A few months ago we received a call from WYPR, asking us to produce a live set of Future Islands songs for our favorite local arts and culture show, The Signal. The set was to include new arrangements of songs to complement an acoustic show they would be playing at the Metro Gallery.

A couple weeks later, Future Islands packed them in at Metro Gallery and then came to Mobtown to share an incredible session with us. They were joined by Denny Bowen (Double Dagger) on drums, Kate Barutha (Soft Cat) on cello and Devlin Rice on acoustic guitar. After the session, the band was interviewed by Jon Ehrens of The Art Department for the radio piece.

Ultimately, the band and their label, Thrill Jockey, decided to release the songs from the session on 150-gram vinyl in a limited run of 1000 numbered copies. So the band returned to mix it over a period of a few days and then it was mastered by Adam Cooke at Lord Baltimore Studios.

You can listen to the final piece on The Signal here. Clips of the MP3s are available below.

Long Flight

Adobe Flash Player is required to play this audio.

Little Dreamer

Adobe Flash Player is required to play this audio.

(more…)

Rapdragons is an incredibly cool rap group here in Baltimore. They pick stellar samples, their rhymes are infectious, they don’t take themselves too seriously, and they simply know how to have a good time.

Their forthcoming record “Featuring Baltimore” samples a ton of Baltimore bands, including: Weekends, The Agrarians, The Art Department, Mr. Moccasin, Lo Moda to name a few. It’s an interesting concept and this is a record to look out for. You gotta dig the Baltimore love.

For their microshow, Greg and Nick had the idea to, instead of using a sampler, bring in the people who performed the samples originally to play live on top of the beats. Jeff and Cory from Secret Mountains, Dustin Wong from Ponytail, Aran K from AK Slaughter and Sam from Future Islands are a few of the guests.

This set was perfect for our first spring-ish microshow. We know you’ll enjoy this set as much as we all did last night.

(more…)

I recently mastered a Baltimore compilation for SpliceToday.com. When Zach came to me asking if this is something I’d be in to, I didn’t even hesitate. We love Baltimore bands and the community they enrich, but Baltimore bands covering Baltimore bands! That’s just too good to be true.

Crossing genre lines, this mix tape reflects the beautiful diversity and vitality of the Baltimore scene. Caleb Stine covers Small Sur. Small Sur covers Wheatie Mattiasich. Mickey Free covers Wye Oak. And Wye oak covers Rod Lee. It’s like one big musical do-si-do. We love it! And you can download it for free. Look out for a Volume 2 coming soon!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Little Dreamer f/ Victoria Legrand by Jones (Future Islands)

Adobe Flash Player is required to play this audio.

Dance My Pain Away by Wye Oak (Rod Lee)

Adobe Flash Player is required to play this audio.

Two Mantras by Caleb Stine (Small Sur)

Adobe Flash Player is required to play this audio.

Love those pretty Beach Boys harmonies at the end of Two Mantras! You can just drink it.