[photo credit]

The Mountain Goats stepped back in time last night at the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn. In 90s fashion, John Darnielle performed solo as bassist Peter Hughes and drummer Jon Wurster did not make the trip to NYC for this Aids Walk Benefit. John performed no songs from the Mountain Goats 2008 release Heretic Pride, dipping into the older catalog for such early chestnuts as “Young Caesar 2000”, “Going to Scotland” “The Last Day of Jimi Hendrix’s Life” and “Baboon”. The result was an extraordinary and unique Mountain Goats concert for the year 2008.

We recorded from literally 10 feet in front of the right PA stacks with the hyper-directional DPA microphones. The recording is very clear and contains almost no crowd noise during songs. The only “flaws” are the two songs where John sang in the front of the crowd and away from the vocal microphone and we were able to capture very little vocal audio. Other than those two numbers, this is a recording of outstanding clarity and balance. Enjoy!

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

Mountain Goats
2008-05-16
Brooklyn Masonic Temple
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded 10 Feet from Right PA Stacks

DPA 4021’s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (level boost, set fades, resample) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-05-17

Setlist
[Total Time 1:10:10]
01 [introduction]
02 Transjordanian Blues
03 Dinu Lipatti’s Bones
04 Up The Wolves*
05 Balance
06 [banter]
07 Wizard Buys a Hat
08 Cotton
09 Young Caesar 2000
10 The Last Day of Jimi Hendrix’s Life
11 [banter]
12 Alibi
13 Song For an Old Friend
14 Wild Sage**
15 Going to Scotland
16 Song for Dennis Brown**
17 Baboon
18 Best Ever Death Metal Band
19 [encore break]
20 This Year

*Including “the thing where he forgets the first line”
**Vocals off microphone

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 credit]

Of the four bands who performed at the nyctaper Anniversary Concert last Sunday, The Loom was the band with whom we were the least familiar. To say that The Loom’s performance was a revelation would be to understate the significance of this unit. They combine musical talent, strong writing, and an abundant amount of band camaraderie into an intense amalgam of folk, americana, bluegrass and alt-country. The Loom are releasing their debut EP in the next month, and as we told vocalist/guitarist John Fanning after show the not-yet-finished recordings on their site do not do them justice. We hope that the final product captures the spirit we experienced on Sunday.

As this was an nyctaper-produced event, we were not in a position to run microphones for this recording. We patched out of the soundboard into a digital pre-amp and captured the raw board feed. The soundboard mixes in small clubs tend to be quite heavy in vocals and kick drum, and this recording tends towards that mix but also contains acceptable amounts of the other instruments in this six-piece band. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Loom
2008-05-11
nyctaper Anniversary Concert
Pianos
New York, NY USA

Digital Soundboard Master

Soundboard > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades) > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-05-11

Setlist:
[Total Time 46:06]
01 Patience for Books
02 Red Devil
03 Vampires
04 Montreal
05 This Savage City
06 Of Vegas and Vanity
07 True Believers All
08 All Your Famous Friends
09 Song for the Winter Sun
10 New Blood for Old Hearts

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Loom, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase the new EP when it is released.

[photo credit]

On some level, it has to be quite disconcerting to play a room the size of Maxwell’s and have literally every single person in the room singing along with every classic song. At Maxwell’s Tuesday night, Chris Difford seemed relaxed and slightly amused at the fan participation, and indeed borrowed the crowd to help him through some of the harder Squeeze vocals normally assigned to Glen Tilbrook’s tenor. Difford’s new album The Last Temptation of Chris features several strong numbers that were performed, including the poignant “Battersea Boys”, but the intimate setting was most powerful during the crowd’s many singalongs.

There is a story behind my permission to record this show. My initial email to Chris was during the Squeeze tour last year, and he wondered whether I meant taping “like the deadhead way”. Later, when I explained the interactive and promotional aspects of the site, he was for the idea. So thanks to Mr. Difford and to the Maxwell’s crew. The recording is a fine mix of the very boisterous audience and the very well-mixed soundboard. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Chris Difford
2008-05-13
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard/Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Front of Board Neumann KM-150s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, slight level boost, no EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-05-14

Setlist:
[total time 1:06:04]
01 [introduction]
02 Slap and Tickle
03 Cool For Cats
04 Fat As A Fiddle
05 Battersea Boys
06 My Mother’s Handbag
07 Take Me I’m Yours
08 Lamas Fayre
09 Tempted
10 Cowboys are My Weakness
11 Never Coming Back
12 Slaughtered, Gutted and Heartbroken
13 Up The Junction
14 Is That Love?
15 Black Coffee in Bed
16 Goodbye Girl

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Chris Difford, visit his website, visit his MySpace page, and purchase The Last Temptation of Chris directly from the links at his website.