Posts Tagged ‘ athens ’

Pylon Reenactment Society: July 1, 2018 Mercury Lounge

July 18, 2018
By


[photos by Chris Sikich]

Pylon’s influence on their contemporaries is indisputable. Indeed, over the years REM has consistently cited Pylon for their positive impact on the 1980s Athens scene. What’s become more clear in the intervening years is that Pylon’s influence is more vast than their local time and place — their revolutionary sound can be heard in new bands even today. Pylon was enjoying a bit of a renaissance in their third reunion period of 2007-2008 when tragically guitarist Randy Bewley suffered a heart attack and passed away at the age of 53. At that point, the band was formally retired and it seemed as if Pylon’s music would only live on in recordings.

After a few one-off local performances, in 2014 lead singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay re-formed the band under the moniker Pylon Reenactment Society. With the blessing of her two former bandmates Michael Lachowski and Curtis Crowe, Vanessa compiled a group of performers from the Athens scene who were both intimately familiar with the music and personally known to the band. Guitarist Jason NeSmith and bassist Kay Stanton were not only members of Athens mainstays Casper & the Cookies, but were also bandmates with Vanessa in Supercluster. Drummer Joe Rowe was a founding member of Athens greats the Glands, who suffered their own deep loss with the 2016 death of leader Ross Shapiro. Vanessa also added a new touch with this new configuration, as her friend and University of Georgia music professor Damon Denton fortifies the sound of PRS with skillful keyboards. So with friendship, familiarity, and a common ethos, its easily understandable that Pylon Reenactment Society has generated universally positive reviews as both an tribute and a celebration of Pylon, and a contemporary band with its own story to write.

Pylon Reenactment Society doesn’t come North very often, but we were fortunate to catch this month’s appearance at Mercury Lounge, a venue where I captured the original band in 2007. With a full crowd there to party, PRS brought the goods — an animated set of old Pylon classics and two new numbers all performed with the precision the songs require but this a new touch from a different skilled set of performers, all fronted by the inimitable Vanessa Briscoe Hay. The set began with “Driving School” and “Volume” from the first Pylon record, 1980’s Gyrate. Indeed, the show would include almost all of the first album and the entirety of Side A of the band’s second album Chomp. The set even included uber-rare b-side “Altitude”, a song with which we were unfamiliar until the fantastic release in 2016 of Pylon Live (Chunklet). With a twenty-song, ninety-minute set, Pylon Reenactment Society gave the crowd of old and newer fans all that could have been asked for — a chance to relive the old classic material in a new configuration with plenty of heart. We hope they’ll be back North again soon.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards set up next to the soundboard and mixed with an excellent feed and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Pylon Reenactment Society
2018-07-01
Mercury Lounge
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 1:28:45]
01 Driving School
02 Volume
03 Look Alive
04 Cool
05 Messenger [new song]
06 Precaution
07 K
08 Italian Movie Theme
09 Human Body
10 [band introductions]
11 Working Is No Problem
12 Danger
13 Altitude
14 Buzz
15 Crazy
16 Try To Do That [new song]
17 Feast On My Heart
18 Beep
19 [encore break]
20 M Train
21 Dub
22 [banter – thanks]
23 Stop It

PLEASE SUPPORT Pylon Reenactment Society: Website | Bandcamp | Buy Pylon Live

Mothers: January 29, 2016 Palisades

February 1, 2016
By

Mothers Palisades
[photo by acidjack]

Its a beautiful thing to watch the deserved ascent of a high quality band. Mothers began as the solo project of Kristine Leschper before the full band formed about eighteen months ago. The addition of three superb musicians has elevated Mothers to entirely new level. When the band played the NYCTaper CMJ show in October at Cake Shop, the capacity crowd seemed to recognize that they witnessed something special — it was the best received set of the day and perhaps my favorite performance of the entire show. In the intervening three months the band’s status has grown further, so as a result Friday night’s show at Palisades was absolutely packed. This was the largest crowd we’ve seen at the venue, as it was difficult to even navigate from our taping position upfront to the back of the venue during the night. Kristine did in fact acknowledge the special nature of the evening, and indeed it also happened to be her birthday. The band itself has grown tighter musically, as lead guitarist Drew Kirby, bassist Patrick Morales and drummer Matt Anderegg (from the Athens GA musical collective Marching Banana) are clearly in sync with Leschper’s unique melodies and advanced sense of tempo.

