[photo courtesy of Steffen Paulus, more excellent photos here]

It was such a positive experience last Summer when Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3 performed The Days of Wine and Roses at Maxwell’s. We were so impressed at the quality of the playing and the energy that the entire show was a revelation. Last night at Bell House, The Miracle 3 were even better in their start-to-finish performance of The Dream Syndicate’s The Medicine Show. This was one of the best, if not the best, concert we have seen this year. Steve was in fine form vocally and on the guitar and the band absolutely smoked. As the band approached the penultimate song on the album “John Coltrane Stereo Blues”, Steve joked about how it was time to jam — and they certainly did. “Coltrane” was over 12 minutes of guitar shredding, instantaneous tempo changes, and ultimately cacophony. The remaining six songs (three from Wine and Roses and three Miracle 3 numbers) were pure enjoyable icing. It felt as if there wasn’t a midnight show in the venue that the band would have played all night.

With Steve’s blessing, we arrived at soundcheck and set up the microphones just to the left of the soundboard booth. With the help of the outstanding soundman at Bell House (Jeff), we also captured a stereo feed from the board. The four tracks were mixed down and the result is a professional quality listening experience. We are extremely pleased with this recording. Enjoy!

This show is now available for Download as FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3
2009-06-27
The Bell House
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
2009-06-28

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:20:10]
01 Still Holding On To You
02 Daddy’s Girl
03 Burn
04 Armed With An Empty Gun
05 Bullet With My Name On It
06 The Medicine Show
07 John Coltrane Stereo Blues
08 Merrittville
09 Definitely Clean
10 That’s What You Always Say
11 The Days Of Wine And Roses
12 [encore break]
13 Bruises
14 Strange New World
15 Amphetamine

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Steve Wynn, visit his website, visit his MySpace page, and purchase his official releases from the Steve Wynn Store at his website.

[photo courtesy of Quabit]

It was only a few months ago when we were treated to two outstanding concerts by David Lowery’s “other” band Camper Van Beethoven. On Thursday night at Highline Ballroom, it was Cracker’s turn and they delivered a non stop two-hour set of material old and new that absolutely raged. On tour to support their excellent new CD Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, the band is in a zone — tight and focused and with plenty of energy. While Milk and Honey was featured prominently in the setlist (8 songs), the extended set length allowed for literally all the Cracker classics to be performed, including “Teen Angst” “Eurotrash Girl” and the final encore of “Low”.

We recorded this set from the optimal location in this venue, directly in front of the soundboard in the center. The four-microphone rig was used and the results are excellent. Enjoy!

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

Cracker
2009-06-25
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) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-06-26

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:59:46]
01 [introduction]
02 Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is)
03 Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey
04 Show Me How This Thing Works
05 Hand Me My Inhaler
06 Teen Angst
07 100 Flower Power Maximum
08 The World Is Mine
09 Time Machine
10 I See The Light
11 Shake Some Action
12 Take Me Down To The Infirmary
13 St. Cajetan
14 [band introductions]
15 Turn On, Tune In Drop Out With Me
16 One Fine Day
17 Gimme One More Chance
18 The Riverside
19 Sweet Thistle Pie
20 Happy Birthday To Me
21 Eurotrash Girl
22 I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right
23 Get Off This
24 [encore break]
25 Friends
26 Seven Days
27 Low

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 Bryan at subinev blog]

I love these days when our favorite undiscovered gems finally receive the accolades they so richly deserve. This day is especially gratifying because one of our favorite people in the music world has officially made it — Sharon Van Etten‘s debut CD Because I Was in Love has received a glowing review from Pitchfork. Some of the language in the review echoes our original raves about Sharon over the last year — “Van Etten’s confident, nuanced soprano is able to help temper the emotional fragility of her material”, “Van Etten really nails it”, and her “unerring sense for crafting memorable, seductive melodies” are the glowing samples.

The picture posted above is from Sharon’s performance at our CMJ show in October at Cake Shop. She delivered such a powerful emotional intimate performance, that we listed her in our top ten shows of 2008.

Sharon has a handful of shows coming up:
Jun 29 2009 8:00 City Winery New York, New York
July 03 2009 8:00 Sycamore Brooklyn, New York
Jul 16 2009 8:00 Monkeytown Brooklyn, New York
Jul 27 2009 8:00 Mercury Lounge NYC
Aug 14 2009 8:00 Union Hall w/ Alela Diane Brooklyn, NY

In January, Sharon performed a brief set at a show we presented at Pianos. While the Hooves on the Turf blog captured a partial video of this show, we recorded the entire set in audio — offered below:

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

Sharon Van Etten
2009-01-11
Pianos
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board
30 Feet from Stage

Neumann KM-150s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, slight level boost, resample 16/44) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper

Setlist:
[total time 22:33]
01
02 I Am Giving Up On You
03 Call It a Joke
04 Consolation Prize
05 You Didn’t Really Do That

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Sharon Van Etten, visit her website, visit her MySpace page, and purchase her new CD Because I Was In Love from InSound [here] or Amazon [here] or directly from the Language of Stone website [here].

