Cian Nugent: March 9, 2016 Union Pool

March 14, 2016
By

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With his brand new album Night Fiction, the Irish guitarist Cian Nugent has followed in the footsteps of some of his other guitar proteges. That is, without abandoning the intricate guitar sound that brought us in to begin with, he’s also stepped to the mic as vocalist in a full band. This was Nugent’s first U.S. tour in that capacity, and the Union Pool crowd knew it, stuffing the place to the gills on a warm Wednesday night. With a crack band that includes Ryan Jewell (also of Ryley Walker’s regular outfit, among others) and Conor Lumsden, Nugent delved straight into the new material with a stirring “First Run,” one of the bluesier rock numbers in his new repertoire. As another review put it, Nugent didn’t exactly need to “find his voice,” but his new turn as a singer nonetheless felt assured. Things took a contemplative turn mid-set with the unhurried “Things Don’t Change That Fast,” one of the album’s centerpiece tracks, followed by the like-minded “Shadows.”

But if you thought Nugent was going down on a somber note, I hope you didn’t miss the show’s piece de resistance, with a surprise visit from Steve Gunn on the fifteen-minute album boogie monster “Year of the Snake.” Conjuring the magic of the stunning Desert Heat show we captured a few years ago, Gunn and Nugent traded riffs like the longtime collaborators they are, with both clearly feeling the energy of the room and the night. It was an absolute barnstormer of a song, with the two players so far in the zone you almost hoped it wouldn’t end. Cian will be back in town on April 9 at Alphaville — be sure to see him there.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones and a soundboard feed from Union Pool engineer Robert. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the show (minus banter):

Cian Nugent
2016-03-09
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK5 (A-B, DFC, at SBD) + Soundboard (engineer: Robert)>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, adjust balance of SBD, adjust levels)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 First Run
03 [banter1]
04 Lost Your Way
05 [banter2]
06 Things Don’t Change That Fast
07 Shadows
08 [banter3]
09 Year of the Snake *

* with Steve Gunn on guitar

If you enjoyed this recording, check out Cian Nugent on Facebook, and buy Night Fiction from Woodsist.

 

Sunwatchers: March 6, 2016 Palisades & March 11, 2016 The Studio at Webster Hall

March 13, 2016
By

Sunwatchers

Sunwatchers’ self-titled debut record was unleashed on unsuspecting turntables everywhere last week, via Castle Face Records. In celebration, the band embarked on a short tour bookended by two hometown shows: March 6th at Palisades for a late night vegan chili- and alcohol-fueled set, then March 11th opening for Yonatan Gat at the Studio at Webster Hall. We caught up with Sunwatchers for both.

The Palisades recording captures the band playing to an audience of friends and family who know what to expect from their jazz-psych excursions. Most of the record’s cuts are represented here, with a couple non-album additions: “There Are Weapons You Can Take to School” and “New Dad Blues.” For the raucous denouement of “Ape Phases” and “Moonchanges,” Sunwatchers are joined by Sam Kulik on trombone and Jesse DeRosa on trumpet to round out the brass section.

Meanwhile, their Studio at Webster Hall set finds the band among an audience who may not know Sunwatchers yet; but opening for Yonatan Gat, the open-minded had their minds opened indeed. For the shorter opening slot, Sunwatchers pared down to the essentials with album-opener “Heard of Creeps,” “For Sonny,” and “Moonchanges,” plus newcomer to their repertoire, “New Dad Blues.”

I recorded the Palisades set from the stage lip, combined with a board feed from Palisades FOH, Ariel, while Acidjack recording the Studio at Webster Hall set from our usual location at the soundboard with a board feed from the Studio’s FOH, John. The recordings each sound fantastic, presenting different shades of Sunwatchers—I highly recommend both.

Sunwatchers will be back in Brooklyn on March 22, at The Living Gallery. More info here.

Download the Palisades show at the Live Music Archive

Download the Studio at Webster Hall show at the Live Music Archive

Stream the Palisades show:

Stream the Studio at Webster Hall show:

Sunwatchers

Sunwatchers
2016-03-06
Palisades
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

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

Tracks [59:17]
01. [Intro]
02. Herd of Creeps
03. [banter]
04. For Sonny
05. [banter]
06. There Are Weapons You Can Bring to School
07. [tech break]
08. New Dad Blues
09. [banter]
10. White Woman
11. [banter]
12. Ape Phases
13. [banter]
14. Moonchanges

Sunwatchers
2016-03-11
Studio at Webster Hall
New York, NY  USA

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

Schoeps MK41V (at SBD, DFC, PAS) + Soundboard (engineer: John)>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, adjust balance of SBD, adjust levels)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Herd of Creeps
02 For Sonny
03 [banter]
04 New Dad Blues
05 Moonchanges

Support Sunwatchers: Facebook | Bandcamp | Buy Sunwatchers via Castle Face

Luna: October 6, 2015 930 Club Washington DC

March 11, 2016
By

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[photos by Matt Condon – courtesy of Chunky Glasses]

Last year was really the goldmine for Luna fans — a lengthy reunion tour with inventive setlists and universally strong playing. The band were happy to be back and it showed. We were pleased to have brought six recordings of Luna’s 2015 concerts to NYCTaper, four of them recorded by our friend Kubacheck.

