Posts Tagged ‘ schoeps ’

Mike Pace and the Child Actors: January 16, 2015 Union Hall – Flac/MP3/Streaming

February 3, 2015
By

IMG_0659
[photo by nyctaper]

Six years between albums is a long time. When we recorded Mike Pace’s old band Oxford Collapse at CMJ 2008, little did we know that the group would disband shortly thereafter and Mike would retreat from the music world for more than half a decade. Oxford Collapse had a fairly successful six-year run, with two albums on Kanine Records and two on Sub Pop but called it quits in early 2009. But in collaboration with the multi-talented Matt LeMay, Mike Pace and the Child Actors released Best Boy in January — an album six years in the making. The album’s collection of eleven songs contains some tracks that sound familiar to fans of Oxford Collapse’s 90s-inspired guitar rock, but also has songs that develop Mike’s other influences. At the album’s release show at Union Hall, the band played much of the new album and a few classic rock covers. Mike rotated from guitar to keyboards to laptop which accentuated the mix of styles evident on the album. After years away from regular performance, Mike has nevertheless maintained his keen wit and ability to summon the spirit for some true moments of unbridled energy. The result was a highly entertaining show to a packed room with many smiles and lots of head bobbing. Unfortunately, Mike Pace will not be returning to full-time live performance in the very near future (he and his wife are having a baby soon) but we’re confident that when he returns to the circuit, the quality of the music will remain.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards clamped to the low ceiling about 15 feet from the stage and mixed with a fine board feed provided by house FOH Alex. The mix of the two sources produced an outstanding recording. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Cold Calling”:

Stream “Movin’ Out” (Billy Joel cover):

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.

Mike Pace and the Child Actors
2015-01-16
Union Hall
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Alex] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 52:30]
01 Fire Sale
02 [banter – record]
03 Up The Academy
04 Summer Lawns
05 [banter – thanks]
06 Southern Cordial
07 [band introduction]
08 Cold Calling
09 Surrender [Cheap Trick]
10 McKinley
11 [banter – snakes]
12 The King of Corona
13 Blues for Atuk
14 [banter – Best Boy]
15 Kiss and Fly
16 [banter – more thanks]
17 Movin’ Out [Billy Joel]
18 Spirit of the Radio [Rush]

If download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mike Pace and the Child Actors, visit the website, and purchase Best Boy and their Bandcamp page [HERE].

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – January 24, 2015 Brooklyn Bowl – Flac/MP3/Streaming

January 26, 2015
By

JRAD BK Bowl 2015 - 1
[screen snot from LazyLightning55a video]

It was almost exactly two years ago when Joe Russo’s Almost Dead made their debut at the Brooklyn Bowl. In our somewhat controversial review of that show, we found the band’s approach to the music of the Grateful Dead both musically proficient and extremely refreshing. JRAD is a core group of friends and accomplished musicians whose take on the GD catalog was that night in stark contrast from the world of “post-Dead” which had become to me uninspired to the point of becoming almost a gimmick. I’m happy to say that the last two years have proved us entirely correct. As “post-Dead” prepares to say “Fare Thee Well” this summer, JRAD has been an unqualified success. The band has toured several times throughout this period, and last month teamed with Phil Lesh to play a series of New Year’s shows at the Capital Theatre in Port Chester NY. This weekend JRAD returned to where it all began for two very sold-out shows at the Brooklyn Bowl for the “Freaks Ball”. We attended and recorded both but offer up the second night first because this was truly a remarkable performance, surpassing anything that I could have reasonably expected from this group.

