nyctaper Recordings

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Antietam: December 6, 2014 Trocadero Philly – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 16, 2014

[photos by Max Sall]

As are their friends, Antietam is also celebrating a 30th anniversary of sorts this year. As bassist Tim Harris noted, Yo La Tengo’s first ever show was also Antietam’s third show and the two have lived virtually parallel lines ever since. Each are a trio anchored by a married couple. But in the case of Antietam, they are clearly not as prolific as YLT (including a hiatus of several years) and as a result the band members lead regular lives. Tara Key is by day a librarian at Columbia University and when not playing in the band she’s a world class pinball wizard by night. But when Tara straps on the Gibson and takes the stage with Antietam, she, Tim and drummer Josh Madell are a well-oiled machine led by the incendiary guitarist. At the Trocadero, Antietam opened for YLT and played a superb forty-five minute set of material new and old. They were joined at times by vocalist Sue Garner and on “Hands Down” by YLT’s Ira Kaplan (streaming below). Ira has performed on the original recording of the song, and when these two bands play on the same bill there is always appropriate collaboration — Tara later joined YLT for a song on which she has played on the original recording. Antietam’s set began when the venue was not entirely full but as the set gained momentum the crowd filled and reacted with increasing enjoyment. In particular, the last four songs beginning with “Sunshine” were absolutely ripping and Tara’s guitar play dominated the room much to the delight of the crowd.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Yo La Tengo set — Schoeps and a fine board feed provided by the Troc’s excellent house FOH. The empty spaces in the room early in the set created a little echo that was easily removed with some gentle EQ, and ultimately the sound quality of this recording is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Hands Down”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

Antietam
2014-12-06
Trocadero Theatre
Philadelphia PA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Mark Luecke] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > 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 44:54]
01 Time Creeps
02 1-2-1
03 Breathe
04 Satisfied
05 Right Between Your Eyes
06 Bird Watching
07 Sunshine
08 [banter – Ira intro]
09 Hands Down
10 Clarion
11 Stowaway

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Antietam, visit their website, and their blog, and their Facebook page, and purchase their official releases from Carrot Top Records [HERE].

Yellow Ostrich: December 8, 2014 Glasslands – FLAC/MP3/Streaming FINAL SHOW!!

December 15, 2014

By acidjack

Follow @acidjacknyc

[photos courtesy of David Andrako for BrooklynVegan]

“How do you start when you know it’s gonna end?” Alex Schaaf asks on Yellow Ostrich‘s “How Do You Do It?”. The same could be asked of anyone starting a rock band these days. Or for that matter, a music venue. Yellow Ostrich came onto the scene full of promise, and throughout their five years, they mostly lived up to it, as their popularity soared and the density and complexity of their songs followed. Like a lot of bands these days, this one began as Schaaf’s bedroom project, only growing into a formidable live act after the fact. The first time I saw Yellow Ostrich perform, at Mercury Lounge in 2011, Schaaf was fighting with his vocal loops on “Whale”, putting on a hell of a performance despite the glitch on his first song. Back then, the band had other dates happening at places like Shea Stadium and Piano’s. A year later, they were playing Bowery Ballroom, a confident full band at the top of their game.

But isn’t it painful, in the end, to put forth so much effort, to pour so much of your soul into something, when you know that in all likelihood, a half-decade worth of a run is all you’ll get if you’re lucky? Making music requires so much giving of yourself, it’s hard sometimes to imagine how it can be worth it. You give and give and give, and at best you get a few syncs, a few streams, and hopefully a full house some nights. When things end, chances are that memories will be short. If you matter, in the long run, to a handful of people, you’re lucky.

But if Schaaf and his band felt any melancholy about Yellow Ostrich’s passing, they didn’t show it. It felt right for the band to close things out on the stage at Glasslands, which itself will be no more as of the end of this year. The band will end on a high note, the more confident Cosmos, which pushed their limits while retaining the essential tunefulness of the melodies and intensely personal bent of Schaaf’s words. Tonight the band was on from start to finish, Schaaf bounding across the stage as songs took on added flourishes of guitar and a little something extra in the vocals. This isn’t the same band that started it all, when Jon Natchez joined up to make it a fully-realized creature, but it’s a very good one, equally loyal to Cosmos tunes like “Terrors” and “Things Are Fallin'” as to old greats from The Mistress like “Whale” and the set’s closer, a searing, extra-long “Mary”. While the whole set is streaming below, I wanted to emphasize “Whale”, which has grown so much from that first version I saw played at Mercury. To me this first song on The Mistress is the essential Yellow Ostrich song, and in the three evolving versions I’ve recorded, you capture the band’s story in miniature. The song has always been catchy, but only this time, the entire crowd sang along.

