Posts Tagged ‘ brooklyn ’

Alan Licht: January 6, 2016 Union Pool

January 13, 2016
By

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For my first recording of 2016, I got to witness the album debut of a New York music veteran, among a room of like-minded souls. We saw Alan Licht live debut many of the tracks that would make up his latest release, Currents, back in August, but he arrived at Union Pool this time with copies of the finished product in hand, and the ideas on it more tightly wound. Relative to some of his peers, Licht’s songs feel like they ride less on fingerpicking prowess (though that’s considerable) than on the strength of his melodies, which give the thrilling jolt of a good rock song even without the lyrics or band that typically accompanies such things. Like the previous show, this one began with the immediate appeal of “Riding On the S’s” followed by “First Lover, Haleema” from Currents, as well as serving up at least one track that didn’t make the record simply because it wouldn’t squeeze onto a side of vinyl. January shows are always a joy for the true music fan, as the cold weather tends to draw only those who really care, and that was evident in the pin-drop quiet room during these engaging, minimalist tunes. From the delicate “Uncertainty” to the melancholy and final “Seventh Song,” Licht showed off the strength of this latest cycle of creativity. Make a date for his next NYC visit, or wherever you might be able to see him.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed by Kevin Mazzarelli and Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is excellent, far superior to the previous recording. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show (minus banter tracks):

Alan Licht
2016-01-06
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Kevin Mazzarelli) + Schoeps MK4V>KC5>CMC6>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 44:17]
01 [intro]
02 Riding on the S’s
03 First Love, Haleema
04 [untitled]
05 [banter]
06 Uncertainty
07 [untitled 2]
08 Currents
09 Raw Deal
10 Seventh Song

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Alan Licht by visiting VDSQ Records and buying Currents there.

Alex Bleeker & the Freaks “Play Dead”: December 30, 2015 Rough Trade NYC

January 6, 2016
By

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If you were a fan of the Grateful Dead, and you saw the actual band live, then you’ve probably got more than your share of opinions about the various combinations of the remaining parts of it who’ve tried to transact on the original’s greatness. As someone who never saw the actual band (but has seen some successful and less-than-successful related projects), I’m not here to convince you. But for my money, there’s something rewarding, something essential, about watching much-younger musicians, with full careers filled with their own original material in front of them, paying tribute to one of rock music’s foundational bands.

I  loved the Brooklyn Bowl show that we posted by Alex Bleeker and The Freaks — that one a combo run through their new album and some other originals, followed by a “Play Dead” set that’s become a staple of many of their live shows. This one flipped that script, with Bleeker and pals offering up a 100-minute set consisting almost entirely of Dead covers. This — my final show of the year — was billed as the afterparty to Phish’s 12/30 Madison Square Garden show, and the celebratory air from that event (an especially strong performance from this year’s MSG run) carried over into the more intimate confines of Rough Trade NYC.

Overall, this “Play Dead” was a looser, better and arguably truer performance to the spirit of the original band. While the Brooklyn Bowl set consisted mainly of discrete run-throughs of each song, you’ll notice that this set was filled with segues, kicking off with “China Cat Sunflower” into a surging “I Know You Rider” before venturing into  cosmic territory with “Eyes to the World” into “He’s Gone” into “The Other One,” taking a short detour through “Dark Star” and ending up, improbably, with a Bleeker original, “Sealong Hair,” from their latest record, Country Agenda. After that came three more non-Dead tunes (two more originals, plus their regular-rotation cover of Mountain Man’s “Animal Tracks,” a fierce jam in its own right. Where Bleeker was joined last time by Real Estate’s Martin Courtney, here we had another cameo by one of his Ridgewood, NJ pals, Julian Lynch and multi-talented Dave Harrington (of many bands, but perhaps best-known for his work in Darkside). The band managed to deliver a little birthday salutation to Harringon in between “Tennessee Jed” and “St. Stephen,” which closed the set. By that point it was 2 a.m. and the club’s neighbors weren’t going to tolerate any more. For those of us inside, though, this was an afterparty that we’d have been happy to continue all night.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Rough Trade engineer Leah, together with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete set: 

