Tristan Clopet: June 18, 2011 Backyard Brunch Sessions – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

August 2, 2011
By

tristin clopet
[Photo courtesy of Backyard Brunch Sessions]

On the very busy Northside Festival weekend, there was so much good music going on in Williamsburg that you could walk into just about anywhere and find good music. Our friends at Backyard Brunch Sessions added their own excellent contributions to that mix, with sets from Givers (click for the recording) and the singer-songwriter Tristan Clopet. It took a whole team of us to cover as much music that weekend as we could, so while I packed up and headed to McCarren Park to record Guided by Voices, hi and lo hung out and caught this fantastic set from Mr. Clopet. He originally hails from Toronto, but more recently went to school in Miami, FL (as well as a summer at Boston’s Berklee College of Music), and the vibe of the hot-weather locale shows through in the feel-good vibe of songs that are easy to imagine wafting from dorm room windows onto the quad, or (for the post-college crowd) being played in backyards across America. They are good, honest, American songs that don’t ask too much of you, but give a lot in return. Tristan has just released a full-length album, Name It What You Want, capably produced by two experts at similarly approachable music, Raymond Richards (Local Natives) and Justin Gerrish (Vampire Weekend). Another highlight of the album’s production (for our purposes, at least) is that BBS founder Dave Chaitt sings backup vocals on the album. It being his backyard and all, Chaitt joined Tristan at the mic for backing vocals on “A Summer in Sussex,” the kickoff track to the record.

hi and lo recorded this set with Schoeps microphones, and the sound is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “A Summer in Sussex”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/T1806TristanClopet2011/05 A Summer in Sussex.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Tristan Clopet
2011-06-18
Backyard Brunch Sessions
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded by hi and lo for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps Mk5 (omni) + Schoeps mk41 >> Tascam DR-680 (24/44.1)
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 A Chat With My Brain
03 Hold on Love, Hold on Girl
04 [banter]
05 A Summer in Sussex
06 La Naissance

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Tristan Clopet, visit his website, and purchase Name It What You Want and his other records from iTunes or your favorite retailer.

Heartless Bastards: July 24, 2011 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

August 1, 2011
By

HB ML
[Photo by acidjack]

It’s hard not to like the Heartless Bastards.  They’re one of those bands that never lets you down performance-wise, that’s always on their game, that always gives their fans something special.  This pair of shows at Mercury Lounge (our recording of night 1 here) certainly qualifies as that, as the band played these sets in “acoustic” (but really just sans-drummer) mode, and showed off considerable new material.  The most immediate effect of going drummerless was to focus even more attention on lead vocalist Erika Wennerstrom’s old-soul voice.  The opening lines of one of my Bastards favorites, “Done Got Old” proved she can carry a show without any accompaniment at all, and she remained note-perfect throughout a 90-minute set that was a bit longer than Saturday’s performance.  Most of this group stood respectfully as Erika, Jesse and Mark debuted new numbers like “Skin and Bones,” and the Western-tinged “The Arrow Killed the Beast.”  While the new record will not be acoustic, and some of the material was so new it didn’t even have names, what we heard on this night showed the level of promise we’ve come to expect from this band.  As Johnny mentioned in his review of the Saturday show, this only ups the anticipation for the new record.

I recorded this set from the same spot that Johnny used for the Saturday recording, focusing the sound a bit more toward the perfectly balanced soundboard feed from Kevin at the Mercury Lounge.  As with Saturday’s recording, the sound quality is outstanding.  Enjoy!

Stream “Skin & Bone”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H6602HB9922/07 Skin & Bone.mp3]

Stream “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere [Bob Dylan]”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H6602HB9922/13 You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Direct download of FLAC files [HERE]

If the FLAC link is no longer working, email nyctaper for the FLAC files

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Heartless Bastards
2011-07-24
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps Mk41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBpre2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: At soundboard, DFC, mics at 7.5′, PAS
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown, effects)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total time: 89:29]
01 Done Got Old
02 [new song]
03 Sway
04 Hold Your Head High
05 [banter]
06 The Will Song
07 Skin & Bone [new]
08 The Arrow Killed the Beast [new]
09 Blue Day
10 [new song]
11 [banter]
12 Searching for the Ghost
13 You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere [Bob Dylan]
14 Runnin’
15 Be So Happy
16 [encore break]
17 [new song]
18 The Mountain

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Heartless Bastards, visit their website, visit their MySpace and Facebook pages, and purchase their official releases and merchandise [HERE].

