Not much really tickling my fancy this weekend in town other than Pony Pants...
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Saturday Feb 16
- For those so inclined, Serj Tankian, the versatile voice of System of a Down, plays Rams Head Live. He is shilling his solo material which sounds remarkably similar to SoaD...maybe with just a little more ethnic flavor/diverse instrumentation. But I guess since System is on a sort of hiatus, this is better than nothing.
- DC's Kodiak delivers some blues-flecked rock at Charm City Art Space. They do a killer cover of Social D's "Ball and Chain" if they decide to tune before they play their set.
- Telenovela Star from NYC sound promising; at times, they channel the best of Sleater-Kinney with distorted guitars and vocals atop punishing drums. But really they are a bit harder to pigeonhole. They headline a show at the Metro Gallery with fellow New Yorkers Object and local boys the Payola Reserve.
Sunday Feb 17
- Top billing goes to the aforementioned Pony Pants show at Talking Head on Sunday.
- As much as I adore DC's twin-fronted, cute-as-a-button twee-pop band Exit Clov, I don't want to pay the cover for Against Me! in order to see Exit Clov's opening set...
- If you are closer to DC, I recommend you head over to the Black Cat to check out DC's own Death By Sexy playing their own brand of dirt-and-grime rock and roll along with our hometown kids in Fishnet Stalkers.
- And unfortunately, Linkin Park is still marching along doing their thing at 1st Mariner Arena...
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Over the horizon: this weekend
Friday, February 15, 2008
Dan Deacon is free
B-more's own Wham City member of some repute, Dan Deacon, has decided to post his entire back catalog online for the teeming masses of the net.
Downloads here. I recommend navigating by FTP.
Just MP3 format though, not FLAC.
Deacon is on tour in the land down under until early March, when he returns stateside for a few festival dates including Coachella. Check the video from one of Deacon's frantic live shows after the jump.
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Dan Deacon - Silence like the Wind
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Pony Pants, not Horsie Slacks or Equine Trousers
Pony Pants. The first time I heard that name I practically guffawed myself off my seat.
But then, I heard their music. The stuff these Philly kids pump out via Badmaster Records is what indie dance nights were made for, driving the most stoic of the cross-armed masses into a freaky, spaz-and-grind dance frenzy. The comparisons of Emily J.K.'s vox to those of Le Tigre are apt. And the crunked up electro guitar work is just as grimy as those from the now-defunct Death From Above 1979.
And call it sinful, but I think their recorded material is much more enjoyable than our hometown boy Dan Deacon's.
Do yourself a favor. Before the drudgery of the work-week begins, head out to the Talking Head this Sunday, and spaz the fuck out. You won't be the only one, I can personally guarantee you that.
Photo credit Molly Landergan
Pony Pants - Haircutz
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Fort Reno preps 2008 season
DC's favorite little outdoor-venue-that-could, Fort Reno, is a lovely spot for an afternoon/evening show in the summertime. Every year, a free concert series runs through the summer, typically every Monday and Thursday in the Tenleytown park of the same name.
With the backdrop being an old, castle-like fort and the dim, amber glow of neighborhood streetlights, the whole setup makes for some picturesque moments in the early hours of dusk.
Past year's have seen names like Ted Leo, Benjy Ferree, the Evens, Mary Timony, Max Levine Ensemble, Fugazi, Q and Not U, and Georgie James. A lot of the draw is thanks to the prominent involvement of Ian Mackaye's (Fugazi, the Evens, Dischord Records owner) kid sister Amanda as musical curator for the series.
I'd definitely like to see more Baltimore representation down there...Avec, Thrushes, Wzt Hearts, Death Set, I am looking in all your general directions...submissions of demos are being accepted until March 17.
Couple epic live vids after the jump...
Photo by Flickr user BillAdler
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Ted Leo Live @ Fort Reno 2004/5?
Fugazi - Song #1 Live @ Fort Reno, 2002 *last show
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Cassettes bring some needed wintry precip.
I love me some punk. Combine punk with some other fringe genre of music or performance art and you've got me sold. That's probably why I love Gogol Bordello so much and why everyone should check out DC's vaudevillian masters of punk, the Cassettes!
The kids over at DC-based blog BYT have the scoop with a twinkly new track from the crew that prominently features Arthur's homemade theremins. Get your fix of the new track, "Snö" right here.
The Cassettes - Sweet Virginia Live
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Music for winter
My least favorite time of year is upon us. The cold and lack of Vitamin D aren’t exactly uplifting, but I have to admit winter does have a certain melancholic beauty.
