Posts Tagged ‘ Union Hall ’

Barbara Manning: July 3, 2016 Union Hall

October 12, 2016
By

barbara-manning-union-hall
[photo by neild]

neild reports:

Though I’d been a fan of her music for years before, my first time seeing Barbara Manning live was in 2001, when she put on a blistering performance with her then-band the Go-Luckys at the late, lamented Tonic. She was going to be playing again a couple of nights later at the (even more lamented) Maxwell’s, but I figured I’d skip it and catch her the next time around.

Bad planning: Manning more or less dropped off the touring map after that, disappearing into schoolwork and eventually a career as a high-school science teacher in Southern California. Though she continued to write and record music (available on Bandcamp as the outstanding album Chico Daze), her live appearances became few and far between: a one-off in Philadelphia one year, Boston the next, Oregon the year after. Though she showed up in 2012 at one of the final Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows at Maxwell’s (performing a cover of “Christmas Is Lonely (When You’re A Jew)”) and in 2014 at a Chickfactor show in Brooklyn, until this summer Manning hadn’t played a headlining set in New York since that Tonic show way back when.

Fortunately, her latest jaunt took her on a two-stop tour of the east: a record store show in Philly, and a couple of nights before that, an appearance at Brooklyn’s Union Hall, with Hamish Kilgour opening. Manning was sans band this time, just her amazing voice and her guitar, but that was all she needed, transfixing the crowd with a set that ran from her earliest songs (“Breathe Lies”) to her most recent (“Tape You to a Star”), as well as with her relentlessly hilarious stage banter, including a story about performing with the krautrock band Faust that ended up leading to the audience mooing at her for much of the show (It’ll make sense once you hear it). By the final audience singalong on her trademark song “Scissors,” everyone within earshot was hoping that Barbara Manning appearances become less of a rarity in coming years.

This show was recorded with AT-853 cardioid mics suspended from the Union Hall ceiling, mixed with a multitrack soundboard recording provided via the kind help of Union Hall’s booking agent Shannon Manning and soundfolk Gary and Alex. And much thanks of course to Barbara Manning as well — you can thank her, and reward yourself, by picking up her music either at her Bandcamp site or wherever finer indie rock is sold.

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Life/Luck”:

Barbara Manning
2016-07-03
Union Hall
Brooklyn NY

Soundboard + Audience Matrix

AT-853 Cardioid + Soundboard > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) + AT853 cardioid mics > SP-SPSB-1 battery box > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) > Sound Studio (light dynamic compression and mixing) > FLAC (16/44.1) > Tag > FLAC

Recorded and mastered by neil d

Setlist:
01 Intro
02 Breathe Lies
03 B4 We Go Under
04 Buds Won’t Bud
05 I Insist
06 Coy Tongue
07 Dreaming
08 Haze is Free
09 Sympathy Wreath
10 Life Luck
11 Never Park
12 Bold Letters
13 Better By Bounds
14 Tape You to a Star
15 Deep Sea Diver
16 Someone Wants You Dead
17 Scissors

SUPPORT Barbara Manning: Facebook | Bandcamp | Discogs

Waco Brothers: April 13, 2016 Union Hall

April 25, 2016
By

waco

Correspondent NeilD writes:

The Waco Brothers may be credited as the godfathers of “insurgent country” — they were set to release the first single on Chicago’s Bloodshot Records back in 1995 until it turned out some members were out of town, leaving Waco co-frontman Jon Langford to go it alone — but their influences have always been far broader than just taking classic country and infusing it with punk energy. A quick perusal of their nine-album oeuvre turns up covers of songs by Johnny Cash and Roy Acuff, sure, but also Neil Young, Gram Parsons, T. Rex, and even Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd; their latest and first full album in more than ten years, “Going Down in History,” matches a strong set of typically astringent originals with covers of both Texas cowpunk pioneer Jon Dee Graham (“Orphan Song”) and the Small Faces (“All or Nothing”), with the album dedicated to the latter’s keyboard player Ian McLagan, who died a little over a year ago.

