Last Thursday, Secret Mountains stopped in for a microshow. We first heard them when they shared a stage with Kadman and Cotton Jones a few months back and we’d been looking forward to their visit to Mobtown for quite a while. Somehow they fit 5 of their 6 members on to our 6′x10′ faux stage. They stripped down their usual show, re-arranged their songs and pulled together a breathtaking set of old and new originals and wonderfully selected covers.

Kelly seduced the crowd with her haunting voice. Chris held everything together playing impeccably on a small Gretch kit complete with shakers and other various toys. Jake played the MicroKorg, banjo and concertina. Cory played what I call the “crying guitar” as well as bass on one track. And Jeff drew us in with his contrastingly dark guitar playing.

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It’s taken me a few days to digest last week’s microshow with Yeveto. Despite Amy’s “bregnancy prain”, Russell’s 64k memory and Ben’s proposed digital drum kit, Yeveto put on a stellar show. Spinal Tap was known for their “punctuality” – Yeveto should be known for being the most well-rehearsed. And in the best way possible, between arrangement, setup and performance. I can’t thank them enough for being such a well-oiled machine. Oh and playing incredibly moving instrumental experimental film music! Thanks!

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Wow. What a religious experience. The performance by Ms. Sara & The Help absolutely filled the room. Everyone in the room was simply swimming in their music and loving it. Literally, at one point, we were trying to figure out who in the audience was singing back-ups because the vocals just seemed to come from everywhere.

The Help was John Caplan on acoustic and resonator guitar and Jay on acoustic guitar and banjo. The guys also sang harmonies. There’s really not much else that can be said. You have to hear it for yourself. What a wonderful night of sick vocals, harmonies, stringed instruments galore, virtually all new songs and a few covers of fellow Baltimore artists.

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Last week, we hosted Austin Stahl for our monthly microshow. He brought new and moving interpretations from his latest solo record, The Things You Carry, and pulled some songs from the vault, including covers of Private Eleanor, Hank Williams, Small Sur and Bruce Springsteen. It was a warm and intimate night and so still as we held our breath listening to each heart-rending verse.

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Our friends, Kadman, came by the studio last week for a fabulous microshow and they gave us some really moving interpretations of their songs. They did two sets, the first being songs from their first record. And the second set came from their upcoming record I’ll be producing here at Mobtown.

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