The night began with what appeared at first to be a faithful take on Pigpen’s “Alligator” — that was until the jam segment when it became very apparent that JRAD would recognize no boundaries on this night. Led by the thundering bass of Dave Dreiwitz, JRAD weaved in and out of a “Caution Jam” that touched on themes as varied as “Rider” and “Slipknot”. The set’s opener would last nearly seventeen minutes before evolving into “Jack A Roe”. This traditional number was for the Grateful Dead almost always a short first-set Garcia-led song that followed a very specific pattern. For JRAD, there are no patterns as Jack A Roe became a ten-minute exploratory jam vehicle that led very nicely into a celebratory “Uncle John’s Band”. The balance of the first set continued with some interesting song selections that kept the energy high with much more to come. Saturday night’s second set was the highlight of weekend with a “Music Never Stopped” opener that went into some deep space mid-song before returning to finish in resounding fashion. What followed was truly the most inspired song we’ve seen JRAD perform — an eighteen-minute take on “Cumberland Blues” that stretched the song to previously unheard limits and really encapsulates what makes this group special. We’re streaming this song below. The balance of the second set was filled with multiple highlights and featured a wide variety of surprises and interesting and intelligent interpretations of the familiar catalog.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards riding very high on a stand about 30 feet directly in line with the right stack. Other than the persistent din of crowd yapping, this is a quite excellent recording. Enjoy!

Stream “Cumberland Blues”:

This Recording is now Available to Download in FLAC or MP3 or to Stream at Archive.org [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, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead
2015-01-24
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
FOB Audience – 30 Feet from Right Stacks

Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:09:01]
01 Alligator
02 Jack A Roe
03 Uncle John’s Band
04 Ophelia
05 Ramble On Rose
06 Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line
07 Bertha

Set 2
[Total Time 1:37:18]
08 Music Never Stopped
09 Cumberland Blues
10 [band intro]
11 Help On The Way
12 Slipknot!
13 Shakedown Street
14 Truckin
15 Morning Dew
16 [encore break]
17 Brown Eyed Women

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you’ll please support these artists, visit the JRAD Facebook page, and visit their websites and purchase their official merchandise. Benevento-Russo Duo [HERE], Marco Benevento [HERE], Tom Hamilton [HERE], Scott Metzger [HERE], and Dave Dreiwitz [HERE].

Wussy: January 17, 2015 Studio at Webster Hall – Flac/MP3/Streaming

January 21, 2015
By

Wussy Upclose
[screen cap from this video]

“We suddenly have a crowd”, Wussy co-frontperson Chuck Cleaver noted wryly in the middle of a very sold-out crowd at the Studio at Webster Hall on Saturday. Suddenly of course being the relative word. Wussy has existed as a band for more than a decade but 2014 was by far their best year as a band. The breakthrough album Attica was released in the Spring and the groundswell of support was palpable. By year’s end the album was appearing all over the place in the best-of-year lists, Pazz & Jop (Village Voice), The Guardian, KEXP, Underground Bee, Sound Opinions, Bradley’s Almanac, Chunklet, KDHX, and many others — including this very site’s 10 Best Concerts and 25 Best Moments. So the “crowd” wasn’t so much as sudden as it was well earned. Perhaps its the sold-out crowds or the at-long-last universal praise or just the positive energy that currently surrounds the band but Saturday night’s show is the best we’ve ever seen Wussy play — and we’ve been there a bunch of times going back several years. The band opened with a quiet Lisa Walker-led traditional number that will appear on the band’s Record Store Day release later this year and then worked through half of Attica, selected older tracks, one new song and one clever cover. The entire band seemed to be “on” for this show and the highlights were many. We’ve chosen to stream Lisa’s ode to Indiana, “Pizza King” from 2011’s Strawberry and the aptly named “Beautiful”, a co-lead vocal number that closes out Attica. Wussy does not have any current local dates, but given the huge success of this particular show, I can’t imagine it will be long before they return East.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards clamped up high to the soundboard cage and mixed with an excellent feed from the band’s local FOH David Fine. The sound quality is quite exceptional and really very well captures the energy in the room. Enjoy!

Stream “Pizza King”:

Stream “Beautiful”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

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.

