Posts Tagged ‘ mercury lounge ’

Pernice Brothers: October 20, 2019 Mercury Lounge

October 30, 2019
By
Photos by PSquared Photography

The calendar year 1999 was one of great upheaval and positive personal change in my life and of the few records that soundtracked that eventful year, The Pernice Brothers Overcome By Happiness was right at the top. The album was a breakthrough of sorts for Joe Pernice, whose previous project the alt-country Scud Mountain Boys had disbanded after one album on Sub Pop Records. Overcome was a master work of perfectly written pop gems that touched on elements of alt-folk and chamber pop, and was an album created among a fellowship of Joe’s best friends at the time, including his brother Bob. There’s a great piece in Magnet Classics that describes the making the album [here].

When it was announced earlier this year that the Pernice Brothers would be returning with a new album for the first time in nearly a decade, I revisited Overcome and twenty years on, the album definitely stands the test of time. So kudos to my 1999 self for recognizing its brilliance and for continuing to follow the band through five more excellent albums before the hiatus. We were also lucky to have caught them live several times last decade, including at Mercury Lounge in 2006, a show I recorded mere months before NYCTaper became a thing. That Merc show it ends up would be the last Pernice Brothers show in NYC for thirteen years until this month.

The new album Spread The Feeling is a remarkable return to form for Pernice Brothers. The wit, wisdom, and melancholy that pervades the band’s catalog is clearly present, but this time around Joe Pernice tackles a variety of new subjects, including the abusive priests, drug abuse, and fatherhood, in a batch of songs that seem to be flexing more musical muscle than the band’s previous outings — albeit with virtually the same set of contributors.

The handful of dates that were announced included a return to Mercury Lounge and we were so pleased to be there and be permitted to record. What transpired was literally exactly what we had hoped to see. The band was tight and in great spirits, and the setlist featured both a substantial number of tracks from the new album, a nice selection of classic tracks, a classic cover, and quite a bit of a hilarious banter. And the early set time allowed me to fully experience this event, pack up, and go a few blocks to also see the Luna show we posted earlier. Quite an unforgettable night.

Joe Pernice announced on his active twitter account that the band will return with dates in the new year, and we’re hoping that includes another NYC show.

I recorded this set with the Neumann hypers mounted next to the soundboard and mixed with an excellent feed by FOH Manny. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show (minus banter):

Pernice Brothers
2019-10-20
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Please support this legendary band:
https://pernicebrothers.bandcamp.com/
http://pernicebrothers.com/

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:04:56]
01 [intro]
02 Eric Saw Colors
03 [band introductions]
04 Lullabye
05 [banter – first show]
06 Monkey Suit
07 [banter – thermometer]
08 The Ballad of Bjorn Borg
09 Something for You
10 [banter – are you high]
11 There Goes the Sun
12 Skinny Jeanne
13 I Came Back
14 [banter – Cardinal Law]
15 Always in All Ways
16 [banter – whisper]
17 She Don’t Care About Time [Gene Clark cover]
18 Baby in Two
19 Throw Me to The Lions
20 Mint Condition
21 Working Girls
22 [banter – Elvis]
23 The Weakest Shade of Blue
24 [non-encore break]
25 Somerville

PLEASE SUPPORT Pernice Brothers: website | buy Spread the Feeling on Bandcamp

Dream Syndicate: May 16, 2019 Mercury Lounge

May 20, 2019
By
Photo Courtesy of PSquared Photography

Steve Wynn is universally acknowledged as one of the true good guys in rock music, so its a very rewarding thing to see him and his legendary band The Dream Syndicate receiving a fresh wave of popularity and support. The two sold-out shows at Mercury Lounge were attended by a who’s-who of local music luminaries there to both pay tribute but also to celebrate the superb new album by the band, These Times. But if the crowd was expecting a nostalgia set, it got a very different experience. The Dream Syndicate came right out of the gate with raging versions of the new album and kept the pace up for the entire set. Wynn is the charismatic leader center-stage, but these late era DS shows have featured the incendiary guitar work of Jason Victor and on night one his genius was on full display. The band saved some of the older material for late in the set by which time the audience had already received its money’s worth.