Alex Bleeker & The Freaks “Play Dead”
2015-12-30
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard [engineer: Leah] + Schoeps MK4V (PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:43:00]
All songs by the Grateful Dead unless noted

01 tuning>China Cat Sunflower>
02 I Know You Rider
03 Eyes of the World>
04 He’s Gone>
05 The Other One>
06 Dark Star Jam>
07 Sealong Hair [Alex Bleeker & the Freaks]
08 Downright Stinson [Alex Bleeker & the Freaks]
09 Animal Tracks [Mountain Man]
10 U.H.M. [Alex Bleeker & the Freaks]
11 Shakedown Street>
12 The Wheel>
13 Tennessee Jed>
14 [Happy bday to Dave]>
15 St. Stephen
16 [outro]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, PLEASE SUPPORT Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, visit their Facebook page, and purchase their new album Country Agenda from Sinderlyn Records [HERE].

Kevin Devine: December 11, 2015 Bell House (Devinyls Splits Show)

December 15, 2015
By

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[photos courtesy of Sean O’Kane]

We always knew Kevin Devine was one of the nicest guys around — what I didn’t know was how ubiquitous is that opinion. Kevin’s current project is the Devinyls Splits, a six-volume series released in semi-monthly intervals by Bad Timing Records where Devine pairs with another performer on a double-sided 7″. The roster of artists who have joined in this project is both impressive and eclectic — from indie-vet Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) to new punk frontperson Meredith Graves (Perfect Pussy) to neo-folk hero Mike Kinsella (Owen). Kevin’s ability to attract such a variety of artists is admirable, but it was astounding that when he planned a tour for the series and invited all six of the artists — every single one of them agreed to play the three-show run. The opening night of the tour was Friday at Bell House and if the Kevin Devine three-album show from a few years ago (recording here) was a wealth of riches, this year’s event was even more fan-friendly. In the end, the show featured two lengthy sets that lasted over four hours, offered seven guests including mini-sets from Laura Stevenson, Tigers Jaw, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Owen, and Matthew Caws, many collaborations between the artists, some neat covers, and interspersed within it all, twenty-four Kevin Devine (either solo or with The Goddamn Band) performances. But somehow the night never seemed to lose any momentum despite many stage changes. Ultimately, it was Kevin at the center of it all, and as his fans intrinsically trust him, on this night he and his friends delivered in spades.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cardioids clamped to the front rail of the soundboard and blended with a superbly mixed soundboard by Bell House FOH Dave. The sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Cotton Crush”:

Stream “In Between Days” (Cure cover):

Kevin Devine
2015-12-11
Devinyls Split Series
Bell House
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Dave] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:23:20]
01 [introduction]
02 Ballgame
03 Cotton Crush
04 Noose Dressed Like a Necklace
05 No Time Flat
06 [Laura Stevenson intro]
07 The Move
08 Angel in the Snow [Elliot Smith]
09 Barnacles
10 Bubblegum
11 Private First Class
12 Little Bulldozer
13 She Can See Me (Bubblegum version)
14 [Tigers Jaw introduction]
15 For Eugene
16 Teen Rocket
17 Plane vs Tank vs Submarine
18 In Between Days [Cure]
19 Cool
20 [banter – splits theme]
21 Lovesong [Cure]
22 Buried By the Buzz
23 Carnival
24 Another Bag of Bones
25 [outro – Food Bank]

Set 2
[Total Time 1:55:40]
26 [Cymbals Eat Guitars intro]
27 Aerobed
28 Warning
29 Jackson
30 I Was Alive Back Then
31 Magic Magnet
32 A Story a Sneak
33 11-17
34 [Mike Kinsella intro]
35 No One Says You Have To
36 Where Do I Begin
37 Love is Not Enough
38 [new song – Quiet Like an Island]
39 [Meredith Graves intro]
40 [new song – People Like Me]
41 Took the Ghost to the Movies
42 Giessen
43 [Carey Brandenburg intro]
44 Lonesome Town [Ricky Nelson]
45 Trouble
46 [Matthew Caws intro]
47 Brooklyn Boy
48 Blizzard of 77
49 [banter – Fiscal Cliff intro]
50 Fiscal Cliff
51 Inside of Love
52 See These Bones
53 [band introductions]
54 I Could Be With Anyone
55 Yr Husband
56 My Brother’s Blood

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Kevin Devine, visit his website, Support the Guest Artists at this show, and purchase the Devinyls Splits Series from Bad Timing Records [HERE].

