I’ve been a fan of Small Sur for quite a while and have been asking Bob to do a microshow for almost 2 years now! We were grateful they were able to do one with us last month. It was a really beautiful night, full of amazing musicianship, wonderfully crafted songs and really nice people. Everything came together perfectly and it’s here now for you to take a peak in to their microshow. Hope you enjoy!

Bob Keal: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Austin Stahl: Drums, Vocals
Andy Abelow: Keyboards, Vocals, Alto Sax
Paul Kusner: Bass
Emily Hilliard: Violin

Engineered by Austin Stahl
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Technical info: Bob’s vocals: Shure SM7, Acoustic: SM81, Kick: RE20, Snare: Fathead Ribbon, Overhead: Sputnik, Austin’s Vocals, AKG 414, Violin: AKG 414, Andy’s Vocals: SM81, Bass: 421

Download MP3s - 85.57 MB

Photos by Tedd Henn, WhatWeekly.com

Austin Tally and Amanda Glasser who are better known together as Silent Whys were in the studio last year with Alex and me. Both are multi-instrumentalists, playing guitar, dulcimer, accordion, lap steel, dobro, banjo, mandolin, organ and drums. And sometimes at the same time when performed live. They play a diverse mix of music ranging from artsy-folk to gospel to avant.

I had the great opportunity to work with them for the better half of last year on their debut album. It came together wonderfully. Austin and Amanda took what they were doing very seriously and it shows in their record. It’s the perfect Friday evening dinner listen or great on a winter’s morning enjoying a great cup of tea.

The record has just been released on Lovasaurus Records and can be purchased here.

Waltz For October
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Lay Me Down
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Frederick-based music group Holy MTN just finished up a fresh new single here at Mobtown Studios with Paul. These gentlemen are bringing a solid sound to the table, blending eccentric and melodic vocals with an extremely tight rhythm section and creative guitars and keys. Put a MicroKorg-triggered talkbox on top of that, and you’ve got a highly enjoyable song on your hands! We even broke out our ’74 Fender Rhodes on this track for some electro-mechanical sweetness.

Holy MTN will be heading in to the studio again soon to start work on an EP, so be on the look out! Keep up to date with their shows and news on their Bandcamp site, and enjoy the single Next Time:

[See post to listen to audio]

I had the great pleasure of producing The Water’s debut album Scandals and Animals this past spring. The Water are better known to us as Dan and James. Dan plays all the drums, loops and guitar and James plays the guitars and synths.

This record was a long time coming. These guys have grown tremendously since the first time I saw them at The Metro Gallery 3 years ago. In making Scandals and Animals, we used quite a bit of gorgeous vintage The Water, but a lot of new territory was charted as well. This isn’t simply a regurgitation of their live show in a studio. There was discussion of using an acoustic guitar on the record. There’s a pretty Beach Boy bass on a few tracks. It’s epic, dynamic, full of lyricless emotion and all while layering on piles of loops and beautiful melodies and polyrhythms crescendoing to an enormous dénouement .

The Water’s music speaks for itself. It’s not a record you can listen to in pieces. It’s a full-length record in its purest sense. Sit back, relax and listen from start to finish without interruption.

You can preorder the record here from Baltimore’s own Scenic Route Records and you can listen to my favorite tracks below:

Handsome Homeless
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DeSelby
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Future Nails
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Das Binky is the moniker of mulit-instrumentalist John Argentiero of Madison, WI (by way of Hoboken, NJ by way of Washington, DC). John has been making music for over 20 years, leaving his ego at the door. He listens to a sickeningly wide range of music. And it’s clear from the music he creates. One can’t pigeonhole what John does. It’s what keeps you wanting to come back for more.

I had the pleasure of mixing a song on his upcoming LP. This song was co-written by John Flansburgh and John Linnell from They Might Be Giants and it’s definitely my favorite cut.

Up My Dosage
[See post to listen to audio]

I had the pleasure of working with The Little Creatures this summer in mastering their record. The Little Creatures are Ian Potts & Dave Nenner. These guys certainly defy traditional genres. They pull from the avant baroque, psychedelic pop and lo-fi indie rock. Whatever they are doing is definitely something to keep an eye out for. Enjoy this track I love from the record. You can also download the whole record here.

Paradigm A Dozen
[See post to listen to audio]

INEVERYROOM has evolved from experimental pop into textual compositions exploring live and sampled sounds. In 2010, Lands & Peoples and INEVERYROOM created a split cassette that got Pitchfork’s attention. Shortly following that, Local Baltimore label, Friends Records released a self titled 7-song cassette and digital download. For their microshow they were inspired by healing and easy listening, R&B, carnivals, textures found in nature and their friends in Baltimore.

Sometimes I am not sure what’s going on with Amy and Chase’s music. Part mad scientists part Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois. It’s completely genre-less. You just don’t know what you are going to get – but you keep wanting more and never wanting it to end. And that happened last week when INEVERYROOM, unfortunately, played their last show.

Chase O’Hara: Vocals, Keyboards, Drum Pads, Sampler
Amy Reid: Vocals, Keyboards, Contact Mic, Drum Pads

Engineered by Alex Champagne and Sean Mercer
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Technical info: Amy’s mic: AKG 414, Chase’s mic: Shure SM7, Micro Korg, Sequential Circuits Six-Trak, Roland SP606, Roland Sampling Pad, Contact mic through mixer: All DI, Room mics: AKG D58, Audio Technica AT871R.

Download MP3s - 76.95 MB

Photos by Tedd Henn, WhatWeekly.com

My Top 10 for the Baltimore City Paper for 2011.

1 Sigur Rós, Inni (XL)
2 She and Him, A Very She and Him Christmas (Merge)
3 Beyoncé Knowles, 4 (Columbia)
4 M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (Mute)
5 Steve Reich and Kronos Quartet, WTC 9/11 (Nonesuch)
6 YEVETO, Remote Unelectrified Villages (self-released)
7 Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues’ (Sub Pop)
8 Florence and the Machine, Ceremonials (Island)
9 Foster The People – Torches (Columbia)
10 INFINITE HONEY, Infinite Honey (self-released)

Dienfenbaker came in this fall to record their debut EP with Alex. These guys are super smart and wonderfully enthusiastic musicians. They also wrote and recorded a stellar EP that has been in my iTunes rotation a lot lately. They draw from the likes of 80s rock awesomeness a la New Order and The Pretenders as well as drawing from modern garage rock and post wave. These guys certainly have something to say and say it loud! And they also play with an ARP. In my eyes you simply can’t go wrong. You can download the album on bandcamp.

Enjoy my favorite cut from the EP:

Radon
[See post to listen to audio]

Youngster was recently in the studio with Alex to record their first EP! The record turned out amazing. Youngster pushes out electronic jams, but done so organically with no MIDI syncing between the musicians. There is a keyboardist, sampler, bassist and guitarist. They crank out serious groovetronic dance jams a la The New Deal, Underworld and Daft Punk.

Enjoy two of my favorite cuts:

Hoedown
[See post to listen to audio]

Acid Roach
[See post to listen to audio]