Dream Syndicate continue this tour with shows in the midwest, including two nights at the Hideout in Chicago on May 31 and June 1, before the band goes to Europe through June, dates here.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards set up next to the soundboard cage, and blended with a fine board mixed by the band’s FOH Mark. The sound is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete show via Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Complete Show:

Dream Syndicate
2019-05-16
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Mark Griffin] + 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 1:21:52]
01 The Way In
02 Put Some Miles On
03 Filter Me Through You
04 Black Light
05 Out of My Head
06 How Did I Find Myself Here
07 [band introductions]
08 Bullet Holes
09 Still Here Now
10 Recovery Mode
11 That’s What You Always Say
12 Then She Remembers
13 [thanks]
14 Glide
15 [encore break]
16 Tell Me When It’s Over
17 Burn
18 The Days of Wine and Roses

PLEASE SUPPORT Dream Syndicate: website | tour | buy These Times

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

Nicole Atkins: September 9, 2017 Mercury Lounge

September 25, 2017
By


[photos by Will Oliver and We All Want Someone To Shout For blog]

Its hard to believe that the last time we checked in with Nicole Atkins, it was three years ago. Our extended review of her album Slow Phaser and the Bowery Ballroom show that we recorded concentrated mostly on the record’s clear 1970s AM radio influences. For that album, Nicole put her stamp on the diverse styles prevalent in that decade’s pop. Three years later, several major events in Nicole’s life have guided her approach to the new album Goodnight Rhonda Lee, including her move to Nashville, dedication to sobriety, and marriage.

Goodnight Rhonda Lee is clearly an album faithful to its surroundings — both in the existence of multiple regional session players, and in the distinct sound of the record. Similarly to Slow Phaser, Goodnight Rhonda Lee is clearly influenced by the 1970s, perhaps not AM radio but more from that unique time in Nashville when the permissiveness of the 60s finally seeped into the old music town and brought a freedom to the country music capital that it had never experienced before. For about three or four years, the long hairs finally reached the mainstream — perhaps personified best through the career of Kris Kristofferson. When legend Johnny Cash recorded Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” in 1970 and took the song to Number 1, it represented the triumph of the new. And on the other side of Tennessee, Elvis welcomed new bloods Eddie Rabbit and Ronnie Milsap in the recording of his 1970 hit “Kentucky Rain”. Both songs communicate a drop-out melancholy that seemed to permeate the best of the new country during this time frame. But the melancholy also represented a distinctively different feel to the sound in the studio itself. The newly available technologies offered greater multi-tracking and effects not standard to country music that permitted the use of rock-styled guitars, reverbed piano, horns, and strings. Its that identifiable early 70s new Nashville sound that Nicole Atkins captured with stunning authenticity on Goodnight Rhonda Lee. Sure, there’s the album opener co-penned with Chris Isaak that could have been written for Patsy Cline or the neo-soul of “Listen Up” that would sound great covered by Aretha. But for the most part, the album really feels like a Nashville record and the songs themselves — struggles with alcohol, love, and a life in the music world feel at home in the country capital. And ultimately though its remarkable that the album itself wasn’t even recorded in Nashville, but rather at Niles City Sound in Fort Worth Texas.

The tour in support of Goodnight Rhonda Lee finds Nicole Atkins fronting a five piece band performing stripped down versions of the album material. There are no horns or strings but the album’s piano is present and guitarist Steven Cooper fills up the rest of the sound with tremendous tone and technique. Cooper is a young Nashville guitar wiz who seems destined for a long and productive career. At a packed Mercury Lounge last week, Nicole and the band performed a 75-minute set with much of the Rhonda Lee material and a few surprises. The set opened with a nice tribute to the recently passed Holger Czukay as Nicole brought back her cover of Can’s “Vitamin C”. Another major moment came when guest Tommy Stinson joined the band to perform a world premiere of his duet with Nicole called “Too Late”. The song was actually released this week. And the Slow Phaser track “Who Killed The Moonlight” took a detour through the Rolling Stones “Miss You” (remember that 70s pop influence). But the focus of this show was the fantastic material from the new album and it was clear that not only the massive talent of the singer but also a crack band were able to pull off the songs live. This show was that good.

Nicole Atkins has one more show on this tour, Friday night in Virgina. But she’ll be back with a bunch of shows in November, all dates [here].

