Sean Rowe: July 21, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC / MP3 / Streaming

August 10, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Sean Rowe has that kind of deep, bone-shaking voice that sticks with you; the dark, harrowing type that gives voice to a thousand souls. Born and raised in upstate New York, Rowe has been kicking around there for awhile, doing his thing in local bars and clubs, playing to whoever will listen. In a welcome development, ANTI Records picked him up a few years ago and re-released his first solo album, Magic.  Since then, he has enjoyed a wider audience, and this show at Mercury Lounge found Sean on the cusp of his second ANTI release, The Salesman and the Shark, which drops at the end of this month. Joined onstage by Sarah Pedinotti from Railbird on keys, Rowe showcased several new songs from Salesman as well as some truly classic covers.

Magic reflected Rowe’s other main passion, being a naturalist, and was the result of 24 days spent foraging in the wilderness. Based on what we were previewed at this show, Salesman will be another dramatic artistic statement, with songs like “Joe’s Cult” evoking some of rock and folk’s most cherished vocalists. You can imagine Rowe sharing the stage with any number of great artists: Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, were he still with us. Rowe’s baritone has a timeless, evocative quality, and that made his covers at this show as memorable and true as his originals.  Because everything has to have a label to hang it on, PR people have taken to calling this “alt-folk”, and maybe, as the work of an accomplished woodsman with a love and respect for the outdoors, that makes some sense. But I don’t think Rowe is trying to be the “alternative” to anything; his music is classic, as well as relevant. Although, in fairness to the “alt” tag, he had a bit of fun with us at the end with his cover of the Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone” – an 80s staple that, like Rowe’s own music, wears awfully well.

Rowe will be performing two NYC shows in September – on the 19th at Mercury Lounge, and on the 20th at Brooklyn Bowl.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and an excellent soundboard feed from Kevin, the head engineer at Mercury.  Like the Field Report recording from this same night, it is outstanding in quality.  Enjoy!

Stream “Joe’s Cult”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S2107SeanRowe2120/04 Joe’s Cult.mp3]

Stream “Jesus Gonna Be Here [Tom Waits]”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S2107SeanRowe2120/07 Jesus Gonna Be Here.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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.

Sean Rowe
2012-07-21
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by acidjack and Johnny Fried Chicken Boy
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (various)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Flying
02 Bird On A Wire [Leonard Cohen]
03 [banter]
04 Joe’s Cult
05 [banter]
06 The Walker
07 Jesus Gonna Be Here [Tom Waits]
08 To Leave Something Behind
09 Gone Daddy Gone [Violent Femmes]

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Sean, visit his website, and pre-order The Salesman and the Shark from ANTI Records [HERE].

Helmet: August 2, 2012 Webster Hall – FLAC / MP3 / Streaming

August 9, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Our younger readers are fortunate not to remember the Columbia House Music Club, which promised eight to ten CDs for 1 cent in exchange for signing up for a “club” that would mail you a (usually lame) CD-of-the-month at an exorbitant price, unless you mailed it back first. The club bore more than its fair share of customer complaints, and its selection was weak. But if you were a kid and didn’t have a lot of cash or access to good music stores (and you were diligent about declining that CD of the month), it wasn’t a bad way to get ahold of new music in the pre-Internet era.  One thing I can thank Columbia House for is introducing me to Helmet and their standout albums Meantime and Betty, each still a tour de force of hardcore-influenced rock twenty years on.

Frontman Page Hamilton has moved on from his former bandmates, and is the only original member of the lineup, but as Johnny Fried Chicken Boy observed last October, Hamilton and his new cast of characters can still very much bring the heat. Hurtling through a Webster Hall set that included five songs from the band’s 2010 record Seeing Eye Dog (plus another from 2004’s Size Matters) with a fairly even blend of songs from their four 90s albums, Strap It On, Meantime, Betty and Aftertaste. One feature that always set Helmet apart from many hardcore and metal bands of the era was their more intelligent approach to their music, both in terms of Hamilton’s classically-informed playing and their eschewing of the macho heavy metal aesthetic of contemporaries like Pantera. Hamilton, who relocated from New York to LA at the end of the 90s, remains a gifted frontman, and songs like two of my favorites, “In the Meantime” and “Wilma’s Rainbow” were delivered with ferocity. Although this set clocked in at barely over an hour thanks to Webster’s curfew and the fact that this was a co-headlining tour with Toadies, Hamilton and the band packed in sixteen songs, and stirred up a mosh pit in the process (kind of a feat when you consider how early it was in the night, and the age of many of the fans).

