nyctaper Recordings

[photo credit]

Thursday night was the fifth and final night of Marco Benevento’s January residency at Sullivan Hall, and it was a party in more ways than one. The night was a CD release party for Marco’s new CD Invisible Baby, and it featured the twice-performed “Real Morning Party” along with a premiere of the video for the song in between sets. Benevento was joined by the superb bassist Reed Mathis (whose band Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is featured on nyctaper here), and drummer Andrew Barr (from The Slip). The last half of the second set also featured guitarist Brad Barr (also from The Slip). The band performed two long sets of a superb mix of jazz, prog, jam, rock and pop, all anchored by the unique keyboard and effects of Marco.

The recently upgraded Sullivan Hall continues to be extremely friendly to tapers, and as a result we arrived early and secured a safe position in the upper seating area. While we were not centered, the unimpeded access to the left stack gave us a clear signal, although the crowd continued to be quite chatty. Overall, we are pleased with the results, and extremely happy to have captured this excellent show in its entirety. Enjoy!

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

Marco Benevento
2008-01-31
Sullivan Hall
New York NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Upfront Table Area
15 Feet from Left PA Stack

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, slight level boost, resample 16/44) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Band:
Marco Benevento: piano, keyboards, effects
Reed Mathis: bass guitar
Andrew Barr: drums
Brad Barr: guitar on Set 2 tracks 05 through 09

Recorded and Produced
nyctaper
nyctaper@nyctaper.com

Set 1
[total time 54:22]
01 Bus Ride
02 Record Book
03 The Real Morning Party
04 Twin Killers (Deerhoof)
05 Golden (My Morning Jacket)
06 Atari
07 Ruby
08 Are You The Favorite Person of Anybody?

Set 2
[total time 1:42:26]
01 Fearless (Pink Floyd)
02 If You Keep Asking Me
03 You Must Be A Lion
04 The Real Morning Party
05 Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon)
06 Jam
07 Mephisto
08 She’s Not There (Zombies)

If you download this recording, Please SUPPORT Marco Benevento and visit his website, where you can pre-order his brand new CD Invisible Baby and purchase all of his official releases (here).

My first introduction to the music of Rings was at this very concert. The CD release party for their new disc Black Habit featured a performance by the Animal Collective members that brought a large crowd to this small space. Those people who came to see Rings and those wise enough to stay for their set were treated to a performance of truly inspired and original music by this trio of collaborative artists.

Rings were “First Nation” until Nina Mehta and Kate Rosko were joined by Abby Portner (sister of Animal Collective’s Dave Portner aka Avey Tare). The new album was recorded with Kria Brekkan, and certainly there are echoes of Kria influence in the music, along with a patchwork of pop, rock, ambient, and folk. As the recording offered below attests, the result is sublime and compelling music. Enjoy!

Many thanks to Nina and Rings for approval of this recording.

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Rings
2008-01-20
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board
20 Feet from PA

DPA 4021s (7 ft Stand) > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-01-22

Setlist:
[Total time 35:41]
01 mom dance/animal mourning
02 is he handsome
03 you remind me/teepee
04 scape aside

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Rings, visit their mySpace page, and purchase their CD through the Paw Tracks website.

Rings tour visits the following venues in the next several weeks. See them live!
Jan 31 2008 8:00P Emos Jr. w/White Williams Austin, Texas
Feb 1 2008 8:00P Hailey’s w/ White Williams Denton, Texas
Feb 2 2008 8:00P Walters on Washington w/ White Williams Houston, Texas
Feb 4 2008 8:00P Club Downunder w/ White Williams Tallahassee, Florida
Feb 5 2008 8:00P Drunken Unicorn w/ White Williams Atlanta, Georgia
Feb 6 2008 10:00 Milestone w/ White Williams, Missing Children Charlotte, NC
Feb 7 2008 8:00P Local 506 w/ White Williams and Ecstatic Sunshine Chapel Hill, NC
Feb 8 2008 8:00P Ottobar w/ White Williams and Ecstatic Sunshine Baltimore, MD
Feb 9 2008 8:00P Johnny Brendas w/ White Williams and Ecstatic Sunshine Philly, PA
Feb 10 2008 8:00 Studio B w/ White Williams and Ecstatic Sunshine Brooklyn, NY

In an art and performance space in the still-industrial section of Williamsburg, half of Animal Collective joined by Kria Brekkan performed an as-yet-unnamed piece before an intimate crowd. The official announcement of this gig was within the last week, and the event was a celebration of the new CD release by Rings, a band who features Avey’s sister and whose album was recorded with Kria Brekkan.

