I’ve been a fan of Small Sur for quite a while and have been asking Bob to do a microshow for almost 2 years now! We were grateful they were able to do one with us last month. It was a really beautiful night, full of amazing musicianship, wonderfully crafted songs and really nice people. Everything came together perfectly and it’s here now for you to take a peak in to their microshow. Hope you enjoy!

Bob Keal: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Austin Stahl: Drums, Vocals
Andy Abelow: Keyboards, Vocals, Alto Sax
Paul Kusner: Bass
Emily Hilliard: Violin

Engineered by Austin Stahl
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Technical info: Bob’s vocals: Shure SM7, Acoustic: SM81, Kick: RE20, Snare: Fathead Ribbon, Overhead: Sputnik, Austin’s Vocals, AKG 414, Violin: AKG 414, Andy’s Vocals: SM81, Bass: 421

Download MP3s - 85.57 MB

Photos by Tedd Henn, WhatWeekly.com

INEVERYROOM has evolved from experimental pop into textual compositions exploring live and sampled sounds. In 2010, Lands & Peoples and INEVERYROOM created a split cassette that got Pitchfork’s attention. Shortly following that, Local Baltimore label, Friends Records released a self titled 7-song cassette and digital download. For their microshow they were inspired by healing and easy listening, R&B, carnivals, textures found in nature and their friends in Baltimore.

Sometimes I am not sure what’s going on with Amy and Chase’s music. Part mad scientists part Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois. It’s completely genre-less. You just don’t know what you are going to get – but you keep wanting more and never wanting it to end. And that happened last week when INEVERYROOM, unfortunately, played their last show.

Chase O’Hara: Vocals, Keyboards, Drum Pads, Sampler
Amy Reid: Vocals, Keyboards, Contact Mic, Drum Pads

Engineered by Alex Champagne and Sean Mercer
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Technical info: Amy’s mic: AKG 414, Chase’s mic: Shure SM7, Micro Korg, Sequential Circuits Six-Trak, Roland SP606, Roland Sampling Pad, Contact mic through mixer: All DI, Room mics: AKG D58, Audio Technica AT871R.

Download MP3s - 76.95 MB

Photos by Tedd Henn, WhatWeekly.com

What’s to say about Eze? He’s an MC. A gentleman. A dad. A kick ass human being. He’s the kinda guy you drink a case of beers with and listen to every word that comes out of his mouth with intent. That and he’s one helluva musician. He also fronts the rap band Soul Cannon as well as being the latest signing to Mania Music. His music speaks for itself and that’s all I can say. Listen to this insane set below with Eze joined by the ever awesome DJ Harvey Dent…

Technical info: Eze’s mic: Shure SM57, Room mic: Audio Technica AT871R

Download MP3s - 82.87 MB

Photos by Tedd Henn, WhatWeekly.com

Lands & Peoples has become one of my favorite bands here in Baltimore, not to mention one of the nicest and most giving. Literally impossible to classify, they blend aspects of pop, folk and musique concrète. Fresh off playing a few shows with Wye Oak and Secret Mountains they were able to squeeze in a Microshow here at Mobtown. They certainly are a band to catch live and this show is no exception. Their perfect yet interesting harmonies blend seamlessly here as well as adding a their friend Evan on viola to the set. Enjoy the show!

Caleb Moore: Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards, Toy Piano, Ukelele
Beau Cole: Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums
Evan Merkel: Viola

Technical info: Kick: Neumann U87, Snare: Senheisser 441, Tom: EV468, Floor Tom: EV468, Overhead: AKG 414, Caleb’s Vocal Mic: Blue Mouse, Beau’s Vocal Mic: MAudio Sputnik, Beau’s amp: Shure SM7, Caleb’s amp: EV RE20, Evan’s amp: Oktava ML-52 Ribbon.

Engineered by Paul Mercer.
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Download MP3s - 54.02 MB

Untitled Improv
[See post to listen to audio]

Ghosts
[See post to listen to audio]

Memo
[See post to listen to audio]

Everyday
[See post to listen to audio]

Literally Illiterate -> Vapor
[See post to listen to audio]

Frozen
[See post to listen to audio]

Photos by Tedd Henn, WhatWeekly.com

Big in Japan started as an instrumental trio comprised of Matt Pierce on Rhodes, flute, and vocals, James Griffith on bass and guitar and Michael Lowry on drums. In recent years the band has become a collective including Ed Harris on bass, Woody Ranere on guitar and collaborations with artists from other groups such as vocalist Katrina Ford from “Celebration”. Their sound is at times sweeping and cinematic or alternatively furious and bombastic. Some of their music is written in advance but sometimes their live set may rely wholly on improvised material where the band foregoes traditional song forms such as soloing. The band is currently in the process of writing new material for collaborations to be grouped with previous collaborative works recorded, that were produced by Dave Fridmann. These tracks will be released later in 2011.

We were so excited to see Big In Japan perform for their microshow. I hadn’t seen them since the late 90s opening for Soul Coughing. What was even more of a treat was that Katrina Ford from Celebration sang on 4 songs in the 2nd set!