Heartless Bastards: July 23, 2011 Mercury Lounge – FLAC / MP3 Downloads + Streaming Samples

July 29, 2011
By


[Photo by Johnny]

Having become a fan of Heartless Bastards only in the past few years, I’ve been treated better by them in that short time than any devotee could ask for.  After catching several of their brilliant concerts, including the MHoW and Bowery gigs last year, we were graced by a pair of acoustic performances at the intimate Mercury Lounge this time around.  Sans a drummer, Erika, Jesse and Mark gave us captivating, pared down renditions of their work including several new songs, a Bob Dylan cover (one of my personal favorites of his) and brought out singer Heidi Johnson for the majority of the set to harmonize on the vocals.  And once again, when the night ended, I found myself already expectant for their next set of shows.  If the new material is an indication of what’s to come on the next Heartless Bastards album, I’m sure to find myself even more impatient in the interim.

As a compliment to our microphones, the most excellent and gracious house engineer, Kevin, gave us a patch out of the soundboard.  Combined with the dead-center location of our mics, the result is a superb recording and indicative of the outstanding sound in this venue.  Enjoy!

Night two was also recorded and will be posted soon.

Stream “Sway”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H6602HB9922/Heartless Bastards – Sway.mp3]
Stream “Could Be So Happy“:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H6602HB9922/Heartless Bastards – Could Be So Happy.mp3]

Direct download of the complete show in MP3 [HERE]
Direct download of the complete show in FLAC [HERE]

If either of the links are no longer working, email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the files.

Heartless Bastards
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY, USA

Source: SBD + AKG C 414 B-XLS’s > Edirol R-44 (WAV @ 24-bit/48kHz)
Lineage: R-44 > USB > PC > Adobe Audition (mixdown, adjust levels, downsample, dither, tracking) > WAV (16-bit/44.1kHz) > Trader’s Little Helper (check/fix SBE’s, FLAC) > FLAC ( level 8 )
Mercury Lounge house engineer: Kevin
Recorded and produced by: Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

SETLIST:
[Total time: 1:11:10]
01. Marathon  [new song]
02. Sway
03. Hold Your Head High
04. The Will Song
05. Skin and Bone  [new song]
06. The Arrow Killed the Beast  [new song]
07. Searching for the Ghost
08. [new song]
09. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere  [Bob Dylan]
10. Runnin
11. Could Be So Happy
12. [encore break]
13. The Mountain

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Heartless Bastards, visit their website, visit their MySpace and Facebook pages, and purchase their official releases and merchandise [HERE].

Family Band: July 23, 2011 Backyard Brunch Sessions – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

July 29, 2011
By


[photo by Dominic Mastrangelo]

Family Band are a salve to a nerve-frayed city where everybody climbs their steps two at a time. Indeed, the Brooklyn back yard where the latest Backyard Brunch Sessions was held could as well have been miles from the city; in the presence of Family Band, we were transfixed, and transported. The components of the band’s sound are vocalist/guitarist Kim Krans, whose dusky, haunting vocals give the songs their emotional core; her husband, guitarist/pedal bassist Jonny Ollsin, and Scott Hirsch, on pedal steel. If you noticed that there was no drummer in that mix, that’s right – the band relies on minimal percussion beyond a tambourine tapped lightly by Krans’ feet, or Krans’ handheld “golden eggs”. The result gives their songs a hushed, intense and slightly mournful quality; Ollsin only half-jokingly called it “death prom”. But maybe that’s because New Yorkers associate a slowed pace with sadness; Krans and Ollsin write most of their songs up in the Catskills, where they met, and if you look at it that way, there is a pastoral quality to these songs as well. Given how scorching hot and humid it was outside in Brooklyn on this otherwise gorgeous day, many of us wished we were in those mountains, too (even if the show did come with brunch courtesy of Ollsin, bloody marys courtesy of McClure’s Pickles, and Adirondack Creamery ice cream).
The band, who have toured recently with both Phosphorescent and Warpaint, are working on a new record that they hope to release later this year. Several of these songs are new ones that will appear on it, and if the rest of the record is as outstanding as songs like “Again” and “Forgive the Rest”, it will be a great one. This show was also a first for Backyard Brunch shows in that it was the first fully electric performance that has been hosted, and that fit Family Band’s sound perfectly, as it relies much more heavily on the electric pedal bass to carry the songs. If Krans, Ollsin and Hirsch were suffering from heat (which they had to be) it didn’t show in a spot-on performance of these soothing, thought-provoking songs. For this half hour, at least, we could forget the rush, live in the moment, and enjoy.