Wussy
2015-01-17
Studio at Webster Hall
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer David Fine] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:06:19]
01 I Give You All
02 Pulverized
03 Bug
04 [banter – two chords]
05 To The Lightning
06 Rainbows and Butterflies
07 [banter – strobe lights]
08 Alone
09 Pizza King
10 [banter – KOA]
11 Maglite
12 Gene I Dream
13 Yellow Cotton Dress
14 [no encore break]
15 Airborne
16 Beautiful
17 Teenage Wasteland
18 Photograph (Ringo Starr)
19 Rigor Mortis

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Wussy, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Music link at their site [HERE] or from the Shake It Records website [HERE].

nyctaper Top 10 Concerts of 2014

December 27, 2014
By

taper-larger

NYCTaper (the site) will have our “Top 25 Moments” post later this week, but in the meantime this is the nyctaper (the person) list of my Top 10 concerts of 2014. Since I recorded less than half of the recordings posted on the site this year, its by no means comprehensive but its a personal list I’ve done since the site began in 2007.

1. The War On Drugs: March 19 and 20 2014 Bowery Ballroom
2014 was pretty much the year of the The War On Drugs. Their album has been the consensus number one selection among a vast number of end-of-year lists — appearing at or near the top in every single list we’ve read recently. And we’re proud of the fact that we were there first. In my review of this show, I predicted that Lost In The Dream would be an album of the year candidate and would be in the decade discussion. The band played two flawless shows at Bowery Ballroom, bringing the new album’s material to life with passion and precision.

2. Wussy: October 10, 2014 Knitting Factory / October 11, 2014 Private House Larchmont NY
2014 was also the year of Wussy. As their album Attica continues to show up on virtually every knowledgeable year-end list, it appears that the world at large is finally catching on to a band we’ve been pushing for the last half-decade. In between these two shows — a full band set headlining the CBGB Fest at the Knit, and the following night playing acoustically at a private house show — Wussy filmed a segment with CBS national morning news that recently aired. It was their first national tv appearance, and I’m guessing it won’t be their last. Both of these shows were great for different reasons, but both indicated the strengths of this unconventional but extraordinary band.

3. Wilco: October 29, 2014 Capitol Theatre Port Chester NY
Of the three nights when Wilco celebrated their 20th anniversary and the tour came to the NYC area, this was my favorite night for variety of reasons. The performances on all three nights were top notch, but this night had the extra bonus of some older Wilco material that I had never heard live or hadn’t seen in years.

4. Ty Segall: September 17, 2014 Webster Hall
Ty Segall keeps churning out the records and they keep getting better. The shows are also genuinely the best show in town — crazy talented band, great songs and a crowd that matches the energy from stage top to bottom. This night at Webster was part of two consecutive sold-out shows for Ty and this set was easily one of my best of the year, notable for the force of the crowd causing the photo pit guardrails to be removed because of of the crush.

5. Marah: July 12, 2014 Bowery Electric
The story of Marah is one of redemption and ultimately an extraordinary reinvention. A fairly successful band from the aughts, Marah was dormant for a few years before rising up from the ashes into an eclectic Americana band whose project was to resurrect centuries-old Pennsylvania folk songs into a contemporary format. Add to the band a 10 year old child prodigy on fiddle and a PhD in rural cultures on banjo and you have one of the most unlikely success stories in recent memory. This show at Bowery Electric was a revelation in so many ways, it perhaps best to just listen to the show in its entirety.

6. Woods: November 4, 2014 Death By Audio
This night ended up being my last at Death By Audio. If recording your last show one of your favorite venues ever ends up being one of your favorite bands, then its all good. For this show, Woods reunited with former member Lucas for several songs including the transition jam from his set to the main Woods set that led into “Bend Beyond” — also one of the best single moments of the year.

7. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: October 13, 2014 Baby’s All Right
Their new album came out too late in the year to end up on too many end-of-year lists, but if it had been released in February or March it would be right there. King Gizzard is a band clearly on the rise and their shows are all out ragers. We saw them four times this year but this was the one that really kicked it in and took this band to an entire other level. The opening segue was the one of the best extended pieces of music we heard all year.

8. PUP: February 21, 2014 Cameo Gallery
This is likely the show that I saw this year where the most unbridled energy emanated from the stage. PUP is part of the burgeoning punk scene in Toronto and they toured North America and Europe persistently throughout the year in support of their self-titled debut on Side One Dummy Records. This night at Cameo pre-dated the release of the album and the crowd was a fraction of the fans they’d see before the end of the year, but PUP was simply one full hour of energy, humor and fun and this was one of my favorite nights of the year.

