nyctaper Recordings

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SAVAK: April 20, 2018 The Bell House

May 10, 2018
By

There really isn’t a lot of good, original indie rock coming out these days. Sorry to be the bearer of that bad news. But lucky for all, SAVAK aren’t good, they’re great. No, really: I dug Best of Luck in Future Endeavors for sure, but on their second record, the recently-released Cut-Ups, the band has really taken it up a notch or four (or at least enough to warrant all my hyperbole). Cut-Ups features some songs we’ve been listening to on the live circuit for a while now, like “Sick of War,” “They Are Bones,” and “I Don’t Want to be Defended.” But the SAVAK-ery  doesn’t stop there: the band’s got two even-more-recent 7″s up on Bandcamp that in my opinion represent their best material yet. I’ve made a formal request that the band integrate these new tracks into their live sets so we’ll see what we can make happen there. In the meantime, if you need even more newness, this set from last month at the Bell House features the so-new-no-one’s-heard-it-yet “Door Deals” that will have you asking about LP number three.

I recorded this from dead center, with the MBHO’s in DIN stereo configuration, combined with board feed from the Bell House FOH Travis. Geoff Sanoff provided the mastering. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

SAVAK
2018-04-20
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com
Mastered by Geoff Sanoff

Soundboard (engineer: Travis) + MBHO MBP603/KA200N (DIN, FOB, DFC) > Roland R-26 > 2 x WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown) > Mastering > Audacity 2.0.5 (fades, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [35:31]
01. Alive in Shadows
02. Christo’s Peers
03. Natural Light
04. I Don’t Want to Be Defended
05. This Currency Exchanged
06. They Are Bones
07. Loma Prieta
08. Drop the Pieces
09. Sick of War
10. Early Western Traders
11. Door Deals

• Buy all things SAVAK via their Bandcamp page
• • Connect with the band at their Website and on Facebook

Rhyton: April 27, 2018 Wonders of Nature

May 7, 2018
By

Here’s a wild one from New York’s masters of improvised psych, Rhyton, opening up for fellow heads Wet Tuna at Wonders of Nature. This set captures the trio—Dave Shuford, Jimy SeiTang, and Rob Smith—in full-on improvisational mode. The direction on these jams tends more to their recent easy-going Redshift material, which just so happens to be my favorite side of Rhyton. While their earlier, heavier stuff first caught my attention, it’s Redshift that I pull out most frequently when searching for the sound. In particular, it’s the set-ending and mind-bending closer of “The Owl’s Octave” into “Pharaonic Crosstalk” that scratches that itch for exploratory rock thats meanders and grooves. Rhyt-on!

Download the complete show: [FLAC/MP3]

Rhyton
2018-04-27
Wonders of Nature
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

MBHO MBP603/KA200N (XY, stage lip) > Roland R-26 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (balance, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [40:41]
01. Abacus Jam
02. LIT on the Down Low
03. Skygazing
04. The Owl’s Octave > Pharaonic Crosstalk

• Buy Rhyton’s Redshift (and other Rhyton records) via Thrill Jockey
• • Connect with the band on Facebook

Chuck Johnson: April 12, 2018 Union Pool

May 3, 2018
By


[Photo by Drew Gardner]

It’s been a while since we checked in with the great Chuck Johnson. Almost a year ago he put out the excellent Balsams for VDSQ, which finds Chuck experimenting with the pedal steel guitar and discovering some soothing ambient sounds along the way. You’ll hear some of that familiar twang from the instrument, but taken in a different and more subtle direction than maybe you’re used to. It’s been getting a ton of very deserved praise and anticipation was high for an in-person visit. For many of us New Yorkers, this Union Pool gig was our first chance to finally see Chuck perform live with the pedal steel, stopping off on his way to The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose festival. It was well worth the wait as we were treated to some deep listening in the form of a continuous thirty-minute stretch of pedal steel and effect pedal balladry.

