The (Unofficial) Taper’s Blog Fraternity

April 14, 2008
By

Readers often compliment nyctaper in email and comments on the site, and sometimes note that there should be more sites like this one. Well, there are! Here is a list of a our “brethren” — the best taper’s blogs from the web.

Southern Shelter: Atlanta GA
Besides being a super nice guy, Sloan from Southern Shelter also captures excellent recordings. Like nyctaper, Sloan uses Neumann microphones and records a terrific array of bands from a variety of genres. Sloan has been a tremendous help to us in securing permission from bands he has taped in the past, including Pylon and Mission of Burma.

Baltimore Taper: Baltimore MD
Jeff is an indefatigable free promoter of the Baltimore music scene, often recording multiple acts on multiple nights in a week. His site is such an amazingly comprehensive collection of Baltimore music, that he has been featured as a lead story in the local arts newspaper, City Paper.

Bradley’s Almanac: Boston MA
Brad publishes one of the top music blogs on the entire web, and has been recognized as such web-wide, and in a feature in the Boston Globe last year. While Brad is primarily a top flight music blogger, he also records quite a few shows and features them on his site in his archive.

Waves and Wires: San Francisco CA
Dave makes terrific recordings of Bay Area performances by top alternative acts. His recording of Bjork from Shoreline last year is one of the best I heard all tour. After a recent brief hiatus, he returned to form with an excellent British Sea Power recording.

Iamserious: Seattle WA
I believe Brian’s site may be the first actual “taper’s blog”, as it appeared in 2005. While he makes terrific recordings of Pacific Northwest shows, and also authors DVDs (available through bit torrent), the site was fairly inactive for a while last year. Brian seems to be back and recording again, which is great news for his readers.

Sometimes I Tape Stuff: Portland OR
I don’t really know much about this site, nor do I know the owner’s name, but she has recorded some excellent stuff recently including a rare post-tour-cancellation Decemberists show in January and the Shins in December.

BrooklynVibes: Brooklyn NY
This is the coming-soon taper blog of our friend Matt. His site will make NYC the first town with multiple taper blogs and will afford New Yorkers double coverage of the live music scene. Matt and I plan to avoid overlapping our recordings. Like nyctaper, Matt uses top flight equipment, but also offers the added dimension of being an outstanding photographer. We are really looking forward to his offerings.

Did I miss anyone?

Readers Tell Me: Should nyctaper also Offer MP3s?

April 14, 2008
By

My lossless friends will undoubtedly call me a sell-out, but there are quite a few good reasons to also offer MP3 files of the recordings for readers to download. The mp3 files would be offered as direct downloads on this site in zip files. This would permit the return of limited direct downloads from the main site without stretching the limits of the server. Flac files would still require an email to nyctaper.

The offering of MP3 zip files would also be advantageous for the bands. There are several tracking sites that provide access to blogs that offer mp3s which would give further exposure to the bands. The file format would also permit the less technologically advanced readers to hear the excellent bands we offer. As of this point, the i-pod still does not support flac as Apple stubbornly refuses to permit competition to its own lossless format.

The downside of course is that we expend an enormous amount of energy to capture these performances in the best possible quality. We use top of the line equipment and often master in 24-bit format to increase the sound quality. Offering MP3s, which compress much of the quality of the recording and sound “tinny” and flat compared to the flacs is in a way also a compromise that is not necessarily advantageous to the artists.

I would like to hear feedback from readers on this issue, either in email or by posting here.

Dirty on Purpose April 4, 2008 Mercury Lounge – Flac Download

April 13, 2008
By


[photo credit]

Dirty on Purpose compose more than just “shoe-gaze” or “indie” music. The straightforward beats combined with intelligent lyrics and frequent off-beat hooks remind the listener of early Yo La Tengo, or the melodic songs of Sonic Youth. Last Friday at Mercury Lounge they performed a short but impressive set that featured several new songs from their digital-only free release Dead Volcanoes.

Unfortunately, the Friday night crowd was maddeningly inattentive, and there was persistent chatter throughout the set — in large part in celebration of the birthdays of a band member (bassist DJ Boudreau) and a band friend. Singer/Guitarist Joseph Jurewicz actually makes mention during the banter on Track 07 below (“over this way people”, “shhh”). This chatter interferes with the quality of this recording, and led in part to the delay in releasing this show on nyctaper. We considered whether this outstanding band deserved to be exposed to our listeners with a recording that is nearly ruined by a rude crowd. However, when we listened again to the recording it became apparent that the louder moments of music do rise above the chatter, and its only the quieter songs and song-segments that suffer. With that caveat in mind, please enjoy this superb band and their excellent set.

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Dirty on Purpose
2008-04-04
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board

Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7) > flac

Many thanks to Joe for permission to record.

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-04-13

Setlist:
[Total time 54:37]
01 [banter]
02 These Days Were for Us
03 Audience
04 Light Pollution
05 Hard to Tell You
06 Leaving
07 [banter]
08 Always Looking
09 Marfa Lights
10 The Thing about Getaways
11 Ways to Drown
12 Canned Fumes
13 [banter – happy birthdays]

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Dirty on Purpose, visit their website, and purchase the their official releases directly from their site, or the NorthStreet records site.

Marco Benevento at Sullivan Hall – Tonight and Tomorrow (4/11 and 4/12)

April 11, 2008
By


[photo credit]

It did not take long for the fine pairing of Marco Benevento and Sullivan Hall to hook up again. After his outstanding 5-show residency in January at Sullivan, Marco Benevento returns to the scene of his triumph for two nights this weekend. This time around, his band features the outstanding downtown stalwart, drummer Bobby Previte, Eric Krasno from Soulive, Briggan Krauss from Sex Mob, and Curtis Fowlkes from Jazz Passengers.

