Given that nearly two and a half years passed between the original local release of Baltimore duo Wye Oak’s debut album, If Children, and its Merge Records follow-up, last year’s The Knot, it’d be reasonable not to expect a new record from the band for a while. So it was a delightfully unexpected surprise to hear word of a new Wye Oak record just 8 months after The Knot, even if it’s just an EP. And the 18 minutes of My Neighbor / My Creator are as meaty and substantial as fans should have come to expect from anything the band does, in fact possibly surpassing the band’s last full-length in terms of moment for moment quality.

[See post to listen to audio]

My Neighbor / My Creator marks the first time Wye Oak have worked with outside producers, and that collaboration is the key to why its 5 tracks signify an exciting new direction for the band. The brothers Chris Freeland (best known as a member of the Baltimore band Oxes) and Mickey Freeland (who raps as Bow ‘N Arrow or Mickey Free) recorded the 4 new songs on the EP after a Mickey Free remix of The Knot’s “That I Do” appeared on the SpliceToday.com compilation Baltimore Does Baltimore, Part 1 last October. And while that remix is reprised on My Neighbor and sticks out like a sore thumb with its drum machine beat and guest rap verse, the new songs represent far more subtle and intriguing ways that the Freeland brothers have helped Wye Oak push their sound forward.

The EP tumbles out of the gate with “My Neighbor,” a beautifully shimmering array of Jenn Wasner’s guitar overdubs and vocal harmonies cascading over Andy Stack’s hiccuping 3/4 groove and tom-tom fills. It’s closer to the Wye Oak of If Children than the darker, slower The Knot, and the upbeat tone continues with “Emmylou,” perhaps the band’s fastest song to date. The harmonica on “Emmylou,” as well as the elegiac saxophone solo on “I Hope You Die” that  helps the song bring to mind Springsteen ballads, are just a couple examples of the new colors Wye Oak are painting with on these songs. Wasner and Stack have always displayed musical ambitions larger than just making the most of a 2-person band setup as a marketing angle. And with the help of the Freeland brothers, it looks like their sound is poised to become bigger and more varied than ever before.

Dustin Wong’s performance at the August 12th microshow was one of the most engaging we’ve seen. Known primarily for his role in Ponytail, he’s been gaining momentum as a solo artist and Thursday’s set was a testament to his massive skills as a composer and guitarist. His solo music is a study in patterns and signal theory. His methodology is formulaic, almost mathematical, but the result is anything but expected. He builds each song or sequence by layering simple melodies and rhythms, adding one layer, looping it through his corral of pedals, then adding another. He repeats and tweaks until it reaches a swaying, hypnotic, yet thoroughly musical, cacophony. Then he abruptly stops and immediately enters into a new, suddenly quiet and uncluttered, layer. Before you realize he’s ended one song, he’s off into a new sequence.

The approach itself isn’t entirely novel. His real genius lies in his ability to edit, to pick through a seemingly infinite combination of variables, and to write and combine numerous songlets without ever sounding redundant or trite. His music draws at times from Philip Glass and Raymond Scott and hints at subtle Japanese Gagaku themes in the layering. Download the tracks from the show and we think you’ll be amazed as we were that all this came from one dude and a guitar.

Techincal info: U87/SM57 on front cab (1176), Sennheiser 441 on rear, AT PZMs for room.

Download MP3s - 60.99 MB

[See post to listen to audio]

Thanks to Greg Szeto from Aural Slates for taking such wonderful pictures.

I recently mixed The Yellow Albatross’ debut album produced by Paul Mercer. The Black Island of Abulia is a concept album written and performed by Patrick Martel with a few instrumentalists. According to Patrick, it’s “the portrayal of all emotion suppressed under a doldrum life finally erupting and pulsating out with highly dynamic songs, complex and delicate instrumentation.”

I see this record as a wonderfully constructed indie-pop record, masterfully produced by Paul.

Enjoy my two favorite tracks from the album.

Bed Of Whales
[See post to listen to audio]

Six Days Of Summer
[See post to listen to audio]

Sri Aurobindo are what’s often referred to as a ‘guitar band,’ the kind of act whose records are dominated by swirling overdubs of noodling leads and effects pedal textures. But that kind of characterization would diminish how key bass guitar is to the Baltimore quartet, who have one of the best bass sounds going: fuzzed out and high in the mix, but round and appealing, like a foghorn cutting through the otherwise trebly mix. On Cave Painting, their first release for Friends Records, Sri Aurobindo’s bass is in your face more than ever, hooking you even when the lyrics are impossible to make out and the psychedelic songs’ shaggy structures are hard to follow. In fact, that massive low end may be what ultimately sets  the band apart from the pack of similar psych rock acts currently crowing the indie scene.

