To close out our series on MT6, I grabbed some joe with label-head Alex Strama (Newagehillbilly, Heroin U.K., tons more) to talk about all things empty six.

Aural States: So let’s start with your background, what came before MT6, how you got into experimental music and what drove you to start MT6?

Alex Strama: Well, before MT6…that started in ‘98.  I was doing music way before that.  I graduated high school in ‘95; in high school, I had a few bands I was in.  More towards the rock end.  Still kinda weird, but definitely more rock-oriented.  I recorded a bunch of stuff, but I didn’t know anybody that was gonna put it out.  I’m from Harford County, so I lived in the sticks, and at that point I knew very little bout the Baltimore music scene.  So I started it mainly to release my own stuff: in ‘98 I put out a release from a band I was in called Operation Huss, a 3-piece indie rock band.

I would say what exposed me to experimental music was the Red Room.  Definitely.  About 2000, through playing with friends like Carlos (Guillen).  He was in the band the Penny Regime at that point, which was kind of a straight-ahead punk band.  He was really into the Red Room, had played with a couple of the guys like Dan Breen.  I’m believing that I probably played a show with Carlos or Dan or another band, and just kind of branched of into seeing some bizarre stuff.

I went to the Red Room Crap Shoot, which still happens the first Tuesday of every month.  You just come in with anything, any instrument, that makes a sound.  It’s like an open-mic but more collaborative, they pick a couple of people and then you just kinda do your thing.  I would say that definitely opened me up to experimental music because I hadn’t heard anything like that before.  Awesome, great feeling to be exposed to that stuff. I mean I was listening to some early Sonic Youth before that which was pretty out there…but the Red Room definitely opened me up to the weirder side of Baltimore music.

AS: When did MT6 start evolving into an engine for the more creative and experimental stuff to come out of Baltimore?

Alex S: Probably not until 2004.  Between 2000 and 2004, I probably released about 10 things…mostly of stuff I was in.  This band called Rot Guts, 2 bass players, a drummer and a keyboardist.  We played shows and released something.  Some friends were in Chief Pokawa.  So at that point, it was just me and close friends.  But at that point, in 2004, I was approached by the band Human Host who were looking for someone to put their stuff out.  It was all CD-R then, so that was the first official CD release.  So the first chapter was me releasing my own, and real close friends’, stuff.  Then when I released that, it was kind of a new chapter.

AS: And they had connections into the city too.  Charm City Suicides were…

Alex S: Yeah, legendary in their own right.  They had connections that I would’ve never had, so they definitely opened it up.  Through that I met Rick Weaver who’s in the New Flesh and runs Human Conduct.  That was a whole world I didn’t know existed.  That was definitely the thing that kickstarted it.

AS: So when you started, you didn’t really have any aspirations for MT6 other than an engine for you?

Alex S: Yeah, pretty much.  I didn’t really expect it to go any further.  But as soon as I did release that Human Host, I got a bug.  And it really motivated me.  After that I did stuff with the New Flesh and Passiou.

AS: What was it that was so rewarding?

Alex S: The sense of creating a community and helping artists get their stuff out there.  Not just creating a community, but becoming a part of one.  To meet people and get inspired by what they were doing…it was great.  Up until not too long ago, live shows were very important to me.  Putting them together and/or playing them.  It’s really cool, you get a great satisfaction from that.  And at that point, in my personal life, I was looking for something to do.  I was working at Mars Music, which has since gone out of business.  I met a lot of people through that; I actually met and saw Nautical Almanac there when they first moved to Batlimore, probably around 2002.  There was this weird cable access show that got with Mars and recorded live music there on their stage.  Nautical Almanc came in and I was just blown away.

AS: When did you start expanding your music into more experimental aspects?

Alex S: Probably on my own.  I do Newagehillbilly, my solo project, and the first thing I released was probably about 2001.  That was a collection of stuff I recorded from 1997 to 2001.  Even back on those, it was weird.  I was really into electronics and I really got into electronic music in the mid-90s.  A lot of drum and bass, a lot of weird ambient stuff.  That didn’t really reflect in the bands I was in, because I was with other people, but on my own, I was starting to connect the dots.  Doing a lot of weirder stuff, experimenting with different sounds and instruments.  I played my first Newage show in Jan 2002.  The full electronic show with drum machines, samplers, stuff like that…

AS: So let’s talk about that a little…you were saying until recently the live aspect of music was really important.

Alex S: In the last two years, I had a daughter…so that cut things back a little.  I’m not too sure how familiar you are with her history, but she has some medical stuff so that REALLY cut back on time, which is fine.  That allowed me to concentrate on different things, like the label aspect, which I can do at home.  But those early shows were really fun.

AS: How did things progress for you, from where you started in live performance and over time as you got more into the experimental side?

Alex S: I was doing sound at the Cafe Tattoo, which turned into the Mojo Room.  I was doing sound there, and eventually started booking shows.  I would get a hold of anybody I thought was interesting to play.  So I would have John Berndt, Nautical Almanac a few times, tons of touring bands like the Peppermints (Pawtracks).  Each time I would see something like that I would get more inspired in my own experimentation performing live.  The Mojo was a huge outlet and source of inspiration for me.

AS: Seems like depending on who it is, the performance aspect is more prominent.  Human Host, for example, adds a whole nother dimension to their music with performance art, as opposed to someone who is experimental but is more nose-to-the-grindstone, all about the sounds.  How important is that aspect to you?

Alex S: Well, Newagehillbilly for example, I’ve had people tell me: “This is flat-out performance art.”  I’ll do things like puke on stage for the entertainment aspect, the visual aspect.  There was a year where I only played in my underwear.  Me personally, if I’m sloppy, it’s almost secondary.  I’m there to just perform.  You can read some reviews on my Myspace that just don’t get it.  ”What’s this guy doing?  He’s playing guitar, hitting wrong notes sometimes…”  But then they say, the admirable thing was he kept pushing through.  And that’s what I’m gonna do.  It’s in the moment, I’m not gonna stress if I hit a wrong chord or something.

AS: So in your head, is there a split between the music and the performance?  The label and recorded output versus the live shows?  Obviously, it’s difficult as a label to try and record things in order to capture the performance aspect of an act.

Alex S: Yeah, the first three Newagehillbilly albums, I never even did any of those songs live.  Some of them I wouldn’t even know how to recreate.  Most of the shows from the early days were just improv with the instruments I was using on the album.  The samplers, synths and drum machines.  In that respect, there’s a definite difference between studio and live.  I think I made a conscious effort around when I released White Walls in 2005, to make actual songs.  So those can be recreated live.  I figured I had done 3 albums of experimental electronic, so I’d go back to the rock roots I’ve always had.

Right now, I’m in Heroin UK.  That’s a band where it’s not that experimental.  It’s a little out there for a rock band, especially live where you can do a lot of experimental, improv stuff.

AS: Right, but if you put Bad Liquor, Heroin U.K. up against the rest of MT6…

Alex S: Yeah, it’s gonna sound fairly normal or more traditional.  And the thing with Bad Liquor Pond is I just met em and they were really nice guys.  I was into their music, they were looking for a way to get it out there.  They were motivated and seemed dedicated, so I don’t have a problem doing that.  I’m not gonna say “No this is too normal.”

AS: So you’re not enforcing a strict aesthetic or anything?

Alex S: Not too much.  I’ve actually gotten, not quite bashed, but…through the grapevine I heard from another person they were talking to someone who said: “Alex and MT6…they’re not into any of the aesthetics for it…they just like to get fucked up and jam.  They’re not in it for the art.”  Which is completely ridiculous.

But there’s one thing about MT6, the people that are on it, and the shows that we have.  It’s a fun time, it’s not a quiet audience…even if it’s an acoustic thing.  We respect it but we’re also talking, interacting and having a good time.  And we’ve definitely been at shows where people just get really pissed.  We’re treating it like a party, and they think maybe we’re disrespecting the bands or something.  But hey, it’s a fucking Saturday night, we’re at a rock club, I’m gonna have a good time.  If we wanna laugh, drink beer, get crazy then that’s what we’re gonna do.  I’m not gonna feel bad about it.

So a sidenote on the Wire Orchestra: another online publication in town wrote a review of us.  And I don’t mind a bad review at all, but I think that if it gets personal or if someone doesn’t do the right research, there’s something wrong with that.  The writer basically said it’s impossible for the album to be improv.  Because it’s an improv album but it’s like a space rock album.  It was completely improv.  We just went into the studio and recorded a bunch of material.

Now let’s say we cut 5 minutes from the middle of a 15 minute jam, but it was improv the whole time.  We just happened to cut sections out, and maybe they came off as songs to somebody.  Basically, he just called us liars the whole time.  I just felt like the writer should’ve done the research.  If he really didn’t believe that, he should’ve contacted somebody or came and saw us live.  I think I came home one night and found it, and it had already been up for like 2 months.  I probably had a few beers and I wrote or emailed the writer and told him it was kind of ridiculous.  So it got out that I’m some freak that got pissed that someone wrote a bad review.  That was easily back in 2004,  2005.  But Jeff the Taper still brings that up.

AS: Jeff’s got a long memory, and he’s doggedly dedicated to local music.  Especially you guys…

Alex S: Yeah, he’s got a Heroin U.K. tattoo!  He’s a great asset to the music community.  He’s archived years of amazing stuff that would’ve never been heard again.

AS: Since we touched on the negative review thing, let’s talk about that a little more.  It’s been a bit of a challenge for me since our first part of this piece wasn’t full of praise for everything MT6.  Where do you stand on all of that?

Alex S: Well, once again I don’t mind a bad review.  When I first read it, I was like yeah OK.  But then I read it a few more times, and some of the stuff came off a little too personal towards some of the bands.  It was kind of personal and him making some stuff up like he might’ve thought the band Dirt (who are actually called The Dirt, but I accidentally put them down as Dirt on the sampler), was like “Oh by the way they got their name from the second Alice in Chains album.”  And it’s like how the hell would you know?  You’re telling me there’s never been anything called Dirt before?  It’s almost like in his head he thinks he knows now that they listened to a lot of Alice in Chains in high school, which just had nothing to do with the music.

There were a couple other things too.  But, what am I gonna do.  It was pretty encouraging to see comments from people, some of whom I don’t even know, saying it was harsh and that a lot of it was unnecessary.  But you know, it’s just somebody’s opinion.  I’d rather hear something like that than nothing.  Because at least it’s making people think about the music.  But the Dirt thing, the the thing with the Agrarians seemed a little too personal to me.

AS: That’s kind of the risk and baggage with our approach, which is a very subjective way of talking about music.  This makes sense to me since music is a very personal experience.  Each and every person writing on the site has a very different background and set of experiences, and is at a different place in their musical journey.  For me and the site, it’s more about development and progression, people documenting their musical journey rather than positing some sort of “objective” final judgement type of review.

I think that most of the commenters missed that.  It was really curious to me the closemindedness of the attitudes of the commenters while they were crying foul on Zack’s closemindedness.  You really see progression if you follow through to the subsequent parts on Abiku and Jason Willett.

Alex S: Yeah definitely, I can see that.

AS: Obviously the community aspect is very important to MT6.  What are the ups and downs of having a tight-knit and supportive community like this?

Alex S: Well I’d say the good side is the loyalty.  People really appreciate somebody getting behind their music, especially if it’s completely out there.  As far as like the MT6 fests every year, I just try and pack in as many of the bands as possible.  20 minute sets, 10 minutes in between.  I think there’s probably even more than I know who support MT6.  And that’s good because a lot of times, I think we’re almost like the bastard children of the city since a lot of people on the label are just doing their own thing.  It’s not like they’re part of any collective or anything.  There’s no preconceived notions of what you have to do, how you have to act.  Everyone is just friendly, and dare I say, non-pretentious.  They’re just normal people, not letting anything get to their heads.  I think that’s a little different than other people in town.

AS: So do you feel like this aspect of the community ever holds MT6 back or restricts your options?

Alex S: I think so.  Like I said before with the comment that we’re not into the music, we just want to get drunk, party and jam.  I like crazy music just as much as anybody else.  Just because I don’t look a certain way, or wear normal clothes and shit.  Whatever man, I’ve never fucking cared about that.  It’s not about that.  There’s definitely been backlash, and MT6 has a certain reputation of not really caring and doing our own thing.  And yeah, that can be a little alienating.  People might be like “they’re just doing their thing, they’re wild and we’re just gonna stay away.”  I read on some message board, or maybe blog about the music scene,  it was almost a compliment but really pigeonholed us.  Someone put in that MT6 just does their own thing, they don’t care and good for them.  But it was kind of like they’re just doing their thing…

AS: Almost dismissively.

Alex S: Yeah, it was like respect, but also like maybe they didn’t want to explore it because they figured they knew what it was, and what we’re all about.

AS: How do you feel being in Baltimore has affected MT6?  Would it be better anywhere else?

Alex S: Not necessarily.  I think Baltimore’s great.  It’s thriving with music.  I love the city and it has a lot to offer.  It has been getting the attention that it deserves.

AS: How has the increased attention affected MT6?

Alex S: I’ve definitely gotten contacted by different media stuff in the last 2 years.  I would think it has to do with people researching Baltimore and coming across MT6.  A really cool Japanese magazine did a full feature on Baltimore.  Really in-depth, these people did a lot of research.  A map of the city showing where all the venues are…it got into like MT6, Wham City, Monitor Records…it really covered a lot.  You can’t read any of it, cuz it’s in Japanese, but they really did a lot.  They were emailing me and I kept giving them tidbits of info if I had it.  So that came out of it, and that was a killer, glossy magazine and they did a compilation CD using tracks from Newage, BLP, Jason Willett.  They also had stuff from Wham City, Monitor, Creative Capitalism…

AS: Have you been able to explore other music scenes?

Alex S: Not really.  I’ve been up to New York and played, but that’s such a big city…Philly a little.  I know they have a lot going on in the West Side.  DC, I just don’t know what to think of DC.  It’s struggling, and it’s not that I don’t like it…it just seems it’s hard for everything to melt together because of the demographics.  I just haven’t spent a lot of in-depth time in other scenes.

AS: When somebody that hasn’t heard something MT6 or anything experimental, what are the range of responses you typically get?  What’s your approach to dealing with people who may be less than receptive?

Alex S: Well, I guess I just give it to them and let them make up their minds.  I mean, something like the sampler, it has a lot of depth to it.  You have anything from just drone to heroin U.K. rock to electronic to acoustic.  It’s the fourth one I’ve done I think.  Around 2005 I started doing them.  I just figured, when I did the first one, it was the best way to package something as the label and give people an idea of what’s on it.  Because you definitely don’t have any idea what the label is about if you just hear one band or a couple bands.

AS: The sampler is also tricky because it’s just one track from each band.

Alex S: Bands like Human Host or Newagehillbilly, that one track could sound completely different than the rest of their album.  Some of the other bands are more consistent in their sound.

AS: Abiku for one.

Alex S: Yeah, Bad Liquor Pond, the Agrarians…

AS: You’ve said before that you had a plan with the sampler and that you think there’s a lot of depth to it.  Could you say a little more about that?

Alex S: That’s basically just meant for people to hear a bunch of the bands in one place, and explore the ones that stand out.  I guess it’s pretty simple.

AS: Do you agree with Zack’s assessment that it would be pretty hard to imagine many people who can listen to the whole thing, all the way through?

Alex S: I don’t really believe that, no.  I think there’s people who can listen to it all the way through.  And possibly enjoy pretty much everything on it.  Even though it’s so different sounding, it just depends on what your musical taste is and where your limits are.  There’s plenty of people who listen to electronic, punk, jazz…and they like it all.  So I think people that do that, can sit down and listen to it completely through, and come out thinking “oh wow that was awesome.”

They might not like it all, but it’s not like they would never want to put it back in their player like “oh God, it’s too much and I don’t know what to do with it.”

AS: Some people have pretty rigid lines and definitions for what qualifies as music.  Have you had any encounters with these opinions and have they ever changed the way you think or operate?

Alex S: No I wouldn’t say there’s ever been an influence for me to go in a certain direction because of other’s opinions.

