A Look at 2012

2012 was a great year at the Library. It marked the first complete year in operation with zero debt. The build-out loan was paid off and all the gear has been purchased and paid in full ever since. The Library introduced a new, young face in Troy Groenke, who started off as more of an intern and has blossomed into a full fledged assistant/co-engineer. The addition of Troy to the studio has expanded our hours of operation greatly, allowing us to churn out more great sounding records than we were ever capable of before.

Greycoats released an EP titled Helicline, featuring four songs from the upcoming album; World of Tomorrow, which will be released on January 26th, 2013. Both the EP and full album were recorded at the Library and produced by Jeremy Ylvisaker (Andrew Bird, Alpha Consumer, Guitar Party) and myself (Matt Patrick). http://grycts.com

The Brighton, with their followup to their self-titled album, released A Wild Hunger. This time we took some educated risks and allowed Ben's romantic, tenor voice to be accompanied by a slightly more aggressive and artistic backdrop. We enlisted Jake Hanson (Halloween Alaska, All Eyes) to add his signature electric guitar sound to the rest of us; (Zach Miller, Aaron Fabbrini, Matt Patrick, Lyndsay Peterson, Kip Jones) who have been playing with The Brighton since the first release. http://benrosenbush.com

Rachel Kurtz and I have wanted to record together for a very long time and finally made it happen this year with her album; Broken and Lowdown. Steve Goold (Owl City), Aaron Fabbrini (Sara Groves, The Brighton), Tyler Burkum (Mat Kearney, Missy Higgins, Leagues) and I all played on it but also enlisted folks like Tommy Barbarella (Prince) and Chris Koza (Rogue Valley) to bring their offering to this modern-Motown sounding album. http://rachelkurtz.com

Vicky Emerson recorded her much anticipated followup to Long Ride, which she recorded with me in 2009. For this album; Dust & Echoes we enlisted JT Bates (The Pines, Alpha Consumer) to play drums (Steve Goold, who played on Long Ride had just been snapped up by Owl City for an international tour). Long Ride was a rich, acoustic, close sounding album and Dust and Echoes found it's richness in lush verbs and more distant and electric sounds. http://vickyemerson.com

Deb Carlson and I share a deep devotion for the music of Emmylou Harris. After showing her my favorite Emmylou albums (Wrecking Ball, Red Dirt Girl and Stumble into Grace) she agreed that we should head that direction production-wise. Deb has a beautifully classic-folk voice, which is accompanied on her new album Tresses of Green, with acoustic and electronic elements. With the help of Zach Miller, Aaron Fabbrini, Troy Groenke and Tyler Burkum, I believe we made a really beautiful CD for a beautiful songwriter. http://www.debcarlsonmusic.com

Soul Rumination is a band that was formed out of another band called Dizzy. They were what we call in the business a "jobber" band. Mark, the main songwriter for SR called me and asked if I would like to help him transition from playing a couple 2+ hour sets per night (mainly to diners, drinkers and dancers) to being more of an artistic expression where they would play a 45 minute set of all original music at local clubs. Mark and I co-wrote a bunch of these tunes and formed this band into a fusion of gypsy-soul with hints of americana and Motown. http://soulrumination.com

Here are some other fine folks who have been through the studio in 2012...
Brynn Andre (2012 Christmas EP)
Black Blondie (new album forthcoming)
Jake Armerding (mixes for a songwriters version of a CSA)
Sara Groves (vocals for a 2012 Christmas compilation)
Matt Dooley (full album)
Julia Douglass (EP)
Sarah Kallies (single)
Hope Community Church - Hope Hymns volume 1 (full album)
Angi Putney (new album forthcoming)
Jeremy Sanoski (mixing)
Saint Anyway (new album forthcoming)
Staci Frenes (bedtracks for full album)
Alex Masters (tracking)
Jonathan Jerez (tracking)
Ponyboy (EP)
Jason Gray (overdubs for 2012 Christmas release)
Michele Denise Michaels (full album)
Anthony Cox
MN Adult and Teen Challenge (full album)
Elgin Foster - The Pluralistic Society - mixing and various tracking

I was also excited to be playing electric guitar with John Mark Nelson at First Avenue for the Minnesota Beatles Project. John Mark Nelson and I will be producing his next record here at the Library, which will be released in 2013. http://johnmarknelson.bandcamp.com