Happy Memorial Day, readers!  Enjoy this live show along with your three-day weekends!

For several years now, our popular culture has been deluged with singing contests, each seemingly more elaborate than the last. The obsession with vocal talent – and specifically, finding unique vocalists who can carry a stage show on their own – has never been greater.

Of course, Doe Paoro isn’t on the Idol-Voice-X-Factor circuit, nor should she be. A singer like her wouldn’t be comfortable as an anodyne persona dropping “interesting” “reinterpretations” of decades-old classics. No.  Doe – or Sonia Kreitzer, her given name – is the kind of artist who opens her show with a beautifully rendered Tibetan opera song because, as she said, she wants to “set the intention of the music, as an offering”. And instead of a Vegas-style LCD-paneled behemoth, she has been using the humbler stage of Cameo Gallery for the past four Tuesday nights to share her music and reach fans.

Paoro’s vocals are compelling and powerful – though again, perhaps not in the vanilla sense that TV overlords are looking for. She credits part of vocal skill to her study of lhamo, a Tibetan opera tradition (hence, the opener) and perhaps it’s that that gives her the otherworldly, international feel that she has.  In Paoro’s phrasing, there is something distinctly her own, and she is willing to take a vocal to a harsher place if the song demands it. One review I have read compared her to Tune-Yards; I hear a bit of Alanis Morissette in her approach, especially in terms of her vocals’ “it” quality. Her album Slow To Love, a self-released effort currently available on bandcamp and being shopped to labels, is a spare-but-powerful effort that leaves an impression in its 27 minutes. The record wisely keeps the vocals front and center while deploying the vocals in a variety of genre settings; “Body Games” is the record’s straight-ahead pop number; “I’ll Go Blind” is bottom-heavy funk; “Born Whole” is the sort of spectral R&B one expects of James Blake. At this show, Doe Paoro showed no fear delivering a big, classic ballad like “Can’t Leave You” with its soaring vocal runs, which showcased her considerable range. Paoro closed the set with the song that first got her noticed, a cover of the Baltimore synth outfit Future Islands‘ “Little Dreamer”. Paoro’s version of the song is a beautiful valedictory, and it made the perfect coda to a magical evening. She’ll be sharing her gift on bigger stages before long.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones and a soundboard feed. The recording is outstanding.  Enjoy!  Also – special thanks to our friends at Fucking Nostalgic for turning us on to this artist!

Stream “Born Whole”

Stream “Little Dreamer” [Future Islands]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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.

Doe Paoro
2012-05-15
Cameo Gallery
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

Schoeps MK5 (cardiod, POS, 8ft)>KCY>Z-PFA>Aerco MP-2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audition (mixdown)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, EQ, light compression, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Tibetan Opera Intro>Slow to Love
02 [banter]
03 [unknown 1]
04 I’ll Go Blind
05 Body Games
06 Soft But Strong
07 Born Whole
08 Can’t Leave You
09 Little Dreamer [Future Islands]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Doe Paoro, like her on Facebook, and purchase Slow to Love on bandcamp on a “name your price” basis [HERE]

To paraphrase the late Jerry Garcia, not everybody knows who Mike Watt is, but those who do really appreciate Mike Watt.  Having long been established as an elder statesman of punk, post-punk and alternative rock starting with the seminal Minutemen and the inspired fIREHOSE, his versatility has allowed him to play with many musicians of different stripes and genres.  He’s a bass player’s bass player; the go-to guy who you know will hold down the low-end duties superbly and is not afraid of working hard.  If it doesn’t already, his business card should read, “Have bass, will travel.”  That’s why when people in the know hear that Watt is coming to town, they run and don’t walk to get to the gig

Initially announced as the NYC launch of his new book, ‘Mike Watt: On and Off Bass‘, and calling the event “Mike Watt & Friends”, word had it that he was also planning to dust off the Hellride East moniker (one of many projects) and play Stooges tunes with J Mascis and Murph from Dinosaur Jr.  After an interview session with noted music writer Byron Coley, the music kicked off and it was indeed The Stooges from their first two excellent albums.  In his element, clearly enjoying himself and fingers hammering the strings, Watt and Mascis were the only two constant musicians during the set.  At any given time the drummers were rotating between Murph, John Maloney and Sonic Youth‘s Steve Shelley.  SY’s Thurston Moore took a turn or two on vocals as did Don Fleming, John Petkovic (also playing clarinet), Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, Byron Coley and Noel, the former soundman from the Continental or so I was told.  It was a whirlwind trying to keep up with the cavalcade of performers who kept jumping on stage.  With the pervasive sense of “what’s next?” in the air and the close proximity of all these great artists, the small Le Poisson Rouge felt more like a party at a friend’s house with a killer band than a concert.  That atmosphere prevailed even more so when the music ended and everyone milled around chatting and drinking while the guest of honor signed copies of his book and greeted all comers with a handshake.  A truly unique evening and, personally, I can’t wait for Mike to pop up here in our city again.  Wondering in just what permutation that will be should prove almost as much fun.

