Posts Tagged ‘ acoustic ’

Ryley Walker feat. Garcia Peoples: June 20, 2019 Rocks Off Concert Cruise

June 21, 2019
By

When you’re already committed to playing a show on a low-ceilinged boat with stripper(?) poles and questionable stabilizers, you might as well take some risks musically, too. Last Saturday’s Rocks Off Concert Cruise with Garcia Peoples (recorded live by yours truly, natch) was a choppy-watered success, but I didn’t expect to be back on that boat quite so soon.

But the return of Ryley Walker to a New York stage (even if a floating one), coupled with the fact that his backing band would in fact be Garcia Peoples, was more than enough justification. If the weather outdoors was a bit more inconsistent this go round, the water presented fewer challenges and the vibes onstage were good as ever.

What we got here were two extended solo versions of “Summer Dress” (firmly back in the rotation, it seems) and “The Roundabout,” including an expanded take on Ryley’s hilarious Nick Drake imitation (practically daring him to turn this thing into an actual song). Walker looked strong and in command up there after a little time off, and in excellent spirits even when some rough water stumbled him away from the mic once or twice. After that set, the boat-tested crew from GP came and joined Walker for a thirty-five minute collab of psychedelia, drone, and other genres that Ryley’s Twitter will surely make jokes about this morning. The jam made an already-unusual show completely one of a kind, and yet another example of how with Ryley on center stage, you really don’t ever know quite what you’re gonna get.

Given the challenging acoustics of the boat, I recorded this set up close with Schoeps MK4V microphones in a mobile setup. That turned out to be a good decision — the sound quality is excellent. Hope you dig it!

Download the complete show from its page on the Live Music Archive

Ryley Walker feat. Garcia Peoples
2019-06-20
Rocks Off Concert Cruise
The Lucille
New York, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK4V (FOB, DFC, DIN)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices MixPre6>24/48 WAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 57:40]
01 [intro]
02 Summer Dress
03 [banter-pirate band]
04 The Roundabout
05 Rocks Off Jam

PLEASE SUPPORT RYLEY WALKER: Bandcamp | Dead Oceans

Daniel Bachman: November 22, 2016 Trans-Pecos

December 8, 2016
By

bachman-pecos_jeremy-wright
[photo by Jeremy Wright]

Of all the ultra-talented musicians that have graced the pages of this site, Daniel Bachman is perhaps the most gifted performer of them all. With no accompaniment, no pedals, no significant amplification and really just his hands, an acoustic guitar and a slide, Daniel is capable of creating whole symphonies of modern mountain blues. As one of the foremost contemporary purveyors of “American primitive guitar” music, Daniel has taken the mantle from such luminaries as Leo Kottke, John Fahey and Peter Lang and advanced the genre to a twenty-first century model.

This year saw the release of Daniel Bachman’s self-titled album on Three Lobed Recordings — a record that received a healthy dose of highly positive reviews and for Daniel, further recognition of his proficient musical output. We were fortunate to be able to present Bachman’s NYC album release show at a venue that fit the vibe of his show perfectly, Trans-Pecos. This show took place on a relaxed Tuesday night and as the substantial crowd filtered in, Daniel mingled among the fans, and when he took the stage it was as if he were playing for a room full of friends. The performer’s ease with people was apparent from his on-stage demeanor, but at the instant he began to play the room fell silent with attention and Daniel’s intensity was clear. Bachman worked through an hour-long set that felt much shorter in large part because its easy to get lost in the music of this artist. The set touched on his recent output and included about half of the new album. As we’ve indicated in the multiple times that Daniel Bachman has appeared on this site, this is a performer not to miss when he comes to town. We hope to be able to bring him back and present another night like this magical one last month at Pecos.

Daniel is currently booking a European tour for the Spring, but dates are not yet announced. His next performance is an annual Holiday show in Fredericksburg Virginia, info here.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted at the front of the stage and mixed with a board feed provided by our friend Joe who did a great job with sound on this night. The result is a superb recording. Enjoy!

