[photo credit]

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are going on a two-year hiatus when their current tour ends this week. In their last show in NYC Wednesday night in Brooklyn, Ted and company ripped through two hours of a high-energy career retrospective. The 2007 release Living With The Living is one of the best albums of the year, but it did not dominate the setlist. Rather, Ted and the Pharmacists drew from all the releases, and included several covers including a dead-on solo version of Graham Parker and The Rumour’s “Passion is No Ordinary World”.

I recorded from the perfect location, and was unimpeded by any significant crowd disruptions (there were several upfront). nyctaper is quite pleased with the quality of this recording. Enjoy!

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

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
2007-12-05
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
2007-12-06

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:49:24]
01 [reggae jam]
02 The Sons of Cain
03 Me and Mia
04 Army Bound
05 The Angel’s Share
06 Old Souls Know
07 Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone
08 I’m a Ghost
09 Annunciation Day
10 Born On Christmas Day
11 Bomb.Repeat.Bomb
12 [banter]
13 Counting Down The Hours
14 Little Dawn
15 Colleen
16 [banter]
17 A Bottle Of Buckie
18 [banter]
19 Parallel Or Together?
20 Who Do You Love?
21 The Unwanted Things
22 C.I.A.
23 [banter]
24 Loyal To My Sorrowful Country
25 [encore break]
26 Rave On (Buddy Holly)
27 Passion is No Ordinary Word (Graham Parker)
28 Timorous Me
29 Biomusicology
30 Rappaport’s Testament: I Never Gave Up (Chumbawamba)

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ted Leo and visit his website.

[photo credit]

2007 has been an excellent year for Richard Hawley. His outstanding new release Lady’s Bridge has appeared on nearly every Best of 2007 list, and last night he began a triumphant return to the US with a sold-out concert at Bowery Ballroom. Hawley worked through a tight set of primarily Lady’s Bridge and Coles Corner material with confidence, and he entertained with quite humorous between-song banter. The closing number, “The Ocean”, reached a remarkable crescendo and featured some outstanding Hawley lead guitar work. The US tour continues through December with dates in Philadelphia, Toronto, Chicago, LA, and San Francisco, with a British tour planned for February of 2008.

This recording was made from the ideal location at this venue, in the center of the floor. While there is a minor amount of chatter from the sold-out crowd, the results are superb.

Hawley’s management responded to a pre-show email request to record. While permission was not granted, the response said “its your choice if you bring it [a recorder] or not”, which indicated a resigned ambivalence to the idea of a fan recording. nyctaper posts this recording in the spirit of fostering a positive relationship between Hawley and his fans, and also with the intent of exposing this amazing talent to readers of this site who may not be familiar with his work. As our disclaimer states, any recording will be removed immediately at the request of an artist. We hope that Richard Hawley will allow this recording to remain at nyctaper when the good intentions and positive mission of this site are understood.

Direct Download of the complete show in FLAC [here] and MP3 [here].

Richard Hawley
2007-12-01
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB
Dead Center 20 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
2007-12-01

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:27:22]
01 [introduction]
02 Valentine
03 Roll River Roll
04 Just Like the Rain
05 Dark Road
06 Coles Corner
07 Tonight The Streets Are Ours
08 Lady’s Bridge
09 Hotel Room
10 Serious
11 Darlin’ Wait For Me
12 Our Darkness
13 The Sea Calls
14 Born Under A Bad Sign
15 Something Is…!
16 I’m Looking For Someone To Find Me
17 [encore break]
18 Tonight
19 The Ocean

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Richard Hawley and visit his website.

[photo credit]

The quartet So Percussion performed a free concert in the Wintergarden at the World Financial Center on Tuesday night. The troupe performed three distinct pieces, a US premiere of an Arvo Part piece, a world premiere of Martin Bresnick’s newest work, and the NYC premiere of Paul Lansky’s Threads. Each piece utilized the many and unique talents of So to create a rich layered texture of beats that communicated a variety of emotions.

It was quite a challenge to record this concert. The Wintergarden is a enclave in the western corner of the World Financial Center, and is essentially in the midst of a shopping center. The extraneous noise of foot traffic, shoppers, workers, and general commotion created a significantly less than ideal sonic setting. Additionally, the PA volume was quite low, as to not disturb the other inhabitants of WFC. As a result, this recording has many flaws which have been reduced but not removed through post-production. If the listener can focus on the magic of So Percussion, enjoyment is within reach.

This recording is no longer available at nyctaper. The sound quality does not meet our current standards.

So Percussion
2007-11-20
Wintergarden
World Financial Center
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Inside Soundboard Booth
at Rear of Venue

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

A venue with terrible acoustics, extraneous noise, low PA levels, and recorded
from the rear. Caveat Listener.

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2007-11-21

Many thanks to So Percussion (Adam) for permission to record.

Setlist:
[total time 1:32:29]
01 Fratres for Percussion Quartet (Arvo Part)
02 [interview with Martin Bresnick]
03 Caprichos Enfáticos (Martin Bresnick)
04 [interview with Paul Lansky]
05 Threads (Paul Lansky)

Information:
txt file

Verification:
md5 file

If you download this recording, please support So Percussion and visit their website.

[photo credit]

Yo La Tengo appeared Friday night at the Music Hall for the final night of their “Freewheeling Tour”. The band fielded questions, requests and general banter from the audience, and responded with humor and some interesting song selections and performed a primarily acoustic concert. The highlights included Georgia’s beautiful cover of Dylan’s 4th Time Around, and the humorously persistent audience member’s request for Blue Line Swinger–which was eventually granted (Ira: “Is that Fred Armisen?”).

The recording of this concert was a difficult affair. This was my first event at the Music Hall, and I gravitated towards the balcony for a better view and more direct line to the PA speakers. Unfortunately, the acoustic nature of the concert, drastic variations in volume, and the inattentive nature of the balcony crowd created certain impediments to a clear recording. At times, this recording can be outstanding, at other times, the stage volume is too low and the ambient noise too great. Overall, its a nice listen of an interesting concert, and the apparently the only circulated recording of this mini-tour. Enjoy!

Yo La Tengo
2007-11-16
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Balcony Railing Left
15 Feet from Left PA Speaker

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-11-17

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:56:04]
01 Introduction
02 The Weakest Part
03 Moby Octopad
04 [questions and banter]
05 Sometimes I Don’t Get You
06 Deeper Into Movies
07 [questions and banter]
08 I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party
09 Tom Courtenay
10 [questions and banter]
11 Magnet
12 The Summer
13 [questions and banter]
14 4th Time Around
15 [questions and banter]
16 Looney Tunes
17 [questions and banter]
18 Black Flowers
19 [questions and banter]
20 Dreaming
21 [questions and banter]
22 Blue Line Swinger
23 [questions and banter]
24 Hanky Panky Nohow
25 [questions and banter]
26 Somebody’s Baby
27 Griselda
28 The Story of Yo La Tango
29 You Can Have it All
30 [encore break]
31 Stockholm Syndrome
32 Big Day Coming
33 Flowers of the Forest

If you download this recording PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo. Visit their excellent website.