Teenage Fanclub: October 15, 2016 Bowery Ballroom

October 16, 2016
By

teenage-fanclub-bowery-psquared
[photos by PSquared Photography]

The legend goes that in 1991, SPIN Magazine selected Teenage Fanclub’s album Bandwagonesque as its record of the year ahead of such luminaries as REM’s Out of Time, Nirvana’s Nevermind and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. Over the years, that choice has been ridiculed in certain circles, but twenty-five years later the selection is rather prescient. My Bloody Valentine didn’t make another album after Loveless until twenty-two years later, REM never made another album that approached the quality of Out of Time, and of course Nirvana was over less than three years later. As careers go, Teenage Fanclub has been the most consistent of the four bands and produced the largest quality catalog in the years since SPIN took heat for them.

This year Teenage Fanclub released their eleventh album and first since 2010. Here (Merge Records) is a record of significant maturity and focus — the band is producing songs as strong as ever and the group harmonies are as sweet as ever. The band has now embarked on a US tour in support of the album and NYC enjoyed two shows this weekend, including Brooklyn last night and the Bowery Ballroom show we caught on Saturday night. Teenage Fanclub live was as compelling and impressive as the new album. This is a band that is both fully committed and comfortable and the show was just one peak after another. The setlist drew fairly democratically from the band’s full catalog and with just five songs from Here, was not overly weighted to push new material. And twenty-five years on, the only two tracks from Bandwagonesque played were given center stage, with a perfect version of the classic “The Concept” closing the main set.

Teenage Fanclub plays Boston tonight and the tour continues through six more October US dates before the band returns to Europe in November, all dates here.

I recorded this set in our usual manner in this venue, with the Schoeps mounted at the balcony rail mixed with a fine feed from the band’s touring FOH. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Set:

teenage-fanclub-44

Teenage Fanclub
2016-10-15
Bowery Ballroom
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + 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 1:30:23]
01 Start Again
02 I Need Direction
03 Verisimilitude
04 I Don’t Want Control of You
05 [tuning music]
06 Sometimes I Don’t Need to Believe in Anything
07 Hold On
08 It’s All in My Mind
09 Thin Air
10 About You
11 The Darkest Part of the Night
12 Don’t Look Back
13 Can’t Feel My Soul
14 I Have Nothing More to Say
15 I’m In Love
16 Star Sign
17 [banter – thanks]
18 The Concept
19 [encore break]
20 Did I Say
21 Radio
22 Your Love Is the Place Where I Come From
23 Everything Flows

SUPPORT Teenage Fanclub: Website | Facebook | Purchase Here from Merge Records

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Bill Nace: September 9, 2016 Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show, King’s (Raleigh, NC)

October 14, 2016
By

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Bill Nace‘s reputation among noise aficionados is a well-deserved one, with him having collaborated with the likes of Okkyung Lee, Chris Corsano, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, and Paul Flaherty. If his work with Gordon in Body/Head is his best known, that still means Nace’s experimental guitar work still resonates with a relatively specific (but dedicated) portion of the music-loving population. Among a diverse bill, perhaps Nace’s appearance most drove home what sets Three Lobed Recordings apart even from its brethren among small labels.  On a day that spanned Watery Love’s scuzzy hardcore to Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore’s delicate folk, Nace’s set nonetheless stood out as a testament to music’s outer boundaries. The abstract, hypnotic and deeply felt composition that Nace wove on this afternoon was one of those things that leaves each listener open to interpret it how they wish; for me, a reward of this type of music is the way that it forces the listener to decide what it is, rather than interpret more direct expressions like lyrics. While sometimes a recording cannot fully capture what it meant to experience something live at the time, I submit that this is almost the reverse — on headphones, in a car or some other enclosed, personal space, this set is even better to engage with.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones onstage and Brad Womack’s house mix. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC/ALAC]

Stream the complete show:

Bill Nace
2016-09-09
Three Lobed / WXDU Day Show
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Brad Womack) + Schoeps MK4V (stage lip, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Zoom F8>3x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 improvisation

PLEASE SUPPORT BILL NACE — Buy his other records here and get Body/Head material here.

Barbara Manning: July 3, 2016 Union Hall

October 12, 2016
By

barbara-manning-union-hall
[photo by neild]

neild reports:

Though I’d been a fan of her music for years before, my first time seeing Barbara Manning live was in 2001, when she put on a blistering performance with her then-band the Go-Luckys at the late, lamented Tonic. She was going to be playing again a couple of nights later at the (even more lamented) Maxwell’s, but I figured I’d skip it and catch her the next time around.

