Howlin’ Rain: February 8, 2012 Brooklyn Bowl – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

February 14, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Ethan Miller, the founder and frontman of Howlin’ Rain, knows his history.  Were it still the 1970s, the Humboldt County native and his band could have held their own with any of that era’s West Coast greats.  These days, some of the era’s dinosaurs may still roam, but among current acts, Howlin’ Rain have the mantle almost to themselves.  The band wear their influences proudly; as Miller put it to Rolling Stone, “Everyone dabbles in the history books to get their licks… We use the same roads and highways. But the weather, lights, cars and people, they’re never quite the same.”  Miller previously honed his chops in the psychedelic rock outfit Comets on Fire, who released their last record in 2006, the same year that Miller launched Howlin’ Rain’s outstanding self-titled debut.  Howlin’ Rain retains some of its predecessor’s psychedelic influences, and penchant for stretched-out songs, but focuses more on a melodic, classic rock style that takes full advantage of Miller and the band’s considerable talents.

This show at Brooklyn Bowl, the second of two local shows after a night at Mercury Lounge over in Manhattan, found the band and openers D. Charles Speer & the Helix playing material from the band’s forthcoming record to a moderately-sized but fired-up crowd ignoring the league night going on in the bowling portion of the room.  This gave plenty of opportunities for bowling jokes, sure, but by mid-set, bowling had fallen by the wayside, and Howlin’ Rain owned the room.  It’s no wonder that The Russian Wilds, their new album that dropped today, has been receiving ecstatic reviews – while some other classic-sounding bands (ahem, a certain duo who shall remain unnamed) have taken to putting out records that go through the motions, The Russian Wilds is the sound of a band that is still hungry and still getting better.  They kicked off this show with “Self Made Man” from that record, an eight-minute rocker that says all you need to know about the scale and scope of Miller’s ambitions.   Things only picked up from there, as the band displayed its versatility and its ability rock on songs like “Cherokee Werewolf”, “Dark Side” and “I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight”.  The combination of the band’s throwback sound and the rock n’ bowl venue felt like a time machine of sorts – and that was a time machine I’d like to be in.

hi and lo and I recorded this set with two pairs of Schoeps microphones – MK5 cardiods and MK41 supercardiods – plus a soundboard feed provided by Brooklyn Bowl.  Thanks to Peter Costello for his hospitality.  Enjoy the recording!

Download MP3 and FLAC via the Live Music Archive.


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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.

Howlin’ Rain
2012-02-08
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download at nyctaper.com
Recorded by hi and lo and acidjack
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>KCY>littlebox + Schoeps MK5c>NBox cables>PFA>PSP2 >> Tascam DR-680 (MK41 and SBD) + Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (MK5)>6x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (clock sync channels, mixdown, tracking, set fades, light EQ, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time approx 78min]
01 intro>Self Made Man
02 Phantom In the Valley
03 [banter]
04 Cherokee Werewolf
05 [banter]
06 Can’t Satisfy Me Now
07 [banter]
08 Strange Thunder
09 Dark Side
10 Dancers At the End of Time
11 Calling Lightning Pt. 2
12 [encore break]
13 I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight
14 Roll On The Rusted Days

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Howlin’ Rain, visit their website, like them on Facebook, and purchase The Russian Wilds directly from their site or from your favorite retailer.

EULA: February 2, 2012 Cameo Gallery – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

February 12, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Brooklyn’s EULA have been on a tear lately, just having wrapped up a slew of local shows that brought them to many of my favorite venues (and some newer ones like Big Snow and NXL LVL).  It was hard to pick the perfect time and place to see them with so many good options, but Cameo Gallery seems to have a been a great choice.  The stage wasn’t overlit, the sound was spot-on, and the band, well, they were on fire.   EULA’s sound updates the classic three-chord postpunk of the riot grrl era, recalling classic bands like Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and Sleater-Kinney.  Frontwoman Alyse Lamb does her predecessors proud with a confident vocal delivery and equally strong guitar attack; she comes off in her role like a combination of Kathleen Hanna and Debbie Harry (the band has a pretty mean Blondie cover, I hear).  But this band is more than a great frontwoman; they’re a tight group of musicians capable of delivering uptempo rapid-fire bursts of quality postpunk.

This set focused on the band’s latest record, Maurice Narcisse, and the contrast between the more raw live versions and the studio versions – with their additional flourishes – is a positive one, with things to like about each.  On record, the band comes across a bit more poppy – a song like “Wake Up” shows the contrast – whereas live their punk influences predominate, especially on songs like “Honor Killer”.  They closed this show with a scorcher, the early tune “Fight Riff” from their Language of Threat EP.

EULA have one more Brooklyn show this month, at Shea Stadium on February 24, before heading out of town for a bit.  They will return to NYC on March 22 at Zebulon.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from the Cameo engineer and Schoeps MK22 “open cardioid” microphones.  The results are excellent.  Enjoy!

Stream “Maurice Narcisse”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/E2020EULA2012/07 Maurice Narcisse.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.