Those of us who spent much if any time in the music scene just across the East River have found much to mourn this season, saying goodbye not only to institutions like Glasslands and DBA but to longtime bands and friends as well. While a moment has ended, this can only be looked at as torch passed. New York has never been the place for those who don’t like change; change is the essential part of its character as a city in almost every way. For his part, Schaaf isn’t going anywhere — he’s already got a new project, Human Heat, with an EP to its credit. I grinned as the band played The Mistress’ “Hate Me Soon”. The truth is, Yellow Ostrich didn’t stick around long enough to give us a chance to. And most times, that’s just the right way to go.

I recorded this set with our installed Glasslands system, Naiant X-R cardiod microphones and a soundboard feed by the band’s FOH Keith Milgaten. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream “Whale”

Stream the complete show

Yellow Ostrich
2014-12-08
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Keith Milgaten) + Naiant X-R>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, alignment, mixdown, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (light EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:08:35]
01 Fog
02 Shades
03 Hold On
04 [banter1]
05 Neon Fists
06 How Do You Do It
07 Elephant King
08 My Moons
09 Whale
10 Ghost
11 Any Wonder
12 [banter2]
13 Things Are Fallin’
14 Marathon Runner
15 [banter3]
16 Hate Me Soon
17 Mary

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Yellow Ostrich, visit their website, and buy their records from their online store.

Pink Avalanche: November 22, 2014 Brooklyn Night Bazaar – FLAC/MP3/Full Set Streaming

December 13, 2014

By EricPH

[photo by acidjack]

Hailing from Chicago, post-punkers Pink Avalanche would not be out of place among that city’s finest independent bands. Their songs straddle the line between shoegaze and more economical punk rock. Begun as the studio project of guitarist-singer Che Arthur and drummer Adam Reach, the pair add Kortland Chase on guitar and Pete Croke on bass for their second album, The Luminous Heart of Nowhere, and live show. Arthur is a live sound engineer by day and is no doubt responsible for The Luminous Heart of Nowhere’s careful production, which manages to sound lush while retaining the harsher edges of the punk rock tunes.

We caught up with Pink Avalanche rounding out their tour with Survival Knife and Hungry Ghost at Brooklyn Night Bazaar. Their set features cuts from their recently released second album, from their first album Wraiths, and a cover of semi-obscure Austin band Starfish’s “Warp Factor.” For their live set, interstitial soundscapes link the songs together much like the two short instrumental tracks “:” and “::” that bookend “In Empty Spaces” on the album. Though drawing from two albums and a cover, they manage to musically link the separate selections into a narrative that flows through their entire set.

Like the night’s other bands, acidjack recorded this set from inside the soundboard cage at the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed that included the engineer, Kenny’s, mics at either side of the stage. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Pink Avalanche
2014-11-22
Brooklyn Night Bazaar
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by acidjack
Produced by Eric PH

Soundboard w/ onstage mics (engineer: Kenny) + Schoeps MK41 (LOC, PAS) > KCY > Z-PFA > Sound Devices USBPre2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM] > 2x24bit/48kHz WAV > Audacity 2.0.5 (set fades, mixdown, EQ, downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (level 8)

01. Chalk and Crimson
02. Petals
03. Masks
04. Corpse
05. In Empty Spaces
06. Warp Factor [Starfish]
07. Silver Tongue
08. Breathe Deep
09. You Lost Me
10. Ten Kings

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Pink Avalanche, visit their website, like them on Facebook and buy The Luminous Heart of Nowhere here.

