Posts Tagged ‘ Schoeps Mk41 ’

Wussy: August 11, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC / MP3 / Streaming

August 21, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Wussy, like their Cincinnati brethren and fellow NYCTaper favorites Heartless Bastards, are one of those hardworking, unpretentious, straight-up-rocking bands that real music fans should always pull for. Unlike the unabshed classic rock of the Bastards, Wussy’s sound is more reminiscent of early-80s indie acts like the Bongos, with a rawer sound and accented with a light country twang. Despite being what no lesser critic than Robert Christgau called “the best band in America”, they remain an open secret among music fans. Meaning, when they throw a Sunday night early show at Mercury Lounge like this one, they’ve got a line snaking down the block before doors. And half the people in that line were wondering aloud at why the band isn’t more popular. There’s no getting past it, Wussy aren’t an act built around image or gimmicks; I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m betting their t-shirt sales aren’t what they could be (being a dude wearing a shirt that says “Wussy” may not be a winner). What Wussy is about is delivering the best show possible, having a fan-first attitude, and writing song after song with what Christgau himself called “Beatles/Stones consistency”.  This band suffered and sweated to make it to this Mercury Lounge show, in a van without A/C, which on this particular day, coming from just about anywhere, was enough torture to make you question their sanity, but not their rock n’ roll bona fides. (You can hear the story at the beginning of “Funeral Dress”, streaming below).  What we got was a set that spanned their records, kicking off with the title track from Funeral Dress, the album that started it all. Vocalists Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker sounded raw and right on this night, and despite a trying day, they gave the packed early evening house a hell of a time.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed provided by Kevin, the head engineer at Mercury.  As with most of our recordings from the venue, this one is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Funeral Dress”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W1604Wussy2211/01 Funeral Dress.mp3]

Stream “Pizza King”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W1604Wussy2211/05 Pizza King.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on twitter

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.

Wussy
2012-08-11
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41>KC5>CMC6>Aerco MP-2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (light EQ)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 44:27]
01 Funeral Dress
02 Pulverized
03 Maglite
04 Death by Misadventure
05 Pizza King
06 Happiness Bleeds
07 Motorcycle
08 [banter]
09 Grand Champion Steer
10 Airborne
11 Rigor Mortis

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wussy, visit their website, and purchase their official releases including Strawberry directly from the Music section of their website [HERE]

Sean Rowe: July 21, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC / MP3 / Streaming

August 10, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Sean Rowe has that kind of deep, bone-shaking voice that sticks with you; the dark, harrowing type that gives voice to a thousand souls. Born and raised in upstate New York, Rowe has been kicking around there for awhile, doing his thing in local bars and clubs, playing to whoever will listen. In a welcome development, ANTI Records picked him up a few years ago and re-released his first solo album, Magic.  Since then, he has enjoyed a wider audience, and this show at Mercury Lounge found Sean on the cusp of his second ANTI release, The Salesman and the Shark, which drops at the end of this month. Joined onstage by Sarah Pedinotti from Railbird on keys, Rowe showcased several new songs from Salesman as well as some truly classic covers.

Magic reflected Rowe’s other main passion, being a naturalist, and was the result of 24 days spent foraging in the wilderness. Based on what we were previewed at this show, Salesman will be another dramatic artistic statement, with songs like “Joe’s Cult” evoking some of rock and folk’s most cherished vocalists. You can imagine Rowe sharing the stage with any number of great artists: Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, were he still with us. Rowe’s baritone has a timeless, evocative quality, and that made his covers at this show as memorable and true as his originals.  Because everything has to have a label to hang it on, PR people have taken to calling this “alt-folk”, and maybe, as the work of an accomplished woodsman with a love and respect for the outdoors, that makes some sense. But I don’t think Rowe is trying to be the “alternative” to anything; his music is classic, as well as relevant. Although, in fairness to the “alt” tag, he had a bit of fun with us at the end with his cover of the Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone” – an 80s staple that, like Rowe’s own music, wears awfully well.

