[photo courtesy of Rez Avissar]

Acidjack reports:
“Critical darlings (thanks for the “Best New Music” accolades, Pitchfork!) Bear In Heaven packed the Mercury Lounge to bursting Wednesday night, giving a performance that showed a darker side to their music than the clean, almost poppy sound of their excellent record, Beast Rest Forth Mouth. In concert, the band puts forth a somewhat more shoegazy vibe, with pounding drums, intense reverb and layered keyboards. Through the haze of incense burning onstage, Bear In Heaven made clear why they have stood out among Brooklyn’s many excellent bands. One could easily imagine this music translating to a venue three times the size of tiny Mercury, which boomed with the band’s colossal sound. As Pitchfork’s effusive review put it, “This is music that’s bigger than your iPod– music you’ll want to feel all around you.” Absolutely true.

I recorded this set from a heavily trafficked but optimally positioned spot in the venue, dead center between the speakers, with a stereo soundboard feed as well. As you will hear, adjustments were needed to the house mix during the first two songs, and there was heavy reverb throughout. The recording is a very accurate capture of the sound of the night. Enjoy!”

Back in October, nyctaper also recorded Bear in Heaven as part of the Showpaper/ToddP/Pitchfork benefit at Market Hotel. Previously, we posted from this night Cymbals Eat Guitars, Surfer Blood, Smith Westerns, and Real Estate. This Bear in Heaven set was recorded with the Neumann microphones combined with a soundboard feed, and the sound is excellent.

Direct download of MP3 files
Mercury ’10 (HERE)
Market Hotel ’09 (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC: [MERCURY] / [MARKET]

Bear In Heaven
2010-01-27
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY

An acidjack master recording

Recorded and produced by acidjack
Hosted at nyctaper.com

Equipment: Stereo soundboard feed + DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Clamp to SBD cage, center, mics at 8.5′
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, EQ, tracking, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Drug A Wheel
02 Fake Out
03 Ultimate Satisfaction
04 Wholehearted Mess
05 Lovesick Teenager
06 Beast In Peace
07 Deafening Love
08 Dust Cloud
09 banter
10 You Do You
11 Casual Goodbye

************

Bear in Heaven
2009-10-24
Market Hotel
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 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
2010-01-31

Setlist:
[Total Time 30:51]
01 Drug A Wheel
02 Fake Out
03 Ultimate Satisfaction
04 Wholehearted Mess
05 Lovesick Teenagers
06 Beast in Peace
07 Dust Cloud

If you email nyctaper for access to these recordings, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Bear in Heaven, visit their website, and purchase their official releases directly from the Hometapes Records site [HERE].

[photo by nyctaper]

Its hard for me to believe that its been exactly two years since I last saw Mission of Burma. On that night in Brooklyn, the band performed their standard high intensity volume show which we caught from the floor — my ears were ringing for days. Last night at Bowery, from our safe perch at the balcony rail, the sonic blast was less intense and our vantage point permitted a close examination of the work of the fourth member of the band, sound tech/tape wizard Bob Weston. While last night’s material tended primarily towards the three post “reunion” albums, old timers in the crowd were treated to terrific versions of “Certain Fate”, “Mica”, personal favorite “Academy Fight Song”, along with a fairly obscure Yardbirds cover.

This show was recorded from our standard location at this venue and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Mission of Burma
2010-01-29
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail
Next to the Soundboard Booth

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
2010-01-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:19:59]
01 [introduction]
02 The Setup
03 Devotion
04 Donna Sumeria
05 One Day We Will Live There
06 Possession
07 Mica
08 13
09 1, 2, 3, Partyy!
10 Good Cheer
11 So Fuck It
12 2wice
13 Einstein’s Day
14 HiFi (new song)
15 Absent Mind
16 Here It Comes (Monkey Boy)
17 1001 Pleasant Dreams
18 That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate
19 [encore break/tape loops]
20 Dumbells
21 Happenings Ten Years Time Ago (Yardbirds)
22 Academy Fight Song
23 [tuning/banter]
24 Good, Not Great

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

[photo taken for nyctaper by Kate Ehle – many more here]

This recording was offered to nyctaper from Jason of the excellent One For The Good Days blog.

Our friends over at the Fishpork blog posted an extensive review of this show, and here is an excerpt:

If you closed your eyes for a moment you could imagine a symphony of performers before you at any point of the show, while after each song Pallett softly thanked the crowd. The sheer simplicity mixed with the complex nature of recreating his arrangements stunned the Bowery crowd. Pallet’s vocals stood out in the live setting. Combining these elements, Pallet put on a 60-minute set with songs pleasing to new and old fans alike.

We recorded Owen opening for the Mountain Goats back in December [here].

