[photo by nyctaper]

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have had a “awesome year”, and lead singer/guitarist Kip Berman thanked Mike Schulman and Slumberland Records for their part in the band’s success last night at the label’s 20th Anniversary concert last night at Bell House. Despite the late set time (after 1 a.m.) Pains delivered a scintillating thirty-five minute set of their “Best New Music” power pop, that included seven songs from their full length, the title song from their new EP, and the debut of one brand new song “Say No To Love”.

We are indebted to Mike Schulman not only for his amazing twenty years at Slumberland Records, but also for arranging for NYCTaper to capture this amazing event. We recorded all 8 bands (actually 9, counting the surprise three-song set of Henry’s Dress) on the four-track Edirol with two Neumann microphones set up above the crowd at the board mixed with a stereo feed from the soundboard. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of the Complete Concert MP3 files (HERE)

Individual Downloads for the new song “Say No To Love” are available as a direct download by clicking [FLAC] or [MP3] at the setlist

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2009-11-14
Slumberland Records 20th Anniversary Concert
Bell House
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
2009-11-15

Setlist:
[Total Time 34:31]
01 This Love Is Fucking Right!
02 Young Adult Friction
03 Say No To Love [new song debut] [FLAC] [MP3]
04 Stay Alive
05 A Teenager in Love
06 Come Saturday
07 Higher Than the Stars
08 Everything with You
09 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases by visiting the Order Link at their website [here] or by vising the Slumberland Records website [here].

[photo by nyctaper]

Natureboy is the musical project of singer-songwriter Sara Kermanshahi. Sara has been on our radar for about a year, so we decided to check her out at the Kevchino-produced show this past Saturday opening for nyctaper-favorite Sharon Van Etten at Union Pool. The live Natureboy is a trio, as Sara is backed by Cedar Apffel and Rory O’Connor (i.e. Masterface) on guitar, bass, drums, laptop and effects. The performance at Union Pool was truly a revelation. Sara’s voice is rich and throaty, and the tasty backing instrumentation perfectly highlights the entrancing songs. When Sara finished the set with a solo rendition of the obscure Dylan-via-Nico nugget “I’ll Keep it With Mine” we knew that this performer was truly in touch with her influences.

The upstairs Union Pool soundboard was unable to yield a proper feed for this show, so we decided to run the four-microphone mix in the middle of the floor. While there was some room noise, minor hiss in the speakers, and chatter during the first minute of Sara’s set, the overall sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Natureboy
2009-11-07
Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Four-Track Audience Recording
Recorded from Upfront — 20 Feet from the Stage

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
2009-11-11

Setlist:
[Total Time 40:15]
01 A Flame
02 Curses Fired
03 Don’t Worry
04 Ode to Merry Maid
05 Dither
06 Pariah
07 Famous Sons
08 Heart to Fool
09 I’ll Keep It With Mine (Nico)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Natureboy, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Sara’s self-released debut album by following the links to amazon.com mp3s and Itunes at the Natureboy MySpace page.

[photos courtesy of Rez Avissar]

The Smith Westerns were certainly the youngest band that played the Showpaper/ToddP/Pitchfork benefit at Market Hotel two weeks back. The band is still somewhat raw, but the talent is clearly evident in their infectious garage-pop via Chicago. While the teenage behavior problems have gathered some recent blog attention, the music of The Smith Westerns at the Market was the real story — melodic lead guitar, hard chords, and vocal harmonies that mix both the late-60s pop and early 80’s post-punk.

This recording was captured the same as the other sets from this night. The sound quality is rough by genuine. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Smith Westerns
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
2009-11-08

Setlist:
[Total Time 30:00]
01 My Heart
02 Boys Are Fine
03 Girl In love
04 Tonight
05 Imagine, Pt. 3
06 Gimme Some Time
07 The Glam Goddess
08 Be My Girl
09 Diamond Boys

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Smith Westerns, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their debut album from Hozac Records [here].

[photo by nyctaper]

The ever-evolving musical identity of the Fiery Furnaces was on display on Wednesday at Maxwell’s. As the band has performed as a traditional guitar/bass/drums/vocals quartet for more than a year, the format was the same but the band’s extensive touring and familiarity with each other has allowed the music to be extended and experimented. While Eleanor’s banter — “we went to Europe last month and we became a jam band” — was meant in jest, it is clear that the Furnaces are comfortable enough in the current configuration to open up and stretch the music. It was no coincidence that after the “jam band” comment, the band launched into an absolutely ferocious version of “Japanese Slippers” that highlighted Eleanor’s seat-of-your-pants vocal delivery with Matt’s increasingly angular guitar.

I recorded another soundboard/audience mix at Maxwell’s with incredible results thanks in large part to the work of the two sound technicians on hand to run the system. Enjoy!

The Fiery Furnaces are current on tour through the end of the month (dates here), and will also return to NYC for shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 11, and Bowery Ballroom on December 12.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Fiery Furnaces
2009-11-04
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > 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
2009-11-06

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:22:23]
01 Rub Alcohol Blues
02 Charmaine Champagne
03 [banter/jam]
04 Duplexes Of The Dead
05 Automatic Husband
06 Ex-Guru
07 Cut The Cake
08 Ray Bouvier
09 Chris Michaels
10 The End Is Near
11 Staring at the Steeple
12 Up In The North
13 Drive to Dallas
14 Keep Me in the Dark
15 Evergreen
16 Worry Worry
17 Wolf Notes
18 I’m In No Mood
19 A Candymaker’s Knife in my Handbag
20 I’m In No Mood
21 Single Again
22 Blueberry Boat
23 In My Little Thatched Hut
24 Japanese Slippers
25 Here Comes The Summer
26 I’m Waiting to Know You (Matt vocals)
27 Quay Cur

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Fiery Furnaces, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Thrill Jockey Records site.

If Wooden Shjips had until this weekend completely sailed under my radar, it could be explained by the fact that in their several years of existence, the San Francisco quartet had not played a proper NYC concert. On tour to support their latest release Dos, the band played a 92Y show on Friday, and headlined the Sacred Bones Records-curated and ToddP-produced show at 171 Lombardy on Halloween Saturday. At first blush, Wooden Shjips reminded me very much of the psychedelic acid rock of Black Mountain, but quickly veered towards a more trance and experimental take on the genre. The fuzzed guitars mixed equally with a Floydian organ are the centerpiece of the sound, and the tribal drums and chanted vocals are accompaniments. I was extremely impressed with Wooden Shjips and their too-brief forty minute set left us wanting more.

This set was recorded with the four-track R-44, and mixed two Neumann microphones set up at thirty feet with a stereo feed from the soundboard. Other than a brief segment of minor keyboard distortion in the early section of the first song, this is a fine recording. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Direct download of FLAC files [HERE].

Wooden Shjips
2009-10-31
171 Lombardy
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
2009-11-02

Setlist:
[Total Time 38:50]
01 I Hear The Vibrations
02 We Ask You To Ride
03 Loose Lips
04 Motorbike
05 For So Long
06 Death’s Not Your Friend
07 Vampire Blues

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