Deakin posted about this piece on the Collected Animals forum this morning. The project is a 30 minute piece in four parts featuring Deakin on sampler and guitar, Avey on effects, vocals, and guitar and Kria on accordian and effects. The flac available for download has not been tracked, it remains one piece.

The Rings set was also recorded and will be posted pending artist approval (update: band approved — coming soon)

nyctaper recordings of Animal Collective are still available for download (here) and (here), as well as the recording of Kria Brekkan (here).

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

Avey Tare, Deakin & Kria Brekkan
2008-01-20
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board
20 Feet from PA

DPA 4021s (7 ft Stand) > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-01-21

Setlist:
01 Improvisation

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Animal Collective and their side projects. Visit their web page and the Paw Tracks web page and buy their official releases.

[photo credit]

One year ago to the day, we last saw Mission of Burma in New York at Irving Plaza. Our recording of that show is available at archive.org (here). It became clear at that show that Mission of Burma was not just another 80’s legend reforming to capture past magic. This is a working band whose recent output is as compelling as its classic material. Last night, the newer material dominated the setlist and powered an ear-shattering blast of sonic post-punk by its virtual inventors.

While the 2007 appearance featured bassist Clint Conley in a prominent role, this 2008 show was certainly Roger Miller’s show. His crunchy guitar playing was further compelled by the placement of his huge Marshall amp at the very front of the stage as a bonus sonic burst. In reality, the amp placement, a plexiglass buffer around the drums, and ear guards are used to protect Roger from further exacerbating his tinnitus. At the end of the standard set, the band returned for four encores, and were again called out for a fifth encore, which featured the tape-loop wizard Bob Weston on bass.

This recording is fortunately free of any distortion that might have occurred as a result of the extreme volume of this concert. I used the -20db pad in the Marantz (as I do for all loud concerts) and the DPA microphones were able to capture without overloading. In a way, the volume contributes to the quality of this recording by eliminating any ambient sounds (chatting, clapping, and other crowd noise) that normally might hamper a recording. We are quite pleased with the quality. Enjoy!

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

Mission Of Burma
2008-01-19
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Soundboard
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
2008-01-20

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:24:14]
01 1001 Pleasant Dreams
02 Let Yourself Go
03 2wice
04 Donna Sumeria
05 Buckets Of Flowers, Porno Mags
06 13
07 Man in Decline
08 So Fuck It
09 Forget Yourself
10 Dirt
11 Good Cheer
12 Careening With Conviction
13 Spider’s Web
14 Nancy Reagan’s Head
15 [encore break]
16 Trem Two
17 Max Ernst
18 Academy Fight Song
19 Looking at You
20 [second encore break]
21 Good, Not Great

If you download this recording PLEASE SUPPORT Mission of Burma and visit their website, and purchase their official releases (here) from Mission of Burma directly.

In March, their entire back catalog from Ace of Hearts will be available in re-issue from Matador Records.

[photo by Robert Loerzel]

In the spirit of the primary season, the Fiery Furnaces are accepting ballots from the fans attending their Winter tour. The songs with the most votes are performed in order at the end of the standard set. At Maxwell’s last night, the ballots were cast and the fans were the winners, as we were treated to rare numbers not performed in years. When I spoke to Matt after the show, he said that he and Eleanor had gone back and re-learned all of the old numbers in anticipation of any request.

So we braved the horrendous weather to see our favorite band at our favorite venue and we were not disappointed. Although it was the first night of the tour, the Furnaces were in fine form and worked flawlessly through a rearranged setlist before counting the ballots. Despite the surprise winners (Eleanor: “I told Matt, no one is going to request that”), the request numbers were performed in their entirety. We even got to hear Matt sing for the first time in a couple of years.

