294 search results for "Hum"

[Photography by Eloy Anzola]

Take a look at the gorgeous photos above and below on this post, and you will know all that you need to know about the evolution of Oh Land since she hit the U.S. scene earlier this year.  When we last saw her full “electric” set at the FREEWilliamsburg Northside Showcase at Brooklyn Bowl this June, it was obvious that Nanna Øland Fabricius was a prized talent just coming into her own.  Her music is original but accessible; catchy and fun and welcoming to all comers, but quirky and organic in a way that ensures she won’t be lumped in with any high-gloss pop princesses.  I have seen three of her performances in total, including the “acoustic” set we recorded at the Backyard Brunch Sessions last month, and she has consistently proven herself as a musician, refining her arrangements (and in the case of the acoustic show, delivering entirely new ones) and giving sharp, entrancing vocal performances.  Nanna’s evolution from June is evident.  Now fully versed in how to use “the contraption” (the mysterious effects, keyboard and percussion box that accompanies her at all shows), and sporting a full-time drummer, her show now feels like a true performance, a celebration of her talent and a gift to her audience.  What rough edges there were are gone and her confidence is in full bloom; Fabricius is clearly ready for the next level.  Add to that the fact that she comes across as a humble, likable person onstage, and you can appreciate why she was able, on a very cold Tuesday night, to pack the inaugural “Brunch After Dark” show at Brooklyn Bowl.  “I love Brooklyn Bowl,” Nanna announced from the stage, and well she should.  She wears this venue well.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed and the Schoeps microphones on a 12-foot stand directly in front of the soundboard.  The outstanding quality of the recording owes almost entirely to the Brooklyn Bowl staff’s impeccable house mix.   We greatly appreciate their efforts.

Oh Land has a record coming out next year, an EP out currently that features many of these songs, and a very special performance this Monday at Mercury Lounge with Steve Lewis & the Vagrants.

Stream “Sun of a Gun”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/O0627OhLand0210/OhLand-SunOfAGun.mp3]

Stream “Lean On Me”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/O0627OhLand0210/OhLand-LeanOnMe.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Oh Land
2010-11-08
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Soundboard feed + Schoeps CMC641>Edirol R-44 (Oade concert mod) (24/48)
Position: At soundboard, slightly ROC, mics at 12ft
Mastering: 2×24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ, mixdown, set fades, hard limit peaks, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Wolf and I
02 [unknown]
03 Sun of a Gun
04 banter
05 Lean On Me
06 White Nights
07 We Turn It Up

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Oh Land, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their 5-song EP, which is available at all major retailers, on iTunes and here.

[photo courtesy of Amanda Hatfield]

Early in his show on Thursday night at Mercury Lounge, John Vanderslice coaxed an ovation from the crowd for this site and myself. I’ve contended for a while that John is the nicest guy I’ve ever met in the music industry, but this kind of dedication was unexpected, humbling and quite touching. John’s forty-minute set contained similarly good will for the rest of the crowd, as he bantered with fans, told stories, and performed the best of his extensive catalog. The set highlights included “The Parade” (streaming below), my personal request and a song John said he’d only done three times, and the haunting “White Dove”. For the set closing “Numbered Lithograph”, John was joined by Franklin Bruno of Extra Lens who added tasty and well-placed melodic piano lines. Vanderslice will return to NYC in March when he promised a new release on Dead Oceans Records.

I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones on a stand in front of the cage and mixed with a soundboard feed. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “The Parade”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/J8030JohnVanderslice3030/John%20Vanderslice%202010-10-21%20THE%20PARADE.mp3]

This Recording is now available to Download in FLAC and MP3 and to Stream at Archive.org [HERE].

John Vanderslice
2010-10-21
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz 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
2009-10-23

Setlist:
[Total Time 37:48]
01 [introduction]
02 D.I.A.L.O.
03 [banter]
04 The Parade
05 [banter]
06 Time To Go
07 Scorpio Rising
08 Pale Horse
09 [banter]
10 White Plains
11 Sunken Union Boat
12 Radiant with Terror
13 White Dove
14 [banter]
15 Trance Manual
16 [banter]
17 Numbered Lithograph

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, and purchase his official releases from the links at his website [HERE].

[The Royal Chains.  All photos courtesy of Jonny Leather]

Jonny Leather’s excellent bill at Littlefield last month brought back a favorite band from one of his previous shows, the Brooklyn/Nashville duo The Royal Chains, as well as a band I had not seen, NYC’s The Sanctuaries.  As with their excellent performance that I recorded at one of Jonny’s earlier shows, The Royal Chains did not disappoint, trying out some new material that showed off their more melodic and mellow side, such as on “Sea Level/Black City.”