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted at the soundboard and mixed with a perfect feed from house FOH Alex. This recording is absolutely superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Nicole Atkins
2017-09-09
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Alex] + 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 1:10:16]
01 Vitamin C [Can]
02 Darkness Falls so Quiet
03 Brokedown Luck
04 [banter – sinkhole]
05 A Little Crazy
06 Listen Up
07 Maybe Tonight
08 Cry Cry Cry
09 [banter – Louise Goffin]
10 If I Could
11 Goodnight Rhonda Lee
12 Who Killed The Moonlight/Miss You
13 [banter – Tommy intro]
14 Too Late [with Tommy Stinson]
15 [banter – so horny]
16 Sleepwalking
17 A Night Of Serious Drinking
18 A Dream Without Pain
19 [encore break]
20 The Way It Is

PLEASE SUPPORT Nicole Atkins: Website | Pledge Music | Single Lock Records

Creeper Lagoon: August 10, 2017 Mercury Lounge

August 15, 2017
By


[photo from Chris Quartly twitter]

The relative enjoyability quotient of a band reunion almost always depends upon the reason for the get together. When long-departed groups decide to get together and play shows for the simple fun of it, count us in. Creeper Lagoon had a brief but productive career that petered out in 2004. After being named Spin’s Best New Artist in 1998, the band went on to produce a couple of major label releases before splitting up after a difficult European tour. The 2001 release Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday remains the peak of the Creeper Lagoon catalog and the music sounds as vibrant now as it did nearly two decades ago. After the split, all of the band members went on to successful careers and happy lives outside of the music industry. This excellent interview of band founder Sharky Laguana gives all the details, but suffice to say that all of the band member were in a good place when this reunion was contemplated and then announced late last year. After a couple of shows at the Noise Pop Fest’s 25th Anniversary in San Francisco in February, Creeper came to NYC for their first show in 16 years, a one-off at Mercury Lounge with no plans to return.

The excitement of the event was evident in the crowd from the outset as the band interactions will attest. Mercury was quite sold out and Creeper Lagoon’s energy reflected that fact throughout the night. The setlist was a lengthy run through the band’s back catalog with a nice cross-section of material. Universe was well represented as expected. The reality is that this night was exactly the reunion show you would have hoped for if you’re a Creeper Lagoon fan — fun, interactive, energetic, and well paced. If the reactions of the many fans who approached me after the show asking about the recording is any evidence, this document should also be exactly what the fans want.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted in front of the Soundboard and mixed with a superb feed provided by the band’s FOH Kim Griess. This was a rambunctious and happy crowd, although there was a near-fight audible to my left during the encore break. Other than that and some other obvious chatter, the sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download and Stream the Complete Show from our Bandcamp Page:

Creeper Lagoon
2017-08-10
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Kim Griess] + 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 1:32:34]
01 Chance of a Lifetime
02 Claustrophobia
03 Under the Tracks
04 Dead Man Saloon
05 Second Chance
06 [Tracy false start]
07 Tracy
08 [Patrick intro]
09 Dreaming Again
10 Sylvia
11 Empty Ships
12 Motor Away [Guided By Voices]
13 [banter – lawyer shit]
14 Hey Sister
15 Roman Hearts
16 Wrecking Ball
17 Bloodbuzz Ohio [National]
18 Sunfair
19 Keep from Moving
20 [encore break]
21 [Tonight long intro]
22 Tonight Was Fun
23 Wonderful Love
24 Dear Deadly

SUPPORT Creeper Lagoon: Website | Facebook

Acid Mothers Temple: April 5, 2016 Mercury Lounge

April 11, 2016
By

Acid Mothers Temple

The cost of touring being what it is, there aren’t many Japanese bands that make it to the U.S. as frequently as Acid Mothers Temple. Their yearly tour has become ritual, for the band and its audience. NYCTaper has been capturing the band’s New York appearances for the past few years—always a stop on the Lower East Side at Mercury Lounge, and one in Williamsburg at the Knitting Factory. I’m delighted that this year I got to do my part and record the Mercury Lounge show. The “Wake to a New Dawn of Another Astro Era Tour 2016” wraps up next week in Los Angeles, having begun last month in Mexico City. Through the month-long visit, setlists have been fairly consistent and their Mercury Lounge set features most of the songs they’ve been playing, including “La Novia,” “The Wizard,” “Another Nanique Dimension,” “Cometary Orbital Drive,” and of course it wouldn’t be an Acid Mothers Temple show without their signature “Pink Lady Lemonade.” If you’re familiar with Acid Mothers Temple, you know the deal and no further introduction is needed. If this is your initial foray into the Acid Mothers cosmos, welcome aboard.

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue combined with a board feed from Mercury FOH, Alex. The sound is excellent. Enjoy, and stay tuned for the Knitting Factory set, which we’ll be posting soon.

The Wake to a New Dawn of Another Astro Era Tour 2016 continues! Check here for the remaining Texas and California dates.

Download the complete show at the Live Music Archive.

