Meg Baird: January 22, 2017 Park Church Co-op

February 1, 2017
By

Finally capping off our coverage of the epic Ranaldo-Gunn-Baird tour of 2017—last but certainly not least—here’s Meg Baird’s opening set. We’ve long been fans of everything Meg Baird, from Espers to her solo work to the Baird Sisters to Heron Oblivion, but we haven’t yet had occasion to post a solo set until now. This recording captures Baird on the last date of her two-week tour with Lee Ranaldo and Steve Gunn (those sets posted here and here, respectively) and finds her playing a couple songs off her latest solo record for Drag City, Don’t Weigh Down the Light, along with a few covers: “Old Man on the Mountain” from fellow traveler P.G. Six, “Beatles and the Stones” by The House of Love, and the traditional Scottish folk song “Willie O’Winsbury.”  It’s been an emotional couple weeks for all, and Baird provides a touching introduction introduction to “Willie O’Winsbury,” describing the unique ability of traditional songs to communicate with us through time. Only a little over a week old, this set nonetheless feels like a transmission from the distant past. Our work continues… But in the meantime, feel free to accept into your life those small joys, like this gorgeous acoustic guitar set from Meg Baird.

I recorded this set from my improvised tapers section in front of board, combined with a feed from Park Church’s engineer Jasno Swarez. Despite some ambient noise from the church, the sound is very good. Enjoy—and resist!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Meg Baird
2017-01-22
Park Church Co-op
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Jasno Swarez] + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [31:23]
01. Old Man on the Mountain [P.G. Six]
02. Back to You
03. Don’t Weigh Down the Light
04. Beatles and the Stones [The House of Love]
05. [Willie O’Winsbury intro]
06. Willie O’Winsbury [traditional]

• Buy Meg Baird records via Drag City

And then, please consider donating to local organizations that support freedom and fair treatment for all, such as the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Immigration Coalition.

Cate Le Bon: January 26, 2017 The Bowery Ballroom

January 31, 2017
By


[photos courtesy of Will and We All Want Someone blog]

Cate Le Bon’s been awfully busy since we last saw her in 2014: in 2016 she released her fourth (and excellent) LP, Crab Day; she produced Tim Presley’s (also excellent) LP, The Wink; and last Friday she put out a followup to Crab Day, the companion EP Rock Pool. Fittingly, on her current tour with Tim Presley, Le Bon is pulling a double shift, contributing guitar and vocals in Presley’s backing band before playing her own headlining set. I’ll talk more about Presley’s set when we post it shortly, but the music on The Wink is so informed by Le Bon’s production that the night felt less like two co-headlining sets and more like a conjoined, ongoing collaboration between the two musicians. Later on in Le Bon’s set, Presley joined in on guitar for “What’s Not Mine,” a cover of Presley’s White Fence tune “Chairs in the Dark,” and “Are You With Me Now?” While Le Bon and Presley were obviously the focus of the evening, it would be criminal not to mention their crack shot backing band featuring JT, Stephen Black, and Daniel Ward. This set showcases mostly songs from the off-kilter Crab Day, two new ones from Rock Pool (“Aside From Growing Old” and “I Just Wanna Be Good”), plus a few older tracks like “No God,” “Greta,” “Sisters,” and the fan-favorite “Are You With Me Now?” The Le Bon/Presley tour soldiers on for a few more dates (here) and if you have the chance I highly recommend you not miss out on this one.

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue slightly to the left of soundboard in the balcony area, with a board feed from Bowery FOH Kenny. As usual for the venue, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Cate Le Bon
2017-01-26
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com
Photos by Will Oliver

Soundboard [engineer: Kenny] + AKG C480B/CK63 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, balance, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:07:11]
01. Crab Day
02. Love is Not Love
03. Wonderful
04. No God
05. Aside From Growing Old
06. I’m a Dirty Attic
07. I Was Born on the Wrong Day
08. How Do You Know?
09. I Can’t Help You
10. I Just Wanna Be Good
11. Greta
12. Sisters
13. We Might Revolve
14. What’s Not Mine
15. [encore break]
16. Chairs in the Dark [White Fence]
17. Are You With Me Now?

