[photo courtesy of twi-ny/mark rifkin]

Last Friday, the co-headlining Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven tour rolled into Highline Ballroom. Camper opened the show with a seventy-five minute set, which was exactly what Cracker was scheduled to play to finish the night and what the set-lengths had been all tour. Whether it was something about NYC or if the band was in a giving mood, but Cracker ended up playing a solid two-hour show. The setlist contained many of the standard numbers, but also a few rare nuggets that included “Big Dipper” and a cover of Dylan’s “The Man in Me”. The show ended with both bands playing a blistering nine-minute version of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” — a Camper fixture that never sounded this good before.

We recorded this set under the same conditions as the Camper recording, with a mix of the board feed and the Neumann mics. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

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

Cracker
2010-01-15
Highline Ballroom
New York, 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
2010-01-21

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:57:33]
01 Friends
02 I See The Light
03 Sweet Potato
04 This Is Cracker Soul
05 [whore request story]
06 Eurotrash Girl
07 Lonesome Johnny Blues
08 Wedding Day
09 [Iraq tour story]
10 Yalla Yalla
11 Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)
12 Merry Christmas Emily
13 Happy Birthday To Me
14 Been Around the World
15 Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is)
16 Gimme One More Chance
17 The Man in Me (Bob Dylan)
18 Big Dipper
19 Low
20 Seven Days
21 [encore break]
22 I Ride My Bike
23 Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd)*
*Cracker and Camper together (minus Sal)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Cracker, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases directly from the Store at their website [here] or from the 429 Records website [here].

[photo courtesy of twi-ny/mark rifkin]

Almost exactly one year since their last trip to NYC, Camper Van Beethoven returned and performed an outstanding set at the Highline Ballroom on Friday night. As the first band to play on this night of the Cracker/Camper tour, the set was somewhat shorter, but at seventy-five minutes still packed in a full run through the twenty year catalog. The band was supplemented for this tour with sometime-member David Immergluck on pedal steel and mandolin and Immy’s presence added a dimension both to the sound and stage energy.

This set was recorded from directly in front of the soundboard, as the Neumann microphones are supplemented with a feed from the soundboard. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Camper Van Beethoven
2010-01-15
Highline Ballroom
New York, 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
2010-01-17

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:16:17]
01 Abundance
02 White Riot (Clash)
03 Wasted (Black Flag)
04 Shut Us Down
05 RnR Uzbekistan
06 Ambiguity Song
07 Take the Skinheads Bowling
08 The Long Plastic Hallway
09 All Her Favorite Fruit
10 Tania
11 Eye Of Fatima
12 Eye Of Fatima Part 2
13 When I Win the Lottery
14 Turquoise Jewelry
15 Joe Stalin’s Cadillac
16 Mao Reminisces About His Days In Southern China
17 The History Of Utah
18 New Roman Times
19 One Of These Days
20 Skinhead Stomp
21 The Day That Lassie Went To The Moon
22 Club Med Sucks
23 Pictures of Matchstick Men
24 Seven Languages

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

[Joy Formidable at Union Hall the night before Pianos]
[photo courtesy of Erin Friedmann]

I had been aware of the excellent Welsh trio The Joy Formidable for more than a year — following their growth in part through the meticulous documentation of their live shows by some excellent UK tapers. When we learned through an email that the band would make their first trip stateside for three gigs in NYC, I knew that we would have to take in at least one show, and the excellent and intimate Pianos gig was chosen. With the band’s blessing, at last night’s show we set up a four channel mix directly in front of the soundboard and were immediately crushed by the wall to wall crowd. From the very first notes of their set, we were absolutely floored by the intensity, tightness and superb musicality of The Joy Formidable. By the time the band reached the crescendo of the third number “The Last Drop”, repeating the hook “how come its all around me” over sheets of guitar and thundering bass, I was thoroughly addicted to TJF. When the forty-minute set concluded with a wild “Whirring” featuring a full noise and feedback cacophony session, we realized the obvious. The Joy Formidable will be huge. This is a forgone conclusion. The other obvious fact is that the next time the band returns to NYC (guitarist/vocalist Ritzy Bryan promised “later in the year”), the venues will be much larger than Pianos. Last night will be one of those “we saw them back then” nights, and we were lucky to be there.

This set was recorded under the perfect conditions. The main room at Pianos has never sounded better. The location of the microphones and the well balanced feed were mixed in perfect compliment. We are proud to present a recording of this superb quality. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Joy Formidable
2010-01-12
Pianos
New York, 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
2010-01-13

Setlist:
[Total Time 41:22]
01 The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade
02 Cradle
03 The Last Drop
04 Austere
05 Ostrich
06 Magnifying Glass
07 Anemone
08 [band thanks]
09 Whirring

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Joy Formidable, visit their website, and purchase their debut album A Balloon Called Moaning from Shop link at their website [here].