Big Ups: November 2, 2014 Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

December 12, 2014

By acidjack

[photo by Danny Krug for Canvas Media PR]

For budding music nerds, discovering the Touch & Go catalog is an eye-opening experience. I have to imagine Big Ups enjoyed a similarly formative exploration of that catalog. They pair the post-hardcore sound of bands like The Jesus Lizard and Shellac with strikingly direct lyrics that narrate the indignities of everyday life. Joe Galarraga’s frenetic vocals are tempered by the tightly wound trio of Brendan Finn, Amar Lal, and Carlos Salguero. As a unit, the band mines the tenuous territory that lies between frenzy and control, managing to teeter on the edge of chaos without retreating to the comfort of complacency—no small feat when you take a look around.

And so despite the Sunday evening opening slot, Big Ups wasted no time in challenging the crowd to shake off any post-Daylight Saving grogginess with an intense thirty-minute set at Mercury Lounge comprised of selections off their debut album Eighteen Hours of Static, the two tracks from their upcoming Exploding in Sound split 7”, and a handful of new songs. Set-opener “Justice” is a wakeup call in which Galarraga wails with conviction, “Everybody says it’s getting better all the time, but it’s bad, still bad.” It’s a convincing argument with the songs that follow as its supporting evidence. Yet the songs refuse to give in or give up, convinced that it should and can get better. While not a dramatic stylistic departure from the earlier material, the duo “Rash” and “Not Today” (both out now on a split 7” with Washer) represents their most realized songs yet. If these two tracks are any indication of Big Ups’ future direction, there may be hope after all.

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue, with a soundboard feed from the Mercury Lounge FOH, Dave Lefcort. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Big Ups
November 2, 2014
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY

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

Audio Technica 3031 + Soundboard (engineer: Dave Lefcort) > Roland R-26 > 2x24bit/48kHz WAV > Audacity 2.0.5 (set fades, mixdown, EQ, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (level 8)

01. Justice
02. Hope For Someone
03. Meet Where We Are
04. T.M.I.
05. Rash
06. Not Today
07. Yawp
08. [Unknown]
09. Wool

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Big Ups, visit their website, like them on Facebook and buy Eighteen Hours of Static there.

Smashing Pumpkins: December 8, 2014 Webster Hall – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 11, 2014

By nyctaper

[photo courtesy of Gretchen Robinette – full set at brooklynvegan]

I think its safe to say that Billy Corgan can be a polarizing figure in the music press. The Smashing Pumpkins are certainly one of rock’s most enduring 90s bands and although Billy has been endlessly criticized for a series of personnel changes in the band, the group as it exists in 2014 is still a pretty damned good unit. The new Smashing Pumpkins album Monuments to an Elegy is a superb record — high quality material with a very strong supporting cast and Billy’s guitar and voice have never sounded better. Its the album you’d hope that the Smashing Pumpkins would make in 2014. But reading the current state of the music press, you wouldn’t necessarily even know that TSP and Billy released such high quality work or that they even have a new album at all. And that’s a shame. The click-driven rags that write about music-related issues are selling headlines and Billy’s various beefs and highly quotable outlandish statements drive the big type and site visits. But credit where credit is due — among those sites, Pitchfork begrudgingly gave Monuments a review that was both fair and pretty accurate.

The Smashing Pumpkins are playing a few small venues in various cities to celebrate the album’s release and as an introduction to the band that will play the much larger album support tour. New York and Webster Hall were fortunate to land one of these intimate events. The band consists of Corgan and longtime TSP guitarist Jeff Schroeder, and newcomers bassist Mark Stoermer (from The Killers) and drummer Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine). Despite having played only a few shows together thus far, this unit of pros is already operating on all cylinders and were about as tight as could be expected. The setlist for this show was of course heavy on Monument material (five of nine songs), but also included a nice selection of older material (“Hummer” was a standout) and one neat cover (Bowie’s “Fame” streaming below), before the main set closed with a tremendous thirteen-minute “Silverfuck” that was both jammed, intense, and included a couple of teases (I heard “Kashmir” while others noticed “She Sells Sanctuary”). The show ended in a forward-looking fashion as TSP closed with the night with a powerful unreleased ballad called “Burnt Orange-Black” which is scheduled to appear on their next album due in 2015. This mini tour concludes on the West coast this week with shows in Las Vegas and LA. Stay tuned for new tour dates in the new year.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted on the front center wall of the soundboard cage in the lower balcony. The recording is primarily (75%) room mics because the sound in the room on this night was among the best quality sound I’ve literally ever heard in any venue due in large part to the quality of the crew and Webster’s new upgraded system. We added in a small amount of board feed to boost the vocals and give the recording a bit more “direct” sound. This amazing sounding show was mixed by the band’s current FOH Kevin Lemoine and he deserves all the credit. Enjoy!

