an issue. Although he was beset by a series of technical problems, Ben Gibbard worked his way through the standard setlist for this tour before the elements ended the show early.

This recording is not one of our best efforts. We set up about 20 feet in front of the left stacks to avoid the wind and crowd noise, and were for the most part successful. The problem was that by being so close to the PA, we captured quite a bit of the early muddiness and peak level distortion in the early mix. Several songs into the set the mix improved but by then the wind had whipped up. We believe this is certainly a decent listening experience, but the recording was a victim of circumstance. Enjoy!

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

Death Cab For Cutie
2008-06-10
McCarren Park Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Upfront Left Side
20 Feet from PA Stacks

DPA 4021s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM Mod) > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, slight EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-06-10

Setlist
[total time 1:17:36]
01 Bixby Canyon Bridge
02 The New Year
03 Why You’d Want To Live Here
04 Photobooth
05 Crooked Teeth
06 Long Division
07 Grapevine Fires
08 A Movie Script Ending
09 Company Calls
10 Company Calls Epilogue
11 Soul Meets Body
12 I Will Follow You Into The Dark
13 I Will Possess Your Heart
14 Cath…
15 We Laugh Indoors
16 The Sound of Settling
17 [weather mayhem]**

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Death Cab For Cutie, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase the new CD Narrow Stairs directly from their site.

[photo credit]

When we approached New Design High at 350 Grand Street at dusk on Friday night, the line for the Rooftop Concert Series season premiere spread across Grand, up Delancey and over and around onto Broome. After the six-flight walk-up, the large crowd was treated to a short but powerful set of music by Brooklyn’s Dirty on Purpose. As the sun set and with a spectacular view of downtown Manhattan available from all angles, the melodic guitar-oriented music opened the season with such appropriate songs including “Girls & Sunshine” and “Summer Dress”.

There were several impediments to optimal recording for this event, but none significantly detract from the enjoyment of this excellent capture. There was a generator on the rooftop (either power or air conditioning) which hums along in between songs and some barely audible wind bursts. The mobile sound system was quite basic, and was somewhat saturated in the first song. We were fortunate to set up 15 feet from the stage and as a result the impediments are fairly minor. Overall, as a result this is probably a better listen than our Mercury recording of Dirty on Purpose. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Dirty on Purpose
2008-06-06
Rooftop Films Concert Series
New Design High Rooftop
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Upfront
15 Feet from PA Stacks

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-08

Setlist:
[Total time 27:16]
01 [introduction]
02 These Days Were for Us
03 Girls & Sunshine
04 The Thing about Getaways
05 Summer Dress
06 Audience
07 Canned Fumes

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Dirty on Purpose, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase the their official releases directly from their site, or the NorthStreet records site.

[photo by Arin Crumley]

The true measure of the quality of a singer-songwriter is the ability of the performer to get inside the song — those moments when the singer and song become one. Last night at Pianos, Sharon Van Etten realized a series of those poignant moments in a stunning fifty-minute performance of her intimate and powerful songs. That a modest and unassuming young woman can suddenly transform from awkward banter to confident and meaningful songstress at the moment she steps up to the microphone is a true indication of the talent of this artist. In the third number “Much More Than That”, a song of Sharon’s we had not heard before, she stepped back slightly from the microphone and projected in her sweet voice the crescendo of a simple yet transcendent song about the power of human touch — all the while truly touching each listener.

Sharon thanked the audience and noted the fleeting nature of such powerful evenings. The irony is that Sharon unwittingly has predicted her own future. There will not be many more opportunities to experience this performer with 50 people in a club the size of Pianos, as larger venues and audiences soon await this uniquely talented artist. Her debut CD will be released this summer, and she will tour the east coast in July. Prior to her tour, there are a few more chances to experience what the Pianos crowd was fortunate to hear last night.

Sharon’s other upcoming NYC dates include:
June 10 2008 8:00 Union Hall Brooklyn
June 14 2008 8:00 Union Pool Brooklyn
June 21 2008 8:00 Rooftop Films Concert Series Brooklyn
June 25 2008 9:00 Zebulon Brooklyn
Check Sharon’s MySpace page for more details.

We again recorded from the prime location directly in front of the soundboard at Pianos. However, given the quiet nature of this performance and the excessive Friday night noise from the front room of the venue, there are quite a number of moments when the extraneous noise leaks into the recording. Overall though we are pleased with this capture. Enjoy!

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

Sharon Van Etten
2008-06-06
Pianos
New York, NY USA

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

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, slight level boost, resample) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
nyctaper@nyctaper.com
2008-06-07

Setlist:
[total time 47:27]
01 I Wish I Knew
02 Have You Seen
03 Much More Than That
04 You Didn’t Really Do That
05 I Fold
06 For You
07 Tornado
08 Its Not Like
09 Holding Out

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Sharon Van Etten, visit her website, visit her MySpace page, purchase one of her custom-made self-released CDs directly from her website, and purchase her new CD Because I Was In Love when it is released this summer.