nyctaper Recordings

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PS Eliot: September 15, 2016 Market Hotel

September 19, 2016
By

P.S. Eliot at Market Hotel
[photo courtesy of Amanda Hatfield – originally posted at brooklynvegan]

On Saturday December 9, 2011, PS Eliot played its “final” show at Death By Audio in Brooklyn in front of less than 100 people. A lot has changed in the subsequent five years not the least of which is the enormous success enjoyed by the two sisters who anchored the original band. Katie Crutchfield’s Waxahatchee has released three well-received albums and is currently signed to Merge Records, and Allison Crutchfield’s band Swearin’ has also released two excellent albums and Allison recently signed as a solo artist also with Merge. Although the band played a brief one-off reunion at Silent Barn in 2013, this year became the right time to look back and do the full-on reunion. Earlier this year Don Giovanni Records released 2007-2011, a thorough compilation of the band’s original discography, which also includes bonus home demos and a complete oral history of the band in zine format that was assembled by the writer Liz Pelly.

The release of the complete discography has also fortunately been accompanied by a band reunion and a mini-tour. The Crutchfield sisters joined again with bassist Katherine Simonetti and guitarist Will Granger to play a six-date tour that included stops in San Francisco and Chicago and completed with a headlining spot at Don Giovanni’s New Alternative Music Festival this past Friday and two final dates at Philadelphia’s MOCA last night and tonight.

The fourth date of the tour was at our own Market Hotel on Thursday when the band played in front of more than 500 people. From the very outset PS Eliot and crowd were fully engaged in the experience. Throughout the night, the Crutchfield sisters were out and about at the Market and there were a lot of excited greetings and hugs for old friends. When the set began it was clear that the quartet were fully in sync and for the hour-long set they passed around a bottle of pink champagne while they worked through a large assortment of classic PS Eliot material. The band was tight, energetic and seemed to be having a great time. If playing PS Eliot material is this much fun for the group, I would venture a prediction that this is not the last we will see of them. And that would be great news.

I recorded this set with the installed AT mics mixed with House FOH Jason Kelly’s superb feed. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

PS Eliot
2016-09-15
Market Hotel
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Upfront Audience

Soundboard [Engineer: Jason Kelly] + Audio Technica 4051 > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 59:24]
01 Broken Record
02 We’d Never Agree
03 [banter – thanks]
04 Hail Mary
05 Asphalt
06 Pink Sheets
07 [banter – the zine]
08 Cry Uncle
09 Bear Named Otis
10 Shitty and Tragic
11 Crosseyed
12 [banter – NYC]
13 Sadie
14 Like How You Are
15 Tonight [Spica]
16 Sore Subject
17 Watch On Mute
18 Troubled Medium
19 [encore break]
20 Untitled
21 Tennessee

Support PS Eliot: Bandcamp | Purchase 2007-2011 from Don Giovanni Records

Girls Against Boys: September 13, 2016 Baby’s All Right

September 18, 2016
By

Girls Against Boys

Twenty years ago, in 1996, I turned fifteen. Girls Against Boys were touring their third Touch & Go record, House of GVSB, and were scheduled to play Tramps a little less than a month after my birthday. I somehow scraped together $45, scammed a ride to (Nobody Beats) The Wiz, and bought a simple Aiwa walkman with a record function and a clip-on mono microphone, all in order to document my favorite band.

If you were born anytime after House of GVSB was released, you might not have heard of Tramps or The Wiz; Touch & Go has mostly folded; and it’s possible you’ve never held a walkman. But fortunately, in a limited capacity, Girls Against Boys persist. While the band certainly doesn’t play as much as they used to, we got a tour in 2013 (with David Yow contributing some vocals) and even some new music: The Ghost List sounds incredibly vital for any band, much less one that hadn’t released new music in eleven years. In 2014, three-fourths of GVSB reactivated their 80’s Dischord band Soulside and played a couple gigs at Saint Vitus in support of their reissued final album, Trigger. Lucky DC-ers even got a brief New Wet Kojak gig at the Black Cat. Soulside played some more shows last fall in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

But back to Girls Against Boys: Last Tuesday the band played their first show since that 2013 tour, a warmup gig in anticipation of their appearance at Riot Fest Chicago. The set starts off with one from 2002’s Jade Tree LP, You Can’t Fight What You Can’t See; but aside from “Basstation” and “Let’s Get Killed” (off The Ghost List), it’s a lengthy tour of the band’s 90’s Touch & Go output, featuring their most well-known material from Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, Cruise Yourself, and House of GVSB. For the hardcore fans, there’s the deep cut “Distracted” which appeared on the “Disco Six Six Six” single, and was rarely outed back in the day. The crowd packed into Baby’s small, sweaty, and still partially under construction room for what was to be one of the longer GVSB shows I’ve ever seen. The band were even called back for a second encore of “Rockets Are Red” after the house music had gone on, surely a rare occurrence these days. Aside from some rusty bits here and there and some jokes about their age, I’d swear we were transported back to that ’96 tour.