There have been a couple of nice developments in Luna land this month. Firstly, the band will be doing more concerts, this time a three-show run through Texas in May. We also found out that we’re likely going to be getting some recordings from those shows. Another excellent development is the upcoming release of Britta Phillips‘ first solo album Luck or Magic. The album is due to be released on April 29 and can be pre-ordered through Pledge Music.

In celebration of these fine new developments, we’re posting a show also recorded by Kubacheck from this past Fall. This show at the classic 930 Club in Washington came on the heels of the Atlanta show where the band had performed the complete Penthouse album. This DC show is notable for the minimal amount of stage banter and for a real workman-like but very strong run through the best material from the tour. For a topper, Luna came back out a second time for an encore and delivered a bit of a rarity — a sharp cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch”. We’re hoping the shows upcoming in May will feature the same energy as the Fall tour, and I’m pretty confident they will.

Kubacheck recorded this show in the same manner as the rest of his generous contribution to the site, with his MBHO cards in an advantageous front of board position. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Luna
2015-10-06
930 Club
Washington DC

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Front of Board

MBHO 603a – KA-500 > Naiant Tinybox > Roland R-05 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by Kubacheck
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:31:44]
01 Slide
02 Chinatown
03 Speedbumps
04 Sideshow by the Seashore
05 Malibu Love Nest
06 Bobby Peru
07 Tiger Lily
08 Tracy I Love You
09 Lost in Space
10 Bewitched
11 Kalamazoo
12 Moon Palace
13 Friendly Advice
14 [encore break]
15 California
16 Time to Quit
17 Twenty Three Minutes in Brussels
18 [second encore break]
19 Season of the Witch [Donovan]

If you Download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Luna, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website, from Bandcamp and the Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks Records [HERE].

Pill: February 25, 2016 Palisades

March 9, 2016
By

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Pill seized our attention from the first time we saw them. Signed to Dull Tools for their first EP last year, since then they’ve been bringing their unholy marriage of free jazz, noise rock and feminist punk to haunts across Bushwick and Williamsburg, where you’re still best able, in this city, to find people who’re willing to “get” something that’s not always an easy listen. This band is a direct retort to the “nothing interesting happens in New York” crowd, a screeching, howling, shapeshifting rejoinder to anyone who pretends that all “Brooklyn music” means these days is low-stakes, people playing it safe. Frontwoman Veronica Torres hurls herself into the band’s sound, turning the room into her stage as she takes her final number out in the crowd, and while we’ve seen her do it before, it never fails to get everyone’s attention. Befitting the band’s rapid evolution, fully half of this show at Palisades featured new (to us) songs that didn’t make it to the EP or their last show, including “Vagabonds,” “Fetish Queen,” “Hot Glue” and “Medicine.” Of them, “Hot Glue” might have been my favorite of the bunch, with its consistent meld between John Campolo’s atmospheric guitars and Ben Jaffe’s sax, or “Medicine,” which features an almost-conventional chorus. But at this point in their career, really, seeing Pill is really about seeing Pill, experiencing the totality of the band for what it is, not one specific song or another. It’s the kind of experience that makes you grateful to be here.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK22 open cardiod microphones at the stage lip plus a soundboard feed. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Pill
2016-02-25
Palisades
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK22 (ORTF, stage lip)>NBob cables>PFA + Soundboard (engineer: Leeor)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, narrow onstage image)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Which Is True?
02 Vagabonds
03 Psychic Nipple
04 Misty-Eyed Porno Reader
05 [tuning]
06 Fetish Queen
07 Hot Glue
08 Medicine

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Pill by visiting their bandcamp page and buying their EP there.