Superchunk: December 3, 2015 Baby’s All Right

December 6, 2015
By

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[photo courtesy of Ellen Qbertplaya]

Superchunk spawned one of the most revered independent labels, revitalized the music scene of two entire towns, and continue to inspire men and women alike to pogo at the stage lip singing every word. Few bands can claim those achievements, but even fewer can claim to have not only kept, but expanded their fans’ loyalty since the early 1990s. Mac McCaughan may well be one of his generation’s few ageless indie stars, as unabashedly confessional, athletic and compelling onstage as he was when he was in his twenties. What separates his songs from those of lesser peers is that those lyrics aren’t just reflections of youthful naiveté — they just say what they need to in the most direct, compelling way. It hurts none that behind Mac is a crack band (sans, sadly, Laura Ballance these days) that has only gotten better over the years; if many drummers are hitting the kit better than Jon Wurster at any age, they ought to count themselves lucky. And that doesn’t even begin to touch the humor of Jim Wilbur (who’s a pretty darn good player, too).

The band came into Baby’s All Right on this Thursday to follow up a performance the night before at Ground Control Touring’s 15th Anniversary, meaning they weren’t here to flog a new record or for any purpose other than to remind their fans exactly why they stick around. They rewarded us with a set that drew from all over their catalog, treating 2013’s I Hate Music and their 1990s canon with equal reverence. The sold out crowd gave as good as they got in terms of energy, as the people in the front didn’t stop moving, or singing, the entire time. The band may have joked before “The Popular Music” (from Indoor Living, 1997) about how they would sit around in front of a Britney Spears poster in their practice room and wonder if a new song they were writing would “make them popular” (Mac’s reply — it didn’t) but the reality is that, in the longer run, their efforts worked. Sometimes it’s quality, and not quantity of “popularity” that counts, and Superchunk has the former in abundance. For a certain group of people, Superchunk were a foundational band, in the same way other giants of the era like Pavement (or further toward the mainstream, Nirvana) inspired countless stints as independent radio DJs, memberships in variously-successful bands, and LP/CD collections that burden many of us to this day. In 2013, we called them “the best working band in America today,” and noted that they “don’t have a bad song in their catalog,” and those sentiments remain true to this day.

To be honest, I’m not really sure if they haven’t played the first encore, “The Breadman” single in more than 20 years as claimed, but I’m not going to be that guy who disputes the band on the Internet (according to said Internet, this was only the second time it’s ever been played). I will say that “Hyper Enough,” still rings true — rocking this night with an energy that belied its twenty years in the rotation, and a song whose central premise still rings true of Mac now as when he wrote it. And “Throwing Things,” which closed the first encore, well, it was as compelling as it was when it first appeared on No Pocky for Kitty in 1991. True to their nature, the band came out for a second encore, and closed with “Slack Motherfucker.” Balance wrote the song back in 1990 and, whoever it was addressed to at the time, Mac has proven to be anything but.

I recorded this set with Superchunk FOH Matthew Barnhart’s soundboard mix, together with Audio Technica 4051 microphones onstage. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show (minus banter tracks and encore breaks):

Superchunk
2015-12-03
Baby’s All Right
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Matthew Barnhart) + Audio Technica 4051 (onstage)>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, adjust width, fades, very light compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:24:15]
01 [intro]
02 Like A Fool
03 Cursed Mirror
04 Hello Hawk
05 Good Dreams
06 Me & You & Jackie Mittoo
07 Punch Me Harder
08 On the Mouth
09 [banter1]
10 Rosemarie
11 Kicked In
12 Iron On
13 The Popular Music
14 Low F
15 Crossed Wires
16 Detroit Has A Skyline
17 Driveway to Driveway
18 Digging for Something
19 [encore break]
20 The Breadman
21 Hyper Enough
22 Throwing Things
23 [encore break 2]
24 Slack Motherfucker

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Superchunk, visit their website, and purchase their albums directly from Merge Records [HERE].

