nyctaper Recordings

[photo credit]

Deer Tick‘s John McCauley is certainly an artist dedicated to his craft. At Mercury Lounge on Sunday night, McCauley fought his way through a full opening set despite having suffered the last two weeks with strep throat. The strain in his voice was evident, but nevertheless John worked Deer Tick through a strong set of material from their outstanding debut release War Elephant, along with several new songs and two appropriate covers. When Deer Tick performed John Prine‘s semi-obscure classic “Mexican Home”, it made perfect sense. As McCauley has been compared with everyone from Dylan to Tweedy, it seems that subtle influences of a underrated performer like Prine are actually more accurate — a poignant lyricist and dedicated performer without pretense or artifice.

We received advance permission to record the Deer Tick set from John. The equipment was set up in the perfect location from when we saw the Vanderslice soundcheck. This recording is perhaps a bit heavy on the drums as a result of the house mix, but is otherwise a fine representation of this outstanding artist. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show in [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/DeerTick2008-03-30

Deer Tick
2008-03-30
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board

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 16/44) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Many thanks to John for permission to record.

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-04-02

Setlist:
01 [introduction]
02 Art Isn’t Real
03 [banter]
04 Baltimore Blues No. 1
05 Mexican Home (John Prine)
06 Ashamed
07 Little White Lies
08 [banter]
09 Straight Into A Storm*
10 [banter]
11 Spend the Night
12 You Don’t Know How We Did It*
13 [banter]
14 The Ghost
15 Dirty Dishes
16 LaBamba (Blue Moon introduction)

*song title approximations

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 War Elephant from Itunes, or emusic, or order it directly from Feow Records when its back in stock.

Deer Tick return to NYC later this month for two dates:
Apr 12 2008 8:00pm Union Hall Brooklyn
Apr 13 2008 8:00pm Knitting Factory NYC

[photo credit]

In or out of the music business, John Vanderslice is literally one of the nicest people I have ever met. His genuine gregarious charm translates well into his stage performance, and juxtaposes interestingly with the darker aspects of his lyrics. Last night at Mercury Lounge, all of these attributes were on display, as John performed a 90-minute set of his powerful songs, bantered often with the band and the crowd, and performed the final four encore songs un-amplified in the midst of the audience in the middle of the room.

While John has been on tour in support of Stephen Malkmus, his sets have been limited to forty minutes. Last night, we were treated to a complete show which included songs John said had not been played in years. While we expected a large bulk of the setlist would come from the brilliant Emerald City material, fans were treated to a complete Vanderslice catalog mix. The bonus treat was the four song encore. John and the band unplugged, left the stage, and entered a crowd circle in the middle of the floor. The short acoustic performance felt as if John was performing in a living room. In this setting, the personable nature of this terrific performer shined and the crowd were treated like friends.

This was a great evening for nyctaper before the show even began. In email, John invited me to the soundcheck to set up our equipment and meet the band. When I arrived, John greeted me in such a friendly manner that we immediately felt a kinship as the band practiced and worked through the material for the evening. Our equipment was set up in the ideal location and we have captured an outstanding recording of this special performance. The only issue is the amplification during the encore segment, where we captured equal amounts of crowd and performer — essentially capturing the moment in its truest form. Enjoy!

Deer Tick was also recorded and will be offered in the coming days.

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

John Vanderslice
2008-03-30
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board

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 16/44) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Many thanks to John for permission to record.

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-03-31

Setlist:
[Total time 1:28:28]
01 White Dove
02 You Were My Fiji
03 Tablespoon of Codeine
04 Exodus Damage
05 Angela
06 Up Above The Sea
07 The Tower
08 Dear Sarah Shu
09 Greyhound
10 Pale Horse
11 White Plains
12 They Won’t Let Me Run
13 Little Wing*
14 Numbered Lithograph
15 Kookaburra
16 Underneath The Leaves
17 Time Travel Is Lonely
18 [encore break]
19 Letter to the East Coast**
20 Time to Go**
21 Nikki oh Nikki**
22 Keep The Dream Alive**

[*Daniel solo — impression of Michael McDonald singing Hendrix]
[**All encore songs were performed unamplified in the middle of the crowd]

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, visit his myspace page, and purchase Emerald City directly from his website or from the Barsuk Records website.

[photo credit]

The Diggs celebrated the release of the new CD ctrl-alt-del at Union Hall on Friday night. With its collection of infectious alt-power-pop songs, the CD has been in constant rotation at my home. What became evident at Union Hall was that The Diggs are also proficient instrumentalists. As a live act, each member of the trio adds dimensions to the songs that are not initially apparent on the album. From my side-stage vantage point, I focused primarily on the bass playing of Robert Haussman, whose active fretwork and equipment manipulations were a pleasure to behold.