AS: Do you ever feel a counter influence, discouraging you from going down a certain path?  Like, do you ever look at something and think this is too mainstream for us.

Alex S: I think I’ve done that before, yeah.  I’ve definitely done that, a handful of times, when approached.  It’s weird in that respect, becausee sometimes it’s almost like “maybe that’s not weird enough.”  Sometimes it’s more the attitude of the band, what they were looking for.  I think if people have a realistic idea of what MT6 can do for them, that’s a big thing.  You can tell that right off the bat, what they expect out of it.  So there’s been a few things where I’ve said “I don’t know if it’ll fit.”  Which is kind of weird.

AS: Is there anything that pushes your envelope, that you might consider unlistenable or not musical?

Alex S: I think maybe in the past, but certainly not now.  I don’t know if you get trained, in a way.  Your ears and your mind get trained to say “this is crazy, but there’s something to it or something behind it.”  I was actually watching on YouTube recently, this guy from Australia who takes glass in his mouth and has contact mics, real shrieking and crazy, he ends up cutting himself every show because he ends up thrashing and getting a little out of control and he’s got glass attached to his mouth!  So I’ll listen to, watch anything.  Even like G.G. Allin type stuff.  The performance aspect, he definitely introduced something new with the violence of it.

AS: MT6 isn’t just experimenting in the music or performance aspects.  You’re also doing some stuff behind the scenes, most notably the MT5 offshoot which does cassette releases…

Alex S: Yeah.  We’ve mainly done CD-R’s since it’s very cost-effective, easy to make and for people to listen to.  I’d like to do more CD’s, but you know, bottom-line.  Vinyl would obviously be the ideal output, but I noticed that I hadn’t put out any cassettes.  Mostly CD-R’s, CD’s, some 7″ releases.  I was talking to Talibam from New York.  I’d known Matt, who got in touch way back to try and set up a show with Human Host.  So I kept in contact.

Then this band Le Harmacy from Italy got ahold of me.  They were really into Talibam.  I told Matt that we should do the split.  He suggested the tape.  You know, if you do the split on CD-R or CD, it’s kind of weird.  There’s no break in between.  A record you can flip over.  A tape you can flip over.  He was into it, but he wasn’t into the CD aspect so we went with tape.

I thought it was great.  I was gonna do it under MT6, but then I thought maybe I’ll start doing some cassettes, and I created a different home for it: MT5 tapes.  Originally it was just gonna be splits, but then we did Wire Orchestra and Chief Pokawa ones.  I was saying a couple years ago: tapes are gonna come back like records.  The nostalgia of ‘em.  I grew up on cassettes, so that’s a huge part.  I still have a ton of them, and you look back on it and you think it’s so cool.  You can hold it, completely durable.  I was reading somebody was putting cassettes out, you can have a cassette at the bottom of your backpack for a year, and you can pull it out and it’ll sound just the same.  Not get scratched like a CD-R.  I’m actually releasing a Newagehillbilly cassette in the next month.  MT5 is a little more under the radar than MT6.  But I’ve definitely gotten orders.

In fact, Thurston Moore ordered some MT5 stuff.  It was pretty awesome, I opened the order and the email on Paypal was like Thurston at Ecstatic Peace.  I was shocked.

AS: That’s amazing.  Where do you see MT6 going from here into the immediate and far future?

Alex S: Immediate plans are to promote the Abiku CD.  They’re working hard and touring, they really wanna do something with their music.  I wanna help them as much as possible.  I have some stuff coming out of my own.  Newage and we’re definitely working on the next Heroin U.K. CD right now.  The Newage tape coming on MT5 is basically straight-ahead house music.

As far as the broad future, I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing.  I don’t wanna get too caught up in thinking about it too hard.  If I do, it could bum me out and I lose sight of why I started it.  And like I said before, I’m trying to get back to that.  When all the real life happens, you gotta concentrate on that.  And if the label’s not doing this or that, you start thinking should I even keep doing it?

And the answer is yes, I should. Because I originally started it just for the art of it.  And I don’t ever want to lose sight of that.

MP3: Old 97’s - I Will Remain

MP3: Old 97’s - Color Of A Lonely Heart Is Blue

The Old 97’s played a sold out show at the Recher this past Saturday night.  This show was a special night for those fans of Old 97’s because on this tour, Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond (both members of Old 97’s) opened with solo acoustic performances.  The Recher filled early with fans eager to hear the openers as well as the main act.  Murry started the evening playing either guitar or harmonium with his very quiet and haunting, old style country melodies.  Rhett took the stage next playing many new songs from his latest release, Rhett Miller,  as well as some great classics.  Old 97’s played a lengthy set to close the evening.  For Rhett Miller fans: he will be playing the Black Cat in DC on September 17th.  Tickets for this go on sale THIS Friday (July 3rd).

Enjoy the photos from the evening.

Old 97’s

Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond

If you’ve been looking for a way to celebrate Michael Jackson’s life, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one coming up.  We’ve got a pair of free tickets to giveaway to Who’s Bad, performing a sizable number of MJ’s hits at Rams Head Live on Jul 8th.  BYT covered the 9:30 Club performance and seemed to have a favorable opinion on proceedings.

Entering is simple: comment or email us at auralstates at gmail dot com with your most vivid, moving or hilarious MJ memory.  Winner will be chosen on Jul 7th at 5PM.

Editor’s Note: LP was dropped a week early for $8.  $2 goes to Oxfam America.

I think I’ve done my fair share of radio bashing here at Aural States. Whether it was by wholeheartedly agreeing with Spectre’s assessment of modern hip hop radio, or whilst dissing the filler-engrossed waves put out by what was once 99.1 HFS, I think I’ve made my opinion clear (of course, for these purposes, I ignore the few respectable oases still in operation today. Props to WTMD and WPFW for solid programming).

As if to spite FM radio’s gloomy condition, Discovery, the product of Ra Ra Riot vocalist Wes Miles and Vampire Weekender Rostam Batmanglij, have found something to like about turning on their dials. They find use for the treading beats and beaten-to-death subject material thrown together by dozens of half-assed MTV projects, the difference being that their output is surprisingly enjoyable in its entirety, rather than only mildly so in single form.

The most interesting track on their debut, LP, comes in the form of a Jackson 5 cover. They deftly dodge the the problem of recreating Mr. Jackson’s superpitch vocal work by using R&B’s recently popularized all-purpose miracle cure–autotune, suitably reimagining one of Motown’s greatest tunes in context with modern radio conventions (right down to the too-fake-for-life drum kit and glazed-slick production). The funny thing is, it sounds completely authentic, like something blasted out of a high-schooler’s mom’s minivan on the ride home after senior prom. Because they’ll remember that moment for the rest of their lives.

Their song selection couldn’t have been more appropriate for a good-ol’-fashion modern-meets-classic comparison. The Corporation-written chorus progression translates well into any medium, and the lyrics remain just as relevant today as they were 40 years ago. Past releases have proven that all performers involved have a keen eye for catch, making Discovery’s cover an ideal candidate to show where pop music has gone.

Drenched in reverb, as though recorded in some distant wooded canyon, ex-Baltimoreans Pontiak follow up their hard-rocking psychedelic debut with another strong offering of much of the same. Which is problematic, because somehow this band sounds both all too familiar and equally difficult to describe. Stoner metal riffs that could have come off a Kyuss album are buried between, and sometimes subconsciously emerge from, more eerie and vaguely defined, druggy soundscapes. Luckily Ponitak pack enough twists and turns into a three-minute jam to keep you on your toes, never dragging their heels or resting their laurels on a single riff or sound (a habit some stoner rockers too easily settle into).

The band sounds more self-assured than on their debut, which sometimes means they sacrifice the lopsided, falling-out-of-nowhere melodies for less accidental (what I suppose one might call more mature) songcraft. Maker has an almost boastful strut to it, a traditional rock band’s answer to a group like Mastodon, perhaps. But never once does Pontiak sound mired in any one aspect of their craft, be it songwriting, guitar effects, or instrumental heroics–this winds up being a good thing. There are plenty of surprises to behold along the way, from the wandering song parts of “Wax Worship,” which takes three minutes to build from a noisy feedback-at-11 intro into some dirty blues riffs to the acoustic chill-out of “Seminal Shining.” Never exactly progressive, but never content to stick to 4/4 verse-chorus-verse, Pontiak throw in just enough outbursts and change ups to keep their sound from becoming monolithic or wearisome.

Certainly that’s not to say their rhythm section isn’t captivating on its own merit. The studio bells and whistles are few and far between, and there’s an earthy, almost forgotten, organic nature to their behemoth sound.  At times dissonant, occasionally melodic, and always cavernous and gripping. I’m just suggesting that if you tire of the five-minute one-liners of Dead Meadow–to whom Pontiak are so often compared–you won’t have the same complaints about Maker. And if you’re especially tired of the overstimulation brought on by what will likely be referred to in the future as ADD rock, then I bet you’ll find a lot to enjoy.

The reason being that Pontiak don’t rest their laurels on riffs alone, with atmospherics and textures playing an equally important role. There isn’t quite a punk energy on some of the tracks (well, the noise freak-out of “Headless Conference” being close to an exception), so much as a groundswell of attacking rhythms. Seemingly picked up by blustery winds from some remote land and deposited on your doorstep along with the mass of debris they claimed along the way, be it blues, psychedelia, folk or whatever else lies between here and the backwoods Virginia location where the album was recorded.

Vocally, Van Carney sounds heavily indebted to Roger Waters, lacking the former’s penchant for sing-songy iambic tetrameter (which, if you haven’t noticed, is a subject worthy of study unto itself) and conceptually tiring extended metaphor. I’m not entirely certain what Carney is singing about and I haven’t seen a single article that’s paid his words any attention. To be fair, they’re difficult to pick out, but I think there’s a lot to do with creation and destruction and fittingly heavy subjects like knife fights. Regardless, the real aspect of this album to behold is the way the parts assemble and break apart, achieving something darkly compelling along the way.

I haven’t been lucky enough to catch their live show but I hear the walls of distortion put a real hurting on your eardrums. So if you love being pummeled by gnarly guitars as much as the next hooligan, do check them out if you get the opportunity.

Label: Thrill Jockey

Release date: April 7, 2009

Track list:

01 Laywayed
02 Blood Pride
03 Wax Worship
04 Headless Conference
05 Wild Knife Night Fight
06 Heat Pleasure
07 Aestival
08 Maker
09 Seminal Shining
10 Honey
11 AASSTTEERR

MP3: The Flying Eyes - We Are Not Alive

MP3: Vincent Black Shadow - Flash Roll

MP3: The Black Hollies - Get Yourself Together, Girl

Ever wanted to camp out and attend a fantastic music festival on a big farm? Don’t feel like trekking out to Tennessee? Then boy, have we got the fest for you: Farm Fest 2009 out in Millers, MD.

Organized by local psych-rockers the Flying Eyes, the festival is a celebration of the creme de la creme of psych-influenced artists in the area:

The Black Hollies
The Flying Eyes
Strangers Family Band
Vincent Black Shadow
Hollywood
The Albertans
The Deaf Scene
Pinche Gringo
Bad Liquor Pond

Plus special guests:
DJ Amanda Otto
The Herman Melville Experience
and Ian Humphrey!!!

Do yourself a favor and get to this.

Tentative schedule:

The Deaf Scene- 4pm
Bad Liquor Pond- 5pm
The Albertans- 6pm
Hollywood- 7pm
Vincent Black Shadow- 8pm
Pinche Gringo- 9pm
The Flying Eyes- 10pm
The Black Hollies- 11pm
Strangers Family Band- 12am

PRE-SALE TICKETS ARE ONLY $13!!! BUY IN ADVANCE AND SAVE MONEY!
Contact us to buy them:
Adam-410-227-1786
Elias- 410-458-4057
theflyingeyes@comcast.net

1) Live music all day and night
2) Free camping
4) And a free copy of The Flying Eyes brand new EP, “Winter”, all for only $13 admission!!!

DIRECTIONS TO FARM FEST:

- Go North on I-83
- Take exit 27 for MD-137/Mt Carmel Rd
- Turn left at MD-137/Mount Carmel Rd
- Turn right at Falls Rd/MD-25 and go 6.2 miles
- Turn left at Hoffmanville Rd
- Turn left at Alesia Rd
(*NOTE*: Do not make the right turn onto the first Alesia Rd. you see. Continue underneath the bridge and then make a left onto the second Alesia Rd.)
- Make a right turn into the driveway marked with balloons a.k.a 4600!!!

The BSO tackled the great Rach 3, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, with the help of soloist Yefim Bronfman.  The 1996 Jeffrey Rush film, Shine, made a modern plug for its popularity, but Vladimir Horowitz was the master (and master propagandist) of the work, which earned him rapturous applause and television specials.  Rachmaninoff offered this testament of Horowitz: “He swallowed it whole. He had the courage, the intensity, the daring.”

What I will say for Bronfman is that he gave the Rach 3 a sense of finality and edge, playing with a tottering ferocity.  I wouldn’t call it daring, but Bronfman offered that classic, instense competency demanded of a soloist of a certain age –cemented by his bow, his sprayed hair flung askew into rising wing on the right side. 

Our conductor, Marin, gave the Rach a pretty big shape, especially in the moments of Holy Russian minor on the strings.  But ever-palpable ran a tug-of-war between her and Bronfman as to pacing the orchestra.  He was ready to take it much, much faster, and then, in solo parts, offering a nice time-giving tendresse to the keystrokes.  In more romantic souls than mine, such playing would rouse the emotions, so it did –  from the immediate roar and rising of the audience.  The woman behind me collapsed right back into her seat as if overcome by the music. 

Rounding out the evening of guilty symphonic pleasures, the BSO players took a bite out of the 16-hour Ring cycle of Wagner’s, by Marin’s joke: “ending with something lite.”  Truly a back-breaking labor of love for every symphony player, and well worth the cost of the ticket. We got all the goods of the Nibelungenlied without the Beyreuth price tag of Wagner and family’s famed summer music fest.   

Rich was the mounting minimalism (before there was Minimalism) in the prelude of Das Riengold – a slow reedy purl of the Eb on basson, pased to cello, passing to violins, building, building and building into musical waves subsumming the audience, taking them down to the bottom of the Rhine river.  Perfect control from the players on the chief strenghth of Wagner’s: painting water in tones without murky mystery. This stark clarity sounded briefly as the side doors opened at the drop of Marin’s arms, rocketing out anvil sounds to herald the work of the Ring’s smiths and goldminers.  However, Marin put the break shoes on the entire evening, as evidenced by the tamest Ride of the Valkyries I’ve ever heard – definitely no Apocalypse Now worthy furies in the house. (Or maybe I’ve been spoiled by growing up on the Cleveland Orchestra’s George Szell record).   

That’s a wrap on the main season, but BSO’s summer concert schedule goes beyond the Fourth of July Spectacular – especially if you’re looking for something to impress a summer fling. 

Best bet: Fri. July 10, 7:30 pm – Watch Alfred Hitchcock’s film noir classic: Psycho, with cinema score played by the BSO and the original voice track.

Best Guilty Secret: Sat. July 18, 8pm –Head to Pier Six Concert Pavilion for a night on the harbor with The Music of Queen: A Rock Symphony.  See a side to symphony players that doesn’t show in the concert hall, after all, you know how Bohemian Rhapsody is THE karaoke song of the past century. 

But this weekend all you need is 15 bucks.  Run, don’t walk to An Die Musik on Charles Street on Sat. June 27, 8 pm.

VINCENT COURTOIS, Cello & JEANNE ADDED, Voice

I can’t resist putting the word out for the most versatile cellist I’ve ever witnessed.  Vincent Courtois last took the ADM stage with avant-garde pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and Baltimore’s own sax player, Ellery Eskelin. 

While a trip to the Royal Ballet keeps me out of this concert, I hope you’ll go and tell me how Vincent and Jeanne roll.  If not for the music, go because you thought that Javier Bardem was hot in Vicky Christina Barcelona, and Vincent Courtois radiates sensual artistry far better than him.  You will leave like a melted pool of putty with a flushed face. 