[The Rest at Monster Island – photo courtesy of frankd – many more here]

Our consistent readers may have noticed over the last couple of years that we do not often criticize the artists we record — that often our reviews are quite positive. We feel this is the result of our research and show selection — we are not going to record a band that we do not believe is worth the time and effort. What follows is undoubtedly our most positive review, but one earned with much work and many hours of research.

For the NYCTaper Presents show this past Friday at Monster Island Basement, we spent months in careful selection of the artists who would perform that night. We literally began working on this show in March, which coincidentally was the first time we heard new material from the Ontario band The Rest and their new CD Everyone All At Once. We were familiar with the band and their first CD, which we liked quite a bit. But this new CD, as we reported back in March was an whole different ballgame — this material had the x-factor, the kind of release that would change the careers and lives of the artists that produced it. We were fortunate enough to have recognized this early, and had enough foresight to ask The Rest to play our early-stages-of-planning next show. They accepted and the details were worked out.

In the meantime, Everyone All At Once began to gather a heap of praise far and wide. The Rest received positive words and “song of the day” status at NPR, and glowing reviews from Herohill Blog, MP3 Hugger, Indiecater, Quick Before It Melts, Baby Stew, Rawkblog, AW Music, Music Under Fire, Whale in a Cubicle, Indie Music Database, Pop Wreckoning, I Am The Crime, Tympanogram, Swear I’m Not Paul, Mojophenia, Stereo Cupcake, Laughing Evergreens, Eldur Og Is, Eaten By Monsters, Captain Obvious, Pirates of the Bargain Bin, The Needle Drop, Hypeful, The Blah Blah, The Overcast, Leonard’s Lair, Indie Rock Cafe, Sound Proof Magazine, and The Musicologists. There isn’t a single negative review to be found about this album.

So it was with much anticipation that we geared up to see The Rest live at Monster Island Basement on Friday. And now we are prepared to go out on a limb. The Rest are absolutely destined to become a huge band. The one and only time I’ve made a prediction of this magnitude was in February of 2008 when I saw the Antlers and wrote about their “can’t miss” talent. In that post, I predicted the Antlers would sign to a major indie label (they did — Frenchkiss signed them in May), and would play mid-major venues (the have played Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg twice). In another parallel with The Antlers (and Hospice), The Rest have also produced an album of such magnitude, that although is not currently distributed by a label in the US, is destined to be picked up by a major indie on its superior quality alone.

On Friday in the intimate downstairs venue, The Rest performed a stunning 35 minute set of seven numbers, with six from Everyone All At Once and one from the first CD Atlantis Oh Our Saviour. The septet were each proficient at their instruments and despite the small sound system, all fit well within the mix. However, it was the breadth of creative energy at the apex of each song that was truly stunning — seven talented musicians in a perfect unison performing expertly crafted and complex songs. It was truly breathtaking experience to witness this set from ten feet in front of the stage.

Of course we recorded audio of this set. And sadly, among the nearly three hundred concerts we’ve recorded for this site, it is perhaps the one recording that least captures the experience of the moment. We are not disappointed in the sound quality, as its quite good. We used the fine DPA cardioids from close range and captured a clear and faithful audio recording of this set, audio system limitations and all. However, even the highest quality audio rig can not grab the magic from the air — we’ll leave it to our readers to listen and imagine the joy in the basement that night. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Rest
2009-06-19
Monster Island Basement
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded 10 Feet from Main PA

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2009-06-21

Setlist:
[Total Time 33:28]
01 Coughing Blood
02 Modern Time Travel
03 Sheep In Wolves’ Clothing
04 The Close Western
05 The Lady Vanishes
06 Blossom Babies Part Two
07 Walk on Water

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Rest, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Everyone All At Once directly from the Auteur Records website [HERE] or digitally from Amie Street [HERE].

El Jezel are one of the five excellent bands on tonight’s bill at Monster Island Basement. After their breakout set at last year’s CMJ, they have been on our radar and we were pleased when they accepted our invitation to play this NYCTaper event.

In April, we recorded El Jezel on Tartan Day at the Bowery Poetry Club. Their final number was a cover of the Teenage Fanclub song “The Concept”. Its a pretty fun cover, with a lot of energy and they are joined by Zig from Two Seconds To Midnight on guitar and harmonies.

Sample El Jezel:
The Concept FLAC [here]
The Concept MP3 [here]