Download and Stream this Recording from our Bandcamp page:

Daniel Bachman
2016-11-22
Trans-Pecos
Queens NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + On-Stage Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Joe Jeffers] + 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 1:01:59]
01 Untitled I
02 Bells
03 Watermelon Slices On A Blue Bordered Plate
04 The Flower Tree
05 Wine And Peanuts
06 [tuning]
07 Song For The Setting Sun I
08 Song For The Setting Sun II
09 Old Country Rock
10 [banter – false start]
11 Orange County Serenade
12 Untitled II

Support Daniel Bachman: Website | Facebook | Buy Daniel Bachman from Three Lobed [HERE]

Yo La Tengo: April 9, 2016 Landmark Loew’s New Jersey Theatre (Jersey City, NJ)

April 10, 2016
By

borklordCfpNOipWsAA6AYI.jpg-large
[photo via Bork Lord‘s twitter feed]

Yo La Tengo ended their most recent tour last Saturday at the shabby-chic Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre, a cavernous space made intimate by the positive vibes headed from the stage and to it. The usual contingent of longtime fans were out in force for this weekend show, and the band rewarded us with a setlist that reflected their Fade-era habit of dividing the show into acoustic and electric portions. As this tour wasn’t, strictly speaking, to promote last year’s Stuff Like That There, the band jumped around their catalog a good bit more, with the electric set a particularly sweet offering for the more improvisational-minded among us. The extended outro jam on “Before We Run” that led into the slow version of “Big Day Coming” was a strong moment there, as was the segue of “Sudden Organ,” “Autumn Sweater,” “Decora,” and “Ohm” that made up the bulk of the set. But that’s not to slight the acoustic set, either, where the acoustic treatment of “Deeper Into Movies” was particularly affecting, along with new favorites like “Rickety.” By the time the encore came around there were the usual calls for hyper-obscure covers (which the band has served up in abundance on multiple WFMU marathons), most of which were ignored, though we did get Wire’s “Too Late.” The band sent us off, as they often like to do, on a quiet note, with the noisy Electr-O-Pura classic “Tom Courtenay” rendered as a solemn coda with Georgia leading the way on vocals. Now it’s time for the band to enjoy a little downtime and recharge the batteries, as they await a handful of summer festival dates. Meanwhile, we’ll be excited for what they come up with next.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Yo La Tengo engineer Mark Luecke, together with Schoeps MK41V microphones. Given the challenges of the venue acoustics, this relies heavily on Mark’s soundboard feed. The sound quality is, overall, excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete set:

Yo La Tengo
2016-04-09
Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre
Jersey City, NJ USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Mark Luecke) + Schoeps MK41V (at SBD, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, re-image SBD, adjust levels, mix down, compression, limiter, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 2:13:34]
Set One – Acoustic
01 My Heart’s Not In It [Darlene McCrea]
02 Periodically Double or Triple
03 Rickety
04 Automatic Doom [Special Pillow]
05 Did I Tell You
06 Black Flowers
07 Somebody’s In Love
08 I’ll Be Around
09 Deeper Into Movies
10 I Feel Like Going Home

Set Two – Electric
11 [intro jam]
12 Sugarcube
13 Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House>
14 Shaker
15 Before We Run>
16 Big Day Coming
17 Sudden Organ>
18 Autumn Sweater>
19 Decora>
20 Ohm
21 Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind
22 [encore break]
23 Drug Test
24 Too Late [Wire]
25 Tom Courtenay (acoustic)

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, and buy Stuff Like That There and their many other fine releases from Matador Records.

CfpS5pSXEAAFO5c.jpg-large

Lee Ranaldo: November 13, 2015 Trans-Pecos

November 16, 2015
By

Layer 3CM2
[photo by Fred Riedel]

Over the years, we’ve seen Lee Ranaldo and his backing band, The Dust, in a variety of settings. Most have been small clubs, but this Trans-Pecos performance is the most intimate of all not because of its setting but due to the intimate format of the acoustic set. Though billed as a solo gig from Ranaldo, it turned out he brought along Dust-bandmates Alan Licht (who we caught doing his own solo set over the summer) and Raul Fernandez. Nearly every song is accompanied by a contextualizing story that illustrates just how personal each of these songs is for Ranaldo. Four new songs join the well-known tracks off Between the Times & the Tides and Last Night on Earth, followed by a rousing cover of Neil Young’s “Revolution Blues” in celebration of Neil’s recent birthday. That cover underscores the similarities between Ranaldo and Young, both guitar-weilding storytellers who effortlessly pull off the roar and the quiet, sometimes simultaneously.

