Eric Copeland @ The Knitting Factory (12.2.2011)

Eric Copeland opened for Avey Tare at the Knitting Factory this December.  After not being able to see him for years, we have been lucky enough to catch him live twice in the last two months alone, the last time being at Altered Zones.  His set was identical to the one he played at Altered Zones but was still a treat to see performed live again.

Avey Tare @ The Knitting Factory (12.2.2011)

Avey Tare (Dave Portner of Animal Collective) released Down There in October 2010.  Though he had previously released other non-Animal Collective work on Crumbling Land, the Living Bridge compilation, and Pullhair Rubeye with Kria Brekkan, Down There marks Dave's official solo record debut.  During interviews conducted upon the album's release last year, Dave seemed set on not touring with this material due to the nature of each song's material.  However, an unexpected solo tour was announced for this winter.  We caught his show at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn.

Jeff Mangum @ The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater, NJ (11.6.2011)

I never thought that I would get the chance to see Jeff Mangum live after his long break from the music world following his masterpiece, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. And then around a year ago, a run of concerts was announced out of seemingly nowhere. And with the announcement came a lot of questions. Why now? Would Jeff play new songs? How would he sound after a 12 year absence?

"Altered Zones" @ The New Museum (10.22.2011)

We attended Altered Zones on Saturday October 22nd, 2011.  As a collaboration between Pitchfork and the New Museum, a diverse group of bands and DJs were brought together in the same venue in a festival-like atmosphere.  Altered Zones occupied 3 floors at the museum:  the 7th floor Sky Room, the downstairs Theater, and the lobby, home to the DJs and all of the drinking throughout the night.  Brooklyn Brewery even provided free beer for the evening!  Visuals were designed for each performer with contributions being made by performers such as Liz Harris (Grouper) and Aaron Warren and Bjorn Copeland (of Black Dice).  Each performer's set lasted approximately 45 minutes, though at times the schedule became backed up.  Unfortunately this caused us to miss all but half a song by Prince Rama in order to make it down to Eric Copeland in time.  Regardless, we had a blast roaming the museum all night (from 7:30 pm to 2:00 am to be exact), checking out different bands and DJs.  We are pleased to bring you recordings of Teengirl Fantasy, Eric Copeland, and Atlas Sound from the show.

Panda Bear @ Webster Hall (10.1.2011)

When we saw Panda Bear in July at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, me and Jen had some bad luck. While the show was for the most part excellent (minus some minor feedback issues which could be chalked up to Panda and Sonic Boom playing together for the first time), we had some mishaps with our recorder and the recording was essentially trash. Boo. When we saw that he was doing another show in October, though, we were double psyched. First, it was another chance to hear one of the top albums from 2011 live, and second because we could try to redeem ourselves! I think you'll all be excited to find that we have the first quality audio recording of the Panda Bear/Sonic Boom Tomboy tour.

Deakin @ The New Museum, NY (12.10.2010)

Deakin (Josh Dibb) is the third member of Animal Collective to pursue his own solo career.  Evan and I followed the bootlegs of his solo shows for almost a year prior to seeing him at the New Museum in New York City.  The New Museum provided an intimate setting for the show to take place which was a nice change from the large shows that Animal Collective and even Panda Bear are now known to play.

Black Dice @ Prospect Park (7.12.2011)

Black Dice opened for Animal Collective at Prospect Park with their new set of jams. They played practically the same set of songs that we previously recorded at Secret Project Robot. Since then, Black Dice expanded on the songs and filled them out, making them even more overpowering than they were. The wall of sound the band creates is, in my opinion, astounding. The songs fluctuate between being abrasive attacks on your ears and distorted chunks of pop music.

Animal Collective @ Prospect Park (7.12.2011)

We've been lucky enough to catch Animal Collective three times prior to this performance, our favorite of the three being at Prospect Park in August of 2009.  The atmosphere and incredible stage design by Abby Portner at the bandshell two summers ago certainly contributed to our love for the show, as well as our excitement when we heard that the band would be returning to the park this year.  Animal Collective, being our favorite band for many years now, has never disappointed us with any of their music (live or studio) and this time was no exception.

