Posts Tagged ‘ nyc ’

Billy Strings: June 29, 2022 Rooftop at Pier 17

July 5, 2022
By

Our last experience with Billy Strings earlier this year was so overwhelmingly positive that it seemed fairly obvious that we would be back. Fortunately, the opportunity came sooner than later. Thanks to a generous follower on twitter, we were able to secure a ticket to this very sold-out show featuring Billy Strings playing on the South Street Seaport rooftop this past Wednesday.

While the buzz after this event was the appearance of Phish’s Trey Anastasio for the last half of the second set, my personal experience was more focused on the continual growth of Billy Strings as a performer. We have always been entranced by the sheer virtuosity of Strings’ guitar playing and the wizardry of the band as a whole, and we were able to confirm those expectations at the Cap in February. But this performance at Pier 17 raised the bar even higher. Joined by fiddler extraordinaire Alex Hargreaves (who later in the tour apparently agreed to become a permanent band member), the quintet performed a flawless first set of Strings material and choice covers.

With the backdrop of the NYC skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge, the juxtaposition of the city center with bluegrass music seemed to motivate both the band and the song choices. The cover of John Hartford’s 1976 classic “In Tall Buildings” was most poignant, although several numbers drew upon the rural/urban dichotomy for inspiration. When the set closed with Strings’ apparent hard-life autobiographical and compositionally brilliant “Turmoil & Tinfoil” this night had already delivered exactly what we had come to see. But there was clearly more to come.

The band started the second set with Hargreaves shining throughout an instrumental run through the traditional “Sally Goodin”. Ultimately the set evolved into the show’s highlight – a furious nearly 20-minute “Meet Me at the Creek”, that managed to remain vital and driving for its entire improvisational five-member instrumental segment. As had been rumored in crowd whispers all night, the appearance of Trey Anastasio was not entirely surprising, but quite welcome. It certainly motivated Billy. The five-song mini-set with the star guest featured a couple of Phish numbers, but it was the three bluegrass covers where the massive amount of talent on stage truly excelled. At the end, this show instantly catapulted into a “best of year” category and we continue to be amazed at the level of excellence achieved by this band. See you at Nassau in November!

I recorded this set in an ad hoc roped-off taper’s section next to the soundboard with the outdoors-friendly Neumann large diaphragm mics. While the wind ultimately cooperated and rarely can be heard during this recording, the crowd yapping is a problem during quiet moments. Fortunately, the venue’s sound quality and the superb mix by uber-talented FOH Andy Lytle provided us with the ingredients for an excellent capture, and I’m still quite pleased with this recording. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show from Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Complete Show:

Billy Strings
2022-06-29
Pier 17
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Recorded at Soundboard Cage

Neumann TLM-102s > 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:
Set 1 [Total Time 1:08:26]
01 Red Daisy
02 End of the Rainbow [Frank Wakefield]
03 Running The Route
04 Hellbender
05 Dust In a Baggie
06 Dealing Despair
07 [banter]
08 Watch It Fall
09 In Tall Buildings [John Hartford]
10 Home
11 Fearless [Pink Floyd]
12 [banter – rooftop]
13 Turmoil and Tinfoil

Set 2 [Total Time 1:20:15]
14 Sally Goodin
15 Must Be Seven
16 Meet Me at the Creek
17 16-16 [David Grisman]
18 Close By [Bill Monroe]
19 Back on the Train
20 Love and Regret
21 I’m Blue I’m Lonesome [Bill Monroe]
22 All Fall Down [John Hartford]
23 My Love Comes Rolling Down [Watson Family]
24 Gotta Jibboo

*Tracks 19 through 24 with Trey Anastasio

SUPPORT Billy Strings: Website / Bandcamp

Sunburned Hand of the Man: October 3, 2019 Nublu

November 8, 2019
By

Sunburned Hand of the Man are the type of act that people might call “hard to pin down.” Over their sprawling catalog (their sprawling bandcamp page has only a fraction of their 100+ titles) these guys’ music runs the gamut from the bizarre (“Clowns In Jail”) to the improvisationally psychedelic (the “Blizzard of Zozz” show we recorded in 2017) to bordering-on-conventional songs (recently-released “microdose” Intentions).