The layout of Union Hall does not offer many good locations for the recordist. As a result, I received permission from the band to record directly from the stage. I placed my DPA microphones on the center front lip of the stage. “On stage” recordings can be quite natural organic recordings that are not subject to the limitations of the PA and the noise of the room, but are dependent on the balance of the stage sound. This recording is a terrific representation of the musicianship of the band, but unfortunately the vocals are far too low. We offer this recording as opportunity for readers to discover the musical strengths of this band, and highly recommend the CD for the singing and songwriting. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/Diggs2008-03-28

The Diggs
2008-03-28
Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Stage Lip

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

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-03-29

Setlist:
[Total time 46:07]
01 …And in the End Shoot Back
02 Careen
03 Everyone’s Starting Over
04 Stagg
05 Recovery Forever
06 Brigante
07 Ctrl-Alt-Del
08 Trouble Everyday
09 Carpal Tunnel

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Diggs, visit their website, visit their myspace page, and purchase ctrl-alt-del directly from their website or from the Sugarspun Records website.

[photo credit]

Sunday night at Puck Fair seemed like a reunion of sorts. It was as if every Pierce Turner fan in New York City came out and packed the venue — we think we vaguely recognized every face in the place from some deep Guinness-hazed fifteen to twenty year old memory. The person we most certainly recognized was energized to levels of performance that we had not witnessed in a good long while — Mr. Pierce Turner at his absolute peak.

At the outset, a fan asked Pierce to “fix the buzz” in the sound system. And for two solid hours of performance, Mr. Turner did indeed create his own buzz as he reached into his catalog for both old and new tunes, danced on the bar and tables, stood inside the packed crowd, and generally made a physically uncomfortable tight situation a metaphysical pleasure.

The highlights include Pierce’s rare rendition of the Irish classic “The Foggy Dew” which segued neatly into “Mayhem” from The Sky and The Ground, a rollicking “Musha”, and the chilling “Zero Here”.

Thanks to Pierce’s courtesy, we sat above the crowd positioned on the elevated stage. We directed the right channel microphone towards the string quartet, and the left channel microphone was placed between two speakers and towards the audience. The result is a true stereo recording, with Pierce’s vocals captured both through the PA and directly from his proximity to the microphones, and the string quartet captured through the system and through the natural amplification of the instruments, as we sat only a few feet from the band. This is a truly wonderful listen to a remarkable performance. Enjoy!

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

Pierce Turner
2008-03-16
Puck Fair
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded On Stage

DPA 4021’s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (level boost, set fades, resample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-03-17

Setlist
[Total Time 1:56:10]
01 [introduction – fix the buzz]
02 Don’t Want Her to Feel That Way
03 The Foggy Dew > Mayhem
04 Oh Ireland
05 Not a Bad Day for a Wednesday
06 Holy Ground
07 Moonbeam Josephine
08 Say You Don’t Mind
09 You Can Never Know
10 Jazz
11 Dirty Old Town
12 Snakes and Ladders (Ball & Chain)
13 Carrigfergus
14 Manana in Manhattan
15 Wicklow Hills
16 [encore break]
17 Zero Here
18 Band of Gold
19 Musha God Help Her
20 [second encore break]
21 Orange Coloured Sun
22 Mr. Smith

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Pierce Turner, visit his website, and purchase his releases directly from the online store at his website.

[photo by Robert Loerzel]

On a night when it seemed as if the rest of the NYC bloggerati were attending the South By Southwest Festival in Texas, we were fortunate to be in South by Southwest Williamsburg to see one of our new favorite bands play at one of our favorite venues. The combination of Brooklyn’s Oakley Hall performing among friends at Brooklyn’s best venue Glasslands Gallery was a sight to behold — it was as if the best of the borough’s musicians had a private party and we were invited.

Oakley Hall worked through a similar setlist to the Knitting Factory show, but added a Dylan cover and re-worked the list for a better flow. The highlights were many, but the set closing run of Rue the Blues, Volume Rambler, and Having Fun Again (with Derek from Awesome Color guesting on guitar) was fearsome and intense.

This recording was made again with the permission of Pat and Jesse from Oakley Hall. We improved on our mix from the last Glasslands recording, capturing just the right balance of soundboard feed and audience microphones. This recording is also a vast improvement over the previous Oakley Hall recording on nyctaper from the Knitting Factory. We are extremely pleased with the results. Enjoy!

