Posts Tagged ‘ Rough Trade ’

Clearance: October 13, 2017 Rough Trade NYC

October 20, 2017
By

The Chicago band Clearance have been at it for a few years now, having first gained broader notice with a track debut from their current full-length, Rapid Rewards, on Stereogum. Various corners of the Internet have compared them to Pavement, having more (to this listener) to do with their wry sense of humor than their exact musical style, which falls into the broad camp of “indie rock” or “alt-rock” or “garage-rock” or whatever you want to call guitar-driven music that isn’t made by meatheads these days, but is delivered, at this stage, with a certain professionalism that wasn’t Pavement’s stock-in-trade until career end.

This set at Rough Trade NYC represents a solid eleven (with one additional that was aborted) song introduction to the band, including “You’ve Been Pre-Approved.” But among the set, I was most taken with the band’s latest single, “Are You Aware,” an upbeat burst of optimism that might fit less within the “ironic slacker” framework, but is just the dash of musical Prozac you want on a Friday after a wearying week. By the time the song downshifts in its final segment, you’re feeling the relaxation wash over you. We also got some new songs in the mix, including “Chances Are” and “Haven’t You Got the Time,” the latter of which has a bit more of a 90s Britpop feel than some of the band’s other songs. The band closed with the short-burst anthem “She’s A Peach,” which ended abruptly in under two minutes. At first it seemed like a mistake or a joke, but then it became clear — the song had said all it needed to say. Clearance are that kind of band.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Widowspeak set, with Schoeps MK5 microphones and a soundboard feed from Jeremy. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Clearance
2017-10-13
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Jeremy) + Schoeps MK5 (DFC, at SBD, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Sound Devices MixPre6 (24/48)>polyWAV file>Adobe
Audition CC (align, mix down, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, dither, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Had A Fantastic
02 The Prospect
03 Destination Wedding
04 Frozen Orange / No Wonder
05 Gallery Glare
06 Are You Aware
07 You’ve Been Pre-Approved
08 Owner/Operator
09 Chances Are
10 Haven’t You Got The Time?
11 Another Arrow [stops]
12 She’s A Peach

PLEASE SUPPORT CLEARANCE: bandcampFacebook 

Widowspeak: October 13, 2017 Rough Trade NYC

October 17, 2017
By


Widowspeak just released their fourth album, Expect the Best. It gave me a little jolt of nostalgia to see what’s now by any definition a veteran band taking the stage in Brooklyn again, six years after I caught one of their earliest shows at Glasslands. It also gave me hope: Here’s a band that has thrived from day one on the very simple proposition of writing good songs and performing them well, and continues to be well-received.

This show at Rough Trade marked the end of the band’s recent tour in support of Expect the Best, and it had that triumphal homecoming feel about it, from the crowd of friends and showgoing regulars to the career-spanning setlist. After all, it’s not like Widowspeak need to hunt around Brooklyn for converts. Expect the Best feels like a darker, slightly less pop-driven record than 2015’s All Yours, as befits the times and singer Molly Hamilton’s recent decamping to her home in the Pacific Northwest. Likewise, the new record also has more of a “live” sound to it, a bit looser than the band’s recent efforts, and that also works to the advantage of these songs like, particularly the set opener, “Right On,” which reminded us that despite the association of this band with more of a hazy, laid-back sound, they are more than capable of rocking out. As noted, the set also reached back to the band’s first album for three of their best-loved numbers, the unforgettable “In the Pines,” “Gun Shy” and Hamilton’s Pacific Northwest in-joke “Harsh Realm.” Hearing those songs played by a tightly-knit four-piece — a much fuller sound than the trio had back in 2011 — only reminded me again that some things do improve with time. Widowspeak are one of those bands that has not only stayed consistent, but keeps putting out great new music. That album title they chose this time says it all.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from house engineer Jeremy combined with Schoeps MK5 microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

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

Widowspeak
2017-10-13
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Jeremy) + Schoeps MK5 (DFC, at SBD, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Sound Devices MixPre6 (24/48)>polyWAV file>Adobe
Audition CC (align, mix down, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify,
dither, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:13:35]
01 Right On
02 Perennials
03 Warmer
04 In the Pines
05 Narrows
06 All Yours
07 [banter1]
08 Ballad of the Golden Hour
09 The Dream
10 Expect the Best
11 Gun Shy
12 [banter2]
13 Dog
14 The Swamps
15 Harsh Realm
16 Fly On the Wall
17 [banter3]
18 Coke Bottle Green