I recorded this set with AKG large-diaphragm microphones miking the band’s amplifiers, using Schoeps supercardiods as very high-end vocal mics. The results are outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Forgive the Rest”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/04%20Forgive%20the%20Rest.mp3]

Stream “Hatred”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/07%20Hatred.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Family Band
2011-07-23
Backyard Brunch Sessions
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced for nyctaper.com by acidjack

Equipment: AKG C414 B-XLS (wide cardiod)>Sound Devices USBpre2 + Schoeps Mk41>CMC6 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Mastering: 4×24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (effects, mixdown)>Audacity (set fades, EQ, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [Intro]
02 The Field
03 [banter]
04 Forgive the Rest
05 [tuning]
06 Fantasy
07 Hatred
08 [banter]
09 Again

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Family Band, visit their website, and purchase their current LP, Miller Path, directly from their bandcamp page.

Weird Owl: July 14, 2011 Union Pool – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

July 27, 2011
By

weird owl
[Photo Credit]

Weird Owl make bad-ass stoner rock for the modern era, and this show at Union Pool found them rocking the living hell out of an expectant crowd that was about to see headliner White Hills. It is hard to hear a songs like the reverb-heavy monster “Stral Proj” or the space rock of “Mind Mountain” and not imagine them being played to a crowd of feathered haircuts, bell bottoms and tie-dye rather than modern-day BK hipsters. Weird Owl’s music has a deep, satisfying heaviness to it, with the rich roar of classic analog amps and wah-wah pedals. Their new record, Build Your Beast A Fire, just released on Tee Pee Records, is a fifteen-song monster that finds the band tightening up their songwriting a bit, crafting slightly more approachable songs that deliver on the promise suggested by their 2009 debut, Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed. Though short, this set gave expectant fans a dose of the new songs’ greatness. Make Weird Owl and Build Your Beast A Fire part of your summer, now. Because we told you so.

hi and lo and I recorded this set with four microphones and a soundboard feed. The split wide cardiod microphones, in particular, give the recording a huge, detailed sound. Enjoy!

Stream “Straj Proj”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W1407WeirdOwl1120/04 Straj Proj.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Weird Owl
2011-07-14
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded by acidjack and hi and lo for nyctaper.com
Produced by acidjack

Equipment: AKG C414 B-XLS (wide cardiod mode)>Oade M248 + Schoeps mk41>CMR>tinybox + Soundboard >> Tascam DR-680 (24/48)
Position: AKGs split 6′ on balcony, Schoeps DINa on balcony, DFC
Mastering: 24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

01 Saucer-Shaped Shadow>
02 Skin the Dawn
03 Up From the Root
04 Stral Proj
05 Parallax Eyes
06 Mind Mountain
07 Mountains On Top of Buried Stars

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Weird Owl, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their records from Tee Pee Records [HERE]

Oneida: June 19, 2011 Secret Project Robot (Absolute II Set) – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

July 26, 2011
By


[photo by martin glenn & julie ruiz from A Horse With No Name Photography]

The third piece of Oneida’s Thank Your Parents trilogy was released in June, and the band performed each of the three albums of the project on the same weekend. We previously posted recordings of the Preteen Weaponry set, and the Rated O set. The final piece was performed at the very unique hour of daybreak, which in June amounted to 4:45 a.m on a Sunday. While some of the participants (namely the band) stayed up all night from the Saturday full-day jam session, I decided to make a fresh day of the event, went to bed early on Saturday night and set the alarm for 4 a.m. When I arrived at Monster Island pre-dawn, I expected a virtually empty room, sans band and diehards. Quite to the contrary, the main space at Secret Project Robot was loaded with all-nighters and a few early risers and was essentially a filled room. As the sun rose and reflected off the Brooklyn side of the East River, Absolute II was played in its entirety. This is difficult music to comprehend on a first listen, but as the sunlight seeped in through the open door on River Street, it was an appropriate sublime soundtrack to accompany the brain haze of an early Sunday daybreak seen through the eyes of the sleep deprived. The entire Thank Your Parents trilogy is a unique musical accomplishment from a band that has spent the last decade and a half inventing new ways to express its infinite musical potential.

I recorded this same in the same manner as the previous two sets, with the Neumanns mounted at the soundboard and mixed with a modest soundboard feed. The sound quality is representative of the performance. Enjoy!

Stream “Gray Area”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/O8020Oneida3329/03.%20Gray%20Area.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Oneida
2011-06-19
Secret Project Robot
Brooklyn, NY USA

The Absolute II Set

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-07-26

Setlist:
[Total Time 55:00]
01 Pre Human
02 Horizons
03 Gray Area
04 Absolute II

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Oneida, visit their website, visit their page at Jagjaguwar Records, and purchase all of the CDs in the Thank Your Parents trilogy at the Jagjaguwar site [HERE], [HERE] and [HERE] .

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