[photo courtesy of Amanda Hatfield]

On the night of the release show for her outstanding new CD epic, Sharon Van Etten played a sold out and packed Rock Shop. Sharon has said many times that she suffers from excessive shyness, but on this night, far from being overwhelmed by the intensity of the crowd she was confident, relaxed and having fun. Sharon performed a similar set to her August show at Rock Shop, but added a special mini acoustic set at the end of this special night. Accompanied again by the excellent Cat Martino, Sharon has added a new drummer and new bassist to the band we saw this Summer. The new rhythm section seems to have added some extra muscle to the material, so that new songs such as “Don’t Do It” (streaming below) came across with a heavier rock beat. But it was the four-song solo acoustic songs that closed the set where Sharon seemed to say thank you to her long-time fans. As she was brought back for an encore, the calls for “Damn Right” were acceded and Sharon delivered one of her oldest numbers with an extra edge — a touching acknowledgment of her past as she moves towards a brighter future.

I recorded this set with the Neumanns placed in front of the soundboard cage mixed with a feed from the board. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Don’t Do It”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0606SharonVE8008/Sharon%20Van%20Etten%202010-10-08%20DON%27T%20DO%20IT.mp3]

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

Sharon Van Etten
2010-10-08
The Rock Shop
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > 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
2010-10-13

Setlist:
[Total Time 57:43]
01 A Crime
02 Peace Signs
03 Save Yourself
04 Don’t Do It
05 [banter/band intros]
06 One Day
07 [banter]
08 [untitled]
09 Love More
10 [banter]
11 For You
12 Consolation Prize
13 Tell Me I’m Wrong
14 [encore break]
15 Damn Right

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Sharon Van Etten, visit her website, visit her MySpace page, and purchase her new CD epic from Bada Bing Records [HERE].

[iPhone4 photo by acidjack]

After the 78-minute set of Built To Spill that we saw this July at Irving Plaza, we were worried that the band had decided people were over long sets of theirs.  Thankfully, this Wednesday’s show at the Highline Ballroom was back to their usual set-length standards.  Although BTS has toured near-incessantly in New York in the past two years (at least 8 shows covered by this site, plus a few that I am sure I am missing), each show offers new surprises and treats.   Tonight, a cover of Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” was a particular highlight, along with an encore that included “Twin Falls” segueing directly into an extended version of “Some” from their classic album The Normal Years.  The sprawling “Randy Described Eternity,” from Perfect From Now, was another classic that I had not seen recently.  There are not many bands that can keep us coming back for this many shows in such a relatively short span of time, but Doug Martsch’s dynamic guitar work and continued rhythmic exploration still gets us every time.

I recorded this set from the center of the floor with a combination of Schoeps hypercardiod microphones and DPA cardiods mounted one above the other.  The four-mic mix perfectly captures the quality house mix from the Highline staff.  Enjoy!

Stream “Ripple”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/B2609BuilttoSpill8008/BuiltToSpill-Ripple_acidjack.mp3]

Stream “Randy Described Eternity”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/B2609BuilttoSpill8008/BuiltToSpill-RandyDescribedEternity_acidjack.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Built to Spill
2010-10-06
Highline Ballroom
New York, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
4-track digital master recorded and produced exclusively for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641+DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: At soundboard, DFC, 8?, DPA’s X/Y, Schoeps DINa
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, light EQ, smooth/compress a few peaks, tracking, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:46:30]
01 Intro
02 Liar
03 Flustered
04 banter/crowd
05 Hindsight
06 Stab
07 banter/crowd
08 Untrustable
09 banter/crowd
10 Things Fall Apart
11 The Plan
12 Still Flat
13 Ripple [Grateful Dead]
14 banter/crowd
15 Wherever You Go
16 banter/crowd
17 The Weather
18 Carry the Zero
19 encore break
20 Randy Described Eternity
21 Twin Falls>
22 Some
23 Goin’ Against Your Mind

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Built To Spill, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the Official Store at their website [Here].

[iPhone photo by acidjack]

One of the gratifying aspects of the taping hobby is discovering new music from like-minded tapers.  Of course, that isn’t always easy for me, given that most of the bands that are regulars on the “taper circuit” don’t have much in common with what I am into musically.  That is why I always pay extra attention to Southern Shelter, a taper blog run by a fan in Athens, GA with fairly similar taste in music and very similar taste in high-end recording gear.  His excellent recordings of Dead Confederate led me to check the band out at Music Hall of Williamsburg last month (I had not realized that we covered their show at Piano’s back in 2008!), and the show they put on, despite the room not being completely packed, was a standout for them.  Reams of special guests joined the band onstage, including DJ Logic, the band Alberta Cross, and Kevin Kinney.  Don’t let the Southern-sounding name of this Athens band fool you – there are no country stylings to be found here.  Confederate’s heavy sound unabashedly references 90s acts like Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr., with frontman Hardy Morris carving out his own territory on vocals that have more of a straight-ahead rock flavor.  The set closed out with an extended cover of “Rockin In the Free World” that jammed into “This Land Is Your Land” and back, with Kevin Kinney taking over the bulk of vocal duties.