The recording offered here is another first for this site. We mixed our DPA microphones (positioned in the ideal location) with a feed from the soundboard in a “matrix” mix through the Edirol UA-5 which permits four channels of input. We believe that in the past our small club recordings of the Furnaces were perhaps too drum heavy, and the board feed permitted us to correctly mix the vocals and keyboards with the rhythm section. This is the best possible recording of this band, and we are extremely pleased with the results. Many thanks to Matt for his continued permission to record and his support of this site, and of course to Maxwell’s and its talented sound crew. Enjoy!

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Fiery Furnaces
2008-01-17
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard/Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Front of Board DPA 4021 > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, slight level boost, no EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-01-18

Setlist:
[total time 1:12:02]
Democ-rock Set:
01 Navy Nurse
02 Japanese Slippers
03 The Garfield El
04 A Candymaker’s Knife in My Handbag
05 Forty-Eight Twenty-Three Twenty-Second Street
06 Seven Silver Curses
07 Slavin’ Away
08 Duplexes of the Dead
09 Automatic Husband
10 Ex-Guru
11 Blueberry Boat
12 Right By Conquest
13 Mandolin and Maracas
14 Waiting to Know You
15 Philadelphia Grand Jury
16 Clear Signal From Cairo
Roll the Dice Set:
17 Two Fat Feet
18 Chief Inspector Blancheflower
19 Benton Harbor Blues
20 Paw Paw Tree
21 Asthma Attack

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Fiery Furnaces visit their website, and purchase their official releases including their brilliant new album Widow City.

The Fiery Furnaces Winter Tour continues:
1/18 South Burlington, VT / Higher Ground / All Ages / $12
1/19 Portland, ME / Space Gallery / 18+ / $12
1/21 Rochester, NY / The Bug Jar / 18+ / $12
1/22 Buffalo, NY / The Tralf / All Ages / $12
1/23 State College, PA / Lulu’s / All Ages / $12
1/24 Columbus, OH / The Basement / All Ages / $12
1/25 Baltimore, MD / Ottobar / All Ages / $12
1/26 Charlottesville, VA / Satellite Ballroom / All Ages / $15
1/27 Washington, DC / 9:30 Club / All Ages / $15 w/ Super Furry Animals
1/29 Carrboro, NC / Cat’s Cradle / All Ages / $15 w/ Super Furry Animals
1/30 Atlanta, GA / Variety Playhouse / All Ages / $15 w/ Super Furry Animals
1/31 New Orleans, LA / The Republic / 18+ / $15 w/ Super Furry Animals
FEBRUARY
2/1 Dallas, TX / Granada Theater / All Ages / $15 w/ Super Furry Animals
2/2 Houston, TX / The Proletariat / All Ages / $12
2/4 Memphis, TN / Hi-Tone Cafe / 18+ / $10
2/5 Oxford, MS / Proud Larry’s / 18+ / $10
2/6 Nashville, TN / Exit/In / 18+ / $14
2/7 Birmingham, AL / Bottletree / 18+
2/8 Asheville, NC / Grey Eagle Tavern / $13
2/9 Knoxville, TN / Pilot Light / 18+

[photo credit]

Its heartwarming when great things happen to nice people. Its also incredibly reassuring when an artist like Kimya Dawson, whose thoroughly unique and engaging singing and songwriting have entranced small audiences for more than a decade, reaches a wider audience. The sold-out Southpaw gig was a triumphant return “home” for Kimya, and she seemed genuinely touched and perhaps a little “freaked” (her word) by the overwhelmingly positive reception.

In a nice lesson in you reap what you sow, Kimya’s fans also happen to be a diverse crowd of genuinely nice people. This kind of feeling came to fruition when Kimya organized a post-show massive hand-circle and hug which included much of the crowd. If this sounds a bit too hokey for the average Brooklyn anti-folk fan, bear in mind that Kimya’s songs deal with a wide variety of serious issues, or “tough shit” as she said during some concert banter this afternoon. This concert featured a nice run through the strength of her catalog along with some new numbers from an upcoming “children’s album”.

Prior to this concert, Kimya responded promptly and positively to an email from nyctaper regarding recording the performance. We set up at the rail in the front, at the center of the venue above the crowd. Thanks to co-taper Brian, our microphones were positioned in the perfect location. Kimya’s “low-fi” audio perhaps prevents a perfect recording, but this one captures the true natural atmosphere of the venue and the performance and the magic we all experienced. Enjoy!