This night at Le Poisson Rouge presented a unique recording opportunity for us.  Rather than having to set up towards the back of the room so as not to be in the way, we were able to park our rig right at the stage lip and nearly dead center.  Recording in this manner makes the separation of the instruments and where they were on stage very distinct.  A monitor was just off to our right so while the vocals aren’t entirely centered, the overall effect is really cool and the next closest thing to being right up front at the show.  We hope you like what you hear as much as we did.  Enjoy!

Special thanks to Mike Watt and all the performers for making this recording possible, and to Frankie, Bernie and the staff at Le Poisson Rouge for their courtesy and cooperation.

Stream “T.V. Eye”:

Direct download of the complete show in MP3 [HERE]

Email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the FLAC files.

Follow Johnny Fried Chicken Boy 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.

Mike Watt & Friends
(billed as Hellride East)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Le Poisson Rouge
New York, NY, USA

Source: AUD > Audio-Technica AT3031′s > Sound Devices MixPre > Roland R-05 (WAV @ 24-bit/48kHz)
Lineage: R-05 > PC > Adobe Audition (mixdown, downsample, dither, tracking) > WAV (16-bit/44.1kHz) > TLH (check/fix SBE’s, FLAC conversion) > FLAC ( level 8 )
Recorded and produced by: Johnny Fried Chicken Boy

TRACKLIST:
[Total time: 1:20:43]
00. Mike Watt interviewed by Byron Coley
01. Real Cool Time  [Don Fleming (vocals), Murph (drums)]
02. T.V. Eye  [John Petkovic (vocals), John Maloney (drums)]
03. Loose  [Thurston Moore (vocals), John Maloney (drums)]
04. Dirt  [Sharon Van Etten (vocals), Steve Shelley (drums)]
05. Not Right  [John Maloney (drums)]
06. Down on the Street  [Thurston Moore (vocals), Murph (drums)]
07. No Fun  [Kurt Vile (vocals), Murph (drums)]
08. 1970  [Noel (vocals), Steve Shelley (drums)]
09. Little Doll  [Steve Shelley (drums)]
10. encore break / banter
11. Fun House  [Thurston Moore (vocals), John Petkovic (clarinet), Murph (drums)]
12. L.A. Blues  [Byron Coley (vocals), John Petkovic (clarinet), Murph & John Maloney (drums)]

If you download this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Mike Watt, the performers and their projects, go see their shows, visit their websites (Mike’s is HERE), and purchase some of their official releases and merchandise [HERE] and [HERE].

North Mississippi Allstars guitarist/vocalist Luther Dickinson has made a life mission of keeping Delta blues alive while continuing to expand the genre through his own new efforts. His latest project, The Wandering, finds him teaming up with four exceptional female musicians – Amy LaVere, Shannon McNally, Valerie June, and Sharde Thomas – to honor the richness and diversity of the blues with a new record that combines new tracks and well-loved standards.  This show at the grown ups’ music paradise Joe’s Pub was a perfect platform to showcase the members’ individual and collective talents. Dickinson, as ringleader of the proceedings, gave a solo set before the band went on, which included several favorites from the NMAS catalog like RL Burnside’s “Po’ Black Maddie”.  When The Wandering took the stage, the dynamic shifted, with the four women sharing and trading the spotlight as Dickinson provided the strings. The quintet’s devotion to and love for their material is obvious; aside from the luxe surroundings and high-end sound system, you could have been in a balmy Delta club a hundred years ago. The band gave an inspired and different take on Leadbelly’s “In the Pines” (most recently popularized by Nirvana), the old standard “Glory, Glory”, and a somewhat more recent rock classic, The Byrds’ “Hey Mr. Spaceman”, among others. While each of the performers shined, one of our newest favorites, Amy LaVere, fresh off of a performance with Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes at Bowery Ballroom, particularly shined on the vocals and upright bass. Although the just-over-an-hour set was too short by half in my opinion, it established The Wandering as a formidable new entry in the modern blues arena.

Johnny Fried Chicken Boy and I faced some challenges setting up for this show, but we ended up with our mics situated in an ideal location in the center of the venue. This recording is from my Schoeps MK5 cardiods, and boasts a full, rich sound that reflects the venue’s excellent acoustics. Enjoy!

