the Mountain Goats: November 10, 2017 White Eagle Hall, Jersey City NJ

December 4, 2017
By


[photos by Greg Cristman]

I’ve never been to a Mountain Goats concert quite like this one. Generally speaking, the fans of the Mountain Goats are universally involved in the show. Sure, they shout out obscure requests but the people at these unique shows are there for the artist, for the music, and for the experience. There’s normally almost no chatter at a Mountain Goats show that’s unrelated to the music. Just listen to the recording we just recently posted from Brooklyn Steel, a large venue with a very large crowd and not a peep during the quiet moments. That Brooklyn crowd was at that show for all the right reasons, and the band seemed to feel it.

At White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, the front half of the crowd was the usual engaged Mountain Goats fans, but the back half of the sold out venue were almost defiantly yapping over the music. It was troubling and odd and I think it knocked the band off a kilter a couple of times. John specifically called out “hey talking guys, I’m trying to play guitar here”. I don’t have any explanation for this crowd that isn’t going to read as arrogant, so I’ll just attribute it to a Friday night, a sold out venue, and too-efficient bartenders.

Sadly, this is the reality for many events these days — the chatterers don’t really care. But this was a really solid show that I’m simply going to have to get over the crowd issues. For devotees to The Sunset Tree, however, this show is a must-listen. Along with regulars “This Year” and “Up The Wolves”, we were treated to infrequently performed versions of “You Or Your Memory” and “Broom People”. The balance of the setlist offered a slate of the new songs (from Goths) performed regularly on this tour and a couple of more surprises — “I’ve Got The Sex” and the return of “Beautiful Gas Mask” to the rotation. There are only three more dates on this tour — so get out and see the band, but please don’t talk over the music!

I recorded this set with the fortunate use of Brandon’s excellent board feed mixed with some of the room mics mounted inside the board area centered in the balcony. Other than the crowd din recognizable during quiet moments, this recording is quite good. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Mountain Goats
2017-11-10
White Eagle Hall
Jersey City NJ

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Brandon Eggleston] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:43:39]
01 [Vivaldi introduction]
02 The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement
03 Cotton
04 In the Craters on the Moon
05 Beautiful Gas Mask
06 [banter – Debbie snorts coke]
07 Unicorn Tolerance
08 Rain in Soho
09 Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds
10 Night Light
11 Moon Over Goldsboro
12 I’ve Got The Sex
13 Snow Crush Killing Song
14 [banter – Fenders]
15 Paid in Cocaine
16 Shelved
17 Birth Of Serpents
18 Broom People
19 Harlem Roulette
20 Against Pollution
21 Spent Gladiator 2
22 [encore break]
23 The Diaz Brothers
24 Up the Wolves
25 This Year
26 [second encore break]
27 See America Right
28 You Or Your Memory
29 The Young Thousands

SUPPORT the Mountain Goats: Website | Twitter | Buy Official Releases | Tour Dates

Circuit des Yeux: November 15, 2017 Rough Trade NYC

November 29, 2017
By

Of all the many, many standout shows I’ve seen this year, Haley Fohr is responsible for two of them, both at Rough Trade NYC. There was the Jackie Lynn set from back in April, and now this full-band Circuit des Yeux burner from the current Reaching For Indigo tour. I’m a fan, obviously, but everyone I’ve talked to who saw this or another show from the tour have all been completely blown away. Fohr and her band play the album all the way through and even if you’ve fully absorbed the studio recordings you’ll be ecstatic to hear this ten-minute, rocking rendition of “A Story of This World Part II.” Circuit des Yeux hits the West Coast in January followed by some European dates in February—check all listings over at Drag City.

I recorded this from the soundboard cage with MBHOs combined with a board feed courtesy of FOH Dustin Myers. The sound is terrific. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [FLAC/MP3]

Stream the complete show:

Circuit des Yeux
2017-11-15
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

Soundboard (engineer: Dustin Myers) + MBHO MBP603/KA200N > Zoom F8 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, mixdown, compression, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [46:35]
01. Brainshift
02. Black Fly
03. Philo
04. Paper Bag
05. A Story of This World Part II
06. Geyser
07. Falling Blonde

• Website
• • Buy Reaching For Indigo at Drag City

Luna: November 18, 2017 Brooklyn Steel

November 27, 2017
By


[photos by Will from We All Want Someone blog]

At some point in the last three years, Luna transitioned from a “reunion” to an actively recording and touring band. This year saw two new Luna releases, a full album of eclectic covers (A Sentimental Education) and an all-instrumental EP (A Place Of Greater Safety). For A Sentimental Education, the band placed their own unique stamp on an interesting selection of covers. It was the first new Luna album in 13 years and it hit all the right buttons — 70s and 80s influences and one 90s contemporary. The selection of songs are for the connoisseur, no obvious tracks to be found.