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[photo by Lauren Epstein]

Invisible Familiars: November 23, 2015 Manhattan Inn

December 2, 2015
By

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Jared Samuel’s name shows up a good bit around these parts; even at a young age (tonight was almost his 26th birthday) the guy has already established himself as a go-to player for touring and local acts alike. Invisible Familiars gives Samuel a chance to stretch his wings as frontman, and he proves that no matter the setting, he’s able to deliver a compelling performance. In this case, he and his band (which has a rotating cast that includes Rachel Housley on backup vocals) performed in the round at the Manhattan Inn, which is becoming a go-to Greenpoint venue thanks to Hypnocraft taking over as the booking agent. It’s not always easy to give a full-on rock performance on the floor of a restaurant that advertises itself as a piano bar, but Invisible Familiars pulled that off, even with a more stripped-down instrumental lineup.

We’ve also seen Samuel appear several times with The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, Sean Lennon’s latest vehicle, and Invisible Familiars’ live sound suggests that not all of the Beatlesque flourishes of the former band came from the Lennon side. Samuel’s work shows a ready acquaintance with both the melody and vocal stylings that the world’s most revered rock band pioneered, but that classicism is anchored on the band’s 2015 debut Disturbing Wildlife with a delightfully modern dose of the weird, delivered in the form of keyboard and electronic flourishes. Those pieces weren’t on hand for this show, which required the songs to lean more heavily on their songwriting and melody. Needless to say, Invisible Familiars scored without those accoutrements, especially on “Clever Devil” and “Elaine Serene,” as well as “Digger’s Invitation.” The latter song is likely the source of another favorable comparison Samuel has earned — to Marc Bolan — and this pure rock song swaggers in a manner familiar to any T. Rex fan. There were also a couple of choice covers in this set, including of Henry Mancini’s “Lujon.” Don’t wait until next year to see Invisible Familiars — you can catch them at a Sunday residency at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan all this month.

I recorded this set with Audio Technica 4051 microphones in front of the band, together with a soundboard feed that primarily supplied vocals. There are a few moments where the vocal PA distorted, but for the most part, the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Invisible Familiars
2015-11-23
Manhattan Inn
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Audio Technica 4051 (onstage)>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (fades, adjust levels, align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, imaging, EQ)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 You & Yr Arrow
02 Clever Devil
03 [banter1]
04 Elaine Serene
05 Heavenly, All
06 Lujon [Henry Mancini]
07 Act One
08 [banter2]
09 New Mutation Boogie
10 Sideways Rain [Paul Dooley]
11 Digger’s Invitation
12 [banter3]
13 Disturbing Wildlife

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Invisible Familiars, like them on Facebook, and buy Disturbing Wildlife here.

Oneida: November 21, 2015 Secret Project Robot (Pre-Thanksgiving Potluck)

November 30, 2015
By

Oneida

There is no band more emblematic of the Brooklyn music community than Oneida. From jam sessions in the band’s former Ocropolis studio to the Thank Your Parents weekender; from Brahloweens past to the NYCTaper Anniversary show; from the holiday Oneida Fest at the old Knit to this year’s Thanksgiving potluck, there’s a truly unique binding of community around Oneida’s music. On the weekend before Thanksgiving, friends and family gathered for a celebration of music and food. Admission was free at the door if you brought food and I can almost guarantee not a dollar was exchanged. Around two full tables of food including a turkey, plus all the trimmings and desserts you could imagine, friends old and new gathered to eat off paper plates and see two long-form Oneida sets bookending a set from New Pope (featuring Bobby and Kid Millions of course). For the first set Oneida is joined by Dave Kadden on clarinet; and for the second it’s an epic, extended nine-piece Oneida barreling through forty improvised minutes. To give thanks for Oneida seems a bit silly when there are so many other things to be thankful for. Yet there’s something here greater than just a band or a collection of songs and records—and it’s that intangible greater thing, call it community or simply shared experience, for which we can all be thankful.

