Shakey Graves: June 6, 2015 Mountain Jam (Hunter, NY) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

July 6, 2015
By
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Processed with VSCOcam with b1 preset

[Photos by Jill Harrison]

Alejandro Rose-Garcia, lately of Austin, seems poised for bigger stages these days as his Shakey Graves project starts to take off on the wings of its Nashville connections and blues-rock influences. Graves pulled down a sizable crowd for this set at Mountain Jam, and made the very most of it, giving a muscular full-band performance that threatened to overwhelm his latest album, And the War Came, to task. Where that album’s highlights come mostly from his collaborations with Esme Patterson — particularly on “Dearly Departed,” Shakey Graves proved that what he really needed all along was more electric guitar and a drummer who’d really hit the skins. “Family and Genus,” in particular, barely felt like the same song, with some serious soloing and the vocals to go with it. Similarly, Rose-Garcia was a natural with the crowd, sharing a confessional tale and a solid message (always be there for your friends) before launching into the new song “Tomorrow.” There was at least one other new song on offer here, along with several that don’t appear on And the War Came, but what struck me, again and again, was how much more alive this music seems in the live setting, and how much Rose-Garcia benefits from the more “full-band” sound. He would go on to play Bonnaroo a few days after this, and I have no doubt he earned a similarly large following there.

hi and lo and I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4 microphones and a high-end Sonosax analog preamp. There is some evident wind noise at points, but for an outdoor recording in these conditions, the sound quality is quite good. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete set:

Shakey Graves
2015-06-06
Mountain Jam, West Stage
Hunter, NY USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK4>CMC6>Sonosax SX-M2>Roland R-26>16bit/44.1kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression)>Audacity 2.0.5 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 58:07]
01 If Not For You (alt version)
02 The Perfect Parts>
03 Family and Genus
04 Tomorrow
05 Proper Fence
06 Roll the Bones
07 If Not For You
08 [unknown]
09 Where A Boy Once Stood
10 Dearly Departed
11 Late July

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Shakey Graves, visit his website, and buy And the War Came there.

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Processed with VSCOcam with c3 preset

Grateful Dead: July 4, 2015 Chicago – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 5, 2015
By

gd screenie 4
[screen cap from the live stream]

Tonight is the last official performance of the band formerly known as “The Grateful Dead”. The entity known as “NYCTaper” would almost certainly not exist in its current incarnation were it not for the Grateful Dead and the tapers who captured the shows. These fans were essentially the courageous pioneers whose persistence, imagination and sacrifice created the very idea that a rock band could have “tapers”. After years of back and forth, the band ultimately recognized the value of the tapers and created an official “taper’s section” for them to do what they do. I spent quite a few nights in the late-era version of that section and it was an orderly community with its own set of particular rules and mores. In our own way here at NYCTaper, we try to apply a similar set of rules and use the code that made the tapers so successful and apply it to today’s technology and the music world at large. Indeed, our friend Jesse Jarnow is writing a book about the early days of the Grateful Dead tapers and gave us a small sample of his work in an article published in Wired Magazine on Friday.

The community aspect of the tapers’ creed is also a large reason why these recordings are coming to NYCTaper and doing so very quickly. Our friend Bill won the “lottery” and nabbed taper tickets to each of the Chicago shows and very generously volunteered to have his recordings posted here at NYCTaper. I’ve met Bill and I’ve known him in taper circles for a while, and acidjack has spent time with Bill down in New Orleans, but this joint venture is more about a camaraderie between relative strangers bonding over a taper ideal that began back in the old days of the Grateful Dead. In a way, its our tribute the band’s last shows that we can come together to take the original idea and transform it to a 21st Century version of the old “taper’s section”.

The second of these three shows was a standard Saturday show — that is to say it was a show longer on songs and shorter on jams. A show not necessarily for the diehards, but more for the “weekend fan”. Its been a phenomena for these weekend runs in Grateful Dead lore for years. The Friday show is a high-energy party, the Saturday is a song night, and the Sunday show is a night for obscurities and jams. We’ll find out in a few hours if this final run follows the old trend. However, that’s not necessarily an indictment of this show. It certainly had its moments — a surprising spry first-set “Friend of the Devil”, the Jerry-tribute “Bird Song” to open the second set, and a wayback machine drive along “The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion” (streaming below).