9. The Kickback: October 23, 2014 NYCTaper Unofficial CMJ Day Party, Cake Shop
I invited The Kickback to play our CMJ show because of one song in particular — a version of “Rob Our House” at Pianos that we had seen in June. But when the band played their afternoon set in the basement of Cake Shop, I soon learned that this was far from a one-song band as every track was more compelling than the next. Of course, “House” was the number that blew mostly everyone away when it closed the set, but in reality this entire performance was killer.

Read more »

Frightwig: September 8, 2014 Knitting Factory – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 18, 2014
By

Frightwig Knit
[photo by nyctaper]

Frightwig was founded in the early 80s San Francisco punk scene — a time and place that welcomed female-fronted bands (Romeo Void, The Contractions, The Nuns, The Units) but which had not yet fully opened the gates to the likes of L7 and Bikini Kill. Frightwig combined a wicked sense of humor with some sharp politics to produce a handful of albums before calling it quits in 1994. Twenty years on, Mia and Deanna reformed the band in 2012 in part to express some contemporary politics in today’s bizarre conservative political climate (“War on Women”). While retaining their sense of fun and humor, Frightwig still pokes jabs at appropriate targets and their new songs are as pointed as their entire catalog. At Knitting Factory in September, the band played an extremely entertaining hour-long set that was part of a mini-tour of the East Coast — their first in two decades — which culminated at the Washington DC We Are Woman Constitution Day Rally. Frightwig currently have no pending gigs, but we expect to hear more from them in 2015.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Jane Lee Hooker set and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “My Crotch Does Not Say Go”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] or [MP3] / [FLAC] or [FLAC]

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.

Frightwig
2014-09-08
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineers Keith Milgaten and Ben Fitterman] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 56:23]
01 [intro]
02 Hear What I Say
03 War On Women
04 [tech – keyboard]
05 My Crotch Does Not Say Go
06 Crawford
07 What Is Love
08 [banter – fashion week]
09 Ride Your Bike
10 Aging Sux
11 Crazy World
12 [banter – go-go dance]
13 Redistribution of Wealth
14 A Man’s Got to Do What a Man’s Got to Do
15 [banter]
16 Punk Rock Jail Bait
17 I’ll Talk To You And Smile
18 PRJB Reprise
19 [outro]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Frightwig, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the Store at their site [HERE].

Antietam: December 6, 2014 Trocadero Philly – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 16, 2014
By

15968060045_eff2009d79_z
[photos by Max Sall]

As are their friends, Antietam is also celebrating a 30th anniversary of sorts this year. As bassist Tim Harris noted, Yo La Tengo’s first ever show was also Antietam’s third show and the two have lived virtually parallel lines ever since. Each are a trio anchored by a married couple. But in the case of Antietam, they are clearly not as prolific as YLT (including a hiatus of several years) and as a result the band members lead regular lives. Tara Key is by day a librarian at Columbia University and when not playing in the band she’s a world class pinball wizard by night. But when Tara straps on the Gibson and takes the stage with Antietam, she, Tim and drummer Josh Madell are a well-oiled machine led by the incendiary guitarist. At the Trocadero, Antietam opened for YLT and played a superb forty-five minute set of material new and old. They were joined at times by vocalist Sue Garner and on “Hands Down” by YLT’s Ira Kaplan (streaming below). Ira has performed on the original recording of the song, and when these two bands play on the same bill there is always appropriate collaboration — Tara later joined YLT for a song on which she has played on the original recording. Antietam’s set began when the venue was not entirely full but as the set gained momentum the crowd filled and reacted with increasing enjoyment. In particular, the last four songs beginning with “Sunshine” were absolutely ripping and Tara’s guitar play dominated the room much to the delight of the crowd.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Yo La Tengo set — Schoeps and a fine board feed provided by the Troc’s excellent house FOH. The empty spaces in the room early in the set created a little echo that was easily removed with some gentle EQ, and ultimately the sound quality of this recording is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Hands Down”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

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.

