Posts Tagged ‘ Aerco ’

Sam Prekop & Archer Prewitt: June 30, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3/Streaming + Bonus Download of April 7, 1999 Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC

July 8, 2012
By

Sam Prekop
[still from this video]

A Sam Prekop show changed my life. I was nineteen years old, set up to record in the center of a tiny venue in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Halfway through the set, a guy came up to me who turned out to be my college newspapers music editor. Impressed that I was one of only two people from our school (not UNC) who bothered to come to see acts like this (Sam was touring behind his self-titled 1999 solo debut), he more or less offered me the job. My relationship with music, and with writing, was never the same hence.

Since then, Prekop has continued to make his own unique brand of jazz-and-lounge-inflected rock, both as a solo act and with the better-known Sea and Cake, still considered his primary gig. A recent Sea and Cake show at Bowery Ballroom confirmed the continuing vitality and appeal of that band, who have a new record coming out. But Prekop, who for years has incorporated African and Brazilian rhythms into his guitar work, has more ideas than one band can handle. So, while continuing to record with Sea and Cake, he has put out a diverse range of solo records, from his eponymous 1999 effort that was essentially Sea and Cake-style material, to his latest, Old Punch Card, which finds Prekop taking a radical, ambient turn with his sound. This show at Mercury Lounge, featuring Prekop and fellow Sea and Cake bandmate Archer Prewitt (also a great solo artist in his own right), gave fans a miniature retrospective of Prekop’s career. Kicking off with a new, untitled ambient jam reminiscent of Old Punch Card, the set then evolved into a mix of Prekop solo songs from the last twelve years, as well as Sea and Cake classics like “Do Now Fairly Well” and “The Staircase”. Prekop and Prewitt played with the easy rapport of long-time collaborators, and even without any particular stage adornments or a backing band, the pair held the attention of the packed house for the full hour.

Along with the Mercury Lounge recording, which is my usual mix of Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed, I am offering the Sam Prekop show from North Carolina, which has not been distributed (at least by me) since the year 2000, as a bonus download.  The North Carolina recording, while made with a decent rig, is not comparable in quality to the Mercury Lounge show (in large part due to the jackasses talking in the audience), but features Sam playing with a full band, and is more focused on material from Sam Prekop.  Enjoy!

Stream “The Staircase [Sea and Cake]” from Mercury Lounge:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/03 The Staircase.mp3]

Stream “The Company” from Mercury Lounge:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/07 The Company.mp3]

Stream “The Shadow” from Local 506 in Chapel Hill, NC:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/05 The Shadow.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files: [Mercury Lounge] | [Local 506]

Download the Mercury Lounge FLAC files [HERE]

Download the Local 506 FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack 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.

Sam Prekop & Archer Prewitt
2012-06-30
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>CMC6>Aerco MP-2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (light EQ)>Audacity (set fades, mild DR compression and additional EQ, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC (level 8 )

Tracks
01 ambient jam
02 Something [Sam Prekop]
03 The Staircase [Sea and Cake]
04 On A Letter [Sea and Cake]
05 Between Outside [Sam Prekop]
06 [banter]
07 The Company [Sam Prekop]
08 Showrooms [Sam Prekop]
09 Don’t Bother [Sam Prekop]
10 On Such Favors [Sam Prekop]
11 Coconut [Sea and Cake]
12 Do Now Fairly Well [Sea and Cake]
__________________

Sam Prekop
1999-04-07
Local 506
Chapel Hill, NC USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Nakamichi CM300/cp1 (XY, DFC, 7ft)>Zefiro InBox>TCD-D8>DATM>CDRM>xAct>16bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, adjust levels)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 The Company
02 Practice Twice
03 Smaller Rivers
04 Don’t Bother
05 The Shadow
06 On Such Favors>Faces and People
07 Showrooms
08 So Shy
09 [encore break]
10 Do Now Fairly Well [Sea and Cake]
11 Parasol

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Sam Prekop, visit the Sea and Cake’s website, and purchase Sam’s records from Thrill Jockey [HERE]

Givers: June 2, 2012 Mountain Jam – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 27, 2012
By


[All photos courtesy of Dino Perrucci Photography]