This set was recorded by Bill in the same manner as the July 3 show and the quality is equally excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “The Golden Road”:

Grateful Dead
2015-07-04
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Busman BSC2 + AKG 480/CK61 + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Tascam DR-680 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:22:19]
01 Shakedown Street
02 Liberty
03 Standing on the Moon
04 Me and My Uncle
05 Tennessee Jed
06 Cumberland Blues
07 Little Red Rooster
08 Friend of the Devil
09 Deal

Set 2
[Total Time 2:02:16]
10 Bird Song
11 The Golden Road
12 Lost Sailor
13 Saint of Circumstance
14 West LA Fadeaway
15 Foolish Heart
16 Drums-Space
17 Stella Blue
18 One More Saturday Night
19 [encore break]
20 US Blues
21 [Fireworks]

If you download this show from NYCTaper, please support the band and buy anything from the plethora of available music and merch at Dead.net.

Grateful Dead: July 3, 2015 Chicago – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 4, 2015
By

gd screenie 3
[screen capture from video stream]

If you follow my twitter or read my taperssection posts, you are abundantly aware that I have been brutally honest about these five “Fare Thee Well” shows. There are clear problems with this twenty-years-removed version of the “Grateful Dead” beyond the obvious absence of the band’s deceased emotional core — the tempo is way too slow, the aged players are making way too many simple mistakes, and there is no way on Earth that Phil Lesh should be permitted to sing lead vocals, particularly on Jerry Garcia’s songs. All that being said, the first two shows in Santa Clara did have some serious high points. Trey Anastasio’s lead guitar work has been thoroughly inspired and engaged and he seems completely committed to these performances. Additionally, the band’s setlist selections have been quite imaginative — perhaps the worst aspect of the late-era Garcia-led Grateful Dead was their predictable sets. These 2015 selections are both diverse and unpredictable. At the first night in Santa Clara, the threesome of primal Dead “Born Cross-Eyed”, “Cream Puff War” and “Viola Lee Blues” was my own personal highlight of last weekend and not coincidentally featured Trey on both lead vocals and extended lead guitar work.

But that was Santa Clara. These Chicago shows have a different feel from the outset. Early views of the crowd pre-show indicates a significantly more rowdy and celebratory air. As the show begins, there is definitely an East Coast/MidWest vibe and the band is pretty much into a groove from the beginning. The set begins with the song that ended the band’s last show ever, “Box of Rain”, in a nice bit of synchronicity which also shows that these guys are both aware and willing the celebrate the history. Trey is engaged throughout and actually takes the lead vocal on Bertha and is centerstage for all of Crazy Fingers. Its also nice to hear that the keyboards are right there in the mix and both Chimenti and Hornsby are playing well. The first set ends in typical fashion, but Bobby is also seemingly focused and the song is tight. A nice set, albeit with a fairly standard setlist.

The second set began with another one of those breakout numbers, the early 70’s unreleased and obscure track “Mason’s Children”. From there, it was another instance of Trey dominating the day, with a superb take on Garcia’s “Scarlet/Fire”. The early drums and space segment left much room for the “post-Drums” and the band did not disappoint. The primal “New Potato Caboose” was unfortunately a vocal lead for Lesh despite that Bob sang the song on the Anthem of the Sun album and all of the late-60’s live versions. Trey again shone during the “Help On The Way” and with his guitar throughout the entire Help/Slip/Frank suite. The band completed the night with a very sweet “Ripple” that featured a full crowd sing-along.

This show was recorded by friend of the site Bill who was in the taper’s section. He produced a 6-microphone mix that included a pair of Busman BSC2 mics, two AKG 480/CK61 mics and my Sennheiser cardioids that I sent to him especially for the occasion. The sound in the section is quite nice and this ambitious mix of microphones is indeed excellent. Enjoy!

Download the First Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Download the Second Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Passenger”:

Grateful Dead
2015-07-03
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Tascam DR-680 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Please support this legendary band:
http://www.dead.net

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:11:01]
01 Box of Rain
02 Jack Straw
03 Bertha
04 Passenger
05 The Wheel
06 Crazy Fingers
07 The Music Never Stopped

Set 2
[Total Time 1:53:58]
01 Mason’s Children
02 Scarlet Begonias
03 Fire On The Mountain
04 Drums-Space
05 New Potato Caboose
06 Playing In The Band
07 Let It Grow
08 Help On The Way
09 Slipknot
10 Franklin’s Tower
11 [encore break / donor request]
12 Ripple

If you download this show from NYCTaper, please support the band and buy anything from the plethora of available music and merch at Dead.net.

