Bowling Green, Kentucky psych rock quartet Morning Teleportation came to Baltimore for their BSides session with a healthy appreciation for the concept of b-sides. “There’s plenty of undiscovered songs by a band you really like, and you finally find that song,” says singer/guitarist Tiger Merritt. “And it’s just like that extra cherry on top, like ‘Oh, and they did this awesome thing too that I didn’t even know about!’”
Morning Teleportation joins us in the studio for a BSide (August 8, 2013).
Merritt cites Deep Purple’s “When A Blind Man Cries,” an outtake from 1972’s Machine Head that appeared on the flipside of the “Never Before” single, as one of his favorite b-sides. “It’s very somber and low key, and [Machine Head] is, like, the birth of metal,” he says. Deep Purple leader Richie Blackmore is said to have disliked the song so much that the band never performed it live until he left the band two decades later, at which point it became a live staple and fan favorite.
It’s been over two years since Morning Teleportation released their debut album, Expanding Anyway. But the band has toured steadily since then, opening for bands like the Flaming Lips, Primus, and Modest Mouse (whose frontman, Isaac Brock, produced Expanding Anyway). Having begun writing new material with bassist Alex Lindsey, who joined the band in 2012, Morning Teleportation arrived in Baltimore with two great and very different songs to record.
“Rocks Gears Desert Trucking” is a wild and woolly, nearly instrumental rocker that advances Morning Teleportation’s songwriting even further into the playfully adventurous territory that has become the band’s signature sound. The second song, “Waltz,” feels like a b-side in the “When A Blind Man Cries” sense, offering a gentler, downtempo side of the band, yet more fleshed out than Expanding Anyway’s brief acoustic folk moment, “Cold Weather Sunshine.” Both songs display Morning Teleportation’s instrumental prowess, from the chugging, propulsive intro of “Rock Gears Desert Trucking” to the nimble tempo changes of “Waltz”’s bridge, with Mobtown Studios co-owner and producer Mat Leffler-Schulman capturing the energy and chemistry that’s built them a growing live following.
Credits
Recorded on August 8, 2013 at Mobtown Studios
Guitar and vocals by Tiger Merritt
Keyboards by Travis Goodwin
Bass by Alex Lindsey
Drums by Joseph Jones
Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman
Engineered by Sean Mercer
Filmed and edited by Nick Hughes
Photography by Tedd Henn
Written by Al Shipley
Thanks to Val Yumm
Produced by Mat Leffler-Schulman, Nick Hughes and Sean Mercer
