Check my show review at BYT.
Jeff the Taper was in the house as well and was kind enough to provide us with the entire live recording, exclusively.
Check after the jump for the tracks. Download MP3s of each song by clicking on the name or a ZIP file of the whole set by clicking the band name.
You can find the Death Set's set here.
03-27-2008 - Lo-Fi Social Club, Baltimore, MD
Matt & Kim (download entire set as MP3) / FLAC
01-The Final Countdown
02-I Wanna
03-Grand
04-Yea Yeah
05-Dialogue
06-Cut Down
07-5K
08-Dialogue
09-Verbs Before Nouns
10-Fast
11-Dialogue
12-It's A Fact
13-Dialogue
14-Silver Tiles
Friday, March 28, 2008
Matt & Kim - Lo-Fi Social Club (03.27.2008) Live Recording
The Death Set - Lo-Fi Social Club (03.27.2008) Live Recording
Check my show review at BYT.
Jeff the Taper was in the house as well and was kind enough to provide us with the entire live recording, exclusively.
Check after the jump for the tracks. Download MP3s of each song by clicking on the name or a ZIP file of the whole set by clicking the band name.
You can find Matt & Kim's set here.
03-27-2008 - Lo-Fi Social Club, Baltimore, MD
The Death Set (download entire set as ZIP file) / FLAC
01-Soundcheck
02-Intro
03-Impossible
04-Day In The Wife
05-Intermission
06-Around the World
07-Zombie
08-Listen to this Collision
09-
10-Negative Thinking
11-Bombshell (Op Ivy cover)
12-Oh Snap!
13-Territorial Pissings (Nirvana cover)
Five for Friday (MP3s) - Funky twitchy edition
Here's a funky post-punk/new-wave/electro flavored Friday pep session. Check yo self before you wreck yo self.
MGMT - "Kids"
Polysics - "Buggie Techinica"
Q And Not U - "End the Washington Monument (blinks) Goodnight"
The Faint - "Posed to Death"
The Presets - "Are You The One"
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Preview - Matt and Kim, The Death Set @ Lo-Fi Social Club
You should get your ass to this show. It is guaranteed to be ridiculous. Friday morning be damned, live for Thursday night. It will likely sell out AND be sweaty as all get-out. Be prepared for a spazz-dance workout, you wacky kids! This could be the show of the week. I highly recommend you pick up Matt and Kim's self-titled debut here and the Death Set's latest release Worldwide here.
But for now, take these complimentary magical, musical pills and get pumped:
Matt and Kim:
Matt and Kim - "No More Long Years"
Matt and Kim - "Verbs Before Nouns"
The Death Set:
The Death Set - "Negative Thinking"
The Death Set - "Impossible" (Dan Deacon Remix)
Are you ready to go bonkers?
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Review - Crystal Castles, HEALTH, Thrust Lab @ the Ottobar
I walked into a fairly impressively packed Sunday night at the Ottobar. The last time I saw it this packed was for cult-legend Daniel Johnston a few weeks back. But the crowd was an altogether different variety. The sea of X’s made me a little wary of the band taking forever to sound-check on stage. Spring break was over, and it looks like this was the show that you had to be at to be in the know for homeroom tomorrow.
Photo of HEALTH, right|Flickr user HateMyWay
Missing the first openers Diagonal Buildings, Thrust Lab were hemming and hawing over the mics and such as I entered the room. I thought to myself: “Man these guys are picky. And they only get 30 minutes. This better be spectacular.” Unfortunately, no length of sound-check can make up for the derivative feel of their set. Largely, I blame the lead singer. His antics and personality grated on me. And based off those things and the prominence of his vocals in the mix, I felt like I was watching an extended session of Morrissey/Smiths karaoke. The bassist was largely uninteresting both musically and in terms of stage presence. I gathered that the drummer had some chops, but was being restricted by the songs. There’s potential there, but they need to focus away from the dance-party fodder they create based on weak stage presence and songs that sound almost exactly alike. For example, when given a good template they can create a fabulous dance remix (HEALTH’s unreleased track "The Problem Is").