Stream the complete show:

Acid Mothers Temple
2016-04-05
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY

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

Soundboard (engineer: Alex Beaulieu) + AKG C480B/CK63 (ROC, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:26:30]
01. La Novia
02. The Wizard >
03. Pink Lady Lemonade >
04. IAO Chant >
05. Pink Lady Lemonade
06. Blue Velvet Blues >
07. Another Nanique Dimension
08. Cometary Orbital Drive

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, PLEASE SUPPORT Acid Mothers Temple, visit their website, and buy their records here.

Earthless: March 18, 2016 Mercury Lounge

March 28, 2016
By

Screen Shot 2016-03-19 at 1.37.08 PM
[photos of the Boston show by Elizabeth Gohr, from Earthless’ Instagram page]

It seems more than apropos that the Twitter handle of the San Diego band Earthless is “@earthlessrips”. ‘Cause that is, indeed, what they’re gonna do when you see them onstage during one of their relatively infrequent East Coast trips. During this run, they hit both Rough Trade NYC and the Mercury Lounge the following night. We caught the latter show, on a late Friday, and it was a doozy. For over an hour the band shredded through just three songs, two of which hailed from their 2013 LP From the Ages. While their records are cult favorites in their own right, the live show is the right place to experience these guys, as Mario Rubalcaba (drums), Isaiah Mitchell (guitar) and Mike Eginton (bass) tearing it up onstage is about as ideal of a fist-pumping, beer-swigging, rock n’ roll moment as you can have with a band that you aren’t embarrassed to like. This is rock music at is elemental, instrumental best, loud, pure and stacked with riffs. Somebody is bound to throw around the term “stoner rock” at some point or another, and who can blame ’em, but this is music that can go with almost any drug (or none at all, of course). After a short break, the band closed this show with a cover (with vocals, no less!) — a true-to-the-original rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady.” It wasn’t the twenty-minute thrashers that came before it, for sure, but the cover was perfect — one last time to let Earthless remind us why they’re a must-see when they’re out this way.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41V microphones and a direct feed of Mercury engineer Alex Beaulieu’s live mix. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream and download the complete set on our bandcamp page:

Earthless
2016-03-18
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

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

Tracks
01 Uluru Rock
02 Violence of the Red Sea
03 Sonic Prayer
04 [encore break]
05 Foxy Lady [Jimi Hendrix]

Support Earthless: Facebook | Buy their records from Tee Pee Records

The Rooks: December 5, 2015 Mercury Lounge

February 18, 2016
By

The Rooks Mercury
[screen shot from this video]

The indie-soul crossover movement of the last decade that included the likes of Sharon Jones and Raphael Saadiq was admirable but would only be truly meaningful if it led to young bands taking up the mantle. This is where The Rooks come in. The band was formed at Wesleyan College in Connecticut. The Rooks moved to NYC in 2013 and began to play gigs that were immediately lauded — their residency at Pianos in January of 2014 is on record as one of the most highly-attended runs that venue has produced. We caught the band during those shows and acidjack noted the band’s obvious talent, appeal and predicted future success. We’re still sticking with that story. In December, I captured The Rooks in a double bill with their friends Lawrence, and the packed sold-out Mercury Lounge confirmed that we’d been right. The band is bigger than ever and with the crowds bursting at the seams, they are poised to move up the ladder to bigger venues and more high profile gigs. The band’s set included tracks from their 2015 EP Wires, a couple of unreleased songs, and three neat covers, including the closing song from an unmentionable artist that tore down the house. Catch The Rooks on tour this Spring including a show at Rough Trade BK on February 27.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted next to the soundboard and mixed with an excellent feed from Mercury’s FOH Alex. Other than a boisterous crowd somewhat noticeable during quieter moments, the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

The Rooks
2015-12-05
Mercury Lounge
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Alex] + 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 45:47]
01 Intermission (Wires)
02 Doubt
03 Nothing Wrong
04 [Lawrence intro]
05 Gin and Juice [Snoop Dogg]
06 Secrets
07 You’re the One
08 Kiss From a Rose [Seal]
09 May Care
10 Bury Me Deep
11 Purple Reign [Prints]

SUPPORT THE ROOKS: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook

William Tyler: February 2, 2016 Capitol Theatre (Port Chester, NY) + June 26, 2015 Mercury Lounge