PLEASE SUPPORT Widowspeak: Facebook | Captured Tracks | Bandcamp

 

Robyn Hitchcock (with Yo La Tengo): February 28, 2017 Rough Trade Brooklyn

March 5, 2017
By


[photo by nyctaper]

It was twenty years ago this month that I recorded Robyn Hitchcock at the old Knitting Factory on Leonard Street from the first row of the balcony when that venue still had seats upstairs. That recording has for years been one of my favorite Robyn recordings in large part because the banter is both hilarious and sublime in his very unique stream-of-consciousness manner. I saw Robyn Hitchcock many times in that era, mostly as a solo performer sometimes accompanied by the great Deni Bonet. It wasn’t until a decade later that I saw Robyn with a full band — that 2007 tour featured the Venue 3 (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin) — in the very same Leonard Street spot. The two shows were entirely different musical experiences and proved the versatility of this prolific performer.

It took another decade, and a completely different full band for me to experience Robyn again. This time it was in a two-set affair with the first session featuring a complete performance of his first solo album Black Snake Diamond Röle and a second act consisting of rare tracks, covers and a few familiar standards extending all the way back to the 1970s Soft Boys period. At Rough Trade on Tuesday night, the Brit ex-pat was less interested in monologues and more focused on the songs — many of which had not been performed in years and perhaps decades. The result was a stunning display of musical dexterity and proof positive that Hitchcock is perhaps the most overlooked living genius of the last half-century of modern music. The second set highlights included Robyn’s tribute to his Soft Boys bandmate Kimberly Rew in the performance of “Goin Down to Liverpool” and the a spot-on version of mega-influence Syd Barrett in Pink Floyd’s first album stand-out “Lucifer Sam”.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted centered inside the soundboard booth. This straight audience recording accentuates the superb room mix of one the best FOH pros in the business, Mark Luecke, and the credit for the superb sound goes directly to him. This is truly one of the best audience recordings we’ve ever featured on this site. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show in FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Complete Show:

Robyn Hitchcock
with Yo La Tengo
2017-02-28
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded inside Soundboard Booth

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 1:45:55]
Set 1 (Black Diamond Snake Role)
01 The Man Who Invented Himself
02 Brenda’s Iron Sledge
03 Do Policemen Sing
04 The Lizard
05 Meat
06 [band introductions]
07 Acid Bird
08 I Watch the Cars
09 Out of the Picture
10 City of Shame
11 Love
Set 2
12 [introduction]
13 Wey Wey Hep Uh Hole
14 All I Wanna Do Is Fall in Love
15 It’s a Mystic Trip
16 A Skull, a Suitcase, and a Long Red Bottle of Wine
17 I Got a Message for You
18 Ye Sleeping Knights of Jesus
19 Going Down to Liverpool [The Waves]
20 Run Run Run [Velvets]
21 Kingdom of Love
22 He’s a Reptile
23 [encore break]
24 Rock ‘n’ Roll Toilet
25 Lucifer Sam [Pink Floyd]
26 Airscape

PLEASE SUPPORT Robyn Hitchcock: Website | Twitter | Buy Official Releases

Luna: October 1, 2016 – Rough Trade

October 3, 2016
By

luna-rough-trade-1
[photo courtesy of Adria Farrero]

With their reunion currently in its third year, I think its safe to assume that Luna is back. The band has been doing these brief and intermittent tours since 2014, and the current one (four dates) completed with two nights at Rough Trade in Brooklyn. The first night was a standard mixed set and the second night included a complete performance of the Penthouse album.