EULA
2012-02-02
Cameo Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack
exclusively for NYCTaper.com

Schoeps MK22>KCY>littlebox + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, light EQ, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 intro/Above the Weather
02 Dirty Hands
03 Housewolf
04 Wake Up
05 Texas Stampede
06 Honor Killer
07 Maurice Narcisse
08 Rosie the Riveter
09 Fight Riff

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT EULA, visit their website, and purchase Maurice Narcisse directly from their bandcamp page.

Food Will Win the War: January 11, 2011 Knitting Factory – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

February 10, 2012
By


[Photo by Ken Grand-Pierre.  See his Flickr stream here]

Food Will Win the War may have been opening for the Lemonheads on this night, but they put a headliner-level of intensity into their set of acoustic folk-rock, and were rewarded with a mostly full house to do it.   They are one of those big, “musical” bands that puts thought as well as energy into their performances, using their fairly large (six) number of players and diverse instrumentation to produce finely-honed, thoughtful arrangements.  Yes, as rock music goes, they are about the furthest possible thing from “garage” as possible – and more power to them.

Luckily, FWWTW got the memo early on that being real students of music and having musical talent are not enough; they also know that performing and having great songs is essential.  Frontman Rob Ward is not only a good lyricist but a good-humored and entertaining bandleader, and his bandmates follow suit.  Their new record, A False Sense of Warmth, contains plenty of memorable tunes, many of which were played during this set. (including two of my favorites, “Shatter Today” and “Closer To Water”)  The band also served up a judiciously-chosen cover in Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer”, which they delivered with their own stylistic twist.

The band will be gigging outside of NYC for their next few dates – February 15, at the Northern Liberties Festival in Philadelphia; March 30th, at the Nowadays Indie Music Festival in Bethlehem, PA; and April 28th at ChesterFest at Chester College in Chester, NH – but expect to see them back in town for the summer.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Lemonheads recording, with Schoeps MK22 “open cardiod” microphones and an excellent soundboard feed.  The quality is outstanding.  Enjoy!

Stream “Shatter Today”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F1110FoodWillWin0211/03 Shatter Today.mp3]

Stream “Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel]”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F1110FoodWillWin0211/05 Sledgehammer.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.

Food Will Win the War
2011-01-11
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack
Exclusively for nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK22 (ROC, DIN)>KCY>littlebox + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample to 16/44.1)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Down
02 Clock All Day
03 Shatter Today
04 Big Yellow
05 Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel]
06 Chesapeake
07 Thickly
08 The Astronaut Song
09 Style
10 Closer to Water
11 Chester Street

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Food Will Win the War, visit their website, like them on Facebook, and purchase A False Sense of Warmth either on iTunes digitally or via this link for a hard copy.

Blouse: January 31, 2012 285 Kent – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

February 8, 2012
By


[photo courtesy of Dominick Mastrangelo]

Captured Tracks is on quite an impressive run. The label began as a small Brooklyn boutique a couple of years ago — “CT-01” is the Dum Dum Girls EP Yours Alone. Even at slightly more than 100 actual releases, Captured Tracks has managed to nurture some of the brightest bands around these days, including Widowspeak, Wild Nothing, Hoop Dreams and Beach Fossils. Another superb Captured Tracks discovery was on display at 285 Kent last week. Blouse is a quartet from Portland whose debut album was released in late 2011 on the label. The album has a transformational feeling — its as if I’m driving late at night listening to WLIR or WHFS in 1985 and song after song of new Factory Records artists are being played. The guitar work, keyboards and lead bass are all heavily influenced by such period sounds as New Order, Cocteau Twins and Siouxsie. At 285, the band performed a tight forty-minute set that consisted of nearly the entire album and their debut single. In the live setting, Blouse retained the influences but the overall sound is more raw and less atmospheric than the album. In a way, this was an opportunity for the songs themselves to shine and the band’s talent to be featured. Blouse rose to the occasion and clearly this is a band with much potential and the chops to realize it. And they’ve picked the right label to make it happen.

I recorded this set with the DPA cardioid microphones mounted on a pole 10 feet from the stage, and mixed it with a feed from the soundboard. Overall, the instrumental mix is pretty solid, although the vocals are occasionally buried in the effects. With that caveat, enjoy!

Blouse will perform at the Captured Tracks Showcase at SXSW on March 17. The Facebook page for that event is [here].

Stream “Into Black”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/B3101Blouse1202/09.%20Into%20Black.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [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.

Blouse
2012-01-31
285 Kent
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + DPA 4021s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2012-02-04

Setlist:
[Total Time 40:02]
01 Controller
02 Shadow
03 Time Travel
04 Firestarter
05 White
06 They Always Fly Away
07 Fountain in Rewind
08 Videotapes
09 Into Black

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Blouse, visit their website, visit their artist page at the Captured Tracks website, and purchase their debut album from the Captured Tracks website [HERE].