This show wraps up Lee’s U.S. tour, but he has some upcoming dates in Europe. Those are listed here.

I recorded this set with the AKG’s set up at the lip of the stage, combined with a board feed from Pecos FOH, Chris. The results are excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Lee Ranaldo
2015-11-13
Trans-Pecos
Queens, NY

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

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

Tracks [1:30:58]
01. Let’s Start Again
02. Right as Rain
03. [tech break]
04. [new song]
05. Off the Wall
06. Key/Hole
07. [banter]
08. Skeleton
09. Xtina as I Knew Her
10. Home Chds
11. Ambulancer
12. The Rising Tide
13. Lecce, Leaving
14. Revolution Blues [Neil Young]

Support Lee Ranaldo: Website | FacebookBuy Lee Ranaldo and the Dust records from Matador

Michael Chapman: October 9, 2015 Tompkins Square 10th Anniversary (Rough Trade NYC)

November 3, 2015
By

20151010-MichaelChapman-1
[photos by Jill Harrison]

The English folk artist Michael Chapman is a true survivor (as one of his album titles suggests), with a 30+ album catalog spanning six decades. From Rainmaker, his 1969 debut, to today, Chapman has explored both more traditional folk and rock music as well as contemporary and jazz guitar, bringing his unique, emotional style of playing to each. Reissue labels like Seattle’s Light in the Attic are furiously re-releasing Chapman’s early catalog, giving fans access to a body of work that belongs in the hands of any devotee of his styles. Chapman’s most recent release of new music, Fish, came out on the Tompkins Square label, and the 74-year old singer captivated the audience for the label’s 10th anniversary show at Rough Trade NYC.

Even with such a massive catalog, this set still managed to feature material that’s only seen the light of day on the live circuit, such as the opener “Two Trains.” There was the song “Fahey’s Flag,” too, a tribute to the American guitar great, who of course Chapman knew personally. That followed with a new vocal track that remains as-yet untitled, followed by another very special treat — “Another Story,” which appears on the forthcoming Parallelogram box set by Three Lobed Recordings (sharing an LP with Hiss Golden Messenger, I might add). Chapman closed with 2000’s “Shuffleboat River Farewell,” followed by the Spanish-inspired tune “La Madrugada,” which first appeared on 2002’s Americana II. The whole of this performance was deeply affecting, notable both for its breadth and intensity. Chapman’s not just a fully qualified survivor, but an innovator at his art.

I recorded this set with Dustin Myer’s soundboard feed combined with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete set (minus banter tracks):

Michael Chapman
2015-10-09
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Dustin Myers) + Schoeps MK4V (PAS, FOB)>KC5>CMC6>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, imaging, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Two Trains
02 [banter1]
03 Caddo Lake
04 [banter2]
05 Fahey’s Flag
06 [unknown]
07 [banter3]
08 Another Story
09 Shuffleboat River Farewell
10 [banter4]
11 La Madrugada

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE visit Michael Chapman’s website, buy Fish from Tompkins Square, and buy his other releases here.

Yo La Tengo: October 10, 2015 Kings Theatre

October 18, 2015
By

yo-la-tengo-4
[Photos courtesy of P Squared Photography]

A Yo La Tengo show in New York always feels like a family affair, even if held in the sprawling, gorgeous new Kings Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn. (If you haven’t seen this space, it’s so spectacular that it might make the Beacon Theater blush). This tour’s format — an all-acoustic performance that highlights the band’s recent partial-covers album, Stuff Like That There — also lent it that air, as the band clustered together with ample space to spare, surrounded by artwork made by friends and family, plus the friends and family staring back at them from the audience. With this band, you can always count on the unexpected, so while of course they played their new “single,” a cover of The Cure’s “Friday, I’m In Love,” along with other highlights of the record like their covers of Darlene McCrea’s “My Heart’s Not In It” and Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Butchie’s Tune,” and the brand-new songs “Rickety” and “Awhileaway,” their set was more surprises than sure things.