Antietam
2014-12-06
Trocadero Theatre
Philadelphia PA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Mark Luecke] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 44:54]
01 Time Creeps
02 1-2-1
03 Breathe
04 Satisfied
05 Right Between Your Eyes
06 Bird Watching
07 Sunshine
08 [banter – Ira intro]
09 Hands Down
10 Clarion
11 Stowaway

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Antietam, visit their website, and their blog, and their Facebook page, and purchase their official releases from Carrot Top Records [HERE].

Smashing Pumpkins: December 8, 2014 Webster Hall – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 11, 2014
By

TSP Gretchen
[photo courtesy of Gretchen Robinette – full set at brooklynvegan]

I think its safe to say that Billy Corgan can be a polarizing figure in the music press. The Smashing Pumpkins are certainly one of rock’s most enduring 90s bands and although Billy has been endlessly criticized for a series of personnel changes in the band, the group as it exists in 2014 is still a pretty damned good unit. The new Smashing Pumpkins album Monuments to an Elegy is a superb record — high quality material with a very strong supporting cast and Billy’s guitar and voice have never sounded better. Its the album you’d hope that the Smashing Pumpkins would make in 2014. But reading the current state of the music press, you wouldn’t necessarily even know that TSP and Billy released such high quality work or that they even have a new album at all. And that’s a shame. The click-driven rags that write about music-related issues are selling headlines and Billy’s various beefs and highly quotable outlandish statements drive the big type and site visits. But credit where credit is due — among those sites, Pitchfork begrudgingly gave Monuments a review that was both fair and pretty accurate.

The Smashing Pumpkins are playing a few small venues in various cities to celebrate the album’s release and as an introduction to the band that will play the much larger album support tour. New York and Webster Hall were fortunate to land one of these intimate events. The band consists of Corgan and longtime TSP guitarist Jeff Schroeder, and newcomers bassist Mark Stoermer (from The Killers) and drummer Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine). Despite having played only a few shows together thus far, this unit of pros is already operating on all cylinders and were about as tight as could be expected. The setlist for this show was of course heavy on Monument material (five of nine songs), but also included a nice selection of older material (“Hummer” was a standout) and one neat cover (Bowie’s “Fame” streaming below), before the main set closed with a tremendous thirteen-minute “Silverfuck” that was both jammed, intense, and included a couple of teases (I heard “Kashmir” while others noticed “She Sells Sanctuary”). The show ended in a forward-looking fashion as TSP closed with the night with a powerful unreleased ballad called “Burnt Orange-Black” which is scheduled to appear on their next album due in 2015. This mini tour concludes on the West coast this week with shows in Las Vegas and LA. Stay tuned for new tour dates in the new year.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted on the front center wall of the soundboard cage in the lower balcony. The recording is primarily (75%) room mics because the sound in the room on this night was among the best quality sound I’ve literally ever heard in any venue due in large part to the quality of the crew and Webster’s new upgraded system. We added in a small amount of board feed to boost the vocals and give the recording a bit more “direct” sound. This amazing sounding show was mixed by the band’s current FOH Kevin Lemoine and he deserves all the credit. Enjoy!

Stream “Fame” (David Bowie cover):

While Archive.org is temporarily down due to local power issue – Download [MP3] [FLAC]

This Recording is now available for Download in Flac and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Entire Show from Archive.org:

Smashing Pumpkins
2014-12-08
Webster Hall
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Kevin] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:41:09]
01 One and All
02 Being Beige
03 Hummer
04 Tiberius
05 [banter – bass amp]
06 Tonight Tonight
07 Drum and Fife
08 Glass and the Ghost Children
09 Stand Inside Your Love
10 [banter – adventure]
11 Monuments
12 Drown
13 Disarm
14 Zero
15 Bullet with Butterfly Wings
16 Fame [Bowie]
17 Silverfuck
18 [encore break]
19 Ava Adore
20 Burnt Orange-Black

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Smashing Pumpkins, visit their website, and purchase Monuments to an Elegy from the band’s website [HERE].