This night at Nublu fell somewhat in between the two, as a relatively stripped-down version of the band performed this long-form improv with a running spoken word narrative, with a current of the occult running throughout. It felt appropriate to the season, and was a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. Dig in.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones up front in the venue on the right side. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Sunburned Hand of the Man
2019-10-03
Nublu
New York, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK4V (FOB, ROC)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices MixPre6>24/48 WAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.3.0>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 New Blue Sounds

GO BUY THE DIGITAL DISCOGRAPHY. TRUST US.

Ryley Walker / David Grubbs / Ryan Jewell / C. Spencer Yeh: March 26, 2019 Union Pool

April 15, 2019
By

Ryley Walker’s March residency at Union Pool covered all the bases of Walker’s sound, from relatively “straight-ahead” song-based performances to instrumental blowouts with friends and colleagues like Ryan Jewell and Steve Gunn. Count this final night’s performance firmly in the latter camp, as Walker and residency mainstay Jewell were joined by David Grubbs (Gastr del Sol, others) and C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) for a full set of avant-garde experimentation that found Walker stepping away from the mic but fully present as guitarist and spiritual force.

Ryley Walker’s March residency at Union Pool covered all the bases of Walker’s sound, from relatively “straight-ahead” song-based performances to instrumental blowouts with friends and colleagues like Ryan Jewell and Steve Gunn. Count this final night’s performance firmly in the latter camp, as Walker and residency mainstay Jewell were joined by David Grubbs (Gastr del Sol, others) and C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) for a full set of avant-garde experimentation that found Walker stepping away from the mic but fully present as guitarist and spiritual force.

Over the course of these residency shows (plus bonus Queens show), I’ve said my piece about Ryley Walker and “who” he is musically, so I won’t belabor the point. Suffice it to say that even if you follow all things Walker, this unique collaboration is a standout, something not likely to be repeated. Walker made it known what an honor it was for him to play with these musicians. It was equally our honor to have heard it.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the other Union Pool shows, with Doug Graham’s outstanding house mix leading the way. Enjoy!

Thanks to Union Pool and Will S for continuing to book and host interesting and experimental music in north Brooklyn.

Download the complete show from its Live Music Archive page.

Ryley Walker/David Grubbs/Ryan Jewell/C. Spencer Yeh
2019-03-26 (Residency Night 4)
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY  USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Doug Graham) + Schoeps MK5c (XY, at SBD)>KC5>CMC6>>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 polyWAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.3.0>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 UP Quartet Jam Pt 1
02 UP Quartet Jam Pt 2
03 UP Quartet Jam Pt 3
04 UP Quartet Jam Pt 4
05 UP Quartet Jam Pt 5

PLEASE SUPPORT RYLEY WALKER: Bandcamp | Dead Oceans

Guerilla Toss: June 19, 2018 Union Pool (Residency Night 3)

June 28, 2018
By

The phenomenal Brooklyn band Guerilla Toss graced the hometown crowd with a monthlong residency at local haunt Union Pool that found the band trying out new songs and compelling covers, and generally driving the locals wild. This band’s bread and butter has always been the live setting, but these shows put the band at a new level. Against the backdrop of sick visuals from Macrodose, Kassie Carlson whipped the room into a frenzy, culminating in a room wide mosh pit during set-closing “Polly’s Crystal.” Whipping from one song straight into the next for almost the entire hour, the band served up sixteen songs that included an ESG cover and the new numbers “Come Up With Me” and “Green Apple.” In case you were worried, I think we can expect their next release to meet or exceed the outstanding GT Ultra.