Woody Ranere: Guitar, Vocals
Ed Harris: Bass, Acoustic Guitar
Matthew Pierce: Rhodes, Pump Organ, Juno 106
Mike Kuhl: Drums, Steel Drum

Technical info: Kick: EV 868, Cajón: AT Boundary, Drum Overhead: JZ Black Hole BH3, Bass: 421, Acoustic Guitar: Shure SM81, Pump Organ: JZ Bat 201 (Spaced Pair), Katrina Ford Vocals: JZ Vintage 47, Woody Ranere Vocals: Blue Mouse

Engineered by Austin Stahl.

Download MP3s - 83.09 MB

Photos by Tedd Henn, WhatWeekly.com

Lo Moda is Sam Hopkins, Raili Haimila, Gillian Quinn, Peter Quinn, Christian Sturgis, and Antony West — Drop-Out Soul from Baltimore USA. Sometimes described as descendants of Can, John Cale, Mission of Burma, the Fall, Pere Ubu, Rain Coats because of their stripped-down agit-prop pop sensibility.

They seem to rarely play shows, so it was a treat to get them all in to Mobtown Studios. The show was amazing and like I’ve never seen them. Enjoy the set below!

Technical info: Kick: Beta52, Snare: SM57, Guitar: Sennheiser 409, Violin: U87, Viola: Oktava 012, Keys: DI, Vox: Sennheiser 441, Melodica: SM81, Drum Machine: DI.

Download MP3s - 92.9 MB

Photos by Jason Bender, WhatWeekly.com

Last week we welcomed alt-country band June Star to March’s installment of our microshow series. Andrew Grimm stripped it down a bit to acoustic guitar (frontman Andrew Grimm), pedal steel (David Hadley), electric guitar (Burke Sampson), and piano (Michael Ward). There were some unusual picks, including two unreleased tracks a Joe Doe cover, and one request from Grimm’s former roommate for a song that has probably never been performed in public.

Technical info: Vox: AKG 414, Acoustic Guitar: SM81, Electric Guitar: EV 308, Pedal Steel: Sennheiser 421.

Download MP3s - 119.45 MB

Photos by Jon Patton

Ed Neenan along with Mia Regalado, like Dean and Britta, front local rock band E. Joseph & The Phantom Heart. One of the hardest working bands in Baltimore, they played a microshow with us this week. Spacey (the newest member of the Phantom Heart) played the keys and Dave Daniel guested on drums and toys. The show represented a culmination of Ed’s older material and brought in his new kinder, gentler pop-ish songs from his forthcoming album, due out early next year, “Corazón. Fuego. Ceniza”.

Technical info: Ed Vocals: U87 (1176), Mia Vocals: C12 clone (LA-2A), Keys: EV408, Bass: 421, Kick: Beta 52, Snare: AT 3060, OH: Oktava 012, Acoustic guitar: SM81.

Download MP3s - 79.33 MB

Dustin Wong’s performance at the August 12th microshow was one of the most engaging we’ve seen. Known primarily for his role in Ponytail, he’s been gaining momentum as a solo artist and Thursday’s set was a testament to his massive skills as a composer and guitarist. His solo music is a study in patterns and signal theory. His methodology is formulaic, almost mathematical, but the result is anything but expected. He builds each song or sequence by layering simple melodies and rhythms, adding one layer, looping it through his corral of pedals, then adding another. He repeats and tweaks until it reaches a swaying, hypnotic, yet thoroughly musical, cacophony. Then he abruptly stops and immediately enters into a new, suddenly quiet and uncluttered, layer. Before you realize he’s ended one song, he’s off into a new sequence.

The approach itself isn’t entirely novel. His real genius lies in his ability to edit, to pick through a seemingly infinite combination of variables, and to write and combine numerous songlets without ever sounding redundant or trite. His music draws at times from Philip Glass and Raymond Scott and hints at subtle Japanese Gagaku themes in the layering. Download the tracks from the show and we think you’ll be amazed as we were that all this came from one dude and a guitar.

Techincal info: U87/SM57 on front cab (1176), Sennheiser 441 on rear, AT PZMs for room.

Download MP3s - 60.99 MB

[See post to listen to audio]

Thanks to Greg Szeto from Aural Slates for taking such wonderful pictures.

What’s not to love about Weekends? Two super nice guys. Awesome music. No egos. Luscious distortion. And a good time always.

Brendan and Adam from Weekends came in a week or so ago for their microshow. They have a pretty stripped down raw sound to begin with, however somehow they achieved and even more stripped down sound. Only equipped with acoustic guitars, a keyboard, floor tom and some percussion, they still put down an awesome show, gave us some new songs and covered a song from Baltimore’s Romantic States.

Be on the look out for their next LP on Baltimore’s Friends Records.

Technical info: Vocals: SM57, Guitars: Sennheiser 421, Keyboard Amp: Sennheiser 421, Room: AT Boundary, Drums: AT 3060 Tube

Download MP3s - 53.33 MB