I recorded this set with the AKG’s flown high at the back of the room, with a board feed from Secret Project Robot FOH Erik, which supplied much of the vocals. The sound isn’t perfect, but it captures an event. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show:

Oneida

Oneida
2015-11-21
Secret Project Robot
Brooklyn, NY

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

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

Tracks [1:16:29]
01. Potluck Improvisation 1
02. Potluck Improvisation 2

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Oneida. Visit their website, like them on Facebook, and buy the Positions EP from Rocket Recordings.

Courtesy Tier: November 3, 2015 Rough Trade BK

November 18, 2015
By

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[photo by nyctaper]

Its been too long since we last attended and recorded a Courtesy Tier performance — five years to be exact. The silver lining to that kind of missed opportunity is to witness a sort of time lapse of talent that was saw at Rough Trade last week. Courtesy Tier is a much bigger, more powerful and more refined outfit than we saw a half-decade ago. That is not to say that the band wasn’t quite excellent back in 2010, when their energy and potential excited us enough to invite them to our CMJ show that year. But in 2015, Courtesy Tier is an impressive, fully-realized unit and their set at Rough Trade was a revelation. This show was an EP release party for their newest Little Rock, a three-song collection that was performed in the heart of the set. The balance of this Courtesy Tier show was a textbook example of a trio playing on all cylinders with Omer Leibovitz’s crunchy guitar out front and supported by the aggressive rhythm section of drummer Layton Weederman and the newest member of the band, bassist Alex Picca. The band played a couple of new songs, but when it came time to close the night, one of the final numbers went all the way back to those nights in 2010, and this time around “Cold” was a kind of victory lap for a band that is definitely these days playing from the win column.

I recorded this set by placing the Schoeps cards mounted front and center of the soundboard booth, and mixing the audience capture with a fine soundboard feed provided by the band’s excellent FOH Matthew Curtis. The sound quality if this recording is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Courtesy Tier
2015-11-03
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Matthew Curtis] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 44:17]
01 Mila Says
02 Childish Blues
03 Down Easy
04 Green
05 Little Rock
06 [banter – growls]
07 Shape I’m In
08 [band introductions]
09 And We Don’t Know
10 Cold
11 Home

If you Download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Courtesy Tier, visit their website, and purchase their new EP Little Rock from the links at their website [HERE].

Alex Bleeker and The Freaks: November 12, 2015 Brooklyn Bowl (2 Sources)

November 17, 2015
By

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[photo courtesy of Jackson Richards]

Alex Bleeker and The Freaks treated us to two concerts on Thursday night at Brooklyn Bowl. As the release party for the new album Country Agenda, the first set was an extremely well-played run through much of the record with some older Freaks tunes, and one outstanding cover. The second set was the Freaks “Play Dead” — a guest-filled performance of Grateful Dead tunes, similar to what the band did in Chicago in July.

Country Agenda struck me most upon first listen as an album with superb production values. The sound quality is absurdly good, but what’s more compelling is that the songs have a feel that is consistent with the music. While others have pointed to the American Beauty / Workingman’s Dead qualities of the songs, this album very much more resembles a Laurel Canyon record and the offshoots of that movement. For the live performance, what substituted for the production values of the record was the tightness of the band. The Freaks were extremely well rehearsed and wired into each other — this is a band of both talent and commitment and the performance proved that. But this was also a night when the Freaks had some fun and let loose. The jamming aspect of this show began with the final number of the first set, an extended cover of Ricky Skaggs’ “Gone Home,” and continued throughout the second set of Grateful Dead music. Among the Dead songs, the one that jumped out most was the Martin Courtney (Bleeker’s bandmate in his other project, Real Estate) appearance for “Here Comes Sunshine”, which featured Courtney’s unique vocals and a tight three-guitar attack (thanks to the addition of Courtney) that nailed what is otherwise a difficult song to pull off. By “difficult,” I mean that the Grateful Dead themselves stopped playing it for a couple of decades because of timing difficulties. The night ended in very sweet fashion, as the uber-talent Steve Gunn led the band through a profound version of “Wharf Rat.” In total, Alex Bleeker and The Freaks provided us with two sets and well over two hours of music featuring both the band’s superb new album and a fun set of Dead covers. It was a tremendous night and fortunately it will be repeated soon. The band will once again “Play Dead” on December 30 at Rough Trade.