We have been fans of the feel-good rock of Givers ever since we spent a balmy summer afternoon with them at the Backyard Brunch Sessions last year.  Nearly a full year later, they have seen their star continue to rise, playing large venues in NYC and elsewhere and finding favor with fans of all ages. This year’s Mountain Jam made the wise move of adding them to the roster, as Givers gave the proceedings a younger, more musically diverse flavor while still complementing the other acts on the bill. Unlike the stripped-down BBS show, this performance represented the band’s more typical stage setup, with fully electric guitars and a full drum kit for drummer/vocalist Tiffany Lamson. I was again impressed by the interplay between the smoky-voiced Lamson and the more youthful, sweet tones of Taylor Gaurisco. Unsurprisingly for a festival set, this hit all of the highlights of the band’s debut album In Light, including the hits “In My Eyes,” “Meantime” and the set closer “Up Up Up”. We also enjoyed rocking out to the band’s sequence of Talking Heads covers, when they segued from “Girlfriend Is Better” into “This Must Be the Place” and on into “Sugar On My Tongue”.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Ben Folds Five recording, with AKG 414 microphones set to “wide cardiod” mode. After some editing, the sound is good, albeit with a few spots of PA distortion early in the set. Enjoy!

Stream “In My Eyes”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/G1806Givers1102/04 In My Eyes.mp3]

Stream “Girlfriend Is Better [Talking Heads]”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/G1806Givers1102/06 Girlfriend Is Better.mp3]

This recording is now available for download in FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Follow acidjack on twitter

Givers
2012-06-02
Mountain Jam
Hunter, NY USA

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

AKG C 414 B-XLS (wide cardiod, 11ft, A-B)>Aerco MP-2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, imaging)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Saw You First
02 Meantime
03 Ripe
04 In My Eyes
05 Atlantic
06 Girlfriend Is Better >
07 This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) [Talking Heads]>
08 Sugar On My Tongue [Talking Heads]
09 Ceiling Of Plankton [Talking Heads]
10 Up Up Up

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Givers, like them on Facebook, and purchase In Light from iTunes or your favorite retailer.

Olivia Tremor Control: June 16, 2012 Music Hall of Williamsburg [Northside Festival] – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 22, 2012
By


[photos by acidjack]

After catching an exclusive acoustic warmup set the day before, we could not wait for Olivia Tremor Control‘s main Northside Festival set at Music Hall of Williamsburg. After short sets by the newly revamped Dinosaur Feathers and Laura Stevenson & the Cans, OTC took the stage and immediately tore into “The Opera House”, one of their most rocking numbers. Despite being on one of the festival’s bigger stages, OTC made the show feel like our own private window onto a living room jam session. The members chatted easily among each other, helped each other tweak their gear and evidently were still debating the setlist at points. While that freewheeling style could be a frustration with some bands, that is the charm of Olivia Tremor Control, who have always taken the “collective” concept of music-making to its fullest extreme (see, for example, the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Show I recorded earlier this year). An always-quirky band with a penchant for multi-part songs, sound collages, strange instrumentation,and acid-trip lyrics, OTC have always kept things weird, though they also have a penchant for pure pop songwriting that most bands would envy. Close your eyes at certain points in this set, and you might have thought you were hearing the Rubber Soul-era Beatles playing unreleased b-sides.

This 75-minute set featured many gems from the Athens, GA band’s landmark 1996 debut LP, Music From The Unrealized Film Script “Dusk At Cubist Castle”, including two of my favorites, “Can You Come Down With Us” and “Memories of Jacqueline 1906”, both streaming below. Of course, the band didn’t ignore the 1999 record Black Foliage, or some of their non-album material, including “Shaving Spiders” from the Giant Day 7″ EP. Although they have been back together for a bit now, fans are still anxiously awaiting a full record of new material from OTC, with onlyThe Game You Play Is In Your Head Pts. 1, 2 and 3 EP from last year to dig into until then. If this set was any indication, this is a group of players with plenty of musical vitality left – let’s hope they keep the project going.