Note: The Luther Dickinson solo set and The Wandering set MP3s are offered together in a single download. The FLACs are separate direct downloads.  

Stream “Po’ Black Maddie” [Luther Dickinson Solo]

Stream “Hey Mr. Spaceman” [The Byrds]

Stream “In the Pines”

MP3 files [HERE] | The Wandering FLAC files [HERE] | Luther Dickinson FLAC files [HERE]
If the FLAC links are no longer working, email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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.

Luther Dickinson
2012-05-14
Joe’s Pub
New York, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK5 [cardiod]>KCY>Z-PFA>Aerco MP-2>Sony PCM-M10>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, envelope crowd noise, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [unknown]
02 Blind Lemon and the Hook Man
03 [banter]
04 [unknown 2]
05 Let It Roll
06 Breckenridge Blues
07 [banter]
08 Po’ Black Maddie [RL Burnside]
______________________________________________________

The Wandering
2012-05-14
Joe’s Pub
New York, NY USA

Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Schoeps MK5 [cardiod]>KCY>Z-PFA>Aerco MP-2>Sony PCM-M10>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, envelope crowd noise, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Sittin’ On Top of the World [Doc Watson]
03 Love, Life and Money [Marianne Faithfull]
04 If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day [Robert Johnson]
05 [unknown]
06 Loving Her Was Easier [Kris Kristofferson]
07 In the Pines [Leadbelly]
08 [unknown]
09 You Are My Sunshine
10 Glory, Glory
11 [encore break]
12 Working Woman Blues
13 Mr. Spaceman [The Byrds]
14 Drinking Muddy Water
15 My Babe [Little Walter]

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The Wandering, like them on Facebook, and purchase their record Go On Now, You Can’t Stay Here from Amazon or your favorite retailer.

One doesn’t normally think of Dover New Hampshire as a home for neo-psychedelic rock, but MMOSS is the latest of outstanding purveyor of this genre and they call the “Live Free or Die” state home. When Woods invites a band to tour with them, as they did with MMOSS for a month this Spring, its a pretty good clue to us that the band will be a quality outfit. At 285 Kent a couple of weeks back, it was obvious that MMOSS was the real deal. Our first impression, with the two guitarists flanking a female vocalist/flutist, was their resemblance to the excellent Bardo Pond. And this comparison isn’t far off, in terms of the live sound. But MMOSS’s album, the superb i, is a collection of psych-garage nuggets. At 285, the band’s set featured a couple of shorter songs, but MMOSS did stretch it out for a couple of numbers before the too-short set ended with an extended jam. We are streaming “Kitty Sorrow”, a standout track from the album performed to perfection.

I recorded this set in the same manner as those of Woods and Crystal Stilts and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Kitty Sorrow”:

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the FLAC files.

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.

MMOSS
2012-05-05
285 Kent
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 > (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2012-05-10

Setlist:
[Total Time 25:27]
01 Wonder
02 Another Day
03 Another Dream
04 Kitty Sorrow
05 War Sux

If you download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT MMOSS, visit their Bandcamp and Facebook pages, and purchase their album i from Burger Records [HERE].

After catching them back in January on the cusp of the release of their latest record, When I Fall Out, back in January, I relished the chance to catch The Phantom Family Halo after a few more months of touring on the record. Opening for the legendary Japanese psych-rock band Acid Mothers Temple (that recording [HERE]), the band took the Knitting Factory stage with a poise and confidence equal to that veteran band. The combination of a cool light show and a clean house mix gave a fervent power and energy to the most-new material on offer. “Vital Energy” was not only the name of one of the best songs of the night; it was an accurate descriptor for the band’s entire performance that night. As I did back in January, I continued to marvel at how the band could switch gears between a more psychedelic, exploratory style and a harder, punkish bite, even within the same song. Much of the credit for that goes to frontman Dominic Cipolla, whose vocals are angrier and more aggressive, and kept higher in the mix, than those of many of the band’s genre contemporaries, giving them a harder edge. This show was a step forward all around from the January show, and makes for the ideal introduction to this band. The only thing better would be seeing them for yourself.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Acid Mothers Temple recording, with AKG large diaphragm microphones. I preferred the house mix and the mics’ performance on this set over the AMT set, and think that this was the best recording of the night.  Enjoy!

Stream “Vital Energy”

Stream “Broken By the Way”

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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.