Acidjack and I both recorded this set with separate rigs. We shared a superb board feed provided by Brooklyn Bowl’s FOH (we need help with his name to give full credit) and we both ran Schoeps from the middle of the room. I used the Schoeps CCM4 cardioids and acidjack ran his MK41V supercardiods. The sound in the room was also quite excellent (including very little crowd chatter). The nyctaper mix favors the audience feed (about 65/35 in favor of the room), while the acidjack mix accentuates the well-mixed board feed. The sound quality of both mixes is superb but offer different approaches to this show. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show:
nyctaper source [MP3] / [FLAC]
acidjack source [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show (nyctaper source):

Stream the Complete Show (acidjack source):

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, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

Alex Bleeker and The Freaks
2015-11-12
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:03:37]
01 Little Dream I Had
02 California
03 See You On Sunday
04 [false start]
05 Country Agenda
06 Portrait
07 The Rest
08 Sealong Hair
09 Honey I Don’t Know
10 Downright Stinson
11 Leave On the Light
12 U.H.M.
13 [banter – new record]
14 Gone Home [Ricky Skaggs]

Set 2
[Total Time 1:14:41]
15 Viola Lee Blues
16 Tennessee Jed
17 Jack Straw
18 [Martin Courtney intro]
19 Here Comes Sunshine
20 He’s Gone
21 The Other One
22 He’s Gone Reprise
23 [Steve Gunn intro]
24 Wharf Rat

*******************************************************

Alex Bleeker & The Freaks
2015-11-12
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41V (A-B)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Set 1 [Total Time: 1:03:42]
01 Little Dream I Had
02 California
03 See You On Sunday
04 [banter1]
05 Country Agenda
06 Portrait
07 The Rest
08 Sealong Hair
09 Honey, I Don’t Know
10 Downright Stinson
11 Leave On the Light
12 U.H.M.
13 [banter2]
14 Gone Home [Ricky Skaggs]

Set 2 – Grateful Dead cover set [Total Time: 1:14:44]
01 Viola Lee Blues
02 Tennessee Jed
03 Jack Straw
04 [banter3]
05 Here Comes Sunshine %
06 He’s Gone> %
07 The Other One>He’s Gone %
08 [banter4]
09 Wharf Rat $
% w/ Martin Courtney
$ w/ Steve Gunn

If you Download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, visit their Facebook page, and purchase their new album Country Agenda from Sinderlyn Records [HERE].

Kaki King and Kiran Gandhi: October 26, 2015 The Hum at Manhattan Inn

November 13, 2015
By

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[photos by Amanda Hatfield]

I believe its safe to say that at this point The Hum music series has been an unqualified success. The concept was a unique one — place together various female performers from diverse backgrounds and let them make music. But in practice, it has become so much more than that. The results of these performances have created friendships, bonds, working relationships and as we’ve experienced live, absolutely breathtaking musical accomplishments. In the Spring, we attended and recorded all four of the sessions at the Manhattan Inn. This Fall, various commitments prevented us from attending all but one of the nights. But fortunately, the night we attended was a superb presentation and contained what for me is the most compelling performance of the entire series — the duo between uber-guitarist Kaki King and supreme percussionist Kiran Gandhi.

We were familiar with Kaki King, most notably from her supporting slot on the 2008 Mountain Goats tour. But her career has spanned more than a decade and includes eight albums. In the recent past she has released instrumental (Glow) and multi-media pieces (The Neck Is The Bridge To The Body) and that format gave a nice backdrop to this Hum show. Our only familiarity with Kiran Gandhi was that she was the drummer on recent M.I.A. tours — but a little of bit of research revealed that Kiran is truly a remarkable human being. She has toured internationally with M.I.A. and Thievery Corporation while simultaneously achieving an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She has her own TED Talk, is a mathematics genius, oh and yeah, ran the London Marathon — all by the age of 25.