Rowe will be performing two NYC shows in September – on the 19th at Mercury Lounge, and on the 20th at Brooklyn Bowl.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and an excellent soundboard feed from Kevin, the head engineer at Mercury.  Like the Field Report recording from this same night, it is outstanding in quality.  Enjoy!

Stream “Joe’s Cult”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S2107SeanRowe2120/04 Joe’s Cult.mp3]

Stream “Jesus Gonna Be Here [Tom Waits]”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S2107SeanRowe2120/07 Jesus Gonna Be Here.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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.

Sean Rowe
2012-07-21
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by acidjack and Johnny Fried Chicken Boy
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (various)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Flying
02 Bird On A Wire [Leonard Cohen]
03 [banter]
04 Joe’s Cult
05 [banter]
06 The Walker
07 Jesus Gonna Be Here [Tom Waits]
08 To Leave Something Behind
09 Gone Daddy Gone [Violent Femmes]

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Sean, visit his website, and pre-order The Salesman and the Shark from ANTI Records [HERE].

Helmet: August 2, 2012 Webster Hall – FLAC / MP3 / Streaming

August 9, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

Our younger readers are fortunate not to remember the Columbia House Music Club, which promised eight to ten CDs for 1 cent in exchange for signing up for a “club” that would mail you a (usually lame) CD-of-the-month at an exorbitant price, unless you mailed it back first. The club bore more than its fair share of customer complaints, and its selection was weak. But if you were a kid and didn’t have a lot of cash or access to good music stores (and you were diligent about declining that CD of the month), it wasn’t a bad way to get ahold of new music in the pre-Internet era.  One thing I can thank Columbia House for is introducing me to Helmet and their standout albums Meantime and Betty, each still a tour de force of hardcore-influenced rock twenty years on.

Frontman Page Hamilton has moved on from his former bandmates, and is the only original member of the lineup, but as Johnny Fried Chicken Boy observed last October, Hamilton and his new cast of characters can still very much bring the heat. Hurtling through a Webster Hall set that included five songs from the band’s 2010 record Seeing Eye Dog (plus another from 2004’s Size Matters) with a fairly even blend of songs from their four 90s albums, Strap It On, Meantime, Betty and Aftertaste. One feature that always set Helmet apart from many hardcore and metal bands of the era was their more intelligent approach to their music, both in terms of Hamilton’s classically-informed playing and their eschewing of the macho heavy metal aesthetic of contemporaries like Pantera. Hamilton, who relocated from New York to LA at the end of the 90s, remains a gifted frontman, and songs like two of my favorites, “In the Meantime” and “Wilma’s Rainbow” were delivered with ferocity. Although this set clocked in at barely over an hour thanks to Webster’s curfew and the fact that this was a co-headlining tour with Toadies, Hamilton and the band packed in sixteen songs, and stirred up a mosh pit in the process (kind of a feat when you consider how early it was in the night, and the age of many of the fans).

Johnny Fried Chicken Boy recorded this set with four microphones in our usual balcony location. I ended up using the Schoeps MK41 source alone for this post, as both sources were a bit “muddy” in the low-mid bass region, and combining them would only have accentuated that flaw.  After some time spent editing, although this is not my favorite of my recordings quality-wise, this recording should be a very good listen, if not quite up to the standard of Johnny’s Bowery Ballroom recording linked above.  Enjoy!

Stream “In the Meantime”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H1110Helmet1120/19 In the Meantime.mp3]

Stream “Wilma’s Rainbow”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H1110Helmet1120/08 Wilma’s Rainbow.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] |  Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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.

Helmet
2012-08-02
Webster Hall
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack and Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

Schoeps MK41 (DFC, BOB, DINa)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ)>Audition CS 5.5 (parallel compression)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:04:55]
01 Sinatra
02 So Long
03 Welcome To Algiers
04 Renovation
05 Exactly What You Wanted
06 White City
07 Bad Mood
08 Wilma’s Rainbow
09 [banter]
10 Miserable
11 Blacktop
12 Overrated
13 In Person
14 [banter]
15 Smart
16 Ironhead
17 Milquetoast
18 [short encore break]
19 In the Meantime

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Helmet, visit theirwebsite, visit their Facebook and MySpace pages, and purchase their official releases (including their most recent album, Seeing Eye Dog) and merchandise [HERE].

