[photo by Arnold Brower courtesy of MySpace Butthole Surfers Photo Album]

Our experience last night at the Butthole Surfers show at Warsaw in Brooklyn did not start off so well. After twenty minutes in an unnecessary line in the freezing cold, and the inevitable difficulty of explaining taping equipment to the Polish-speaking security guard at the door, we finally made it into the venue. Fortunately, when we set up in front of the board, we were met with open arms including an extremely nice welcome from the venue manager (who I believe was named Alan). Once we warmed up, the entire experience became positive. When the Buttholes bounded on stage and began their set in earnest, all was right in the world. The middle-aged alterna-punk crowd has not aged all that badly, and we were extremely happy to chat with a series of old school fans who approached the stand to chat about the old days. My Buttholes experience goes back to an amazing night at the old Peppermint Lounge in August of 1984, before I returned for senior year of college, and last night felt very much like that night 24 years ago.

The set itself was a furious run through the band’s career work, with a few old chestnuts thrown in from each of the early albums for the hardcore fans. As Gibby chatted amiably with the crowd, with good vibes spread around, all was forgotten from the July fiasco at Webster Hall. Ninety minutes and 24 songs later, the old punks left Warsaw to battle the cold — this time with a smile instead of a grimace.

We recorded from directly in front of the soundboard. The sound quality in the venue was quite good considering how difficult it is to maintain separation and avoid distortion with this music. As a result, we are pleasantly surprised at the high quality of this capture. Enjoy!

This recording is now available to download as FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Butthole Surfers
2008-12-12
Warsaw
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Directly in Front of Soundboard

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, downsample 16/44, slight level boost) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-12-13

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:29:13]
01 [introduction]
02 22 Going On 23
03 100 Million People Dead
04 Fast
05 Moving to Florida
06 Creep in the Cellar
07 Suicide
08 Rocky
09 Pittsburgh to Lebanon
10 Bar-B-Q Pope
11 Cowboy Bob
12 1401 (The Colored F.B.I. Guy)
13 Edgar
14 Negro Observer
15 Bong Song
16 Hey
17 I Saw An X-Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas
18 Goofy’s Concern
19 Graveyard
20 Some Dispute Over T-Shirt Sales
21 To Partner
22 Tornado
23 Gary Floyd
24 [encore break]
25 Blindman
26 The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Butthole Surfers, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the “Dry Goods” section of their website [here].

[photo by nyctaper]

We have read much about Crystal Stilts over the last couple of years, but by happenstance we had not seen them live until last Sunday night at Bowery. Crystal Stilts are currently on tour with Love Is All, and this was their hometown show — with a large and supportive crowd. The live performance of their reverb-heavy 60’s-influenced garage rock is really quite compelling. The guitar work which is somewhat muffled by the authentic feel of the mix on their new CD Alight of Night literally comes to “life” in the live setting and as a result the songs are brighter and more organic. Singer Brad Hargett provides the standard tenor-drone for this genre, but live adds a few grunts and groans with a little Ian Curtis thrown in for taste. The ubiquitous percussionist Frankie Rose has the minimalist drumming style down to an art. At the end of the Crystal Stilts set, there were quite a few well-deserved calls for an encore.

We recorded this set from the same location at the Love Is All set and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Crystal Stilts return from this US tour and have two dates in NYC before a lengthy European tour in early 2009. The two NYC shows are here:
Dec 17 2008 Le Poisson Rouge NYC
Jan 10 2009 Silent Barn (moved to) Market Hotel Brooklyn

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Crystal Stilts
2008-12-07
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail
Next to Soundboard

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, slight EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-12-11

Setlist:
[Total Time 28:14]
01 [introduction]
02 Through The Floor
03 Crippled Croon
04 Shattered Shine
05 Converging in the Quiet
06 The City in the Sea
07 Seeds
08 The Dazzled
09 For The Love Of Ivy (Gun Club)
10 Love is a Wave

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 new album Alight of Night from links at their MySpace page, including at Insound [here].

When we posted a preview of New Orleans’ Hurray For The Riff Raff and their upcoming shows in NYC, we expected that we would enjoy the show based up on the quality of their new CD It Don’t Mean I Don’t Love You. On Monday night at Pianos, Hurray For The Riff Raff exceeded all of our high expectations. Led by Alynda Lee’s strong vocals and relaxed stage presence, this quartet contains all talented multi-instrumentalists and a series of excellent songs. Frankly, we were quite surprised to see a packed house in Pianos for an out-of-town indie band, but the crowd’s enthusiasm was well rewarded with a superb 40 minute set including an encore.

We recorded from in front of the soundboard with the microphone pole at maximum height. As the band performs primarily acoustic instruments, there can be heard room noise at times. Overall, however, this is an excellent authentic “room recording”. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Hurray For The Riff Raff
2008-12-08
Pianos
New York, NY USA

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

Neumann KM-150s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav > 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
nyctaper@nyctaper.com
2008-12-09

Setlist:
[total time 41:06]
01 Calmly
02 Daniella
03 I’m Leaving
04 Skin & Bones
05 Is That You?
06 Junebug Waltz
07 Dance With Death
08 Bricks
09 Fly Away

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Hurray For The Riff Raff, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new album from links at their MySpace page, including download at Amie Street [here], or physical copies from CD Baby [here].

[photo courtesy of MusicSnobbery Blog]

We have seen Sweden’s Love Is All five times this year, in every setting from someone’s basement to the cavernous Roseland Ballroom — and yet no matter the size of the crowd, the band has delivered an excellent set. With the release of the on-everyone’s-best-of-2008-list A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night (What’s Your Rupture?), we do not expect to see many more “basement” shows, but more likely Love Is All will perform in venues like Bowery Ballroom as they did in June and again Sunday night.

On Sunday, Love Is All performed another superb set, added a new number (on the written setlist as “NYA”) and stretched out to over 40 minutes for the first time this year. We recorded from the balcony rail next to the soundboard and this capture is the highest quality recording of the four Love Is All recordings on this site. Enjoy!

Crystal Stilts were also recorded and will be featured on nyctaper in the coming days.

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Love Is All
2008-12-07
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Balcony Rail
Next to Soundboard

Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, slight EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-12-08

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:24]
01 Wishing Well
02 Give it Back
03 Talk Talk Talk Talk
04 Ageing Had Never Been His Friend
05 Last Choice
06 Seasick
07 NYA
08 Busy Doing Nothing
09 I Ran (Flock of Seagulls)
10 Make Out Fall Out Make Up
11 Felt Tip
12 [encore break]
13 New Beginnings

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Love Is All, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their new album A Hundred Things Keep Me up at Night from links at their MySpace page [HERE] or at the What’s Your Rupture Records MySpace page [HERE].