Yo La Tengo: December 6, 2014 Trocadero Philly – Flac/MP3/Streaming

December 10, 2014
By

YLT 1
[photos by Max Sall]

This show represents the only time this year that I saw Yo La Tengo live. You have to go back nearly a decade to find a calendar year when I saw the band only once. The band went out on a little mini-tour in celebration of their official 30th anniversary as a band and also in support of a new release called Extra Painful — a reissue of their classic 1993 album Painful packed with a bunch of bonus material. So since the two Town Hall shows were not conducive to recording, I made a roadtrip in the pouring rain to Philadelphia and back. The Trocadero is a converted old theatre right in the heart of Philly’s Chinatown District and its just a few blocks from the Franklin Bridge — an easy in and out of the City. Although the Troc has two balconies and an official capacity of 1200, it definitely has an intimate vibe perhaps since the actual floor is fairly small. But intimate or not, we’re used to seeing Yo La Tengo amongst “friends” at some fairly small-ish places, so there was a definite “road” feel to this show. As YLT shows go, this one had pretty much everything you could ask for including some rare nuggets (“Empty Pool”, “Demons”), special guests (Tara Key early, and full Antietam later), plenty of noisy stuff, and an absolutely ear-crushing “Story”. We are streaming a standout version of “Drug Test” that began with a (separately tracked) false start but like in so many of those situations with a “start over”, the band totally nailed it on the re-do. Yo La Tengo currently has no scheduled dates, but we’re hoping that we get more than one chance to see them live in 2015.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted in the front of the soundboard booth and mixed with a superb feed provide by the band’s longtime and legendary FOH Mark Luecke. As with most YLT recordings, there are level issues — the quiet songs are whispers and the noisey songs are loud as heck — so there are some minor artifacts from my editing to create a more consistent level throughout. Ultimately the sound quality is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Drug Test”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

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.

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Yo La Tengo
2014-12-06
Trocadero Theatre
Philadelphia PA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Mark Luecke] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:57:56]
01 Cherry Chapstick
02 Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House
03 Super Kiwi
04 [banter – Tara intro]
05 Demons
06 Mr. Tough
07 [dedication to Richard Evans]
08 If It’s True
09 [banter – 30 years]
10 The Empty Pool [Yung Wu]
11 The Whole of the Law [The Only Ones]
12 The Summer
13 [banter – XPN]
14 I’ll Be Around
15 Big Day Coming
16 We’re An American Band
17 [false start]
18 Drug Test
19 Sugarcube
20 Ohm
21 The Story of Yo La Tango
22 [encore break]
23 Today Is The Day
24 [banter – Antietam intro]
25 Orange Song [Antietam]
26 [thanks]
27 What Can I Say [NRBQ]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, and purchase the Extra Painful reissue from Matador Records [HERE].

Thee Oh Sees: November 18, 2014 Bowery Ballroom – Flac/MP3/Streaming

November 24, 2014
By

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[photos by Ken Grand-Pierre]

Last week Thee Oh Sees played four shows in four days in NYC and we were fortunate to catch what was most certainly the best sounding show of the week. In our many attempts to capture the live lo-fi garage rock of this amazing band, we’ve been frustrated by a series of sound issues that have prevented our capture of Thee Oh Sees with a recording that their highly energetic performances really deserve. We came close with the historic night at 285 Kent last Fall, but nothing we’ve ever presented from this band can even approach the sound of this particular show. Of course the lion’s share of the credit for the superb sound quality of Tuesday’s TOS show is credited to Bowery Ballroom (and their staff), which continues to be the best sounding room in town. The band itself was completely on during this set. They were scheduled to play forty-five minutes and instead played over an hour. And even given the lack of an encore, John Dwyer and company played virtually every song they’ve played this tour including four outstanding new numbers. We’re streaming “Tidal Wave”, which was the third song in a very high octane three-fer that opened the show. Thee Oh Sees tour continues in Chicago this week before ultimately moving West, dates here.

I recorded this show with the Schoeps in our tradition balcony location and mixed with a terrific board feed from FOH Bowery legend Kenny. As noted above, the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Tidal Wave”:

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

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.

