Sun Club (formerly Pandemonia), hailing from Annapolis, came in this spring to make a record. Producing this record was beyond amazing. These guys make music like it’s nobody’s business. They create solid pop hooks on top of an insane rhythm section. Sun Club pulls from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective and The Arcade Fire. I seriously can’t stop listening to this record. It’s infectious. Infectious too for some UK publications that are already giving this record (before it’s even out) high marks. You can listen to my two favorite tracks below or listen to more here.

Spring Diamond
[See post to listen to audio]

Purple Peach
[See post to listen to audio]

MacGregor Burns- Vocals/Acoustic Guitar/Electric Guitar

Engineered by Aaron Wold
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Technical info: Vocals: RE20, Acoustic: SM81, Guitar Amp, SM57

Download MP3s - 93.61 MB

]]> http://mobtownstudios.com/macgregor-burns-microshow/feed/ 0 http://mobtownstudios.com/mic-of-the-month-blue-mouse-fet/ http://mobtownstudios.com/mic-of-the-month-blue-mouse-fet/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:45:09 +0000 Mat Leffler-Schulman http://mobtownstudios.com/?p=3997

I am not a crazy gear head. But don’t get me wrong. I love solid gear that will do what I want it to, but I don’t focus on the specs. It doesn’t matter if it’s tube or solid state. If it’s discrete or has IC chips. If it does what I want, when I want, and doesn’t flake out, then I am happy.

The Blue Mouse FET (large diaphragm condenser) does just that. It never gets in the way. It captures. And it captures accurately. Not to mention makes everything sound huge and amazing. And to be specific, I am talking about the early model that was black/gray that indicated it has the transformer inside. It really stands up to the Neumann FET 47. The FET 47 tends to be a tad unfocused in the lower-mids. I’ve used these two mics side by side and I generally grab the Mouse first. The bass is smooth and the upper-mid aggression is what you need to make instruments sit perfectly in your mixes.

I tend to use the Blue Mouse FET on many things. Namely, it sounds phenomenal on bass cabinets, 4 – 8 feet away from the cabinet. Ampeg SVTs sound great with a Blue Mouse FET. It also works well on kick drum or 18″ floor toms. And when I track with electric guitars and put the Mouse on it, I rarely need to EQ. It’s pretty versatile and great mic to have in your cabinet. Sure, it’s not the cheapest mic you’ll ever buy, but it will pay you back in time not needed in post-prodution. Oh and I did I mention this mic kills it on vocals? Open, airy, yet just the right amount of focus.

If you are bored with your RE20, U87 or random cheap chinese-built condensers, check out the Blue Mouse FET.

Instruments I use with the Blue Mouse FET

• Bass cabinets
• Kick drums
• Female vocals
• Upright bass
• Large floor toms
• Clarinet
• French horn

Gary B & The Notions play short, snappy guitar pop songs with funny, idiosyncratic titles and lyrics that almost dare you to underestimate them. But their forthcoming second full-length album, How Do We Explode, out on May 8th, retains the light, amiable mood of the Baltimore band’s previous recordings while cranking up the volume and, more crucially, the nervous energy inherent in frontman Gary Lee Barrett, Jr.’s songs. The result is something a little more compelling, a little sharper, than the seemingly lightweight power pop the Notions built their rep on.

[See post to listen to audio]

The appropriately pyrotechnic sound of How Do We Explode comes down to personnel changes since the Notions’ last record, 2009′s New Twist & Shout. Here, Barrett Jr. and founding bassist Kris Heath (also of Aldo Nova) are joined by drummer Rick Bowman (also of The Frauds) and guitarist Bryan Elliott (also of Liars Academy). In the past, the Notions has been a power trio with only Barrett the band’s only guitarist. The addition of Elliott in particular makes the Notions’ sound thicker and more textured than before, making possible songs like the brief, surging pop gem “It Could Be” and the wailing fretwork of “Too Busy For An Ambulance Ride.”

[See post to listen to audio]

The fourth track on How Do We Explode, “Lyndsy Fonseca,” is named for the actress seen as Ted’s future daughter on the TV series “How I Met Your Mother.” It’s hard to tell from the lyrics exactly what the song has to do with her, but it’s easy to imagine Barrett, Jr.’s offbeat imagination turning to a beautiful girl who occasionally pops up on television, and the gears in his head turning until they crank out another strange, catchy song.