The Sanctuaries have one of those challenging names to Google, but they will give you reasons to find them, with immediate hooks and a wry sense of humor to boot.  The catchy “House of Noise,” which this relatively new band has released on a 7?, promises to be a regular favorite at their shows.  Catch the Sanctuaries this month at Union Pool on August 31, and in Fredonia, NY at The Foxhole.

Please support Jonny Leather and the shows he promotes.  Two ways to learn more are to be his friend on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Medications recording, with a stereo board feed and the Schoeps hypercardiod mics.  Other than some occasional flaws in the board mix, the sound is excellent.  Enjoy!

Stream The Royal Chains’ “Sea Level/Black City”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/R3050RoyalChains1020/RoyalChains-SeaLevel.mp3]

Stream The Sanctuaries’ “House of Noise”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/R3050RoyalChains1020/Sanctuaries-HouseofNoise.mp3]

Direct download of The Royal Chains MP3 files [HERE]

Direct download of The Sanctuaries MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC: [ROYAL CHAINS] / [SANCTUARIES]

[Sanctuaries – photo by Jonny Leather]

The Royal Chains
2010-07-23
Littlefield
Brooklyn, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641+Stereo Soundboard Feed>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: ROC, at left side of sound booth, mics at 7.5?, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, compress peaks, volume adjustments, downsample)>FLAC level 8

Tracks [Total Time 46:18]
01 Major Seven Blues
02 Lucy Takes the Dare
03 [banter]
04 Sea Level/Black City
05 Wolf
06 [banter]
07 Pioneer
08 Stay In Control
09 A Million Fires

Visit The Royal Chains website here.
Purchase their music and merch here.

The Sanctuaries
2010-07-23
Littlefield
Brooklyn, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641+Stereo Soundboard Feed>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: ROC, at left side of sound booth, mics at 7.5?, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, compression of peaks, set fades, volume adjustments, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks [Total Time 46:18]
01 Queen’s Gambit Declined
02 Brief Encounter
03 House of Noise
04 Hey Brooke
05 Judgin’ You is Easy ‘Cause You’re Easy
06 Young Big Brother
07 Heaven is a Mountain
08 Fooled by Youth
09 I’m Dead Already

Visit The Sanctuaries MySpace page here.
To buy their shirts and 7?, email the band here.

[Photos courtesy of Sarah Dinkz Lu]

Shark? closed out the Gaza Benefit Show this past Saturday on a strong note, the perfect prelude to another few hours of drinking.  If you had not been enjoying too many of “The Stoop” cocktails proffered at the bar, you would have noticed that despite the inevitable “lo-fi” tag earned by their Fear! (they love punctuation), Noise Maker and School Night! EPs, their live show is more straight-ahead rock, with frontman Kevin Diamond’s vocals out in front and not buried behind distortion.  More like The Feelies, less like Blank Dogs or The Black Lips, if you will.  The band covered surefire favorites from all of the aforementioned EPs, plus at least one song, “Slap Dash” that will hopefully appear on their fully Kickstarter-funded forthcoming full length album.   Gifted with a healthy sense of humor and an ability to distill songs to their tuneful, head-bobbing essence, Shark? should be fixtures on the scene (and maybe beyond) for awhile.  Just listen to the call and response of the main set’s closer, “Shark?” and the instantly catchy final number, “Tiny Violins”.   Imagine that music, a dark club (or maybe a backyard), a few beers, and a weekend ahead of you.  That, friends, is the simple pleasure of Shark?

I recorded this set in the same manner as the Soft Black recording, with a board feed for vocals and the mics right in front of the band, and the sound is excellent.  All songs are properly tagged for easy importing into iTunes.  Enjoy!

Stream “Tiny Violins”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S2801Shark2211/Shark-TinyViolins2010-08-07.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Shark?
2010-08-07
Gaza Benefit Show
A Backyard in Bushwick
Brooklyn, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021 + stereo soundboard feed>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: Mics “onstage”, ORTF
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (compress board track, mixdown, set fades, amplify and balance channels, light EQ, tracking, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC (level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 31:04]
01 I’m An Animal
02 [tuning]
03 Oh My!
04 You Don’t Love Me Anymore
05 Pipeline
06 Fear!
07 Slap Dash
08 Hey Grrl
09 I’ve Got Friends
10 Shark?
11 [encore break]
12 Tiny Violins

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Shark?, visit their MySpace page, and download their official EPs directly from Bandcamp (here).  And please, support the band when their forthcoming album is released as well!

Please also consider supporting the causes that were the reason for this show: UNRWA and the Free Gaza Movement.