Family Band: August 1, 2012 Union Pool and April 5, 2012 Bell House – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

August 7, 2012
By

family band feast of music
[Photo courtesy of Feast of Music]

To see pure love personified as rock n’ roll, witness Jonny Ollsin, playing guitar in the thick of the Union Pool crowd last Wednesday as he looked up at his wife, Kim Krans, singing “Grace & Lies” to close out Family Band‘s set (see blurry image below). There were no corny faces or swooning poses from either; Krans, eyes cast down toward her husband as she sang, barely acknowledged him as he played. She didn’t need to; Krans and Ollsin’s bond is their music. This “Family Band” is nothing like the Osmonds or Jackson 5, but that turns out to be the perfect name for a band led by a family for whom music is its language, love its glue.

I first came across Ollsin and Krans at a Backyard Brunch Session last year (recording [HERE]). Then, they played as a three-piece with Scott Hirsch on pedal steel, sans drums, and despite being in the blazing July heat, the band had an obvious nocturnal vibe. Krans’ dusky, haunting vocals come against a downtempo backdrop of moody guitar and pedal steel. They joked then that their style was “death prom”, and while Family Band’s sound is dark, it is also beautiful.

The band’s second album, Grace & Lies, released this week on one of my favorite Brooklyn labels, No Quarter, represents the fullest realization to date of the band’s sound. The album contains contemplative love songs like “Moonbeams” and slow burners like “Lace”, as well as more chilling fare like “Again” and “Night Song”. This show was styled as an album release party, and there is already much for Krans, Ollsin and Hirsch to celebrate, including a favorable Pitchfork review and positive notice from around the blogosphere. This set – this time with a drummer in tow – took us through much of the album, with perhaps its standout sequence coming in the middle as an extended version of “Night Song” segued into “Rest”. While Krans, an accomplished visual artist, had never written a song prior to this band, Ollsin is a lifelong musician and composer whose prior bands included the thrash bands S.T.R.E.E.T.S. and Children. Ollsin’s metal influences come through a bit in the brooding riff that anchors “Night Song”; even at its slower tempo, there is an edge to his playing that is unmistakable. As the band closed the show with that lovely rendition of “Grace & Lies”, I thought about how many “family bands”, based on lies and manipulation, have failed throughout pop music history. Ollsin and Krans’ graceful, honest effort seems sure to shatter that mold.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a customized board feed from the Union Pool house engineer Bob.  As a bonus, we are also offering nyctaper’s recording of Family Band back in April at the Bell House ‘for the Brain Cave Festival, where they previewed many of these songs. Both recordings are of excellent quality. Enjoy!

Stream “Moonbeams” from Union Pool:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/02 Moonbeams.mp3]

Stream “Rest” from the Brain Cave Festival:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/06 Rest.mp3]

Stream “Night Song” from Union Pool:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F0723FamilyBand0211/05 Night Song.mp3]

Download the MP3 files: [Union Pool] | [Brain Cave Festival]

Download the FLAC files: [Union Pool] | [Brain Cave Festival]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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.

Family Band
2012-08-01
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41 (DFC, DINa)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (Compression on SBD, align)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ and effects)>Audition (parallel compression)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Again
02 Moonbeams
03 Ride
04 [banter]
05 Night Song>
06 Rest
07 Your Name
08 Lace
09 Grace & Lies
________________________
Family Band
2012-04-05
Brain Cave Festival
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Recorded by nyctaper
Produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (DR compression on soundboard, mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity (set fades, mixdown, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [Brain Cave intro]
02 Again
03 Ride
04 Moonbeams
05 Your Name
06 Rest
07 Night Song