This recording combines engineer Doug’s awesome house mix plus my Schoeps MK5 mics from the center of the balcony. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show from its Live Music Archive page: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Guerilla Toss
2018-06-19
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded and produced for nyctaper.com by acidjack

Shoutout to NCArchive for recording/posting three of the nights of this series and for the setlist

Schoeps MK5 (XY, FOB, DFC)>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard (engineer: Doug)>>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 polyWAV>Adobe Audition CC (compression, fades, limiter)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Betty Dreams of Green Men >
02 Erase You [ESG]>
03 TV Spell>
04 Operate >
05 Come Up With Me>
06 TV Do Tell [Jane La Onda Cover]>
07 Grass Shack Pt 1>
08 Green Apple
09 Diamond Girls>
10 Skull Pop>
11 Drip Decay>
12 Multibeast TV>
13 Billy Blood Idol >
14 Dog In The Mirror
15 [encore break]
16 Polly’s Crystal

PLEASE SUPPORT Guerilla Toss: Bandcamp | Facebook | DFA Records Page

Ryley Walker: April 29, 2018 The Bowery Ballroom

May 2, 2018
By

Ryley Walker arrived on The Bowery Ballroom stage as the opening act. For many bands, the opening 45 minutes means an opportunity to deliver a tight-but-denuded set that gives the untutored fan a reason to seek more. Well, Ryley and this night’s crack band — longtime compatriot Ryan Jewell, fellow guitarist Bill MacKay, and Calexico (the headliner) bassist Scott Colberg — did the latter but not the former. Which is to say, their version of a “short” set consisted of four songs, but one of them was 18 minutes long. And instead of “the hits,” as it were, those four were, save one, all tracks from his forthcoming album, Deafman Glance, which promises to extend Walker’s renown as a musician’s musician, who follows his instincts where they take him and isn’t afraid to challenge the listener.

If for years the understanding among Walker and his fans is that there’s about as little relationship between the reasonably straightforward sound of his records and his expansive, jazz-influenced live shows as there is between the seriousness of Walker’s music and the lightheartedness of his stage banter, the Deafman Glance material seems poised to narrow that gap. The proggy, dense, album sound carries over well into Walker’s chosen live milieu, making (for example) the “Telluride Speed” that closed this set a thrill but, unlike the eighteen-minute “Halfwit In Me” that opened it, not a totally radical departure from the album version.

Ryley’s stated goal was for Deafman Glance to be his anti-folk record, and indeed, this felt like the least folk-driven Ryley Walker show I’ve seen. With his vocals turned relatively low in the mix, and a song selection that was relatively short on opportunities for vocal pyrotechnics, Walker seemed intent on letting his electric guitar guide his sound (listen to that “Halfwit in Me” – it did). Walker’s full-band shows have always de-prioritized vocals to some degree in favor of extended jamming, but if I hadn’t seen Walker before and someone told me this was a guy who also does a mean cover of Van Morrison, I’m not sure I’d have believed them. That’s one of the joys of seeing this artist — by the time I see him again (expect a headlining tour in the U.S. in the fall), he’ll almost surely have evolved yet again.

I recorded this set with a beautiful stereo soundboard feed and Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show from its page on the Live Music Archive: [FLAC] | [MP3]

Ryley Walker
2018-04-29
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

An nyctaper recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK5c (PAS, at SBD, slightly LOC)>KC5>CMC6>>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 polyWAV>Adobe Audition CC (align, mix down, compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro banter]
02 The Halfwit in Me
03 [banter2]
04 Spoil With the Rest
05 22 Days
06 [banter3]
07 Telluride Speed

Band:
Ryley Walker – guitar, vocals
Ryan Jewell – drums
Bill MacKay – guitar
Scott Colberg – bass