Stream “Fame” (David Bowie cover):

While Archive.org is temporarily down due to local power issue – Download [MP3] [FLAC]

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

Stream the Entire Show from Archive.org:

Smashing Pumpkins
2014-12-08
Webster Hall
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Kevin] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:41:09]
01 One and All
02 Being Beige
03 Hummer
04 Tiberius
05 [banter – bass amp]
06 Tonight Tonight
07 Drum and Fife
08 Glass and the Ghost Children
09 Stand Inside Your Love
10 [banter – adventure]
11 Monuments
12 Drown
13 Disarm
14 Zero
15 Bullet with Butterfly Wings
16 Fame [Bowie]
17 Silverfuck
18 [encore break]
19 Ava Adore
20 Burnt Orange-Black

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Smashing Pumpkins, visit their website, and purchase Monuments to an Elegy from the band’s website [HERE].

Yo La Tengo: December 6, 2014 Trocadero Philly – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 10, 2014

By nyctaper

[photos by Max Sall]

This show represents the only time this year that I saw Yo La Tengo live. You have to go back nearly a decade to find a calendar year when I saw the band only once. The band went out on a little mini-tour in celebration of their official 30th anniversary as a band and also in support of a new release called Extra Painful — a reissue of their classic 1993 album Painful packed with a bunch of bonus material. So since the two Town Hall shows were not conducive to recording, I made a roadtrip in the pouring rain to Philadelphia and back. The Trocadero is a converted old theatre right in the heart of Philly’s Chinatown District and its just a few blocks from the Franklin Bridge — an easy in and out of the City. Although the Troc has two balconies and an official capacity of 1200, it definitely has an intimate vibe perhaps since the actual floor is fairly small. But intimate or not, we’re used to seeing Yo La Tengo amongst “friends” at some fairly small-ish places, so there was a definite “road” feel to this show. As YLT shows go, this one had pretty much everything you could ask for including some rare nuggets (“Empty Pool”, “Demons”), special guests (Tara Key early, and full Antietam later), plenty of noisy stuff, and an absolutely ear-crushing “Story”. We are streaming a standout version of “Drug Test” that began with a (separately tracked) false start but like in so many of those situations with a “start over”, the band totally nailed it on the re-do. Yo La Tengo currently has no scheduled dates, but we’re hoping that we get more than one chance to see them live in 2015.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted in the front of the soundboard booth and mixed with a superb feed provide by the band’s longtime and legendary FOH Mark Luecke. As with most YLT recordings, there are level issues — the quiet songs are whispers and the noisey songs are loud as heck — so there are some minor artifacts from my editing to create a more consistent level throughout. Ultimately the sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Drug Test”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Yo La Tengo
2014-12-06
Trocadero Theatre
Philadelphia PA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:57:56]
01 Cherry Chapstick
02 Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House
03 Super Kiwi
04 [banter – Tara intro]
05 Demons
06 Mr. Tough
07 [dedication to Richard Evans]
08 If It’s True
09 [banter – 30 years]
10 The Empty Pool [Yung Wu]
11 The Whole of the Law [The Only Ones]
12 The Summer
13 [banter – XPN]
14 I’ll Be Around
15 Big Day Coming
16 We’re An American Band
17 [false start]
18 Drug Test
19 Sugarcube
20 Ohm
21 The Story of Yo La Tango
22 [encore break]
23 Today Is The Day
24 [banter – Antietam intro]
25 Orange Song [Antietam]
26 [thanks]
27 What Can I Say [NRBQ]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, and purchase the Extra Painful reissue from Matador Records [HERE].