The Wacos were born and raised in tiny Chicago bars (the original genesis of the band was as a way for Jon and fellow guitarist/vocalist Dean Schlabowske to earn free drinks), which made the Brooklyn stop on this tour altogether appropriate: With its stated 100-person capacity stretched to the breaking point and the volume cranked up way past 11, Union Hall was sweaty and ear-shattering throughout this hour-and-a-half set. Highlights included an outstanding “Walking on Hell’s Roof” from 2000’s Electric Waco Chair — with a blistering violin solo courtesy of guest Waco and frequent Langford collaborator Jean Cook — plus a healthy sampling of songs from the new album, including Schlabowske’s hauntingly catchy “Receiver,” Tracey Dear channeling the Clash’s Mick Jones more than ever on “Had Enough,” and Langford’s “Building Our Own Prison,” with its takedowns of big-box-store culture and Malvina Reynolds-inspired “tick-tack, clackity-clack” refrain. For the encore, drummer Joe Camarillo ceded the drum throne to founding Waco (and longtime Mekon) Steve Goulding, as the band kicked into a song that started out as a mashup of “Pinball Wizard” and “Folsom Prison Blues,” before veering off into those covers of “Interstellar Overdrive” and “20th Century Boy” that were staples of the Wacos live playbook long before showing up on last year’s covers album “Cabaret Showtime.”

The set was recorded with AT-853 mics suspended from the Union Hall ceiling, mixed with a board feed. Huge thanks to Union Hall soundman Alex, to venue booker Shannon Manning (not just for bringing the Wacos to Brooklyn and for her support of NYCTaper but for the timely supply of a chair so I could reach the aforementioned ceiling), and to Langford, Schlabowske, Dear, Camarillo, Cook, and Alan Doughty for reinvigorating the band after a long semi-hiatus.

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

Stream the complete show:

Waco Brothers

Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY
April 13, 2016

Soundboard > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) + AT853 cardioid mics > SP-SPSB-1 battery box > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) > Sound Studio (light dynamic compression and mixing) > FLAC (16/44.1) > Tag > FLAC
Recorded and mastered by neil d

01 intro
02 See Willy Fly By
03 Red Brick Wall
04 Had Enough
05 Receiver
06 Going Down in History
07 Harm’s Way
08 Pigsville
09 Devil’s Day
10 Too Sweet to Die
11 Walking on Hell’s Roof
12 All or Nothing
13 Plenty Tough and Union Made
14 Fox River
15 Building Our Own Prison
16 I Fought the Law
17 Revolution Blues
18 Do You Think About Me
19 Orphan Song
20 White Lightning
21 Big River
22 Pinball Wizard/Folsom Prison Blues/Interstellar Overdrive/20th Century Boy

You can learn more about the Wacos and purchase their albums at:

http://wacobrothers.com/wb/
https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/artist/waco-brothers
https://wacobrothers.bandcamp.com/

Heroes of Toolik: January 30, 2016 Union Hall

March 30, 2016
By

Heroes of Toolik
[photo by John Baumgartner]

Neil D. reports:

Placing Heroes of Toolik in the music pantheon is such a difficult task that it might be best just to list their collective past affiliations, as provided by the band’s website:

(Glenn Branca/Rhys Chatham’s Merry Band/Ben Neill’s Mainspring/John Myers’ Blastula/SEM Ensemble/New Music Consort/Virgil Moorefield Ensemble/Lounge Lizards/Arthur Russell/Television/Nona Hendryx/Gary Lucas/Washington Squares/New York Blues Project/The Waitresses/The Neon Boys/Uncle Bob NYC/ The Modern Lovers/David Johansen/Elliott Murphy/Arthur Russell (again)/Gary Lucas/Rhys Chatham (again)/Jenny Get Around/The Hillfillies)

If this brings to mind an unclassifiable collision of several flavors of avant-indie weirdness, that’s not a bad start. You can clearly hear a fair bit of Television influence — Billy Ficca’s distinctive drumming will have that effect on any band, though Arad Evans’ and Robert Poss’s guitar playing is in places sufficiently Verlaine/Lloydesque as well — but then there’s also Jennifer Coates’ only slightly country-inflected fiddle and vocals, and longtime Modern Lovers bassist Ernie Brooks, and trombone of all horns, here courtesy of John Speck. It’s actually kind of remarkable how straightforwardly tuneful it all sounds, at least compared to a baseline of, say, The Scene Is Now. Writing up their previous appearance on NYCtaper, Acidjack described the result as “a brand of well-informed rock n’ roll that draws on these influences without over-complicating itself,” and I have nothing to argue with there. (Except possibly the lack of a preceding apostrophe on “n’,” about which AJ and I are going to have to have a talk.)