The final night of Luna’s most recent tour reached Brooklyn Steel two Saturdays ago. This was the largest venue the band had played in NYC maybe ever, and a healthy crowd showed up in support. The band began the night with opening track from Greater Safety and proceeded to treat the fans to a nice selection of classic material mixed with the new versions of memorable tracks from Sentimental. Indeed the set ended with an inspired performance of Mercury Rev’s “Car Wash Hair” followed by a series of encores. On this night, the rarity was an infrequent appearance of the Galaxie 500 classic “Tugboat”.

I recorded this set with the Neumann hypercards mounted at the soundboard and mixed with a superb feed mixed by the band’s outstanding FOH Paul. The blend of the two sources produced perhaps the best of our many recordings of Luna to appear on this site. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Luna
2017-11-18
Brooklyn Steel
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Paul] + Neumann KM-150s > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:31:50]
01 GTX3
02 Gin [Willy Loco Alexander]
03 Sideshow by the Seashore
04 Bobby Peru
05 Fire in Cairo [Cure]
06 Malibu Love Nest
07 Tracy I Love You
08 Still at Home
09 Freakin and Peakin
10 One Fine Summer Morning [Evie Sands]
11 Chinatown
12 Friendly Advice
13 I Want Everything
14 Car Wash Hair [Mercury Rev]
15 [encore break]
16 Tugboat
17 23 Minutes in Brussels
18 [second encore break]
19 Moon Palace

SUPPORT Luna:  Website | Bandcamp | Buy A Sentimental Education

Jeremy Hyman: October 23, 2017 The Bowery Ballroom

November 20, 2017
By


[photo by Will Oliver and We All Want Someone blog]

When I saw that former Ponytail and Slasher Flicks drummer Jeremy Hyman was opening for Avey Tare at the Bowery Ballroom, I half expected to see a solo drum performance. Instead, we were treated to a twitchy, beat-heavy electronic performance with Hyman processing loops through a laptop. Though all the material he played is yet-to-be-released, it’s in the style of last year’s Couch EP released on Future Times, which finds the drummer exploring new compositional territory while still employing his knack for complex rhythms.

We recorded this set with the Schoeps mk22’s set up at our usual balcony location at Bowery, combined with a board feed from FOH Danielle. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download: [MP3/FLAC]

Jeremy Hyman
2017-10-23
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com
Photo by Will Oliver

Soundboard (engineer: Danielle) + Schoeps mk22 > Zoom F8 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, mixdown, compression, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > xAct > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [30:12]
01. Cut
02. 10000pcpuzzle
03. Mirror
04. Shade
05. Day

Buy the Couch EP via Bandcamp

the Mountain Goats: November 12, 2017 Brooklyn Steel

November 14, 2017
By


[photo by Megan Etzel]

All the stars aligned for this Sunday night return to NYC for the Mountain Goats. On tour in support of their newest release, the excellent Goths (Merge Records) album, the band played their first local shows in over a year and a half. Those legendary 2015 and 2016 City Winery shows saw the Mountain Goats in an intimate setting, but at Brooklyn Steel this weekend the large room afforded the band the opportunity to stretch out. As they took the stage to the dramatic Vivaldi concerto, the Mountain Goats were greeted warmly by the packed room. This was a night when the fans played a truly complimentary role to the music — hushed during the quiet moments and raucous when required, but attentive throughout. There was no idle chatter and virtually none of the persistent shouted requests that sometimes annoy at Mountain Goats shows. Ultimately, the audience was rewarded with a lengthy show featuring stellar performances, a few rare nuggets, and two shout-outs to the crowd from John Darnielle later in the evening.

Goths is essentially a tribute to that early 80s British scene which included Siouxsie, Nick Cave, Peter Murphy/Bauhaus, and Andrew Eldritch/Sisters of Mercy. As with any subject of a Mountain Goats album, the songs are both tributes and explications of the melancholy and loneliness of the lifestyle. “Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds” finds the singer leaving the goth life in Germany and returning with little or no fanfare to the upper Midlands town where the band began. For this particular show “Eldritch” was preceded by the debut of a cover of the Sisters Of Mercy’s 1989 single “Lucretia My Reflection”, performed to perfection in large part because the band’s stage assistant had enough foresight to print and laminate the lyrics in advance. It was that kind of night, as seemingly everything the band did turned out right. John’s three-song solo set featured an infrequent appearance of “Autoclave”, and an exceedingly rare unreleased “Poltergeist”, before the band returned for a powerful second half of the show. The show’s finale was a return of “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton”, a fun song that I haven’t seen in a few years and which always gets the crowd involved. Sunday night’s show at Brooklyn Steel represented all of the reasons why we keep coming back to see this band, and probably always will.