But the remarkable aspect about the size and the energy of the Palisades crowd is the fact that Mothers has not even yet released their debut album. When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired (Grand Jury Music) will be released on February 26, and this set featured four songs from the album. The show also featured one unreleased song that the band has been playing since last year (“Fat Chance”) and an entirely new untitled song. Mother’s will be touring extensively over the next few months, including a trip to London and dates at SXSW, and they will ultimately return to NYC in late April.

However, NYC is fortunate that Mothers hasn’t left town yet. The band has a show tonight Monday Feb 1 at Berlin in the East Village.

We recorded this set with acidjack’s Schoeps open cardioid mics mounted at the front and center of the stage lip and mixed with a board feed provided by house FOH Ariel. The sound quality is superb, enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Set:

Mothers
2016-01-29
Palisades
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Stagelip Audience

Soundboard [Engineer Ariel Bitran] + Schoeps MK22 > NBob cables > PFA > 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 and acidjack

Setlist:
[Total Time 39:05]
01 Copper Mines
02 It Hurts Until It Doesn’t
03 [Kristine’s birthday]
04 [new song – Lay Down]
05 Lockjaw
06 Fat Chance
07 No Crying In Baseball

SUPPORT Mothers: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter

Mothers: October 15, 2015 NYCTaper Unofficial CMJ Show, Cake Shop

October 26, 2015
By

mothers2

The “taping” community is not a large one, and among people who have similar tastes to us that do it, the number is even smaller. We’ve long-respected the Athens/Atlanta site Southern Shelter for both its excellent taste in music and its high-quality recordings, and we look to each other for inspiration for the next bands to check out. The Athens band Mothers is one that Southern Shelter has talked up for a while, making us extra-stoked to be able to include them in our unofficial CMJ day show. Other sites caught on in the meantime, with Stereogum naming them a “band to watch” just a day before our show.

The Cake Shop room was at capacity for this set, and it’s no wonder why: Mothers, whose debut LP is anticipated in 2016, truly are an up-and-comer you can’t miss. Frontwoman and songwriter Kristine Leschper’s songs have a depth, breadth and ingenuity that sets them apart. In addition to her powerful voice, the songs feature complex arrangements that at times recall math and noise rock — a part of Leschper’s evolution as a songwriter as the band’s debut has come closer to fruition. This band, like many these days, began as Leschper’s solo project, but its expansion makes it more than the sum of those parts. She’s got an excellent team around her, and during the four-song span of our show, they gave us a taste of their range. “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t” is emblematic of Mothers’ evolution as a full band, whereas “No Crying In Baseball,” one of few songs actually released and this set’s closer, is considered an outlier to the rest of the band’s style. We hear the influence of some classic Athens bands in their sound, including the New Wavers Pylon (who we’ve recorded twice) and Warehouse (who we caught this year). It’s easy to see why they’ve caught on, making several “best of CMJ” lists this year, as this is one of those lucky few acts that lives up to the hype.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones in front of the stage together with a soundboard feed from the Cake Shop engineer Jeff. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete set: 

Mothers
2015-10-15
NYCTaper Unofficial CMJ Show
Cake Shop
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK4V (onstage)>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard (engineer: Jeff)>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ, image)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Copper Mines
02 It Hurts Until It Doesn’t
03 Hold Your Own
04 No Crying In Baseball

If you enjoyed this recording, please like Mothers on facebook and check out their songs on Soundcloud.