[See post to listen to audio]

In 2009, Sri Aurobindo released two albums that both skated just past the half hour mark: a 6-song self-titled debut, and the ambitious Return To Earth, which consisted of just one long track. Cave Painting isn’t much longer, but packs in nine songs all of varying lengths, from 2-minute miniatures to epics that run as long as 8 minutes. Of the latter, “Don’t Know” is a particular standout, with the band’s instrumental workouts once again outshining their songwriting when the ineffectual refrain of “and I just don’t know” blasts off into a killer guitar freakout.

[See post to listen to audio]

One song that effectively splits the difference between the brief vignettes and the long jams is “My Luv Is Stoned,” a sunny summer jam that features the album’s most memorable chorus. It’s hard to say what direction Sri Aurobindo will take on future releases, or if they’ll keep churning out albums at such a breakneck pace, but Cave Painting leaves some pretty encouraging signposts pointing toward where the band could be headed.

We Used To Be Family is a post-rock quartet based out of Baltimore which at time echos the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor and The Arcade Fire (sans vocals). There is something insanely special about them. Half the band is classically trained and the other half learned by the seat of their pants. How the later half keeps up with all the odd time signatures is beyond me, but somehow they nail it every time. Their music has severely dramatic cresendos that take minutes, at times, to develop. This isn’t a pop record, so you’ll have to give each of their songs time to settle and build in to their beautiful swell of noise.

I had always wanted to work with We Used To Be Family, and after their set at NoVo earlier this year, Ruby came up to me asking if I’d be interested in producing their debut record. I was floored. It was a dream come true. The recording process was seamless. Alex Champagne engineering always helps that process with his finely tuned ears and impeccable work with strings. They were well rehearsed and were simply amazing people to work with. They didn’t even flinch after I asked them to track the the strings more than a 2 dozen times complete with harmonies. It was almost like that was how it was supposed to happen and they knew it.

The interesting thing about this band is that there is no one person who takes the leads. They all switch off and share democratically, which makes for an insanely dynamic listen. Ruby Fulton, effortlessly and always with a smile plays the violin, trumpet and Wurlitzer. Andrew Histand plays the cello (sometimes with heavy distortion through an amp and always shredding the hairs off the bow in to a pile by his feet), Michael Yoon plays the Twin Peaks guitar, Michael Shank plays the guitar that at times doesn’t even sound like a guitar and Mr. Brian Litz plays the drums like it’s the last day on earth.

Here are my two favorite tracks from this record. Be sure to listen all the way through. These songs take a while to build – especially with Jerkface Shipley. Check out that ending. The massive amounts of strings will blow your ears to the moon.

Rose Isn’t A Better Stickball Player Than Randy Milligan
[See post to listen to audio]

Jerkface Shipley
[See post to listen to audio]

Yukon is a hard band to pin down with words. Luckily the great people over at What Weekly wrote what I couldn’t express with words:

…try imagining that the band Tool was originally a jazz trio in the 1960?s who were influenced by Pink Floyd and then caught in a temporal disturbance during a live performance that transported them through space-time. They then found themselves on the International Space Station in the year 2056 where they were forced to perform and write music while orbiting the earth. In an attempt to travel back through time back to the 1960?s, they missed their mark and ended up in 2010 where they brought their futuristic/post-rock/mind warping/jazz, but not at all jazz/brain music, to Baltimore

Anyways… I was curious as to what what Yukon would do at their microshow. Would they play loud? Would they rearrange their songs? They ended up doing a more stripped down yet articulate minimal set complete with a Lungfish cover. They kept the excitement of their normal stage show but didn’t decimate your ears with their sheer sound pressure levels. That said, this was no acoustic set where you could hear the cop cars roll up Charles Street. They brought it. Any you can re-witness it for yourself below.

Techincal info: Kick: Beta 52, Snare: Sennheiser 441, OH: Shure SM81, Tom: Sennheisser 408, Floor Tom, Sennheisser 308. Nick’s guitar: 421, Sam’s guitar: Sennheiser 509, Brad’s bass: 421, Keys: AT PZM.