• Website
• • Facebook
• • • Buy Crab Day and Rock Pool via Drag City

Ryley Walker: January 26, 2017 Rough Trade BK

January 30, 2017
By


[photo by nyctaper]

There’s a period in every premiere artist’s career when their prolific songwriting outpaces their ability to record their songs. Ryley Walker is currently in that kind of fruitful songwriting phase. A few months out from the release of his outstanding Golden Sings That Have Been Sung album, Ryley toured the East coast and arrived at Rough Trade on Thursday night. The set consisted of as many new songs as tracks from the album — three of the four new songs so fresh that Ryley doesn’t even quite have titles for them yet.

But first, there were the familiar ones. The set began with an extended guitar interplay that led into Golden’s “The Roundabout”, followed by another lengthy jam intro to the title track from 2015’s Primrose Green. Between the music was a nice dose of banter and give and take between the admiring audience and the modest troubadour. We saw how Ryley can morph a performance from a “show” to an event that feels like he’s hanging out in your living room at Market Hotel this past Spring. This night at Rough Trade had the same familiar feel — its one of Walker’s most endearing traits. But ultimately its about the songs and to finish the set we got two solo acoustic numbers that accentuated the unique talents of this performer.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted at center of the Soundboard table and mixed with a board feed. The sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Complete Show:

Ryley Walker
2017-01-26
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Leah Zipkin] + 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 1:20:04]
01 [introduction]
02 The Roundabout
03 [banter – mental breakdown]
04 Primrose Green
05 [banter – anytizers]
06 Sullen Mind
07 [banter – Bobo]
08 [new song 1]
09 [banter]
10 [new song – I Can’t Say Why]
11 [banter – thanks]
12 [new song 3]
13 [banter – New York]
14 Shaking Like The Others
15 The Halfwit in Me

SUPPORT Ryley Walker: Website | Facebook | Purchase Golden Sings

Lee Ranaldo: January 22, 2017 Park Church Co-op

January 26, 2017
By

For all the reasons I need not repeat here, protest music is perhaps more vital now than at any other time in my lifetime if not everyone’s. Lee Ranaldo’s engagement with Occupy Wall Street has been well documented; and it was around that time that he started performing Neil Young’s classic “Revolution Blues” regularly at shows. Coming off inauguration weekend, I think we can safely call all of the songs Ranaldo performed last Sunday protest music, each song imploring us in its own language to “resist, resist, resist, resist.”

Wrapping up his two-week tour with Meg Baird and Steve Gunn (Steve’s set here, Meg’s set here), Ranaldo showed up at Park Church Co-op with a slew of new material (some of which we’ve heard before), plus covers of The Velvet Underground’s “Ocean” and the aforementioned Neil Young tune. Will the help of a few friends—left to right in the above photo that’s Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, Lee, and Steve—the glorious crescendo of “Ocean” is as overwhelming as the lyrics’ crashing waves suggest. These days, we need art not only for protest but also to uplift, and this performance is nothing if not uplifting. Closing with “Revolution Blues,” Lee is joined by Steve Gunn and Meg Baird, both on guitar and vocals, Alan Licht on guitar, and Georgia Hubley on drums. We’ve heard Lee do this song a few times now, but trading verses with Meg the forty-year-old song and its lyrics feel refreshing as we listen with new ears.

I recorded this set from my improvised tapers section in front of board, combined with a feed from Park Church’s engineer Jasno Swarez. The sound is excellent. Enjoy—and resist!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Lee Ranaldo
2017-01-22
Park Church Co-op
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Jasno Swarez] + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:03:44]
01. Moroccan Mountains
02. Let’s Start Again
03. Circular
04. Electric Trim
05. [Uncle Skeleton intro]
06. Uncle Skeleton
07. Thrown Over the Wall (w/Alan Licht)
08. Last Looks (w/Meg Baird)
09. [Ocean intro]
10. Ocean [The Velvet Underground] (w/Alan, Steve Gunn, Georgia Hubley, and Ira Kaplan)
11. [Revolution Blues intro]
12. Revolution Blues [Neil Young] (w/Meg, Alan, Steve, and Georgia)

• Website
• • Facebook
• • • Buy Lee Ranaldo and the Dust records from Matador

And then, please consider donating to local organizations that support freedom and fair treatment for all, such as the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Immigration Coalition.