Panda Bear @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg (7.3.2010)

Panda Bear played this past Sunday at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. The show felt like a bit of a victory lap (in a good way!) for Panda's recent release, Tomboy. He played, for the first time, the tracks in the same order as they appeared on the album. On top of that, he also collaborated with Sonic Boom/Pete Kember of Spaceman 3 (the producer of the album) for the show. Pete added samples and sounds to give the songs the complete feel they had on the album. Danny Perez was also on stage, adding his perfectly fitting projections to the music. He also had two projectors shining light out onto the crowd, completing the surreal environment. The effect was to make you feel lost in the music, especially during the more droney sections between songs

Update

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to write a quick post to update everyone on our plans for Two Sails.  We plan on redoing some of our older recordings including Black Dice and Born Ruffians to make them sound as good as possible.  When Evan and I started this blog last year we only used Garageband and possessed little knowledge of the technical side of making a live recording sound good.  A year later, we have become proficient with Logic and what a difference that makes in the final sound of our recordings!

We also have a recording of Deakin (of Animal Collective) at the New Museum from December 2010. We posted the Garageband Eq'd version of the recording on the old Collected Animals board but will work on compiling an official post for that recording (redone with Logic) in the near future.

James Blake @ The Bowery Ballroom (5.11.2011)

Britain's James Blake released his self-titled debut album this year and it was well received in the U.S. upon its emergence.  Resulting from this high acclaim, Blake extended his live shows and made his live American debut in March of 2011 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.  Tickets sold out incredibly fast and unfortunately, Evan and I got shut out of the show.  Tickets for the event were selling for over $100 each on Ebay and StubHub which was completely out of our budget.  Luckily enough, he announced another set of U.S. dates for the spring/early summer, two of which were to occur in New York.  We attended his performance on May 11th at the Bowery Ballroom.

Gang Gang Dance @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg (5.4.2011)

Gang Gang Dance has always been a blast to see live.  We caught them at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in January of 2009 and then again opening for Grizzly Bear at Governor's Island in August 2010 (check out the recording!).  They released their new album Eye Contact this month which leaked a few weeks prior to its release date and was sold a week before its official release at this show.  The mood for the evening was set almost immediately upon arriving outside of the Music Hall of Williamsburg.  Paper lined the street with the phrase "It's Everything Time," a spoken line from the beginning of "Glass Jar," the opening track to Gang Gang Dance's new album Eye Contact.  The sheets of paper also formed a giant GGD on a wall across from the venue.  By the time we arrived at the venue, one of the papers in the second "G" was missing so I'm using a photo taken by Collected Animals member Carradio.

The Books @ Zankel Hall - Carnegie Hall - NYC (11.13.2010)

The Books released their latest album The Way Out in the summer of 2010, their first release since 2005's Lost and Safe.  I always found The Books to be a rather enticing band; their synthesis of traditional instruments with audio samples makes for a unique and atmospheric musical experience within every track. Cellist Paul de Jong and singer/guitarist Nick Zammuto, along with Gene Back, a multi-instrumentalist added for their live performances, collectively created an environment that was pleasing to the eyes and ears.

Panda Bear "Surfers Hymn" Demo (2008)

Here's another post that is a little out of the ordinary for Two Sails.  We have been given the opportunity to host a link for Panda Bear's demo version of his song "Surfers Hymn" from 2008 given to us by Collected Animals member dirtypants. After years of hearing about how he had an early recorded version of this song, he finally got permission from Noah Lennox himself (through the help of Sonic Boom) to share the early version.  This is what Noah had to say in the email to Sonic Boom:

'surfers hymn was one of the first two songs i did (for tomboy lp) . the other was a very different version of friendship bracelet which at the time was called i want to go with you. i had originally done the surfers hymn recording for a skateboarding video part featuring a friend of mine but the video producers rejected it so it just kind of sat around. i dont mind if people want to share around that version although i wonder where they got it haha.'' 

Additionally, dirtypants provided us with some background information on his involvement with the track:

"In 2008, I got a phone call from a friend who works for Alien Workshop asking if I wanted to hear some new Animal Collective tracks. He got the tracks because he was heavily involved with their 2009 video "Mind Field." I ended up listening to the finished studio versions of In the Flowers, My Girls, Summertime Clothes, Daily Routine and Brother Sport, which were still mostly referred to as Dancer, House, Bearhug, Daily Routine and Brothersport. He then opened a folder that had Surfer's Hymn and mentioned that Noah was going to put an album out the following year featuring that song. 