Girls Against Boys have another festival appearance scheduled at the Sound on Sound Festival in Austin, November 5th. I have it on good authority there are plans for another Brooklyn warmup gig beforehand, so keep on a lookout for that.

Update: GVSB will be playing Saint Vitus on November 3rd with the always great SAVAK. Tickets available here.

I recorded this set—with a massive assist from Acidjack who manned the deck while I rocked out—with a pair of mics on stage combined with a board feed from Baby’s FOH, Devin. It slays.

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Girls Against Boys
2016-09-13
Baby’s All Right
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Devin) + AKG C480B/CK61 (on stage) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:21:24]
01. Basstation
02. (I) Don’t Got a Place
03. Disco Six Six Six
04. Let’s Get Killed
05. [banter]
06. Super-fire
07. Click Click
08. [banter]
09. Crash 17 (X-Rated Car)
10. TheKindaMzkYouLike
11. Life in Pink
12. Distracted
13. Tucked-in
14. Cruise Your New Baby Fly Self
15. Cash Machine
16. [banter]
17. Kill the Sexplayer
18. [encore break]
19. Bulletproof Cupid
20. Let Me Come Back
21. [banter]
22. Bughouse
23. [encore break]
24. Rockets Are Red

Buy The Ghost List via Epitonic
• • Connect with the band via Facebook
• • • Visit gvsb.com

Bachman-Toth Band: September 9, 2016 Three Lobed/WXDU Day Show, King’s, Raleigh, NC

September 15, 2016
By

bto-schwentker
[photo courtesy of David Schwentker]

If the Watery Love set was the volume plateau of the Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show at King’s during Hopscotch Music Festival, the joint appearance by longtime site faves James Toth aka Wooden Wand and Daniel Bachman was undoubtedly its whimsical peak. This day happened to not only be one of the consistent musical highlights of the year, but also it was Toth’s birthday, so he and Bachman were probably in a celebratory mood. Whatever the reason, reality was that this combination of players had never existed before — Bachman, Toth, Forrest Marquisee on guitar, and Ian McColm on drums — and they hadn’t even soundchecked. What would happen was a mystery to everyone, even to some degree the people on the stage.

However much the 20+-minute drone-ified version of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” that emerged was or wasn’t planned, the outcome felt like more than a mere lark. As with everything these players do, this was done with spirit, turning this into one of those off-the-cuff, daring improvisational moments that have come to define what is always the highlight of this music festival. There’s not much more to say about it than that — listen to it and you’ll understand.

I recorded this set with Brad Womack’s soundboard feed and Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC/ALAC] [Note: the files need to be re-tagged with the correct band name]

Stream the complete set:

Bachman-Toth Band 
2016-09-09
Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Brad Womack) + Schoeps MK4V (stage lip, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Zoom F8>3x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 War Pigs [Black Sabbath]

Support these artists: Daniel Bachman website / facebook | Wooden Wand website bandcamp

Watery Love: September 9, 2016 Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show, Hopscotch Music Festival, King’s (Raleigh, NC)

September 13, 2016
By

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“We’ve arrived at the volume plateau of the day” Three Lobed‘s Cory Rayborn said as he introduced the Philly “supergroup” Watery Love, taking the stage at the annual Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show at King’s during Hopscotch Music Festival. Rayborn wasn’t lying–the band came out of the gate with the loud-as-fuck blast of “Ned’s Dreamcatcher” and didn’t let up from there. As we were streaming the show live on Duke University radio station WXDU, the team handling that end of the business had to work overtime to “bleep” vocalist Richie Charles’ (of Richie Records) dirty words back to PG-13. Indeed, this was dirty, cuss-spitting, fire-breathing, bad-ass scuzz rock and it was not to be stopped, by outdoor sunshine or otherwise. But while any group of yahoos can stand up and make noise, what sets Watery Love, and this particular performance, apart is that these guys hang together so well, playing well and turning all of that energy into something deceptively cohesive.

This was a perfect wake-up call on a day with a very wide palette of artists, and regulars Charles and Max Milgram (guitar) had arrived equipped with extra firepower in the form of Purling Hiss‘ Mike Polizze and Ben Leaphart, together with harplist/multi-instrumentalist Mary Lattimore (possibly the day’s MVP, or at least, the person who played with the most different bands) on bass, drums and keys, respectively. Watery Love has been a band since 2008, but their performances, especially outside of Philly, have been sporadic, and their recorded output is equally limited. Seeing them is a treat, and the energy they expect is equal to the moments they inhabit. There were many very, very fine performances on this day, but this might be the only one that had even the people in the back howling with glee like teenagers. Whatever it is these guys have, make sure you try to catch some of it.