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Family Band, visit their website, and purchase Grace & Lies from No Quarter Records [HERE]

Friend Roulette: May 6, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

July 27, 2012
By

friend roulette
[photo by acidjack]

Friend Roulette are one of those complex, artsy, hard-to-categorize bands that prove their mettle live. This set is now a couple of months old, but on repeat listens, I kept coming back to it as something people needed to hear. At times, what comes off as lush, whimsical chamber pop on their available bandcamp releases comes across as a different animal live; songs like “I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head” come across heavy and dark, as frantic strings alternate with downbeat guitar riffs. Other concoctions like “Hi, Hello” – available (along with “I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head”) on a lovely 10″ vinyl EP from Goodnight Records – maintain more of their album sound, their many layers rendered expertly. As with a lot of bands with a more technical aspect to their sound, Friend Roulette rewards the dedicated listener. These songs ask you to dig deep, to pay attention.

As far as live shows in New York are concerned, a dedicated listener in this city can’t do much better than an early-side show at Mercury Lounge on a Sunday – the sound is always flawless, and the crowds are – well, let’s face it, they’re less drunk than average. Friend Roulette took the stage with absolute confidence and shined on both newer and older material from their catalog. With the band in the studio working on a full-length LP, we expect to see great things from them in the future. They have a number of other local shows on tap next month, including August 4 at Rippers (Rockaway Beach), August 5 at Cake Shop, and August 12 at Piano’s.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 microphones, the classic EAA PSP2 preamp on loan from hi and lo, and a soundboard feed from the Mercury staff.  The results are excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F5006FriendRoulette2012/04 I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head.mp3]

Stream “Hi, Hello”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F5006FriendRoulette2012/06 Hi Hello.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

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.

Friend Roulette
2012-05-06
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41>CMC6>EAA PSP-2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ)>Audacity (adjust levels, set fades, tracking, amplify, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Fucked Up [omitted at artist request]
02 On Her Own Tonight [omitted at artist request]
03 Golden
04 I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head
05 Or, Berlin
06 Hi, Hello
07 Lie

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Friend Roulette, like them on Facebook, and buy/download their official releases from bandcamp and Goodnight Records.

Patterson Hood & the Downtown Rumblers: July 23, 2012 Bell House – FLAC/MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

July 25, 2012
By

Patterson
[still from this video]

Patterson Hood must be holding back his best material. Or, at least, the solo material on display at this appearance at The Bell House wowed both Johnny Fried Chicken Boy and me to a greater level than his most recent work with his main gig, the Drive-By Truckers, has. That’s not meant as a knock on the Truckers – that band is a collaborative effort, and Hood has never been the whole equation as far as songwriting for it goes. But he has always been, at least for me, the beating heart and mascot of that band, the friendly drunk with a wink in his eye, the one who reminds you of that reliably Southern buddy you wish you had.

Hood is also the band’s great storyteller. His honest, unvarnished tales manage to be universal, even if you don’t know jack shit about moonshine and pickup trucks. His new record is called Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance, and the title track is a tribute to Patterson’s recently deceased great uncle, who raised him for much of his childhood.  If you’ve seen actual heat lightning spread its electric fingers out over a black Southern sky, seemingly tousling the pines, you know what a majestic sight it is. And why it reminded Patterson of a loved one, about to be dearly departed. Because that image, like that person you love, will never leave you.

Many of his images don’t.  There’s Billy Ringo, the hapless stoner who nearly dies every day, nearly falling from a window but still keeping his hand on his bong. There are the liquor store fanboys of “12:01”, hanging outside the store on Sunday at midnight, fighting off the shakes until they can get their whiskey fix. There are the torn pages from the back of a Gideon Bible, scrawled with a love song of a moment’s inspiration.