Jason captured this recording from the front far left side of the balcony at Bowery, directly in front of the left side stack. The recording has outstanding clarity and is an excellent listening experience. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Final Fantasy
2010-01-18
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master
Recorded from far front and left Balcony
Sony ECM-DS70p > iRiver (Rockbox Firmware) >
Adobe Audition (Volume and Compression) > Flac

Recorded and Produced by Jason
Hosted by nyctaper

Setlist:
01 – The Man With No Ankles
02 – Keep The Dog Quiet->Mt. Alpentine
03 – The Great Elsewhere
04 – Flare Gun
05 – The Butcher
06 – Dream of Win and Regine
07 – That’s When The Audience Died
08 – Many Lives-49 MP
09 – Midnight Directives
10 – Honor The Dead Or Else
11 – Lewis Takes Action
12 – Lews Takes Off His Shirt
13 – CN Tower Belongs To The Dead
14 – This Lamb Sells Condos

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Owen Pallett, visit his website, and purchase his new album Heartland from the Domino Records website [HERE].

[photos taken for nyctaper by Kate Ehle – many more here]

Some things never get old. Such was my experience at Of Montreal last night at Highline Ballroom. No matter how many times I see this band, Kevin Barnes and company continue to deliver the new, the original, the bizarre and most importantly the wildly entertaining. While the follow-up to 2008’s Skeletal Lamping is reportedly finished recording, Of Montreal only performed one new song. But as promised early in the set, they did perform quite a number of earlier and semi-obscure songs. For instance, we had not seen “Du Og Meg” live since early 2007 at Irving Plaza, and had never heard The Sunlandic Twins bonus track “Everyday Feels Like Sunday” (thanks Matt). “She’s A Rejecter” closed the set with an extended post-Kevin-exit jam that was both new and extremely well done. As the second and final encore, Of Montreal added to the covers collection with a Kevin and Solange Knowles duet on the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back”. In between, the stage antics were plenty bizarre and often hilarious, particularly when the corporal punishment of some bad piggies was administered by Susan Sarandon.

We recorded with the four microphone rig from directly in front of the soundboard. The crowd was boisterous as expected, but the sound in the venue was quite good and the recording reflects that quality. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Of Montreal
2010-01-26
Highline Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board Center

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
2010-01-27

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:23:20]
01 [introduction]
02 Suffer For Fashion
03 Mingusings
04 Forecast Fascist Future
05 Du Og Meg
06 Lysergic Bliss
07 Disconnect The Dots
08 Spike The Senses
09 And I’ve Seen a Bloody Shadow
10 Plastis Wafers
11 St. Exquisite’s Confessions
12 Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
13 Teenage Unicorn Fisting
14 An Eluardian Instance
15 Oslo In The Summertime
16 Everyday Feels Like Sunday
17 A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger
18 She’s a Rejecter
19 [encore break]
20 For Our Elegant Caste
21 I Want You Back (Jackson Five)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Of Montreal, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new CD Skeletal Lamping at the Polyvinyl website [HERE].

[Motel Motel at NYCTaper CMJ Show]
[photos taken for nyctaper by Kate Ehle – more here]

In October, Motel Motel performed at the NYCTaper CMJ Show at Bruar Falls. That afternoon the band played three brand new songs, two of which did not yet have proper titles. Shortly after CMJ, Motel Motel went into the studio to record their new album, at which they are still hard at work. The band took a break from the sessions to play a show at Union Pool on Thursday night, and Acidjack was there for nyctaper.

Acidjack Reports:
“Motel Motel have been on a bit of a break recording new material. The rest did them good. A packed house at Union Pool saw them tear through six new songs which add new layers of complexity and depth to their country-influenced sound. We expect more great things from this band in 2010.

This set was recorded on my new 4-track machine with a combination of the soundboard feed and the DPA mics clamped to the rail. While you can hear some of the action from the bar below during quiet parts, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!”

Direct download of MP3 files:
Union Pool (HERE)
Bruar Falls (HERE)

Direct download of FLAC files:
Union Pool (HERE)
Bruar Falls (HERE)

Motel Motel
2010-01-21
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY

An ACIDJACK master recording

Equipment: SBD + DPA 4021>Edirol R-44 (24/44.1)
Position: Mics clamped to balcony rail on right side of SBD
Mastering: 2xWAV>copy SBD channel, adjust mix, mix down to 2 channels, slight EQ, set fades, tracking, amplify each channel>FLAC ( level 8 )

Setlist (setlist help needed)
08 Tracks (6 new songs + 2 banter tracks)

**************

Motel Motel
2009-10-22
Bruar Falls
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
2010-01-22

Setlist:
[Total Time 33:47]
01 Cowboy
02 Seven
03 Blues
04 Hilo
05 Coffee

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