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!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/WoodenShjips2009-10-31.nyctaper

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!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/ceg2009-10-24.nyctaper

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].

[these amazing photos were taken for nyctaper by Kate Ehle — many more here]

The Chicago psychedelic garage-rock quartet Unicycle Loves You opened the NYCTaper CMJ show last Thursday at Bruar Falls in the middle of the afternoon. The band attracted a crowd of fans and friends and displayed during their too-brief twenty-minute set why they were booked for CMJ, completely independently, by nyctaper and Jonny Leather for the same day. That evening they performed at Union Hall as part Jonny’s show. The Bruar Falls set was highlighted by the as-yet-unreleased but destined-to-be-a-hit song “Justine”.

We recorded this set in the same location as the Kittens Ablaze set, but this recording has better balance. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/uly2009-10-22.nyctaper

Unicycle Loves You
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
2009-10-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 20:32]
01 Magnetic Horses
02 Highway Robbery
03 Golden Girls
04 Gateway Drugs
05 Justine

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Unicycle Loves You, visit their website, and purchase their debut CD at the Shop on their website [HERE].

https://archive.org/download/SurferBlood2009-10-24.nyctaper/surferblood50.jpg
[photo by Rez Avissar – courtesy of Pitchfork]

Surfer Blood made a quite a splash this past week at CMJ. From the very first afternoon at the packed-to-the-rafters Pop Tarts show at Cake Shop, all the way through about a dozen shows in the week, Surfer Blood attracted loads of attention to their infectious garage/surf-rock. On Saturday, they played the very first set of the Showpaper/ToddP/Pitchfork benefit at Market Hotel early in the afternoon. Although their set was merely a tease — clocking in at eighteen minutes — Surfer Blood performed long enough to substantiate the praise and raise expectations for the January release of their debut album Astro Coast.

This set was recorded under the same conditions at the Real Estate set, except that the soundboard feed signal did not begin until about two minutes into the set. The mix is rough, but quite listenable. Enjoy!

Download and stream the complete show [HERE].

https://archive.org/details/SurferBlood2009-10-24.nyctaper

Surfer Blood
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
2009-10-28

Setlist:
[Total Time 17:40]
01 Floating Vibes
02 Swim (to reach the end)
03 Harmonix
04 Twin Peaks
05 Catholic Pagans

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Surfer Blood, visit their MySpace page, and purchase or pre-order their upcoming debut release Astro Coast on Kanine Records (due in January).