Wilco: June 26, 2015 Solid Sound Festival – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 3, 2015
By

Wilco Solid Sound 15 Loerzel
[photo by Robert Loerzel from Underground Bee]

The Friday night Wilco show of the band’s semi-annual Solid Sound Festival has become the thing of surprises. Two years ago, the Friday performance became the now-legendary all-covers show that blew up the internet overnight and is by far the most popular recording in the history of this site. For this year’s Fest, the opening night set featured an all-acoustic performance with the band playing it in an old school centered microphone bluegrass style. While this configuration is not entirely new to Wilco — the encore segments of the 20th Anniversary the Fall tour featured a similar setup — the performance of an entire two-plus hour show certainly was a novelty. Additionally, in the long-form set the various band members got a chance to stretch their instrumentation wings — we heard some mandolin, accordion, banjo, slide guitar and stand-up piano. The show’s setlist was not particularly rare, but that wasn’t the point. It was the band’s ability to provide interesting new arrangements to Wilco classics that makes this show a special event. And, in celebration of the recent win for fairness, Jeff Tweedy saluted marriage equality by declaring in the middle of “Hesitating Beauty” that it was “so much nicer singing this song now that everyone can get married”. We’re streaming that track below.

Wilco will be on the Festival circuit for the most part this Summer, dates here. We’ll catch them again at the Gathering of the Vibes in Connecticut in August.

Our friend Pete recorded this show from the area directly in front of the soundboard with the hypercardioid Neumanns. As with all of Wilco FOH Stan’s work, this was is another excellent mix and the sound quality (other than the boisterous crowd) is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Hesitating Beauty”:

Wilco
2015-06-26
Solid Sound Festival
North Adams MA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded inside Soundboard Cage

Neumann KM-185s > Sound Devices 702 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by gr8fulpete
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 2:10:26]
01 Misunderstood
02 War on War
03 I’m Always in Love
04 Company in My Back
05 Hummingbird
06 Bull Black Nova
07 Handshake Drugs
08 Hesitating Beauty
09 She’s a Jar
10 One Wing
11 Kamera
12 New Madrid
13 Forget the Flowers
14 It’s Just That Simple
15 Airline to Heaven
16 Dawned on Me
17 I Got You
18 Passenger Side
19 Outta Mind (Outta Site)
20 [happy birthday to Mikael Jorgensen]
21 Whole Love
22 Jesus Etc
23 Walken
24 The Thanks I Get
25 Theologians
26 Shot in the Arm

Please note that the files are incorrectly labeled 6/25 on the download.

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wilco, visit their website, and purchase their 20th Anniversary Box Set Alpha Mike Foxtrot from their website [HERE].

Amy Rigby: May 28, 2015 HiFi Bar – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 2, 2015
By

hifi
[photo from Amy]

neild reports:

Amy Rigby has been busy musically of late, recording three albums with her husband of seven years, Wreckless Eric, and touring semi-regularly as a duo from their home base in upstate New York. One thing she hasn’t done in a while, though, is play solo shows of her own — which is why when she announced a weekly residency at the HiFi Bar on Avenue A (the old Brownie’s space, still run by former Brownie’s booker Mike Stuto), I immediately canceled my Thursday plans for the month.

The shows did not disappoint in the slightest. HiFi is a cozy space, with a small stage, a pair of booths, and a handful of small tables wedged into what was the Brownie’s stage and standing room area — just about perfect for singer-songwritery performances. And as we were quickly reminded, Rigby is an unbeatable singer-songwriter. Whether on her own with acoustic guitar and organ (week one), accompanied by Wreckless Eric on bass and Jon Graboff on pedal steel (week two), or in full-on rock formation with Eric and drummer Jeremy Grites plus special guests Syd Straw and Lenny Kaye (week three, which I sadly missed), she was by turns poignant and hilarious, drawing on songs from her five solo albums (most famously her 1996 solo debut Diary of a Mod Housewife), rarities from her early days with ’80s bands Last Roundup and The Shams, and a handful of covers and new songs destined for her in-the-works solo album. (You can read her own recap of all four shows on her must-read Diary of Amy Rigby blog; be sure to scroll back to the ones guest-written by The Bag.)

Week four was possibly the most special of all, if only for the special guest: Amy’s daughter Hazel Rigby, who plays bass and sings in the Brooklyn-based indie rock group Outside World. With Hazel on bass and shared vocals, mother and daughter tackled the Last Roundup song “At The Well” (“I was about Hazel’s age when I wrote this”) plus an outstanding cover of the Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Wheels.” A few songs later, following a hilariously botched comedy bit involving a cell phone call from backstage, Wreckless Eric joined in for several songs, including “Genovese Bag,” Amy’s touching love letter to Hazel (“You were Mutt to my Jeff, I was Jack to your Jill”) that is possibly the greatest song ever about the joys and pains of parenting.