PLEASE SUPPORT RYLEY WALKER: Bandcamp | Dead Oceans

Hiss Golden Messenger: December 8, 2017 The Bowery Ballroom

December 12, 2017
By


Hiss Golden Messenger’s second night at The Bowery Ballroom not only picked up where the first two-hour show left off, but gathered steam. If the first night–in front of a slew of friends and local musicians–felt like a more intimate, freewheeling affair, this show situated the current version of the band as the confident rock n’ roll outfit they are, playing about fifty percent different material from the first show, improving on several of the repeats, and delivering crowd-pleasing covers that are red meat to a weekend crowd. After opening with the contemplative “When the Wall Comes Down” from Hallelujah Anyhow, the tempo picked up and stayed hot through the first hour. I was moved by this version of “Blue Country Mystic,” which hewed closer in tempo and style to the Poor Moon original than some of the recent versions I’ve seen, and likewise, the “Red Rose Nantahala” we saw both tonight and the night before felt closer to the version from Haw than some of the recent versions we’ve heard. The new songs haven’t given the band as many chances at new arrangements, but it’s safe to say that “Like A Mirror Loves A Hammer,” shows great potential as a mid-set jam song.

After a heartfelt mid-set version of “Caledonia, My Love” — introduced by Phil Cook as his favorite HGM song — it was back to the rock, with the band letting loose with a fine cover of “I Won’t Back Down” followed by “Lost Out In the Darkness” and the party jam “I’m A Raven (Shake Children).” This is a band that knows their crowd, and the upbeat rockers matched the mood in the room, as the weekend warriors and the repeat customers from last night both had come ready to celebrate the weekend and the band’s success. Instead of last night’s heartfelt retelling of the band’s origin story, we got some hilarious riffs about the band’s long night out last night, including an encounter with some pretzel chips. But if they were physically running on fumes, HGM didn’t show it. If anything, I found most versions of what they played even sharper and more emphatic than the previous show. In lieu of an encore break, the band accepted some pretzel chips from a fan and passed them around the crowd, ending the night with Pops Staples’ “Friendship” followed by “Drum.” This wasn’t quite the end of HGM year — they headed to Philly the following night, and D.C. after that — but it felt valedictory nonetheless, an exclamation point on a year well spent.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the previous night, with a soundboard feed from the band’s engineer Tim and Schoeps MK22 microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Hiss Golden Messenger
2017-12-08
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK22 (at SBD, PAS bar)>KCY>Z-PFA + Soundboard (engineer: Tim)>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 WAV>Adobe Audition CC (align, mix down, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 2:02:30]
01 When the Wall Comes Down
02 Saturday’s Song
03 Jenny of the Roses
04 [banter1]
05 Biloxi
06 Gulfport You’ve Been On My Mind
07 Blue Country Mystic
08 Mahogany Dread
09 Don’t Let Me Down [Beatles]
10 Like A Mirror Loves A Hammer
11 Red Rose Nantahala
12 [banter2]
13 Highland Grace
14 [banter3]
15 Caledonia, My Love
16 Domino
17 I Won’t Back Down [Tom Petty]
18 Lost Out In the Darkness
19 I’m A Raven (Shake Children)
20 I Am the Song
21 [banter4-band intros]
22 Southern Grammar
23 [banter5]
24 John the Gun
25 [pretzel break]
26 Friendship [Pops Staples]
27 Drum

Band:
M.C. Taylor – vocals, guitar
Phil Cook – keyboards, harmonica
Mike Lewis – saxophone
Skylar Gudasz – vocals
James Wallace – organ, percussion
Ryan Gustafson – guitar
Michael Libramento – bass
Darren Jesse – drums

PLEASE SUPPORT Hiss Golden Messenger: WebsiteTwitter | Buy Hallelujah Anyhow

Hiss Golden Messenger: December 7, 2017 The Bowery Ballroom

December 10, 2017
By

Children are essential to the origin story of Hiss Golden Messenger, and they’ve been a recurring theme in Mike “M.C.” Taylor’s songs since the beginning. Taylor introduced “Drum” on this night by telling the story in full, of a loser (his words) washed up from music, left out of life, sitting in a cabin next to a newborn, wondering about the future. Contemplating his life as he sat next to his newborn son Elijah, Taylor started to make music again. For him that child wasn’t just a literal birth; it was his personal rebirth, too. It was there that he wrote my favorite of all his songs, “Call Him Daylight,” which tackles the ambiguity of forces greater than us (some would view that as “God,” though I don’t think you have to). To that entity he says at one point, “Some call you destroyer, some Daylight.” It’s a fundamental paradox of many world religions — you’re asked to revere god as your creator, but also your ultimate destroyer. Which kept me thinking about children, and this band’s particular choices in 2017.