Doug Tuttle: October 25, 2014 Trouble In Mind CMJ Showcase, Rough Trade – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

December 9, 2014

By acidjack

Follow @acidjacknyc

The guitarist Doug Tuttle was one of the principal songwriters in a band we’ve spoken highly of on this site, MMOSS. In 2013, the New Hampshire band ceased to be, and Tuttle began writing on his own, wrestling not only with the band’s dissolution, but the loss of a relationship. Not shockingly, the song cycle he debuted on Trouble In Mind Records last year has a strong undercurrent of sadness running through its dreamy psychedelic melodies. This show, held at Trouble In Mind’s showcase at Rough Trade during CMJ, stuck with that material, and Tuttle’s assembled band proved as crack an outfit as his last group. All of those powers came to bear on the eight-minute “Turn This Love”, which exploded from a brooding first few verses into a spacey extended jam, anchored by the organ sounds that are essential to the band’s overall style and tone. While we’re sorry that MMOSS is no more, Tuttle has more than taken the reins with his new band, and we hope to see more of him in 2015.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the other recordings from the day, with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed from the Rough Trade engineer, Cam. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Doug Tuttle
2014-10-25
Trouble In Mind CMJ Showcase
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (DFC, PAS, at SBD)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard (engineer: Cam)>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 I Won’t Do
02 Lasting Away
03 With Us Soon
04 Forget the Days
05 Leave Your Body
06 Where You Plant Your Love.. Is Where It Grows
07 Turn This Love
08 I Will Leave

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Doug Tuttle, like him on facebook, and buy his self-titled solo record directly from Trouble In Mind.

PCPC: October 21, 2014 St. Vitus – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Set

December 8, 2014

By acidjack

Follow @acidjacknyc

[photos courtesy of P Squared Photography]

PCPC is the daring combination of Andrew Savage and Austin Brown of Parquet Courts and members of PC Worship, bringing some of the best of both to the table. We were honored to capture this set at St. Vitus, which is their very first live show as a band. With both acts busy with their own projects — PC Worship with this year’s Social Rust, released a month before this show, Parquet Courts with the new “Parkay Courts” record — it’s impressive that the groups were able to make this pairing happen at all. But what we got was a band that felt loose and at home with their new material, their material combining Parquet’s nonchalance with the more off-kilter noise of PC Worship. The band felt a bit like a younger, less-serious Sonic Youth, making them the ideal opener for the Thurston Moore show that was to follow. A third of their set consisted of the opening number, the winding noise jam “Fell Into the Wrong Crowd”, before they got down to business with some shorter numbers, including a hard-to-recognize retooling of Warren Zevon’s “Carmelita”. The show operated more or less as a continuous single piece, and it was a thrill to watch these guys gel so effectively on their first time out.

I recorded this set in the same manner as Thurston Moore’s headlining set, with Schoeps MK4V microphones and a soundboard feed. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Parquet Courts and PC Worship will be appearing together at Webster Hall this Thursday – try to buy tickets here if you can, or scour the Internet.

Download the full set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the full set:

PCPC
2014-10-21
St. Vitus
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK4V (LOC, A-B)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard>>Roland R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (aligh, mix down, fades, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (light EQ, exciter)>Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Fell Into the Wrong Crowd
02 I Know You
03 Human Kindness
04 Lost In the Drain
05 Carmelita [Warren Zevon]
06 Cracked Mary
07 Born Again To Be Wild

If you enjoyed this recording, please visit the Parquet Courts website, buy Sunbathing Animal here, and visit PC Worship’s bandcamp page, where you can also buy their records.

Strand of Oaks: December 4, 2014 Bowery Ballroom – FLAC/MP3/Full Set Streaming

December 7, 2014

By acidjack

Eric PH reports:

To chart Strand of Oaks’ meteoric success in 2014, you need only look at the New York City venues they’ve played this past year: Piano’s in May, Mercury Lounge in June, The Bowery Ballroom in December. That Mercury Lounge gig doubled as record release show and tour opener for HEAL, released a couple days before. At the time, it was Strand of Oaks’ biggest NYC show yet. So it’s a testament to the band’s growing popularity that they close out the tour and the year with an even bigger, packed show at The Bowery Ballroom.