I’d assume the band’s longtime friends in Antietam were floating around in the audience somewhere, so Yo La Tengo rewarded us with a cover of that band’s “Naples.” Okay, fine, maybe one would have anticipated that — but who would have thought the band would follow the ultra-quiet new number “Awhileaway” with a cover of the Minutemen’s “Corona”? And later, as if in a nod to us noiseniks who can’t live without the band’s extended improvisational songs, they gave us an acoustic version of “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind.” Of course, Stuff Like That There isn’t the band’s first covers-based album, so they of course had to take us back to the Fakebook days, including an excellent rendition of “Yellow Sarong” by The Scene Is Now. “Our Way To Fall” was as lovely as always, ending the main set on a subtle note. Of course the band came back, and of course it was with another excellent cover, this time Devo’s “Bottled Up,” with James taking his first vocal turn of the night. But the show’s final two numbers that will probably go down as its key moments, as the night’s opener, the famed English musician and songwriter Nick Lowe, joined the band for “Walk Away Renee” and his own song, “Rollers Show.”

As Georgia Hubley handles the vocals on many of the band’s quiet numbers, this format gave her a more prominent role. Added to the band’s arsenal for this tour is longtime partner Dave Schramm on second guitar, while James McNew ably tackled the stand-up bass. The soft/loud dynamic has traditionally been as essential to this band’s sound as their encyclopedic music knowledge, so the choice of an all-acoustic show — following a 2014 tour that had one full acoustic set before the “loud” second set — is a bit of a detour, but I can’t say I’m surprised that it worked. We’ll call this journey to the mellower side of YLT an unqualified success.

I recorded this set with the invaluable assistance of the band’s engineer Mark Luecke and the Kings Theatre staff. The recording is Mark’s mix combined with Schoeps MK41V microphones, and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC/Apple Lossless]

Stream the complete set:

Yo La Tengo
2015-10-10
Kings Theatre
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Mark Luecke) + Schoeps MK41V>KCY>Z-PFA>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (patch first song, align, mix down, amplify, balance)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Special thanks to Mark Luecke for his assistance and the patched audience portion of the first song.

Tracks
01 Tried So Hard [Gene Clark]*
02 Automatic Doom [Special Pillow]
03 Rickety
04 My Heart’s Not In It [Darlene McCrea]
05 Double Dare
06 Naples [Antietam]
07 Deeper Into Movies
08 Butchie’s Tune [Lovin’ Spoonful]
09 Awhileaway
10 Corona [Minutemen]
11 Today Is the Day
12 Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind
13 Can’t Forget
14 [banter]
15 Here Comes My Baby [Cat Stevens]
16 Friday I’m In Love [The Cure]
17 Yellow Sarong [The Scene Is Now]
18 Ohm
19 Our Way To Fall
20 [encore break/artwork intro]
21 Bottled Up [Devo]
22 [Nick Lowe intro]
23 Walk Away Renee [The Left Banke]&
24 Rollers Show [Nick Lowe]&

* no soundboard for first 1:20; audience mics are patched from the band’s source
& with Nick Lowe

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, and buy Stuff Like That There and their many other fine releases from Matador Records.

yo-la-tengo-26

Wilco: June 26, 2015 Solid Sound Festival – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 3, 2015
By

Wilco Solid Sound 15 Loerzel
[photo by Robert Loerzel from Underground Bee]