The righteous anger of musicians (not to mention the rest of us) toward the current regime is hardly news at this point, and it’s been reflected in many, many albums this year. If you follow the man on Twitter, you might expect the same from Taylor. But the latest Hiss Golden Messenger album does perhaps the braver thing, certainly the rarer thing. It’s announced by the title, Hallelujah Anyhow. A child who wakes up alive for the first time tomorrow here in America won’t know the name of anyone in the current administration, won’t harbor rage toward the rich or the indecent or the greedy, won’t know about hate, won’t worry about global warming, won’t fear misogyny or racism, won’t know war. In a child’s eyes the world is all beauty. In a child’s eyes this world is all they’ve known.

Taylor and a stacked band of Triangle locals (Phil Cook, Skylar Gudasz, Darren Jesse, Ryan Gustafson, Mike Lewis, James Wallace, Michael Libramento) brought that ethos to the Bowery Ballroom for this first of two nights, giving us two hours of inclusive, upbeat Hallelujah songs as well as a well-chosen selection of favorites. The past two years have seen this band release not less than three complete albums — the band hit another high point with 2016’s Heart Like A Levee and companion album Vestapol — which has stacked the catalog with new material. If you missed the outstanding Music Hall of Williamsburg show the band did in 2016 (which I unfortunately did) this could well have been your first time hearing many of these songs live. It’s striking how cohesive the Merge-era, bigger-room-oriented material is with itself, but there’s also that constant thread that reaches all the way back to Bad Debt. Compare the two songs that Taylor played as a duo with Cook —  “Drum” (a very old one) and “Caledonia, My Love” (a new one) — and it’s clear that Taylor’s heart remains where it has been, in a purgatory between light and darkness. Each of those songs may have been an outlier on their respective albums, but side by side, they make sense.

Still, this was a positive night, a two-hour “evening with,” and there was plenty of party music to celebrate with, including the band’s semi-regular cover of Sam Cooke’s “Having A Party” and the main set closers “Domino” followed by the already-classic “Southern Grammar.” Having seen these songs performed many times now, by a variety of personnel, I’ve come to appreciate the variations in Taylor’s performances of his work. Songs, too, are a kind of offspring, an evolving gift to a wider world, and Taylor has continued to help these songs grow into new and different entities than what they were. Taylor’s restless tinkering with this music seems almost calculated to keep you in that state, able to see his music as brand-new even if you’ve seen him a dozen or more times before. If you’re lucky you’ll listen long enough that you find yourself, however briefly, like that open-hearted child again, able to say that simple word, hallelujah. You stand there inside the Bowery Ballroom, and it’s the holiday season, it’s New York City, and you’re alive. So hallelujah, anyhow.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK22 open cardiod microphones mounted at the soundboard, with a feed of the PA mix from the band’s dapper sound engineer Tim. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Thanks, as always, to Mike Taylor and to Merge Records. 

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

Hiss Golden Messenger
2017-12-07
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK22 (at SBD, ORTF)>KCY>Z-PFA + Soundboard (engineer: Tim)>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 WAV>Adobe Audition CC (align, mix down, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Call Him Daylight
03 Biloxi
04 Jenny of the Roses
05 I Am the Song
06 Gulfport You’ve Been On My Mind
07 Say It Like You Mean It
08 Lost Out In the Darkness
09 Tell Her I’m Just Dancing
10 Red Rose Nantahala
11 Heart Like A Levee
12 [banter-the story of HGM]
13 Drum*
14 [banter2]
15 Caledonia, My Love*
16 I’ve Got A Name for the Newborn Child
17 Like A Mirror Loves A Hammer
18 I’m A Raven (Shake Children)
19 Lucia
20 Having A Party [Sam Cooke]
21 Harder Rain
22 Domino
23 [banter3–band intros]
24 Southern Grammar
25 [encore break]
26 Friendship [Pops Staples]