To best describe the characteristics of winter beauty I use the Japanese word edaburi, which translated as near as may be, means the formative arrangement of bare branches on a tree in winter.
And there are many songs I think of as winter songs. These songs tend to be sparse, minimal and a more about space than mass, just like the tree in winter as opposed to the tree in late spring.
Winter comes as close to nothingness, to the void, as we can get. So then, it’s also the time of year I read Beckett. It helps to think of winter music in terms of Beckett’s style, or maybe International Modernist architecture. All the excess is cut away, and only the essential meaning is left.
Some choice winter tracks are after the jump.
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***Update***
In Samuel Beckett related news, there is an upcoming production of Krapp's Last Tape at JHU starting February 16, and running for five performances.
Monday, February 11, 2008
New Music for your Manic Monday
Some cool stuff coming up:
-- This week, we see the release of the 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller, Michael Jackson's landmark pop-transcending musical opus...you know, pre-albino freak-out. CD has a bunch of remixes tacked on and comes complete with music videos including a digitally re-polished "Thriller" as well as live performance footage.
Since Jack-o seems to have enthralled YouTube into preventing embedding of his video, I have taken the liberty of embedding the Indian version, musically less entertaining, but comedically much better than the original.
-- Everyone's favorite indie-pop jokers We Are Scientists are releasing their latest LP, Brain Thrust Mastery in the UK and parts of Europe on March 17th. Video for lead single "After Hours" after the jump.
-- Self-described "art-pop" kids in HIJK combines pop-punk vocal delivery and melodic direction with technical details constructed using post-punk nuts and bolts. Most notably, the angular and interesting guitar work as well as the truly kinetic bass work to deliver some enjoyable gems that often surprise and defy description. Maybe its the inspired and varied instrumentation...je ne sais quoi. Check their first video for "Paper Boat" after the jump.
Tracks from the 2007 LP The Pen and the Letter:
Paper Boat
Hey Sleepy Smile
Center of Things
-- News and interview from local shoegaze darlings Thrushes, forthcoming...
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Indian version Thriller
We Are Scientists - After Hours
HIJK - Paper Boats
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Review - Matmos @ Floristree, Baltimore
Last night’s Matmos performance at the Floristree was mixed, but to be fair to Matmos it wasn’t their fault. The performers and the audience were not on the same page. The audience was younger, hipper, and more attractive than me, but then again I was there for the music, not to get drunk and bolster my social status. Matmos’s music does take a little bit more effort to digest.
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Still, Matmos is really enjoyable to watch live, as you can see the esoteric and often witty processes involved in producing some of the sounds. But, when two of the tracks performed have recited text from the likes of Wittgenstein and Robert Ashley, you know it’s not the most approperate time to get wasted and have a scene party, but those kids tried anyway (and to be honest, when I was that age I thought every time was a good time to get wasted and have a party too). A telling moment came when the MC, a woman in drag as Justin Timeberlake, introduced Matmos by saying, “Let’s get the dance party started!” Drew and Martin of Matmos looked at each other in a puzzled manner. Martin said, “It might be a challenge to dance to our music.” I think that was the first big indicator of a disconnection between Matmos and their audience.
The whole night was a benefit for Transmodern Festival coming to Load of Fun in April. The night began with a bunch of performance art. It was awful, but what did you expect? Most acts reminded me of middle school talent shows, specifically when a bunch of attention starved girls decided to dance awkwardly to the Macarena. Except now it’s called art, and it’s supposed to mean something. I won’t go into what I think of performance art at length, as this is a music blog, but I do hold it in low regard. I agree with the points made by Michael Fried (now a professor here in bmore at JHU) in his famous essay Art and Objecthood. Even though the tract was written against Minimalist, I think many of the points apply to performance art. It’s really just a genre of theatre, as it exists only in a specific moment, unlike a more Keatsian model of art that exists for the ages outside of any social context. “Art degenerates as it approaches the condition of theatre,” wrote Fried. This is a global statement (and what critic can resist making proclamations), but remained true in the specific case of last night. And to clarify, though Matmos performances do have a slight theatrical element, they never rely totally on those aspects.
The set began with Martin bowing an acoustic guitar, as video of concentric circles and a clenched fist were projected behind the group. Matmos’s tracks don’t follow the familiar strophic form. Instead the music begins with an acoustic sound created and then sampled, like the bowed guitar. Then dense layers are added. A beat comes in at some point, but it never remains in strict, metered time. Rather, the beat twitches, skips, and shutters. On the whole, the music feels very organic, which is not usually the adjective used to describe electronic music.