The Friday night Wilco show of the band’s semi-annual Solid Sound Festival has become the thing of surprises. Two years ago, the Friday performance became the now-legendary all-covers show that blew up the internet overnight and is by far the most popular recording in the history of this site. For this year’s Fest, the opening night set featured an all-acoustic performance with the band playing it in an old school centered microphone bluegrass style. While this configuration is not entirely new to Wilco — the encore segments of the 20th Anniversary the Fall tour featured a similar setup — the performance of an entire two-plus hour show certainly was a novelty. Additionally, in the long-form set the various band members got a chance to stretch their instrumentation wings — we heard some mandolin, accordion, banjo, slide guitar and stand-up piano. The show’s setlist was not particularly rare, but that wasn’t the point. It was the band’s ability to provide interesting new arrangements to Wilco classics that makes this show a special event. And, in celebration of the recent win for fairness, Jeff Tweedy saluted marriage equality by declaring in the middle of “Hesitating Beauty” that it was “so much nicer singing this song now that everyone can get married”. We’re streaming that track below.

Wilco will be on the Festival circuit for the most part this Summer, dates here. We’ll catch them again at the Gathering of the Vibes in Connecticut in August.

Our friend Pete recorded this show from the area directly in front of the soundboard with the hypercardioid Neumanns. As with all of Wilco FOH Stan’s work, this was is another excellent mix and the sound quality (other than the boisterous crowd) is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Hesitating Beauty”:

Wilco
2015-06-26
Solid Sound Festival
North Adams MA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded inside Soundboard Cage

Neumann KM-185s > Sound Devices 702 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by gr8fulpete
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 2:10:26]
01 Misunderstood
02 War on War
03 I’m Always in Love
04 Company in My Back
05 Hummingbird
06 Bull Black Nova
07 Handshake Drugs
08 Hesitating Beauty
09 She’s a Jar
10 One Wing
11 Kamera
12 New Madrid
13 Forget the Flowers
14 It’s Just That Simple
15 Airline to Heaven
16 Dawned on Me
17 I Got You
18 Passenger Side
19 Outta Mind (Outta Site)
20 [happy birthday to Mikael Jorgensen]
21 Whole Love
22 Jesus Etc
23 Walken
24 The Thanks I Get
25 Theologians
26 Shot in the Arm

Please note that the files are incorrectly labeled 6/25 on the download.

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wilco, visit their website, and purchase their 20th Anniversary Box Set Alpha Mike Foxtrot from their website [HERE].

Ty Segall: June 26, 2015 Mercury Lounge – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 1, 2015
By

ty 1
[photos courtesy of Will and We All Want Someone To Shout For]

We have seen Ty Segall in quite a few different settings, from a tiny DIY club, to two huge punk shows at Webster Hall, to a semi-acoustic night on the Sleeper tour at Bowery Ballroom. All of these various experiences have all added up to the same result — a powerful evening of superb music and a satisfied crowd. When it was announced that Ty would play a series of solo acoustic shows in NYC, we were confident that the nights would be yet another different but equally compelling experience of live Ty Segall. On Friday, he appeared at Mercury Lounge for an early show which would be followed later in the evening with a midnight show at Rough Trade. While the Merc show had fairly early doors, the sold-out show filled up the room quickly when it was still daylight out. This show’s setlist was very different from the one at Baby’s All Right on Wednesday (recording coming soon), and definitely veered towards the more mellow side of this catalog, with Sleeper well-represented. There were also three goofy covers (Devo, Spinal Tap and The Cars), the last of which we are streaming below. The newsworthy part of this set was the fact that Ty played a bunch of new songs on this mini-tour including four on this night. Our initial favorite of the new songs is called “California Hills”, and is a pointed indictment of California suburban life. Ty was joined mid-set by Wand’s Cory Hanson and the two meshed effortlessly, before Ty ended the show solo again. It was a short but sweet set and the performers had a good time themselves, as they messed around a bit with the covers, some cover teases, and one silly mock-up of Ty’s well-known song “Girlfriend” to rank on the guy in the crowd who wouldn’t stop screaming out requests for it. Ty has a few more shows scheduled this Summer out on the West coast, dates here.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cardioids set up on a stand next to the soundboard booth and mixed with an excellent feed provided by house FOH David. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

We also recorded the Baby’s and Rough Trade shows and those are coming soon.

