Nicole Atkins: February 9, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

February 10, 2011
By


[photo courtesy of Chris from Music Snobbery]

Redemption is sweet, especially when it follows several years of intense struggle. On Tuesday, the New York Times published an article and interview with Nicole Atkins called “Musical Survivor Hustles for a Second Chance“, which describes her travails since she separated from Columbia Records. But the title is misleading. Nicole is not seeking a “second chance”, but rather with the release of Mondo Amore (Razor & Tie) this week, the ability to make the albums she envisions and to control her own fate. At the sold-out and breakout Bowery Ballroom show last night, Nicole Atkins proved that she is indeed up to the task and very much in control. As the nine-piece band bounded on stage, Nicole’s delayed entrance wasn’t so much for dramatic effect as to indicate who was in charge. As she led the band through a set that consisted of every track on the new album, a few songs from her first album, and some eclectic covers, Nicole proved that ultimately it all boils down to that voice — a magical instrument that bursts forth in every song with abundant character and melody. The highlights of the set included the set-closing thoroughly powerful “The Tower” in which her voice soared, and which is an early contender for performance of the year. The show concluded with a quiet and soulful performance of 2007’s “Neptune City”, a song which likely feels as if it was recorded in a different lifetime for Nicole, but which carries so much more redemptive meaning now.

I recorded this set with the four microphone rig from the balcony rail and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “The Tower”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/N1906NicoleAtkins1020/23.%20The%20Tower.mp3]

Stream “Neptune City”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/N1906NicoleAtkins1020/26.%20Neptune%20City.mp3]

This Recording is now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Nicole Atkins
2011-02-09
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded Balcony Railing

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz 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
2011-02-10

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:27:56]
01 Introduction
02 Heavy Boots
03 Maybe Tonight
04 Brooklyn’s on Fire!
05 The Way It Is
06 Cry Cry Cry
07 [banter]
08 My Baby Don’t Lie
09 [banter2]
10 You Were The Devil
11 You Come To Me
12 Hotel Plaster
13 Monterey Honey
14 Vultures
15 [banter3]
16 Vitamin C [Can]
17 Party’s Over
18 [banter4]
19 War Is Hell
20 This Is For Love
21 [band introductions]
22 Oh Well [Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac]
23 The Tower
24 [encore break]
25 See and Don’t See [Marie Queenie Lyons]
26 Neptune City

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Nicole Atkins, visit her website, and purchase her new album Mondo Amore from her website [HERE].

The National at Webster Hall Studio (MTV Taping) – Setlist and Review

February 9, 2011
By


[photo courtesy of Mina K]

I spoke to The National’s excellent engineer Brendan last night after their show at The Studio at Webster Hall. The band flew back recently from an Australia tour and forwarded all of their equipment to Brussels, where they will begin a tour of Europe in a few days. The band had to rent equipment for last night’s MTV taping, but the performance didn’t suffer at all. The set time of 9 p.m. was strict, as the band began only a few minutes after the hour with “Runaway”. Matt was in a playful mood, with abundant joking banter in between songs. Highlighted songs on the written setlist translated into songs contemplated for airing on MTV.com, which provided Matt with a punch line — “this next song is not highlighted, so its ok if we f* it up”. Despite persistent shouts of requests (including one fan who screamed for Ada after every song), the band stuck to the list which included much of the latest album High Violet, a few standard older choices and one semi-rare song (“Lucky You”). The National completed the set with a rousing “Terrible Love”, which featured Matt stalking through the entire audience straight to the back of the floor where he climbed the cage around a video camera and then crowd surfed until the end of the song. The set concluded at 10:20pm, and despite some calls for an encore, the house lights and music came up and the set was over.

This show will be available for viewing at MTV’s “Live In NYC” site on February 21.

We didn’t record this show, but The National have been on nyctaper plenty of times [search here] or [here].

The National
2011-02-08
The Studio at Webster Hall
New York NY
MTV Taping

Setlist
[approximate time 1:15]
01 Runaway
02 Anyone’s Ghost
03 Bloodbuzz Ohio
04 Slow Show
05 Squalor Victoria
06 Afraid of Everyone
07 Conversation 16
08 Lucky You
09 Abel
10 England
11 Fake Empire
12 Mr. November
13 Terrible Love

Woods: February 4, 2011 Monster Island Basement – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

February 7, 2011
By


[photo by PP]

Friday night’s Woods show at Monster Island was billed as an acoustic duo, but soon evolved into a near full band Woods show. Jeremy and Jarvis were originally scheduled to perform the entire set together, but were ultimately joined by Lucas, and Matt and Alex from Real Estate/Ducktails. The set’s unique nature was further enhanced by the fact that the band performed seven new songs among a 13-song show. Opening with two pieces of new material presented a challenge for the young-ish and packed-in crowd, but after the band began to play in earnest, they received full attention. The crowd was rewarded with a stunning ten-minute “Bend Beyond” (streaming below), which has taken on the role of Woods jam piece during recent sets. The four new songs performed in the middle of the set were quiet minor-chord folk numbers, but thereafter “Born to Lose” (also streaming below), began quietly and developed into a seven minute full band psychedelic jam. The set closed with two familiar numbers, and despite calls for an encore the lateness of the hour required that the band call it a night. Woods will continue with two final shows in their tour with Ducktails, tonight in Philadelphia and Tuesday in Baltimore, before heading to Europe for much of March.

