Superchunk: September 27, 2013 Bowery Ballroom – Flac/MP3/Streaming

October 2, 2013
By

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[photos by PSquared Photography]

I couldn’t make the Friday night Superchunk show, as I was attending The Suburbs at Mercury (recording very soon). But fortunately, intrepid correspondent neild was there for the capture. Neil reports:

“First things first: Not to contradict our fearless leader, but Superchunk didn’t technically go on hiatus after 2001’s Here’s to Shutting Up. There were occasional shows and EPs here and there, whenever Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance could take time away from their main gig running Merge Records. But the band’s masterful 2010 CD Majesty Shredding still deserves to be ranked with the most impressive comeback albums of all time, featuring instant classics like “Digging For Something” and “Learned to Surf” that melded the band’s guitar crunch with McCaughan’s pop hookery more deftly than ever before. And this year’s I Hate Music (spoiler alert: they don’t actually) is more of the same – or rather, another step forward in the same direction, stretching the band’s boundaries while still staying true to its strengths in rocking out.

This show was the first of two nights at the Bowery Ballroom (the second is available here), and the sold-out crowd was not disappointed: From the opening clap-along bars of “This Summer” (a throwaway single release from last year that might just be their catchiest tune ever), the band was in fine form, with McCaughan bouncing around the stage for almost the entire hour and a half of music. (As my spouse, a Superchunk first-timer, remarked with understatement, “Mac sure has a lot of energy.”) With Ballance sidelined by ear problems, drummer Jon Wurster’s Bob Mould band mate Jason Narducy subbed in as a replacement, and was an excellent fit both on bass and on backing vocals. The setlist featured a spate of songs from I Hate Music, plus a selection from the band’s catalog that managed to be almost entirely different from the next night’s set; “Skip Steps 1 and 3,” “Hyper Enough,” “Rope Light,” and “Driveway to Driveway” (streaming below) were among the highlights here that didn’t reappear on Saturday.

I recorded this from the Bowery’s left balcony, which made for reduced crowd noise and a nice direct sound from the left speaker stack. It was recorded with two sets of mics, Core Sound Binaurals and Church Audio CA-14 cardioids, which were later mixed to provide optimum depth and presence.

Do not sell this under any circumstances, buy all of Superchunk’s records if you don’t have them already (did you get their 2008 EP Leaves In The Gutter? you probably believed that “hiatus” thing and missed it, didn’t you?), and by all means, do yourself a favor and go see them live when they come to your town.

(Special thanks to nitcomb for the setlist.)

Stream “Driveway to Driveway”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] or [MP3] (off site) / [FLAC] or [FLAC] (off site)

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.

Superchunk
Bowery Ballroom, NYC
September 27, 2013

Source 1: AUD > CoreSound Binaurals > MM-EBM-1 battery box (with bass roll-off) > Line In > iRiver H320 (Rockboxed) > AIFF
Source 2: AUD > Church Audio CA-14 Cardioids > Line In > iRiver H320 (Rockboxed) > AIFF
Mixing: AIFF > Sound Studio > FLAC > XAct (for SBE and tags) > FLAC
Recorded and mastered by neil d
Extremely light dynamic compression in Sound Studio

01 intro
02 This Summer
03 FOH
04 Me and You and Jackie Mittoo
05 Learned to Surf
06 Skip Steps 1 and 3
07 Staying Home
08 Void
09 Out Of The Sun
10 Kicked In
11 Nu Bruises
12 Low F
13 Animated Airplanes Over Germany
14 Rope Light
15 Digging For Something
16 Slack Motherfucker
17 encore break
18 Tiny Bombs
19 What Do I
20 Brand New Love (Sebadoh)
21 Hyper Enough
22 encore break 2
23 Driveway To Driveway
24 The First Part

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Superchunk, visit their website, and purchase I Hate Music directly from Merge Records [HERE].