The Saturday show began in earnest with 23 Minutes in Brussels, a lengthy song with a propelled instrumental segment that usually works as a show-stopping number. From the outset it was clear that this was going to be no ordinary night. There was classic numbers, obscure tracks, a song from Britta Philips‘ new solo album Luck or Magic, and ultimately two callbacks for encores. But what was most striking about this show was the band’s positive energy, tight arrangements and relative feeling of being at ease. They’re comfortable being Luna and that is a very good thing that bodes well for more tours and for our presence at local (and some distant) shows.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted inside of the soundboard booth and mixed with Evan’s superb feed. The sound quality is pretty much ideal. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Set:

Luna
2016-10-01
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

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

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:39:26]
01 23 Minutes in Brussels
02 Pup Tent
03 Malibu Love Nest
04 Tiger Lily
05 [banter – moved to LA]
06 This Time Around
07 Still At Home
08 Speedbumps
09 One Fine Summer Morning [Evie Sands]
10 Tracy I Love You
11 [banter – IHOP]
12 Bewitched
13 Kalamazoo
14 Lost In Space
15 Friendly Advice
16 [encore break]
17 Chinatown
18 Indian Summer
19 [second encore break]
20 Blue Thunder

SUPPORT Luna:  Website | Bandcamp | Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks [HERE].

Ought: May 8, 2016 Rough Trade NYC

June 2, 2016
By

ought
[photos by Jill Harrison]

Today, more than any other day. It’s effective as a song, even more effective as a mantra. The Montreal band Ought seem to be living by it well, unafraid to release precocious, ambitious music into the wild without precondition or posturing. Their new album, Sun Coming Down, starts off with a nearly eight-minute song, and that should tell you something about where this band’s collective head is at in terms of what their priorities are. Proudly off-kilter in some respects, but never veering from straight-up playing a good song, Ought are that band you wish your geek friend had managed to actually achieve — something smart, interesting, and also engaging. When singer-guitarist Tim Darcy makes his voice warble in that oh so strange way that he does on “The Combo” and elsewhere, it’s as if he’s making the joke you’re in on. People much older than him might look askance at acting a little silly, but he’s all-in. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to leave, but there’s no reason for that, really.

This set at Rough Trade focused on Sun Coming Down, and if that album lacks a bit of the exuberance of the debut, it makes up for it with even more ambition. The band’s years on the road have further tightened up the sound of an act that was once a lark among roommates; like many of their hometown brethren, Ought sound like they give a fuck, and whether or not the word “punk” falls into your label for them says a lot about what you think that word means. Darcy’s sing-speak, likened at times to Mark E. Smith, is neither spontaneous nor lazy, calculated to deliver the maximum impact of what he has to say. This Sunday night crowd knew it, too, and the band delivered. By the time their first album’s title track rolled around as the first encore, even the people who had to go to work the next day knew they’d made the right decision. In the end, there’s only today, and you might as well make the most of it.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones in our optimal spot in the venue, together with a soundboard feed from veteran engineer Kevin Mazzrelli. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Ought
2016-05-08
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK5c (at SBD, DFC)>KCY>Z-PFA>Aeta PSP-3 + Soundboard (engineer: Kevin Mazzarelli)>Zoom F8 (2x24bit/49kHz WAV)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5

(align, mix down, light compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, imaging)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:08:57]
01 Sun’s Coming Down
02 The Combo
03 Passionate Turn
04 Men For Miles
05 Beautiful Blue Sky
06 The Weather Song
07 On the Line
08 Habit
09 Never Better
10 [encore break]
11 Today, More Than Any Other Day
12 Pill

Support Ought: bandcamp | Constellation Records | facebook

Shearwater: March 15, 2016 Rough Trade (Bowie’s Lodger album)

March 23, 2016
By

shearwater-29
[photos by PSquared Photography]

Last month we captured a really outstanding performance by Shearwater at the Mercury Lounge. The show was in the early stages of the band’s tour in support of its superb new album Jet Plane and Oxbow and it featured most of the new album in a tour de force evening. But one of the non-album highlights of the night was the band’s cover of David Bowie’s “Look Back in Anger” from the Lodger album. We learned that night that Shearwater had rehearsed the entire album and upon their return to NYC, would play it live.

Last week at Rough Trade, Shearwater offered a gift to their fans — a free show at a great venue that consisted of that previously promised Lodger show. Jonathan Meiburg has discussed how this fairly obscure late-70s Bowie work helped him personally through some difficult times, but for this performance Meiburg discussed many of the aspects of the album in detail in segments in between the songs. Lodger is the last of the trio of Bowie albums produced in collaboration with Brian Eno, and as expected the Eno influence is all over this record particularly in a kind of world music feel. But the addition of legendary guitarist Adrian Belew also added more of a rock feel to this album as compared with the previous two records in the trilogy, Heroes and Low. The guitar based songs on the album gave Jonathan an opportunity to stretch out and use his pedals liberally. He remarked at the end of the show that he’d never used his phaser so often. While the band has rehearsed these songs and played a few of them at earlier shows, we learned that this was the first time that Shearwater has played the album start to finish. But you wouldn’t know — the songs were well played and the band was tight and the set was a fitting tribute to the late legend.