The set begins with Kiran’s sincere thanks to the Hum and to its founder Rachael Pazdan. As Kaki began the opening riff, the duo flowed effortlessly into what we believe is an original composition for this night, a track titled with both performers’ last names. Thematically, the opening number is similar to the songs that followed which include two numbers from Kaki King’s recent albums (Glow and The Neck). “Wazey” is a Madame Ghandi song that became the centerpiece for the set when Kiran involved the very willing crowd over whom she harmonized a coda to the song. It was a moment that truly captures the sense of discovery and community that The Hum has created and brought and end to this installment of the series with a very appropriate close. The Hum will return, likely in early 2016.

I recorded this set as we did the Spring, with Sennheiser cardioid microphones mounted on stage and mixed a board feed. The sound quality of this particular recording is quite remarkable, as the instruments are clear and panned in the appropriate layout of the room. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream The Complete Show:

Kaki King and Kiran Gandhi
2015-10-26
The Hum
Manhattan Inn
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + On-Stage Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (mixing) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3/tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 33:42]
01 [introduction]
02 King Gandhi
03 Cargo Cult
04 Distillery
05 Oobleck
06 Wazey
07 Percussion Breakdown
08 [thanks]
09 Dad Band

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, PLEASE SUPPORT these amazing artists:
KAKI KING and KIRAN GANDHI.

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The Loom: November 1, 2015 Union Pool

November 12, 2015
By

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It’s never an easy feat, as a band, to shift stylistically without losing your soul. There are examples, of course — Radiohead’s hard-left from mainstream Britpop to IDM weirdos stands out as a major one — but it’s a huge challenge to court a new fan base while keeping the one you have. NYCTaper and The Loom go back to 2008, when it’d be fair to say they were a mellow-hued folk band. When I caught them in a backyard in 2010, it seemed well within reason that they’d be playing acoustic, with a homemade washtub bass and Lis Rubard’s horns wafting over John Fanning and Sarah Renfro’s dual vocals. In 2012, at Glasslands, it was clear that things were changing — their tastes in who they shared the stage with, for one — but you’d still have recognized that band you heard about from 2008.

Fast forward to Union Pool at the end of 2015, with a new bassist and drummer and two albums’ worth of material awaiting release.  This band opened for Moon Duo recently, and you can see the shift in emphasis in everything from Fanning’s cranked vocal reverb to the darker, psychedelic guitar tone. The two new players, John Mosloskie on bass and Mike Rasimas on drums, change that dynamic as well, providing a more emphatic and punchy backbeat to go with the overall heavier sound. Rubard’s horns haven’t been jettisoned, thankfully, but in the new context they add a ghostly mourn under the swirl of guitars, bass, drums and Rubard’s keyboards, rather than taking center stage. This set showed off amped-up versions of new songs we’d heard before (“Fire Makes,” “Like Lamp Glow,” “The Reading Room”) as well as brand-new compositions such as “I Am Not Young,” perhaps the definitive statement on the band’s new direction. Even on the Sunday after Halloween, or as one might call it, “the worst possible night for a show ever other than Christmas Eve,” The Loom proved their mettle by drawing a crowd of the faithful who seemed fully committed to the new direction. If anyone was put off by the unabashed rocking-ness of “Your Wilderness Years,” for example, they didn’t show it — and I might’ve seen a few air guitars going in that audience, too. At this point, this is a veteran band, and it’s a reward to see them stretch their wings, especially after a period of introspection by Fanning as lead songwriter. The result, along with a more muscular sound, has been two fully recorded and produced albums that are awaiting a label home. Even if you were aware of the band, this is The Loom you haven’t heard before — and it’s time to get reacquainted.

I recorded this set with an excellent soundboard feed by Kyle Lawrence, coupled with Schoeps MK41V supercardiod microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

The Loom
2015-11-01
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Kyle Lawrence) + Schoeps MK41V (at SBD, PAS)>Roland R-26>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compress SBD)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Fire Makes
02 I Am Not Young
03 Kindling
04 Like Lamp Glow
05 Here In the Deadlights
06 Your Wilderness Years
07 The Reading Room
08 Morning Song, Mountain Song

If you enjoyed this set, please like The Loom on facebook and check out their website, and buy their records directly from their bandcamp page.

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