Hood is a gifted songwriter, blessed with the common touch and an uncommon amount of insight. He’s a generous writer and performer, too; even by the standards of rock n’ roll, you can tell how much he loves doing both. Only somebody with that much love puts on a nearly two hour  performance of solo album material on a Monday night.  This show covered much of Heat Lightning, which will be released on September 11, but also offered some of his earlier favorites like “Pollyanna” was well as notable covers, including Big Star’s “September Gurls” and Todd Rundgren’s “The Range War”. Hood and this band, christened the Downtown Rumblers, were as free spirited and lively as ever, passing a bottle of Patron around as they dug deep into Hood’s catalog at a solid, but measured pace. Hood likes to take his time to cue up his songs, to put a frame around them, if you will, and that is one of the most rewarding aspects of his live show. By the time this one wrapped, it felt like we’d spent an evening with an old friend. The show ended, appropriately, with the Eddie Hinton song “Everybody Needs Love”, and we had felt plenty of it from Patterson tonight.

This set was recorded with Schoeps MK41 microphones, whose directionality helps to reduce some of the “boomy” nature of this room, and a soundboard feed. I think you will like the results. Enjoy!

Minor assistance with the setlist would be appreciated. Also, the tag for the first track should be changed to “Depression Era”. Thanks to Patterson, the Bell House and Dave for their hospitality.

Stream “Heat Lightning Rumbles In the Distance”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/D8030DriveByTruckers3838/21 Heat Lightning Rumbles In the Distance.mp3]

Stream “September Gurls [Big Star]”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/D8030DriveByTruckers3838/11 September Gurls.mp3]

Stream “12:01”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/D8030DriveByTruckers3838/03 12_01.mp3]

Download the MP3 and FLAC files and stream this entire show on the Live Music Archive [HERE]

Follow acidjack on twitter

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.

Patterson Hood and the Downtown Rumblers
2012-07-23
Bell House
Brooklyn, NY USA

Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 + SBD >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ AUD)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (light DR compression on SBD, mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (additional EQ)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:53:08]
01 Depression Era
02 Pride of the Yankees
03 12:01
04 [banter]
05 Leavin’ Time
06 Little Bonnie
07 [banter]
08 Billy Ringo
09 [banter]
10 Disappear
11 September Gurls [Big Star]
12 Old Timer’s Disease
13 (untold pretties)
14 The Range War [Todd Rundgren]
15 Betty Ford
16 Uncle Disney
17 Better Off Without
18 Pollyanna
19 After the Damage
20 Screwtopia
21 Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance
22 Come Back Little Star
23 15 Days
24 [encore break]
25 Back of a Bible
26 Everybody Needs Love [Eddie Hinton]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Patterson Hood, visit his website, and buy his official releases in the Drive By Truckers Online Store.

Field Report: July 21, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

July 24, 2012
By

field report vid cap
[still from this video]

I got to around 100 concerts a year, and at those concerts, I probably see upwards of 300 bands or more. A lot of times I am less than satisfied, but I keep going, and going, and going – chasing the perfect sound. And every once awhile – just about often enough – I come a band that is jaw-droppingly great, that raises the bar for their own art form.

Christopher Porterfield of Field Report was only a few bars into “I Am Not Waiting Anymore” at this Mercury Lounge show when I knew this was one of those bands. Although it was a hot summer day, Porterfield and his Milwaukee-based bandmates took the stage in dark-colored suits, and in some cases, ties, perhaps with an eye toward the grander days of Nashville, perhaps as if to say with their clothing what was already obvious – these are serious musicians. Portfield’s rough-hewn vocals and the band’s country tinge will draw comparisons to bands like Partisan Records labelmates Deer Tick or other roots/Americana bands, but if you want to see where their real magic lies, listen more carefully or get out the lyric sheet (you can read all of Porterfield’s lyrics on their website). Porterfield brings an ample vocabulary to his verses, and an ear for the satisfying grit in individual words and passages.  On paper, many of the band’s lyrics don’t scan like song lyrics at all, like this beginning to “Route 18”:

Elizabeth said last night the lake roared like the ocean; I was landlocked under the orange-white solstice moon. Imagine: imagining a place meant to conjure up another. Three degrees of hometown disconnect in my unborn daughter’s room.

