Album Notes

In some ways, the music of smallspace evokes the kind of images one normally associates with Western Michigan - barren stretches of weathered land dotted with pockets of industrialization. But musically speaking, this Grand Rapids five-piece injects a healthy dose of humanity into their futuristic electronic pop-rock; just when you're transfixed by one moment's starkness and delicacy, in comes a wash of lush harmonies, melodic surprises and rhythmic idiosyncrasies to give the proceedings a vibrant, organic spirit.

Smallspace grew out of impromptu jams between singer Jon Faber, keyboardist Scott Kreider and a friend on the vibrant Grand Rapids coffeehouse scene, where the two found they shared an enthusiasm for cutting-edge bands like the Beta Band, Clinic, Wilco and Radiohead, a common bond that organically led to more structured collaboration in a home-grown makeshift studio setting. Soon, they conjured ambitious and expansive ideas that required a sophisticated level of production from the very beginning.

"We didn't really even set out to be a band," Faber admits. "Mostly this was a recording project, just an experiment to see what we could do." And to that end, they realized that to fully grasp the potential of the musical concepts pouring out of their small collective, they'd have to have a real studio at their disposal. Faber found a hole-in-the-wall space in the bad part of town, slowly pooled gear and equipment with other engineers, and effectively established Dynamite Sound as a top studio on the local scene. As the studio itself grew, so did the amount of time they spent happily holed up there. Faber confirms that the unlimited recording hours available to them made all the difference in shaping the band's complex but cohesive sound. "Without the studio, our sound wouldn't be what it is at all," he says. This luxury allowed them to experiment at will, and allow each song to evolve at its own pace - "kind of like a painting you can keep coming back to, each time sketching out a little more detail."

Drummer Christopher Morse and multi-instrumentalist Mark Mulder soon followed with their kick-ass rhythms and ultra-tight playing skills, which brought the band's level of professionalism up another notch. The final piece was experimental guitarist Mike Knorr, whose use of pedals, e-bow and gritty effects added extra edginess and aggression to the band's sound.

The complex music this new unit created together - songs like the infectious "Right Here" and the beautiful "For Days" - required a skilled touch, so they brought in San Francisco producer/mixer/tech guru IBU600 (aka Kosta Cross), with whom the band collaborated over the Internet for months using cutting edge technology.

No Matter was released on May 31, 2005, and was the 6th most added album in the country, beating Oasis, Secret Machines and Embrace in the process. Smallspace's music has recently been featured on NPR's Open Mic program with glowing results. The band has further taken the national stage by appearing on Mitch Albom's syndicated radio show and having their music in Division, an indie film. The press has begun to take notice, too -- Recoil magazine assured its readers that the smallspace album "will haunt you for days," while the Grand Rapids Press hailed the band's "spacey folk-rock" meshed with "electronic-pop shoegazing."

But the exciting response the band received for their recorded persona was not enough; now they were compelled to somehow translate the material into a live setting. "The live show takes over where the album leaves off," says Faber. "It has much more improv and we get a lot louder and abrasive at times. We like to make jumps in dynamics through guitar pedals, and we use effects on almost every instrument on stage. We take the live show just as seriously as our recording - just in a different way." The smallspace live experience has been stunning crowds from Kalamazoo to the South Park Music Festival in Colorado. The band has recently opened for Apostle of Hustle, the Redwalls, Mommy and Daddy and United States of Electronica and been selected to perform at the CMJ Rock Hall Fest on June 11.

No matter has debuted at #6 most added cmj 5-31-05 and at 140 on CMJ top 200