As I was running late, I recorded this set from the optimum position in the venue with my small mobile rig.  While it is still better quality than 95% of the live recordings to be found on the Internet, this recording is not quite up to my usual standards.  In addition, there is noticeable hiss on “Rockin in the Free World’s” intro and during the “This Land Is Your Land” portion due to the volume control of the recorder slipping down and the resulting signal having to be boosted much more than usual in post-production.  Nonethess, this will be a nice document of a unique show, and I hope the sample shows I am being too hard on the sound quality.  Enjoy!

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

Dead Confederate
2010-09-28
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY  USA

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

Equipment: Audix 1280c>Church Audio Active Cables>SPSB-10>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: FOB, DFC, mobile rig
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, levels) FLAC Level 8

Tracks [Total Time 1:13:59]
01 Smoking A Minor (fades in)
02 All The Angels
03 Heavy Petting
04 The Rat>
05 Quiet Kid
06 banter
07 Run From The Gun#
08 Giving It All Away@
09 Mob Scene^
10 By Design^
11 Start Me Laughing
12 banter
13 Tortured-Artist Saint
14 encore break
15 Rockin in the Free World>This Land Is Your Land>Rockin in the Free World&

# w/ Ben Wigard and horns
@ w/ Alberta Cross
^ w/ DJ Logic
& w/ Kevn Kinney

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Dead Confederate, visit their website, and purchase their records from their official store here.

[photo by nyctaper]

The last time we saw Chicago’s Unicycle Loves You, it was at our 2009 CMJ show. In the last year, the band has recorded and released their superb second album Mirror Mirror, and on their Fall tour they passed through NYC and played Cake Shop a couple of weeks back. While this set got pushed back from posting due to the Pavement onslaught, readers should not interpret the delay as a lack of enthusiasm of this site for ULY and the new record. Mirror Mirror is a refined take on this band’s crunchy reverb-driven psychedelic pop, and this set featured all tracks from the new album. Unicycle Loves You will return to NYC for CMJ and they are playing our CMJ at Cake Shop on October 21.

I recorded this set as with all shows from this venue, with the DPAs mounted six feet from the stacks. While the vocals are somewhat buried in the mix for this show, the sound has great clarity. Enjoy!

Stream “Mountain Lungs”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/U2210ULY2229/Unicycle%20Loves%20You%202010-09-18%20MOUNTAIN%20LUNGS.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Unicycle Loves You
2010-09-18
Cake Shop
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded Upfront
6 Feet from Right PA

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

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2010-10-03

Setlist:
[Total Time 31:51]
01 Teenage Ghost House
02 There’s A Giant Walking In My Heart
03 Justine
04 [banter]
05 Quagga
06 Magnetic Horses
07 Time Bandits
08 Mirror Mirror
09 [banter]
10 Mountain Lungs

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Unicycle Loves You, visit their website, and purchase their official releases at the Store on their website [HERE].

[photo by nyctaper]

I love musical revelations — those moments when you realize that the band you are watching is truly something special. Last Saturday, we had this experience within the first minute of the Pearl and the Beard set at the Backyard Brunch Sessions. The opening song “Voice in My Throat” (streaming below) showcases their sumptuous harmonies, but it was a mere introduction to the impressive work of this talented trio. Each of the seven songs performed showcased a special talent of the individual members, whether it be the ability of Jeremy Styles to transition from a sweet tenor to a rich baritone in the midst of one song (“Reverend Pants”), or percussion/multi-instrumentalist Jocelyn Mackenzie’s beautiful operatic solo in “Coronado Brown”. The final number was Emily Hope Price’s showcase. “Hot Volcano” is a NOLA-styled jazzy vamp that brought the house down. As Pearl and the Beard continues to perform and reach a larger audience, the many talents of this unique trio will become obvious to all. They are playing several CMJ showcases, including The Music Slut party at Pianos on Tuesday October 19, and we wish they are playing our show. But unfortunately the NYCTaper CMJ show was booked before I was taken under the spell of Pearl.

This set was recorded as I have all the backyard sessions, with four microphones strategically placed around the band. We spent much time on the post-production working on the levels and balances, and we are extremely happy with the superb final product. Enjoy!

Stream “Voice in My Throat”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/P2509Pearl1020/Pearl%20and%20the%20Beard%202010-09-25%20VOICE%20IN%20MY%20THROAT.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Pearl and the Beard
2010-09-25
Backyard Brunch Sessions
Brooklyn, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Onstage

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 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
2010-10-01

Setlist:
[Total Time 23:06]
01 [introduction]
02 Voice in My Throat
03 Reverend Pants
04 The Lament of Coronado Brown
05 Prodigal Daughter
06 Lost in Singapore
07 Black Vessel
08 Hot Volcano

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