or this opening to “Circle Drive”

leftside sidewalk hospital circle drive walked this way twice a day, back the other way two times they got you wrapped up in guilt like an aftermarket cancer quilt and I don’t know the names of the people on the patches and they ground you down to calcium and road salt and pressed you into piles of pills they cut with ashes

The band’s delivery is every bit as confident as Porterfield’s well-illuminated songwriting, which likely played a role in their rapid signing to Partisan (their full-length LP comes out on September 11) as well as supporting slots this summer for Counting Crows and Emmylou Harris. This set covered material from the band’s current preview EP as well as the new record, and there wasn’t a lackluster number among them.  My favorite was probably the harrowing “Circle Drive”, about endurance in the face of pain, but the band’s initial push into the mainstream will probably be built on more uptempo numbers like “The Year Of I Got You Alone”, and “Chico the American”. One thing these songs are not is anthemic or upbeat; these are songs for deep contemplation, maybe a slug of whiskey or two.  Every press missive about this band will mention Porterfield’s prior relationship with Bon Iver (in precursor band DeYarmond Edison), but Field Report don’t need the boldface name hype.  This Mercury crowd must have felt the same way I was feeling; even on a Saturday night, the crowd remained whisper quiet during each number, to the point that Porterfield commented on how intently we listened. How couldn’t we?  It’s hard to tear yourself away from something so authentic, vital and honest.

I recorded this set with my usual combination of Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed from Kevin, the head engineer at Mercury Lounge.  The house mix, even by Mercury Lounge’s high standards, was flawless, and the respectful crowd only makes the recording sound even better.  Enjoy!

Field Report will continue touring the U.S. with Counting Crows into the month of August.  Thanks to Partisan Records for inviting us to the show.

Stream “Chico the American”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F1270FieldReport0212/05 Chico the American.mp3]

Stream “Fergus Falls”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/F1270FieldReport0212/11 Fergus Falls.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on twitter

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.

Field Report
2012-07-21
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter, limiter)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 I Am Not Waiting Anymore
02 The Year of I Got You Alone
03 [tuning]
04 Evergreen
05 Chico the American
06 Taking Alcatraz
07 Incommunicado
08 [banter]
09 Circle Drive
10 [banter]
11 Fergus Falls
12 Route 18

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Field Report, visit their website, buy their 3-song EP on bandcamp, and like them on Facebook.

Sam Prekop & Archer Prewitt: June 30, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3/Streaming + Bonus Download of April 7, 1999 Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC

July 8, 2012
By

Sam Prekop
[still from this video]

A Sam Prekop show changed my life. I was nineteen years old, set up to record in the center of a tiny venue in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Halfway through the set, a guy came up to me who turned out to be my college newspapers music editor. Impressed that I was one of only two people from our school (not UNC) who bothered to come to see acts like this (Sam was touring behind his self-titled 1999 solo debut), he more or less offered me the job. My relationship with music, and with writing, was never the same hence.

Since then, Prekop has continued to make his own unique brand of jazz-and-lounge-inflected rock, both as a solo act and with the better-known Sea and Cake, still considered his primary gig. A recent Sea and Cake show at Bowery Ballroom confirmed the continuing vitality and appeal of that band, who have a new record coming out. But Prekop, who for years has incorporated African and Brazilian rhythms into his guitar work, has more ideas than one band can handle. So, while continuing to record with Sea and Cake, he has put out a diverse range of solo records, from his eponymous 1999 effort that was essentially Sea and Cake-style material, to his latest, Old Punch Card, which finds Prekop taking a radical, ambient turn with his sound. This show at Mercury Lounge, featuring Prekop and fellow Sea and Cake bandmate Archer Prewitt (also a great solo artist in his own right), gave fans a miniature retrospective of Prekop’s career. Kicking off with a new, untitled ambient jam reminiscent of Old Punch Card, the set then evolved into a mix of Prekop solo songs from the last twelve years, as well as Sea and Cake classics like “Do Now Fairly Well” and “The Staircase”. Prekop and Prewitt played with the easy rapport of long-time collaborators, and even without any particular stage adornments or a backing band, the pair held the attention of the packed house for the full hour.