Torres: September 25, 2013 Glasslands – Streaming Full Set

October 1, 2013
By

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[Photos by acidjack]

Consider any of the singing competitions that rule TV-land and it’s obvious that there’s no shortage of perfectly good singer-songwriters. Many a loser of The Voice is capable of killing on a few cover songs in a coffee shop. There are dozens and dozens who can hit the right notes and make the right faces and get somebody to vote for them on their phone. What almost all of them don’t have, not really, is what Torres, aka Mackenzie Scott, has. She sings with grit, with feeling, and sometimes it’s not as pretty as it should be or as tied with a neat bow as a fifteen year old on an iPhone might like. When she sings “Honey” you hear the pleading and the hurt, and when her hushed voice grows into a harsh, wailing peak, you feel like you’re right there with her. This one of many good reasons that her self-released album grabbed the attention it did. Torres isn’t just putting a bunch of so-so tracks out there, hoping somebody cares. Her work demands to be heard.

Finding Glasslands pretty busy on a Wednesday night these days is hardly news, but Torres owned the audience in a way many artists can’t. From the leadoff track to her record, “Mother Earth, Father God” to the solemn, solo closer “November Baby,” she held the crowd rapt, the noise of the bar kept at bay through sheer force of will. She doesn’t take her audience for granted, but her set isn’t accommodationist, either. A lesser artist sitting on a single self-released album wouldn’t play multiple songs stretching past the five-minute mark, including her encore, but such is Scott’s confidence and skill that I didn’t even notice the track lengths until I mixed this recording down. Considering this was Scott’s first Brooklyn show as a borough resident (she comes from Nashville), I think she’s more than made the case that she’ll be around a while.

I recorded this set with the installed house sound system including a board feed from Glasslands engineer  Matt. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

At the request of Torres’ management, this recording is offered in streaming format only.

Stream the full set

IMG_5868

Torres
2013-09-25
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive live stream hosted at nyctaper.com

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Matt) + Naiant X-R>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, edits to SBD)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.03 (fades, tracking, light parallel compression, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Mother Earth, Father God
02 Moon & Back
03 [banter]
04 Jealousy and I
05 [banter2]
06 When Winter’s Over
07 [banter3]
08 “Proper Polish Welcome” [new]
09 Honey
10 [banter4]
11 Come To Terms
12 Waterfall
13 [encore break]
14 November Baby

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Torres, visit her website, and buy her record (including pre-orders for physical copies) there.

Superchunk: September 28, 2013 Bowery Ballroom – Flac/MP3/Streaming

September 30, 2013
By

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[photos by PSquared Photography]

I don’t believe its quite accurate to say that Superchunk is the best working band in America today, but you’d be hard pressed to name one that’s actually better. For more than two decades, minus a few years hiatus, Superchunk has consistently released high quality albums filled with excellent songs. There’s not a clunker among any of their ten studio albums — heck, there isn’t even a bad song in their catalog. The newest release came out last month, and I Hate Music not only continues the streak, but its one of the strongest albums in their history. The band is currently on tour in support of the album and performed two shows at Bowery Ballroom this weekend, and we were there for Saturday’s barnburner. Superchunk opened the show on high octane, working through a democratic mix of songs from the new album interspersed with the classics in an hour-long set that barely came up for air. And the very-sold out crowd was with them throughout. From our standard balcony perch we could see the craziness on the floor, but the manic crowd response even spread to the balcony itself, where we witnessed enough pogoing to shake the floor of the upper deck. But it was in the ten song encore segment where all hell broke loose. The band welcomed out Merge recording artist Eleanor Friedberger for two legendary punk covers (we’re streaming the Patti Smith one below) and then just continued to play a series of their own deep tracks in maniacal fashion. The show reached its climax when Mac laid down his guitar, took over behind the kit and drummer Jon Wurster came out to deliver a couple of hardcore covers to end the night.

I recorded this set with the Sennheiser cards mixed with an excellent board feed. There is a couple of minutes of static near the very end of the set caused by a problematic mic on the snare drum, but otherwise this is a superb capture. Enjoy!