I recorded this set with King’s engineer Brad Womack’s house mix, plus an additional soundboard channel, and Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show: 

Watery Love
2016-09-09
Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Brad Womack) + Schoeps MK4V (stage lip, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Zoom F8>3x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Ned’s Dreamcatcher
02 Sweat Powers
03 Die With Dignity
04 A Condom

PLEASE SUPPORT Watery Love: Facebook | Bandcamp

The Body / Full of Hell: September 9, 2016 Market Hotel

September 12, 2016
By

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[screenshots courtesy of Frank from Pit Full of Shit]

Earlier this year, two of metal’s premiere bands collaborated on an album with exceptional results. The release of One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (Neurot Recordings) was met with universally positive reviews and fortunately a tour would soon follow. The Body and Full of Hell are from different regions and offer different takes on the genre, with The Body’s New England (Providence based) sludge complimenting the mid-Atlantic (Maryland based) grindcore from Full of Hell. The tour reached Market Hotel on Friday night and the results were as you might expect — a stage filled with bodies and a sound churning with sturm und drang. The set was culled partially from the album, but also included a couple of individual band numbers and one very cool cover of Devo’s “Gates of Steel”. Both bands have an excellent history of collaboration — including two superb albums of The Body with Thou, and Full of Hell’s recent work with Merzbow. But this melding of the minds reached full peak at Market Hotel with an intensity not often witnessed at the many shows we see. But sadly, as the bands return to their separate careers, we are not likely to see a repeat of Friday’s show soon again. Indeed, the final show of this collaborative tour took place Saturday in Providence.

I recorded this set with the installed AT mics in the venue mixed with an outstanding feed provided by house FOH Jason Kelly. The sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Set:

The Body / Full of Hell
2016-09-09
Market Hotel
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Upfront Audience

Soundboard [Engineer: Jason Kelly] + Audio Technica 4051 > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 32:03]
01 One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache
02 Bottled Urn
03 World of Hope and No Pain
04 Himmel und Holle
05 Empty Hearth – Thrum in the Deep
06 The Little Death
07 Gates of Steel [Devo]
08 [encore break]
09 Cestoda

Support The Body: Facebook | Bandcamp | Buy One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache

Support Full Of Hell: Website | Merch | Buy One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache

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People of the North: August 10, 2016 Secret Project Robot

September 1, 2016
By

IMG_1155

Our lovefest with all things Oneida and Oneida-related continued earlier this month when, on the heels of the final Oneida set at Secret Project Robot, we caught People of the North in the same venue. While POTN shares personnel with Oneida (regulars Kid Millions and Bobby Matador, plus Barry London for this set), the band’s vibe is distinct, with an even-more fluid and keyboard-driven approach. The band has a new album, The Caul, on its way from Thrill Jockey, but who knows whether this material is reflective of that, or just the bandmembers’ mind-state at showtime. Whatever the reason, this 45-minute improv was yet another reminder that with this group of musicians, you can always count on an interesting trip.

I recorded this set with a pair of Schoeps MK4V microphones at the stage lip. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete set:

People of the North
2016-08-10
Secret Project Robot
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK4V (stage lip, DFC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Zoom F8>24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 improvisation

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT People of the North by buying their records from Thrill Jockey.

Enemy Waves: March 26, 2016 Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular, King’s (Raleigh, NC)

August 30, 2016
By

IMG_2141

It’s a rarer and rarer thing these days to discover a truly local phenomenon, especially in rock(ish) music, where even if a band doesn’t tour nationwide, their music can become the province of bloggers in Sydney and Tokyo even if their music is made in a basement in Anaheim. Well, Enemy Waves remain, for the most part, such a phenomenon, a band whose experimental prowess and musical bona fides haven’t yet overcome the fact that, to put it bluntly, these guys have a few other things going on in life. When we saw these guys do the Hopscotch Music Festival in 2014, we were blown away; the addition of Thurston Moore was an easy bonus.

This show featured a couple of songs from the Hopscotch outing, plus a couple of new numbers. Once again, the band showed how adept they are at improvisation, one of many reasons why they belonged at the Threelobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular (other sets here). While the band’s recorded output remains minimal to date, hopefully a set like this is an invitation for people to encourage them to do more (maybe even on Three Lobed(?)). As with everything that went on during this day-long extravaganza, this set was special, in this case, as a fairly rare chance to catch a band whose name should be (much) more widely known.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the other sets of the day, with multiple soundboard channels, Schoeps MK22 microphones onstage, and MBHO cardiod microphones in the crowd. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show: 

Enemy Waves
2016-03-26
Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular
Kingís
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

4x Soundboard channels (engineer: Brad Womack) + MBHO 603a/KA200N (FOB, DFC, PAS) + Schoeps MK22 (onstage, ORTF, DFC)>KC5>CMC6>Aeta PSP3 >> Zoom F8>8x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro-Cory Rayborn]
02 Bleechie
03 [unknown1]
04 [unknown2]
05 [banter/tuning]
06 Radiant III

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Enemy Waves by visiting their bandcamp page.