I recorded this set from the center of the venue balcony with Schoeps MK41 microphones and an Aerco custom preamp to create a warm, vintage sound. While we generally are huge fans of Bowery Presents and their fine venues, Music Hall has always been a challenge for us.  On this night, I was not permitted to use the equipment we have used for the past two years to hang mics safely and securely from the balcony, making the placement less-than-optimal. Further, the house mix on this night left much to be desired, with the bass levels seemingly left at the settings from the GZA show two nights before. The recording was cleaned up in post-production considerably, and now is a solid if not spectacular recording by this site’s standards. Listen to the samples, and enjoy!

Special thanks to the Northside Festival.

Stream “Can You Come Down With Us”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/O6150OTC0212/03 Can You Come Down With Us.mp3]

Stream “Memories of Jacqueline 1906”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/O6150OTC0212/10 Memories of Jacqueline 1906.mp3]

Download the MP3 and FLAC files, and stream the entire show, on the Live Music Archive [HERE]

Follow acidjack 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.

The Olivia Tremor Control
2012-06-16
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (balcony, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Aerco MP-2>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, EQ, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:14:18]
01 The Opera House
02 A Place We Have Been To
03 Can You Come Down With Us?
04 [tuning]
05 Courtyard>
06 Spinning Continuous
07 Black Foliage (Itself)
08 [tuning]
09 A Sunshine Fix
10 Memories of Jacqueline 1906
11 California Demise
12 Dusk at Cubist Castle>
13 The Gravity Car
14 Spring Succeeds
15 [tuning]
16 A Sleepy Company
17 I Have Been Floated
18 A New Day
19 Grass Canons>
20 Hideaway
21 Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3
22 [encore break]
23 Jumping Fences
24 [tuning]
25 Shaving Spiders

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Olivia Tremor Control by visiting their website and purchasingThe Game You Play is in Your Head Pts 1, 2 and 3 from Secretly Canadian [HERE]

Ben Folds Five: June 2, 2012 Mountain Jam – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 11, 2012
By


[Photos courtesy of Dino Perrucci Photography]

As someone who spent their college years in North Carolina at the turn of last century, Ben Folds Five has always been special to me. A native North Carolinian introduced me to Ben Folds’ music, and the themes in the music – romantic frustration, fear of consequences, and straight-up rage at lovers who jilt you – found natural purchase in my young self. I saw the band a bunch of times between 1997 and 2000 in my then-home state, outdoors and on the quad, at the Cat’s Cradle and the Ritz. Folds and his band never disappointed, and his confessional lyrics – delivered with catchy, approachable piano melodies and vocal harmonies – were easy to sing along to (or not, since I was usually taping). It was a fitting soundtrack to a certain time of my life, made more special because the band were local boys done good. I’m sure their songs blared in my car stereo at one point or another on every state on the Eastern seaboard.

While Folds has continued with his solo work, BFF itself had not played a show together since 2008 until they took the stage on the Saturday of this year’s Mountain Jam in Hunter, NY. The memories came flooding back quickly as Folds began to pound out the opening of “Jackson Cannery” and by “Battle of Who Could Care Less” (always my favorite BFF song) I was back in full-on nostalgia mode. The band sounded as good as ever (even if the house mix did them no favors), and they gave fans a mix of their bigger hits like “Brick”, “Battle of Who Could Care Less”, and “Army” with older favorites and deeper cuts “Where’s Summer B.?”, “Uncle Walter” and another of my favorites, “Emaline”. More than a decade after their most significant albums dropped, no band is really doing what BFF is doing (please don’t bring up Billy Joel), and it was a thrill to see them doing their thing again. Even better, Folds indicated that the band will be putting out a new release some time soon. The band will be back in NYC for a Central Park show on September 14 as well.

I recorded this set with AKG 414 large diaphragm mics in “wide cardiod” mode. The first 15 or so seconds are marred by me making some adjustments to my preamp levels. After that, the only significant flaw of this recording is the overblown house mix, in which the distortion-pedal-driven bass guitar was at times too high in the mix. With those caveats, enjoy!

Stream “Battle of Who Could Care Less”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/B1998BFF0220/10 Battle of Who Could Care Less.mp3]

Stream “Emaline”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/B1998BFF0220/13 Emmaline.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]| Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack 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.