Check the Facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/qz5f9r

Check out our awesome Countdown to Whartscape 2008 interview series here.

>>>We are goons. This information may change often.<<<

For 4 years now Wham City has been organizing the WHARTSCAPE. What started as a summer warehouse party turned into a much bigger, multi-day outdoor festival with thousands of bands, performers, and folks traveling to Baltimore from all across the US and Europe.

Since, we organize this festival out of pocket and in our spare time, it is important for us to keep it comfortable and enjoyable for us to do. One thing we talked about at the end of last year’s festival was shrinking it down slightly and having it feel more community based and familiar.

This year isn’t focused around headliners, but mainly performers and friends that make up the community we tour, work and live in.

~

We are also greatly reducing the number of MEGA-PASSES (the ticket that grants you entry to every show and every day).

ONLY 300 Mega-Passes will be sold; this is the only guarantee that you can see all the shows.

Tickets will be sold to the individual shows, but it is strongly suggested that you buy a Mega-Pass, as it saves you money and assures you take in the entire poo-poo.

Whartscape will take place July 10-11-12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun.

We will begin selling tickets at 12 Noon, Monday, June 29^th.

MEGA PASS - $45

INDIVIDUAL DAY - $18

~~~IMPORTANT TICKET INFO (PLEASE READ!!):~~~

Only the Mega-Pass guarantees entrance to the nighttime events at Load of Fun, which has a much smaller occupancy than the MICA parking lot. Anyone without a Mega-Pass will get in on a first come, first serve basis. There is a very strong likely hood we will sell out of Mega-Passes, which will mean the nighttime portion is also sold out.

The strength of the mega-pass is truly mega.

~

Here are the 130 acts performing at this years Whartscape:

Adventure
Air Waves
AK Slaughter
Alexis Gideon
Allen Cordell
Ami Dang
Andy Abelow
Annex Theater
Art Department
At the End of Infinite Rope
Bad Brilliance
Barky
BDRM PPL
Beast Master
Bedlam Theatre
Big Bear
Bird Names
Black Vatican
Blood Baby
Blue Leader
Booge Border
Butt Stomach
C Spencer Yeh
Cars Will Burn
Celebration
Chandeliers
Charlotte and Joe
Child Bite
Child Bride
Clarissa Gregory
Connor Kizer and Adam Endres
Crazy Dreams Band
Dan Deacon Ensemble
Dan Higgs
DDMMYYYY
Despot
DJ Dog Dick
Dope Body
Double Dagger
Drip House
Eagle Ager
Ear Pwr
Ed Schrader
Eric Hnatow
Funny Clown
Future Islands
Gary War
GDFX
Golden Birthday
Grasslung
Hair Police
Height
Hooliganship
Human Host
Infinity Window
Jana Hunter
Janitor
Jared Paolini
Jason Willett
Jimmy Joe Roche
John Eaton
John Weiss
Justin Frye Meat Wallet Bells Pieces
Killer Whales
Kokomo
Leprechaun Catering
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez
Little Howlin Wolf
Liturgy
Living Things
Lizz King
Lo Moda
Lonnie Walker
Lord Scrumage
Magnet City Kids
Mark Brown
Married in Berdichev
Mason Ross
Melissa Moore
Meredith Moore
Mickey Free
Microkingdom
Milton Melvin Croissant III
Mincemeat or 10speed
MNDR
Narwalz
Nate Boyce
Nautical Almanac
Needle Gun
Nobel Lake
Nuclear Power Pants
Olaf Breuning
Peter Glantz
Pleasant Livers
Plural MC
Polygons
Ponytail
Quiet Hooves
R.M. O’Brien
Rap Dragons
Roto Romo
Rotten Milk Band
Santa Dads
Schwarz
Sewn Leather
Seyjano
Shams
Showbeast
Sick Weapons
Silk Flowers
Small Sur
Smartgrowth
Smarts
So Percussion
Soft Pink Truth
Something by Dina Kelberman
Spellcaster
Talk Normal
Team Robespierre
Teen Girl Fantasy
Teeth Mountain
Thank You
The Creepers
The Degenerettes
The New Flesh
The Title Sounded Better in French (Lola/Anna)
The Woes
Trockeneisis
Truth Serum
Twin Stumps
Videohippos
Vincent Black Shadow
Weekends
What Cheer Brigade Marching Band
Witch Hat
Wolf Eyes
Wye Oak
Y2KEITH
Yoshi Sodeoka
Zomes
Bands We Forgot
And More!

May the days be bright and clear and the nights dark, dark, dark…

MP3: Spectre - Blazed feat. Sensational

MP3: Spectre - Valour

MP3: Spectre - Fracture

I haven’t taken rap, or hip-hop for that matter, seriously since I first heard “Get Low,” penned by some disillusioning bastard with a mixing program. So, needless to say it’s been years. Friends of mine would play their favorites in an attempt to convert me, all usually trashy jams you hear on Hot-99.5 (ruining the taste of high school students, one single at a time), which didn’t help in the least.

That’s the backstory of how I came to loathe the genre as a whole, just so you’re aware of my rap/hip-hop/R&B credentials before I go into this any further. But to be fair, I had an open mind to rap, believing somehow that it can express notable emotion in its own way. I just assumed that such art was almost unobtainable without some sort of black-market inside source so I never attempted to find it. Years later, this guy named Greg asked me to check out an artist named Spectre.  He sent me his 2003 album, Psychic Wars. This is where my viewpoint on rap and hip-hop shifted for the better. This is the art I was hoping existed, but never quite found.

Spectre, otherwise known as Skiz Fernando, is a Harvard-educated rap artist that runs his own “Crooklyn”-founded, Baltimore-based label called Wordsound. His default setting is sinister: a dark, contemplative tone that calls for chills on all occasions. And it works.

Early on, Psychic Wars’ immaculate production assumes the chief position, that is, it’s clear that Skiz really knows what he’s doing: “I have been producing music now for a little over 20 years, and I’ve had a lot of time to hone my chops, so hopefully it shows in the productions. I’ve released 7 solo albums as Spectre, and I’ve just completed my first album-length collaboration with my long-time friend Sensational–an album which feels like the best thing I’ve ever done.” Even so, Psychic Wars sounds wise in a way, as if it’s actually not working hard, but smart. Look at the overdriven “Valour,” reversed cymbals and that funky drum bit lure you into the song’s hypnotic trance while Spectre hardly breaks a sweat. His impeccably placed percussion sequences don’t put effort into to breaking down your walls–they do that just by nature.

On top of being a practiced and observable master of the beat, Spectre makes use of melody just as effectively throughout his art. The insistent bass-keys duo in “The Fire Within“ does all the work for nearly four minutes, using the skins only as a mere spot.  ”Blazed (feat. Sensational)” stumbles gracefully with a glitched-out piano sample and under-the-radar helicopter chops, drowned out by what sounds like a thousand teapots exploding. The sum of this, accompanied by Sensational’s free-for-all rhyme scheme, gives the impression of tamed chaos with Fernando as its keeper. It makes for the album’s best introductory track (even though it sits as a centerpiece).

While I was busy delving into Psychic Wars, I was handed yet another Spectre record. This time around it turned out to be 2009’s Internal Dynasty, a similarly fear-focused album of the same breed. To my untrained ears, these two works appear indistinguishable. I mean, if you shuffled the tracks together well, there’s no way I could tell the difference. Spectre uses similar prerequisites in both Internal Dynasty and Psychic Wars, a glitch-sample foundation with a heavy-ass beat, quotes from horror flicks, and the same old time-tested studio masterminding.

I’d say the one distinguishing feature of Internal Dynasty is that it works on a more accessible level. “Catch A Fire” sports a calm, collected rhythm section alongside wordplay so abrupt you can hardly tell where one word ends and the next begins, working the nonchalant angle like nobody’s business. All the same, the electro-fanatic in me has “Fracture” on his favorites list.  It utilizes every trick Wham City kids have written down on the back of their circuit-bending trickbooks, and finds itself pieced together far more aptly for it. On the other hand, placing a track like “Fracture” in the context of, say a Death Set album, would be to reduce it to one of the most unengaging on the record (slow beats and repetition hardly get you anywhere in spaz-punk). But this isn’t spaz-punk, and in the end, “Fracture” pulls its own weight (and then some). Among Dynasty’s other highlights, “Vai Na Fé” throws you off balance with a waltzy intro, then morphs itself into the most tastefully orchestrated Latin beat I’ve heard in a long while. All this in strict cooperation with Spectre’s signature: ominous atmospherics.

According to Fernando, this is just a function of where his music dwells: “Darkness is just my m.o., but I think what’s more important is that music is still important to me. I’m still making music for music’s sake and not for money’s sake. I still want to create something original and new that you haven’t heard yet. I’m still hungry. I have not had the credit, the money or the fame, and I think that makes all the difference. The darkness comes from a real place. It comes from the struggle to be heard.”

Spectre appears to practice his craft in a realm truly untouched by the mainstream hip hop world. Existing in musical solitude seems very much his thing. This no doubt affects the way Wordsound is run. A quick visit to their Myspace page shows that they profess to be their own influence, their own sound (the precise phrase being that they “ARE the sound”). I don’t know how to express any more succintly that they are skeptical of the outside world.

Fernando acknowledges that WordSound has “always existed on the fringes of hip-hop culture,” and that reason number one for this is “rap music itself has become pop music and is more about conformity than innovation, originality or creativity. It’s a commodity now and it’s not about breaking barriers.”

He swiftly decries the proliferation of Auto-Tune, not unlike an environmentalist watching wildfires destroy the woodlands.  ”When it started out, hip-hop incorporated all sounds and styles, and that’s what initially attracted me to it,” Fernando laments. “Afrika Bambaataa, the ‘Godfather of Hip-Hop’ always says: ‘I’m hip-hop and then some.’ To me that speaks volumes.  While hip-hop is primarily an urban art form, it uses (or used to use) so many other influences, and that, to me, is what made it great.”

Despite all this, Fernando and Wordsound aren’t quite as averse to the mainstream as appearances, or dogma would dictate.  Fernando is quick to pessimism, blasting radio for its perpetuation of “uninspired, cookie-cutter rap,” but he isn’t without a sliver of optimism.  ”I think hip-hop could be so much more and I hope it saves itself from the ‘blahs.’ I would also love to hear WordSound on the radio, and work with some well-known MCs like Ghostface or Busta Rhymes. Maybe that’s happening in the Bizarro universe already.”

Note: You can pick up Internal Dynasty at the True Vine.

MP3: Wale - Wonder Why feat. Mike Posner, Big Sean, & Kenn Starr

MP3: The Bravery - Rocket (Smashing Pumpkins Cover)

MP3: The National - The Geese of Beverly Road [Live]

MP3: Franz Ferdinand - This Fire

I pretty much gave up news postings on this site early on; the big dogs have the monopoly on that one for everything but the most local of scene happenings.  But this is one huge tidbit of news that needs airing.

The rumors of the demise of Virgin Mobile Fest this year have been exaggerated, apparently a great deal.  Press release just dropped tonight letting everyone know the shindig this year will be FREE OF CHARGE:

Virgin Mobile USA, creator of one of the largest and most critically acclaimed music festivals in the U.S., announced today that it would host the 2009 Virgin Mobile Festival on Sunday, August 30, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., free of charge. All tickets will be given away, and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have the first crack at securing the 35,000 tickets.

Some more good feelings:

To respond to the sharp decrease in national social giving, Virgin Mobile FreeFest will also host a special VIP seating area for those who complete 13 hours of community service at designated homeless youth shelters around the country.

When are these miraculous free tickets being handed out, and how you may ask:

Tickets to the 2009 Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be available to the public at http://www.ticketmaster.com at 10 am EST on Saturday, June 27^th. Virgin Mobile customers and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers will be invited via email to a private “free-sale” (much like a pre-sale, except free) to be held Thursday, June 25^th and Friday, June 26^th.

Ticketmaster is waiving the convenience charge when fans pick up their FreeFest tickets at Merriweather or the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Customers also have the option to pay Ticketmaster to deliver their tickets. For more details on the ticketing, including options for donating money to youth homelessness and buying limited edition FreeFest T-shirts, check out virginmobilefreefest.com.

The lineup is not bad at all, especially in light of the new pricing plan.  Performers include Weezer, the newly resurrected Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Jet, The National, Girl Talk, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, and Taking Back Sunday, HOLY F*CK, Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge.

So enjoy some flashback tracks above, and get ready to click for free/benefit causes.

MP3: Elvis Perkins in Dreamland - Doomsday

MP3: Those Darlins - Wild One

All photos: Greg Szeto

Not to be reductionist by any means, but if you’ve ever wondered whether riot grrl attitude would mesh well with honky-tonk country, look no farther than Tennessee’s Those Darlins.  Much more than that simple formula, they now stand as one of my top 5 favorite finds in an opening act over the past few years.  A commanding presence, immensely catchy music bolstered by tight playing.  A country-fried approach that goes beyond a simple aesthetic, something clearly oozing out of their pores and roots, they present a vital take on country that is fresh and electric.

My ears have suffered far too long under sterilized country radio, and clearly, they feel the same way: their sound is rooted in that of traditional country pillars like the Carter Family, and reflects the common bond that first brought them together and fueled their musical mission.  Their stage chemistry is phenomenal and exudes a perfect mix of sassy sexuality and confidence.  Their sound has grown greatly from their simpler roots, embracing blues and garage rock swagger and riffage to make their music deadly and more immediate than a boot to the nuts. They just released their debut LP and it’s a rollicking good time.  I would say they are a don’t miss act if ever you see them coming through your neck of the woods.

Elvis Perkins is now, in my mind, one of the unquestionably great singer/songwriters to emerge in the past decade.  He is as affecting and intimate as he is versatile and showmanlike.  My first exposure to him was opening for Okkervil River the last time they stopped by the Ottobar. He made them look like amateurs.  Perkins then was on the heels of his mournful LP Ash Wednesday, and was moving beyond words.  Effectively, an emotional demolitions expert.

His latest, self-titled LP, is a more balanced and lush affair, bright but only in contrast to Ash, and never excessively so.  He truly wows with his gorgeous aural textures and penchant for diverse instrumentation and sounds.  What’s more astounding is that he manages to effectively transport all this to the live experience, his backing band rallying about him as they hop around the stage with horns and drums in tow, blaring (highlights: “Shampoo,” “Doomsday”).  An ebullient and engaging affair that feels like going to see the musical equivalent of an acrobatic circus.  The show brought to mind the magnitude of childlike wonder that Sigur Ros effuses, but with a heaping dose of world-weary maturity and sagacity.

It would seem that Perkins has traded in some of his crushing emotional weight for a more whimsical bent, and it is a welcome bit of leavening.  Some his earlier work suffers with these changes, losing much of their resonance (”While you were sleeping”); thankfully, others take new life (”May Day”).  From all this, the overall impression you walk away left with is that you’ve witnessed something undeniably special, and you can’t help but wonder where Perkins will take us next.

Elvis Perkins

Those Darlins

MP3: Cex - Brains Out

Cex aka Cexman aka Rjyan Kidwell recently dropped his new wax, Bataille Royale, on a Baltimore scene that is more than ready for this addition to its musical vocabulary.  This record is unquestionably the product of a bombed out soul, a spirit that is truly and uniquely urban.  Here we find soundscapes that, much like dub, reflect the darker side of the metropolitan experience.  Kidwell has openly stated this is a response to the predominance of standard (and saccharine) tropes of indie rock and psychedelia, and it certainly succeeds in presenting an alternative flavor.  Cex has carved a musical document that channels Baltimore while pond-hopping around various subgenres of electronic and hip-hop.

The first track, “Last Gazp,” is a burnt-out aural landscape: expansive and distant, while somehow, paradoxically, claustrophobic and overbearing.  Recurring machine-gun rattles are jarring and immediate, especially when juxtaposed to the mysterious melody.  ”Brains out” is a dark and foreboding, borderline psychoses-inducing cut of techno, the only words being exhortations of: “Blow your brains out.”  These tracks, and this record, deserve to be digested and pored over.  Each listen brings out more and more facets of this gem.

But, the real meat of Cex lies in his masterful live sets.  Lucky for us, this month’s More or Less party at the Hexagon has Cex performing tonight (he’s even giving away some copies of Bataille).  You can pick up copies of Bataille Royale at the lovely True Vine.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don’t Haunt This Place from Hometowns (re-release on Saddle Creek  July 07, 2009)