We will also have a recording of the first night of Superchunk’s Bowery shows. That recording should be available by the end of the week.

Stream “Free Money” (Patti Smith cover with Eleanor Friedberger):

Stream “Digging for Something”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] or [MP3] (off site) / [FLAC] or [FLAC] (off site)

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.

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Superchunk
2013-09-28
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 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 2013-09-29

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:32:11]
01 Breaking Down
02 FOH
03 Crossed Wires
04 Detroit Has A Skyline
05 Punch Me Harder
06 Staying Home
07 [banter – video]
08 Void
09 Like A Fool
10 Tower
11 Iron On
12 Water Wings
13 [banter – requests]
14 Out of the Sun
15 Me and You and Jackie Mittoo
16 Cast Iron
17 Digging For Something
18 Trees of Barcelona
19 [encore break]
20 Seed Toss
21 [Eleanor introduction]
22 Free Money [Patti Smith]
23 Oh Oh I Love Her So [Ramones]
24 Slack Motherfucker
25 Precision Auto
26 [second encore break]
27 Animated Airplanes Over Germany
28 Throwing Things
29 Fishing
30 20 Eyes [Misfits]
31 My War [Black Flag]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Superchunk, visit their website, and purchase I Hate Music directly from Merge Records [HERE].

High Aura’d: September 6, 2013 Hopscotch Music Festival, Long View Center (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 27, 2013
By

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[Photo courtesy of Freddie Ross]

With High Aura’d, the multi-talented John Kolodij creates sonic landscapes with an understated energy. This set at Long View Center — pretty much the home base for much of the drone/ambient and less-noisy avant-garde music during Hopscotch Music Festival — began with the sound of crickets. Washes of guitar and other sound began to ebb and flow underneath. The repetition was hypnotic, slightly dangerous, as if we were about to enter a world we did not know. As the undertones of bass throbbed beneath, Kolodij faced the crowd through the blackness. The intensity of the guitars crested to a torrent of noise, while the crickets kept chirping. Something had entered that dark little world.

That was just the first of three songs, each long-form compositions. Two of these songs are brand-new — newer, even than the band’s latest 7″, a split with Blood Bright Star. The middle song, “Methodist Bells,” appears on High Aura’d’s outstanding 2012 release Sanguine Futures, on the Asheville, North Carolina-based Bathetic Records. Look for at least one of these tracks on High Aura’d’s next LP release on Bathetic, date TBD.

Friend of the site David Schwentker recorded this set with a direct soundboard feed. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream and download the full set:

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.

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[Photo by Ross Grady]

High Aura’d
2013-09-06
Hopscotch
Long View Center
Raleigh, NC USA

Recorded and produced by David Schwentker

soundboard feed>Olympus LS-10>24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (tracking, amplify, downsample)>Trader’s Little Helper>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [new]
02 Methodist Bells
03 [new]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT High Aura’d, like him on Facebook, buy Sanguine Futures from his bandcamp page and check out his new split 7″ here.

Gross Ghost: September 6, 2013 Hopscotch Music Festival Main Stage (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 26, 2013
By

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[Photo courtesy of Abby Nardo]

If you’ve been following our Hopscotch Music Festival posts, you could be forgiven for thinking the festival is geared heavily toward rather arty, possibly over-serious bands (since I happen to like them). Well, Gross Ghost are a more approachable kind of fun, bringing punk-inflected rock n’ roll to all comers. The band’s core duo are scene veterans Mike Dillon and Tre Acklen, who spawned the band name in the best way possible — that is, after partying hard late into the night a number of times. What a surprise, then, that Gross Ghost’s sound leans toward looser, rougher-hewn, garagey good-time music rather than the cerebral (also great) stuff hosted at some of the festival’s other stages.