The Dialogue is a band that has helped spearhead Baltimore’s indie-rock scene. The group has thrived as part of the city’s cultural renaissance, but their new album “Wet Dreams” is poised to enter the collective consciousness of music fans beyond their beloved hometown.

The band has spent the past 2 years performing in just about every state on the east coast, and supporting a huge range of national bands including: Matt and Kim, Surfer Blood, Rogue Wave, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, All American Rejects, Girl Talk, Twin Shadow, Shiny Toy Guns, Twin Sister, Rooney, Steel Train and more.

The Dialogue came by Mobtown to rework a lot of their favorite songs. The guys put on a great show and the recordings are proof. Enjoy the show!

Drew Shaffer- Vocals/Guitar
Brian Pollack- Guitar
Justin Goodman- Bass
Jordan Goodman- Drums

Engineered by Aaron Wold
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Technical info: Kick: EV868, Snare: SM57, Overhead: SM81, Bass: U87, Brian’s guitar amp: Oktava ribbon, Drew’s guitar amp: SM57, Vocals: SM7

Download MP3s - 75.67 MB

]]> http://mobtownstudios.com/the-dialogue-microshow/feed/ 0 http://mobtownstudios.com/among-wolves-this-is-a-wave-goodbye/ http://mobtownstudios.com/among-wolves-this-is-a-wave-goodbye/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 00:12:38 +0000 Al Shipley http://mobtownstudios.com/?p=3960

Among Wolves have been working on their second album, and previewing songs from it in their rousing, raucous live show, for so long that I felt like I loved This Is A Wave Goodbye before ever hearing it. The Baltimore quartet is a rare breed, an old-fashioned rock band with multiple singers and songwriters whose different voices and visions fit together into a unit that’s greater than the sum of its parts. That unit has a tendency to get drunk and play sloppy renditions of their twangy roots rock compositions, but that’s just in keeping with the tradition passed on by the band’s influences, which loom over the album without swallowing it up.

[See post to listen to audio]

“Trigger” is the Jason Butcher-fronted rocker that vaults This Is A Wave Goodbye into high gear after the solemn, piano driven “Broken Afternoon” gently opens the album like an extended intro. But even “Trigger” soons open up into a gorgeous, harmony-driven bridge. From there, the band keeps bouncing between different singers, different moods and different tempos, managing to make a relatively short, concise album feel like a journey with an emotional arc. Even the straightforward, synth-driven power pop of “Sailboat” ends up feeling like a welcome curveball in the context of the album’s moody second half.

[See post to listen to audio]

Even though the loose cameraderie of the band’s live shows as they trade instruments and take turns at the mic is missed on the album, the focus and clarity afforded by a lengthy gestation period in the studio more than makes up for it. And on the album’s best song, the roaring, careening midtempo barnstormer “3 AM,” a little of the band’s wild chaotic energy starts to seep in, from the ad libbed howl that opens the song onward. Even the slight sloppiness of the song’s guitar solo gives it a little bit of an edge that makes the track come alive. Many bands continue to mine the same fertile intersection of classic rock, indie pop and alt-country as Among Wolves, but few make it sound so vital and their own.

Dave Jacober’s solo identity away from the Dan Deacon Ensemble, Holy Ghost Party and Dope Body is called Jacober. I mastered Jacober’s debut record due out on Friends Records. Aside from being a swell guy, an amazing drummer and a great arranger, he’s put out a collection of very interesting music.

“in a swirling bedlam of melting pastels and exotic sea life of the living room tank variety. The slow churn and complexity of Brown’s visualization seems to match Jacober’s colorful poptronica and even suits his understated delivery, though all good things come to an end and eventually the maelstrom melts over him in a consuming pink tide first, then allowing an upside down gathering of jellyfish to shift into gear.” – Decoder Magazine.

Here are two of my favorite tracks from Water Karaoke:

Set Adrift
[See post to listen to audio]

Steps
[See post to listen to audio]

DDm is a rapper from Baltimore whose name is as much a product of his career’s unusual trajectory as his music is. When I first met him about five years ago, he was rapping under the name Midas and tearing opponents apart at local MC battles like Style Warz and making fairly traditional solo mixtapes. A couple years later, he linked up with the label Mania Music Group, becoming part of a wrecking crew of creative, offbeat rappers and producers, and began forging a more unique sound and identity under the name Dappa!!! Dan Midas. And in the last year or two, he’s shortened his handle to DDm and has undergone more changes in both his musical aesthetic and his public persona. Namely, he’s begun to incorporate diverse dance and Baltimore club music influences in his music, and he’s come out of the closet as a gay man, still a rarity in the world of underground hip-hop.