Along with the Mercury Lounge recording, which is my usual mix of Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed, I am offering the Sam Prekop show from North Carolina, which has not been distributed (at least by me) since the year 2000, as a bonus download.  The North Carolina recording, while made with a decent rig, is not comparable in quality to the Mercury Lounge show (in large part due to the jackasses talking in the audience), but features Sam playing with a full band, and is more focused on material from Sam Prekop.  Enjoy!

Stream “The Staircase [Sea and Cake]” from Mercury Lounge:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/03 The Staircase.mp3]

Stream “The Company” from Mercury Lounge:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/07 The Company.mp3]

Stream “The Shadow” from Local 506 in Chapel Hill, NC:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/05 The Shadow.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files: [Mercury Lounge] | [Local 506]

Download the Mercury Lounge FLAC files [HERE]

Download the Local 506 FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on twitter

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.

Sam Prekop & Archer Prewitt
2012-06-30
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>CMC6>Aerco MP-2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (light EQ)>Audacity (set fades, mild DR compression and additional EQ, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC (level 8 )

Tracks
01 ambient jam
02 Something [Sam Prekop]
03 The Staircase [Sea and Cake]
04 On A Letter [Sea and Cake]
05 Between Outside [Sam Prekop]
06 [banter]
07 The Company [Sam Prekop]
08 Showrooms [Sam Prekop]
09 Don’t Bother [Sam Prekop]
10 On Such Favors [Sam Prekop]
11 Coconut [Sea and Cake]
12 Do Now Fairly Well [Sea and Cake]
__________________

Sam Prekop
1999-04-07
Local 506
Chapel Hill, NC USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack

Nakamichi CM300/cp1 (XY, DFC, 7ft)>Zefiro InBox>TCD-D8>DATM>CDRM>xAct>16bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, adjust levels)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 The Company
02 Practice Twice
03 Smaller Rivers
04 Don’t Bother
05 The Shadow
06 On Such Favors>Faces and People
07 Showrooms
08 So Shy
09 [encore break]
10 Do Now Fairly Well [Sea and Cake]
11 Parasol

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Sam Prekop, visit the Sea and Cake’s website, and purchase Sam’s records from Thrill Jockey [HERE]

Howth: May 6, 2012 Mercury Lounge – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 15, 2012
By


[Photos by acidjack]

After catching our friends Howth at Cameo Gallery back in March, we were pleased to join them again to celebrate the release of their record, Newkirk at Mercury Lounge.  This headlining set gave the band time to explore additional songs from Newkirk, and their tightness and timing were even better than just a couple of months ago. The set’s three additions from the record, “Deep In My Heart”, “Grand Marais” and “Keep Me Away From the Mirror” each showed another dimension of the band.  I particularly favored the ballad “Grand Marais”, which derives its name from a tiny lakeside town in vocalist Carl Creighton’s home state of Minnesota. Howth will be playing out to support the new record, including two shows this weekend – at Open Road Rooftop in Manhattan on Friday, and Saturday at Pete’s Candy Store.

I recorded this set in our usual fashion for Mercury Lounge, with a soundboard feet from the experienced house engineer Kyle and Schoeps MK41 microphones.  The recording is outstanding.  Enjoy!

Stream “Out In Eagan”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H2930Howth0212/11 Out In Eagan.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | 

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Follow acidjack on twitter

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.

Howth
2012-05-06
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41>CMC6>EAA PSP-2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (align, adjust levels, set fades, tracking, amplify, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 46:06]
01 Deep In My Heart
02 Snow Bank
03 Idaho #1
04 Wind Blows Cold
05 Grand Marais
06 [banter]
07 Only Right Turns
08 [banter]
09 Needles and Pins
10 Keep Me Away From the Mirror
11 Out In Egan

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Howth, order Newkirk on their bandcamp page, and check out their page and the other excellent roster of acts at Mecca Lecca Recording Co.