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

Kimya Dawson
2008-01-13
Southpaw
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board Dead Center
30 Feet from PA Stacks at Railing

DPA 4021s (9 ft Stand) > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, modify close clapping, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Many thanks to Kimya for permission to record, Southpaw for being
a excellent friendly venue, and Brian for the mic stand clamp.

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-01-13

Setlist:
[total time 58:55]
01 Tire Swing
02 Being Cool
03 Eleventeen
04 Underground
05 Chemistry
06 Fire
07 Henry Kelly
08 Little Monster Babies
09 Bobbio
10 Seven Hungry Tigers
11 The Smoothie Song
12 Little Panda Bear
13 Alpha Butt
14 Weatherman
15 Beer
16 Viva La Persistence
17 Singing Machine
18 I Like Giants
19 Loose Lips

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Kimya Dawson and visit her website. Kimya works with the independent record label K-Records. You can purchase her wonderful official releases by following the links to K-Records (here).

[photo credit]

Marco Benevento has invited an interesting and varied roster of guest performers for his Thursday night January residency at Sullivan Hall. This past Thursday was the second installment and featured his standard partner Joe Russo (drums) in addition to Brad Barr from The Slip on guitar. The improvisation was top notch, and combined elements of prog, jazz, fusion and trance. The open ended nature of the sessions allow each artist to stretch out the limits of the space and be free of genres.

Sullivan Hall is the old Lion’s Den after a complete over-hall. The inside layout is quite similar, but the changes resulted in serious upgrades to the sound system and facilities. The venue is extremely friendly to tapers, and Marco Benevento permits open taping.

Unfortunately, I arrived fairly late at the venue, and the crowd was packed. As a result, I set up in a very busy location which became unworkable about 30 minutes after Benevento & Guests began their set. I recorded a segment of the first set and offer it as a sample of the magic produced this night. I will be returning on the 31st to record the closing night of the Benevento residency. The sound of this recording is outstanding (except for the massive crowd and its chatter). I expect the quality will be superior on the 31st, as well as a complete concert recording. Enjoy this sample as a preview of the excellent music available at these shows. See the last three!

Marco Benevento continues with unique guests each Thursday for the remainder of the month:
January 17: with Stanton Moore and Marc Friedman
January 24: with Billy Martin, Calvin Weston, and Skerik
January 31: with Reed Mathis and Andrew Barr

Download this recording in FLAC [HERE].

Marco Benevento & Guests
2008-01-10
Sullivan Hall
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded Front of Board Left Center

DPA 4021s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge (levels and fades) > Flac Frontend

Recorded by nyctaper
Premiere download offered at
https://www.nyctaper.com

Partial First Set:
[total time 20:26]
01 Jam

Please SUPPORT Marco Benevento and visit his website, where you can purchase his official releases (here).

[photo credit]

It was nearly 19 years ago when I last saw Natalie Merchant perform live. She was then the strong-voiced and charismatic singer of 10,000 Maniacs who was a bit quirky if not a little cold. After nearly two decades of success, including Maniacs charting singles, and a solo career that eclipsed her prior band, Natalie stopped touring and had a child.

Her announcement of six New York City dates — her first NYC concerts in 4 years — at the intimate Hiro Ballroom were a pleasant surprise, if not a complete shock. 2008 finds Natalie’s voice and charisma as strong and sharp as ever, but the years have added stage comfort, wit, and charming storytelling abilities that were a true pleasure to behold. Natalie’s interaction with the crowd throughout the night was warm and playful. Tuesday night’s show, at a Springsteen-like 2 hours and 20 minutes long, featured a series of new numbers from a pair of upcoming releases, including original adaptations of children’s poetry, along with the solo career standards.

This recording has been removed from the site at the request of the artist. nyctaper respects the artists wishes. Please do not email the site about this recording, it is not available.

