Leaf House is a Baltimore supergroup of sorts that came together as the result of a friendly bet between Ruby Fulton (Rhymes With Opera, Holland Symfonia, orkest de ereprijs, Bang On A Can, Boulder Philharmonic) and Michael Shank (Ike Shark, Barnyard Sharks, We Used To Be Family). Seeking to answer the question of whether the beast of a drummer DJ Rice (Teenage Souls) could be “tamed,” they formed a trio, waging instrumental battles for months before deciding a singer was needed to round out the group. After lengthy auditions, Raj Sharma (Three Red Crowns) was chosen as the vocalist of the newly christened Leaf House, as the band refined their killer formula of skittering beats, skronky blasts of soundmass and pop sensibilities.

The diverse backgrounds of each musician in Leaf House add up to a whole that is difficult to pigeonhole, although the spacious grooves and adventurous textures recall the likes of Talking Heads and ESG. Although they’ve played several shows over the past year, their Microshow marks the band’s first publicly available recording, and we’re honored to help introduce them to the world. Cellist Andrew Histand (KissKiss Players, We Used To Be Family) also accompanied the quartet for the occasion. Our studio was filled to capacity with curious audience members, who were mesmerized for the better part of an hour, and then gamely participated in the vocal escapades involved in a cover of the Animal Collective song from which Leaf House took their name. -Al Shipley

Rajni Sharma – Vocals
Michael Shank – guitar
Ruby Fulton – Keys
DJ Rice – Drums

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Adrian and I have spent the better part of two years working and recording his debut record, Better Son. Adrian, from Southern Illinois,  does a lot of listening, and speaks selectively. But when he sings, he SINGS. It’s compelling. He has a voice that makes you stop to listen – And wonder where he’s been. David Bazan and Jay Farrar come to mind with out being derivative.

Better Son could arguably be called a concept album. The nearly chronological songs tell of Adrian’s self-destructive romances and indignant attitudes toward the faith that would ultimately rescue him. The lyrics range from poignant verses on the attack, to soft-spoken pleads for mercy and a second chance (or third, or fourth). The sound he achieves is clearly based in roots/Americana, but polished with a love for pop music.

The record is sprinkled with Baltimore guests. The always awesome and rather prolific Frank Corl plays drums on all but one track. Christopher DeMeo (Infinite Honey) laid down drums on the last cut, E.Joseph and Paul Mercer played guitars on a few tracks and Ruby Fulton and Andrew Histand (both from We Used To Be Family) played violin and cello, respectively.

Recording-wise many of ribbon mics (close and room) were used to track the initial vocal and acoustic guitar parts. Many of the original scratch takes we recorded in the studio were actually used in the final mixes, as well. It’s more proof that first takes are always quintessential to incredible and heart-felt performances.

This record is very special and hope you check it out. A tour is planned for later this summer and early fall. Below are my two favorite tracks.

Better Son

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Scavenger

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Instrumental post-rock band, We Used To Be Family, came in last week and completely redesigned what they do as a band. They added acoustic guitars, glockenspiel and VOCALS. It’s what a microshow was designed for! One of my highlights was their cover of Philip Glass’s Knee Play 5, in which audience members read lyrics to songs by artists born or having lived in Baltimore. It’s magnificent and exemplary of how a microshow should be!

The songs read during Knee Play 5 were:
“The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe
“An Acrostic” by Edgar Allan Poe
“Lady Liberty Needs Glasses” by Tupac Shakur
“Friend to a Friend in Endtime” by Lungfish
“Cornflake Girl” by Tori Amos
“The Thong Song” by Sisqo
“Wham City” by Dan Deacon
“Tree” by David Byrne
“These Are The Times” by Dru Hill
“We Are The Ones” by Double Dagger
“Rainbow Six” by Tom Clancy
“What The Dead Know” by Laura Lippman
“Hall of Fame Speech” by Cal Ripken Jr.
“The Corner” by David Simon
“The Bicentennial Speech” by Thurgood Marshall
“Bros” by Panda Bear
“Shake It To The Ground” by Rye Rye
“Sleeping On The Wing” by Frank O’Hara
“Leaves” by Afaa M. Weaver
“The World” by Jan Heller Levi
“Burning Oneself Out” by Adrienne Rich
“Manhole Covers” by Karl Shapiro
“Dancin’ Fool” by Frank Zappa
“Crying in the Chapel” by The Orioles

Technical info: Suitcase kick drum: Beta52, Snare: Shure SM7, Drum overhead: Oktava 012, Yoon Electric: Sennheiser 421, Shank Electric: Sennheiser 509, Acoustic guitars: SM81, Cello: Apex 460, Violin: AT4033, Litz’s Vocals: Shure SM10a, Glockenspiel: Okava 012, Allyson vocals: Neumann U87.

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A Cat Called Cricket came by last week for their microshow. It was a cold and damp night. A perfect autumn night for a band complete with strings, harmonies and casios. A Cat Called Cricket was joined by Dan Cohan on percussion from The Water/The Manly Deeds and Ruby Fulton & Andrew Histand on violin and cello respectively from We Used To Be Family.

Technical info: Kick: Beta 52, Snare: 57, Drum Overhead: SM81, Bass/Electric Guitar: 421/DI, Ruby (Violin): Otkava 012, Patty (Cello): U87, Andrew (Cello): C3, Alex Vox: SM7, Alex Acoustic: Apex460, Amy Vox: 441, Room: AT PZM.

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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 latter 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’s 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

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Jerkface Shipley

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