The Rural Alberta Advantage have got something special. Like any good music group, a list of their influences (Neutral Milk Hotel, Mountain Goats, countless other gloomy bands) doesn’t even half explain their music. Trying to break down their debut album, Hometowns, into genres and comparisons proves itself a futile task because there’s something untouchable about them, almost as if what they create is more than its material aspects.

With pipes that ineffably burrow into you (like those of many who inspire him), Nils Edenloff’s vocal work probes around with rippled valor and finds it’s home right near where your most melancholy emotions reside. While Hometowns definitely sounds like a collaborative effort, most would point to Nils when looking for a frontman. He’s accompanied by Paul Banwatt, a drummer who,  if “Don’t Haunt This Place” tells us anything, has got some serious skills, and Amy Cole, whose voice perfectly accentuates Nils’ in all the most necessary places. They come to the table with a downcast mix of guitar-driven indie rock, sometimes heralding with frantic blasts of energy, others utilizing more contemplative moods bordering on folk-art, but always accomplishing what the song intends.

Following a near-zero-press independent release of the album last year on eMusic, the RAA have been steadily doctoring a now-developing buzz in the music world, and have opted to re-release Hometowns through Saddle Creek Records (a damn good decision). They may sound like a thousand other forgettable indie outfits, but something about these Albertans sticks regardless of that fact. Prediction: a total blog-based (cough) explosion of popularity in the next month or two.

Baby Aspirin played a standout set on Saturday (which you can hear here thanks to Jeff), impressing me much more than my previous experience with them at the Talking Head).  They recalled the tude and sound of the best and brightest of the riot grrl movement.  At times, they made me really miss Sleater-Kinney, then proceeded to step in and fill that void as fast as it opened.

Ecstatic Sunshine played in yet another iteration.  They really hit a groove after early set meanderings, exploring some interesting, spare and tropical vibes, perfect for the summer and outdoors.  Check out Jeff’s audio here.

Thrushes played a slew of new material (some of which they have been playing live for quite a bit) from their forthcoming sophomore effort, reunited with founding drummer Matt Davis.  They showed real progression and new life, playing more taut and uptempo than ever before, a welcome extension of their crushing mastery of midtempo and dirgelike compositions.

Chairlift ployed their spaced-out pop vision quite well, but I found myself increasingly inattentive in spite of the trio’s great vocals.

Wye Oak struggled through some unfortunate technical delays courtesy of some bad/breaking wiring on Andy’s Nord Electro.  The outdoor setting also sapped some of the affecting energy the duo normally exude in spades.  Not a bad set by any means, but not their best either.

Major kudos and congrats to Sarah for running a phenomenally tight ship for both Rufustival (set times were spot on) and the Metro Gallery as a whole.  Here’s hoping for many more years, and even bigger fests.

Baby Aspirin

Ecstatic Sunshine

Thrushes

Wye Oak

Chairlift

MP3: Ape School - My Intention (Yppah Remix)

A recent conversation with Michael Johnson of Philadelphia-based solo project Ape School revealed a frustrating truth: tastes, and therefore influences, are now running in ever-shortening duration.

In a feature article about his new self-titled release in Remix where he was asked cite his top ten biggest influences — a list which contained works by David Bowie, Scott Walker, and the Flaming Lips — Johnson’s was met with slack-jawed bemusement by the editors. Funny, as these works have traditionally been considered fairly standard fare for such inventories. So what’s a self-described “Todd Rundgren-ripoff” destined for in this day and age, especially when his most recent work is released by the subsidiary of a label that’s primarily known for its drum and bass pedigree?

The cut-out bin, apparently. Little recognition and few reviews have followed. Which is a shame, as records which involve this much sheer songwriting craft are uncommon. The Rundgren comparisons go deeper than Johnson’s Philly homebase: like Rundgren, this is pop music that rewards the thinking and the unthinking among us. Listen in on “That’s OK,” a plaintive yet playful, fragile diary entry with a trapdoor hook:

One could make the argument for a direct lineage with Johnson’s previous project, the Florida-based Sub Pop band Holopaw, as there is a head-and-heart-in-equal-portions component to that band’s work as well. However, Johnson’s embrace of aged analog synths (old Moogs and Arps, made accessible through his job as an instructor in the Music Tech Department at the University of the Arts) brings a quirkier and less “rock band” atmosphere to Ape School. “It’s Over” is a good example of that, as an ancient, dusty synth preset forms the core of the verse, with Johnson’s delicate, multi-tracked falsetto providing the lofty flight of the chorus:

Although almost oppressive at first, the bent synth chords of the verse lodge themselves deep in your brain and won’t leave. And many songwriters would leave it at that. Johnson, however, has included a chorus and a melody that renders the tools on which the tune is played moot: it’s just a great song. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is art untouched by 2009, however, as the subtle feedback and xylophone that comprise the coda reveal an artist interested in texture and mood (hallmarks of our era) as much as melodiousness.

There are drawbacks to Ape School. Like so very many records, it’s two or three songs too long. These excisable songs are perhaps best described as extraneous genre exercises (most specifically, the just a little bit too cute “I Did What I Did”). But this is a record that stands outside of time, or at least the time we currently inhabit. We could argue for hours about what qualifies music as timeless, but I would proffer that melodies, hooks, and a certain thoughtfulness of craft are immutable traits of what will last. Seek out Ape School and see if you agree.

Label: Counter / Ninja Tune

Release Date: Apr 28 2009

Track list:
01 Wail To God
02 That’s OK
03 Did What I Did
04 My Intention
05 Be An Encore
06 Sigh Something
07 It’s Over
08 Caveman vs. Canary
09 The Underground
10 Deathstomp
11 Floridian Grime
12 In Time You Are
13 Rip Together Rip Apart
14 No Shame

We’d prepared you for weeks and finally, this past Friday, the loudest bands in DC and Brooklyn combined for a night of earsplittingly beautiful rock and roll: the Caverns Video Release Party featuring A Place to Bury Strangers and True Womanhood.

Sadly, we missed True Womanhood (but really, if you had a free ticket to see PJ Harvey and John Parish, would you pass that up, either?) A friend of ours who caught the set assured me that despite the departure of Ross Kerr, True Womanhood has come leaps and bounds even since February. Recording with the Death By Audio crew has apparently done them good. We’ll catch you next time, guys. 

What more could I possibly say about Caverns that hasn’t already said? This is actually the sixth time I’ve seen them in the past year (and my third time at the Rock and Roll Hotel). I can say with certainty that anyone who saw them open for Frodus or their set at the Aural States Fest probably saw them at the top of their technical and emotional game.

Friday night’s set did not top those performances. Even still, Caverns never give less than 110% during their live shows, which is why even a Caverns show that doesn’t rank up with their best is still going to be better than so many bands who really think they’re trying. Furthermore, guest keyboardist John Kneip (from drummer Ross Hurt’s other project, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer) added some bass notes which nicely complemented Patrick Taylor’s higher octave melodies.

There still seemed to be some uninitiated Caverns viewers in the audience, which actually worked to their advantage. Throughout the set, more and more heads started nodding and more shouts of “These guys are awesome” showed up between songs. Lest there were any doubters at the end of their set, they showed the video for “Dance, You Son of a Bitch” on a large projector afterwards. 

One thing that has been a staple of the previous APTBS shows I’ve caught was the stark but highly effective lighting. All old photos of Oliver Ackermann and co. either have white beams or flickering reds and purples. This time, A Place to Bury Strangers chose to give us a more interesting visual representation of their sound…enshrouded in darkness and haze. With a dose of fog that rivaled a mountain morning, the lights hitting the stage did nothing but reflect right back into the audience. As such, the silhouettes of the concertgoers in the peppermint swirl-esque lighting resembled the cover of Feist’s The Reminder, while the band actually could not be seen through the dry ice that slowly but surely permeated the entire room.

Oh yeah…the music rocked, too. The Rock and Roll Hotel proved to be a far more hospitable room than their post-midnight weeknight show at the 9:30 Club (which drew roughly 40 exhausted people), so even though the room was not sold out, more and more people started dancing in front of the stage with happy abandon, demonstrating that the quality of the crowd matters just as much as the quantity. A few people sang along with Oliver Ackermann on occasional songs like “To Fix the Gash In Your Head,” but his low-pitched drone tends to get lost in the wall of sound created by his loud guitar work and effects pedals so the crowd was more inclined to either throw their arms around or stand slackjawed.  The latter seemed to be the movement of choice at the end of the set when they went into a five minute instrumental feedback session that rivaled a Sonic Youth set closing…except with a little more melody and volume. There may have been more than a few ringing eardrums after that exhibition of noise, but no one, not even the earplug-less patrons seemed to mind.

The Hypergiant of Higdon's Universe

Whatever extraordinary things you’ve heard about Baltimore-native Hilary Hahn (Wiki) are true. I am probably the one classical devotee who’s never owned, borrowed, burned or downloaded a single track of Ms. Hahn’s playing, Brahms or otherwise. To experience her for the first time, live and seated four rows from the front, revealed she’s not a player…she’s a phenomenon of nature.

To have her precisely punctuate the intimacies and imagination of a composer new to me, Jennifer Higdon (Wiki), made for pure transfixion.

The piece — the east coast debut of the BSO’s co-commission of Higdon’s Violin Concerto — is the savviest treat that conductor Alsop has dangled before us all year. A reminder of the daring things she did in her first year here. A good touch, since we just found out we’ve got her for 5 more years. So long as her Brahms and Dvorak cycles cup the gems of unproved new music, we will add our applause to the ovations that rallied and rang as Marin Alsop took the stage.

Higdon was Hahn’s teacher of 20th century music and a natural choice of composer. And Hilary did something rare to up the ante. She dared the composer to “make it a little harder.”

In this case, “harder” does not make demands on the listener – not in this work of sparkling curiosity. The Violin Concerto begins with the movement 1726 — not an archaic reference, just the address for the Curtis Music School where Hilary and Higdon first joined forces.

Hilary started us off with strokes of high note simplicity, or at least seeming simplicity, backed by touches of percussion: light banter of glockenspiel and crotales, possibly some humble household instrument for striking. Think constellations popping. Not explosions up close, but distant clusters. Strings provide beds of cloud. Hilary and concertmaster Carney enter a duet. And Carney, like a pale moon, had to reflect and confine himself to the expressiveness of his ankle-length biker-inspired leather boots.

A young osprey swooping with her bow arm, that’s Hilary at work. She is almost inhuman. Here’s why: she plays from a center of absolute calm. So calm, she’s intense. Like how the blue flame is actually hottest… or how a star surface above 10,000 Kelvin looks cool, but isn’t. And then you realize that she’s playing all of this from memory! You can be sure there is nothing sublunary about her bridgework.

You might just have to forgive her for being imperious. For she nods her head to survey her backing symphony, head turning like a clock hand over her right shoulder, striking 9 o’ clock, 10 o’ clock, 11 o’clock, bouncing to see if they keep time sufficient to her liking.

Higdon’s crescendos are unique: controlled devolution. They are like vacuums that nature abhors, an intensity that tears down instead of builds: a scaffold of inversions. Maybe those five seconds is what it’s like to stand in the face of a half-exploded neutron bomb, before we quickly move on.

In Chaconni, (like Chaconne) the woodwinds begin very bright before ceding to the cellos. All in all, tight disciplined writing that picks out and elevates the individual instruments to rise to Hilary’s level before sinking back into the harmonic order.

It’s worth noting this piece was composed backwards, starting with the third movement first, Hilary saying “make it harder” all the way. So the third movement, Fly Forward, was the first composed and last played. Some hatefully encroaching percussion gets wiped out by Hilary’s darting bow, side-swiping swerves of notes. Then the only two seconds where Hilary took a rest. She races through to one last swipe to finish — catching audience quite by surprise.

You have until 5PM EST to enter your comment for free Dan Deacon tix this Saturday.

Have at thee.

Now with set times:

Club Room - Doors 8pm

TaxLo DJs 8-930 PM
Scottie B 930-1030 PM
G.E.M. featuring DJ Booman 1030-1130 PM
Thieves Like Us 1130-1230 AM
Martyn 1230-2AM

Main Room - Doors 9 PM

DJ 9-9:30PM
Awesome Color 9:30-10:00
Dat Politics 1015-1115
Black Dice 1130-1230
Dan Deacon 1245-145

MP3: Gogol Bordello - Dying After You (traditional Gypsy song) from NPR’s All Things Considered on April 29, 2006

MP3: Man Man - Van Helsing Boombox from Six Demon Bag (2006)

Fuck if Man Man couldn’t be more awesome. I arrived at Rams Head Live to a snakelike line going nearly out the door, pseudo-hipster girls and some reluctant looking boyfriends were found in waiting throughout the folding rows. Surprisingly enough, Man Man went on right at the crack of nine-o’clock as planned and played the hell out of their set. Commencing with Rabbit Habits’ powerhouse, “Hurly Burly,” these Philly hobo-rockers ran though an hour of assorted songs from their three albums in what seemed like 20 minutes.

They tend to sound as if they’ve been waiting all their lives to play these tunes. Everything was in place while still appearing spontaneous, each musician perfectly competent in his portion of the music. The immediately frenzied crowd reacted in just such a way; I believe there was even a mild mosh pit by the set’s finale (for some reason).

The downside of Man Man’s set was the omission of their more balladesque tracks, being that “Rabbit Habits” was probably the only song that wasn’t made for hopping to. Seeing as their ability to invoke such a meaningful empathy is such a high point of their recorded output, the lack of slower songs was a particular disappointment. No “Feathers,” “Van Helsing Boombox,” “Gold Teeth,” “Doo Right,” and especially to my displeasure, no “Ice Dogs.”

Next up we had the Borat-like stylings of Gogol Bordello (with whom I’m much less familiar). Going through my computer’s speakers, they came off like an obnoxious party band that cares more about their fashion than any sort of art. However, the friends I went to the show with assured me that they’re supposed to be great live…and they couldn’t have been more right. The Rams Head nearly caved in whenever the hundreds of dancing young people decided to hit ground.

The madness wasn’t even relegated to the first floor pit as per usual: as I walked through the upper levels of the venue, I saw a number of feverishly flailing patrons in all places (this, by the way, made it impossible to move anywhere). Every song had a dance-beat: bass drum, high-hat, followed by snare and another high-hat, repeated ad nauseam for two to four minutes. Every. Last. Song.

To me, Gogol-frontman Eugene Hütz seems like he’s just putting on the Eastern-European mask for the sake of being “in.” Despite the fact that it totally worked and that it in no way takes anything from the live experience, this apparent artificiality allows songs like “Start Wearing Purple” to carry absolutely no artistic credibility. The whole act gives the impression that it’s a joke.

But hey, everyone had a good time last Thursday so in the end, who cares? Ask most anyone in the crowd and they’ll tell you that Gogol were off-the-fuggin-wall awesome, they may even posit that the Bordello’s performed better than Man Man (which I would have trouble believing). So, while I’d never recommend listening to a Gogol Bordello album front to back, I fully advocate the live experience. And in accordance with that, I think that what these musicians really care about is hosting a batshit insane party on stage, and not some silly recording.

Welcome Carlos Guillen, who will be providing an insider’s take on the

Carlos is a longstanding performer of experimental music whose past projects include the fantastic Soihadto with Duff from Ace of Cakes.  His baby continues to be The Expanding Man, a dizzying instrumental showcase of aural textures from Carlos’ guitar and the instruments of whomever he decides to collaborate with (main collaborators now are DJ Tyler Quinn and Percussionist Michael Castor).

Carlos is also an owner at the Hexagon and runs sound there and every year at the High Zero festival (which he credits with originating a lot of his appreciation of experimental music).