Ben Folds Five
2012-06-02
Mountain Jam
Hunter, NY USA

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

AKG C 414 B-XLS (wide cardiod, OTS, 12ft, A-B)>Aerco MP-2>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, EQ, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:23:43]
01 Jackson Cannery [fades in]
02 Theme from Dr. Pyser
03 Fair
04 [banter]
05 Selfless, Cold and Composed
06 Uncle Walter
07 [banter]
08 Where’s Summer B?
09 Mess
10 Battle of Who Could Care Less
11 Brick
12 [banter]
13 Emaline
14 Army
15 Kate
16 Alice Childress
17 [banter]
18 Song for the Dumped
19 Narcolepsy
20 [improv]
21 Underground
22 One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ben Folds Five, visit their website, and purchase their official releases, including their recent Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, at their online store [HERE]

Yellow Ostrich: April 12, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

April 16, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Yellow Ostrich was the first band I saw last year, at this same venue (Mercury Lounge). Back then, the band consisted of creative mastermind and frontman Alex Schaaf and drummer Michael Tapper, working hard to produce an on-stage re-recreation of the simple magic of the band’s then-current release, The Mistress. That record was one of those indie gems you might miss if you didn’t pay attention to the CMJ showcase circuit and the right blogs; it was a lo-fi, low-profile recording offered on Schaaf’s bandcamp page for free, and it was as simple and unadorned as a record could get. That sold-out show found Schaaf still finding his footing creatively and and as a performer; he was still a bit raw, but already compelling.

Much has changed since then.

The Mistress and its stellar reviews attracted wider notice, as good records tend to, and Schaaf signed to the Northwest imprint Barsuk Records, who obligingly remastered and re-released The Mistress, along with bankrolling the band’s new release of last month, Strange Land. Since that Mercury Lounge show last January, Schaaf has performed around the country in front of hundreds of audiences, and the band has added a critical third member, Jon Natchez, who has played with Beirut, Camera Obscura, Okkervil River, and The Antlers. What was once your favorite little indie bedroom project has grown into a full-fledged rock band with the songs to prove it.

This sold-out Mercury Lounge show was a valedictory one for the band, coming on the heels of a U.S. tour that took them to all corners of the country, not to mention its great middle (Wisconsin is where Schaaf calls home, and they have a serious following in flyover country). Not only are the standout tracks on Strange Land like “Marathon Runner” and “I Got No Time For You” already in top form, but older tracks like the quirky “WHALE” that first drew me to the band have been reworked with more layers of sound. Schaaf’s sweet, somewhat nasal voice and quirky songcraft have always recalled, for me, innovators like John Darnielle and Jeff Mangum. Schaaf, like Darnielle, has found a way to embrace a full-bodied, at-times-lush rock sound without losing the qualities of his music that make it unique. It’s appropriate, then, that he closed the set with one of the simplest and most plaintive tracks off of The Mistress, “Mary”. Even with all his new musical toys, Schaaf can be a pretty damn compelling performer without them.

I recorded this set in the same manner as I recorded Yellow Ostrich last year, with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a perfect soundboard feed from the Mercury Lounge head FOH. The sound quality, as with the last recording, is outstanding.  Enjoy!

Check out Yellow Ostrich on tour this summer with Los Campesinos! and at several festivals (including Lollapalooza).  Their next NYC dates are June 21 at Maxwell’s, June 22 at Le Poisson Rouge and June 23 at Brooklyn Bowl, each with Los Campesinos!  Thanks to the band for their support of NYCTaper.

Stream “Marathon Runner”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/Y1400YellowOstrich2110/09 Marathon Runner.mp3]

Stream “Heaven [The Talking Heads]”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/Y1400YellowOstrich2110/13 Heaven.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct download of FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack 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.

Yellow Ostrich
2012-04-12
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41 (ROC, PAS, 8ft)>CMC6>Aerco MP-2>>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (patch 25sec of one channel)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5(mixdown, EQ)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks
01 WHALE
02 Up in the Mountains
03 I Got No Time For You
04 Hold On
05 Daughter
06 Campaign
07 Wear Suits
08 [banter]
09 Marathon Runner
10 Elephant King
11 The Shakedown
12 [encore break]
13 Heaven [Talking Heads]
14 Mary

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Yellow Ostrich, visit their website, see them on tour with Los Campesinos! and at the other festivals they’re playing this summer, and purchase Strange Land and The Mistress directly from Barsuk [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.