Martin Courtney: February 13, 2016 Baby’s All Right

March 8, 2016
By

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There’s much love for the band Real Estate both at this site and in NYC in general, but that doesn’t mean everyone’s a fan. With the detractors, it seems that what bugs them the most is that Real Estate make things too easy — their music seems to positively roll forth from them in a smooth wave, with breezy melodies and approachable hooks, vocals wafting in a comfortable haze. That voice comes from one Martin Courtney, who rolled out a solo effort, Many Moons, last year. It’s what you hope for in a solo album — a scaled-back version of a Real Estate album in some ways, a much more personal, intimate album in others. If you don’t like Real Estate, well, I don’t know what you to tell you, because Courtney doesn’t abandon the band’s formula so much as peel back a few layers. “You will not find me wasting my energy” begins one couplet on the album’s opener “Awake,” and you get the sense with this record that it’s not a lack of effort by any means, but it is a great example of not trying too hard.

Courtney hit that sweet spot at this recent Baby’s All Right show, a venue which at this point feels like a second home for a certain caste of Brooklyn music regulars. This performance, falling near the end of the tour, had the mellow, easy feel of a weekend show before a friendly crowd. We got to hear the entire album, highlighted by the single “Airport Bar,” and the kickoff track “Northern Highway.” Of course, it wouldn’t have been a show by a Real Estate band member without some crucial covers, and Courtney nailed both the placid “Harvest Moon” and Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon” before the grand finale, with opener EZTV joining the headliners for a Feelies cover, “On the Roof,” from their second album The Good Earth. It was a night for the familiar, a night for the good, and one for a longtime friend to share with the people who were with him from the beginning.

The engineer Jason Kelly of Baby’s All Right recorded and mixed this set. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show (banter tracks removed):

Martin Courtney
2016-02-13
Baby’s All Right
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and live mixed by Jason Kelly
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard (main stereo mix) + Audio Technica 4051 (FOB, DFC, XY)>Pro Tools>4x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, adjust levels)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Northern Highway (fades in)
02 Focus
03 [banter]
04 Foto
05 Asleep
06 Airport Bar
07 Awake
08 [banter2]
09 Little Blue
10 Before We Begin
11 Many Moons
12 Vestiges
13 [banter3]
14 Harvest Moon [Neil Young]
15 The Killing Moon [Echo & the Bunnymen]
16 [banter4]
17 On the Roof [The Feelies]*

* w/ EZTV

Support Martin Courtney at his website and by buying Many Moons from Domino.

Rangda: March 4, 2016 Saint Vitus

March 8, 2016
By

Rangda
[photos by PSquared Photography]

When the first Rangda record, False Flag, arrived in 2010, it was a transmission out of the multiverse—from an alternate reality where Corsano, Bishop, and Chasny wielded their instruments for evil instead of good. The roaring cacophonies bore titles like “Waldorf Hysteria,” “Bull Lore,” “Fist Family,” “Sarcophagi,” and “Serrated Edges” (to literally list in order the first five of the six songs on that record), ensuring that Rangda was not for the psych-tourist or those with pacemakers. At the time, who knew if these three could sustain this cosmic energy, or even find overlap in three busy touring schedules to make Rangda more than a one-off supergroup.

Two albums later, even if they aren’t the most prolific band out there, Rangda is sticking around. 2012’s Formerly Extinct softened their approach only slightly, trading in the instrumental clash for interlocking rhythms and something resembling rock songs. Their latest, The Heretics Bargain, continues on that trajectory, making Rangda downright palatable. Songs like “The Sin Eaters” and “Spiro Agnew” sound upbeat, anthemic even. But if the album itself isn’t proof Rangda is drawing the newly-initiated, last week saw the band play their largest yet NYC venue and crowd, with a set focused most-heavily on Formerly Extinct and the new material.

False Flag is here represented by the sole “Bull Lore.”  Formerly Extinct by “Majnun,” “Silver Nile,” “Idol’s Eye,” “The Vault,” and “Plugged Nickel.”  From The Heretic’s Bargain, it’s “The Sin Eaters,” “To Melt the Moon,” “Spiro Agnew,” and the song nearly as long as its title, “Mondays Are Free at the Hermetic Museum.” For opening night of their tour, the band is on fire. I can only imagine the many realities ahead.

Rangda may be coming to your very hometown! Full tour dates over at Drag City.

I recorded this set from our usual location at Saint Vitus, the room mics combined with a board feed from FOH Nick. I mixed those two sources, favoring the room sound. The quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Rangda

Rangda
2016-03-04
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

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

Tracks [56:36]
01. Majnun
02. The Sin Eaters
03. Bull Lore
04. [tuning]
05. To Melt the Moon
06. Silver Nile
07. [tuning]
08. Idol’s Eye
09. Spiro Agnew
10. [tuning]
11. The Vault
12. [tuning]
13. Plugged Nickel
14. [tuning]
15. Mondays Are Free at the Hermetic Museum

Support Rangda: Buy The Heretic’s Bargain and other records from Drag City

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