I recorded this set as I have all my previous trips to this venue — Schoeps cards mounted in the center of the Soundboard booth and mixed with an excellent feed, this time mixed superbly by the band’s touring FOH Jay. The sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show (banter tracks removed):

Shearwater
2016-03-15
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Jay] + 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 47:28]
01 Fantastic Voyage
02 [banter – Lodger]
03 African Night Flight
04 Move On
05 Yassassin
06 [banter – Adrian Belew]
07 Red Sails
08 [banter – singles in the middle]
09 DJ
10 Look Back in Anger
11 [band introductions]
12 Boys Keep Swinging
13 [banter – SNL]
14 Repetition
15 [thanks]
16 Red Money

SUPPORT Shearwater: Website | Facebook | Twitter | BUY Jet Plane and Oxbow

Courtesy Tier: November 3, 2015 Rough Trade BK

November 18, 2015
By

IMG_1581
[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].

Ryley Walker: October 9, 2015 Rough Trade NYC (Tompkins Square 10th Anniversary)

October 16, 2015
By

20151010-RyleyWalker-3
[photos by Jill Harrison]

For the past decade, Tompkins Square Records has pursued the dual missions of enlightening listeners about the current state of folk and guitar music, as well as unearthing underappreciated classics, such as John Hulburt’s Opus III, compilations of gospel songs, and Harry Taussig’s Fate Is Only Once. But on the first side of that slate — current artists — is where Tompkins Square has stood out the most, offering up records by Daniel Bachman, Shawn David McMillen, and last year’s Grammy-nominated set of music from respected folk singer Alice Gerrard. The biggest single breakout, though, might be Ryley Walker, of Chicago, whose debut album the label released back in 2014. From there, things moved fast, with Walker blowing our minds at a full-band appearance at Hopscotch, releasing his second album, Primrose Green, in 2015 (and a live album with Bill MacKay in August), and ending up on the roster of, among others, the Pitchfork Music Festival, Levitation, and Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival. As followers of this site know, we’ve seen him a slew of times since that Hopscotch show, each revealing new songs and new dimensions of his style.

Fitting, then, that Ryley and his band would headline Tompkins Square’s tenth-anniversary celebration, at the top of a bill that also featured living legend Michael Chapman and the rediscovered D.C. folk musician Bob Brown, playing his first show in 30 years. Ryley said at the outset that he and his band didn’t deserve to be headlining over such company, and even if that wasn’t necessarily true, they certainly were the young guns among their peers. What followed that introduction was a sprawling, hour-plus set consisting of just four songs, all of them non-album material, two of them brand new to us. The band began with “The Roundabout,” a fitting metaphor for a song about possibilities that can just as easily turn into inertia. After that came the night’s sprawling centerpiece, “Sullen Mind,” which we first heard at Le Poisson Rouge back in June. This time, the song became a 25-minute showcase for the band and Ryley’s talents, the natural interplay among them obvious they grinned visibly at the transitions. “Funny Thing She Said” continued in that vein, giving sax man Levon Henry a showcase for his talents before Ryley even got to the first verse. This and “Sullen Mind” underscore how far Walker has come since even that 2014 Hopscotch performance; if one were inclined to accuse him of being a “traditional” folk musician, or some kind of tribute act for Van Morrison and the classics, his recent performances throw those assumptions out the window. What Walker is attempting here is something entirely different, and something that’s a total stranger to the Civil War-wave garbage that passes for modern folk or “indie” music on most stages these days. That he has already attempted it on the biggest stages, such as at Pitchfork, further proves that Walker isn’t taking the easy, commercial way here. More power to him.