Liturgy: May 4, 2012 St. Vitus – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

May 15, 2012
By


[Photos by Robert Kidd. Check out more of his excellent work [HERE]]

The band Liturgy are no strangers to controversy. And given the band’s latest change in sonic direction, the Brooklyn “transcendental black metal” band can count on more of it.

As with artists like Horseback, Liturgy, and particularly frontman and founder Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, refuse to hew to genre conventions, instead using black metal as the underpinning for their aesthetic while engaging in formal experimentation. Perhaps because of this, Liturgy find themselves the only metal band playing the Pitchfork Festival, the only metal band on Thrill Jockey, and – it can’t be avoided – the only black metal band that has ever appeared on this site. Sharing a stage with Vampire Weekend and sharing a label with bands like Tortoise and Matmos is apparently not much of a cred booster in the black metal scene. But political bullshit aside, just throw the band’s last record, Aesthetica, on your turntable or iThing, and dare to say it isn’t stunning.

Of course, one of the defining characteristics of Aesthetica was the hyperkinetic drumming of Greg Fox (who took the stage with Oneida at our 5th Anniversary Concert on Saturday, and also appeared at the Notekillers’ Jonathan Toubin benefit we covered awhile back). In September of 2011, Fox announced an amicable split from the band so that he could pursue other projects, including his solo effort GDFX and his new band Guardian Alien. One might have expected Liturgy – especially being a metal band and all – to have moved to replace Fox with a new drummer. Hunt-Hendrix didn’t. Indeed, what was once a four-piece now consists of Hunt-Hendrix, guitarist Bernard Gann, and a Macbook Pro. In case you weren’t taking notes, I mentioned that this was a band that defies convention. But what about the music itself?

As I tweeted at the time, “New @LITVRGY is genre-defying, uncomfortable-making next wave shit. You may hate but you will respect.” Listening to this recording of the show, I think that is still accurate. If you’re the type of person that likes things in tidy boxes, you’ll turn this off the second the beyond-humanly-fast drum machine beats kick in at the start of  “Pagan Dawn” from 2009’s Renihilation. What you are hearing is further from convention than the band already was, and what you’re hearing bears more weird similarity to Sleigh Bells (who the band recently toured with) than anything even remotely styled “metal” that you’ve heard before. Some people won’t be able to get past that.

But if you stick around, and set aside your preconceptions, what you hear is a brash move that could pay big dividends. First of all, the ultrafast beats make the music, if possible, even more intense than it already was, and it still rocks. Aesthetica’s “Generation”, in particular, worked well in the new format, with the beats integrating well with the dual guitar assault of Hunt-Hendrix and Gann. The crowd at the metal-friendly Greenpoint venue St. Vitus – one of the overall best venues I have been to in NYC, incidentally – seemed to agree. The band played only four songs, each a fairly long composition, with three Aesthetica tracks joining “Pagan Dawn”. In my view, this set only hinted at the new setup’s potential; once the band creates new material actually designed for this arrangement, I think they are capable of blowing the boundaries wide open. With several big festival slots on the way (besides Pitchfork, the band are also playing the more metal-oriented Orion Festival in June) plenty of fans of a variety of genres will get a chance to hear this daring new sound. I predict that the open-minded will be rewarded.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 microphones and a soundboard feed by Nick, the house engineer of St. Vitus. Not only is this venue aesthetically spot-on (and with a great bar), but it is also one of the city’s best-sounding. I look forward to coming back.

Stream “Generation”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/L5005Liturgy2201/03 Generation.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct Download of the FLAC files [HERE]

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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.

Liturgy
2012-05-04
St. Vitus
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK41>CMC6>EAA PSP-2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>Audition (align, mixdown)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample to 16/44.1)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Pagan Dawn
02 High Gold
03 Generation
04 Sun of Light

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Liturgy, like them on Facebook, see them on tour this summer, and buy their records directly from Thrill Jockey [HERE]. 

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