At the second night of his Festival of Light shows, Matisyahu came bearing gifts — nearly two and half hours of music, a rock solid performance, and several key guests. We were particularly thankful for the appearance of guitar virtuoso Yosi Piamenta, who completely shredded in his two extended performances. The set featured several numbers from Matisyahu’s upcoming long-anticipated CD Light, due for release in early 2009. At the close of the show, each member of the band left the stage one by one during Yosi’s solo, leaving him the spotlight to finish the set. It was an appropriate respectful gesture that acknowledged his outstanding performance.

We recorded this set from inside the soundboard area on the floor. In what was perhaps the youngest, roudiest, drunkest and least attentive crowd within which we have ever recorded, the microphones could only filter so much of the crowd noise. Additionally, Matis’ microphone was saturated on numerous occasions. With those caveats, enjoy what should have been a much better recording.

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

Matisyahu
2008-12-22
Webster Hall
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Soundboard Booth
Dead Center, approximately 50 feet from the PA

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR Cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-12-27

Setlist:
[Total Time 2:18:54]
01 Heights
02 Youth
03 Thunder
04 Jerusalem
05 Chop ‘Em Down
06 Close My Eyes*
07 So Hi So Lo
08 Beatbox
09 Altar Of Earth
10 We Will Walk
11 [menorah lighting]
12 King Without A Crown
13 [encore break]
14 Smash Lies
15 Struggla
16 Motivate*

*with Yosi Piamenta on guitar
Also with Oud player and other guests.

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Matisyahu, visit his website, visit his MySpace page, and purchase the official releases from the store at his website [HERE].

[photo from Ira’s Hanukkah Diary]

At night seven of the Hanukkah celebration, Yo La Tengo displayed the most compelling characteristics of the band — their versatility and encyclopedic knowledge of popular music. As the band took the stage with an aggressive “Sugarcube”, the expectation was that the set would feature the rocking YLT. In a neat flip, the band followed the opener with 45 minutes of their most mellow music. The quiet set was accompanied by the outstanding contributions of David Mansfield on violin and pedal steel. As if a switch was hit, Yo La Tengo then completely changed gears for the second half of the set and raged through a noisy medley of their punk-tinged material, highlighted by a wild “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss”.

The encore set featured guest vocalist Willie Alexander, whose Boom Boom Band had opened the night. Following three thoroughly obscure garage rock numbers, the night closed with two familiar classics — the Boom Boom version of “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” and a cringeworthy take on Lulu’s “To Sir With Love” with David Cross on vocals.

We recorded from the identical location as night two, and the quality is equally outstanding. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2008-12-27
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front Corner of Sound Desk
Dead Center, approximately 30 feet from the PA

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR Cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-28

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:46:08]
01 Sugarcube
02 Let’s Be Still
03 She May Call You Up Tonight (Left Banke)
04 Cone Of Silence
05 One PM Again
06 Pablo And Andrea
07 Griselda (Peter Stampfel)
08 The Crying of Lot G
09 I Feel Like Going Home
10 Nowhere Near
11 Off and Running (Mindbenders)
12 Barnaby, Hardly Working
13 Big Day Coming
14 Watch Out For Me, Ronnie
15 Mushroom Cloud of Hiss
16 [encore break]
17 Long Gone (false start)
18 Long Gone (The Customs)
19 Walk Away, Rene (Left Banke)
20 Maybe More Than You (The Lost)
21 You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
22 To Sir, With Love

02-15, 19-20 with David Mansfield (violin, pedal steel guitar, electric/acoustic guitar)
19-21 with Willie Alexander vocals
22 with David Cross vocals

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the store at their website [HERE].

review by neild
On Wednesday, the fourth night of Yo La Tengo‘s Hanukkah celebration, the band performed an odd show — no special guests at all, just the usual trio for the entire set. What made it special was the setlist, which went deep into the band’s catalog to dig up such rarely heard gems as “Tiny Birds,” “Paul Is Dead,” “Upside Down,” and “Detouring America With Horns,” as well as covers of Sparks and the Velvet Underground, and exceptional versions of “Autumn Sweater” and “Blue Line Swinger.” There were technical problems all around – James’ bass was way too loud at first, one of Georgia’s drum mics was on the fritz, there was a steady stream of water drizzling onto the stage from a ceiling vent, and my recording setup generated some odd pops at random places – but all in all a very good YLT show, and a nice complement to some of the more star-studded nights of Hanukkah.

nyctaper: For the post-production on this recording, I boosted levels overall and more for the quieter numbers. With the loose cable static problem (“odd pops”), I could not fix the problem, so I just deleted the sections of noise, which were strategically placed outside the music except for two short sections of “Drug Test”. Overall though, another terrific job by neild.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2008-12-24
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board

CoreSound Cardioids > MM-EBM-1 battery box (with bass roll-off) > Sony MZ-NH900 > Audiophile 2496 > Sound Studio > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, edit close clapping, edit loose cable clicks/ticks) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by neild
Produced by nyctaper
2008-12-25

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:37:58]
01 Big Day Coming
02 Beanbag Chair
03 Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind
04 Drug Test
05 The Weakest Part
06 Mr. Tough
07 Tiny Birds
08 Paul Is Dead
09 Shadows
10 Angst In My Pants (Sparks)
11 Upside Down
12 Autumn Sweater
13 I Heard Her Call My Name (Velvets)
14 Blue Line Swinger
15 [encore break]
16 I Gotta Dream On (Herman’s Hermits)
17 Detouring America With Horns
18 Cherry Chapstick
19 Rock and Roll Santa (Jan Terri)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the store at their website [HERE].

[photo from Ira’s Hanukkah Diary]

If the third night of Yo La Tengo‘s annual Hanukkah celebration at Maxwell’s did not have the big name guests as in previous nights and years, our hosts more than made up for the deficit with a smoking ninety-minute set that alternated between quiet lithe numbers and absolute shredding. Yo La Tengo were joined for the entire set by the superb guitarist Smokey Hormel. His contributions to the set were tasty and appropriate. The highlights of the set (there were many) include the Dylan cover of “I Wanna Be Your Lover”, Neil Diamond’s (via the Monkees) classic “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” and the closer — a fourteen minute maniacal version of “I Heard You Looking”.

The sound quality in the venue was mixed to perfection. We recorded from the prime location in this venue, and the quality of this recording is really excellent. We could not be happier with this capture. Enjoy!

News: We learned last night that Antietam will open for YLT at the December 25th show, and that the actor Tim Roth will also appear (for a spoken word piece) later in the week — likely on Saturday December 27. We will return to record on Saturday.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2008-12-23
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front Corner of Sound Desk
Dead Center, approximately 30 feet from the PA

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR Cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-12-24

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:31:35]
01 Old Joy
02 We’re An American Band
03 Little Eyes
04 I Wanna Be Your Lover (Dylan)
05 A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You (Monkees)
06 The Race Is On Again
07 Damage
08 Can’t Forget
09 Don’t Say A Word
10 Our Way To Fall
11 Out The Window
12 Styles Of The Times
13 Tom Courtenay
14 I Heard You Looking
15 [encore break]
16 Stay With Me (The Dictators)
17 Center of Gravity

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the store at their website [HERE].