Almost 3 years later and here we are now! It was really hard to not share this with anyone, but I had to honor my promise so my friend wouldn't lose his job. Hope it was worth the wait!"

This version of "Surfers Hymn" resembles the more minimal version on the ATP 2009 recording.  Enjoy and thanks to everyone involved!

Download "Surfers Hymn" HERE

Panda Bear @ ATP (9.11.09)

This post will be a little bit different than the norm since we didn't actually record this concert. Me and Jen were there though, we just didn't have a recorder at the time. This recording comes courtesy of Collected Animals user Maxwell Hell, who ripped the concert off of an internet broadcast by WMFU radio. This concert is probably the best I've ever been to for a bunch of reasons: the setting (Kutcher's Resort in upstate NY) was beautiful and relaxing, it was our first time seeing Panda Bear solo, and the setlist (complete with 3 songs we had never heard before) was a near perfect mix of new and old, with I Think I Can, Surfer's Hymn, and Friendship Bracelet for the first time, along with what is probably the best version of Bros and a rare live version of Boneless.

Panda Bear @ Governor's Island (9.11.2010)

On Friday September 11th, 2009, Evan and I caught Panda Bear at ATP New York, after deciding to skip out on the packed Saturday line up that featured Animal Collective, Black Dice, Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, and dozens of other of our favorite acts.  Seeing his solo performance was worth the pricey admission alone and we were introduced to the first few Tomboy jams that evolved into "Surfer's Hymn," "I Want To Go With You," and an untitled "my life" track which has been absent from his most recent shows.  Exactly one year later, we received the opportunity to see Panda Bear again on Governor's Island.  Governor's Island is off the southern tip of Manhattan, where the World Trade Center once was.  An annual tradition since the terrorist attacks has been to illuminate the night sky with two light beams to represent the fallen towers.  From the island, we had a hauntingly beautiful view of the lights that remained with us until the end of Panda's set.  The photograph above was captured on our way back to the ferry.  We noticed the next morning that the cloud by the beams was in the shape of a heart.

Black Dice @ Secret Project Robot (1.15.2011)

Seeing Black Dice live is almost always an amazing experience. The band combines electronic, minimalist, hip hop, punk, and psychedelic influences into its' deafening performances. The new set of music Black Dice has been playing live since the release of 2009's Repo seems to expand on the style laid out by that album rather than reinventing the sound of the band. In a lot of ways, the new set sounds like a leaner, meaner, more hip-hop influenced Black Dice. The set we saw was entirely new songs with the exception of Nite Creme.

Deakin @ Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn NY (1.15.2011)

Deakin played alongside Mirror Mirror and Black Dice at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn, NY on January 15th, 2011. Evan and I are both big fans of Black Dice and Deakin, whose solo shows we have been following through bootlegs since his first show on New Years Day 2010. We also got to see him at the New Museum in NYC in December. Despite a number of minor technical problems with his equipment at the New Museum, the show was great and left an impression on us that made us even more excited to see him this time around at Secret Project Robot. The venue itself was a really neat renovated warehouse in Williamsburg; neon crystals, blacklights, and full room video projections created a fun environment.

Gang Gang Dance Live at Governor's Island (8.12.2010)

Gang Gang Dance is a band that I've been a fan of for the past few years, but it seems that they've struggled to find the audience and success that similar bands have. 2008's Saint Dymphna was similar in many ways to Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, but received a fraction of the critical acclaim and listeners. We got a chance to catch them opening for The Walkmen and Grizzly Bear at Governor's Island this summer.

Born Ruffians @ Santos Party House, NYC (6.19.2010)

 Born Ruffians played Santos Party House in New York City on June 19th, 2010 with Motive and Young Rival as openers. This was our second time seeing Born Ruffians (the first was when they opened up for Vampire Weekend at SummerStage 2008 in Central Park and we immediately were hooked) and it was the first recording we did at a show.

Welcome to Two Sails

Hi everyone,

Our names are Evan and Jen and we decided to create this blog in order to share the recordings that we have made of various bands. We belong to the Collected Animals community posting as Lion Around and Dance Avey Dance respectively and have shared links to a number of these recordings on the forums. However, having one organized collection of recordings and photographs from the shows that we attend seemed like a good idea. We hope you enjoy this blog as it develops!