[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].

[photo by Rez Avissar – courtesy of Pitchfork]

Cymbals Eat Guitars headlined the Showpaper/ToddP/Pitchfork benefit at Market Hotel last Saturday and delivered a set of their indie power-pop with the same tension-release style that propels their outstanding debut album Why There Are Mountains. The band dealt effortlessly and with good humor to a series of technical problems, and performed the songs with the same intensity that has gathered them a plethora of rave reviews in this last year. CEG opened the set with highlight and song of the year contender “And The Hazy Sea”, which features lead singer/guitarist Joseph D’Agostino’s spine-tingling scream near the song’s end.

We recorded this set in the same location as the previous two sets from this show, and worked through the technical problems throughout. The sound quality is exceptional under the circumstances. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Cymbals Eat Guitars
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
2009-10-31

Setlist:
01 And The Hazy Sea
02 Some Trees
03 Cold Spring
04 Plainclothes
05 The Living North
06 Wind Phoenix

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Cymbals Eat Guitars, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Why There are Mountains from the links at their website [HERE].