Download: [MP3/FLAC]

Chuck Johnson
2018-04-12
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

Soundboard (engineer: Doug) + AKG C480B/CK63 (DINa) > Roland R-26 > 2 x WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, mixdown, convert to mono, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [30:44]
01. Live at Union Pool

Chuck Johnson: Website | Bandcamp | Trouble In Mind Records

Ryley Walker: April 29, 2018 The Bowery Ballroom

May 2, 2018
By

Ryley Walker arrived on The Bowery Ballroom stage as the opening act. For many bands, the opening 45 minutes means an opportunity to deliver a tight-but-denuded set that gives the untutored fan a reason to seek more. Well, Ryley and this night’s crack band — longtime compatriot Ryan Jewell, fellow guitarist Bill MacKay, and Calexico (the headliner) bassist Scott Colberg — did the latter but not the former. Which is to say, their version of a “short” set consisted of four songs, but one of them was 18 minutes long. And instead of “the hits,” as it were, those four were, save one, all tracks from his forthcoming album, Deafman Glance, which promises to extend Walker’s renown as a musician’s musician, who follows his instincts where they take him and isn’t afraid to challenge the listener.

If for years the understanding among Walker and his fans is that there’s about as little relationship between the reasonably straightforward sound of his records and his expansive, jazz-influenced live shows as there is between the seriousness of Walker’s music and the lightheartedness of his stage banter, the Deafman Glance material seems poised to narrow that gap. The proggy, dense, album sound carries over well into Walker’s chosen live milieu, making (for example) the “Telluride Speed” that closed this set a thrill but, unlike the eighteen-minute “Halfwit In Me” that opened it, not a totally radical departure from the album version.

Ryley’s stated goal was for Deafman Glance to be his anti-folk record, and indeed, this felt like the least folk-driven Ryley Walker show I’ve seen. With his vocals turned relatively low in the mix, and a song selection that was relatively short on opportunities for vocal pyrotechnics, Walker seemed intent on letting his electric guitar guide his sound (listen to that “Halfwit in Me” – it did). Walker’s full-band shows have always de-prioritized vocals to some degree in favor of extended jamming, but if I hadn’t seen Walker before and someone told me this was a guy who also does a mean cover of Van Morrison, I’m not sure I’d have believed them. That’s one of the joys of seeing this artist — by the time I see him again (expect a headlining tour in the U.S. in the fall), he’ll almost surely have evolved yet again.

I recorded this set with a beautiful stereo soundboard feed and Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show from its page on the Live Music Archive: [FLAC] | [MP3]

Ryley Walker
2018-04-29
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

An nyctaper recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK5c (PAS, at SBD, slightly LOC)>KC5>CMC6>>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 polyWAV>Adobe Audition CC (align, mix down, compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro banter]
02 The Halfwit in Me
03 [banter2]
04 Spoil With the Rest
05 22 Days
06 [banter3]
07 Telluride Speed

Band:
Ryley Walker – guitar, vocals
Ryan Jewell – drums
Bill MacKay – guitar
Scott Colberg – bass

PLEASE SUPPORT RYLEY WALKER: Bandcamp | Dead Oceans

Wet Tuna: April 27, 2018 Wonders of Nature

April 30, 2018
By

There are few things in the world more satisfying than Wet Tuna’s space-hazy folk. Matt and Pat have a rare chemistry that comes only after playing together some twenty-odd years. Wet Tuna are finally on the road for their first real tour (check out the full list of dates here) in support of Livin’ the Die. We caught their sold-out gig at new-ish Williamsburg spot, Wonders of Nature, a perfectly chill small room for the duo. Tune in for these exploratory jams and Wet Tuna will see you on that golden road.

Recorded front and center from the tapers pit with the MBHO’s in stereo XY configuration. The sound is killer. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [FLAC/MP3]

Wet Tuna
2018-04-27
Wonders of Nature
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

MBHO MBP603/KA200N (XY, stage lip) > Roland R-26 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (balance, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [58:38]
01. I Know You Rider
02. Other Kinds Run
03. New York Street
04. I’d Rather Be Hayin’

Band:
Matt Valentine
P.G. Six

Bandcamp

The Messthetics: April 20, 2018 The Bell House

April 22, 2018
By

I guess you can’t really talk about the Messthetics without mentioning that the band features Fugazi’s rhythm section of Joe Lally on bass and Brendan Canty on drums, joined by jazz/experimental guitarist Anthony Pirog. But if you’re showing up to a Messthetics show looking for the second coming of Fugazi, you won’t be so much disappointed as woefully uninformed. Instead, you’ll find yourself in the midst of wrench-tight math rock, emphasis on the rock. Lally and Canty have been playing together pretty much forever at this point, and those guys don’t miss a beat. Pirog, a youngster in comparison, adds a fresh guitar sound to the mix, playing sometimes rhythmically and sometimes wildly. Their self-titled Dischord release is only a month old, but already the band brought with them four new songs in addition to playing the entirety of the album. They continue touring the U.S. through May, followed up by some Japan dates. Scope all those dates at the Dischord site.

