James Blake @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg (12.11.2012)

In September, James Blake announced that he would debut new material from his upcoming album at a few intimate shows.  We last saw James Blake at the Bowery Ballroom in May 2011, not long after his first full length LP came out.  Though we were treated to 1 new song during that set (Enough Thunder), I was definitely excited to hear the direction he was headed in for his next major release. After playing three shows in England, he made his way to New York to play two more shows.  Tickets sold out almost immediately for the first show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg so a second show was added at the Bowery Ballroom for the following night.  I attended his first New York show of this small tour at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Animal Collective @ Terminal 5 (12.4.2012)

We last caught Animal Collective at Prospect Park in 2011 where they played live as a full band for the first time since 2006.  The band has since released a 12" version of the material from their Transverse Temporal Gyrus installation, the non-album Honeycomb/ Gotham 7" single, the full length Centipede Hz at the end of the summer, and a 10" Applesauce single (b/w "Crimson") in November.  Animal Collective began another full length tour when CHz released and have since been playing shows throughout the U.S. and Europe.  They were scheduled to play the Williamsburg Waterfront in October but unfortunately had to postpone the show due to illness.  Graciously, the band not only rescheduled the original show but added a second show for the following night, all to benefit the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief.  We attended the first of their two shows at Terminal 5.

Grimes @ The Bowery Ballroom (10.27.2012)

Grimes has toured extensively over the past year, playing shows throughout North America and Europe (check out her February performance in Austin).  Most recently she was joined by Elite Gymnastics and Myths on her "Mythical Gymnastics" tour.  The final leg of the tour originally featured two New York City shows.  Yet due to instantaneous sell outs of both shows, two additional shows were immediately added to meet the overwhelming demand.  Of the four shows, we were able to get tickets to her third scheduled performance at the Bowery Ballroom, alongside Blue Hawaii and Myths.  However because of Hurricane Sandy, the October 28th show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg was canceled, making the show we attended and recorded the last of the tour.

Young Man @ Mercury Lounge (8.14.2012)

Evan and I first encountered the work of Colin Caulfield and his project Young Man with the release of his 2010 EP Boy. With its catchy guitar melodies and thematic lyrics about childhood,  Boy became an instant favorite of ours.  Colin followed the EP with another stellar release, Ideas of Distance, in 2011.  Ideas was not only a complete departure from Boy stylistically but it also marked the first album in a set of three conceptual full-length records to be made under the Young Man name; Vol. 1 became the second.  Released this past May, Vol. 1 features a full band and some of the most impressive examples of Colin's song writing yet.  This summer, Young Man set out on their first headlining tour and made a stop at Mercury Lounge in New York City.

Black Dice @ The Living Bread (04.07.2012)

Black Dice released their new album Mr. Impossible last month on Ribbon Music.  They debuted what would become the album's material in early 2011, the show at Secret Project Robot being one of the first to showcase the new songs.  They also played a similar set to open for Animal Collective at Prospect Park in 2011.  In their recorded form, the Mr. Impossible tracks are just as full and exciting as they are live.  To celebrate the new album, Black Dice played their record release show at the Living Bread in Brooklyn.

Sonic Boom @ The Knitting Factory (3.30.2012)

Pete Kember (Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 and Spectrum) played a solo show last weekend at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn.  Aside from his own musical ventures, he has also made a name for himself as a producer, most recently working with Noah Lennox (Panda Bear, Animal Collective) on his fourth solo release Tomboy and subsequent touring dates (you can find him on the Music Hall of Williamsburg and Webster Hall recordings). His contributions to the Tomboy material were impressive, exemplifying his understanding of sound and texture, as well as his overall talent.  Evan and I became acquainted with Pete over the last few months and were given permission to record his performance this weekend.

Grimes @ Lambert's, Austin TX (02.29.2012) + Signed Poster Contest!

Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, and her new album Visions have gathered unbelievable hype over the last few months, and deservedly so.  The album is a perfect mix of catchy synth riffs, dance-driven drum beats, and beautifully layered vocals that rewards the listener with every play.  Grimes recently began touring this year to sold out crowds across the country.  She is scheduled to play three shows in New York at the end of March (two at the Mercury Lounge, one at Glasslands) but unfortunately we were not able to secure tickets.  However we are lucky enough to host a recording of her recent show at Lambert's BBQ in Austin, Texas courtesy of a fellow Collected Animals member.

Zammuto @ 92YTribeca (02.04.2012)

Recently Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong announced that they were calling it quits as The Books. This news came as a blow to fans of experimental music; The Books created some of the most stunning, singular pieces of music of the last ten years (check out our recording of them at Zankel Hall). They combined fragmented samples from sources as disparate as lost vinyls, old Talk Boy tapes, and golf instruction videos with aspects of classical music and electronic/folk music into a one of a kind sound. However, with the news of the bands demise also comes Nick Zammuto's new band, simply titled after his last name. The new band consists of brother Mike Zammuto on bass, Gene Back, an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist, and New York City drummer Sean Dixon. This promising new four-piece is more rock focused, and takes their cues more from Paul Simon and Radiohead than relaxation tapes. We caught their second live show as a band at 92YTribeca.

Re-hosting

Hey all,

Since Megaupload was shut down, we are in the process of uploading all of our recordings to a different website.  If there is a recording you want to download and the link has yet to be replaced, comment on this post telling us which recording it is and we'll make it a priority to do that one asap.

Thanks!