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “The Feels”:

Stream “My Best Friend’s Girl” (The Cars cover):

Ty Segall
2015-06-26
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer: David] + 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 54:19]
01 [intro]
02 I Want Your Candy [new song]
03 You Make The Sun Fry
04 Crazy
05 The Faker
06 Baby Talkin Bitches [Devo]
07 [Cory intro]
08 Gimme Some Money [Spinal Tap]
09 [Spinal Tap teases]
10 Don’t You Want to Know
11 Orange Colored Lady [new song]
12 The Feels
13 Emotional Mugger [new song]
14 [Cory plays Girlfriend]
15 California Hills [new song]
16 [Cory exit]
17 The Keepers
18 My Best Friend’s Girl [The Cars]
19 [Candy-O tease]
20 Comfortable Home
21 Sleeper

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Ty Segall, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the Drag City Records website [HERE].

Lucero: November 5, 2014 Bowery Ballroom – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Full Set

November 26, 2014
By

IMG_8121

The three-night stand at Bowery Ballroom by the beloved Memphis band Lucero gave us a prime example of life imitating art. A quick survey of the band’s song titles gives you a clear eye to their themes: drinking, women, loneliness, women, more drinking. For the Bowery Presents gang, three shows by this band on the first three nights of the week has to be an early Christmas, as the fan base has always proven as willing to indulge the band’s favorite vice as the band themselves. What felt like a shift was the degree to which the band made booze the night’s central theme, from the bordering-on-annoying number of references to being (or having recently been) drunk from frontman Ben Nichols, to the beers being slugged by him not just between, but during songs, including a couple to which he forgot the words. Rock n’ roll has never been a teetotaler’s game, and it probably shouldn’t be. But when you’re a band at Lucero’s level — booking the city’s best venue for three nights straight at a tariff of thirty bucks a head — the line between a get-along good time and unprofessionalism grows thin. That glorified bar-band schtick also sells these guys short — Lucero have some great songs, and on the whole, they’re still a heck of an act at performing them.

All three of the Bowery shows, of which this was the last, were divided into an acoustic and electric set with no opener. This band is nothing if not giving, with almost three hours split between the hour-long acoustic and nearly two-hour electric set. The band came strong out of the gate with “That Much Further West”, and the acoustic set held together throughout, with the packed house singing along to Nichols’ often-melancholy lyrics (two songs with the word “lonesome” in a row, in fact). As the show went on, things turned a bit more shambolic, as Nichols helped himself to the shots being offered up by the crowd. In spite or maybe because of the whiskey flowing, the band’s electric songs took on a certain wanton urgency, with the signature tune “Nights Like These” earning many a fist-pump from swaying hordes in front. Nichols spelled the band at a few points to do solo or duo numbers, including a memorable “Last Pale Light in the West” from his first solo album by the same name. The final encore, “Here at the Starlite” was yet another tale of woe belied by the rock n’ roll swagger still holding together onstage. It’s a strange dichotomy, the sad songs and the party atmosphere they create. But for Lucero, it seems to still be working.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 supercardiod microphones from our usual spot in the venue. The microphones rejected much of the crowd noise, providing for a nice, balanced recording of the night’s proceedings. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Permanent links if the above are not working: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream “That Much Further West” from the acoustic set

Stream “Nights Like These” from the electric set

Lucero
2014-11-05
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (slightly LOC, PAS, at SBD)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (exciter effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (tracking, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Acoustic Set
01 Into Your Eyes
02 That Much Further West
03 Wandering Star
04 When You Decided to Leave
05 Across the River
06 Hello Sadness
07 Last Night In Town
08 Better Than This
09 In Lonesome Times
10 Other Side of Lonesome
11 Hold Fast
12 The Last Song
13 Ain’t So Lonely
14 Hate and Jealousy
15 Shelter

Electric Set
16 Downtown/On My Way Downtown
17 Kiss the Bottle
18 Hey Darlin’ Do You Gamble?
19 Women & Work
20 Texas & Tennessee
21 [banter1]
22 Union Pacific Line
23 Nights Like These
24 Sounds of the City
25 Chain Link Fence
26 I Can’t Stand To Leave You
27 [banter2]
28 Tonight Ain’t Gonna Be Good
29 Little Silver Heart
30 Sixes & Sevens
31 Goodbye Again
32 All Sewn Up
33 [banter3]
34 She Wakes When She Dreams
35 [banter4]
36 The War
37 [banter5]
38 Tears Don’t Matter Much
39 Fistful of Tears
40 [encore break]
41 Last Pale Light in the West
42 Here at the Starlite

Thanks to Kronosphere for the setlist.