Colin Fisher, Mike Pride, Carl Testa Trio: August 10, 2016 Secret Project Robot

August 25, 2016
By

IMG_1139

On a night that included incredible experimental music of many stripes — including Chris Forsyth’s set with Loren Connors, and the last Secret Project Robot set ever from People of the North (coming soon), it made perfect sense that the evening’s middle act was a free jazz trio of some of the most interesting and well regarded players we’ve seen in a while. The trio of Colin Fisher, Mike Pride and Carl Testa added a different and welcome dimension, their all-improvisational jam’s headier aspects brought to the fore by the light show behind them. Each of these musicians has a deep resume of appearances with luminaries that cross the jazz and experimental rock realms, and you could feel the breadth of that experience at work in this piece. Anyone who reads our too-infrequent jazz posts on this site knows that our enthusiasm for the genre far outstrips our ability to comment on it, so don’t take my word for it — hear this one for yourself.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones at the stage lip (per the picture). The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete set:

Fisher-Pride-Testa Trio
2016-08-10
Secret Project Robot
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK4V (FOB, DFC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Zoom F8>24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 improvisation

Musicians (in alphabetical order)
Colin Fisher – sax
Mike Pride – drums
Carl Testa – bass

Support these musicians: Colin Fisher | Mike Pride | Carl Testa

Matt Valentine: August 14, 2016 Union Pool

August 24, 2016
By

Matt Valentine

Any Matt Valentine or MV/EE tour poster will tell you that tapers are welcome; and we’ve never been shy about taking him up on the invitation. We caught up with Valentine earlier this year for his solo release Midden Mound. And now a few months later, we returned to Valentine’s space homestead for this Sunday night space folk set highlighting his new record, Blazing Grace. As usual, you’ll find Valentine’s signature blend of noisy folk songs and trippy jams here. Meanwhile, Valentine wrapped up his tour last night, but he’ll no doubt be hitting that golden road again soon so keep an eye out for next time—we’ll see you in the taper’s pit.

I recorded this set from our usual location at the venue combined with a board feed from Union Pool FOH, Doug. The results are excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Matt Valentine
2016-08-14
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Doug) + AKG C480B/CK63 (PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [48:16]
01. Boo Woe (When It’s All Gone)
02. Jeremiah Red
03. [banter]
04. Shine a Light
05. [banter]
06. Anji Variations
07. Now I Have Everything (version) > P.K. Dick

Buy Blazing Grace via Time-Lag
• • Connect with Matt Valentine via Facebook
• • • Buy MV/EE and MV solo records from their blog

Palehound: August 13, 2016 Trans-Pecos

August 18, 2016
By

IMG_1969
[photo by nyctaper]

It was a sunny afternoon on one of the hottest days of the year, but inside the cool confines of Trans-Pecos last Saturday’s show hosted by PopGun was a winner. Palehound was the headliner and it is true that we had not seen the band since our CMJ show in 2014. In the interim, Ellen Kempner compiled a new band — which is essentially now a power trio of Jesse Weiss on drums and Dave Khoshtinat on bass. With a superb rhythm section behind her and on the tails of last year’s well received album Dry Food, Ellen’s stature has been all upwards since our last meeting. At Pecos to a large crowd relieved to be indoors and cool, Palehound played a well-paced set that featured three new songs but relied primarily on Dry Food material. Sure, we got a couple of “oldies” including the fave “Pet Carrot” but this is a band that is clearly looking forward where the future is rosy as hell.

Palehound will be playing the Wild Honey Pie’s Welcome Campers event next weekend. Details here. The band will return to more active dates in the Fall.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted in front of the stage and mixed with a board feed. The sound is quite representative of the room that excellent day. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Palehound
2016-08-13
Trans-Pecos
Queens NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + On Stage Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Chris] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (mixing) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3/tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 54:43]
01 [new song – Don’t Come Near Me]
02 Psycho Speak
03 Healthier Folk
04 Molly
05 Easy
06 [banter – bad week]
07 Dry Food
08 Drooler
09 Cinnamon
10 Seekonk
11 Cushioned Caging
12 [banter – Wyoming]
13 Pet Carrot
14 [banter – sleep-away camp]
15 [new song – At Night I’m Alright]
16 [new song – Stuck With the Weight]
17 Dixie

Support Palehound: Facebook | Bandcamp | Exploding In Sound Records | Twitter

SUPPORT NYCTaper




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