Steve Gunn: January 22, 2017 Park Church Co-op

January 25, 2017
By


[Photo via @laurencebuisson]

Steve Gunn needs little introduction in these pages. We’re big fans—and no doubt you are too. Steve has been touring the US and Canada the last couple weeks along with Meg Baird and Lee Ranaldo, the trio making up the first must-see tour of 2017 and spreading some much needed solidarity, positive vibes, and resistance in these unfortunate times. The final weekend of the tour found them playing Washington, DC on the night of the inauguration, Philadelphia the night of the next day’s massive and exhilarating marches, and wrapping up Sunday night in Brooklyn at the Park Church Co-op. The success of the weekend’s protests had people feeling pretty hopeful by Sunday night and this solo set from Gunn feels great all the way through. Seeing him solo and in a smaller, less formal space than December’s Bell House gig brought back happy memories of the days when you could regularly catch Gunn doing an intimate set at Zebulon.

I recorded this set from in front of board, combined with a feed from Park Church’s engineer Jasno Swarez. The sound is excellent. Enjoy—and resist!

Download: MP3/FLAC

Stream:

Steve Gunn
2017-01-22
Park Church Co-op
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for NYCTaper.com

Soundboard [engineer: Jasno Suarez] + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [60:52]
01. [Intro]
02. Old Strange
03. Milly’s Garden
04. Way Out Weather
05. Ark
06. Night Wander
07. Park Bench Smile
08. [Wildwood intro]
09. Wildwood
10. Mr. Franklin

PLEASE SUPPORT STEVE GUNN: Go to matadorrecords.com or your local record store and buy Eyes On the Lines and the recent “Ancient Jules” EP. 

And then, please consider donating to local organizations that support freedom and fair treatment for all, such as the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Immigration Coalition.

Dave Harrington and Merry Pranksters: January 21, 2017 Trans-Pecos

January 24, 2017
By


[photo by nyctaper]

Dave Harrington’s career as an exemplary musician is perhaps most well known through his Darkside duo with Nicholas Jaar, but in the last couple of years Harrington has excelled as a compiler of ad hoc super groups under the moniker “Merry Pranksters”. The band has performed at Rough Trade and multiple times at Nublu, but on Saturday night at Trans-Pecos Harrington pulled together another impressive group of performers in a benefit show for Builders Of The New World — an Actor’s Studio program to benefit homeless youth.

On Saturday, the “special guest” for this version of the Merry Pranksters was Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori, whose eerie vocals and keyboard work were featured prominently in the first half of the improvised number that began the set. Hatori’s work set the tone for the entire set, which was comprised of spacey atmospheric improv that occasionally reached inspired crescendos. The sextet was held together by a diverse rhythm section with Mauro Refosco on a variety of percussion instruments, Spencer Zahn on bass, and Harrington’s solo band’s drummer Samer Ghadry behind the kit. Lars Horntveth of the Norwegian prog fusion band Jaga Jazzist played a variety of horns and his contributions to this night were sublime and tasty. Harrington’s guitar work anchored the group and provided a significant amount of color to the mix. This was our first experience with Harrington’s Merry Pranksters, but I can guarantee it won’t be the last.

This show was a benefit for The Builders of The New World: Education and Community Building Program for Homeless Children and At-Risk Youth in New York City. Donate [HERE], or donate through a download of this recording. All proceeds to this recording that are donated through Bandcamp will be forwarded directly to Builders of The New World.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards at the stage lip and mixed with a board feed. The sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download this recording from our Bandcamp page [HERE]

Stream this recording from Bandcamp:

Dave Harrington and Merry Pranksters
2017-01-21
Trans-Pecos
Queens NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + On-Stage Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Eric] + Schoeps CCM4u’s > 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 46:17]
01 Improvisation 1
02 Improvisation 2
03 Thirty Seconds of Chaos

SUPPORT: Dave Harrington’s Merry Pranksters featuring:
Dave Harrington
Lars Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist)
Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto)
Mauro Refosco (Atoms for Peace/Forro)
Spencer Zahn (Twin Shadow)
Samer Ghadry (DHG)

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