Natalie Merchant
2008-01-08
Hiro Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Setlist:
[total time 2:16:54]
01 Carnival
02 Build a Levee
03 Break Your Heart
04 Too Long At The Fair
05 Shakespeare’s 73rd Sonnet
06 Equestrienne
07 The Janitor’s Boy
08 If No one Marries Me
09 The Man In The Wilderness
10 Texas
11 Life is Sweet
12 Wonder
13 Golden Boy
14 Go Down Moses
15 Giving Up Everything
16 The End
17 [encore break]
18 Village Green Preservation Society
19 Sweet Lady Genevieve (partial – Natalie acappella)
20 Tell Yourself
21 I Need Love
22 Kind & Generous
23 [second encore break]
24 Which Side are You On?
25 Butterfly Song
26 I’m Not Gonna Beg

Despite the removal of this recording, nyctaper encourages our readers to PLEASE SUPPORT Natalie Merchant and visit her website.

[photo credit]

moe.’s annual New Year’s warm-up gig was an intimate affair at a packed Irving Plaza. The special surprise guest was the (former) Allman Brothers legend Dicky Betts, who guided the band through an epic In Memory of Elizabeth Reed before joining in during Al Schnier’s Allmans-like Mexico.

This recording was made from the perfect location in this venue, and should be better than it is. In December, I sent my Neumann microphones to be serviced, and have used the DPA microphones exclusively. The quality of the two sets is fairly similar, but the Neumann’s have a -10db pad for situations like this concert. The sound in the venue was quite powerful and overwhelmed the DPA > Apogee system. I used the “soft-limiter” to prevent distortion, but during louder moments the sound is still “crunchy”. The problem was significantly reduced during the 2nd set. During quieter passages, particularly in Set 2, this recording is absolutely superb. Enjoy!

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

moe.
2007-12-30
Irving Plaza
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Front of Board
Dead Center approximately 40 feet from the stage

DPA 4021s (9 ft Stand) > Apogee Mini-Me > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, balance levels, dither, downsample, patch) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

*crossfade 1 minute and 10 seconds of patch material from an alternate recorder in the middle of Buster (thanks Eric)

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-01-05

Setlist:
Set 1
[total time 1:02:44]
01 Stranger Than Fiction
02 Runaway Overlude
03 Captain America
04 Seat Of My Pants
05 Sensory Deprivation Bank
06 Timmy Tucker

Set 2
[total time 2:05:25]
01 Opium
02 In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
03 St. Augustine
04 Where Does the Time Go?
05 Mexico
06 [encore break]
07 Spaz Medicine
08 Buster
09 Spaz Medicine

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT moe. and visit their website.
and purchase their latest official release:

The New York Dolls reunion is another one of those unlikely-but-true rock stories with a bittersweet happy ending. The band performed two nights at Irving this week, and while Syl Sylvain and David Johansen look fit and sang and played with focus, its hard to watch this band without realizing that its rhythm section and lead guitarist are no longer with us. The Dolls paid a fine tribute to Johnny Thunders when Syl pointed out Johnny’s daughter in the balcony before the dedication of Johnny’s classic “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” segued neatly into his Dolls composition “Lonely Planet Boy”. David also dedicated “Private World” to the late bassist Arthur Kane. While the “new” band members are unfamiliar, their instrumental backing was superb. All the classics were performed along with some of the numbers from their excellent new release.

The recording was made from the ideal location at this venue, and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

This recording has been removed from nyctaper. Although we have not been contacted by NY Dolls or their representatives, it was announced on January 17, 2008 that portions of these two nights would appear on a live release (here). Please support NY Dolls and purchase the official version of these outstanding concerts.

New York Dolls
2007-12-29
Irving Plaza
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB Center
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

Premiere Download offered at
https://www.nyctaper.com
nyctaper@nyctaper.com

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:31:28]
01 Looking For a Kiss
02 Puss ‘N’ Boots
03 We’re All In Love
04 Piece of My Heart
05 Pills
06 Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano
07 Private World
08 I Aint Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore
09 Rainbow Store
10 Babylon
11 Plenty of Music
12 Human Being
13 You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory
14 Lonely Planet Boy
15 Who Are the Mystery Girls?
16 Dance Like A Monkey
17 Trash
18 Jet Boy
19 [encore break]
20 Personality Crisis
21 Gotta Get Away From Tommy

CD Cover Artwork (Thanks JohnE!):
coverart

Information:
txt file

Verification:
md5 file

If you download this recording PLEASE SUPPORT New York Dolls and visit their website.