If the word “hilarious” comes up a lot in this writeup, it will become apparent why once you’ve heard “Keep It To Yourself,” one of the all-time great post-breakup songs. But this was largely a night for gentler emotions, as marked by the song Rigby chose for the closer (before being called back onstage for one final encore): “Don’t Ever Change,” an achingly sweet but never saccharine ode to the things worth cherishing in life, even if you may not always notice them at the time. Which is a pretty good summary of Amy Rigby’s own three-decade-long music career, for that matter — though on these four nights, she definitely got noticed.

This was recorded with Church Audio CA-14 cardioid mics, powered by Church’s Ugly battery box, to a Sony PCM-M10 recorder. There is a small fraction of a board feed mixed in for fortification of the vocals and also to lessen the enthusiastic crowd response. Thanks to Amy for permission to record, and to HiFi’s Mike Stuto and his soundman whose name I’ve forgotten for their attentive help and for great room sound. You can buy most of Amy Rigby’s records at amyrigby.com, and you will not be sorry if you do.

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Summer of My Wasted Youth”:

Amy Rigby
2015-05-28
HiFi Bar
New York, NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Upfront Audience

Soundboard + Church Audio CA-14 cardioid mics > Church Ugly battery box > Sony PCM-M10 > Soundforge (post-production) > CD Wave > TLH > Foobar (tagging and conversion)

Recorded by neild
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:24:15]
01 Rode Hard
02 Playing Pittsburgh
03 Dark Angel
04 How When Where
05 Summer of My Wasted Youth
06 [Hazel Rigby intro]
07 At The Well
08 Wheels [Flying Burrito Brothers]
09 As Is
10 Keep It To Yourself
11 Down Side of Love
12 Needy Men
13 [phone call gag]
14 Til The Wheels Fall Off
15 Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again
16 [banter – Eric new album]
17 Property Shows
18 Slow Burner
19 Genovese Bag
20 We’re Stronger Than That
21 [encore break]
22 Do You Remember That
23 Don’t Ever Change
24 [second encore break]
25 Beer and Kisses

If you download this recording from NYCTaper PLEASE SUPPORT Amy Rigby, visit her website, and purchase her official releases from the Shop at her website [HERE].

Gov’t Mule: June 6, 2015 Mountain Jam (Hunter, NY) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

July 1, 2015
By

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Pretty much everything to like about Mountain Jam flows from Warren Haynes and his band Gov’t Mule. As one of the original founders of the festival, Haynes and his fellow participants in Radio Woodstock built something that grew organically around the kind of music they wanted to make and to listen to. That means 60s and 70s-inspired music with improvisational leanings that usually returns to its classic rock core — a pretty apt description of Gov’t Mule. Since the festival was purchased by an app company, some of that magic has been lost in favor of the expected deluge of commercialization and lineup considerations that tend more toward packing in the day-trippers versus creating a cohesive vibe. So, as irritating as it might have been to realize that Mule would be followed by a derivative band with no business being there, it felt good to enjoy what they were doing, and be grateful that they were still giving it their all. In fact, this was Mule’s second outing at the festival, after their epic “Dark Side of the Mule” set from the night before, to go with their latest album. So, if this set was “only” two hours, Mule can more than be forgiven. Perhaps in a covering mood after the night of Floyd just before, Mule closed this one out with a slew of covers, including “Working Class Hero,” “She Said She Said,” “Tomorrow Never Comes,” and a version of the band’s own “Mule” that featured an extended jam into Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” No matter how things may change, you can’t say that Mule doesn’t respect the past.

hi and lo and I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4 microphones and a Sonosax high-end analog preamp. The sound quality is quite good. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete set:

Gov’t Mule
2015-06-06
Mountain Jam, East Stage
Hunter, NY USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK4>CMC6>Sonosax SX-M2>Roland R-26>16bit/44.1kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression)>Audacity 2.0.5 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Railroad Boy
02 Done Got Wise
03 Mr. High and Mighty
04 About To Rage >
05 Blind Man In The Dark
06 [banter]
07 Endless Parade>The Thrill Is Gone>Endless Parade
08 Million Miles From Yesterday*#
09 Jeep On 35 >
10 Foresaken Savior >
11 Working Class Hero [John Lennon]
12 Dreams
13 She Said She Said [The Beatles]>
14 Tomorrow Never Knows [The Beatles]
15 Mule>Superstition [Stevie Wonder]>Mule

* With Nachan Taylor On Vocals
# With Elaine Kazwell On Vocals

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Gov’t Mule, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Mule Store [HERE].

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