[photo by the Starks]

Less than two months after their NYC debut, Wavves returned to play three shows in three venues last weekend. We were able to capture the last of those three — Monday night at the Merc. In the interim, Wavves has toured extensively through Europe, performed at nine SXSW showcases, and released Wavvves through Fat Possum Records. Wavves has survived the initial manic buzz, and the good news is that the band’s current popularity seems more based on its music rather than the hype. NYCTaper correspondent acidjack reports that there was an extensive line to get into Mercury Lounge this night, but as we can hear on the recording, the packed house spent most of the set listening rather than yapping.

This is a superior recording to the February nyctaper recording from Market Hotel. The live Wavves sound is significantly less saturated than the albums, and the result is a clear listening experience. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Wavves
2009-03-30
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board Center

DPA 4061 (Coresound HEB) > CoreSound Battery Box (no bass Rolloff)> Edirol R-09HR > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, set fades) > CD Wave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-04-08

Setlist:
[Total time 24:28]
01 Beach Demon
02 Summer Goth
03 So Bored
04 California Goths
05 To The Dregs
06 Friends Were Gone [unreleased — soon to be released on Fader 7′ Series]
07 No Hope Kids
08 Wavves

setlist help from MikeG

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wavves, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their available releases through links at the Wavves MySpace page, and at Fat Possum Records site [here].

[photo courtesy of dollabill and Thom – more here]

This is an exciting time for fans of John Vanderslice. He is currently on tour with one of his compatriots, John Darnielle, with whom he will soon release an EP (Moon Colony Bloodbath). On May 19, JV will release his first full-length album in two years, the much-anticipated Romanian Names, and in May, he will tour with a band in support of the new album.

On Friday last, the “Gone Primitive” tour with The Mountain Goats came to NYC and JV’s short but sweet opening set featured several songs from Romanian Names, a track the Moon Colony EP, and some of John’s classic numbers. John also chatted amiably with the crowd and told a few stories. Its always a pleasure to attend a Vanderslice show and this night was no exception.

We recorded this set from the same location as The Mountain Goats recording, and while the same volume fluctuation problems exist, the issues were not as drastic for this set. There was still quite a bit of post-production work necessary, but we feel the work has given our readers a quite enjoyable listen of this excellent artist. Enjoy!

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

John Vanderslice
2009-03-27
The Music Hall at The Society for Ethical Culture
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail Center

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (massive level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-04-02

Setlist:
[Total Time 43:52]
01 My Old Flame
02 Sunken Union Boat
03 Too Much Time
04 Angela
05 Numbered Lithograph
06 Dead Slate Pacific
07 White Plains
08 [banter – mangos]
09 Oblivion
10 Lucifer Rising
11 [banter – drunk driver]
12 Nikki Oh Nikki
13 Trance Manual
14 Pale Horse

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, visit his MySpace page, and purchase his official release, including Romanian Names in May, from the links at his website [HERE].

[photo courtesy of dollabill and Thom – more here]

The Mountain Goats show on Friday night was a fan’s dream but a taper’s nightmare. John Darnielle entertained the crowd with much banter, off-microphone songs, and accepted a series of obscure requests from the diehards. While the highlight of the show for many of those in attendance was the infrequently played “Ontario”, we were particularly moved by the story lead-in and the version of the beautiful “From TG&Y”, and John’s proclaimed first public piano performance (“1 John 4:16”) since childhood.

The Concert Hall at The Society for Ethical Culture is a beautiful and classic old theatre, but it sits in a residential neighborhood and the volume of the show is purposefully limited. Additionally, the high ceilings create reverberations that are particularly noticeable in an acoustic performance. The difficulties of the venue were magnified by a series of technical problems and John’s penchant to play several songs completely unamplified.

This was the maiden voyage of our new Edirol R-44, a high resolution four-track recorder (professionally upgraded for concert recording). We used our four best microphones in a configuration that decreased the echo in the venue. Due to the many issues in the capture of this show, the post-production for this recording was a major undertaking. We believe that we have maximized the sound quality of this difficult recording to create a fine listening experience for our readers. Enjoy!

The John Vanderslice [JV] recording was also recorded and will be posted in the next few days.

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

The Mountain Goats
2009-03-27
The Music Hall at The Society for Ethical Culture
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail Center

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (massive level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-03-31

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:25:02]
01 [introduction]
02 1 John 4:16
03 Woke Up New
04 [technical problems]
05 Song For Tura Satana
06 Cobscook Bay
07 Going to Lebanon
08 Un Rêve Plus Long Que la Nuit
09 Going To Kansas
10 The Last Limit of Bhakti
11 You or Your Memory
12 Going to Queens
13 [banter]
14 From TG&Y
15 Dance Music
16 [banter]
17 The Day The Aliens Came (or: Hawaiian Feeling)
18 Ontario
19 So Desperate
20 Color in Your Cheeks
21 Sign of the Crow 2
22 Steps Columns Pillars [JV]
23 [banter]
24 Surrounded [JV]
25 See America Right [JV]
26 No Children
27 [encore break]
28 The Sign (Ace of Base)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Mountain Goats, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Mountain Goats official releases from their website.

[photo courtesy of jen ballera]

Crystal Stilts released a new 7″ this week “Love Is A Wave” which caused on odd occurrence at nyctaper — a renewed interest in our December recording of Crystal Stilts at Bowery which contains the only recorded live version of the song. At Music Hall a couple of weeks ago, acidjack was there to capture the second live version of the song along with a complete Crystal Stilts headliner set. This concert was significantly longer than the December set and included two fairly obscure covers of The Gun Club and a standard Velvet Underground cover at the closer.

Our correspondent recorded from the same location as the Women and Blank Dogs recordings from this night. We can hear that the band had some issues with the mix, and perhaps because of the heavy use of reverb, the house mix is somewhat muddy. Overall, though this is a fine listen to the longest live recording of this excellent band to date. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Crystal Stilts
2009-03-14
The Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

SP-CMC-8 (Audio Technica U853 Cardiod Capsules)> SP-SB-8 > Edirol R-09HR > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample, slight EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-03-25

Setlist:
[Total Time 50:48]
01 Through The Floor
02 The Dazzled
03 Mother Of Earth (Gun Club)
04 Crippled Croon
05 Prismatic Room
06 SinKing
07 [technical problems]
08 Seeds
09 Converging in the Quiet
10 Sugar Baby
11 For The Love Of Ivy (Gun Club)
12 Love is a Wave
13 [encore break]
14 The City in the Sea
15 Temptation Inside Your Heart (Velvets)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Crystal Stilts, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their latest album Alight of Night from links at their MySpace page, including at Insound [here] and purchase their new single “Love Is a Wave” at InSound [here].