You have to be a little crazy to climb into the rocket car of experimental music, both as a listener and as a performer. Experimental music is about taking risks – huge risks. There are musicians out there who gig regularly with no hope of radio play, no hope of mainstream label support, and no hope of selling records. These performers do what they do for radically different reasons than the mainstream performer; they have no traditional conventions to hide behind. More often than not, the experimental musician speaks a language that is very personal, so naturally, most people will be very turned off by what they do.

Experimentation can be dangerous - accidents will happen. Many experimental musicians relish their accidents, their train-wrecks. The payoff is when an experimental performer is allowed to show some real warts-and-all personal truth, and is able to find an audience who understands and appreciates them for it.

MT6 Records has been promoting such musicians for several years now. Most of their output simply cannot be understood without some knowledge of experimental music, some reference point with which to approach the music MT6 helps spread to the masses.

For those of us who do have such inclinations, MT6 is pretty awesome.

The Early 2009 MT6 Sampler should not be confused with the typical record label sampler. This is not a slick infomercial designed to tease the average listener to come into the world of MT6. This is a mixtape by MT6’s beer-swilling synth-destroyer NEWAGEHILLBILLY; it is a compilation of his favorite tracks from some of the label’s latest releases, and it is just as personal and freaked-out as MT6 itself.

Are you ready for some freak-out? Let’s hope so.

Human Host, “Hatched”: This delightful piece of lo-fi thrash metal is a nice opener to the sampler. Human Host is a multi-faceted beast, and this song is actually quite traditional for them. I find their commitment and honesty very refreshing.

Jason Willett, “SRIURFXRET96”: Jangle by the boatload, this song has lots of beach party vibe. The kind of vibe after 10 hours in the sun: disjointed and atonal, yet it’s still possible to dance the watusi to it. The ending riff reminds me of a popular Disney theme ride, revealing that Willett happily employs his inner child in the creation of his music.

Newagehillbilly, “Sonic Rehab”: Fuzzed-out and phased-out guitars, shouted vocals with miles of delay, and distorted dubby drums make me feel like I’m wrapped in the blanket of alcohol withdrawal. The guitar solo is delivered with total commitment, and has a Sonny Sharrock edge to it that is a definite highlight. The popular rap lyric quotation at the end, and the dedication to ODB, clearly reveals the tongue-in-cheek nature of Newagehillbilly and his many compatriots which guest on this recording.

Le Harmacy, “2”: This Italian noise trio delivers a jerky, jangly little tune with lots of moments to breathe before once again jumping into the freezing swimming pool of improvised punk jazz. Relish the cold, and keep your feet moving!
Agrarians, “The mirror travels above the ocean”: The repeating of a long phrase on bass guitar; slow beats smothered in minimalist vocal melodies and lyricism. Classic organ sounds with fuzzed guitars, the vocals are the focal point here, which ponder the “high cost of living.”

Heroin UK, “ShitStorm”: Yes my friends, life can truly seem like a shit storm sometimes, and 70’s-style fuzz-rock outfit Heroin UK is going to dole out some auditory methadone to cure what ails you. Please play this song LOUD.

Abiku, “Novelty”: Glitchy synths and electronic drums as a woman screams – and I don’t mean that tiresome screamo you hear on the radio these days. I mean real, passionate, desperate screaming and synth programming that brings to mind early industrial music and 70’s gore flicks.

Chief Pokawa, “Baked”: Beefheart-style ditty, hysterically expounding on the bakedness of the author of this song. He’s not kidding around here people, he is really, truly baked! I guess if you don’t know much about baking, you probably won’t get the joke.

Make Believe Horse, “What most people dont know”: Strummed acoustics and multi-tracked vocal harmonies, all smothered with a heavy dose of wow & flutter. This song is a kind of shoegazing folk that reminds me of a nighttime campfire sing-along at the end of a long summer.

Can Openers, “You cant see me”: Jerky beats and electric guitar stabs (possibly one of Neil Feather’s guitaints?) evoke a twisted afrobeat feel. Manic spoken vocals add to the anxious groove created on this song, bizarre and danceable at the same time.

Bad Liquor Pond, “PainKiller”: A fantastic gem of shoe-gazing psychedelic rock. For listeners most interested in traditional songwriting and record production, I think BLP may be the most accessible band on the MT6 roster.

Rosemary Krust, “For Today”: What starts as a drone loop underneath lilting female vocals descends into an unsettling wall-of-noise piece. This duo clearly has the musical talent and maturity to tackle opposing emotional themes within a single composition, and they pull off a deviously subtle transition between the two – a definite highlight on this sampler.

Jad Fair and Jason Willett, “or so I’ve been told”: A snappy beat and surfy organ sounds place this song firmly in the Willett camp, while Fair’s vocals provide a Lou Reed-ish drawl which reminds me how fantastic Half-Japanese is. This song touches on the same themes of the first Willett track and the Can Openers track (of which Willett is a member). I can see the pride MT6 has at having Willett and Fair join the roster, for their reputations brings some good cred to this small DIY label.

Talibam!, “3”: Talibam! spells their name with a ! for a reason. On this song, synths provide the main pulse alongside short, repetitious melodic statements like the shouting of expletives, whilst the drummer plays with an abandon that reminds me of tearing my room apart looking for W2’s on April 14th. I hope these guys can take a break from touring Europe on the strength of their collab with the outstanding Daniel Carter to bring their blissful noise freakout to Baltimore.

CAVEMEN!!!, “Cut the Tank”: This snappy little slice of primitive punk is a nice intermission as we reach the midpoint of this sampler. CAVEMEN!!! attack their instruments like were just visited by The Monolith.

Herschel Hoover, “Opener”: A superb piece of traditional pop song writing with a strong new-wave character. This song could get some great radio play with some high-end studio production. One of my favorite compositions on this sampler.

Engine, “Practice makes purple”: This noise duo combines a minimalist drum loop with bubbly synth tweaking, warbly vocals, and the occasional distorted guitar riff. Primitive and lo-fi, this song reminds me of the unpleasantness of a rigorous practice regimen.

Animal Twat, “Fuck your Cocaine”: Another thrash-punk tune from a group that shares members with Heroin UK and CAVEMEN!!, this is good ole fun-in-the-basement-studio fare. Oh yes, brothers & sisters, testify!

Cream Center, “This song is about fucking dragons”: Lo-fi drum’n bass with screaming lyrics reveals the building trend of merging grindcore vocals with homemade electronic backing tracks, a style that Cream Center shares with Human Host. This is the future people, get used to it!

Dirt, “Where are the meesers?”: 8-bit beats & synth sounds with spacey female vocals, this song is decidedly lo-fi and ominous, and leaves me wondering: just what is a meeser? And should I be worried?

Rickman, “Hard to be me”: Here we take a sharp turn into some blues folk territory. This track features acoustic guitar finger-picking, with some modern effects on otherwise traditional vocals and a mostly instrumental song structure. Rickman’s got the blues, updated a smidge for you youngsters.

Pat Grant, “Expectation Blues”: This lo-fi tape recording, with chorused guitars and off-kilter vocal harmonies reminds me most of Frusciante’s solo work and Flying Saucer Attack.

Balance, “44”: A hypnotic and deeply unsettling track of pulsing noise and minimalist distorted beats. This has horror movie soundtrack all over it. Whatever you do, don’t turn around!

Blakk Sweat, “Strange Mouth”: Completely instrumental, this great example of psych-folk helps break up some of the noise acts on this sampler and is a nice break after the unsettling nature of the previous track by Balance.

Hazardous Guadalupe, “AudioVisual Education”: A fine example of the primitive-rock that MT6 represents, this tune shares much in common with the Willett collaborations on this sampler, though it’s rhythms are more basic and less funky.

The Wire Orchestra, “Square Roots”: The backbone of MT6, which exemplifies the aims of primitive-rock, musical democracy, and has an output that is 100% improvised. This track features ambient swells and a bizarre vocal sound collage.

Chin Forces, “Transport”: Chin Forces makes use of a straightforward post-rock sound on this track. As one of the integral members of MT6, his guitar playing is evident on many MT6 releases (Heroin UK, Wire Orchestra, and more) and this minimal guitar and drums track is an excellent example of his style.

Decapitated Hed, “Blood on Hands Poop on Dancefloor”: A crunchy beat and distorted bass tones remind me of the occasional noise-funk of Sonic Youth, while squelchy synth bursts and fuzzed-out pedal tones provide some variation from the pounding rhythm section, decomposing down to just one fearsome bassline before an abrupt silence.

Whistletips, “Excerpt”: Deep, distorted drones and pulses in a wide stereophonic mix, recalling the ambient transitions of stoner doom super-group Old Man Gloom. This song reminds me of the euphoria that accompanies death by asphyxiation, a fitting end to this most strange and wonderful mix of fringe music.

And so ends my take on the MT6 early 2009 sampler. Thank you for reading.

Baby Aspirin

Source: Peluso CEMC6/ck4(card)>PS-2>AD-20>NJB3
Transfer: NJB3>PC>SF-7>Wav>FLAC
Taper: Jeff Mewbourn (jm292@yahoo.com)

Download set archive in MP3 or FLAC format.

Streaming MP3s and video after the jump.

1. MP3: Santa Meurte
2. MP3: Thin Pink Line
3. MP3: Oh Poltergeist
4. MP3: Black Arrow
5. MP3: Tiger
6. MP3: Blonde Beehive
7. MP3: My Rising Sun

Notes:
Lineup:Rufustival (outdoors)
Sound: Natasha Tylea Cooke & Adam Cooke
SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC

The Sounds of Megaphone Limited is mostly a collection recorded in 1995 and 1996, with some 2000’s recordings peppered in. Although the record features some help from Jad Fair, the sound is purely Willett’s, featuring none of the charming naivete of his first band, and in fact eschewing most of the more tuneful songs released under the name of Jad Fair and Jason Willett for the more abrasive and atonal end of his repertoire. There is one song from Leprechaun Catering, but for the most part the songs are neither electronic nor as rhythmically cohesive as what you may be used to from that band.

Perhaps the most startling thing upon reading the liner notes is that the album is mostly the product of guitars and percussion, standard rock and roll instruments (except for Shitty Kitty, who contributes some meowing) played with a focus on texture, and the way vastly differing sounds combine. Irrational and truly bizarre for most of its duration, Megaphone Unlimited has on its surface, a mostly amateurish feel: the drums kind of retarded, the guitars either lazily plucked or completely dismantled.

Except for the obvious fact that amateurs couldn’t possibly reproduce something so consistently and fearlessly.

There is much in the way of free-jazz style noise (X-Ray Eyes’ “Snorkel Talk,” with its barely-there rhythm and skronking melodies), concept art (The Pleasant Livers’ “A Room Full of Happy Days Extras” really does sound like a collaboration of a bunch of people playing completely disparate parts), but there is more to suggest John Cage in the evocation of chance and occasionally arbitrary sound.

The most striking moments come from the Can Openers, whose radical rethinking of melody and rhythm (not to mention lyrics) lead to seemingly random collisions of tectonic sound. Occasionally Willett’s ear for melody comes to the surface, as in “Beautiful Song w/Kick Drum Solo” which lives up to its name (although I do wish the kick drum solo was longer) and the Jaunties’ relatively swingin’ “Chewing Gum.”

But ultimately it is the denser compositions, the pieces lost in a moment unlikely to ever be replicated, chance combinations of many disparate parts at once, that are the most memorable sound of the disc.

Track list:
01 Jason Willett – Song recorded immediately upon return from X-Ray Eyes Tour
02 The Can Openers – You Can’t See Me
03 Jad Fair & Jason Willett – Or So I’ve Been Told
04 The Jaunties – Everything is Flowery Goodness
05 Jason Willett – Short Tune w/ Thematic Piano Melody & Stomping Beat
06 The Pleasant Livers – A Room Full of Happy Days Extras
07 X-Ray Eyes – Snorkel Talk
08 The Attitude Robots – Inst. w/ Funky Midsection
09 Jason Willett – Beautiful Song w/ Kick Drum Solo
10 The Can Openers – Abugga
11 The Jaunties – Chewing Gum
12 Jad Fair & Jason Willett – Friends
13 The Pleasant Livers – Why Name It?
14 Jason Willet & Ruins – Finale from (& now a short opera)
15 Jad Fair & Jason Willet – Avabella
16 X-Ray Eyes – Shreddies
17 The Dramatics – Club Leaf Foot Hopper
18 The Dentures – Mellow Jam w/ Authentic Sax
19 Leprechaun Catering – Live at Floristree
20 The Jaunties – Call Donut World

The True Vine
3544 Hickory Ave.
Baltimore, MD

Telephone: 410 235 4500

open hours:
Tues. to Sat. 12 - 9
Sun. & Mon. 12 - 6

Hello! Good to see you!
This update brought to you by special guest Owen Gardner.

Maybe you’d rather hear it from Jason but he needs a break and I have a lot of important things to tell you: Having emerged victorious from our epic struggle against the state comptroller, we have loads of TASTY new stock. Super-cool vinyl spanning the ranges of price and availability practically bursting from the shelves. As much as I’d love to promote some of these records and as much as we love and trust all of you, there’s reason to believe that some might prefer to download the records I’d be promoting rather than buy them here. That’s perfectly defensible - it’s free, it’s immediate, you don’t need to leave your home etc. I’M NOT INTERESTED IN JUDGING YOU. I just think it would be so nice if you stopped in, had a chat, listened to some music with one of us and walked out with a tangible object and a pleasurable EMBODIED experience. It could change your life, who knows?

One thing I will tell you is that we have a Prince record that comes with an extremely rare poster of The Artist in all his extreme, rare, wet sexiness. We also got a set of tablas in recently and, though they need a little work (tuning paste and general tuning adjustments), they look and sound delicious. Don’t you want some tablas? They’re a steal at only $150.

Have you heard about the True Vine CD-R series? Jason has 16 entries thus far, all impossible-to-find, heretofore unreissued weirdness, mostly from the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s, a number of them featuring “Monsieur Cool” Jac Berrocal. They’re all so great that I can’t believe The True Vine is the only place you can buy them. Oh well!

I’ve started my own series but uncooperative or disappearing tape players have made progress slow. Right now I have available a collection by Abubakar Sani, a contemporary Nigerian film composer of great repute. This is Hausa music, from the north, which is not, chances are, what you’ve heard from Nigeria before. I think it’s fabulous - autotuned vocals, ecstatic drum machine programming and extraordinarily cheesy synths make for a fun stew. I’ve got big plans for future releases: weird directions in South Indian classical music and a subseries of old and new Berber music from Morocco, which I’ll talk about more in a future update. All I need is a reliable tape player and a little mastering time and I’ll blow your mind, honest.

But enough about us. Resident electronics master Karl has been doing great work with his new invention, The Moisturizer. It’s a wonderful contraption with a whole hell of a lot of sound-producing potential. Specifics here: http://www.sdiy.org/knas/products/moisturizer/moisturizer.php

Matrixsynth, who he tells me are one of the foremost authorities on the subject, rated the machine highly and orders have been pouring in from the world over. Come in and try it yourself! Talk to Karl here sometime during the week or send him an e-mail at karl@hexagonspace.com.

////////////////////////////////////////////////

surprise!

hello,
it turns out that i found some time to do a bit of writing after all. thanks owen, here’s my contribution (partially supplementary):

thankyou to floristree, the musicians & everyone who attended the true vine benefit last month. our debt is much more managable as a result. THANKYOU. here at the shop the vinyl bins are swelling with new incoming records, many of them i haven’t seen in years. this includes higher priced collectables, mid range & lots of $1 records.

the new cex vinyl is now available here & will not be available to the rest of this planet for a little while. it’s a double album vinyl that’s broken into 2 parts & i’m loving it. for me this is the most stimulating cex i’ve experienced. (Editor’s note: I agree.  It is awesome.)

recently i started a true vine cdr series that is releasing amazing long gone unreissued records & my intention is to sell them for a reasonable price so that they can be experienced & we can make a little extra rent money. all of them are from very small labels or private pressed & most were realeased btween late 70’s & mid eighties. these records havent been issued again after decades have passed & in many cases i know why. ive tried it myself. ive been on the phone & email with some of these musicians & in some cases they don’t care enough to see it happen or in some cases just get swept away by their own mind & can’t organize it. either way i have to say it only heightens my respect for them.

to the details:
they are all from vinyl in high quality wave file & burnt onto high quality dual black sided cdrs that are supposed to last for 150 years. i will be 191 years old before i have to worry about complaints from customers. rather than divulge all the details about the music right here i would rather say that the next time your in the true vine & you’re in the mood for something a bit more off the radar, let us know we can play you some of this music. there is also a little section for the 15 titles so far on the far right hand side of the cd bin, as you look at it. owen gardner who works here every week made a true vine gardner subseries & has one submission which is contemporary african.

here is a cut up montage made from this series (Editor’s note: Jason strongly encourages you to come in and ask about any one of the pieces in the collage):

from our repair/construction division: karl has just finished his newest creation called the moisturizer. it is now for sale here for $300 & is available to be tested out if you’re curious. i’ve been up late for the past 4 nights discovering the potential of this brilliant playable spring reverb/filtering instrument/sound processor. the technical details can be read on his website. i should add that the sound examples of the moisturizer on his site are some, but far from all, of the sounds that can be made with the moisturizer. if you want to contact karl you can call here monday through friday or send him a message here: karl@hexagonspace.com

see you in the future,
love,
jason

Download full video: MOV

The nature of music videos has been evolving just as fast, if not faster, than the nature of albums in the age of broadband and digital media. Now, even the most amateur videographer can pump out a video for a single of his/her band, damning any notions of style or quality to hell in favor for expediency, gimmickry and fast, viral PR.  But for Caverns’ first foray into this realm, things are very different.  Caverns have never been much for following the trends or current moods. Everything they do is meticulously planned, distinctive and shaped by discriminating taste and style, a watertight DIY ethos and a fun-loving outlook.

Now, they lay upon the world their first visual offspring, a music video for “Dance You Son of a Bitch” off their Kittens! EP.

The song is classic Caverns, a showcase of their signature modus operandi and lays plain their artistic manifesto. The razor-sharp, craggy edges of Hilliard’s scraping guitar riffs open the song with a shower of sonic shrapnel. Taylor’s suave, full-toned piano comes in and sets up fantastic melodic contrast, dripping into your ear like sweet golden aural honey. Hurt’s percussion comes in and ties it all together with a taut and coasting rhythmic bow, feeling almost relaxed if it wasn’t for the heft behind each hit. The spiraling, dueling melodies from guitar and keys build and build into an addictive riff before disintegrating. The video captures all this perfectly: tense and searching (but never ADHD-addled) camera work, alternatingly the smooth and the frenetic, prodigious and tasteful lighting (no surprise considering Caverns earlier live shows with extensive lighting) and was filmed and cut in-house by Taylor, who doubles as mastermind behind D dot Films.

This is a complete 1-2 punch when you consider Caverns has lined up Brooklyn-based wunderkinds A Place To Bury Strangers and fellow District-dwellers True Womanhood to play their video release show this Friday June 5 @ Rock and Roll Hotel.

Necrophagist plays

MP3: Necrophagist - Seven from Epitaph (2004)

MP3: Necrophagist - Stabwound from Epitaph (2004)

If ‘metal-head’ is an honorific term measuring the duration (as well the depth) of one’s commitment to metal, I am probably not a metal-head.

I am a dedicated and passionate student of metal, but also a fairly recent convert. The lynchpin in my conversion: Necrophagist, who I first heard somewhere in the middle of a ten-hour car ride in the summer of 2006. Pushing play, the friend who introduced me to Necrophagist declared with confidence that they were “the best death metal band in world.” This kind of enthusiasm is typical of devotees to death metal, and is hard to resist. Walking home from the library a few weeks later with “Stabwound” on my iPod, I had a thought which went something like “these guitar solos are really, really good.” And thus, my conversion was complete.

Necrophagist incorporates an almost absurd degree of technical proficiency into their music. If you are into metal you have probably already heard them. But besides those who already like fast, brutal, technical metal, fans of jazz, progressive, and guitar dweebs (players or fans of Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen, i.e. me) could find plenty to love. What sets guitarist and vocalist Muhammed Suicmez apart from many other gifted guitar players is the degree to which his solos are seamlessly integrated into the music. Necrophagist’s songs are constructed around complex guitar parts, so two minutes of sweep-picking can be a development and expansion of what has gone before instead of a showcase for Suicmez’s awesome talent.

Necrophagist also go far beyond technicality and complexity for its own sake, and many of their songs could be even described as catchy. It is weird to find yourself humming “Intestinal Incubation,” but just try to get those harmonics out of your head. Necrophagist, in other words, make really good music and (unlike Steve Vai) they are not a guilty pleasure. Depth and complexity are terms that apply to a lot of heavy metal, especially death metal. Necrophagist can easily become a bridge to some of the even heavier bands at Summer Slaughter like Origin, Beneath the Massacre, and death metal legends Suffocation. Metalheads are already looking forward to Summer Slaughter.

Non-metalheads, I want to convert you: Necrophagist are the best death metal band in the world.

MP3: Thieves Like Us - Miss You from Play Music (2009)

MP3: Thieves Like Us - Drugs In My Body (Long Version) from Play Music (2009)

MP3: Get ‘Em Mamis - Rock Wit Me (Explicit) from TERAWESOME (2009)

MP3: DAT Politics - Gee Gee from Minicomp 1 (2008)

So this shis show next Saturday (June 13th) is a big deal.  Lots of names, spread all over the board.  Mucho props to TaxLo for  bringing together a broad array of artists.

I have a pair of tickets and a copy of Dan Deacon’s Bromst to giveaway to the funniest/most interesting commenr.  The theme is summer lovin. Go.  And enjoy this new video from the Get Em Mamis after the jump.

Alden Penner doesn’t exactly have to shoot for the stars here. You see, ever since the remaining two members of his last group, The Unicorns, restarted their careers gallivanting around the globe with Islands (a comprehensive failure in my book), he’s had little to live up to. He isn’t even alone now: fellow Canuck and ex-Arcade-Fire-member Brendan Reed has joined forces with Mr. Penner for their latest project, called Clues. Now with some new material from them, it’s become clear who the driving creative force behind the Unicorns (and Clues, apparently) really is.

Penner & Reed (a name fit for writing musicals) attempt to invoke a more theatrical version of the Unicorns’ unmatched (as of yet) variety of imagination-pop on Clues’ self-titled debut. And just like Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone, Clues’ music runs seamlessly and simultaneously with distinction, a feat worth praise all on it’s own. With some ballsy metallic percussion and just enough muted strumming to carry the tune along, “Approach The Throne” is what really loosens up the album. It pleases the ears upon conception, but when the typical-Penner la-la section competes with some of the album’s louder instrumentals for space, the result is uninviting and somehow sounds wrong. It’s just too much for its own good.

Shortly thereafter, Clues gladly discover their niche. “In The Dream” finds Alden whispering (something foreign?) over reverbed out guitars ready-made for a creepy forest-at-night scene, whereas “You Have My Eyes Now” spends it’s first period anxiously waiting for the distorted detonation that follows (echoing of Explosions In The Sky post-rock, oddly enough).

Alden and Brendan’s voices seem like they’re best suited for a soft backing, which is quite unfortunate for the majority of Clues’ debut. Tracks like “Ledmonton” and “Cave Mouth” have the Penner-half of the duo taking great strides to simply appear capable. He may get an A for effort, but the overall outcome garners no such mark. It causes the larger portion of the album to sound forced and unnatural, much unlike previous projects from either musician.

Clues aren’t The Unicorns 2.0, no matter how much I want them to be. That said, Clues’ track list contains the closest thing you’re going to get nowadays. Opening with a murder-mystery themed piano line, “Perfect Fit” is the could-be baroque pop single from the Unicorns album that’ll never be written. It increases in velocity until it’s out of control; the song takes on a life of its own, concluding with the album’s catchiest (and most complete) full minute.

In the end, that’s what is missing from Clues: catch. Aside from the rollicking finale to “Haarp,” the record feels just about catch-less, something quite surprising when you look at the credentials of Penner & Reed. There’s no sparkling, bursting-with-ingenuity quality to Clues, which is what characterizes the breakthroughs of their earlier projects. For that reason, i think we can all agree that Clues didn’t exactly get astronomical in their first release, and it showed. I know we’re all just biding our time until Jamie Thompson, Nick Thorburn and Alden Penner decide it’s time to run through that sun-soaked field with open arms, but in the meantime, I guess Clues will do just fine.

Label: Constellation

Release Date: May 19 2009

Track list:

1. Haarp
2. Remember Severed Head
3. Approach The Throne
4. In The Dream
5. You Have My Eyes Now
6. Perfect Fit
7. Elope
8. Cave Mouth
9. Crows
10. Ledmonton
11. Lets Get Strong

MP3: CozyLab - To Be Free

MP3: CozyLab - Glowy

It seems projects largely consigned to bedrooms or behind closed doors are producing some of the most engaging stuff I’ve been hearing as of late.  Take Virginia/DC-based CozyLab, the main outlet for Bobby Azarian and a rotating collective of (mostly) female vocalists and other collaborators,  CozyLab creates lush, engrossing soundscapes, their churning build and the impeccably dulcet, oft heavy-lidded female vocals openly wear their admiration for the more pastoral and hypnotizing works of Bjork.  It’s nearly impossible to tell that hardcore and metal were parts of Azarian’s musical lineage (only belied by the occassionally more aggro beat here or there); his dance-pop roots are squarely in the spotlight.  CozyLab ply numerous electronic bits into traditional song structures to resemble some kind of meticulously-constructed aural mosaic, easily digested as a whole picture with just your right brain on, yet laden with so many independently evolving textures and layers that things become infinitely more rewarding once your left brain kicks in and you start teasing things apart.

“Vertigo” whips you with its spiraling industrial/dancehall beat and bass line, providing a propulsive undertow anchoring the wispy, slightly off-key vocals and a dizzying array of sounds from both synths and traditional instruments.  A melange that is gloriously dark and addictive.  ”Glowy Glowy” is delicious electronic funk, showing MGMT how it’s truly done.  ”To Be Free” opens with you swimming in the spacious and dreamy, underwater depths of electronic loops, only to be caught in the enchanting wake of more motivating synth lines and loftier vocals that take you on a journey that melts the world away.  ”Maldjusted Me” features some great lyrical turns, and complements it with a major key resolution to the persistent and gloomy minor key groove from its opening.  ”Him” makes an impassioned manifesto for soulful electronica, the down-tempo pulsating and extraterrestrial music backing some startlingly lucid, R&B-inspired vocal work.  This is all just a taste of things to come as Azarian and cohorts solidify their approach, polish off two new tracks and attempt to navigate a live performance arrangement, all future ventures that I will be watching closely.  Hopefully you agree.

Headed up by artistic director Colin Sorgi (also a violinist), SONAR takes off where CAGE left off without missing a beat. Smart, quirky new music that takes risks and offers rich rewards, with surprisingly little audience effort.

Had conductor Jacomo Bairos not summoned me via Facebook invite, I’d never have known to crash this fantastic concert. Despite the word-of-mouth, bring a canned good to the door for entry marketing, the crowd was large and warm with applause.

SONAR opened with a string quartet Corner in Manhattan, by Michael Torke. The work was bright and racing in their capable hands, flying from an afternoon on Sixth Avenue to a night on Bedford Street, where sweet searching tones (specially from Jacyln Dorr’s viola) made you want to live there. To all critics who say programmatic, pictorial music is dead: you’re dead wrong. This year 2000 composition pops with imagery and sweeps large. Houston Street is depicted with tiny eruptions from each instrument as the cello climbs steadily higher toward the break of day.

Jacomo conducted the next piece, Ocho X Radio from Mexican composer Silvestre Reveultas, with what will become his characteristic sprightly grace. Neither too relaxed nor too restrained, Jacomo can make himself at home with any music, even this piece about which he first had doubts. He cues the opening trumpet, which gives way to spicy finger plucks from Sorgi’s violin. Enter clarinet, bassoon, and percussion, and you’ll hear every type of Mexican radio music…almost a kind of duel in contrasts, like the Sharks and Jets dancing their fiercest and funniest through the Mambo of West Side Story.

This work, the grandfather on the program, from 1933, proved a brilliant programming shift into the most awaited work of the evening, the debut of a new composition by SONAR’s 2008-2009 composer-in-residence: Roger Zare. This new composing prodigy (b.1985) from Sarasota, Florida had his first piece debut at Carnegie Hall three years ago. He refuses to be filed under the category “classical music” — since that’s the period from 1770-1840. This composer — like SONAR — is firmly contemporary and is “serious concert music.”

No joke for Zare. Not even when your senior recital piece, Dark and Stormy Night, is played on piano and 150 pingpong balls.  The page turner’s job is to pour 150 balls on the pianos strings while the soloist plays. Inspiration: freshman year in the University of Southern California dorm.

His new piece: iPod Shuffler rolls out in line with the rest.   It’s clever and delightful for audiences, who almost call out tunes they recognize — but would be embarrassed to admit are on the iPods hibernating in their pockets. We open with a mocking quote of the Star Wars theme, then some straight up playing, the violin with depth and conviction before a few cello plucks …then hello Green Day on woodwind and trumpet — eliciting a wonderful audience member snort. Cello and drums take up the Queen standard: Another One Bites the Dust. Sorgi’s violin is really the glue for the piece, the touchstone we hit before careening to the next skirmish. The “Jeopardy” gameshow theme collides into West Side Story’s America, dissolving into your fave club dancing tune circa 2004. The cellist, Catherine Mikelson yells: “Free Bird” and the band obliges. We laugh more than applaud after Sorgi gets up with his violin, fiddling, and starts to walk away.  They carried it off and pleased us. Yet this Zare offering relys more on quick recognitions, gimmicks — leitmotif logic. It’s not a thing to endure on a recording, especially when you compare it to the second-to-last piece SONAR played.

When I first heard the recording of Hamza el Din’s Escalay (Waterwheel) I swore this captivating, simple-yet-continuously-unfolding piece had been composed yesterday — not 1971.  If you think of the most pure and perfect geometrical proposition from Arabia, or Newton’s first calculating the area under a curve with his Calculus, you might approximate the glorious effortless complexity achieved by this Nubian’s oud music for non-tempered tuning.

When you hear this played by a string quartet as strong as these players, all the more so do you realize Hamza’s extraordinary achievement, since four are doing what one did on a pear-shaped Arabian lute with ten strings. Hamza plucked the bass string continually — in one rhythm — while his left hand hammers on the two more strings, but that’s not all. He then alternates on the other eight strings to set the melody against the other rhythms. Just like Hamza, SONAR’s four players hypnotize us toward a harmonic whole. We don’t recognize the lull of the waterwheel — it has nothing to do with iPods, texting, or endless scrolling of computer screens, but we see its beauty, and easily fall under its spell.

Imagine being the boy who must rise before dawn, still exhausted. You hitch up the oxen to the wheel. As the wheel moves, and the beasts groan, the heavy old wooden gears creak and moan. The sun climbs higher. You start to hum as the wheel goes stronger and quicker, getting loud, so you lose the sound of your hum to the wheel’s hum. They become one — as entwined and complex as the gears of the wheel.

My friend in the seat next to me has a weakness for fugues. Most lately, a Bach fugue brought him to tears, but Escalay certainly caught his ear. Not content to send us out in too reflective a mood, SONAR socked us one more dose of humor: Michael Dougherty’s Elvis Everywhere for string quartet and one speaker, playing, as you might guess, voice track of Elvis impersonators. A rare thing for a featurette at home with Hamden’s Hons to shake the five-stories of rare books in stately Mt. Vernon. The comedy here woulda done Mozart right proud.

June 5: DDot Films and Aural States presents the Caverns Video Release Party w/ A Place To Bury Strangers, True Womanhood @ Rock from Greg Szeto on Vimeo.

