The Manly Deeds came in a week or so ago for their microshow. It was a seriously fun hootenanny! Complete with banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin, upright bass and three-part harmonies.

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Just back from a show with Talib Kweli at Sonar, Soul Cannon is a hip-hop band that never rests. This weekend they will be hitting up World Cafe Live in Philly. They also just recently played a show with a local opera group, Rhymes With Opera which is part of the American Opera Project.

Soul Cannon’s The Mixed Ape is a record that simply redefines what a hip-hop band can be. They push boundaries and create rhythms and melodies that make you wanna dance yet also make you question. I hear elements of Tortoise and the Roots. It’s something you’ve never heard before. They are serious innovators.

That said, the guys in Soul Cannon are great. Eze is a serious MC who rhymes like no body’s business. Jon holds down the keys, but plays like no other keyboardist I’ve ever heard. Matt plays guitar so amazingly his guitar rarely sounds like a guitar. And Nathan’s sense of time is almost illegal. They are virtually unstoppable. Their record drops sometime this summer. But you can download 4 tracks from this record for free on their website.

Here are a few of my favorite tracks from their record.

Fall In (whatchugondew???)

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2010 A.D.

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Greg Hatem (Mr. Moccasin) recently came in to have his debut solo record Heart Of Hearts mastered. He is a super understated Baltimore ex-pat who recently relocated back here! His music evokes the likes of very early Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground/Nico.

This record was recorded and performed by Greg in his warehouse space in the Copycat Annex entirely with vintage analog gear. It’s a great listen. But let’s let the music speak for itself.

Crawl To Me

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Heart Of Hearts

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What’s not to love about Weekends? Two super nice guys. Awesome music. No egos. Luscious distortion. And a good time always.

Brendan and Adam from Weekends came in a week or so ago for their microshow. They have a pretty stripped down raw sound to begin with, however somehow they achieved and even more stripped down sound. Only equipped with acoustic guitars, a keyboard, floor tom and some percussion, they still put down an awesome show, gave us some new songs and covered a song from Baltimore’s Romantic States.

Be on the look out for their next LP on Baltimore’s Friends Records.

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In November 2009, multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Kenton Dunson began renting rooms at various hotels in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. with the intention of utilizing them as recording retreats. This process created a 13-song record that is entitled “The Kenton Dunson Progressions”.

I mastered this record last month and had a great time working with Kenton. He’s a man with a plan and sticks to it. While at the same time, if things needed to be fixed, he stepped it up.

Kenton’s music is hard to explain. He definitely conjures up sounds from Stevie Wonder and Prince. But those are just what first comes to mind. His music speaks for itself.

The CD Release Show with his stellar backing band is June 3rd at the 8×10 and but sadly (however, not for Kenton) sold out. Here are two of my favorite tracks.

Breaks

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Madness

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I recently produced the new Baltimore indie band Dead Letter Fiction‘s debut EP. The record just came out of mastering and sounds great! They will be releasing the record very soon and are planning a small tour. For now, you can hear a few samples below.

That said these guys were great to work with and I hope to work with them again in the near future. They brought creative ideas to the table from Day One and took direction productively and insightfully. Morgan and Amy (guitarist/singer and lead guitarist respectively) write all the songs and there is a dynamic layer added by George the bassist and Yoshi the ever-intense drummer. Their music at times reminds me of The National with hints of pop-centric Foo Fighters.

We Got This

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Salt Water

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