Bad planning: Manning more or less dropped off the touring map after that, disappearing into schoolwork and eventually a career as a high-school science teacher in Southern California. Though she continued to write and record music (available on Bandcamp as the outstanding album Chico Daze), her live appearances became few and far between: a one-off in Philadelphia one year, Boston the next, Oregon the year after. Though she showed up in 2012 at one of the final Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows at Maxwell’s (performing a cover of “Christmas Is Lonely (When You’re A Jew)”) and in 2014 at a Chickfactor show in Brooklyn, until this summer Manning hadn’t played a headlining set in New York since that Tonic show way back when.

Fortunately, her latest jaunt took her on a two-stop tour of the east: a record store show in Philly, and a couple of nights before that, an appearance at Brooklyn’s Union Hall, with Hamish Kilgour opening. Manning was sans band this time, just her amazing voice and her guitar, but that was all she needed, transfixing the crowd with a set that ran from her earliest songs (“Breathe Lies”) to her most recent (“Tape You to a Star”), as well as with her relentlessly hilarious stage banter, including a story about performing with the krautrock band Faust that ended up leading to the audience mooing at her for much of the show (It’ll make sense once you hear it). By the final audience singalong on her trademark song “Scissors,” everyone within earshot was hoping that Barbara Manning appearances become less of a rarity in coming years.

This show was recorded with AT-853 cardioid mics suspended from the Union Hall ceiling, mixed with a multitrack soundboard recording provided via the kind help of Union Hall’s booking agent Shannon Manning and soundfolk Gary and Alex. And much thanks of course to Barbara Manning as well — you can thank her, and reward yourself, by picking up her music either at her Bandcamp site or wherever finer indie rock is sold.

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Life/Luck”:

Barbara Manning
2016-07-03
Union Hall
Brooklyn NY

Soundboard + Audience Matrix

AT-853 Cardioid + Soundboard > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) + AT853 cardioid mics > SP-SPSB-1 battery box > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) > Sound Studio (light dynamic compression and mixing) > FLAC (16/44.1) > Tag > FLAC

Recorded and mastered by neil d

Setlist:
01 Intro
02 Breathe Lies
03 B4 We Go Under
04 Buds Won’t Bud
05 I Insist
06 Coy Tongue
07 Dreaming
08 Haze is Free
09 Sympathy Wreath
10 Life Luck
11 Never Park
12 Bold Letters
13 Better By Bounds
14 Tape You to a Star
15 Deep Sea Diver
16 Someone Wants You Dead
17 Scissors

SUPPORT Barbara Manning: Facebook | Bandcamp | Discogs

YVETTE: September 29, 2016 Market Hotel

October 11, 2016
By

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[photo by _.@belinda_, courtesy of the Godmode Instagram]

YVETTE owned the stage on this night at Market Hotel, preparing the crowd for HEALTH with their enveloping, dark, and percussive sound that seems like it won’t let you go. Since 2013’s Process we’ve seen YVETTE grow and evolve as a band, as they’ve continued to gestate new material before rapt live audiences. Between our Hopscotch encounter with them in 2014 to a Trans-Pecos show in 2015, they’ve continued to develop new and exciting ways to get under our skin, including a couple of new songs on this night that we hadn’t heard before (one so new it lacks a title). Likewise, the Market made sense for this band and the one it followed, with the room’s layout literally narrowing the focus to the lone duo up front, backlit and relentless. Noah Kardos-Fein and drummer Dale Eisinger have always maintained a certain economy to their shows, foregoing most chatter in favor of weaving their set into a continuous flow. It feels like time for a new record, which they’ve continued to work on, especially as Process predates Eisinger’s time in the band. We can’t wait to hear it.

I recorded this set with the mounted AT 4051 cardiods an a flawless soundboard feed from house engineer Jason. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Yvette
2016-09-29
Market Hotel
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Jason) + Audio Technica 4051>>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (compression, fades, normalize)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>xAct 2.36 (tags, encode)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Pure Pleasure
02 Sell It Off
03 B61
04 Radiation
05 Absolutes
06 Smoke In Your Eyes
07 (untitled)
08 Cuts Me In Half

If you Download this recording from NYCTaper PLEASE SUPPORT YVETTE, visit their website, and purchase Time Management and their other releases from Godmode Records[HERE].