Larkin Grimm: February 2, 2012 Rock Shop – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

February 7, 2012
By


[photo by nyctaper]

In the two years since we last checked in with Larkin Grimm, much has happened in her life. When we recorded her at Knitting Factory in December of 2009, Larkin had a set of excellent new songs and a new album was expected soon. But Larkin received a wonderful gift in the interim — a baby boy. She also parted ways with Young God Records in a split that does not seem to be completely amicable. But in a fashion consistent with her incredible life story, Larkin persevered. This week her new album is out, and the self-released Soul Retrieval is the album we have been waiting for. The record features an abundance of Larkin’s strengths — her rich voice and the mystical nature that makes her so compelling. At Rock Shop on Thursday, Larkin Grimm celebrated the CD’s release with a special hometown show. She opened the show with two solo songs before being joined by her band. The trio worked through much of the new album, a couple of older songs, and then were joined by the entire Cuddle Magic band for the final two numbers. The show ended with the opening track from the album “Paradise and So Many Colors”, a terrific ensemble version that we’re streaming below.

I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones positioned in front of the soundboard, and mixed with an excellent board feed. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Paradise and So Many Colors”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/L2712Larkin2992/14.%20Paradise%20and%20So%20Many%20Colors.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [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.

Larkin Grimm
2012-02-02
The Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2012-02-04

Setlist:
[Total Time 44:21]
01 Hello Pool of Tears
02 Dirty Heart Dirty Mind
03 [banter – Apollo and Marsyas]
04 The Butcher
05 Lying in a Pool of Milk
06 I Am Not Real
07 [banter – Hafiz]
08 Be a Great Burglar
09 All The Pleasures In The World
10 [banter – cats]
11 Mino Minou
12 [intro Cuddle Magic]
13 The Road Is Paved With Leaves
14 Paradise and So Many Colors

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Larkin Grimm, visit her website, and purchase Soul Retrieval from the links at her website [HERE].

Grandfather: February 1, 2012 Glasslands – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

February 6, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

In a north Brooklyn scene that has both thriving indie rock and metal scenes, Grandfather are one of the few bands that bridges that divide.  The band plays intelligent, aggressive hard rock (not quite metal) that capitalizes on the outstanding guitar work of Michael Kirsch and the focused, balls-out vocals of Josh Hoffman, already a consummate rock frontman even in his rookie years.  The closest reference point sound-wise for the band is probably the mighty Tool, but these guys clearly listened to plenty of Nirvana and other Seattle bands in their formative years as well.

Like many new bands, Grandfather raised the funds to record their first record, Why I’d Try, on Kickstarter, and they put the cash to good use by hiring the legendary (and legendarily curmudgeonly) engineer Steve Albini to lay down the record in old-school fashion direct to analog 2″ reels, with no digital bullshit in between.  For their trouble, they got a record that sounds beautiful – with a crisp, raw live-in-studio sound that captures the intensity of the band’s sound at its absolute best.  More tellingly, they earned Albini’s respect – difficult to come by for a man who has had few kind words for most of his peers.  Answering a GQ interviewer’s question about “a young artist with integrity who inspires you”, Albini said, in part:

I see little bits and pieces of behavior that are encouraging. There was a band that came into the studio a while back called Grandfather. They were an art rock band that organized the funding of their record through Kickstarter. They were really well rehearsed and came into the studio and knocked the record out in a couple of days. Because they didn’t have a record label or any promotion schedule to adhere to, they were able to get their record manufactured and distributed within a couple of months. That’s the kind of nimble, efficient behavior that was previously impossible when there was a corporate structure involved.

Grandfather took the stage this Wednesday night at Glasslands with a ferocity that should inspire any artist, starting with the two-minute banger “AWOL” from Why I’d Try before ripping into three brand-new tracks – “Greedy Eye”, “Spun” and “Sorry” .  After a full-throttle rendition of “Tremors” – where bassist Tyler Krupsky shines in the extended intro – it was all new songs from there.  Anyone doubting the urgency of the band’s live show by this point was eating their words or hitting the exits during the standout new track “Organ Thief,” which Hoffman kicks off with a demonic, diabolical laugh with a headbanging riff behind it.   It’s not hard to see, in a band that plays a Glasslands show with the same intensity as they might Madison Square Garden, to see what impressed Steve Albini.  “Integrity” certainly comes to mind with this band, but equally importantly, so does “passion”.

I recorded this set with AKG large-diaphragm microphones set to “wide cardiod” for a full-range, open sound.  I did record a stereo soundboard feed as well, but due to an issue with the club’s equipment, that mix consisted mostly of vocals, which were mixed in here minimally for clarity.  Enjoy!

Stream “Organ Thief”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/G2801Grandfather2110/08 Organ Thief.mp3]

Stream “Tremors”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/G2801Grandfather2110/06 Tremors.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.

Grandfather
2012-02-01
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack
exclusively for nyctaper.com

AKG C 414 B-XLS (wide cardiod, DFC) + Soundboard (vocals only)>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown, EQ, mastering, downsample to 44.1kHz)>Audacity (tracking, amplify and balance, set fades, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 AWOL
02 [tuning/banter]
03 Greedy Eye
04 Spun
05 Sorry
06 Tremors
07 Wishes
08 Organ Thief
09 Disorder

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Grandfather, visit their website, like them on Facebook, download Why I’d Try on bandcamp (for “pay what you will”) or better yet, buy it on CD or vinyl from that site to hear what a properly-mixed rock record should sound like.

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