Johnny Fried Chicken Boy recorded this set with four microphones in our usual balcony location. I ended up using the Schoeps MK41 source alone for this post, as both sources were a bit “muddy” in the low-mid bass region, and combining them would only have accentuated that flaw.  After some time spent editing, although this is not my favorite of my recordings quality-wise, this recording should be a very good listen, if not quite up to the standard of Johnny’s Bowery Ballroom recording linked above.  Enjoy!

Stream “In the Meantime”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H1110Helmet1120/19 In the Meantime.mp3]

Stream “Wilma’s Rainbow”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H1110Helmet1120/08 Wilma’s Rainbow.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] |  Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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.

Helmet
2012-08-02
Webster Hall
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack and Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

Schoeps MK41 (DFC, BOB, DINa)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ)>Audition CS 5.5 (parallel compression)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:04:55]
01 Sinatra
02 So Long
03 Welcome To Algiers
04 Renovation
05 Exactly What You Wanted
06 White City
07 Bad Mood
08 Wilma’s Rainbow
09 [banter]
10 Miserable
11 Blacktop
12 Overrated
13 In Person
14 [banter]
15 Smart
16 Ironhead
17 Milquetoast
18 [short encore break]
19 In the Meantime

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Helmet, visit theirwebsite, visit their Facebook and MySpace pages, and purchase their official releases (including their most recent album, Seeing Eye Dog) and merchandise [HERE].

Port St. Willow: July 30, 2012 Glasslands – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

August 8, 2012
By


[photo by wagz2it – courtesy of aheartisaspade blog]

Port St. Willow is Nick Principe’s solo project and this past year he returned to the East coast from Portland after having grown up in the New York area. He is a childhood friend and early collaborator with Peter Silbermann from The Antlers, and while there are similarities in the music of the two bands, there are also very divergent styles between the two old friends. Last Monday at Glasslands, Port St. Willow opened the secret Glasslands show. Their set was relatively short and consisted of six of the eleven songs from the May 2012 self-release Holiday. The album is a remarkable collection of atmospheric mood pieces, but live with the addition of a drummer the songs take on an immediate feel. At Glasslands, the duo took time to develop each song with a gentle lead-in evolving ultimately into a full-on symphonic crescendo. Port St. Willow is poised to move to the next level — it would hardly be surprising if an established indie label picked up Holiday for wider release. And given the talent for songcraft and live performance, we expect that this band will be a regular on NYCTaper for years to come.

I recorded this show in the same manner as the Antlers set, and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Five Five Two Five”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/P3007PortStWillow1202/04.%20Five%20Five%20Two%20Five.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Direct download of complete show in FLAC files [HERE].

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.

Port St. Willow
2012-07-30
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Studio Projects LSD2 (XY Cardioid) > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2012-08-05

Setlist:
[Total Time 36:24]
01 Amawalk
02 On Your Side
03 Corners
04 Five Five Two Five
05 Tourist
06 North

If you download these recordings from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Port St. Willow, and visit the Bandcamp page to purchase Holiday [HERE].

Family Band: August 1, 2012 Union Pool and April 5, 2012 Bell House – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

August 7, 2012
By

family band feast of music
[Photo courtesy of Feast of Music]

To see pure love personified as rock n’ roll, witness Jonny Ollsin, playing guitar in the thick of the Union Pool crowd last Wednesday as he looked up at his wife, Kim Krans, singing “Grace & Lies” to close out Family Band‘s set (see blurry image below). There were no corny faces or swooning poses from either; Krans, eyes cast down toward her husband as she sang, barely acknowledged him as he played. She didn’t need to; Krans and Ollsin’s bond is their music. This “Family Band” is nothing like the Osmonds or Jackson 5, but that turns out to be the perfect name for a band led by a family for whom music is its language, love its glue.