I recorded this set with the Neumann microphone mounted on a pole fifteen feet from the stage, and mixed with a feed from the board. There was some minor hiss in the system and in the PA that is evident during quieter moments, but its not distracting to this overall excellent recording. Enjoy!

Stream “Bend Beyond”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W2206Woods2990/03.%20Bend%20Beyond.mp3]

Stream “Born To Lose”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W2206Woods2990/12.%20Born%20To%20Lose.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Woods
2011-02-04
Monster Island Basement
Brooklyn, NY USA

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
2011-02-05

Setlist:
[Total Time 53:19]
01 Pushing Onlys
02 I’m Not Gone
03 Bend Beyond
04 [tuning]
05 Be All Be Easy
06 Rain On
07 To Clean
08 Get Back
09 Pick Up
10 Wouldn’t Waste
11 Say Goodbye
12 Born To Lose
13 Suffering Season
14 Blood Dries Darker

If you email nyctaper for access to these recordings, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Woods, visit their website, and purchase their official releases, including their latest At Echo Lake from Woodist Records [HERE].

Moondoggies: January 30, 2011 The Rock Shop – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

February 4, 2011
By


[photo by Kevin Kaim from Duke Street Blog]

While the critically easy way to approach The Moondoggies is to describe them as another in the line of Northwest “beardo” bands (i.e. Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses), their high-energy show at The Rock Shop on Sunday demonstrated their versatility and unwillingness to be pigeonholed. As the band opened with one of their oldest songs “Keep Her On The Line”, the folk rock strumming was forefront, but as the set progressed, the variety of styles and influences were diverse. “Its A Shame” owes a debt to Tonight’s The Night-era Neil Young, while “Black Shoe” (streaming below) echoes early Wilco, and “Ain’t No Lord” could be performed by Gary Louris. Perhaps acknowledging the granddaddies of the entire genre, Moondoggies closed the set with a cover of the Byrds version of the Dylan classic “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” (also streaming below). The Moondoggies new album Tidelands showcases their unique take on these various genres and establishes an identity for this superb band, and like their predecessors, their growth will only yield greater results.

I recorded this set with the DPA’s at the front of the board and mixed it with a soundboard feed. Unfortunately, for some reason the soundboard has a persistent whine/hum that rendered it unusable. As a result, this recording is the straight audience capture. There is some crowd chatter, but overall its still an excellent recording. Enjoy!

Stream “Black Shoe”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/M3001Moondoggies2110/Black%20Shoe.mp3]

Stream “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” (Dylan/Byrds cover):
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/M3001Moondoggies2110/You%20Ain%27t%20Going%20Nowhere%20%5bDylan%5d.mp3]

This recording is now available to download as FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Moondoggies
2011-01-30
The Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording

DPA 4021s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2011-02-02

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:31:56]
01 Keep Her On The Line
02 [banter]
03 It’s a Shame, Its a Pity
04 Tidelands
05 What Took So Long
06 [banter2]
07 Lead Me On
08 When You’re Young
09 Black Shoe
10 [banter3]
11 Ain’t No Lord
12 Jesus On The Mainline
13 Save My Soul
14 Changing
15 Butte, Montana
16 [banter4]
17 Fly Mama Fly
18 [tuning jam]
19 Bogachiel Rain Blues
20 [banter5]
21 You Ain’t Going Nowhere [Dylan]
22 [encore break]
23 Down The Well
24 Night and Day

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Moondoggies, visit their website, and purchase their new album Tidelands from the Hardly Art Records website [HERE].