The two pieces that stood out were undoubtedly Roses and Teeth for Ludwig Wittgenstein and Germs Burn for Darby Crash. For Roses and Teeth two assistants came onstage with long-stem roses in hand. A stack of crates with a mic on top was place stage center. The two assistants began drumming out a rhythm with roses. Martin read a paragraph from Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. Rose petals flew about, until finally only the stems were left. The faint scent of rose hung in the air, competing with the cigarette smoke and bike messenger b.o.
Germs Burn for Darby Crash is an ode to the Germs front man who gave punk the Mohawk. So, fittingly David Serotte, a Baltimore local who has been performing with Matmos at area shows, got a Mohawk shaved onstage. Martin taped a mic to the clippers, and that barbershop vvvrrrrvvv was the basis of the track. It was also during this piece that small fires flared up in the high-end speakers on both sides of the stage. I seriously thought about hedging my bets and moving closer to the door. But I had a good spot, so I stayed put. I looked at the waifs in tight jeans around me. I felt reassured knowing I played contact sports through college, and I could stiff-arm my way through that crowd in the event of fire.
On the projection screen behind the stage was video of a man’s forearm being burned by a cigarette—a “Germ Burn.” After the show Drew, an assistant professor at JHU, told me he was supposed to burn one of his graduate students with a cigarette onstage, but the student did not show-up.
“That’s probably just as well. I would have gotten the reputation on campus as the professor who burns his grad students onstage. I should probably wait until I have tenure to start doing that,” Drew said.
The Backyard, the final piece, was a twenty-minute work based on a section of the Robert Ashley opera Perfect Lives. And this is when things really fell apart. At this point in the night the crowd was big, drunk, and loud…really loud. I couldn’t hear the text Martin was reading. I was frustrated, given the fact I had paid the Floristree to see the show. After the show Drew commented on the situation.
“We took a risk. We needed silence for the song to totally work. Though, anytime you have a twenty-minute spoken-word piece, you’re asking for it. It needed to be that long though, it wouldn’t work if we shortened it,” said Drew.
David Serotte, who has known Matmos for six years and now performs with them, called the last piece “unfortunate.”
“It was the right act, but the wrong place. The audience just wasn’t feeling it. It takes two to tango,” said David.
It was a show of contrasts really. Take for example, the puerile performance art versus the mature Matmos, the disheveled bohemian versus Martin in a suit and tie, or the politeness and professionalism of Drew and Martin versus the rudeness and amateurishness of the Floristree. Right act, wrong place, indeed.
Expect to see a Q&A with Matmos very soon.
SET LIST
Hashish Master
Rainbow Flag
Roses and Teeth for Ludwig Witgenstein
Germ Burn for Darby Crash
The Backyard
****Update****
Here is a statement from the Floristree:
the talking was unfortunate, and it's rare we have situations like that at shows here. i think the fact that the show was a benefit alot of the crowd was there to support that and socialize rather than see a show per sae. it was a bummer as we were all looking forward to Matmos playing here.
-jason urick
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Beach House record release show
Dream-pop band Beach House, the child of Baltimore's own Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, will be preforming at the G-Spot on the 28th in support of their second album, Devotion (due out the 26th on Carpark Records).
A a quite pretty video for "Master of None" follows if you click expand.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Over the horizon: this weekend
This weekend will be a good one for local music lovers.
Big shows comin up this weekend:
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Friday
White Williams
w/ Ecstatic Sunshine, Rings and Smarts
Ottobar
Doors 9PM, show 10PM
Saturday
J Roddy Walston and the Business
w/ Glenmont Popes, American Aquarium
Ottobar
$10, doors 9PM, show 10PM
Transmodern Age Benefit Show featuring:
Matmos
Floristree
$10, 9PM.
The Aquarian Birthday party featuring:
Squaaks
w/ the Gold-bug, Los Doggies (NY)
Metro Gallery
$3 doors, 8PM , BYOB.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Vampire Weekend, goddamn bloodsuckers...
It's here. Last week, NYC's Vampire Weekend dropped their hotly anticipated, highly hyped, self-titled and first LP on XL Recordings.
Reading more and more of the hooplah, reaching supernova levels, I really wanted to hate this release. But goddammit, every once in a while, there's actually something that comes out that meets the expectations. For me, this was like Michael Bay's Transformers. I didn't think I liked the people behind the scenes and I thought they didn't know the material they were working with and were just delivering phoned-in approximations and reinterpretations.
Man was I wrong. More comments to come. Anybody else that can't get this damn CD out of their player/MP3s out of their MP3 player?