February 12, 2016
By

FullSizeRender

Our friend William Tyler has been a real road warrior these past few years, hitting NYC multiple times both as a headliner and support act. These two performances represent the latter, with Tyler’s virtuoso guitar playing setting the stage for another act. This month, Tyler did the duties for Wilco at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, a legendary venue that Tyler acknowledged as such before delving into a concise but powerful set that featured a brand-new song, “Venus and Aquarius,” along with growing tour favorite “Highway Anxiety.” The vibe was a bit different at the intimate Mercury Lounge back in summer of 2015, when Tyler opened of the two Ty Segall acoustic sets we covered that day, but what didn’t change was Tyler’s gratitude and generosity toward his audience, as he played another new song (tentatively titled “Going Clear”) as well as another excellent version of “Highway Anxiety,” among others. If you were in the taper’s section at the Cap, you’d have noted the surprise among the Wilco diehards who hadn’t heard Tyler before. Part of Tyler’s charm is that how easily he wins over not only crowds that aren’t his own, but crowds who aren’t generally familiar with instrumental guitar music. Give these sets a listen — both the songs and the banter — and you’ll get a sense of why.

nyctaper recorded each of these sets with Schoeps CCM4 microphones. The Mercury show also includes a soundboard feed. The quality of both is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete sets: [Capitol Theatre] [Mercury Lounge]

Stream the complete sets

William Tyler
2016-02-02
Capitol Theatre
Port Chester, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by nyctaper
Produced by acidjack

Schoeps CCM4 (ROC, FOB, PAS)>Sound Devices 744T>24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Missionary Ridge
02 Venus and Aquarius [new]
03 Highway Anxiety
04 We Can’t Go Home Again
05 Cadillac Desert

_______________________
William Tyler
2015-06-26
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by nyctaper
Produced by acidjack

Schoeps CCM4 (ROC, FOB, PAS)>Sound Devices 744T>24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Portrait of Sarah [fades in]
02 Missionary Ridge
03 [banter]
04 Highway Anxiety
05 [banter2]
06 Going Clear
07 [banter3]
08 We Can’t Go Home Again

If you enjoyed these recordings, PLEASE SUPPORT William Tyler, visit his website, and grab his records from Merge.

Shearwater: February 6, 2016 Mercury Lounge

February 10, 2016
By

shearwater-1
[photos by PSquared Photography]

I’m a big fan of intelligent and accomplished musicians — the type of people who don’t just play music but thrive at other vocations. Recently we enjoyed the music of fashion icon Preetma Singh, mathematics whiz Kiran Gandhi, composing genius Owen Pallett, award-winning novelist John Darnielle, and others. On Friday at Mercury Lounge, it was Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, who besides fronting an outstanding band is also a renowned ornithologist, or a bird expert, who has been profiled in Scientific American.

Meiburg’s dual expertise results in some consistent themes in Shearwater’s music. The lyrical content includes many references to nature, with two of the albums actually called Animal Joy and The Golden Archipelago. Last month, Shearwater released their eighth full-length record Jet Plane and Oxbow and its been described as a “protest album” which given current climate science, would seem to be an instinctual reaction for someone in tune with the natural world. At Mercury, the band played eight of the eleven songs on the new album (along with three classics and one cover) and the entire event was truly breathtaking. The show began with a single white light illuminating Jonathan’s face as the band began the set with the album’s opening track “Prime”, a song that offers dual themes of tragic love and a natural world on the precipice of danger. The set continued in dramatic fashion until book-ended by the album’s closing track the somber “Stray Light at Clouds Hill”, a song that shares a lyrical refrain with “Prime” but mourns both human and natural death. For an “encore” (the band never actually left the stage), Meiburg offered a heartfelt tribute to the late David Bowie by pointing out that the album Lodger helped him through some difficult times, before the band broke into a powerful version of “Look Back in Anger”. It was a compelling and appropriate end to what was most certainly one of the best shows we will see all year. Shearwater is currently on tour in Europe but will return to the US in March, including a show back in NYC at Bell House on March 12. Our local readers would be wise to attend that show.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted at the soundboard booth and mixed with an extraordinarily well-mixed board feed by the band’s very talented touring FOH (whose name I did not get, please provide if you know ). The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Set [banter tracks removed]:

Shearwater
2016-02-06
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 1:02:44]
01 Prime
02 Filaments
03 [banter – crows]
04 A Long Time Away
05 Rooks
06 [banter – uncomfortable dislocation]
07 Quiet Americans
08 You As You Were
09 Wildlife in America
10 [banter – louder]
11 Pale Kings
12 [band introductions]
13 Backchannels
14 [banter – Lodger]
15 Stray Light at Clouds Hill
16 [banter – thanks]
17 Look Back in Anger [Bowie]

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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.

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