The Phantom Family Halo
2012-04-30
Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY USA

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

AKG C 414 B-XLS (cardiod, slightly ROC, at SBD, 7.5ft, POS)>Aerco MP-2 + Soundboard >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mixdown)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, additional EQ, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro music]
02 Sun Behind the Sun
03 Vital Energy
04 Light Year Girl
05 White Hot Gun
06 [tuning]
07 Dirty Blade
08 Masters of the Universe
09 Broken By the Way

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The Phantom Family Halo, like them on Facebook, and order When I Fall Out and their other official releases from Knitting Factory Records [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”

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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]. 

We have featured Cymbals Eat Guitars several times on this site (most recently, a headlining Bowery show from last year), and we have always found their willingness to take risks refreshing. Not content to simply rework the more poppy sound of their breakout album, Why There Are Mountains, the band remain unafraid to take things in a more caustic direction. This Bowery Ballroom show found the band opening for Cursive (which we recorded, and will post if the band gets back to us about approval…), but the packed house for their set suggested equal fervor for these Staten Island natives.  The set focused on material from their latest record, Lenses Alien, but this also included some earlier favorites like “Indiana” and of course, “And the Hazy Sea”.

We recorded this set with a four-mic setup, but I thought the Sennheiser MKH-8040 source was sufficiently good to stand on its own.  We hope you agree. Enjoy!

Stream “And the Hazy Sea”

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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.

Cymbals Eat Guitars
2012-04-03
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Recorded by nyctaper and acidjack
Produced by acidjack

Sennheiser MKH-8040>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, EQ, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC (level 8 )

Tracks
01 Definite Darkness
02 Another Tunguska
03 Rifle Eyesight
04 [unknown]
05 Indiana
06 And the Hazy Sea
07 [unknown]
08 Shore Points

If you enjoyed this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Cymbals Eat Guitars, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase Lenses Alien and their other records from the links at their web store [HERE].

Five years ago I established this site with a few goals in mind — that my recordings would be the centerpiece in posts that would profile the artists and would encourage people who read the site and download the music to support the artists. I did not however envision that the site would grow to the extent it has reached today. NYCTaper is now a group of four tapers with countless other contributors. The site continues to pursue the original goals, but with the help of our contributors, our readers and our many friends in the music community, we have become something more. With an enormous amount of help from artists, promoters, venues, booking agents, blogs, and others in the music world, taping has been removed from the shadows and the live recording of artists is now seen as a powerful tool to enhance the relationship between fans and artists. When bands now seek to “be on NYCTaper”, its understood that this is a good thing for an artist. And for us here at NYCTaper, its a humbling experience to realize that our hard work and good intentions have made this site work for a community of music performers and music lovers. We hope to keep doing this and to continue to grow well into the future.

We are celebrating this milestone with a concert curated by one of the artists that represents everything we love in music. Oneida is a band that is truly unique. The band is comprised of five incredibly talented musicians who are untethered by the bounds of conventional music genres and completely free of the traps of the music industry. They have been featured on NYCTaper eleven times (plus two solo projects) and last year we worked with them to offer recordings of their studio Ocropolis sessions to raise charitable contributions for Japanese earthquake relief.

Oneida will headline the show on Saturday, and will be joined onstage by special guests Greg Fox (Guardian Alien / GDFX) and James McNew (Yo La Tengo / Dump). The opening bands for the night are Sightings and Prince Rupert’s Drops.

Here are the details:
NYCTaper 5th Anniversary Concert
285 Kent (google map)
Brooklyn NY
Doors are at 8pm
Admission is $10
All ages are welcome

Advance Tickets are available at Ticketfly [HERE]

Tell us that you are coming by joining the Facebook Invite Page for this event [HERE]

The show on Saturday night at 285 Kent was headlined by another one of this site’s favorite bands and one that we’ve followed for all of our five years. We first saw Crystal Stilts back in 2008, and over the last few years our recordings of them have been featured on the site six previous times from a large variety of venues. After a bit of a hiatus, the band returned in 2011 with a superb new album In Love with Oblivion (Slumberland) and a new EP Radiant Door (Sacred Bones Records), both of which cemented their position as one of best post-punk garage bands around. The style remains consistent — Brad Hargett’s heavily reverbed vocals backed by the sixties influenced guitar work of founder JB Townsend and the adventurous keyboards of Kyle Forester. Their show at 285 Kent is one of the strongest we’ve seen them play to date. The set was not simply the new album, but a full slate of Stilts material, a brand new song and a well-conceived Gun Club cover. The band ended the set with a spacey and stretched-out version of “Prometheus” before returning for well-deserved encore. We are streaming “Shake the Shackles”, a 2010 single that also appears on Oblivion. Crystal Stilts will perform again locally, this time next door to 285 at Glasslands on June 17 for the Sacred Bones Records Northside Festival showcase.