The band had the honor of kicking off the main stage, the festival’s largest, and drew curious onlookers streaming into the City Plaza in the heart of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. One of the festival’s main missions is to highlight North Carolina acts (a fairly large percentage of the festival’s lineup), and Gross Ghost fall into that category. The Carrboro, NC band has been working on Public Housing, the follow-up to 2012’s Brer Rabbit, which should be hitting the streets at the end of October. Expect Public Housing to be their most musically focused and pop-driven yet, if the slew of new songs played here were any indication. From the show opener, which was the album’s kickoff track, Seeds” through the final number, the brand-new “Howlin'”, the Ghost showed off a knack for lyric-driven pop anthems that were the right way to start off the first weekend night of Hopscotch.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones and a mono soundboard feed. Given the relatively long distance from the stage and the outdoor setting in particular, the sound quality is quite good. Enjoy!

Stream “Howlin'”

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.

DSC09001
[Photo courtesy of Ash Crowe]

Gross Ghost
2013-09-06
Hopscotch Music Festival Main Stage
Raleigh, NC USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK4V (at SBD, DFC)>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard (mono)>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, set fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Seeds
03 Other Side
04 You Will
05 [tuning]
06 They Say
07 Leslie
08 You Tell Me
09 Trying
10 Memory Screen
11 [banter]
11 Howlin

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Gross Ghost, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and buy their music from their bandcamp page.

grossghost-2
[Photo courtesy of Abby Nardo]

Desert Heat: September 6, 2013 Three Lobed Recordings/WXDU Day Show, King’s (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

September 26, 2013
By

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[Photo courtesy of Tim Bugbee at Tinnitus Photography]

You know it’s something very, very special when Steve Gunn and John Truscinski (who plays with Gunn in Gunn-Truscinski Duo and their new trio arrangement) team up with Irish guitar phenom Cian Nugent and Jason Meagher (of, among others, No Neck Blues Band and D. Charles Speer & the Helix) for the North American debut of their collaboration Desert Heat. Hopscotch Music Festival is always a special time, but what drew me back for a second year, and will again for a third, was the Three Lobed Recordings/WXDU day show, held again this year at King’s Barcade. Among several rare collaborations and one-time appearances, Desert Heat was one of the most hotly anticipated, and by the time these players took the stage, the medium-sized venue had a line out front. Give it one listen and you’ll hear why; Gunn and Nugent are among the most creative and exciting guitarists and songwriters of this era, and both were on fire for this special performance that showed off the A side from the new Cat Mask at Huggie Temple 12-inch, the band’s sole release, before delving into some unknown territory with a new long form jam currently titled “Desert Whythe”. To top it all off, the band tore through Velvet Underground’s “Oh! Sweet Nuthin'” with their own special wall-of-guitars twists, with Gunn handling the vocal duties. On a day filled with outstanding performances (many of which will be shared here over time or released by Three Lobed), this was undeniably one of the highest of the highlights.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed that I customized for both this recording and the simulcast on Duke University’s radio station WXDU, plus Schoeps MK4V microphones right at the stage lip. The sound quality is outstanding; easily one of a handful of the best recordings I have ever shared on this site. Enjoy!

Stream and download MP3s of the full set: 

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.

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[Photo courtesy of Mark Johnson via the Three Lobed Facebook Page]

Desert Heat
2013-09-06
Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Schoeps MK4V (onstage)>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard (custom stereo mix)>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, adjustments)>Izotope Ozone 5 (tube effect, EQ)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, fades, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Cat Mask at Huggie Temple
03 [tuning]
04 Desert Whythe
05 Oh! Sweet Nuthin!

Players: 

Steve Gunn – Guitar, Vocals
Cian Nugent – Guitar
Jason Meagher – Bass
John Truscinski – Drums

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT THESE ARTISTS by visiting their websites and purchasing the new very limited edition Cat Mask At Huggie Temple 12″ directly [HERE]. For U.S. orders, you can also try contacting your local record store or e-mailing Bull City Records in Durham, NC. You can also buy Gunn-Truscinski and Steve Gunn records from Three Lobed and Gunn’s latest from Paradise of Bachelors. Support WXDU by donating and listening to their station!

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