HEAL is Tim Showalter’s fourth album as Strand of Oaks, and the appeal is multifaceted: a compelling backstory of musical hardship, a car crash, and a broken heart; the allure of Showalter’s heart-on-his-sleeve lyrics; a guest appearance by J. Mascis (“Goshen ‘97”); and a stirring tribute to Jason Molina (“JM”). The album recalls Bruce Springsteen’s better days—and aptly, the Strand of Oaks show begins with his “Born in the U.S.A.” blasting as the band members take the stage; that song relevant not only to Showalter’s music and lyrical themes, but also to the night’s protests happening only blocks away from the intersection of Bowery and Delancy. Showalter takes a moment to remind the crowd of the dangers of cynicism, and while you might be tempted to label Showalter as earnest or emotional, his graciousness and sincerity is disarming, no doubt an antidote to the you-must-be-this-hip-to-enter music scene that, admittedly, is my usual fare.

The Bowery set captures Strand of Oaks playing all of HEAL, “Diamond Drill” from 2012’s Dark Shores, and two covers. Here, the album centerpiece, “JM,” stretches past the nine-minute mark, building to a cathartic crescendo. The more succinct pop rock of the hits (or as Showalter puts it, “the Wayne’s World level headbangers”), “Goshen ‘97” and “Shut In” gave the audience no other option but to rock out. This year has also seen Strand of Oaks get no small amount of press from cover songs. For the A.V. Club’s Undercover Series, the band pulled off a surprising cover of Asia’s “Heat of the Moment.” Here we find Showalter doing a solo take on Ryan Adams’ “My Wrecking Ball” and a rousing full band performance of the ’Mats’ “Alex Chilton.” Strand of Oaks have set the bar high with a banner year in 2014 and I’m anticipating more from Showalter and crew in 2015.

I recorded this set from our usual location at Bowery, just left of the soundboard, with acidjack’s Schoeps MK4V cardiod mics and a soundboard feed from Bowery’s FOH, Kenny. The sound is terrific. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete set:

Strand of Oaks
2014-12-04
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

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

Soundboard (engineer: Kenny) + Schoeps MK4V > KCY > Z-PFA >> Roland R-26 > 2xWAV(24/48) > Audacity 2.0.5 (fades, EQ, tracking, amplify, downsample, dither) > FLAC (level 8)

Tracks [81:57]
01. HEAL
02. Same Emotions
03. Last to Swim
04. [banter]
05. Goshen ’97
06. For Me
07. JM
08. [banter]
09. My Wrecking Ball [Ryan Adams]
10. Diamond Drill
11. [banter]
12. Woke Up to the Light
13. Shut In
14. [banter]
15. Plymouth
16. [banter]
17. Sterling
18. [banter]
19. Wait For Love
20. [encore break]
21. Alex Chilton [The Replacements]
22. Mirage Year

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Strand of Oaks, visit their website, and buy Heal and the band’s other records directly from the band here.

Whiskey Bitches: October 23, 2014 NYCTaper CMJ Cake Shop – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 5, 2014

By nyctaper

[photos by Dean Keim]

Its been an eventful 2014 for Whiskey Bitches. Since our last visit for their impressive set at Death By Audio (RIP) in April, the band has played a ton of shows, released two videos, and self-released their second EP, the four-song Never Enough. During CMJ week, Whiskey Bitches played 6 shows, with ours falling in the middle. The band was on early, but even with some performance and party hangovers they managed to draw a crowd and play their typically energetic set. The setlist contained three of the four songs from the EP and two excellent new numbers. We’re streaming the lead track of the EP, “Disaster”.

Tonight (December 5) you can see Whiskey Bitches live at Cake Shop.

Acidjack recorded this show in the exact same manner as the previous sets from this show (Schoeps Onstage + SBD) and the sound quality is equally superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Disaster”:

Download Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Whiskey Bitches
2014-10-23
NYCTaper CMJ Day Party
Cake Shop
New York, NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + On Stage Audience Matrix

Schoeps MK4V (stage lip) > KC5 > CMC6 + Soundboard (engineer: Clint) > Edirol R-44 [OCM] > 2x24bit/48kHz WAV > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by acidjack
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 21:59]
01 Funemployed
02 Disaster
03 [banter]
04 Blackout
05 White Knight
06 Time Wasted
07 Always
08 Cookies

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you’ll please support Whiskey Bitches, like them on Facebook and purchase their Never Enough EP from their Bandcamp page [HERE].

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Whiskey Bitches: October 23, 2014 NYCTaper CMJ Cake Shop – Flac/MP3/Streaming

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