Download MP3s - 46.8 MB

Dimensions Of Hope
[See post to listen to audio]

Throws
[See post to listen to audio]

Life Inside
[See post to listen to audio]

Space Orgy [Lungfish]
[See post to listen to audio]

Weeding Wonder
[See post to listen to audio]

Forty Seven Swords
[See post to listen to audio]

Wonderfully captured photos by Brooke Hall via What Weekly

Cameron came in earlier this spring for me to produce his second record. Keep in mind his last record barely came out 9 months prior. Nothing can stop this man. He is a prolific creator of wonderfully crafted pop songs.

He completely stripped down his band relying predominantly on his guitar/piano, Geoff Knorr on cello, Christopher Pierorazio on drums and Dave Hadley on pedal steel. A super-group of sorts. Complete pros.

As always, working with Cameron was a joy. He knows exactly where he wants to go with his music and having worked together previously eased the creation of this work. Plus he knows when to take advice to create the best possible song.

Cameron is someone who changes things up every step of the way and while many would see this as a challenge we thrive on trying things differently. Creating music the same way every time would be more of an obstacle.

Also to be noted is that David Manchester at teamAdelle Studios did the wonderful album artwork. Here are three of my favorite songs.

Baby Come Home
[See post to listen to audio]

Never Taught Much
[See post to listen to audio]

Every Hundred Miles
[See post to listen to audio]

J Roddy Walston and The Business, a group of old-fashioned rock’n'roll bruisers from Tennessee, picked up and made Baltimore their hometown in 2004, quickly becoming one of the city’s most exciting live bands. In 2007, they cemented their growing local following with a killer first album, Hail Mega Boys, and continued touring the country and eventually catching the attention of  Vagrant Records. With their self-titled Vagrant debut due out on July 27th, the label has issued a 3-song digital EP on iTunes as an appetizer for the full length. And while that 11-minute primer may not be a full meal, as the first new music from the band in 3 years it’s still an exciting prospect.

[See post to listen to audio]

The title track of the Don’t Break The Needle EP is one of The Business’s classic boogie woogie piano rocker, starting at a patient midtempo before Walston throws some Jerry Lee Lewis whoops into the first chorus and the thing gets rolling along. “Brave Man’s Death” is a guitar-driven midtempo track with a great careening guitar solo and some of Walston’s most inspired lyrics. Neither is a frenzied anthem on the level of Hail Mega Boys favorites like “I’ll Tell You What,” but both are reassuring signs that the band isn’t changing up its style or polishing it too much for a national audience.

The one exclusive track on the EP, “Don’t Get Old (Acoustic)” is a bit misleadingly labelled — the track is driven by an acoustic guitar, but also features electric guitar and bass and a driving drumbeat. In fact, it rocks about as hard as anything by the Business, unless of course the electric version on the album manages to top it. We won’t know until July 27th, and until then these songs will do fine to tide us over.

Small Sur’s last record We Live in Houses Made of Wood was in heavy rotation in my household last year. So when Bob Keal came by the studio to have his next record Bare Black mastered, I was honored.

Small Sur is a collective run by songwriter Bob Keal. Bob writes beautifully haunting songs that remind me of being outside and traveling, of the feeling of moving from one place to another. Or simply leaning back against a tree staring at the stars. This newest record takes you to a place with insanely crafted melodies, occasionally droney textures, and haunting minimalist arrangements. Multi-instrumentalists Austin Stahl and Andy Abelow join Bob on this record.

Bare Black was released last week for Aural Slates Records. The sample song below is a complete reworking of a track recorded for the 2008 Friends and Friends of Friends Compilation on their former label Tender Loving Empire.

Other guests include Geoff Graham (bass; member of Lower Dens/Jana Hunter), Susan Alcorn (pedal steel) and Natasha Tylea-Cooke (vocals). Engineered by Chris Freeland and mixed by Adam Cooke, whose collective credits include Beach House (Sub Pop), Double Dagger (Thrill Jockey), Lower Dens/Jana Hunter (Gnomonsong), Oxes (Monitor), and Wye Oak (Merge).

Please enjoy my favorite track below.

Weeds
[See post to listen to audio]

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.

Technical info: Vocal mics: U87 (Adam – Center) – AT 3060 (Brad Left-ish) – C3 (Jason Right-ish), Banjo: Oktava 012, Acoustic Guitar: SM81, Mandolin: SM81, Upright bass: Apex 460 Tube, Suitcase drums: SM7 on top, Beta52 on rear, AT Boundary for room.

Download MP3s - 77.91 MB