After begging from the audience, the band closed with an even-newer tune, “The Great and Undecided,” a slightly more traditional number (so far) that we’re excited to hear develop. As Ryley enlightened us at the outset of this show, Tompkins Square has been delivering “sick nugs” for ten years now. I feel confident saying Ryley Walker will keep doing the same. He represents the best of the future, as well as the past.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from engineer Dustin Meyers together with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

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

Stream the complete show (note: banter tracks removed. Enjoy them on the download versions):

Ryley Walker
2015-10-09
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Soundboard (engineer: Dustin Myers) + Schoeps MK4V (PAS, FOB)>KC5>CMC6>>Edirol R-44>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, imaging, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:05:05]
01 [intro banter]
02 The Roundabout
03 Sullen Mind
04 [tuning]
05 Funny Thing She Said
06 [encore break]
07 The Great and Undecided

Band:
Ryley Walker
Ben Boye – Keys
Brian Sulpizio – Guitar
Anton Hatwich – Bass
Ryan Jewell – Drums
Levon Henry – Sax

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Ryley Walker, like him on Facebook, and buy All Kinds of You and The West Wind EP on Tompkins Square and Primrose Green from Dead Oceans. Also, check out Ryley’s new acoustic live album with Bill MacKay, which you can stream and buy here.

20151010-RyleyWalker-4

Phil Cook: September 23, 2015 Rough Trade NYC + September 10, 2015 Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

October 7, 2015
By

hopscotch-festival-2015-31kennethbachor
[Hopscotch photo courtesy of Kenneth Bachor]

Phil Cook is a very easy person to like. If there’s a musician — or heck, a human in general — who is more affable, good-hearted and filled with positivity, I have yet to see them. Cook has been the dutiful bassist, the cheerful sidekick, the go-to-guy for a slew of bands, including Megafaun, with his brother Brad, Hiss Golden Messenger, Akron/Family, Gayngs, and DeYarmond Edison. As Phil pointed out himself, he’s had a long career of doing what other people told him — showing up on time, hitting the right notes, being a get-along guy. The new album Southland Mission represents his first foray into the world of the frontman. The microphone is his now, and the shots are his to call. So he’s assembled an eight-piece band, complete with backup singers, bass, second guitar, and keys, and he’s the one who decides when practice is, where to go, what to do. Suffice it say, most of us would be lucky to have such a genial boss. Southland Mission wears its influences on its sleeve — much as Cook literally wore a Staples Singers shirt this night — and Cook’s devotion to the gospel, soul, R&B and blues music of an earlier era is both obvious and genuine. “Lowly Road” offers a gospel-style chorus, while the loping blues of “Sitting On A Fence” could’ve come from Chicago in the 1960s.

These sets followed a relatively similar course, though with somewhat different vibes. The first, at Hopscotch, came on the day before the release of Southland Mission, and was the first time that Cook played the material in public, together with his band The Guitarheels. Staged in the grand Fletcher Opera Theater, with a band banner at his back (along with an inappropriately large ad for festival sponsor Mini), the setting felt appropriate to the moment. Packed with a fawning hometown crowd, Cook’s material was greeted at every step with roars and encouraging shouts from people he probably sees at the same shows every night (I had to reduce between-song volume to account for it, but trust me). When the band kicked off with one of the album’s most direct and best tunes, “Ain’t It Sweet,” the easy answer had to be yes — and the applause showed it. All of Southland Mission was played, not quite in album order, and the band chose to close with a country song, Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Northeast Texas Women.” As he would in New York, Cook complimented the band profusely, calling them a collection of the finest musicians he had worked with. It being the insular Triangle scene, it’s a reasonable guess that many of the people in the crowd knew them, too. Appropriate to the location, the show’s pace was leisurely and relaxed, with long breaks between songs that felt like Phil having a chat with friends. Both “Great Tide” and “Sitting on a Fence” proved to be opportunities for the band to stretch its legs, with guitar breakdowns that took them into longer territory than the tight album versions.

