Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Cast Away - J Robbins and Brooks Harlan at the Metro Gallery

Hey all. Super quick post today, in what has evidently become the J Robbins show.

This is from a show back in October at the Metro Gallery in Baltimore where J played one of his solo shows. He was accompanied, as usual, by the man of many talents Brooks Harlan. Besides being a multi instrumentalist, Brooks runs a fantastic guitar and amp repair shop - with his partner in crime Shawna Potter - in Baltimore called Big Crunch. I highly recommend them, and I have sent and will continue to send all of my gear to them.

Anyway, J and Brooks performed a really nice set covering much of J's catalog including Jawbox, Channels and Office of Future Plans. J played acoustic guitar and sang while Brooks supported him with backing vocals, keyboards and baritone guitar. You never know how acoustic versions of songs will sound, especially when you are so familiar with the much louder, full-band versions. J did a really nice job of not overworking the arrangements and seemed to take more of stripped-down approach to the songs, just letting them stand on their own. Having seen J perform this way a few times now, I can say that I would love to hear a few of these put to tape and released as an acoustic J record. "The Office of Jawbox Channels - brought to you by Burning Airlines" record, perhaps? Well, one can hope.

UPDATE: Right after I posted this, J informed me he was about to post an acoustic EP called "Abandoned Mansions" on band camp. It's really good and has both Brooks Harlan and Gordon Withers supporting him. You can find it here. A bargain at $5.


Here are the pics. Oh, and I managed to get some decent videos of 3 of the songs. I've put those at the bottom of the post.

Till next time - see you in the pit.

pete











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