Download and stream the Complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/OakleyHall2008-03-15.matrix

Oakley Hall
2008-03-15
Glasslands Gallery
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 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-03-16

Setlist:
[total time 1:04:40]
01 If You Can See Them, They Can See You
02 Eyes, Lock and Steel
03 No Dreams
04 All the Way Down
05 She Belongs to Me (Dylan)
06 Hiway
07 Superpower
08 If I Was in El Dorado
09 Confidence Man
10 Rue the Blues
11 Volume Rambler
12 Having Fun Again*

*with Derek Stanton from Awesome Color on guitar

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Oakley Hall, visit their webpage, and purchase I’ll Follow You directly from the Merge Records website.

Experience Oakley Hall when they tour in the latter half of April:
Fri-Apr 18 Boston TT the Bear’s
Sat-Apr 19 TBA
Sun-Apr 20 Philadelphia Johnny Brenda’s
Mon-Apr 21 Washington DC Rock n Roll Hotel
Tues-Apr 22 Cleveland Grog Shop
Wed-Apr 23 TBA
Thurs-Apr 24 Chicago Empty Bottle
Fri-Apr 25 Pontiac MI Pike Room
Sat-Apr 26 TBA

Eleven years ago, it was much easier to drop everything and take a four-hour spur of the moment road-trip to see some music. Since we had tickets to see moe. on Halloween in New Jersey, it seemed perfectly reasonable to see their ‘Een Eve show in Baltimore at a smaller and more intimate club. We piled into Eric’s SUV, and soon enough were driving around Fell’s Point looking for Bohager’s.

moe. were particularly strong this night, as their relaxed and festive mood was evident throughout the evening, particularly during the jam segment of the second set from “It” through “Punchline”. The show was also back in the day when moe. permitted soundboard patches, and I fortunately remembered to bring my trusty D-7 DAT on the trip. Steve the soundman provided a very nice mix for this show, and the recording is outstanding. Enjoy!

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

moe.
10/30/97
Bohager’s
Baltimore, MD USA

Digital Soundboard Recording

Soundboard > Sony D-7 DAT Master
DAT Master > Panasonic SV-3800 > digital coaxial > Audigy 2 ZS Platinum > CD Wave (capture) > 16 bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost) > CD Wave 1.75 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded, extracted and edited by nyctaper
2008-03-09

Setlist:
Set 1
[total time 1:17:45]
01 [introduction]
02 32 Things
03 Awesome Gary
04 Bring You Down
05 Akimbo
06 Recreational Chemistry
07 Stranger Than Fiction
08 Plane Crash

Set 2
[total time 1:50:19]
01 Seat Of My Pants
02 Sensory Deprivation Bank
03 Threw It All Away
04 Water
05 It
06 CalifornIA
07 Waiting For The Punchline
08 Brent Black
09 [encore break]
10 Waiting For The Punchline [Reprise]
11 Spine Of A Dog

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT THIS ARTIST and buy their official releases at their website. The new moe. album Sticks and Stones can be purchased directly from the moe. store here.

[photo credit]

Its not a stretch to say that Oakley Hall are a different band live than on their albums. The acoustic becomes electric, the shuffle becomes a romp, the picking becomes searing guitar solos. There are few bands who can pull off such a switch, but at the Knitting Factory on Friday, it became obvious why this band has built such a solid live reputation after opening stints for Bright Eyes and Gillian Welch. Additionally, their latest release 2007’s I’ll Follow You appeared on quite a number of best-of-year lists, and further enhanced this band’s solid reputation.

We received advance permission to record this set from Oakley Hall, through their site and Jesse the bass player. We set up in the balcony, perhaps a bit further back than we would have liked. The recording is a bit boomy and lacks the clarity of our previous Knitting Factory recording from a similar location (Meat Puppets in August on nyctaper [here]), so we applied some minor EQ in post-production to accentuate the highs. Enjoy!

Oneida was also recorded and will be offered in the coming days.

Download and stream the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/OakleyHall2008-02-29

Oakley Hall
2008-02-29
Knitting Factory
New York NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Front of Balcony Far Left

Neumann KM-150 (AK-50 Hypercardiods) > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > Digital Coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48 kHz wav > Soundforge (set fades, level adjustment, slight EQ, downsample) > CD Wave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Thanks Oakley Hall (via Jesse) for permission to record!

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-03-02

Setlist:
[total time 54:00]
01 Eyes, Lock and Steel
02 Hiway
03 No Dreams
04 If You Can See Them, They Can See You
05 All the Way Down
06 Superpowers
07 Volume Rambler
08 Rue the Blues
09 If I Was in El Dorado
10 Confidence Man
11 Having Fun Again

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Oakley Hall, visit their webpage, and purchase I’ll Follow You directly from the Merge Records website.

Oakley Hall has another NYC show coming up soon. They are scheduled to perform on March 15, 2008 at Glasslands Gallery.