In New York, Phil and the Guitarheels could still welcome a crowd of friends from previous work, though in the club-like, intimate atmosphere of Rough Trade NYC. Phil may have had to exhort this crowd to stop standing so still (clearly he hasn’t seen as many shows in New York as I have), but against the odds, he got what he asked for. It remained an intimate and chatty show, and Phil’s own speech about getting to finally “be the frontman” was a touching one. Similarly, true to the album’s roots, Cook also talked a good bit about his love for the Staples singers (even wearing the T-shirt), and that’s another influence you can feel throughout these songs. For ease of listening, most of the banter tracks aren’t on the streaming versions below, but I’d urge you to download the full sets to get a better flavor of what Cook is about. While there are only so many ways to mix up the tracks on a single album, we got two brand-new covers this time: first, the Blind Boys of Alabama’s “Take Your Burden To the Lord and Leave It There,” and then Curtis Mayfield’s “Talking About My Baby.” Throughout this show, as in North Carolina, you couldn’t have forced the broad smile off of Phil Cook’s face at gunpoint. If there’s a world where nice guys finish first, well, Phil Cook is in pole position, folks.

I recorded the NYC set with a soundboard feed from Rough Trade engineer Danielle DePalma and Schoeps MK4V microphones; the Hopscotch set was recorded by our friend Larry Tucker with Peluso wide-cardiod microphones. The sound quality of both recordings is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Rough Trade NYC set: [MP3] | [FLAC]

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

Stream the Rough Trade NYC set:

Stream the Hopscotch set: 

Phil Cook
2015-06-26
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY

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

Soundboard (engineer: Danielle DePalma) + Schoeps MK4V (FOB, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Edirol R-44>24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, fades, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, dither, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:10:38]
01 Ain’t It Sweet
02 [banter1]
03 1922
04 [banter2]
05 Belong
06 Sitting On A Fence
07 [banter3-band intros]
08 Time To Wake
09 Anybody Else
10 [banter4]
11 Gone
12 [banter5–speech]
13 Lowly Road
14 [banter6]
15 Great Tide
16 [encore break]
17 Take Your Burden To The Lord and Leave It There [Blind Boys of Alabama]
18 Talking About My Baby [Curtis Mayfield]

________________________________________________
Phil Cook
2015-09-10
Hopscotch Music Festival
Fletcher Opera Theater
Raleigh, NC USA

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

Peluso CEMC6-CK21 (subcardiod) (Room center hung from balcony rail)>Fostex FR2-LE>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Ain’t It Sweet
02 1922
03 Belong
04 [banter1]
05 Sitting On A Fence
06 [banter2]
07 Lowly Road
08 [banter3]
09 Time To Wake
10 Anybody Else
11 [banter4]
12 Gone
13 [banter5]
14 Great Tide
15 [banter6]
16 Northeast Texas Women [Jerry Jeff Walker]

If you enjoyed these recordings, PLEASE SUPPORT Phil Cook, visit his website, and buy Southland Mission from his online store.

IMG_3195

Warehouse: June 12, 2015 Rough Trade – Flac/MP3/Streaming

August 19, 2015
By

Warehouse Live

When the first and most immediate comparison I make with a current band is to the late great Pylon, you know that band has immediately won me over. Warehouse is from the same area as Pylon (Atlanta/Athens) and play the same tight and jittery math-rock that was revolutionized in the early 80’s when Pylon songs like “Dub” and “Crazy” were making waves on college radio. Its heartening to know 30+ years hence that bands still feel this influence, and in the case of Warehouse, actually acknowledge the musical debt. Not surprisingly, all of this is not lost on the Eighties aficionados at Bayonet Records who have signed Warehouse to their fledgling label. At the Bayonet Northside showcase, Warehouse was the first band on the bill and one that certainly caught the early attention of the room that filled quickly when the band began to play. This set is marked by the appearance of five new (with working titles) songs in the eight-song setlist. The band’s only current release is the Tesseract cassette of which three songs were played, and we are streaming “Promethean Gaze” below. Consider this recording an excellent preview of the new album, which is not expected until next year but has the early ingredients to be a stunner. We’ll be waiting for it, certainly.

Warehouse is currently booking Fall tour dates. Keep posted by following them on Facebook.

This set was recorded in the same manner at the Beach Fossils set from this show (Schoeps plus Kam’s feed) and the sound is equally superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Promethean Gaze”:

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

Warehouse
2015-06-12
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Kam] + 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 28:35]
01 [new song – Criminal Lines]
02 Mental Faculty
03 Promethean Gaze
04 [new song – Oscillator]
05 Euphrates
06 [new song – Untitled1]
07 [new song – Reservoir]
08 [new song – Untitled2]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Warehouse, visit their Facebook page, and purchase Tesseract from Bayonet Records [HERE].

SUPPORT NYCTaper




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