[photo by nyctaper]

I saw the Ass Ponys thirteen or fourteen years ago play at the late lamented club Brownie’s on Avenue A. The most lasting memory of the night was the hilarious between-song banter, primarily from Chuck Cleaver. When the Ass Ponys just sort of stopped playing in 2005-6, Chuck took up full time with his latest band Wussy. And while Wussy plays a similar intelligent americana-rock as Ass Ponys, and have inherited the gift of entertaining banter, what separates the two bands is Chuck’s new co-frontperson. Lisa Walker writes lyrics as compelling as Chuck’s and on stage, she is a tighly-wound bundle of energy uncoiling to deliver three-minute bursts of sonic goodness. At Cake Shop last night, we saw up close why the followers of this puzzlingly-obscure Cincinnati quartet are so dedicated — one fan came all the way from Canada for the show. In their seventy-five minute set, the band drew from their three excellent albums, played one new song and an Eddie Hinton cover, and returned twice for four encores.

I recorded this set from upfront, six feet from the PA. The sound quality of the recording is rich in clarity and limited sonically only by the modest system in the venue. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Wussy
2010-04-16
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
2010-04-17

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:14:23]
01 Funeral Dress [false start]
02 Funeral Dress
03 Happiness Bleeds
04 [banter]
05 Crooked
06 [banter]
07 Sun Giant Says Hey
08 Do Do Do Do
09 [banter]
10 Breakfast in Bed (Hinton/Fritts)
11 [banter/monitors]
12 Death By Misadventure
13 Muscle Cars
14 Airborne
15 Yellow Cotton Dress
16 Fly Fly Fly
17 Rigor Mortis
18 [encore break/banter]
19 Soak It Up
20 [banter]
21 Jonah
22 [banter]
23 Maglite
24 [second encore break]
25 Don’t Leave Just Now

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wussy, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the Shake It Records website [HERE].

[Photos by Lauren Colchamiro]

Caspian are America’s answer to Mogwai.   I hate to use that kind of shorthand when talking about an instrumental rock band – it is already too easy to lump disparate bands with a very loosely defined common theme together.  After all, Explosions in the Sky (who we have recorded before) and God is an Astronaut don’t sound that much alike, and neither do Caspian and many other bands.  But having seen this Boston-based band live, I do think mine is an apt comparison, or at least, it describes the band’s set at The Studio at Webster Hall accurately.  Like the well-loved Scotsmen I compared them to, Caspian’s music thrives on the loud-soft dynamic, with the ability to shift from calm to storm in a split second.   In Caspian’s particular case, their live sound this night tended toward the heavier, more blunt-force end of the spectrum, toning down some of the textural richness found on their records.  Part of this is probably because the fans like it that way.

The band seemed gratified by the enthusiastic turnout, pointing out that NYC was the closest date they were doing to their home in Boston, and that we felt almost like a “hometown crowd.”   For their last song, the band was joined for “Sycamore” by members of the opening acts for a massive, multi-drummer blowout on a scale I haven’t seen since my last Boredoms show!  Caspian are touring the U.S. right now in support of their most recent album, Tertia.  They have a few East Coast dates left before their swing takes them through the midwest and west coast, and then Europe.  Don’t miss them – this music is best experienced live.

I recorded this set way up front with the DPA 4061 miniature omnidirectional microphones.  The result is a very “in your face” recording that captures the awesome power of this band perfectly.  Although there is some annoying crowd chatter audible during the opening 2 minutes, and some chatter from the bar that you can hear during quiet passages, it is generally smooth sailing for the most part (it’s not like you could hear anything over the band anyway).  Enjoy!

Album art by Michael Ricci is available here.

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

Caspian
2010-04-15
The Studio at Webster Hall
New York, NY  USA

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

Equipment: DPA 4061 (Coresound “HEB”)>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: FOB, DFC, about 10? from stage, HRTF
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, EQ, amplify each channel, downsample)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks (65min runtime) (thank you to the first commenter for the setlist corrections)
1. Intro/annoying girl talking
2. La Cerva
3. Malacoda
4. Interlude
5. Of Foam and Wave
6. banter
7. Concrescence
8. Moksha
9. Quovis / Further Up / Further In
10. encore break
11. Brombie
12. banter
13. Sycamore

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Caspian, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Tertia and their other excellent releases here.