I recorded this from dead center, with the MBHO’s in DIN stereo configuration, combined with board feed from the Bell House FOH Travis. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [FLAC/MP3]

The Messthetics
2018-04-20
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

Soundboard (engineer: Travis) + MBHO MBP603/KA200N (DIN, FOB, DFC) > Roland R-26 > 2 x WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [1:03:58]
01. Mythomania
02. Serpent Tongue
03. Quantum Path
04. Your Own World
05. The Inner Ocean
06. [New Song 1]
07. [New Song 2]
08. Once Upon a Time
09. Radiation Fog
10. Crowds and Power
11. The Weaver
12. [New Song 3]
13. [encore break]
14. [New Song 4]

Bandcamp

The Gories: April 13, 2018 Elsewhere

April 19, 2018
By


[photos by PSquared Photography]

Late last year, this legendary Detroit garage band announced a rare NYC date. No, I’m not talking about MC50, I’m talking about The Gories. Combining the ferocity of Motor City greats MC5 and The Stooges with the minimalism of The Velvet Underground (with way more swing than any of these three), The Gories are the best band you never knew about while they were around. They garnered acclaim only after Mick Collins found success with The Dirtbombs, and have toured sporadically in the past decade. In 2013, Third Man Records released The Shaw Tapes, an essential and raw live document from a 1988 house party. But Collins, along with guitarist-vocalist Dan Kroha and drummer Peggy O’Neill, don’t play many house parties these days. Instead, their one-off Brooklyn show found them breaking in the new-ish venue Elsewhere, run by the folks who brought you Glasslands. Playing classic Gories tracks along with covers ranging from the well-known (John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen'” and Suicide’s “Ghostrider”) to the obscure (The Keggs’ “To Find Out”) this crew hasn’t lost the spark that makes their original output—three albums and a handful of singles—so vital. Long live The Gories!

Thanks to Katie and the Elsewhere crew for making this recording happen. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [FLAC/MP3]

The Gories
2018-04-13
Elsewhere
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com
Photos by PSquared Photography

Soundboard (engineer: Katie) + MBHO MBP603/KA200N (PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2 x WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, mixdown, balance, compression, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [58:25]
01. Goin’ to the River
02. Telepathic
03. I Think I’ve Had It
04. Sister Ann
05. Feral
06. Sovereignty Flight
07. Boogie Chillen’ [John Lee Hooker]
08. Detroit Breakdown
09. Queenie
10. Ghostrider [Suicide]
11. Idol With the Golden Head [The Coasters]
12. You Don’t Love Me [Bo Diddley]
13. View From Here
14. Thunderbird ESQ
15. To Find Out [The Keggs]
16. Hidden Charms
17. There But For the Grace of God Go I [Machine]
18. Nitroglycerine

Facebook | The Gories at Third Man Records

Bill Orcutt: April 12, 2018 Union Pool

April 17, 2018
By


[Photo by Drew Gardner]

Last year, Bill Orcutt released some of his most accessible sounds on a self-titled electric guitar record on his own Palilalia Records imprint. The album reimagines some songs he’d already explored on A History of Every One and elsewhere, like Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman.” Many bear only a passing resemblance to the original compositions, having been fully twisted by Orcutt’s interpretation. To call his performances of these well-known songs unique would be a massive understatement. You might also call them “difficult,” but that would would be ignoring the incredible grace behind the playing. Seeing Orcutt perform some of these songs last week I was struck by how moving they could be.

(For an interesting experiment, I’d encourage you to compare Orcutt’s take on “Over the Rainbow” here with another version recorded in the same room almost exactly three years prior: Sir Richard Bishop doing his own version of the song, titled “Nowhere Over the Rainbow.”)