Futurebirds: June 7, 2013 Mountain Jam IX (Hunter, NY) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming Full Set

July 2, 2013
By


futurebirds2013-06-07-2
[Photos by acidjack]

The Futurebirds have built a following in the grand tradition of rock bands of yore — touring like hell and putting on a solid show at each stop, whether they’re the headliner or the undercard. Thus, we’ve gone from seeing them at Union Pool (capacity: 100) as headliner in 2011 to opener for Heartless Bastards at Irving Plaza in 2012 to headlining Bowery Ballroom in 2013. Color me less than surprised that the Mountain Jam organizers — eager to broaden that festival’s base beyond the purely “jam band” scene but wanting to stock the fest with acts whose live show could pass muster — added Futurebirds to the bill. While being on the smaller Healey Brothers indoor stage may not have seemed like a blessing at first, this Friday of the festival had non-stop torrential rain from afternoon until late night, meaning this set gave fans an opportunity to not only see a great act, but to get dry for a bit. Those smart enough to do so got sixty solid minutes of Futurebirds, in a set that hit many of their live show highlights like “M J D”, “Battle For Rome” and “Virginia Slims” and left fans wanting more. Dressed in rain ponchos they didn’t bother to take off, the band’s energy and enthusiasm made a strong argument for an invite to the bigger stage next year.

I recorded this set with MBHO microphones at the soundboard. This room had a sub-optimal design for live sound, especially at the relatively long distance from the stage where I was setup. Further, there is some crowd chatter that can be heard from time to time. While this recording is not up to the standard of the site’s other three Futurebirds recordings, it is a worthwhile listen. Enjoy!

This NYCTaper recording is being hosted on the Live Music Archive.  You can stream the entire show by clicking the song titles below or download it via the links provided.

Direct download of the entire show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the full set:


futurebirds2013-06-07-1

Futurebirds
2013-06-07
Healey Brothers Stage
Mountain Jam IX
Hunter, NY USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

MBHO KA200N>MBP603>Roland R-26>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter)>Audacity 2.03 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time
01 [intro]
02 Tanlines
03 Sam Jones
04 Serial Bowls
05 Battle For Rome
06 Virginia Slims
07 Johnny Utah
08 [banter]
09 M J B
10 [banter2]
11 Wild Heart [Stevie Nicks]
12 Yur Not Ded

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Futurebirds, visit their website, and buy their records and merch from their online store.

Futurebirds: October 27, 2012 Irving Plaza – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

November 9, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Futurebirds continue to broaden their audience and appeal, as the Athens, GA band refines their live sound and, of course, books opening slots with well-loved acts like the Heartless Bastards. When I caught them last year at Union Pool, the venue and the atmosphere gave the proceedings a more boozy, party-band vibe. That isn’t necessarily untrue of this Irving Plaza set – it was Halloween weekend, the band was the only one of the night’s acts to roll in with Halloween costumes, and the crowd was drinking plenty – but the bigger stage and sound system gave the band a more commanding presence. Here, their music had a bit more of an epic scope, so much so that they reminded me of a pedal steel-playing, more countrified version of fellow Southerners My Morning Jacket. The band, whose last record is a live album that documents the strength of their live sound, is using these Heartless Bastards shows to work out new material, and three of those as-yet-unnamed tunes were on offer on this night. Together with regular tour classics like their cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Wild Heart” and “Johnny Utah”, this show reaffirmed my view that we’ll be seeing more of Futurebirds in the years to come.

I recorded this set with MBHO KA200N cardiod microphones from the center of the floor. Despite the challenges of the boomy room, with some TLC the recording is quite good. Enjoy!

Stream “[new song 2]”

Stream “Johnny Utah”

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

If the FLAC link is no longer working, email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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.

Futurebirds
2012-10-27
Irving Plaza
New York, NY USA

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

MBHO KA200N (FOB, DFC, PAS)>MBP 603a>Aerco MP-2>Sony PCM-M10>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ)>Audacity 3.0 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [new song 1]
02 Battle For Rome
03 [new song 2]
04 M J B
05 [banter]
06 Johnny Utah
07 [banter]
08 [new song 3]
09 [banter]
10 Wild Heart [Stevie Nicks]
11 Ski Chalet

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Futurebirds, visit their Facebook page, and purchase Hampton’s Lullaby directly from Autumn Tone records (on CD or in any download format) here.