[Photo by acidjack]

Some of the best nights in New York are the ones that seem to have gone completely off the rails that right themselves in the most inspiring of ways.  Organizer Blake Luley had the idea to put on a DIY show on a Bushwick rooftop to support the people of the Gaza Strip, with all of the proceeds going to UNRWA and Free Gaza.  The event seemed poised for success; the stifling heat and humidity of this brutal summer had broken, the skies were clear, and fans were being treated to some excellent music on a sprawling (if somewhat notorious) rooftop at 210 Cook St., with panoramic views of Brooklyn and Manhattan complemented by a graceful summer breeze.  But before the sun had even gone down, the cops had other ideas, cutting the set of Charles Burst off mid-song (that set to be posted soon), arresting one concertgoer, and sending the party, and the musicians, literally into the street.

But the bands, the organizers and the fans decided that the cause was too important – and the music too important – to leave it at that.  With bands and fans alike all pitching in to help load gear, food and of course, alcohol into vans, the show went on, moving to a nearby backyard provided by one of the members of Motel Motel.  In but a few hours, extension cords were run to the yard, the PAs and gear were set up, the food and drinks were being sold again, and text messages, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds and the rest beamed the news to those who cared.  And the people came.

After a solid set by the ever-consistent Motel Motel (that set to be posted soon as well), Soft Black, who I had not seen before, came out and blew me away.  As I sat mere feet from frontman Vincent Cacchione, the band gave an 8-song ripper of a performance that included several of the best numbers from the band’s latest The Earth is Black as well as some new songs that should hopefully see the light of day this year or early next.  The band’s name is spot-on, as they offer up a sound that draws from classic rock, folk, Americana and a hint of punk contrasted with lyrics that are uncharacteristically dark.  The Earth is Black, in fact, a narrative song cycle inspired by some of Cacchione’s nightmares.   Fittingly, the band dedicated “Ashtray Christ,” the strongest number of the night, to the show’s organizer.  Like the rest of us, by then he was smiling.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed providing primarily vocals, with the DPA mics directly in front of the band to record the instruments.  The sound quality is outstanding.

Stream “Ashtray Christ”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0087SoftBlack2010/SoftBlack-AshtrayChrist2010-08-07.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Soft Black
2010-08-07
Gaza Benefit Show
A Backyard in Bushwick
Brooklyn, NY  USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: DPA 4021 + stereo soundboard feed>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: Mics “onstage”, ORTF
Mastering: 2×24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (compress board track, mixdown, set fades, amplify and balance channels, light EQ, tracking, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks [Total Time 27:59]
01 I’m Not Afraid of You
02 Aiming For Your Head
03 I Am An Animal
04 Fists in the Dark
05 Ashtray Christ
06 The Lions
07 The Girl Who Ate Her Own Heart
08 Heaven is a Place

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Soft Black, visit their website, and purchase their records and merchandise directly from their online store here.

Please also consider supporting the causes that were the reason for this show: UNRWA and the Free Gaza Movement.

[Photo by acidjack]

I had made a mistake in not seeing Hooray For Earth sooner than I did.  I knew they had played with our friends in ArpLine (a like-minded band, in a loose sense) but somehow (well, I know how – it’s called “regular job”) I had managed not to make it to one of their shows.  FREEwilliamsburg fixed that issue with a Northside Festival showcase that had no wrong calls, with Hooray For Earth in the 2nd opener slot behind Keepaway (posted here).   Hooray For Earth have a dense, anthemic, approachable sound, bridging the gap between hard dance beats and rock emotion.  Their style is exemplified by the closer of their Momo EP, “Rolling/Nectarine”, a song rich with the baggy beats and infinitely hummable lyrics that many songs today lack or ignore.  Hooray For Earth’s songs serve up head-bobbing beats as well as quality songcraft – music huge enough for an arena, sure, but easily compelling enough for a Sunday night Northside Festival showcase.  As their booming sound washes over you, even though it’s Sunday night, you feel yourself waking up.

I recorded this set from the same location as the Keepaway recording – against the right stack.  In my opinion, it does not quite do this band’s expansive sound justice – listen to their studio tracks for proof – but it is still a solid recording after significant editing to compensate for the heavy bass and unusual microphone placement.  Hooray For Earth plays all over this city, so please, do the right thing and see them for yourself.   Enjoy!

Stream “Rolling/Nectarine”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/H7206HFE0201/hfe_rolling.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Hooray for Earth
2010-06-27
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com

Equipment: Schoeps CMC641>Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) (24/44.1)
Position: ~12ft from right stack, 12ft up, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, heavy EQ, amplify/balance channels, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC Level 8

Tracks
01 Intro
02 Form
03 Comfortable, Comparable
04 Get Home
05 Surrounded by Your Friends
06 [unknown]
07 Scaling
08 Rolling/Nectarine

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Hooray for Earth, visit their website, and purchase Momo from Dovecote Records [HERE].