If the magic from January returns, the all-star collaboration between Marco and the roster of talent at this weekend’s shows promises to be an extraordinary exhibit of musical imagination and talent. nyctaper will be there both nights to capture the improvisational genuises on display.

Kimya Dawson April 6, 2008 Webster Hall – Flac Download

April 8, 2008
By


[photo credit]

The last time we saw Kimya in January at Southpaw, she was just beginning to ride the wave of Juno-created popularity. At that show, she expressed some trepidation about the sudden burst of exposure, but still managed to maintain her unique genuine persona. Less than three months later, after an appearance on The View and the Academy Awards performance, Kimya sold out Webster Hall — a venue roughly 5 times the size of Southpaw. Long-time fans approached this appearance with some concerns that such rapid success had effected Kimya.

Any lingering doubts about the integrity of this performer were gone within minutes of the beginning of Sunday night’s performance. As she took the stage, Kimya slipped and nearly fell over, and as she giggled, any tension or pressure was broken for the night. What followed was perhaps the greatest performance of her decade-long career — a nearly two-hour display of humor, charm and powerful songs. Kimya worked through a vast majority of her material, including the now-familiar mini-set of new children’s songs. She performed most of the set with the accompaniment of Matt and Erin Tobey on an assortment of instruments and backing vocals. For this concert, the array of “Loose Lips” stage dancers was actually an organized costumed and choreographed troupe of Kimya’s friends. The night came to fitting close with the mock-finale of “Tomorrow” — the performer’s future as bright as ever.

We recorded from an excellent location in this venue, but unfortunately the sound levels were just far too low. The sound technicians were apparently not able to provide the proper volume without guitar distortion, and did not provide a clean signal. There was a noticeable hiss in the main speakers. As a result, this recording is a genuine low-fi capture of this concert, albeit one true to the sound of the room. Enjoy this superb and unique performer in her low-fi glory!

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

Kimya Dawson
2008-04-06
Webster Hall
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board on Floor
30 Feet from Right PA Stack

DPA 4021s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM Mod) > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, modify close clapping, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-04-07

Setlist:
[total time 1:44:26]
01 Eleventeen
02 Rocks With Holes
03 Fire
04 Chemistry
05 Lullaby For The Taken
06 My Mom
07 Underground
08 Viva La Persistence
09 My Heroes
10 Singing Machine
11 Secret Letters (Erin Tobey solo)
12 Little Monster Babies
13 Bobby-O
14 Seven Hungry Tigers
15 Alpha Butt
16 I Like Bears
17 I’m an Animal
18 Weatherman
19 [Matt Tobey solo]
20 [Matt Tobey solo]
21 Being Cool
22 It’s Been Raining
23 Beer
24 Loose Lips (with a verse of “Private Dancer”)
25 The Greatest Love of All (acapella)
26 My Rollercoaster
27 Tire Swing
28 I Have Changed
29 Little Panda Bear
30 I Like Giants
31 [encore break]
32 Tomorrow (“Annie”)

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Kimya Dawson, visit her website, visit her livejournal page, and purchase the her official releases directly from her site, or the K Records site.

Spanish Prisoners April 5, 2008 Union Hall – Flac Download

April 6, 2008
By


[photo credit]

Spanish Prisoners celebrated the official release of their CD Songs to Forget at Union Hall last night. The performing and recording project of singer/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Leo Maymind, last night Spanish Prisoners featured a complete band, including keyboards, stand-up and electric bass, drums, and a brass section. The set consisted of all songs from the new CD, including an absolutely blistering version of “Some Among Them Are Killers”, and a spry opening of the clever number “A Thousand Zimmermans”.

This recording is possibly the single most outstanding one ever offered on this site. As Leo had given my complete access to record, and based on the experience of our last recording at Union Hall (the Diggs), we set-up the DPA 4021 microphones in strategic locations to fully capture this performance. The right channel microphone was placed on the front and center stage lip pointed at 45 degrees to reflect the atmosphere from the stage, while the left channel was placed approximately 10 feet from PA stacks pointed toward the center. The result is a true stereo recording with a “surround” feel, and has almost a perfect mix of voice and instruments. As a result, this excellent performance is recorded in the best possible light. Enjoy!

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Spanish Prisoners
2008-04-05
Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Upfront & On Stage
Left Channel 10 Feet from the PA, Right Channel on Stage Lip

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

Many thanks to Leo for permission to recording

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-04-06

Setlist:
[Total time 39:07]
01 A Thousand Zimmermans
02 Song for the Weary
03 Periwinkle Blues
04 Dear Just Curious
05 Ballad of an Unfolding
06 Some Among Them are Killers
07 Mantequilla
08 How the Fallen Fell

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Spanish Prisoners, visit their website, visit their myspace page, and purchase the new release Songs to Forget directly from their site.

SUPPORT NYCTaper




Email

Email nyctaper

DISCLAIMER and LEGAL NOTICE

nyctaper.com is a live music blog that offers a new paradigm of music distribution on the web. The recordings are offered for free on this site as are the music posts, reviews and links to artist sites. All recordings are posted with artist permission or artists with an existing pro-taping policy.

All recordings and original content posted on this site are @nyctaper.com as live recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 106, et. seq. Redistribution of nyctaper recordings without consent of nyctaper.com is strictly prohibited.

nyctaper.com hereby waives all copyright claims to any and all recordings posted on this site to THE PERFORMERS ONLY. If any artist posted on this site requests that recordings be removed, those recordings will be removed forthwith.