This set was recorded with the AKGs set up in stereo DINa configuration, plus a board feed from FOH Doug. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [FLAC/MP3]

Bill Orcutt
2018-04-12
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

Soundboard (engineer: Doug) + AKG C480B/CK63 (DINa) > Roland R-26 > 2 x WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [50:54]
01. O Platitudes!
02. Ol Man River > Lonely Woman
03. White Christmas > Star Spangled Banner > Over the Rainbow
04. When You Wish Upon a Star
05. Untitled

Facebook | Bandcamp | Palilalia Records

Jeff Tweedy: January 30, 2018 Vicar Street Dublin Ireland

April 15, 2018
By


[photo by Joe Koyote]

Jeff Tweedy is in the midst of a short solo tour that finds him roving through Canada and which ends with a show at Princeton University.. Jeff will return to the NYC area in June for two dates as part of the Clearwater Festival up in Croton. But earlier this year, Tweedy traveled through Europe including a special night at Vicar Street in Dublin as the opening night of the tour. Friend of the site Joe was there to capture the Dublin show, a night filled with many classic favorites and much banter and fan interaction, but which is most noteworthy as the live premiere of the new Jeff Tweedy composition “Don’t Forget We All Think About Dying”. The song has been played a handful of time since Dublin, including once on the current tour, but Joe’s recording is the song’s world premiere.

Joe recorded this set with portable microphones from the front and center of the balcony. The quiet acoustic music and the generous crowd participation created some serious editing issues, but overall this is a quality listen. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream debut performance of “Don’t Forget We All Think About Dying”:

Jeff Tweedy
2018-01-30
Vicar Street
Dublin Ireland

Audience Master
Recorded from Front Row Center Balcony

Sony ECM-MS907 > Sony PCM-M10 [LCF+Limiter] > 24bit-48k WAV > Soundforge (Post-Production) > CD Wave > TLH (320 mp3 via Foobar)

Recorded by Joe Koyote
Producted by NYCTaper

Setlist:
[Total Time: 1:31:17)
01 Via Chicago
02 I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
03 Bombs Above
04 [banter – encouragement]
05 We’ve Been Had
06 Passenger Side
07 Locator
08 Hummingbird
09 [banter – appreciation]
10 Lost Love
11 Born Alone
12 Noah’s Flood (Let’s Go Rain Again)
13 New Madrid
14 One Wing
15 Bull Black Nova
16 Laminated Cat
17 [banter – CSNY story]
18 Don’t Forget We All Think About Dying
19 [banter – funk]
20 Hesitating Beauty
21 Jesus Etc
22 [encore break]
23 I’m the Man Who Loves You
24 California Stars
25 Kamera
26 A Shot in the Arm

SUPPORT Jeff Tweedy: Website | Tour Dates

Wet Tuna: December 10, 2017 Trans-Pecos

March 20, 2018
By

What’s better than an early Sunday evening kickin’ it with the deep space musings of Matt “MV” Valentine? How about Matt plus PG Six, aka Pat Gubler, who’ve been touring (and are about to put out a record) together as Wet Tuna? The pair of guitarists (plus some pre-recorded beats) were in NYC for a pair of shows, the first night (recorded) at Brooklyn’s Ceremony, the second this jaunt at the revitalized Trans-Pecos.

Given that the night kicked off with a DJ set from WFMU’s DJ Jeff Conklin, whose beloved Avant Ghetto show is a must-listen for fans of this kind of music, it felt appropriate for the Tuna to launch with “I Know You Rider,” the traditional blues song popularized by the Grateful Dead. From there, we got two more sick covers – Michael Hurley’s “Water Train” followed by Incredible String Band’s “Empty Pocket Blues,” which flowed into the Livin’ the Die track “New York Street.” Along with this performance with the Tuna, we’ve also caught Matt on some recent solo outings — so stay tuned for that as well.

This set was recorded directly from the Trans-Pecos soundboard. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC/ALAC]

Stream the complete show:

Wet Tuna
2017-12-10
Trans-Pecos
Queens, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard (house PA mix saved to SanDisk thumb drive)>16/48 WAV>Adobe Audition CC (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, fades)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 I Know You Rider [Grateful Dead version]
02 Water Train [Michael Hurley]
03 Empty Pocket Blues [Clive Palmer/Incredible String Band]>Empty Mood Jam>Space/Drums>New York Street

SUPPORT WET TUNA: Buy Livin’ The Die from them right here.

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