Posts Tagged ‘ pitchfork ’

Mr. Dream: June 16, 2011 [Northside Festival] Glasslands, Brooklyn, NY – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 17, 2011
By

mr dream northside
[Photo courtesy of L Magazine]

This is the first in what will be a series of NYCTaper recordings from the Northside Festival 2011. Please check out Northside’s website for complete show listings, and especially check out the NYCTaper/Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Showcase on Sunday, 6/19 at Public Assembly!

Now seems like as good a time as any to address the old knock on New York audiences – that they tend to spend the entire show with their arms crossed, listless, distracted and bored. But let’s face it – we see a lot of bands here in New York City, and most of them don’t provide us any reason to do anything else. Not so the rapidly rising Mr. Dream. With their clean, crisp Pixies-inspired delivery, Mr. Dream manage to capture the energy of punk while making it clear that they actually care how they sound as they deliver their inspired head-banging tunes. The songs from their almost-debut record, Trash Hit, are a one-after-another string of great rock songs, and the title track “Trash Hit” in particular has that ability to lodge itself in your brain and not leave. This set on the kickoff night of the Northside Festival found the band playing to a friendly and familiar crowd that they rewarded by debuting three new songs, “Believing and Shitting,” “Moneybags” and “Suggested Plowing.” The band has been raising its profile of late, including with a video for the song “Croquet,” which they killed on this night, followed by the balls-to-the-wall “Winners.” In the short span since we saw them last, the band have gotten more confident and tighter, and drummer Nick Sylvester has emerged as the band’s true anchor with his massive work behind the kit. Hell, Mr. Dream may just be one of the best live bands in New York right now. So uncross those arms and turn off those iPhones, ladies and gentlemen, and get your ass ready for Mr. Dream.

hi and lo and I recorded this set from a central location in the venue with Schoeps omnidirectional mics to capture the maximum feel of the room. Although there is some faint buzzing at times in the left channel due to some wiring issues, the sound is overall excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Croquet”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/M3400MrDream2011/09 Croquet.mp3]

Stream “Moneybags”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/M3400MrDream2011/06 Moneybags.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

Mr. Dream
2011-06-16
Northside Festival
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded by acidjack and hi and lo
Produced by acidjack

Equipment: Schoeps Mk5 (omni)>EAA PSP2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: Clamp to center post, about 7.5ft up, 30cm split
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Knuckle Sandwich
02 Crime
03 Believing and Shitting
04 [banter]
05 Scarred For Life
06 Moneybags
07 Trash Hit
08 Suggested Plowing
09 Croquet
10 Winners
11 [banter]
12 Learn the Language
13 Knick Knack

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mr. Dream, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Trash Hit from Amazon or your favorite record store.

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead: April 29, 2011 Bowery Ballroom – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 3, 2011
By


[Photo by EardrumNYC]

Starting with their band name, Austin’s …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead have never been concerned with doing things the way that other bands do them. They are the kind of band that opens a co-headlining (yet nonetheless, technically opening) set at the Bowery Ballroom on a Friday night with a fifteen minute song (“Strange News From Another Planet”) from a new record (2011’s Tao of the Dead) that likely even the fans in attendance knew less well than their classic material. They are also the kind of band who, when they do that, cause the crowd to go apeshit.

Indeed, for the younger generation that was there to see the co-headliner Surfer Blood, this intense hour of no-compromise punk/art-rock may have been a departure from their usual Friday night fare. Surfer Blood is a great band, but Trail of Dead is many things they are not: loud, audacious, and visceral. But whether you came for Trail of Dead or not, they had to have won you over by the time they left the stage; frontman Conrad Keely bounced and pogo’d all over the stage while Jason Reece and Jamie Miller traded turns playing guitar and hammering the skins. With Autry Fulbright, also of Midnight Masses, joining on bass, the band has a killer lineup, even compared to the many variously-sized ones they have had. They were clearly enjoying themselves, as well as the energy from the crowd, which peaked in size during their set. The set covered a wide range of the band’s material, from the new material to classics such as “It Was There That I Saw You”, the leadoff track to their Pitchfork “perfect 10” album, Source Tags & Codes. The soaring song about intoxicating, damaged love is both jubilant and sad, a classic whether you’re hearing it for the first or fiftieth time. It also made for a tight under-four-minute contrast to some of the more epic numbers that bookended the set (including a 7+ minute “Perfect Teenhood” from Madonna to close out the set) …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead don’t just defy expectations – they exceed them.

I recorded this set with the DPA microphones and a handmade analog preamp from my usual spot in the venue. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Please note that the Surfer Blood set was recorded, but per our agreement with Kanine Records, will not be posted until the release of Surfer Blood’s forthcoming EP.