Band:
M.C. Taylor – vocals, guitar
Phil Cook – keyboards, harmonica
Mike Lewis – saxophone
Skylar Gudasz – vocals
James Wallace – organ, percussion
Ryan Gustafson – guitar
Michael Libramento – bass
Darren Jesse – drums

*M.C. Taylor/Phil Cook Duo

PLEASE SUPPORT Hiss Golden Messenger: WebsiteTwitter | Buy Hallelujah Anyhow

A Place to Bury Strangers: March 3, 2017 Villain

March 16, 2017
By

Two years on from their tour de force performance at Music Hall of Williamsburg and the release of their last album, Transfixiation, A Place to Bury Strangers found themselves at the faux-DIY venue Villain doing what they’ve done best in years past, while looking also to the future. If the controlled chaos of set opener “We’ve Come So Far” took on a different meaning in 2017, it also felt like it took on a greater one. APTBS vets know what to expect from their shows at this point — a blanket of noise anchored by Oliver Ackermann’s guitars (his expertise in pedals comes in handy), almost always at maximum intensity, a delightfully disorienting light show — and their Brooklyn shows reflect the communal vibe among those people.

As it has been a couple years since their last record (though they did just release a new song), I was unfamiliar with several of the (what I think were new) songs played, but the distinction for most of us was minimal. An APTBS show is less about this or that song than the overall experience, the subtle shifts in texture and tempo, the often-dark lyrics that you at-times strain to hear, the relentlessness of Ackermann (in particular) onstage, as he smashes the hell out of his guitar long before the end of the set. Where the last APTBS show found the band playing on the Music Hall floor, this time the band took advantage of Villain’s layout and performed a more electronic-driven closing sequence of four songs from the balcony. When the beats finally stopped, you couldn’t help but feel a little bit lighter, a bit freer. At some point “cathartic” might start to feel like an overused term in these times, but in these first months, it’s still a very accurate one.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed combined with Schoeps MK41V microphones from the audience. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show: 

A Place to Bury Strangers
2017-03-03
Villain
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41V (FOB, ROC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Setlist help greatly appreciated]
01 We’ve Come So Far
02 [unknown1] “Never coming back”
03 So Far Away
04 Deadbeat
05 Fill the Void
06 [unknown2] “Sucking on the trigger of a gun”
07 Drill It Up
08 [unknown3] “I don’t care / I don’t mind”
09 I’ve Lived My Life to Stand In the Shadow of Your Heart

[Performed from the balcony — audience mics only]
10 [unknown4]
11 [unknown5]
12 [unknown6]
13 [unknown7]

PLEASE SUPPORT A Place to Bury Strangers, visit their website, and buy Transfixiation from Dead Oceans here. Also check out their latest song, a contribution to “Our First 100 Days,” here.

Bardo Pond: November 18, 2016 Union Pool

December 14, 2016
By


[photo by Greg Cristman for BrooklynVegan. Used with permission.]

Despite being from nearby Philly, Bardo Pond don’t make it to New York nearly as often as I would like. Or maybe my version of “often” is too frequent. Either way, the band continue to prove their vitality and consistency into their third decade. This show at Union Pool began with one of their more recent favorites of mine, “Kali Yuga Blues” from Peace on Venus, but spread across the spectrum of the band’s career, from the Lapsed classic “Straw Dog” to several brand-new songs that haven’t made their way onto official releases yet.  Of the new ones, it was my first time hearing, “My Eyes Out,” a heavy, relatively fast-burning scorcher of a tune. It’s equally hard to deny the band’s new more exploratory number, “Moment to Moment,” which closed out this show for fourteen mind-bending minutes. If there was any regret about this show, it was that the show’s tight timetable meant that it couldn’t go on longer. Judging by the band’s appearances this year, they are feeling more artistically vital than ever, and ready to prove it. Hope to see them again soon.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Union Pool engineer Robert (which fades in after about 50 seconds), together with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The only other flaw in the sound is the hiss of the smoke machine, but it’s less a true flaw than “atmospherics.” Overall, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream and download this recording from our bandcamp page – pay what you want (all $$ to Bardo Pond)