Bear vs Shark: September 28, 2016 Market Hotel

October 6, 2016
By

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[photo by @emotionalplayer]

Its not particularly uncommon for bands to be more popular in a reunion than they were originally. In the early part of last decade, the post-hardcore/math-rock/screamo band Bear vs Shark released two albums with Equal Vision Records that were pretty well received. But here we are more than ten years later and many current bands sound very much like Bear vs Shark. If they’re not directly cited as an influence, their sound can definitely be heard within the works of more recent artists.

All that being said, the best way to measure the influence of Bear vs Shark in 2016 is to measure the reaction to their reunion announcement. The tour included a date at Market Hotel that sold out within hours and other dates were similarly quick sell-outs. At Market last week, the entire front half of the packed-in crowd literally sang along with every word of every song — you can hear them on this recording. Indeed, lead singer Marc Paffi let the crowd finish verses multiple times throughout the night. And what a night it was. Bear vs Shark played every song that they’d re-learned for the reunion tour in a show that lasted almost ninety minutes and covered seventeen separate numbers. But the night was really all about the interaction between the generous and thankful band and the rabid fans, both of whom expended all of their energy by the end of a truly outstanding show.

The Bear vs Shark tour continues through the end of October with two West coast dates and two final dates in Chicago, tour info here.

I recorded this set with the installed AT mics and a mix from the board feed. The sound is quite excellent and very representative of the high energy in the venue that night. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Bear vs Shark
2016-09-28
Market Hotel
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Upfront Audience

Soundboard + Audio Technica 4051 > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:19:10]
01 [intro]
02 Ma Jolie
03 Michigan
04 [banter – hi hat stand]
05 Campfire
06 The Employee Is Not Afraid
07 [banter – eleven years]
08 Entrance of the Elected
09 [banter – thanks]
10 Catamaran
11 [banter – shoe]
12 5,6 Kids
13 I Fucked Your Dad
14 California Hotseat
15 Bloodgiver
16 Don’t Tell the Horses the Stable’s on Fire
17 We Were Sad But Now We’re Rebuilding
18 [banter – Rob]
19 Out Loud Hey Hey
20 Song About Old Roller Coaster
21 Buses/No Buses
22 [banter – two more]
23 The Great Dinosaurs With Fifties Section
24 Broken Dog Leg

SUPPORT Bear vs Shark: Website | Facebook | Releases at Equal Vision Records

A Giant Dog: September 8, 2016 Hopscotch Music Festival, Slim’s (Raleigh, NC)

October 5, 2016
By

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[screen capture from this video]

The addition of the Austin band A Giant Dog to the Merge Records team further bolstered the label’s noisier section of the roster. The band’s well-received Merge debut, Pile, is a hard hitting slab of punk-inflected hard rock, an old-fashioned paean to sex, drugs, and not giving a fuck. They’re well-known for their live performances for a reason, and theirs is the kind of music that calls for being listened to in a narrow, all-black closet of a room. Slim’s, Raleigh’s go-to for this sort of thing, fit the bill perfectly on this first night of Hopscotch Music Festival, and A Giant Dog lit it up for the packed house. Led by frontwoman Sabrina Ellis’s frenetic delivery, A Giant Dog proved you can play with both abandon and appeal. By the time they made it to “Sleep When Dead,” they’d pretty much established a mantra for festivalgoers settling into three days of non-stop music, and they’d proven once again that Merge knows how to pick ’em.

David Schwentker recorded this set with Church Audio CA-14 omnidirectional microphones hung from an optimal point in the venue. You may need to turn up the volume on this one a bit more than usual, but believe us, it’s all there. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

A Giant Dog
2016-09-08
Hopscotch Music Festival
Slim’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Recorded and produced by David Schwentker

Church Audio CA-14 omnis > Olympus LS-10 > WAV > Audacity (track, mixing) > Trader’s Little Helper (conversions) > FLAC (level 8) > foobar2000 (tagging)

Tracks:
01. [intro]
02. Creep
03. [banter/amp issues]
04. Another World
05. Lady Slut
06. Hitchhike Love
07. new song
08. Sex & Drugs
09. & Rock & Roll
10. I’ll Come Crashing
11. Photograph
12. King Queen
13. Too Much Makeup
14. Jizzney
15. Angst In My Pants (Sparks cover)
16. Sleep When Dead

SUPPORT A GIANT DOG: Website | Merge Records

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