[Photo by Daniel Doherty courtesy of Impose Magazine]
The folks over at PopGun Booking have a deserved reputation for putting some of the best up-and-coming acts on the Glasslands stage months and years before the wider public notices. When I saw Widowspeak back in March, they were a very new band with almost no recorded output, but they were already very much on their game as performers, with many great songs already in the hopper. Almost five months later to the day, and the band was back at Glasslands celebrating the release of their self-titled debut record on the hot Brooklyn imprint Captured Tracks. Â The band’s set was if anything more confident and polished than the March show, and unsurprisingly featured more songs, including the newer tracks “Gun Shy”, “Hard Times”, “Half Awake” and a new number I could not identify by name (just bought the album this morning). “Half Awake,” being performed live for the first time, is one of the most somber tunes in the band’s catalog, but it is beautiful in its bleakness.
We also caught another great performance from the band back in June, presented by Brooklyn promoter ToddP at the DIY venue 285 Kent next door. This set sounds fantastic, and although a bit shorter than the Glasslands set, has many of the band’s strongest songs, including the standout new single “Gun Shy”. I’m also a sucker for the band’s cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game,” which they played at the show I saw back in March, and is also the b-side of the “Gun Shy” single.
The 285 Kent set was recorded with Neumann microphones and a soundboard feed from an ideal location in the venue that avoided a lot of the chatter going on. The Glasslands recording was made with perfectly situated Schoeps microphones and a great soundboard feed from Derek, but there is a light buzzing emanating from an onstage monitor that is captured in the board feed. With that caveat (and a bit of crowd chatter during a few songs), that recording is also excellent. Enjoy!
Stream “Gun Shy” from 285 Kent:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W3030Widowspeak0211/09 09 Gun Shy.mp3]
Stream “Hard Times” from Glasslands:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W3030Widowspeak0211/05 Hard Times.mp3]
Stream “In the Pines” from 285 Kent:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W3030Widowspeak0211/01 In The Pines.mp3]
Download the 285 Kent MP3s [HERE]
Download the Glasslands MP3s [HERE]
Download the Complete show in FLAC [Glasslands] / [285 Kent]
Widowspeak
Glasslands show:
2011-08-02
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY USA
Recorded by hi and lo and acidjack for nyctaper.com
Produced by acidjack
Equipment: Soundboard + Schoeps Mk5 (cardiod)>EAA PSP2 >> Tascam DR-680
Position: Center post, ORFT, 8ft up
Mastering: 2x24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audition (effects, mix down)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 39:50]
01 [intro]
02 In the Pines
03 Burnout
04 [unknown]
05 Hard Times
06 [unknown]
07 Nightcrawlers
08 Harsh Realm
09 Yellow Light
10 Half Awake
11 Gun Shy
12 Ghost Boy
285 Kent show:
2011-06-30
285 Kent
Brooklyn, NY USA
Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Soundboard + DPA 4021s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 16bit 44.1kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2011-08-04
Setlist:
[Total Time 33:27]
01 In The Pines
02 Burnout
03 [unknown]
04 Yellow Light
05 Harsh Realm
06 Nightcrawlers
07 Hard Times
08 [banter]
09 Gun Shy
10 Wicked Game [Chris Isaak]
If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Widowspeak, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their newly-released LP from Captured Tracks.
The zip-file for the “285 Kent”-show doesn’t work for me. Seems that track 7 is not complete. Could you please fix the download?
Anyway, thanks for your excellent tapings of “Widowspeak”!
Re-uploading now. Not sure what’s wrong with it.
Should be fixed. Let me know if it’s not.
Thanks a lot. Now it works!