Thee Oh Sees
2014-11-18
Bowery Ballroom
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Kenny] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:02:34]
01 Tunnel Time
02 The Dream
03 Tidal Wave
04 [new song – Sugar]
05 Encrypted Bounce
06 Toe Cutter – Thumb Buster
07 [new song1]
08 [new song2]
09 Lupine Dominus
10 [new song – Seasons]
11 Dead Energy
12 I Come From The Mountain
13 The Web

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Thee Oh Sees, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from Castle Face Records [HERE].

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Dream Syndicate: November 15 and 16, 2014 Rough Trade – Flac/MP3/Streaming

November 20, 2014
By

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[photos by PSquared Photography]

In 2012, a European superfan of Steve Wynn convinced him to reunite the Dream Syndicate for a festival in Barcelona and eventually the reunion became the 30th anniversary tour. But frustratingly for fans in his adopted home town, Steve had not returned with the band to NYC. In fact, there had only been a handful of US dates thus far, the first of which was 2013’s Solid Sound Festival. This past weekend’s two-fer at Rough Trade remedied the slight as New York received two outstanding performances of the band in full sync. Dream Syndicate had several personnel changes during its original eight-year tenure as Steve and drummer Dennis Duck were the only consistent band members. This version of the Dream Syndicate featured bassist Mark Walton, the longest tenured bass player who joined for the second album and remained through the band’s demise in 1989. This time around the lead guitar is a very familiar face to Steve Wynn fans — his longtime guitar partner Jason Victor who has performed many of these very songs live with the Miracle Three. The fortunate aspect of having to wait a couple of years for the reunion tour to reach NYC is that the band is truly operating on all cylinders and really clicking as a unit. There were many moments of inspired improv during the two show run, including a foray into “Morning Dew” during “Coltrane” on Saturday and a well developed “Marquee Moon” jam in the midst of an extended “Halloween” at Sunday’s show. The setlist for each night included just about all the songs you’d hope to hear at a Dream Syndicate show and a few tasty covers. Steve promised and delivered a different show for Sunday, subbing in a few deep tracks and re-arranging the list, but each show was equally satisfying and clearly worth the wait.

The Dream Syndicate perform their final show of the year at the Echoplex in Los Angeles this weekend, Saturday November 22.

The November 15 show was recorded by Kubacheck with his MBHO cards from a stand inside of the soundboard booth and the recording is an outstanding capture. I recorded the November 16 show from the same exact location with the Schoeps cards mixed with an excellent board feed provided by talented house FOH Kyle. Its is a super listen. Enjoy!

Stream “Definitely Clean” (from November 15 show):

Stream “Tell Me When Its Over” (from November 16 show):

Download and Stream the Complete Shows at Archive.org:
November 15 [HERE]
November 16 [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, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

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Dream Syndicate
2014-11-15
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded inside Sound Booth

MBHO 603a – KA-500 > Naiant Tinybox > Roland R-05 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by Kubacheck
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:50:56]
01 When You Smile
02 Sure Thing
03 Then She Remembers
04 [banter – homecoming]
05 Season of the Witch [Donovan]
06 Daddy’s Girl
07 Until Lately
08 Tell Me When It’s Over
09 Burn
10 Definitely Clean
11 Halloween
12 [banter – Rutles reference]
13 The Medicine Show
14 That’s What You Always Say
15 Too Little Too Late
16 The Days of Wine and Roses
17 [encore break]
18 Merritville
19 John Coltrane Stereo Blues

*****************************************

Dream Syndicate
2014-11-16
Rough Trade
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer Kyle] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, effects, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:38:27]
01 See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
02 Tell Me When It’s Over
03 Daddy’s Girl
04 [banter – Brooklyn]
05 Sure Thing
06 Armed With An Empty Gun
07 Definitely Clean
08 Burn
09 Fifty in a 25 Zone
10 Then She Remembers
11 When You Smile
12 Halloween
13 [band introductions]
14 That’s What You Always Say
15 Too Little Too Late
16 The Days of Wine and Roses
17 [encore break]
18 Season Of The Witch [Donovan]
19 John Coltrane Stereo Blues
20 Break On Through [Doors]
21 John Coltrane Stereo Reprise

If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Dream Syndicate, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from Steve Wynn’s Store [HERE].

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