Today, deep in the woods of southwestern Michigan, Jake Cinninger is dutifully setting up a studio in preparation for the next recording from Ali Babas Tahini. Cinninger will produce the record, and he arrived in advance, so everything will be ready to go when everyone arrives. BT band mate Karl Engelmann is bringing at least nine songs, and Cinninger at least 12, and the group will work throughout the weekend on what looks to be an interesting recording.

We will incorporate multiple recording styles and instrumentations said Cinninger, Some things will be natural feeling benefiting from our remote location, some will have random chord progressions with improv layered over the top later, and some will be super-organic acoustic with multiple mics throughout the room capturing the ambience. We also have a horn section planned for some tracks.
The band has only had a few conversations about how the recording will unfold specifically so that the result will be fueled with spontaneity. The recording will also be marked as the first with original ABT bassist Engelmann moving over to guitar, and Jeff Hinkle, from Engelmanns other band Mother Vinegar, handling bass duties. Cinninger said that Ali Babas currently has no plans to tour, but I guarantee sometime in the near future, possibly next year, there will be a brief Midwestern run.

Also, Mother Vinegar itself recently announced its first Midwest tour. The band is described by Cinninger as having, a sound unlike anything Ive ever heard. This is extreme bar rock; I love their energy, stage presence and intensity. MoVins Midwest debut will occur on January 12 at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago, and they will perform the next two nights at the Mishawaka Brewery in Mishawaka, Indiana and Birdys Bar and Grille in Indianapolis. Last weekend the band foreshadowed the tour by performing two shows at A Taste of Chicago in Young Harris, Georgia, at which they did not repeat a single song (the band has been around for less than 18 months). They also unveiled a newly rearranged version of Engelmanns Syncopated Strangers and debuted electric versions of Riding The Road Down Under and Well Missed.
Umphreys McGee will perform at New Yorks Nokia Theater December 1 and 2 and shortly thereafter will enter the studio to begin pre-production for their next CD. The band plans to begin recording in late January. 2006s Safety In Numbers included 50% material which had not yet been performed live. This time it will be more like 80%. We want to surprise the fans, and for it to be its own entity. said Cinninger. Report by Rob Turner