[photo by nyctaper]

Members of Crystal Stilts have finished recording an album, Cinema Red & Blue, on which several of the band members joined with David Feck of Comet Gain. This project is due for a Spring release. In the meantime, Slumberland Records recording artists Crystal Stilts continue to work on the band’s new record. Several of those new songs poised for inclusion on the new record are captured during this set opening at Maxwell’s a few weeks back.

Crystal Stilts play Bell House a week from today.

I recorded this set in the same location as the Love Is All recording and the sound is superb. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Crystal Stilts
2010-03-27
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ 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
2010-04-09

Setlist:
[Total Time 39:10]
01 Invisible City
02 Sugar Baby
03 12 String
04 Graveyard Orbit
05 Sycamore Tree
06 Missing
07 Crippled Croon
08 [banter]
09 [untitled new song]
10 Departure
11 Love Is A Wave

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Crystal Stilts, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their latest album Alight of Night and other releases directly from Slumberland Records [HERE].

[photo courtesy of Alexis Maindrault]

You can tell much about the quality of a band by their ability to play different sizes of venues with equal success. Back in February, we saw Obits at the tiny basement-like Cake Shop — a show that featured much new material and a very intimate vibe. At Irving Plaza on Friday, Obits faced a more difficult task as the band performed middle-bill to a decidedly Jersey-centric weekend crowd there primarily to see Ted Leo’s homecoming. But there is something universal about Obits’ gritty garage guitar roots-rock, and when its delivered by four pros with impressive veteran resumes, its irresistible. And with the exception of one loud buffoon, Obits managed to convert the crowd with a set that steered mostly clear of the new material played in February and stuck to the bulk of their 2009 Subpop debut, I Blame You.

I recorded this same from the same location as the Ted Leo set and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Obits
2010-04-09
Irving Plaza
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Four-Track Master Recording
Recorded from Center of the Floor

Neumann KM-150s + 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
2010-04-13

Setlist:
[Total Time 44:11]
01 SUD
02 One Cross Apiece
03 New August
04 Put It In Writing
05 [Sohrab humiliates heckler]
06 Light Sweet Crude
07 Widow Of My Dreams
08 Run
09 [banter]
10 Two-Headed Coin
11 Back And Forth
12 Lilies In The Street

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Obits, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase I Blame You from the Subpop Records website [HERE].

[Not very good iPhone photo by acidjack]

In the Great Recession (or whatever you wish to call it), only a handful of states could claim to having taken the beating that Florida did. The Sunshine State, once a land of promise and (mostly) fulfilled retirement fantasies, was laid waste to by the crisis, its optimism shattered to its core. But, sometimes, turmoil is a boon to art. Call it coincidence, but it seems that around the time that Florida busted out, the state also started to crank out quality music. As we mentioned in our preview of this show, Lil Daggers are one of the bands that have emerged from the Sunshine State. At Glasslands on Sunday, Lil Daggers brought their garage-rock to NYC for the first time and showed why they have been hailed as the next big thing from Florida.

This show was recorded with a combination of DPA omnis and Beyer cards and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the MP3 files [HERE].

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Lil Daggers
2010-04-11
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY

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

Equipment: DPA 4061 + Beyerdynamic MC950>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Balcony, center, MC950s clamped and pointed at stacks, 4061s in PZM mounts, 3′ split on balcony front
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, adjust levels, tracking, amplify each channel, downsample)

Tracks (please help to fill in the missing tracks)
01
02 Y Tu Sabe
03 Hungry
04 King Korpze
05 banter/tuning
06
07 U.S. Leather

Please Support Lil Daggers if you download this show, and visit their Bandcamp Page to purchase their official releases.