From Noble Lake to Private Eleanor and Small Sur, it feels like Baltimore is in the middle of some kind of soft rock renaissance, with a number of the local indie scene’s best bands playing and singing in hushed tones, as if gathered around a campfire. And at the forefront of that quiet army is Beach House, whose 2006 self-titled debut garnered so much national acclaim that the band actually scraped the Billboard album charts at #195 with their latest, Devotion, earlier this year.

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The Red Vines is the latest project by the musical mastermind of Ryan Finnerin. Peppered with cameos by totally excellent local musicians, the record gains extra spice. It has lush acoustic guitar hooks and insanely catchy pop vocals complete with sugary reverbed tambourines.

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In my younger days I wasn’t much of a Cure fan. They were mopey. Wore dark clothes. And were considered “gothic”. Something I couldn’t wrap my finger around. Until I heard their album Mixed Up, which was simply remixes and rearrangements of their studio songs. At that time, anything with a drum machine was offensive to me. It felt inhuman, like a sub-par replacement. I didn’t see the big picture of what could be created and innovated with a drum machine. Anyhow, regardless of my problems with a certain instrument, the record spoke to me. Namely the remix of Caterpillar and Inbetween Days. They were so completely different from the originals; they were almost new songs.

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The Beechfields Record Label is a self-proclaimed “small artist-run label based in Baltimore, Maryland … devoted to helping spread the word about music that we love, and to building a supportive community around the people who make it.”

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We here at Mobtown would love to review your CD. We don’t care what genre it is. Bring it on. If you are a Baltimore band and would like us to review your record, please, by all means, send us a copy. Our address is here. (We will try to review every CD we receive.)