Crystal Castles - "The Problem Is" (Thrust Lab Remix)
Noise-rockers HEALTH have received a healthy amount of praise in recent weeks. I could easily see why. These kids employ instrumental abuse to wring out some really engaging experimental noise. The first “Wow” moment for me was midway through the first song when everyone except the drummer ditched their instruments and proceeded to recreate a heavy metal song with their voices. The growls and squeals from the lightning fast guitars create an ominous and tension-filled racket, at times recalling Dillinger Escape Plan. Combining with tribal freak-out drums and desperate primitive vocals formed from guttural chants, growls and screams, the effect was transportive. At times, I felt like I was in the filled-to-capacity cabin of a depressurized airplane with blown-out ear drums falling through a thunderhead. And really, what more can you ask of a psyched-out noise band?
The room darkened to pitch-black in preparation for Crystal Castles. The band came on-stage swiftly, still shrouded in darkness. They launched into their first song and the strobes and lighting set up behind the band began punctuating the beats of the music. Everything entered into a state of stop-motion flicker that somehow managed to perfectly accent the performance while not becoming obtrusive or annoying for the audience. Photo of Alice Glass, above | Flickr user Robbie Fearless
Since the Justice show at Sonar is proximal in my mind’s eye, I was measuring this entire show by that metric. And in many ways it was superior.
The crowd was absolutely fanatical; they were on a mission to dance, versus the Justice show which had more of a concert vibe to it. Both were packed with a large number of X-handed under-21ers. But this crowd had a distinctly more uninhibited and unhinged feel than the one at Justice, less trying to be Euro-disco and more just being Baltimore. When all cylinders were firing, Crystal Castles put on a performance often on par with that of the Faint. Though most of their songs are almost stubbornly 4/4 accented, it never wore thin. The delivery and packaging was simply irresistible...from front-woman Alice Glass' captivating performance on vocals to the minimal and excellent lighting effects and their trademark 8-bit inspired blip-melodies and accents, the product was delightful, EDM-inspired dance-party confection. Photo of Alice Glass, above | Flickr user HateMyWay
And a part of me almost wished that I could join the other half of the crowd in homeroom or lecture on Monday when they talk til blue in the face about the how crazy the freak-dancing got.
New Thrushes video for Heartbeats
New video from the kids in Thrushes in anticipation of their Heartbeats Remixed CD, coming out in May. Be sure to check em out, opening for Raveonettes this Friday at the Ottobar (info on flyer to the left).
While you're at it, check out our interview with the band and an MP3 of "Trees" here!
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Monday, March 24, 2008
Sound off - Pete & the Pirates!
Pete & the Pirates are a group of strapping young lads from the merry ol' (Reading to be precise). And I stumbled upon them while checking Black Cab Sessions for a new update.
Suffice to say, I was wooed enough by their talented guitar rock (who would've thought some English kids could play catchy guitar rock...oh wait...). But there is a certain affable, kooky, cheek-pinchingly endearing aspect to it that almost makes me forget the bad experiences I've had with some of their peers' more pretentious approaches to music.
Download these tracks and get swashbuckley with it:
Pete & the Pirates - "Bright Lights"
Pete & the Pirates - "Mr Understanding"
Pete & the Pirates - "Come On Feet"
Music videos after the jump
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Pete & the Pirates - Knots
Pete & the Pirates - Mr Understanding
Review - Imperial China, Caverns @ Lo-Fi Social Club
DC sent some of its premier music-makers to Baltimore this past Saturday. Imperial China specialize in a decaying, spaced and fuzzed out, tribal brand of post-punk. Some apt comparisons have been thrown about to Battles. I would challenge that they are a sight more intense. They played a ferocious set that was highly percussive. At times having 2 members on drums, their lines created a sense of anticipation and foreboding. Both front-men doubled duty on guitar and bass, switching frequently. This fed into the chaotic feel of the music and was topped by the twitchy guitar and bass work, post-punk flavored and coming down like sheets of rain. The entire set was utterly haunting and senses-smashing. They have some great musical ideas and it will be exciting to see where they take things.