I first came across Ollsin and Krans at a Backyard Brunch Session last year (recording [HERE]). Then, they played as a three-piece with Scott Hirsch on pedal steel, sans drums, and despite being in the blazing July heat, the band had an obvious nocturnal vibe. Krans’ dusky, haunting vocals come against a downtempo backdrop of moody guitar and pedal steel. They joked then that their style was “death prom”, and while Family Band’s sound is dark, it is also beautiful.

The band’s second album, Grace & Lies, released this week on one of my favorite Brooklyn labels, No Quarter, represents the fullest realization to date of the band’s sound. The album contains contemplative love songs like “Moonbeams” and slow burners like “Lace”, as well as more chilling fare like “Again” and “Night Song”. This show was styled as an album release party, and there is already much for Krans, Ollsin and Hirsch to celebrate, including a favorable Pitchfork review and positive notice from around the blogosphere. This set – this time with a drummer in tow – took us through much of the album, with perhaps its standout sequence coming in the middle as an extended version of “Night Song” segued into “Rest”. While Krans, an accomplished visual artist, had never written a song prior to this band, Ollsin is a lifelong musician and composer whose prior bands included the thrash bands S.T.R.E.E.T.S. and Children. Ollsin’s metal influences come through a bit in the brooding riff that anchors “Night Song”; even at its slower tempo, there is an edge to his playing that is unmistakable. As the band closed the show with that lovely rendition of “Grace & Lies”, I thought about how many “family bands”, based on lies and manipulation, have failed throughout pop music history. Ollsin and Krans’ graceful, honest effort seems sure to shatter that mold.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a customized board feed from the Union Pool house engineer Bob.  As a bonus, we are also offering nyctaper’s recording of Family Band back in April at the Bell House ‘for the Brain Cave Festival, where they previewed many of these songs. Both recordings are of excellent quality. Enjoy!

Stream “Moonbeams” from Union Pool:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/02 Moonbeams.mp3]

Stream “Rest” from the Brain Cave Festival:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/06 Rest.mp3]

Stream “Night Song” from Union Pool:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/05 Night Song.mp3]

Download the MP3 files: [Union Pool] | [Brain Cave Festival]

Download the FLAC files: [Union Pool] | [Brain Cave Festival]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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.

Family Band
2012-08-01
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (DFC, DINa)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (Compression on SBD, align)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ and effects)>Audition (parallel compression)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Again
02 Moonbeams
03 Ride
04 [banter]
05 Night Song>
06 Rest
07 Your Name
08 Lace
09 Grace & Lies
________________________
Family Band
2012-04-05
Brain Cave Festival
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded by nyctaper
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (DR compression on soundboard, mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity (set fades, mixdown, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [Brain Cave intro]
02 Again
03 Ride
04 Moonbeams
05 Your Name
06 Rest
07 Night Song

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Family Band, visit their website, and purchase Grace & Lies from No Quarter Records [HERE]

Lucius: July 14, 2012 Backyard Brunch Sessions – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

August 6, 2012
By

lucius-14
[Photo courtesy of Backyard Brunch sessions]

acidjack reports:
“The duo of talented vocalists that make up the band Lucius joined us for the inaugural Backyard Brunch Session of the season recently, and proceeded to blow us away. Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe’s note-perfect vocals were as well matched as their outfits at this casual backyard show, which consisted primarily of their 2012 self-titled EP plus some new songs. In BBS tradition, the duo were backed by lightly-played instrumentation, but little was needed; Laessig and Wolfe’s voices are the only instruments required. Their latest work is sweet and dreamy, but never comes off as twee. The band has range as well; the new “Two Of Us” has a bit of a rootsy twang, while the new “Wildewoman” is a spare, breezy number that builds to a life-affirming climax. “Turn it Around,” the hardest rocking song from the Lucius EP, closed the set, and the semi-acoustic setup focused the crowd on the vocal, rather than robbing the song of its power.  With only one full album – 2009’s Songs from the Bromley House – under their belts, Lucius are a young band, but one that is obviously full of promise.

hi and lo recorded this set with a combination of Schoeps and MBHO microphones and the weather was fortunately cooperative. Only some very minor wind gusts occurred and the overall sound is excellent. Enjoy!”