This was the headlining set at Union Hall from the show where I also recorded Antietam, and was captured with the same recording setup. Big thanks to Evans for permission to record, and for his patience (and yours) for the delay in getting this posted. You can buy Heroes of Toolik’s recordings here, and also find out about upcoming gigs — none listed at the moment, but they have a new CD in the works, so stay tuned.

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

 

Video:

 

Heroes of Toolik
2016-01-30
Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY

Soundboard > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) + Core Sound Low-Cost Binaural mics > Church Audio ugly battery box > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) > Sound Studio (light EQ and mixing) > FLAC (16/44.1) > Tag > FLAC

Recorded and mastered by neil d

01 Bede
02 Something Like Night
03 Young Venus
04 Again
05 8 Mile
06 Aquarium School
07 Crazy Doll
08 Perfect

Support Heroes of Toolik by buying music from their website.

Antietam: January 30, 2016 Union Hall

February 19, 2016
By

antietam-768x576

Correspondent Neil D writes: 

I’ve seen Antietam so many times you’d think I’d be jaded, but it turns out their music has had the opposite effect on me: The more I see them, the more I appreciate them. The punkiest of all the bands in Yo La Tengo’s social circle (though technically YLT is in Antietam’s circle, as Ira and Georgia’s first-ever show was the Louisville-via-New York trio’s third-ever), Tara Key, Tim Harris, and Josh Madell keep on putting out record after record of music that’s at times raucously cathartic, at times achingly pretty, and often both at once.

Recent Antietam shows have been augmented with Sue Garner (ex-more bands than can fit in this parenthetical) on backing vocals and occasional tambourine, and this was no exception. The most recent Antietam album was 2011’s “Tenth Life,” but none of those songs appear here: Instead, this set featured seven songs from their in-the-works untitled new album, most notably the unbeatable “I’m So Tired,” which kicks in at 11 and then cranks up the dial even further until the thrashing, yowling climax.

As befits a band led by a professional librarian, Antietam has also become a wonderful curator of other bands, playing in recent years alongside such indie rock luminaries as Sleepyhead, Thalia Zedek, The Scene Is Now, Dump, Two Mule Team, and Escape by Ostrich. For this show at Bell House, Antietam followed their fellow Kentuckian Victory Over Sound (not recorded, unfortunately, due to technical problems), and preceded sets by Feelies extended family members Speed the Plough and post-punk semi-super group Heroes of Toolik, recordings of which will follow.

Thanks to Tara Key for helping set up recording permissions, and to the excellent Union Hall soundman whose name I instantly forgot. The show was recorded with Core Sound binaural mics strung from the club’s ceiling at acidjack’s suggestion, mixed with a soundboard feed that was slightly wonky thanks to the aforementioned technical problems on my end. In any event, the result is a very enjoyable recording, which is all that matters.

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show: 

Antietam
2016-01-30
Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Neil D

Soundboard (engineer: David Fine)> Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) + Core Sound Low-Cost Binaural mics > Church Audio ugly battery box > Sony PCM-M10 > WAV (24/48) > Sound Studio (light EQ and mixing) > FLAC (16/44.1) > Tag > FLAC

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Right Between Your Eyes
03 Sunshine
04 Automatic
05 Is It Time
06 I Swear
07 Birdwatching
08 I’m So Tired
09 Glide

Check out more Antietam news and music athttps://antietamtheband.wordpress.com/  https://soundcloud.com/antietamlabs  https://carrottoprecords.com/artists/antietam/

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].

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