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]

Olivia Tremor Control: June 15, 2012 Good Company – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 18, 2012
By


[Photos by hi and lo]

One of the benefits of presenting your own showcase at this year’s Northside Festival was access to the press/VIP lounge located at the Williamsburg bar Good Company, which was (heavily) sponsored by Jameson Black Barrel and featured ample free doses of the aforementioned spirit plus, more importantly, some rare and intimate acoustic shows. The highlight of all of them was this set by the legendary Athens, GA band Olivia Tremor Control, who are now fully back from their mid-2000s hiatus and working on their first full-length record since Black Foliage back in 1999. OTC’s presence at this year’s Northside Festival was a huge highlight for me, especially after they whetted my appetite by playing some OTC songs as part of the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour back in March (that recording [HERE]).  While the band would go on to play a proper full set at Music Hall of Williamsburg the following night, this unamplified acoustic performance on Good Company’s back patio will go down as the more unique and exclusive of the two performances. The loose backyard-type atmosphere suited a band still getting back into their groove with a series of high-profile festival shows (they have played Primavera Sound and are on their way Pitchfork). In a short half-hour set, the band hit many of their highlights, including “Define A Transparent Dream”, “California Demise” and “A Sunshine Fix”, each a pleasure to see reworked for the all-acoustic environment. OTC have released a 3-song suite on Secretly Canadian to tide us over while they record a new album, and we can’t wait to hear that new record when it’s ready!

hi and lo recorded this set with a pair of Schoeps MK5 microphones up close near the band, and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Special thanks to Northside Festival and the L Magazine, and to hi and lo for hauling it over to Good Company to get this recorded.  Expect to see a recording of the band’s Music Hall of Williamsburg set shortly, along with many other Northside recordings.

Stream “Define A Transparent Dream”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/O6150OTC0212/02 Define A Transparent Dream.mp3]

Stream “Hideaway”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/O6150OTC0212/08 Hideaway.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.

Olivia Tremor Control
2012-06-15
Good Company
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by hi and lo
Produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK5>NBox Cables>PFA>Tascam DR-680 (24/48)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, envelope audience noise, slight EQ, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Jumping Fences
02 Define A Transparent Dream
03 California Demise Pt. 1
04 Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3
05 [tuning]
06 A Sunshine Fix
07 Gravity Car
08 Hideaway
09 [banter]
10 I Have Been Floated
11 Hilltop Procession

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

Lyonnais: April 15, 2011 Glasslands – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 7, 2011
By

lyonnais
[Photo from Lyonnais MySpace page]

I fully admit to knowing next to nothing about the Atlanta band Lyonnais – except that they rock. The four piece began in 2008 as a project between two WRAL-Atlanta music directors, Farbod Kokabi and Farzad Moghaddam, and the two clearly have an affinity for drone, psychedelic and post-rock, as they layer on the heavy reverb and distortion without apology. Their music has become increasingly experimental, focusing on longer compositions that defy the traditional 3-to-6 minute format.

This show at Glasslands, opening for Eternal Summers (that recording here), gave Lyonnais a chance to thrive in what might be a more natural environment for a band of their style – Williamsburg. These five songs – mostly longer-form compositions – showcased their ability to combine dense, reverb-heavy guitar jams with surprisingly accessible hooks. Although all of the material was new to me, I hope it will become more familiar as the band progresses to the album release stage in the (hopefully) near future (their debt album is being shopped to labels at present).

I recorded this set from the same location as the Eternal Summers recording, and the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Please help out with the setlist – as the band does not appear to have any releases, the only source of song info I could find was their MySpace page.

Stream “Friendly Fires”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/L1540Lyonnais0211/04 Friendly Fires.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Lyonnais
2011-04-15
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021>Oade M248+Soundboard>>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/44.1)
Position: Center pole, 11′ up, X/Y
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, EQ audience source, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [unknown]
02 The Fatalist
03 [unknown]
04 Friendly Fires
05 [unknown]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Lyonnais, visit their MySpace page, and find out more about the band (including their forthcoming album release date) from Tell All Your Friends.

Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour: March 21, 2011 Knitting Factory – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

March 25, 2011
By


[Photo courtesy of EardrumNYC]

The Elephant 6 Collective is a unique force in modern American music, a merry band of collaborators whose psychedelic, Beatles-inspired songs continue to resonate with indie aficionados across the globe. If you aren’t up for seeing more than 10 bands in one place at one time, you should skip the E6 Holiday Surprise extravaganzas, because over their usual three sets in a given night, they will illuminate and educate you, as well as wear down the unready. This gig at the Knitting Factory was night one of three here in New York, and it gave immediate notice to the untutored that life in Elephant 6 land can be a little loopy. This loose-knit group of Athens, GA-based musicians has formed and splintered off into numerous bands, and the sets find the players rotating on and off stage, constituting a different band at each song. This show was a veritable psych-rock circus, with a giant self-playing organ, a trippy cartoon video interlude, a “coming of spring” game that consisted of various audience members trying to pierce a paper target with a tossed fake snowball, a giant snowman, and intense, unusual sounds. The various E6 bands – some of the better-known being Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System, and Elf Power, to name a few (oh, and of course, Neutral Milk Hotel whose reclusive frontman could be seen in the audience, but not onstage) – vary in their degree of pop sensibility versus psychedelic experimentation, but even the tamer E6 bands play with sound collages, obscure instruments like the theremin, and a playful, childlike sense of wonder.

For three full sets lasting almost three hours, the players treated us with some of the collective’s best-known songs: Olivia Tremor Control’s “Define A Transparent Dream,” Circulatory System’s “Yesterday’s World,” and Elf Power’s “The Well.” But there were more obscure numbers from lesser-known bands like the Gerbils and the late b.p. helium, as well as some new songs as well. It was an evening of the unexpected, a huge range of songs that is difficult to summarize. What was clear was that this collective whole is greater than any individual part. As they closed with a mammoth thirteen-minute version of Sun Ra Arkestra’s “Enlightenment” (most of which was played in the crowd directly under my mics), I couldn’t help but notice that these guys had put on a three-hour set and still seemed to be be having so much fun – and probably had another three hours left in them. As I said, Elephant 6 land is a loopy place.

I recorded this set with a four-microphone rig from our usual spot in the venue. Although the band’s engineer was a bit dissatisfied with the house mix, I think he was being a little hard on himself. With some of the room’s natural characteristics removed, the recording is excellent. Enjoy!

Special thanks to the Knitting Factory for their hospitality. Also, thanks to Southern Shelter (who recorded the Atlanta show) for their assistance with the setlist.

Stream “The Well”:
[audio:http://www.acidjack.com/E6Holiday/03 The Well.mp3]

Stream “Sail Beyond the Sunset”:
[audio:http://www.acidjack.com/E6Holiday/17 Sail Beyond the Sunset.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour
2011-03-21
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021+Schoeps CMC6/mk41>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: Slightly ROC, at soundboard, DPAs ORTF, Schoeps 1ft split, pointed at stacks, approx 7.5ft
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ both sources, mixdown, set fades, tracking, smooth peaks, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks

Set I [1:07:37]
01 When Father Was Away on Business [Major Organ and the Adding Machine]
02 Nothing’s Gonna Happen [Elf Power]
03 The Well [Elf Power]
04 Yesterday’s World [Circulatory System]
05 Karaoke Free [Elephant 6 Orchestra]
06 [banter]
07 Life Form (Transmission Received) [Major Organ and the Adding Machine]
08 Hideaway [Olivia Tremor Control]
09 Spiral Stairs [Elf Power]
10 [banter]
11 As Time Passed [The Gerbils]
12 [banter]
13 Lucky Girl [The Gerbils]
14 [banter]
15 Define A Transparent Dream [Olivia Tremor Control]
16 Hide In the Light> [Elephant 6 Orchestra]
17 Sail Beyond the Sunset [Elephant 6 Orchestra]
18 [banter]
19 organ instrumental
20 [banter]
21 [unknown – Music Tapes]
22 [banter]
23 Party With Me Punker [The Minutemen]
24 Temporary Arm [Elf Power]
25 The Opera House [Olivia Tremor Control]

