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

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DC’s Caverns will be releasing their new EP next week. This record is a progression in both dynamics and layers from their previous efforts. And if you listen carefully, you’ll hear some vocoder!

Our neighbors, J. Robbins and Chris Freeland recorded it and I mastered it. This record will be the first of many EPs on the Aural Slate Recordings imprint. In a time when the record label seems more and more irrelevant, I feel like what Greg is doing with his label actually makes sense. Small, easily digestible slices of music. There you have it. The record drops next Friday ($5 CD and $4 digital download). And there’s also a Frodus cover that rips.

Enjoy these two samples. I had a great time working with these guys – band and label alike. Listen to the snare in Arctic Phantoms. It’s incredible.

Arctic Phantoms

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I. Fight. Vampires

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In the past, Baltimore-based singer/songwriter Jason Dove’s music never quite clicked with me, despite encouraging signs like his classic power pop influences, and the sense of humor in display in his entertaining Jason Dove Diaries YouTube series. But the click has definitely at least started to happen with Illegal Activities, his third solo album and first with a new backing band, Vacation Face. That sense of humor is still more restrained on Dove’s records, though; even when some laughter rises up in the mix on the song “Each And Every One Of Us,” it’s directly following the droll lyric “information doesn’t make advertisers any money.”

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Recorded by local rock mainstays J Robbins (formerly of Jawbox) and Chris Freeland (formerly of Oxes) and released by The Beechfields, the sound of Illegal Activities is dominated more by keyboards than Dove’s previous releases thanks to Vacation Face’s Mike Ward on piano and organ, but the sound isn’t actually any softer. Christopher Demeo, of Dove’s previous backing band the Magic Whip, plays drums on one song on Illegal Activities, and the right amount of Keith Moon-style bombast that he brings to the piano-driven rocker “If You Think We Don’t Care” helps make it one of the album’s best tracks, as well as its shortest at only 2 minutes 22 seconds. That song, along with the peppy “Song For Neil,” the ballad “Hallelujah,” and the twangy closer “Be Free,” make up the strong quartet of songs that end Illegal Activities on a high note, to the point that you almost wish Dove had instead frontloaded the best stuff to grab your attention earlier in the album.