Bardo Pond 
2016-11-18
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Robert) + Schoeps MK4V (at SBD, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CC (align, mix down, compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:08:31]
01 Kula Yuga Blues
02 Taste
03 Be A Fish
04 Two Planes
05 Crossover
06 Out of Reach
07 Straw Dog
08 My Eyes Out
09 Under the Pines
10 Moment to Moment

SUPPORT Bardo Pond: Website | Three Lobed Recordings | Fire Records

Steve Gunn: December 9, 2016 Bell House

December 11, 2016
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Watching Steve Gunn and his latest band play this performance at The Bell House reminded me of the below Gunn performance with Alex Bleeker & the Freaks at the “Play Dead” show that we captured in 2015. Gunn’s music at the time — consisting of solo guitar records, his duo work in Gunn-Truscinski Duo, and his two Paradise of Bachelors LPs, Time Off and Way Out Weather — wasn’t necessarily the work of someone who revered the Dead. But as he and Bleeker’s band played “Wharf Rat” that night, it all clicked. Part of what continues to make the Grateful Dead so special is that there are multiple entry points to the band, a whole universe of styles and vibes contained within individual tours and individual shows and, even, individual songs. Gunn wasn’t a person who mimicked the band’s style(s), at all, but he had absorbed many of their lessons. And this show, more than most of his I have seen, proved it.

This show, the band’s final of the year after a long slog of touring and greatly increased exposure thanks to Gunn’s Matador Records debut, Eyes On the Lines, was my first time seeing most of Eyes On the Lines in the live setting, despite having seen Gunn several times this year. Maybe it was the hometown crowd, whose love is unconditional and the opposite of the “play the hits” mentality of the festival crowds, maybe it was the finely honed interplay among the musicians, maybe it was just them saying “fuck it” and doing things the way they wanted — whatever it was, Gunn and Co. came out and turned even some of the relatively concise material of Eyes On the Lines into life-affirming jams that both challenged and enlightened. What’s most gratifying about watching an artist that you’ve followed for a while keep doing this after achieving his greatest commercial popularity to date is to know how unafraid of it he is, how resolutely true to himself.

Gunn bookended the show with stripped-down songs, starting things off with a fourteen-minute solo acoustic “Old Strange” that was a classic mix of Gunn’s earnest lyrics and desert blues guitar, with the “Wildwood” encore with James Elkington on the electric and Steve on the acoustic. While hearing the new songs — especially a personal favorite, “Ancient Jules” — was a blast, what also stuck me was once again how the music cut through the heaviness of the political moment without flinching from it. Gunn’s impassioned intro to “Park Bench Smile” about inclusion and “fighting what the fuck’s happening” hit its mark, but the song, as rendered, spoke for itself. A noisy, messy, emphatic rendition of the song, it felt like so much of this moment, chaotic but, ultimately, resolved into something hopeful, defiant, and right. What a way to end a year.

I recorded this set with engineer David Hurtgen’s house mix combined with Schoeps MK41V hypercardiod microphones. David’s regular work with the venue shows here, as the sound is dialed in and excellent. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show:

Steve Gunn
2016-12-09
The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: David Hurtgen) + Schoeps MK41V (at SBD, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CC (align, mix down, compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:26:57]
01 [intro]
02 Old Strange [solo acoustic]
03 Way Out Weather
04 Conditions Wild
05 [banter]
06 Ancient Jules
07 Night Wander
08 Full Moon Tide
09 [banter2]
10 Ark
11 [banter3]
12 Park Bench Smile
13 [encore break]
14 Wildwood [duo w/ Elkington]

Band:
Steve Gunn
James Elkington – Guitar
Jason Meagher – Bass
John Truscinski – Drums

PLEASE SUPPORT STEVE GUNN: Go to matadorrecords.com or your local record store and buy Eyes On the Lines. 

And then, please consider donating to local organizations that support freedom and fair treatment for all, such as the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Immigration Coalition.

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