Set II [1:04:42]
26 They Broke the Speed of Light [The Late B.P. Helium]
27 The Rabbit’s Ear [The Late B.P. Helium]
28 Out of the Water [M Coast]
29 Can You Come Down With Us? [Olivia Tremor Control]
30 [banter]
31 To All Who Say Goodnight [Elephant 6 Orchestra]
32 [banter]
33 Days Remain [Elephant 6 Orchestra]
34 The Lovely Universe [Circulatory System]
35 An Old Familiar Scene [Elf Power]
36 [banter]
37 Nothing For Sunday [Elephant 6 Orchestra]
38 instrumental
39 Majesty [The Music Tapes]
40 Glue [The Gerbils]
41 A White Sky [The Gerbils]
42 [set break]

Set III [44:00:00]
43 I Have Been Floated [Olivia Tremor Control]
44 Round [Olivia Tremor Control]
45 This Morning (We Remembered Everything) [Circulatory System]
46 [banter]
47 Two Skies [The Gerbils]
48 [banter]
49 Alcohol [The Kinks]
50 [banter]
51 Candy For Everyone [The Late B.P. Helium]
52 [banter]
53 Green Typewriters [Olivia Tremor Control]
54 [banter]
55 Enlightenment [Sun Ra Arkestra]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Elephant 6 Records, visit their website, and support the many fine acts on their label by purchasing official releases (including at the Elephant 6 Store, coming soon).

Futurebirds: February 26, 2011 Union Pool – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

March 1, 2011
By

All Southern rock is drinking music to some extent, and that was certainly the case this past Saturday night at Union Pool in Brooklyn as Athens, GA’s Futurebirds played to a packed, rowdy house. The band came on the scene in 2009 with a self-titled debut EP that showed significant promise, following that up in 2010 with their full-length debut, Hampton’s Lullaby and a visit to SXSW. Keeping company with bands like Drive-By Truckers (as well as Brooklyn favorites Motel Motel), Futurebirds play music that incorporates classic country elements but reaches a broader audience, partly on the strength of their songwriting, but also by signaling that they are more than simple nostaglists. Futurebirds songs serve up heavy doses of pedal steel and banjo (see “Johny Utah” for example) but they also reference the broader songwriting of artists like Neil Young and even the psychedelic scene for which their hometown of Athens is rightly famous. This show came on the heels of what was no doubt a wild Friday night at Mercury Lounge, and the band seemed ready for another big weekend night, giving us a high-energy hour of singalong-worthy songs from the album and the EP, as well as an exuberant cover of Stevie Nick’s “Wild Heart.” The last two songs of the main set were the longer, slower-building “Ski Chalet” which flowed right into the all-out rocker “Yur Not Ded.” In relative rarity for a Union Pool show, the band seemed to actually respond to the howls for an encore (one didn’t seem planned) with the rocker “Americle.”

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from the Union Pool engineer coupled with the Schoeps microphones on the balcony. Because the acoustics of the room can be challenging, the recording leans more heavily on the soundboard feed, which was nicely balanced. All files are tagged for easy importing into iTunes. Enjoy!

Stream “Dirty D”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F2602Futurebirds0211/07 Dirty D.mp3]

Stream “Wild Heart”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F2602Futurebirds0211/10 Wild Heart.mp3]

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

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Futurebirds
2011-02-26
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced for nyctaper.com by acidjack

Equipment: Soundboard+Schoeps CMC6/Mk41>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: LOC, on balcony, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, downsample, set fades, tracking, light compression, smooth peaks, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:04:02]
01 Battle For Rome
02 banter
03 Johnny Utah
04 banter
05 APO
06 banter
07 Dirty D
08 Sam Jones
09 banter
10 Wild Heart [Stevie Nicks]
11 banter
12 The Dog
13 Red Top Girl
14 Ski Chalet
15 Yur Not Ded
16 encore break
17 Americle

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Futurebirds, visit their Facebook page, and purchase Hampton’s Lullaby directly from Autumn Tone records (on CD or in any download format) here.

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