Thanks to the BBS sponsors for this show, Grady’s Cold Brew and Kings County Distillery Moonshine.

Stream “Don’t Just Sit There”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/L1407Lucius1212/lucius2012-07-14.nyctaper.t03.mp3]

Stream “Wildewoman”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/L1407Lucius1212/lucius2012-07-14.nyctaper.t06.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

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.

Lucius
Backyard Brunch Sessions
Brooklyn, NY
2012-07-14

Recordist : hi and lo
Source 1 : MBHO KA200/603 + Schoeps MK5 (omni, mono) > Naiant PFA >> Tascam DR-680 @ 24bit / 48kHz
Edit : WaveLab V5 (mixdown/eq/gain/fades/dither/resampling)
Encoding : FLAC v1.2.1 Level 8 with TLH v2.6.0 (Build 168)

Tracklist:

01. Intro
02. Go home
03. Don’t Just Sit There
04. Genevieve
05. Two of Us
06. Wildewoman
07. Turn it Around

Running Time: 27:29

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Lucius, visit their website, and purchase their record from [HERE] or on iTunes.

Lee Ranaldo: July 28, 2012 Brewery Ommegang – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

August 5, 2012
By


[photo by Andrew Lowden]

The embarrassment of riches that was our trip to Cooperstown was further enhanced by the quality of the support band, someone quite familiar to NYCTaper, Lee Ranaldo. Back in December, we recorded a couple of the earliest performances of Lee’s new band (Glasslands and Maxwells), but since he’s literally been touring the world since then, we had not seen Lee since those early shows. At Ommegang, his set began while the sun was still shining, and the forty-five minute set of material from Lee’s excellent new album Between the Times and the Tides seemed to fit the scene perfectly. Of course, the abundant availability of Belgian ales didn’t detract from the enjoyment, but this was still a special set. Lee’s band was joined for a couple of songs by Wilco’s keyboardist Pat Sansone, and for almost the entire set by Nels Cline. This intense version of “Xtina As I Knew Her” was supplemented by Nels’ signature guitar style, and we are streaming it below. Lee Ranaldo will return to NYC from the just-completed Wilco tour for a performance at ATP on Pier 36, on September 21.

Of the six NYCTaper rigs running for this set, we chose to mix my Sennheiser 8040 Cardioids with Acidjack’s AKG C 414’s in the omni setting. The mix gives a nice clear signal while also capturing the full soundstage and that “outdoor feel”. While our distance from the sound source (90 feet) was not optimal, this recording nevertheless provides a true “you were there” experience. Enjoy!

Stream “Xtina As I Knew Her”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/L1609LeeRanaldo1122/07.%20Xtina%20As%20I%20Knew%20Her.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Direct download location of the FLAC files (HERE).

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.

Lee Ranaldo
2012-07-30
Brewery Ommegang
Cooperstown, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Soundboard Tent

Sennheiser MKH-8040 Cardioids + AKG C 414 B-XLS (Omni Setting) > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, EQ, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper and acidjack
2012-02-14

Setlist:
[Total Time 43:46]
01 [introduction]
02 Off The Wall
03 Angles
04 Waiting On A Dream
05 Tomorrow Never Comes
06 [Xtina intro]
07 Xtina As I Knew Her
08 Hammer Blows
09 Stranded
10 Fire Island (Phases)

If you download these recordings from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Lee Ranaldo, visit his page at the Sonic Youth website, and purchase Between The Times and The Tides directly from the Matador Records website [HERE].

SUPPORT NYCTaper




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