Stream “It Was There That I Saw You”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/T2402TrailOfDead1122/09 It Was There That I Saw You.mp3]

This Recording is now available to Download in FLAC and MP3 and to Stream at Archive.org [HERE].

Follow acidjack on Twitter

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
2011-04-29
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY  USA

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

Equipment: DPA 4021>Oade M248>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Slightly LOC, clamp to balcony rail at engineers’ head level, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, amplify and balance, light EQ (-1dB at 150-200Hz), smooth peaks, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 59:27]
01 [intro]
02 Strange News From Another Planet
03 Summer of All Dead Souls
04 [banter]
05 Ebb Away
06 Will You Smile Again
07 Caterwaul
08 [banter]
09 It Was There That I Saw You
10 [banter]
11 Relative Ways
12 Fake Fake Eyes
13 A Perfect Teenhood

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Trail of Dead, visit their website, and purchase Tao of the Dead at your favorite retailer, including here.

Mr. Dream: March 4, 2011 Glasslands – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

March 7, 2011
By


[Photo by Johnny Fried Chicken Boy and acidjack]

The Brooklyn band Mr. Dream gives the lie to the adage about writers, and critics in particular: That those who cannot actually do something become critics instead. In Mr. Dream’s particular case, the former Pitchfork writers Nick Sylvester and Adam Moerder joined with bassist Matt Morello to make the kind of rock music that made them become critics in the first place. Which is to say, rock music from the days when independent rock music wasn’t just the go-to tuneage for car commercials – when it was more often brash, loud, angular – and let’s be honest, had some fucking balls.

This show at Glasslands (and presented by PopGun Booking, who have been putting up one killer lineup after another at the venue recently) celebrated the release of the band’s first full-length, the 33-minute adrenaline burst Trash Hit. The record’s most evident influences are a who’s-who of critical favorites – early Pixies, Nirvana, Shellac, Fugazi, and a decent-sized portion of the SST canon. Stylistically, Mr. Dream’s songs embrace empty air in the manner most often associated with the legendary engineer Steve Albini – with each instrument clearly separated and clear, giving the music a dry, spare, propulsive quality. Joined by current Pitchfork contributor Matt LeMay (who produced three of the songs on Trash Hit) to bolster their guitar assault, the band hurtled through a half-hour of mostly Trash Hit songs whose intensity never flagged. The first notes of “Knuckle Sandwich” kicked in before the house music had even been turned off, and the show was balls-out from there. The musical erudition of the players shows through in their songs, which wear their influences well without being overwhelmed by them; the title track, “Trash Hit”, for example, could have held its own with the Pixies in their Surfer Rosa days. By the time they left the stage after “Unfinished Business,” Mr. Dream didn’t need an encore – they had cemented themselves as yet another band to watch in 2011. The band will be joining Sleigh Bells and CSS for their East Coast tour, with dates in DC, Philly and Boston, and a May 11 show at Webster Hall in NYC (tickets here).

I recorded this set with the DPA microphones mounted on the balcony, combined with an outstanding house mix from the Glasslands engineers. The quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Trash Hit”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/M3400MrDream2011/05 Trash Hit.mp3]

Stream “Unfinished Business”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/M3400MrDream2011/12 Unfinished Business.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete Show in FLAC [HERE].

Mr. Dream
2011-03-04
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Equipment: DPA 4021+Soundboard>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]
Position: ROC, balcony, ~ORTF
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (guitar-enhancing compression on soundboard track, smooth peaks, mixdown, adjust levels, smooth peaks, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 30:20]
01 Knuckle Sandwich
02 Crime
03 Scarred For Life
04 Holy Name
05 Trash Hit
06 [banter]
07 Winners
08 Knick Knack
09 Croquet
10 King Klutz
11 [banter]
12 Unfinished Business

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mr. Dream, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Trash Hit from Amazon or your favorite record store.

SUPPORT NYCTaper




DISCLAIMER and LEGAL NOTICE

nyctaper.com is a live music blog that offers a new paradigm of music distribution on the web. The recordings are offered for free on this site as are the music posts, reviews and links to artist sites. All recordings are posted with artist permission or artists with an existing pro-taping policy.

All recordings and original content posted on this site are @nyctaper.com as live recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 106, et. seq. Redistribution of nyctaper recordings without consent of nyctaper.com is strictly prohibited.

nyctaper.com hereby waives all copyright claims to any and all recordings posted on this site to THE PERFORMERS ONLY. If any artist posted on this site requests that recordings be removed, those recordings will be removed forthwith.