Additionally, for this post we are offering a bonus download of the Crystal Stilts live in Washington DC, a show recorded in April by friend of the site Kubacheck at the Rock N’ Roll Hotel. The show features a setlist quite different from the 285 set with some deep cuts along with more of the new album.

I recorded the 285 set in the same manner as the Woods set and the sound quality is excellent. The Washington show was recorded by Kubacheck with MBHO microphones and a board feed and was mixed by acidjack. The placement of the microphones resulted in a large dose of crowd chatter which has been alleviated by mixing the board feed at a greater percentage. The sound quality of that set is also excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Shake the Shackles” from 285 Kent:

Direct download of complete shows in MP3 files:
285 Kent (HERE)
Washington DC (HERE)

Email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the FLAC files.

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.

Crystal Stilts
2012-05-05
285 Kent
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 > (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2012-05-08

Setlist:
[Total Time 50:16]
01 Dark Eyes
02 Crystal Stilts
03 Flying Into the Sun
04 [new song]
05 Verdant Gaze
06 Shake the Shackles
07 [banter]
08 Love Is a Wave
09 New Fun
10 For The Love of Ivy
11 Prometheus At Large
12 [encore break]
13 Converging in the Quiet

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

Crystal Stilts
2012-04-14
Rock N’ Roll Hotel
Washington, DC USA

Exclusive download hosted at NYCTaper.com

Recorded by kubacheck
Produced by acidjack and nyctaper

MBHO 603a (cardiod, FOB, 8 ft)>Sound Devices MP2>Roland R05 + Soundboard>Edirol R09 >>> 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (align, time adjust, set fades, amplify and balance, downsample to 16/44.1)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Shattered Shine
02 Still As The Night
03 The Dazzled
04 Invisible City
05 [new song]
06 Shake The Shackles
07 Half A Moon
08 Converging in the Quiet
09 Dark Eyes
10 Love Is A Wave
11 [encore break]
12 Sugarbaby
13 Prometheus at Large

If you download these recordings from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Crystal Stilts, visit their website and purchase In Love With Oblivion from Slumberland Records [HERE] and the Radiant Door EP from Sacred Bones Records [HERE].

For obvious reasons, we end up promoting a lot of NYC-based bands on this site. But it is always a rare treat to get a chance to share a recording by a band from overseas, particularly one that is new to us. This Is the Kit is a Paris and Bristol, UK-based project of vocalist/guitarist/banjo player Kate Stables that produces a grown-up brand of acoustic, blues-influenced rock of timeless beauty and grace – think of Cowboy Junkies or Sharon Van Etten as a reference point. Her music isn’t gimmicky or loud, brash or lo-fi.  This is a type of band that you want to listen to, try and focus on what’s being said through the hush (if you’re lucky, and there is, in fact a hush). And sure, your Dad might dig it, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t – a great song is a great song, no?

A Mercury Lounge late show can often be a challenge to a band, after the bar has been open a few hours and two other bands have already done their thing. This Is the Kit were opening for Plants and Animals, who themselves had a fairly rowdy crowd. Hearing the opening notes of the spare, magnificent banjo intro of “Easy Pickings”, I feared for the worst. But a funny thing happened- the crowd paid attention, throughout a set that showcased several of the band’s numbers from Wriggle Out the Restless, a record originally released on the UK imprint Brassland and about to be re-released stateside (you can grab it for a steal on bandcamp right now for $3 or more… I suggest more). Out of a uniformly excellent set, it’s hard to pick favorites, but I was partial to the bluesy “rocker” of the group, “Earthquake”, the quiet leadoff track “Easy Pickings”, and the frenetic cross-rhythms of “Spinney” (currently the free track on the bandcamp page). Each of the songs in this set felt distinct, and the band managed to show a lot of different sides during this short opening performance. The next time they’re headlining, I’m there.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Plants and Animals recording, but the quality of both the house mix and soundboard feed were better for this performance. Given the quiet nature of the set, this recording favors the soundboard feed, and the result is an outstanding and crisp recording.  Enjoy!

Stream “Earthquake”

Stream “Spinney”

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] |  email nyctaper for the FLAC files

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This Is the Kit
2012-04-18
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

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

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>CMC6 >> Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS5.5 (align, mixdown, balance)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, harmonic exciter (gentle tube), imaging (add width)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Easy Pickings
02 White Ash Cut
03 Vitamins
04 Earthquake
05 Two Wooden Spoons
06 [banter]
07 See Here
08 [banter]
09 Misunderstanding
10 Spinney
11 Bashed Out

If you enjoyed this recording, please support This Is the Kit, like them on Facebook, and visit their bandcamp page to buy Wriggle Out the Restless.