It would seem that the negative stereotypes of prog are falling to the wayside, as artists from all genres are inching more and more into the no-fly zone of progressive.  The Decemberists jumped into the deep end with their latest, and metal-masters Mastodon further entrench themselves with their most proggish album yet.  On Crack the Skye, Mastodon presents itself as a full-on progressive metal entity, the echoes of early Metallica that resonated strongly on Leviathan are much more subdued.  You should expect as much, looking at the absolutely over-the-top album artwork (I hope the guys are as big fans of Big Trouble In Little China as their Lo Pan-ish imagery suggests).

To a large extent, this move farther towards the progressive was inevitable when considering Mastodon’s catalog and approach.  With a historian’s measure of exactitude and the flourish of a great novelist, they have always crafted epic tales, grander than most in the genre topically, and nearly all technically bombastic without overstaying its welcome.  Leviathan drawing no trivial amount of inspiration from Moby Dick, or the epic fantasy of Blood Mountain.  Crack the Skye edges towards decidedly more sci-fi fare, interdimensional and inter-temporal travel being lynchpins to the pseudo-plot.

The ease with which “Oblivion” coasts through myriad epochs of metal both efficiently and proficiently would be astounding if it weren’t so damn well streamlined.  One moment channeling early Metallica, the next chugging through knee-deep sludge and doom riffs before emerging with soaring prog solos.  Vocalist Brent Hinds also frequently treads into Sabbath-era Ozzy.  The vertiginous spirals that open “Divinations” musically emulate spirits.  Grand, majestic chords set the tone for the open airiness of “Quintessence.”  The 10+ minute, mid-album stretch of “The Czar” grows from a mediocre trot to a fantastic, churning of whirlpool riffs before watershedding into ascendant guitar solos.  Similiarly, the even-longer “The Last Baron” features a similar track, ending the album with savage frenzy and finality.

All this would seem out of place if the album wasn’t concerned with telling the tale of a quadriplegic casting his astral projection into the sky, shunting into the spirit realm after getting too close to the sun.  The concepts are insanely far-flung, and perfectly match the music.  The fact that they include two 10-minute-plus marathons on the album without breaking its flow is a testament to how refined and focused their songcraft is.  

Unfortunately, I find there is little lasting value to all this, albeit impressive, technical pageantry.  A great trip while it lasts,  it leaves little in its wake, not unlike the perfectly-paced action movie with few explosively memorable scenes.  I found few, if any hooks that sunk deeply; such is the difficulty with much of prog, and why so many people avoid or shun it altogether.  The fact that Mastodon has crafted something this enjoyable, if not distinctly memorable, is reason enough to celebrate it.

Label: Reprise

Release Date: Mar 24 2009

Track list:
1. “Oblivion”
2. “Divinations”
3. “Quintessence”
4. “The Czar: I. Usurper - II. Escape - III. Martyr - IV. Spiral”
5. “Ghost of Karelia”
6. “Crack the Skye” (Feat. Scott Kelly)
7. “The Last Baron”

Abiku. Not every sound they make is golden, but they are all enthralling.

Abiku’s Novelty consists of twenty-six songs, mostly falling between thirty seconds and two minutes, self-contained capsules of eerie synths, droning guitars, drum machines, and above all else, the most violent vocals maybe ever. Jarring doesn’t half describe the carnage this album leaves in its wake, having more in common with slasher films than conventional electronic music. Like those B-movies it references, the record is immediate, opting for concentrated bursts of fierce musical devastation, almost tangible textures, which, for all the music may lack in subtlety and focus, are momentarily startling, and occasionally exhilarating.

As I mentioned in my first MT6 piece (of shit, apparently), this isn’t music for everyone. I’m not sure who to recommend this album to…I don’t know who would enjoy sitting down and listening to this song by song, because also like those slasher movies, it covers the same ground for most of its running time, and what is at first encounter unsettling quickly becomes routine. Plus, it’s really difficult to hear the singer’s lyrics when she’s screaming most of the time, which is sad because the lyrics are really outstanding. As the record wears on the tracks gradually become more subdued and introspective, and the once-chainsaw synths take on more atmospheric tones, and it’s in the last quarter of the album that I find my favorite tracks. (It’s important to note, Novelty is a compilation of demos and singles from 2002 through 2005).

Lyrics range from “Did you hear about the arm that surfaced in the lake last week/It floated while the reeds were cut and no one knew where it was from/It was a girls’ but too deep in the jaws of the machine to save/It was gone it left no trace, no discoloration” (”Action Toy”) to “We found a paradise apart/A place to rest our hats and hearts/We rested well, grew fat on bread/And we went soft, we lost our edge” (”Zombie”). Really, the lyrics, once you read them, are the most impressive thing about the record.  But it’s maddeningly difficult to try to connect very much with them on account of the constant screaming.

The synth work is either oppressive (”Boxer,” “Just Like”) and haunting or bizarrely cloying (”Fairly,” “Proclomation”). Again, generally speaking the first half and then some is dominated by mostly alienating, uncomfortable sounds, but gradually becomes more comprehensible and digestible before the album’s close. The frenetic, epileptic beats slow a bit and thankfully, the screaming isn’t as gratuitous. Overall a really fine band, one I’d love to catch live sometime. The songs are captivating in theory but I think they are hurt a bit by the temper-tantrum delivery.

MP3: Radiant Dragon - Cloud Seeding

MP3: Girls - Lust for Life

MP3: Girls - Hellhole Ratrace

Sarah: Uncharacteristically silent until now. Queen of Hoxton gave me the willies. The neighborhood, Shoreditch, was awash with trendiness + suits. Bad vibes were just oozing all over.

Queen of Hoxton ceiling art

A very frat boy/Wall Street vibe. Hostility everywhere. Thousands of disco balls making me seasick as I tried to cross the room.

Too Many Flashing Lights! Barf!

After receiving a lecture about the propriety of sharing drums, it was discovered that we had no guitars, no bass, no phallic substitutes to play, just girly-man keyboards. Oh you could just feel the condescending stares from the jocked out techies sporting full sleeve tattoos and gelled up boy bangs.

Not to say that everyone there was a giant asshole. Larry from Radiant Dragon was a peach, very friendly, organized, and an all-around nice human being. Also Jack, the brains behind the show, was quite accommodating and pleasant. I’d share a coffee + pizza with either of these gentlemen. And the sound guy was ok too.

Larry from Radiant Dragon

Although we’d been told we were playing second, we ended up playing first to an almost empty venue. The keyboards were all squished onto one double-tiered stand with me and Dave/Nathan facing each other combat-style. I was a little worried about cracking skulls mid-song. Aggravatingly, we played a fantastic set. The crowd fleshed out a bit as we went on. For once, technical mishaps were curtailed and nothing fell over or malfunctioned. By this point though, I was through with this place and terribly peeved we bothered playing so well. I was looking for disaster, perhaps a reason to storm off the stage in disgust. Instead there were cheers and applause, and my sour mood felt rather unjustified. I hate wasting a good pout.

The headlining act, Girls, from somewhere western and stateside, was so out of my sphere of appreciation that I will decline to comment. The crowd liked them a lot. They would.

we <3 dolly parton

Double Dagger
Floristree
Baltimore, MD
May 22, 2009

Band:
Nolen Strals-vocals
Bruce Willen-bass, vocals
Denny Bowen-drums

Source: Peluso CEMC6/ck4(card)>PS-2>AD-20>NJB3
Transfer: NJB3>PC>SF-7>Wav>FLAC
Taper: Jeff Mewbourn (jm292@yahoo.com)

Photo credit: Greg Szeto

Air Waves’ set here

Video Hippos’ set here

Download the full set formatted as: MP3 or FLAC (Available after 11:45PM EST 5/23)

Stream and download individual MP3s after the jump.

1. Intro
2. Neon Gray
3. Half-Life
4. No Allies
5. Vivre Sans Temps Mort
6. Camouflage
7. The Lie / The Truth*
8. Surrealist Composition with Your Face
9. We Are The Ones
10. Audience
11. E: Luxury Condos for the Poor

Notes:
Lineup:Air Waves>Video Hippos>Double Dagger
CD Release show for DD’s More
Second vocal mic (Bruce) had a short
*: Sam Herring (Future Islands) as guest backup vocals
Sound: Jared Paolini
SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC

Double Dagger furthered their legend, delivering as intense and tight a set as I think I’ve seen from them, at least in recent memory.  The biggest change was probably how happy and refreshed they seemed to be,   It was also one of their most well-paced and constructed sets, opening with the building tumult of “Neon Gray” revving the anticipiation from the crowd like a finely tuned racecar, then ripping through a set list culled almost entirely (and appropriately) from the release in celebration, More.  ”No Allies” is as ferocious as ever, and is easily coming to rival long-time favorite “Luxury Condos for the Poor” for the most vigorous fan reaction.  The juxtaposition of the sublime intro in the follow-up song (”Vivre Sans Temp Mort”) worked, resonating remarkably well as a showcase of new emotions that Double Dagger can effectively pluck live.  More highlights included the obvious encore of “Luxury Condos” and a spectacular performance of More’s addictive lead single “The Lie / The Truth,” complete with high-energy cameo and backup vox from Sam Herring of Future Islands.  Despite a plethora of technical speedbumps, notably the loss of Bruce’s backup vocal mic, the set lost almost no momentum and raged right on til morning.

Check out the live audio here, and Double Dagger photos after the jump (Nolen-heavy given my poor vantage point, no slight intended Bruce & Denny).

MP3: Cats In Paris - Get Out Of Jail Free Card

Dave again. I’ll handle the account of our trip up to the Midlands since I spent a good many months nestled in Central England a few years ago. First off–our Saturday night support slot in Nottingham:

Wallpaper eating Nathan in Brighton

After regaining consciousness that morning in Brighton, our brave entourage bid adieu to the lovely lads we’d been crashing with at the Grapevine. Saying our quiet, tip-toed goodbyes and thank yous to our hostel beastmates, we prepared to head back in the estate car towards London.

Riding shotgun, I insisted on listening to some Beach House to send us out on a cloud of nautical seaside bliss as we dieseled away, somewhat forlorn and extremely drained of energy, from the famous resort town in our Volkswagon rental. Navigating the roads became a lot easier as we got back into south London thanks to some A-Z London map-consultation and the iPhone of our de facto tour-manager, Benjamin, whose Stop Scratching cassette-label is re-issueing our tape. The excitement began to build once again.

After a quick bite to eat and some tea in London we were off again, streamlined and ready to hit up the Chameleon Cafe in Nottingham. Half the car began sleeping on the journey north through our playlist of Deerhunter and the newest Abe Vigoda EP jams. Undoubtedly, none of us could have imagined this time last year that we’d soon be sharing the stage with both those acts (especially me- going to physical therapy 2-3 times a week to rehab a shattered right elbow).

Arriving right on time to the venue and parking by the castle, probably one scaled by Robin Hood or Dave Chappelle back in the day, we made a more conscious effort to get our sound problems sorted out since we were actually on time and actually getting a soundcheck, but not before devouring a discounted bowl of some amazing grilled veggies over pasta, cooked for us by Nick, the man at the door. Although it seems that most sound-guys at smaller clubs in the UK are okay with running keyboards direct-in through the house PA system, there are always problems that arise with our four small, battery-powered wonders. Tonight was no exception, as Sarah’s keys were set down too low in the mix, and we accidentally had a few keyboards slightly out of tune. How does that even happen!? The honky-tonk chorus effect. The set went really well, despite these minor hurdles, and coming away from the small third-floor stage we felt our normal, ebullient selves. Whatever that is. I was thrilled to see a few of my old friends from my semester abroad in the crowd and we hung out for a bit during and after the show.

Hott or nott

Chameleon Cafe Nick Owner dude guy Art his this is

To recap the nights’ music, the openers at The Chameleon were a local student group called Sea Mullet. Despite having all that working against them, they actually weren’t too bad! Zinggg. The two singers harmonized fairly well together, and switched bass and guitar duties displaying their musicianship and knowledge of chord patterns during soundcheck and brief instrument swap-gaps between songs. Their new drummer played a full Roland digital drum kit while the lead singer held the attention of the crowd throughout and aptly triggered his own vocal effects (a stutter-delay, extra reverb) throughout a series of songs that could have fit well in a Hot Chip or Happy Mondays live set. They ended powerfully with a traditional folk tune, “Lowlands,” which centered around a beat featuring the digital kit’s steel-drum cadence.

The Week That Was. An indie-rock quartet from The Futureheads’ neck of the woods. Their indie power-pop reminded me something of Danish dream-proggers Mew (without the Ben Gibbard-esque whiny teardropping). The Newcastle/Geordie accent is so distinct that it’s difficult not to use their friends, The Futureheads, as a frame of reference, and the similarities between the two (plus the fact that this seemed like a side-project) likely prevents TWTW from getting nearly as massive. Like the openers, they, too, finished with a cover–John Cale’s “Fear (Is A Man’s Best Friend),” which immediately made me think of that great Arboretum/Pontiak split as the gig was ending and we had to pack up all our equipment. We definitely miss Baltimore, but England has been a blast so far. We’ve had the opportunity to play with and meet a lot of great bands.  One who was in attendance at this particular show, Lovvers, who have in the past year or so toured with buzz bands Times New Viking, Jay Reatard, Abe Vigoda, and Los Campesinos!, will be storming Baltimore for Whartscape on July 18th!!! Brace yourselves!

Our show the next day in Birmingham seemed like a blur, and I’ll keep it shorter than our Notts trip. We started off the morning heading off from a large but untidy student-house in Nottingham, full of wonderful people but no hot water for showers.

Matthew (my old friend from Uni and our driver) arranged for us to meet up with an old flatmate of his in Leicester, and got us all hot showers and tea. The sun was out after a brief spell of morning rain, and we had a good Sunday roast over at my old local, The Soar Point, adjacent to the river I used to overlook each morning at breakfast five years before.

We headed into a city difficult to navigate, home to the infamous Spaghetti Junction. Thankfully, we found our way to the venue and got the closest possible parking space. We were able to get this gig at the Sunflower Lounge last-minute since Benjamin used his Brum booking connections. That said, we were slid right before an incredible trio called Cats in Paris. The three other bands that went on before us, including Between Us and The Fire, had their moments, but I felt like for the most part bands had brought waaaay too much equipment to such a small venue. The band that went on before us (”A poor man’s Metronomy,” as someone put it) seemed primed to play a stadium venue with all the keyboards and pedals they had strewn about.

Our sound was a disaster. The soundman, a Russell Brand lookalike, could not seem to get anything close to the correct levels on our keys, even after I opted to send my low-end through Cats in Paris’ bass amp. We plowed through our tunes, packed up and prepared to be treated to a set from Cats in Paris. They were very engaging to watch, and had thankfully brought their own soundman and AV. The bearded lead singer appeared to be pulling the Michael McDonald finger-to-the-ear move to get his vocals in tune, when in actuality he was more than likely just sliding his glasses back into place when his hands had a free moment.

The man was a virtuoso, wielding both a violin and two tiers of keyboards, while the bassist and drummer were certainly up to the task of carrying out his complex compositions. The visuals projected behind the band switched between comic book cartoonishness and black and white clips conveying childhood imagination, and unified the arpeggiated video-game synths with the rich tones of the violin, doubled and looped. Apparently they had even more members that were not there, and I excitedly shudder to think what else they would unleash with an expanded lineup. They could easily fit onto any Wham City Round-Robin lineup, and would appeal to fans of Man Man and They Might Be Giants alike. Result!

MP3: Teeth Mountain - Ghost Science from Teeth Mountain (2007)

MP3: Dan Deacon - Padding Ghost from Bromst (2009)

All Photos: the inimitable institution, Josh Sisk (full set here)

Dan Deacon is hitting up Sonar on June 13th, I suggest that you seek out tickets.

Editor’s note: Or you could enter to win tickets from Aural States.  Check back in just a few days.

Out in rural Carroll County where I reside, there’s a powerful stigma behind the idea of Baltimore. It brings up connotations of dimly lit streets, frightening murder-prone men behind every corner, and the Inner Harbor existing as an oasis of “real citydom” in the midst of it all. Needless to say, most of my country-bumpkin peers aren’t very familiar with the town. However, if they just so happened to have been at the 9:30 Club this past Sunday night, I’m sure their minds would have completely eliminated that sinister reputation, replacing it with one of ecstatic joy.