The Hold Steady: January 31, 2011 Music Hall of Williamsburg – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

February 3, 2011
By


[The Hold Steady at Music Hall on January 30. Photos courtesy of Joshua Sarner and Prefix Magazine]

Eight years ago to the day, The Hold Steady took the stage at Music Hall of Williamsburg – then a much-less-luxurious venue called Northsix in a similarly less luxurious (or luxury-condo-fied) Williamsburg – for their first gig. To hear Craig Finn tell it, that the band celebrated their eighth anniversary in the same spot was a happy coincidence. Whether by coincidence or calculation, I suspect that first Music Hall show had a good bit in common with this one. “What’s up, Brooklyn? We’re The Hold Steady, and we’re gonna have a really good time tonight!” was Finn’s opening proclamation, and I would bet his first opening ever was much the same. Because, although their songwriting has grown more expansive, along with their critical acclaim and the size of their fanbase, The Hold Steady has always been one of the world’s greatest bar bands. The band’s appeal is democratic and uncomplicated: penetrating lyrics you can understand (that are also good enough to wow rock critics); crowd-participating, fist-pumping anthems; outstanding musicianship; and a frontman in Finn who appears to be having the best time of anybody there. This second show of two nights at Music Hall was all about momentum. Breaks between songs were almost non-existent; ditto crowd banter. Finn & Co. worked so hard through this nearly 100-minute set, it could have been a Springsteen show. In terms of the setlist, the band’s latest, Heaven Is Whenever, was well-represented along with Stay Positive, but so was the band’s first record, the less-noticed Frenchkiss Records release, Almost Killed Me, including on a beautifully paced encore that began with the pensive “Positive Jam”, followed by “Southtown Girls” (from Boys and Girls in America) and concluding with an extended version of “Most People Are DJs”. Although it was a Monday night, the crowd was fired up and slam dancing, about as sweaty as Finn himself. I would like to think that whoever attended that first Hold Steady gig would have done the same. If not, they should have: The Hold Steady are a hard-working rock band that is damned hard to deny. Show me someone else who can put on this kind of show – and get this kind of response – on a Monday, and I’ll show you rock royalty.

I recorded this set from about halfway to the stage from the left balcony. The mics were aimed directly at the left stack to maximize direct sound, and the results speak for themselves. Check out the streaming songs below, and enjoy!

Stream “Stevie Nix”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H6589HoldSteady1192/17 Stevie Nix.mp3]

Stream “Positive Jam”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H6589HoldSteady1192/22 Positive Jam.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Hold Steady
2011-01-31
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: Microtech-Gefell MG210>Naiant littlebox>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Left balcony, pointed at left stack
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, flac)

Tracks [Total Time 1:35:17]
01 Intro
02 Ask Her For Adderall
03 The Swish
04 Magazines
05 Rock Problems
06 Hurricane J
07 Cattle and the Creeping Things
08 Barfruit Blues
09 The Sweet Part of the City
10 Same Kooks
11 Sequestered in Memphis
12 Barely Breathing
13 Lord, I’m Discouraged
14 Constructive Summer
15 Chips Ahoy!
16 Stuck Between Stations
17 Stevie Nix
18 First Night
19 Ascension Blues
20 Slapped Actress
21 [encore break]
22 Positive Jam
23 Southtown Girls
24 Most People Are DJs

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Hold Steady, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website [HERE].

Suuns: January 25, 2011 Rock Shop – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

February 2, 2011
By


[Photo by Eloy Anzola. Visit his website here]

Montreal’s Suuns are one ambitious, exciting band. If you punched up any random 30-second clips of tracks from their debut LP, Zeroes QC, you could encounter any number of distinct musical ideas. You might find the Zeppelin-on-acid riffs that are the foundation of “Armed for Peace,” or the brooding, addiction-nightmare hiss of the vocals over a spare beat on “Up Past the Nursery,” or even the slowed-down dubstep beat on “Pie IX”. The point being, Suuns make angular, twisted art rock without a single stylistic straightjacket. From the get-go, this brash set at Rock Shop set a dark mood; the opening number “Skyscraper” blistered us with its marshal, repetitive drumbeat and bassline, clanging keyboard riff and frontman Ben Shemie’s seething, ravaged vocal. Whether during the tightly-wound intro to “Pie IX” or the door-blowing assault of the set’s closer, the eight-minute “Sweet Nothing,” Suuns held our attention with their controlled intensity. They are a challenging band in the best of ways, unconcerned with pop convention or pandering. And although it is true that they can veer dizzyingly between tempos, styles and structures, their talent is equal to their ideas.

I recorded this set from our usual location in this outstanding venue, with the Schoeps microphones and a soundboard feed from the Rock Shop’s team. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Armed for Peace”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0125Suuns0211/05 Armed for Peace.mp3]

Stream “Pie IX”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0125Suuns0211/08 Pie IX.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Suuns
2011-01-25
Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: Schoeps CMC6/mk41+Soundboard>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: At soundboard, LOC, mics pointed at stacks at 8.5′
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ audience source, mixdown, set fades, tracking, smooth peaks, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Skyscraper
02 Arena
03 Up Past the Nursery
04 [new]
05 Armed for Peace
06 Gaze
07 [banter]
08 Pie IX
09 Sweet Nothing

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Suuns, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Zeroes QC from Secretly Canadian records here.

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