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Vampire Weekend - A-punk
Stripped down punk warmth, courtesy of the Thermals
I have a confession. I am addicted to Portland's most-prominent purveyors of earnest, politically charged punk, the Thermals. I drove to NYC this past August to catch them with Ted Leo in the basin of NYC's largest pool, drained, in the middle of McCarren Park.
I didn't want to tell Ted, but I was there more for Hutch and Kathy.
Behold, the latest Daytrotter session here. Wherein the Thermals are doing their thing. Albeit with a little less of the frantic, lightspeed tempo of their reputed live shows.
And apparently, with hints of what the new album will sound like...and I personally cannot wait. Couple vids off The Blood, The Body, The Machine for you after the jump.
Has dissent-punk ever been this endearing, heartfelt and fun? And during this election year, has it ever been more needed?
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The Thermals - "Returning to the Fold"
Leaving a big hole in my heart.
I know that this post is somewhat out of place, but I can't help but comment on it.
More than I actually listen to music throughout my day, I listen to the local NPR station, WYPR. Supposedly that acronym should stand for Your Public Radio. Yesterday, I turned on the radio at work in the morning, and at 12, waited for the always illuminating Marc Steiner Show to come on. It didn't. I assumed I must have been accidentally picking up DC's WAMU (88.5). I wasn't.
Photo credit: Steve Ruark, Special to the Sun
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In something reminiscent of the Colts leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night, WYPR had decided to fire Marc Steiner, a founder of the station, without warning. A half-assed excuse of "ratings" was given as the reason for his termination.
In Baltimore, the name Marc Steiner is synonymous with Public Radio. By hemorrhaging this connection, WYPR has effectively stunted or stopped the growth of public knowledge of Baltimore City politics and news. They have also broken my heart. Where else can I turn for in depth, accessible, coverage of candidates' positions before election day? Where else can I listen to well moderated and well planned discussions of things I didn't even know I was interested in before I turned on the radio? These things, and many more that I'm not cognizant enough to list right now, were the reasons I became a member of WYPR. The destruction of these things will be the reason I reconsider staying a member of WYPR in the future.
For more information, please visit Marc Steiner's blog.
BAM! BAM!
BAM (also known as Brooklyn Academy of Music) is holding their 2nd annual Brooklyn Next Fest from February 15-24. The festival is tasked with the unenviable job of celebrating that stagnant music scene up in Brooklyn (sarcasm).
Notable performers include the excellent White Rabbits, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, epic heartbreakers the National, My Brightest Diamond, country-folk artist Laura Cantrell and a healthy dose of electronica from Excepter.
Check the official site here for more info.
And as usual, some vids/tunes after the jump for your perusal.
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The National - "Fake Empire"
Monday, February 4, 2008
Yelle out loud...it's ok. She likes it.
Yelle is the name of a French electro-pop vixen that has made some deadly-catchy dance music. Check some videos after the jump, and maybe some fanboyish rantings later in the week.
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Je veux te voir
D'accord! Encore, s'il vous plait! Vive le Freedom Toast.
DJ Blaqstarr at Sonar
Baltimore based DJ Blaqstarr will be headlining an upcoming TaxLo at Sonar on February 29th. Tickets are only $8. Surely, this will be an event likely to happen once every four years, at most. (See what I did there...).
What's it going to be like?
A lot like this:
"Shake it to the Ground" by DJ Blaqstarr, f/t Rye Rye (a 14 y/o Baltimore rapper).
Panda Bear hat give away on Fader
Okay, I think this is really cool.
Reppin' Maryland, reppin' Person Pitch.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Dub gets the academic treatment
Dub, born out of Kingston dance halls and soundclashes, will be the topic of an upcoming lecture at Peabody Conservatory. On Wednesday, February 6 Michael Veal, of Yale University, will give the free talk on the bass-heavy, reverbed-out reggae offshoot . And later that night a bunch of Peabody students, otherwise known as Soul Cannon (Baltimore's live hip hop band) hit the stage of the Talking Head.
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UPDATE: I have been obsessed with dub-step master Burial's 2007 LP Untrue lately. 3 tracks for your listening pleasure...--A.S.
Dub icons Lee "Scratch" Perry and Mad Professor
Soul Cannon
--Bez
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Kiwi Post-Hardcore
Just dropped into my inbox: Die! Die! Die!, some New Zealandish post-hardcore activity. Promising stuff. New album from S.A.F. Records called Promises, Promises drops this coming Tuesday.
Video and 3 MP3's after the jump...
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MP3s for your discretion:
"A.T.T.I.T.U.D"
"BLUE SKIES"
"SIDEWAYS HERE WE COME"