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Lucero, visit their website, and buy their records in their online store.

King Buzzo: July 14, 2014 The Wick – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Songs

July 22, 2014
By

king-buzzo-5
[Photos courtesy of P Squared Photography]

For over 30 years, Buzz “King Buzzo” Osborne and the Melvins have made their own brand of heavy rock, ‘sludge’, an institution.  While that has had a huge influence on music, including helping birth the kinder, gentler ‘grunge’ genre, Melvins continue to stand apart from the crowd with a sound that is instantly recognizable.  When Buzzo decided to record and release his first acoustic album this year, the excellent ‘This Machine Kills Artists‘, it was definitely a departure from what he’s known for, but not completely unexpected from a performer who has been blazing his own trail for decades.  With Melvins being a favorite of ours and having appeared on this site several times, we were excited to hear that he was embarking on a solo tour in support of the new disc and relished the opportunity to catch his stop at The Wick, a new venue in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn.  Onstage with little more than an acoustic guitar, a microphone and his trademark hair, King Buzzo kicked his set off with the dramatic “Boris” and proceeded to keep the respectful Brooklyn crowd (aside from one overly enthusiastic attendee) in rapt attention for the next 75 minutes.  Peppered with anecdotes, observations and a hilarious story about Mike Patton, Buzz proved to be quite the raconteur.  His great combination of new songs, Melvins staples from their vast catalog and engaging, interactive banter made for a show that I could easily enjoy almost every night.

We recorded King Buzzo in the same manner as Mary Halvorson’s opening set with a stereo pair of Countryman B3 omni microphones placed onstage. While there is some ambient noise at times, the overall quality and clarity is excellent thanks to Buzzo’s sound engineer, Dave, and The Wick’s FOH, Joe. Enjoy!

Special thanks to King Buzzo, Joey Massa, Chris White, John Seroff and the staff at The Wick for making this recording possible and for their courtesy and cooperation.

Stream “Rough Democracy”:

Stream “We Are Doomed”:

Direct download of the complete show in MP3 [HERE]
Direct download of the complete show in FLAC [HERE]

If any of the links are no longer working, email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the files.

Follow Johnny Fried Chicken Boy on Twitter

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense.  The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission.  Please respect our request.

king-buzzo-24

King Buzzo
Monday, July 14, 2014
The Wick
Brooklyn, NY, USA

Source: AUD > Countryman B3 > MM-CBM-Mini > Roland R-05 (WAV @ 24-bit/48kHz)
Lineage: R-05 > PC > Adobe Audition (mixdown, downsample, dither, tracking) > WAV (16-bit/44.1kHz) > TLH (check/fix SBEs, FLAC conversion) > FLAC ( level 8 )
Recorded and produced by: Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

SETLIST:
[Total time: 1:15:47]
01. [intro]
02. Boris
03. The Ballad of Dwight Frye [Alice Cooper]
04. Suicide in Progress
05. [banter 1]
06. Dark Brown Teeth
07. Rough Democracy
08. Laid Back Walking
09. Drunken Baby
10. [banter 2 – Mike Patton]
11. Evil New War God
12. The Vulgar Joke
13. How I Became Offensive
14. [banter 3]
15. We Are Doomed
16. Hooch
17. Revolve

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT King Buzzo and Melvins, visit their website and Facebook page, and purchase ‘This Machine Kills Artists‘ at Amazon, iTunes, or your local record store.  And definitely go see Buzz and the Melvins live.  

SUPPORT 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.