[photo by soundbites blog]

On one of the busiest calendar days in the history of NYC live music, the closing night of the NYC Popfest at Music Hall of Williamsburg was understandably under capacity. Thematically, the attendance fit well with one of the most under-appreciated bands in music today. The Ladybug Transistor has released a series of excellent CDs over a 10 year career and yet their catalog has basically gone under the radar. Gary Olson crafts intelligent pop songs, and the live execution of the material is tight and focused. The band has performed infrequently this year, after an extensive tour in the Fall in support of the superb 2007 release Can’t Wait Another Day on Merge Records. The performance on Saturday night drew heavily from the Can’t Wait release, and the band’s relaxed energy and playfulness served the material well.

We are again indebted to our friends at Merge for the existence of this recording. Arrangements were made through Merge, and ultimately we received friendly emails with permission from Gary. This recording was captured from the prime location in this venue with our best mobile rig and we are very pleased with the results. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Ladybug Transistor
2008-06-14
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB
Dead Center 30 Feet from 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
2008-06-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:05:53]
01 Lord, Don’t Pass Me By
02 Song For Ending
03 Like A Summer Rain
04 I’m Not Mad Enough
05 Nico Norte
06 Gospel
07 The Reclusive Hero
08 A Burial At Sea
09 NY-San Anton
10 In-Between
11 Terry
12 Three Days From Now
13 Always On The Telephone
14 Rushes Of Pure Spring
15 [encore break]
16 Please Don’t Be Long
17 Different Drummer

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Ladybug Transistor, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their CDs directly from their website or from the store at Merge Records.

[photo credit]

In a packed, hot and sweaty Cake Shop last night, Love Is All performed an extraordinarily tight and entertaining set of some new material, songs from their excellent CD Nine Times That Same Song, and completed wowed the opening night crowd of the NYC Popfest. This was power-pop-punk at its finest and most fun, full of boundless energy and spirit. We had only heard Love Is All on CD before, but this live performance was one of the most impressive we’ve seen thus far this year.

We recorded from far upfront, with our microphones taped to the wall 10 feet from the right PA speakers. The result is an outstanding clear and well balanced recording which captures the music and the crowd energy without any interruption. The only slight flaw is a minor wooshing noise evident between songs which is the result of the air conditioning duct above us. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Love Is All
2008-06-12
Cake Shop
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Upfront
10 Feet from the PA

DPA 4021s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample 16/44) > CD Wave > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-06-13

Setlist:
[Total time 44:22]
01 [introduction]
02 Wishing Well
03 Give it Back
04 Last Choice
05 Talk Talk Talk Talk
06 Ageing Had Never Been His Friend
07 Seasick
08 I Ran
09 Turn The Radio Off
10 New Beginnings
11 Busy Doing Nothing
12 Make Out Fall Out Make Up
13 [encore break]
14 Spinning and Scratching

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 CD directly from the Love Is All merch site.