[See post to listen to audio]

DDm’s latest project, Winter And The Tinman’s Heart, was released on Valentine’s Day and is billed as an EP. But the 11-track Winter is actually closer to the concise and cohesive ideal of an album than the overlong mixtapes that rappers often call albums these days. “Piece of My Heart” obliquely references DDm’s sexual orientation with a series of newsreel samples about entertainers like Liberace and Freddie Mercury, but for the most part that topic is not explored in the rapper’s lyrics. The EP is, however, relentlessly personal and revealing, particularly on songs like “High School” and “Getting By.”

The second half of Winter is stacked with guest appearances by an assortment of fellow Baltimore rappers. “Click Pow” features Rye Rye, the protege of Baltimore club producer Blaqstarr and pop star M.I.A. who helps bring an upbeat, danceable atmosphere to the table amid some more serious material. And “Take Off” is a collaboration with Los, now signed to Bad Boy Records, that offers a thrilling chance to hear DDm go toe-to-toe with one of his most talented peers in the city not as a battle rap opponent but as an equal (although Los lacks DDm’s ear for hooks, given his chorus on the track that lazily apes Oasis’s “Wonderwall”). “Take Off” is reprised from Los’s 2010 mixtape Shooter, but feels perfectly at home on Winter And The Tinman’s Heart. Overall, the EP functions equally well as either an introduction to DDm or a snapshot of his continuing evolution. But it also feels a bit like a stopgap, something that hints at his range and his talent without fully embodying it, something that he will probably outdo sooner than later.

I had the pleasure of working with Lands & Peoples last fall mixing their debut record, Pop Guilt that was recorded by Chris Freeland (Oxes, Wye Oak, Lower Dens) and mastered by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering. The band itself is pretty hard to pigeonhole, but if you can imagine putting Simon & Garfunkel and Ghana postal workers canceling stamps in a blender, you might approximate something close to what Lands & Peoples are doing. Needless to say, these guys are some of the nicest people in Baltimore. It’s an added bonus they make beautiful music for all of us to enjoy.

Here are two of my favorite cuts on the record (white vinyl with artwork from Chris Muccioli from Secret Mountains!) due out soon on Analog Edition Records. Pre-order your copy today!

Ghosts
[See post to listen to audio]

Sexting
[See post to listen to audio]

Between the title, one of the simplest and most universal phrases in the English language, and the cover art, a commonplace portrait of the planet Earth from outer space, Jason Urick’s latest album I Love You seems to be pursuing an aesthetic that’s as neutralized and devoid of detail or personality as possible. The only thing he could’ve done to make the exterior packaging of the album more generic would be to change his last name to Smith. But that’s not to say that I Love You suffers from a lack of ideas or creative expression. If anything, the album is a culmination of a running theme in Urick’s music, which often takes very specific source material, and stretches and manipulates the samples until they become abstract and ostensibly meaningless, sound for sound’s sake.

Although Urick, a longtime fixture of Baltimore underground music, recently located on Portland, Oregon, I Love You was partly recorded at Floristree, the Baltimore performance space he previously ran and lived in. Like the 2010 album Husbands and Urick’s other solo releases on Thrill Jockey Records since the breakup of his band Wzt Hearts, I Love You is a collection of a handful of lengthy tracks, mostly running from six to ten minutes, each with its own particular palette of sounds that slowly unfurl in subtle variations. It’s a headphone album in the classic sense, with the pure aural beauty of its best moments being derived primarily from the way the sounds drift from the left to right channel or vice versa.

[See post to listen to audio]

The most ear-catching overtly rhythmic track is “Ageless Isms,” which keeps a consistent groove even as its central loop is buried under more and more layers of echoing noise. “The Crying Song (Album Mix),” an alternate version of a track from the single that preceded I Love You, is at the other end of the spectrum as Urick at his most ethereal, with the kind of trebly, pixellated swirl of sound that might be compared to ’80s new age music but only could’ve been made in the 21st century era of laptop avant garde sound manipulation. In either case, Urick’s very individual aesthetics and ideas can’t help but shine through, as much as he may mask them in seemingly impersonal packaging.