I recorded this set with the Neumann hypers mounted high inside the soundboard cage and mixed with the a feed provided by the Mountain Goats longtime FOH Brandon Eggleston. Both the room and the feed provided superbly balanced sound, so that this recording is truly a remarkable capture. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Mountain Goats
2017-11-12
Brooklyn Steel
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Brandon Eggleston] + Neumann KM-150s > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:39:36]
01 [Vivaldi introduction]
02 The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement
03 Cotton
04 In the Craters on the Moon
05 Until I Am Whole
06 [banter – Bat Cave]
07 Rain in Soho
08 Lucretia My Reflection [Sisters Of Mercy]
09 Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds
10 [tuning]
11 Autoclave
12 Moon Over Goldsboro
13 Poltergeist
14 Snow Crush Killing Song
15 [banter – Fenders]
16 Paid in Cocaine
17 [banter – Shelved intro]
18 Shelved
19 The Young Thousands
20 Harlem Roulette
21 Against Pollution
22 [encore break]
23 Southwestern Territory
24 Up the Wolves
25 This Year
26 [second encore break]
27 Spent Gladiator 2
28 The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton

SUPPORT the Mountain Goats: Website | Twitter | Buy Official Releases | Tour Dates

AJJ: November 7, 2017 Bowery Ballroom

November 12, 2017
By


[photos by Ash Craiig]

This year is the tenth anniversary of AJJ’s (then known as Andrew Jackson Jihad) second release, their breakout album People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World. In celebration, the band’s founders Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty are touring as a duo and opening the shows by playing the album straight through. The second half of the show is a selection of material from this post-People period of their career. The tour reached Bowery Ballroom last week for an inspired and intimate show that permitted AJJ’s rabid fans an up close and personal experience of this duo show.

Sean and Ben were up for the challenge, as the acoustic guitar and stand-up bass/cello filled the room while Sean’s fervent vocals delivered the personal material with the commitment that made the album such an important step in the evolution of the anti-folk movement ten years ago. The sold out Bowery crowd sang along with every word and you can hear them clearly on the recording — not as hindrance but as a true part of the performance. AJJ also talked and joked with the crowd about a variety of experiences and random thoughts, so that it almost felt, as Ben quipped, like a session of “AJJ Storytellers”. There were a few positive wrinkles in the setlist for this show including a fan request honored for the Todd Snider cover “Just Like Old Times” that contained a very special introduction for us. AJJ also called a few audibles, the most notable being what appears to be the first tour appearance of “Small Red Boy”, the emotional center of the band’s most recent album The Bible 2. We are not sure when AJJ will return to NYC — likely on the cycle of a new album tour — but we’ll of course be there. The current tour continues throughout November and into December, all dates here. The band will also return East for what I believe is a full band show at the Front Bottoms Champagne Jam in Asbury Park NJ in December.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted in our standard place at the front of the balcony and mixed with a perfect feed from house FOH Danielle. The mix captures both the clear sound of the feed and the audience participation of the room mics for a superbly balanced recording. We’re really happy with this one. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

AJJ
2017-11-07
Bowery Ballroom
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Danielle] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:19:36]
01 [introduction]
02 Rejoice
03 Brave as a Noun
04 Survival Song
05 Bad Bad Things
06 No More Tears
07 Bells and Whistles
08 Randy’s House
09 [banter – Apple Kore]
10 A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit
11 People II The Reckoning
12 [banter – Creepy]
13 Personal Space Invader
14 People
15 American Body Rentals
16 Jesus Saves
17 American Tune
18 Fuckboi
19 Fucc The Devil
20 [banter – shoutout]
21 Just Like Old Times [Todd Snider]
22 All The Dead Kids
23 Unicron
24 Coffin Dance
25 [banter – yelling]
26 Growing Up
27 Sense and Sensibility
28 Small Red Boy
29 Linda Ronstadt
30 Little Prince
31 [banter – philharmonic]
32 Big Bird
33 [encore break]
34 American Body Rentals (again)

SUPPORT AJJ: Website | Facebook | Purchase The Bible 2 from SideOneDummy Records [HERE].

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.