And now, onto Caverns.
What can I say. These guys are 2 for 2 in my book. They absolutely destroyed. Their songwriting possesses perfect control of pacing and packs a lot of guitar, drum and keyboard depth into digestible and cohesive tracks. Guitarist Kevin's energy was through the roof, frequently thundering down off the stage to romp around the floor amidst the audience mid-song, ax flailing and wailing. He even chased off a pre-set heckler within the first minute of the first song. But when appropriate he pulled back in a stunning showcase of his ability to not only shred but inject serenity and nuance into his playing. "The family that slays together stays together" is probably the best example of this.
Patrick's keyboard work was lush and immersive, but almost overpowering. In fact, the whole sound was pretty damned deafening (as has been commented on before by Jeff the Taper). But the songs even held up in the din of induced tinnitis. I would have liked more clarity from the guitar in the mix, but nothing could be done on Caverns' end of this. It was hard to pick out the drums most of the time, but when they came through they seemed on point. The thing I really appreciated this go-around that I overlooked last time with Say Hi was the electronics by Ira. Asking to have all the lights cut out, I realized they lug around their own lighting. And it does a spectacular job of accenting the music and setting the mood, simply with the colors amber and white.
Spectacular set, personal highlight being "This are Syntax". It was also nice to hear the title track off their newest album, "Silk Scorpion." Talking to Kevin after the set, he said that Caverns will be in the studio and pre-production for the album for the next month or so, emerging to play again with Imperial China at Velvet Lounge at the beginning of May.
Thanks to both groups for coming up. Good luck to Caverns in the studio. We can't wait to hear some new material.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Crystal Castles @ Ottobar
Crystal Castles are another electronified duo out to take over the world. Justice: you are officially on notice.
I kinda think of them as the Faint and Justice mixing an 8-bit video game soundtrack. Their show tonight at the Ottobar should be quite the sick affair. Openers HEALTH, Space Mountain, and Thrust Lab. $10, 8PM doors.
Whet your aural whistle with some tracks from their self-titled debut LP which dropped earlier this month.
Crystal Castles - "Crimewave (vs HEALTH)"
Crystal Castles - "1991"
Crystal Castles - "Black Panther"
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Friday, March 21, 2008
Pietasters skankalicious Saturday Sonar Show
DC/Baltimore-metropolitan area ska legends the Pietasters were the first less-than-national band I had ever saw live at the old Black Cat in DC when I was but a pup in the mid-90s with the Pilfers (side project of Coolie Ranx from the Toasters) opening up in the hey-day of third-wave. And though the third wave has long past ebbed, they still rank among my personal top 10 artists for quality, consistency and just plain fun.
Lead singer Steve Jackson and crew are renowned for their ability to play alcohol-fueled and inhumanly long, ferocious sets of diverse music romping around the realms of ska, dub, reggae, world and rock music to get the entire club skanking and bopping into a huge, frenzied mass of Brownian motion.
Do yourself a favor and unwind at Sonar in a sweaty mass Saturday night with myself and a packed house full of Baltimore and DC area ska lovers. Pietasters headline with Jah Works, Lionize and Dub Trio opening.
After the jump, there are some skankalicious tracks to whet your appetite. And to delve deeper, check out this interview I had with Steve Jackson about everything ska and good in the world.
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The Pietasters - "Out All Night"
The Pietasters - "Tell You Why/Maggie Mae"
The Pietasters - "Biblical Sense"
Jah Works - "King of Kings"
Pilfers - "Lay"
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