[photo courtesy of Greg Aiello]

The only Benevento Russo Duo concert of the entire calendar year 2010 took place on Friday night at Highline Ballroom and it was truly a special event. We’ve seen quite a bit of Marco Benevento playing with his trio over the last couple of years, and Joe Russo has played with several units including the Gene Ween Band. But, despite the Duo’s divergent career paths over the last two years, Marco took time out to give the crowd good news — The Duo are still a team and intend to record new music this year. As Joe has also become the full-time drummer for Furthur with former members of the Grateful Dead, it was perhaps appropriate that the longest and spaciest song of the evening was a twenty-minute trip through “Blues For Allah”. Other eclectic takes on some mainstream covers were mixed in with Duo staples (including “Becky” steaming below) for a 100-minute set of outstanding material. As the satisfied crowd slowly left the Highline, it was clear to all that the Duo are indeed very much still alive.

I recorded this set with a feed from the soundboard mixed with the DPA’s in the room. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Many thanks to Highline’s excellent FOH sound engineer Peter for his generous assistance and his superb mix, to Lauren for the arrangements, and to Highline for their hospitality.

Stream “Becky”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/B5691Benevento4319/15%20BeneventoRusso2010-08-27_nyctaper_t15.mp3]

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

Benevento Russo Duo
2010-08-27
Highline Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + DPA 4021s > 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
2010-08-29

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:41:18]
01 Tartan & Sabia
02 Are You The Favorite Person of Anybody?
03 Sunny’s Song
04 Awards
05 [banter]
06 Walking, Running, Viking
07 Purple Jr.
08 Blues For Allah (Grateful Dead)
09 Best Reason To Buy The Sun
10 Words (Neil Young)
11 Sabbath (Brad Mehldau)
12 Play, Pause, Stop
13 [encore break]
14 One Rainy Wish (Jimi Hendrix)
15 Becky

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

[Photo by acidjack]

Motel Motel have been a popular act on this site since we first posted about them in April of last year.  Since then, we have avidly followed their shows, and for good reason – they are an outstanding live act.  When I caught their show at Union Pool back in January, the band debuted six new songs that they had been working on.  This event represented the culmination of those efforts, as the band put this show on to celebrate the release of their new record The Big Island. A beautifully recorded, conceptual release that follows on the place-oriented theme of their previous effort, New Denver, The Big Island is a more cohesive work, the kind of record that, in a bit of a throwback, is intended to be listened to straight through.  Having become familiar with the new songs in the live setting, when I finally listened to the album itself, I was blown away – the production elevates what are already excellent songs, to the point that this record has quickly become one of my top five favorites of the year.

This 50-minute set showcased six of the new songs, plus the classics “Harlem” and the encore “Coffee.”  This show sold out the Union Pool show room and packed the rest of the bar with revelers well into the night.

I recorded this set from my usual spot in this venue, with mics up on the balcony and a soundboard feed.  Although the quality cannot match the near-flawless Gaza Benefit recording from earlier this month, and the acoustics of Union Pool can be challenging from the balcony, with some digital TLC I think the quality of this recording is still very, very strong, especially the latter half.  Enjoy!

Motel Motel have another NYC gig coming up, on September 23 at Littlefield.

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/mm2010-08-24.acidjack

Motel Motel
2010-08-24
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: DPA 4021+mono soundboard feed>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to left side of SBD cage with extension pole into audience, DIN
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (double mono SBD channel, EQ/compress SBD, EQ audience, mixdown, set fades, additional EQ, volume adjustments)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 51:17]
01 Thunderhead
02 [banter]
03 Keauhou
04 [banter]
05 Kaimanu>
06 Ocean
07 Wolf Road
08 [banter]
09 Helena, MT
10 Harlem
11 [encore break]
12 Coffee

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Motel Motel, visit their website, and purchase The Big Island from the band’s store here.

[photo from Charles Burst MySpace page]

Charles Burst began his set with most of us imagining we were in for a beautiful evening of DIY rooftop music that benefited a good cause, specifically UNWRA and the Free Gaza Movement.  Indeed, Burst’s laid-back country and blues inspired songs provided a perfect backdrop to a breezy summer evening on the 210 Cook St rooftop… until the NYPD decided to shut down the party.  Fortunately, Burst managed to finish most of his set of finely crafted, timeless American rock n’ roll.  Burst is an accomplished producer/engineer and general music guru, having worked with artists such as The New Pornographers and Gang Gang Dance, among many others.  His second record The Famous Patient (released last month), is as strong as many of the other artists’ work he has helped along, and it is always a pleasure to see a talented soul step out from behind the console to show us his or or her own creative vision.  This concert’s ultimate survival would not have been possible without Burst’s contribution of his gear, which he graciously allowed to be moved to the second location of the show.  We hope to come out for many more of his local performances in the future.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Shark? and other sets.  The sound quality is outstanding other than some occasional noise caused by the high winds up on the roof.  Most of these flaws have been toned down, but there are still a few points in the recording where the wind noise is perceptible.  With that caveat, enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/cb2010-08-07.acidjack

Charles Burst
2010-08-07
Gaza Benefit Show
210 Cook St Rooftop
Brooklyn, NY  USA

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

Equipment: DPA 4021 + stereo soundboard feed>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: Mics “onstage”, ORTF
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (compress board track, mixdown, set fades, compress wind noise, amplify and balance channels, tracking, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC (level 8 )

Tracks
01 Eureka
02 I Came Back For the Children
03 The Famous Patient
04 Some Things You Need To Know
05 Girl On the Rocks
06 [banter]
07 Bars
08 Idiot Song
…cops shut down the show.  The end.

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Charles Burst, visit his website, and purchase The Famous Patient either directly on vinyl from Ernest Jenning records here, or in digital format from your favorite retailer.