The night kicked off with a few middle-school-age kids playing Strokes-inspired tunes to an eager reception. They never gave out a band name, nor a reason why they were there, but their ambitious cover of “A Day In the Life” was more than enough to impress the skeptical audience. The always-original Teeth Mountain followed, prepared with three noisy experimental jams whose sonic delivery brought even the resistant balcony-dwellers’ bones to an uneasy chill. Still, the crowd remained stiff, many seated, basking in the hordes of dissonant percussion and distorted instrumentation of all shapes and sizes.

It was only when Future Islands appeared, being a Deacon-described “feet” band, that the populated upper level of 9:30 diffused to the larger floor. Shelling out easy-yet-imaginative, 80’s-wave influenced tunes, the frenetic blasts of vocalist Sam Herring contrasted with the enjoyable familiarity of his backing. They’re always a solid contribution to any lineup. I remember looking back at a friend of mine, her eyes wildly glazed, mouth half open, enjoying music so loud that you forget how stupid you look dancing to it.

After Future Islands’ set, things really started to heat up (literally as well as figuratively). It took roughly 15 to 30 minutes for Dan Deacon’s fifteen-person ensemble to arrange their diverse collection of instruments, during which the impatient audience became united in a way that I have yet to experience elsewhere. We were all bored, listening to the between-set songs, wishing that our favorite goofy electronics guru would take the stage. It was really quite mundane until someone decided to play Seal over the PA system, when it soon became apparent that we should (ironically) chant right along with. I think we all noticed that everyone else was shouting along as loudly as they could, being that the audience was clearly drowning out the volume of the speakers. To accentuate the absurd effect of our cohesion, every once in awhile the sound guy would turn down the master volume. There was a sense of mutual-admiration for one another, that we all knew of and were content with each other’s presence.  A mood perfectly suited for Dan Deacon’s epic brand of electro-pop.

Even our Danny boy sung along to “No Rain” as he took the stage, beginning his set with a tale about George Costanza and some wicked Taz tattoos. (NPR has the full concert, including the story streaming, because I know you’re interested). He lead off with “Get Older,” and stuck with material chiefly from his latest, Bromst, for the show’s totality, only getting off track for the very welcome “Crystal Cat” and “Wham City.”

Of course, Dan had all of his Deaky little tricks, including a dance-off (starring Space Ghost), a poorly executed but brilliantly conceptualized activity called Gauntlet, some hands-on-head reflection, and everyone’s yearly dosage of guided sing-along. The already-harmonious group was quick to play along with his games, which made the music almost secondary to the crowd interaction.

I think we all already know that Dan Deacon is a good time, so I don’t need to tell you about how he creates a uniquely euphoric atmosphere, or about how delightful of a person he appears to be. The whole show had a nostalgic tinge, what with it being the last stop on the tour. It came to a worn-out finale with the anthemic “Wham City” (underlying some of Mr. Deacon’s wonderful circuit-bent jamming). Like Bromst, Deacon’s presentation at the 9:30 showed a new side to his music. Those last few minutes of improvised synthesizer orchestration yearned for home, the few-miles-away Baltimore. Maybe it was the profound amount of fatigue I was experiencing, but I still think that the final moments of this concert were simply moving, to say the very least. To miss one of Deacon’s shows, especially one with the Bromst ensemble, would be a mistake that you wouldn’t want to make.

MP3: Wye Oak - For Prayer from Live Set @ Aural States Fest 2009

MP3: Pomegranates - Corriander from Everybody, Come Outside! (2009)

MP3: Pomegranates - Beachcomber from Everybody, Come Outside! (2009)

Cakes of Light have a sound that lies somewhere along the desolate backroads of noise folk.  Their music unfurls with a weight and gravitas that feels mostly mesmerizing and entrancing, but at times overbearing and overwrought.  Never quite reaching the level of histrionics, but inching ever dangerously closer and closer to that edge.  Interesting, spacious music, but not a fan of the vocals…so I was a fan of the concept, but not the entire execution.

Pomegranates were positively explosive, their energy building and building until it boils over, the increasingly frantic music wriggling through and possessing each member’s body, emerging as anthemic shouts or abrupt outbursts of physicality (at one point, someone mounted the half-wall stage-right and catapulted themselves from it).  Their growth and elated release is not unlike that of Arcade Fire, down to the urgent vocal stylings that bear no small similarity to Win Butler’s.  The difference here is that you never once wonder if Pomegranates feel and believe every word and note, unlike the Arcade Fire, who are often found on the other side of the too-thespian boundary line (partially due to their big draw now putting them on the big theater stages, but I digress).

The sharp, staccato guitar and bass lines pluck their way finely through each song, as if a brightly-colored thread woven by a fine sewing needle, popping out from the compositions while somehow still stitching everything together.  They facilely switch modes from ambient, dreamweavers creating in broad and expansive textures not out of place in the gaziest of shoegaze, to propulsive and visceral passages that err on the side of angular and technical.  The energy level reached its peak as they closed the set (and their tour with Wye Oak) with the rollicking barnburner “Southern Ocean,” fitted with an immediate hook and a playful, warmly welcoming hoot-and-holler vocal breakdown that opens into the shout-along chorus anchored by the emphatic words “We’re not scared anymore.”  Backed by Jenn Wasner on backup vocals/tambourine, the Poms closed a great set in fantastic fashion.

Wye Oak just keep getting better and better.  Every time I see them, they raise the bar and blow the roof off the venue.  This time was no different.  After touring and recording The Knot, Jenn and Andy are remarkably comfortable in their skin and stage performance.  Gone are the jitters and anxious giddiness of performances past; in their place, they exude a strong self-assurance and a relaxed glee and joy.  They were clearly excited to be home.

Their forthcoming LP The Knot is a powerhouse of emotion and music, building on their debut If Children in all the right ways and places.  Their compositions for the new album show Jenn getting bolder with her guitar work and more dynamic with her vocals, and Andy getting more finessed and diverse with his texturing of all manner of sounds, from percussion to keyboards to drones to harmonium (and violin and pedal steel make notable, rich contributions as well).

The result is truly epic grandeur.

This treatment  gives new life and depth to their live set, yielding refreshing accents of old standards like “Family Glue,” while really soaring on newer tracks like “For Prayer” and “Take It In” that incorporated these elements from their genesis.  Combined with their building stage confidence and much tighter symbiosis, they take you on a truly affecting musical journey, replete with lofty peaks, chasmic valleys and all intermediate variations.

An absolutely crushing, down-tempo rendition of “Warning” closed their set.  Andy took a break from his multi-instrumental orgy to let Jenn start off the track and set the tempo: slow and spare, with only vocals and guitar.  Andy hopped up after a few verses and phased in a soul-shaking variant of the noisy squall found on the recorded version.  The more intense and textured drone was brought to the fore in this rendition, starting as a deep, soft baritone that grew to an immersive mass.  The re-imagined track was their second encore of the night, and it left everyone aching for more.

Wye Oak

Pomegranates

MT6

There really isn’t any comparison between what the popular record considers experimental or lo-fi, and what comes out of MT6. However abrasive Thurston Moore is playing guitar with a drill, it’s still not as jarring as the majority of MT6’s releases. Jason Willett and Jad Fair you might have heard before, but they are only the tip of a jagged, shadowy iceberg.

There’s sometimes a tendency in musical criticism, or whatever it is I do on afternoons off with a CD player and wordpad, to reduce a band down to a few easy comparisons. Some people get up in arms about this practice and some don’t worry much; I tend to fall in the latter camp, because name dropping is frankly the best way to turn people on to new music.

With these MT6 Records, pointing out those grazing touches of influence isn’t rewarding, mostly because the vast majority of what I’ve heard from this label has no concern whatsoever for influence or fitting into a historical setting. It is very much music for the moment it is made, and the moment you hear it. You won’t hum these songs to yourself in the morning when you wake up. In fact, I’d wager that 99% of people wouldn’t be inclined to listen to these songs more than once.

The first bit for review, because it’s the first thing I listened to, is the MT6 Early 2009 Sampler. When I first sat down, I attempted to take careful notes as I listened to each song, and while I enjoyed some (and absolutely loathed others), more than anything I found myself completely bewildered as to how to review the material.

So I did what came kind of unnaturally to me.

Ignoring my critical English-major background, in the grand tradition of Lester Bangs, I drank a few beers, (get it, “empty six?”), etc, etc, and let fly with the notion that every edit is a lie, a notion this record label obviously appreciates. So love it or hate it, I honestly don’t care, this is what went through my brain at the time of hearing these songs. I can’t say that I actually enjoyed more than a few of the tracks on the sampler, but that’s something I feel fine with, because I can’t imagine anyone being all for all of these songs without being criminally insane or completely unable to define what they enjoyed.

(arranged alphabetically because, although it makes a good reference, I can’t imagine anyone would feel the desire to read this all the way through)

MP3: Abiku. “Novelty”. Abiku is murdering techno. So many of these songs sound like somebody was dying in the background when they were made and this is no exception? The singer has one of the most impressive girl screams on the planet. She sounds like an animal dying. I hope she gets a role in the next Friday the 13th movie.

MP3: The Agrarians. “The Mirror Travels Above The Ocean”. I honestly have a bit of a bias for this band because they recorded across the street from where I grew up. Litereally. I grew up at 1414 Hull Street in Locust Point, and this song was recorded in what was formerly the crackhouse adjacent to my dad’s old favorite bar Joe and Jen’s at 1359 Hull St. Matt, if you’re reading, I don’t think we ever met, but are you Bobby Perzinski’s son? You kind of sound like Jim Morrison. Nice job. Represent.

Animal Twat. “Fuck Your Cocaine”. Like if GBV played alt-metal riffs and had idiotic lyrics. I can’t be sure but if this is supposed to be a play on words; if it is, it’s an explicitly poor and unfunny one. And if it isn’t supposed to be, it certainly comes off that way.

Bad Liquor Pond. “PainKiller”. This sound is downright conventional, the only band yet not to declare war on eardrums. Just enough of a four minute tease before sending you back to the noise fascists with a soft-on for a real song. Definitely the standout track on the CD. I hope more people take notice of this band.

Balance. “44″. Unbelievably uninteresting loop. At 4:51, the longest song on the sampler and it feels like every second.

Blakk Sweat. “Strange Mouth”. Very soporific qualities to the music on display here. Actually fairly pleasant, but not exactly attention grabbing. Par for the course.

Can Openers. “You Can’t See Me”. Thurston Moore was so conventional that he played guitar with a drill bit. These songs are actually household appliances played with a guitar. Robots can play that shit. Robots are playing that shit. What an undeniably fucked up track.

CAVEMEN!!!. “Cut the Tank”. Lots of screaming and poor recording quality. Not too fun.

Chief Pokawa. “Baked”. Really? I personally stopped finding marijuana fun when I was about 18, but now I like it even less since it’s on a mix with so many bands who are probably enamored with more terrifying psychedelics. You should smoke this at the end as a comedown.

Chin Forces. “Transport”. Breaking out the Death Cab riffs, then trashing them with some slasher guitars. Ballsy. No vocals. Could have been better with vocals.

Cream Center. “This Song Is About Fucking Dragons”. Has a hint of texture, which is a nice thing for a band to be attentive to. Fairly one-dimensional, though. I wish the song went somewhere and that they bothered to record the singer in a way that I could understand the lyrics. I don’t know why so many of the singers on this record want to sound like cartoons.

Decapitated Hed. “Blood on Hands, Poop on Dancefloor”. A pretty satisfying display of rhythmic consciousness makes this track a standout. But, as with many of these songs, I wish more happened. You’ve got four minutes of my time. Don’t give me the same thirty seconds over and over.

Dirt. “Where are the meesers?”. Has some interesting sounds and great juxtaposition of the female lyrics with the rhythm (she occasionally could be mistaken for Bjork) but lacks any kind of changes in instrumentation, dynamics, or tone. Plus the lyrics are just retarded. And what an unimaginative band name. They so stole the name from the second Alice In Chains album.

Engine. “Practice Makes Purple”. Sub-interesting tribal noise experiments. But its not really that noisy, just has a few boring noises strung together.

MP3: Jad Fair and Jason Willet. “Or So I’ve Been Told”. The two biggest names to have become with MT6. Bouncy arcade music with an insane ringleader conducting the circus. It’s hard to consistently make music this off the wall so satisfying, and these guys have their fair share of bad apples, but they’re still batting way better than anyone else.

Pat Grant. “Expectation Blues”. Fairly boring and stagnant ballad. Tiny alterations in the vocal harmonies sustain the song.

Hazardous Guadalupe. “AudioVisual Education”. This song gets my vote as the worst on here. I’m usually not so glib as to completely trash a band because most bands have done more with their musical abilities than I ever have. But I can confidently say I’ve made better music than this. So could you. Have you ever whistled tunefully? Drummed your fingers on the tabletop? You’ve done better than Hazardous Guadalupe.

Heroin UK. “ShitStorm”. What is this AC/DC cock-rock. Whatever. I at least appreciate the attempt at making a real song, even if it is only a few of the most basic alt-rock chords.

Herschel Hoover. “Opener”. Standard angular melodies and driving riffs. Another of the few normal sounding songs on the record. Pretty well done.

Human Host. “Hatched”. Where else to begin. Insano metal acid trip gone bad kinds of guitars, but that’s not really fair because most bad acid is more fun than this song. Reminds me of the first time I listened to Sebadoh’s Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock and “Crysis” came blaring from the speakers. Except that song let up at some point. And so does acid.

Le Harmacy. “2″. Sorry no Sebadoh references here. This is minimalistic prog-rock atonality. Definitely the truest to experimental rock of the 70s. Not quite a classical influence but definitely a hearken back to the jazz-fusion (especially on bass) that dominated that style’s predisposition towards shitty mainland European confusion rock. Thanks NEU!

MP3: Rickman. “Hard 2 Be Me”. This kind of sounds like it could be a Beatles riff that opens the song. The rest is pure acoustic weirdness. Not a bad little song with a cool structure. But is there anything worse than using a “2″ to say “to”?

Rosemary Krust. “For Today”. Takes us on another transcendent trip through “The Black Angel’s Death Song.”  Hardly the voice of an angel though. Pretty creepy track.

Newagehillbilly. “Sonic Rehab”. MT6’s head honcho Alex Strama’s latest project. Alex should have the Natty Boh tattoo replaced with a DMT plant. Lo-fi death trip music.

Talibam. “3″. Tuneless excuses for making noise. I honestly won’t remember this track more than a few minutes from now so why bother describing it.

Whistletips. “Excerpt”. There’s so little to this song I can’t really describe it. Some kind of feedback loop at very low frequency. It sounds like something Tool would have put between songs to make them seem like they were really mysterious.

MP3: Jason Willett. “SRIURFXRET96″. The kind of noise collage I’ve come to expect from Willet. I prefer my songs to have fewer stitches and more transitions. Still a fun run down the sonic pastiche spine.

The Wire Orchestra. “Square Roots”. Very patience draining. Occasionally alarming. Mostly a boring story with some occasionally comic lines.

It fucking rains in England.

Shoot for the stars and punch the moon in the face.

Alright, lets play some catchup… We spent an extra night in Exeter. Awoke to a slight drizzle. Soaked us to the bone as we walked a 1/2 a mile to the train station. 3.5 hours to London. Fake jerky and fruit leather all day. We’re sweatin’ we won’t make our Brighton show. Dave’s friend, Matt, rents a car and picks us up from the Waterloo train station in London. We met with Benjamin beforehand. Him and Cassie just spent the past several nights working diligently on our “Stop Scratching” tape. Quick 2 Brighton! Great Escape or Great Trap?

No street signs. One way streets. The roundabout. Circles? What are circles?

BRIGHTON
The San Francisco of England. Hilly and gay. We played Revenge.. equipped with a nice weiner catwalk. Flamboyant security guards. I wanted 2 set my drums upon the head of the cock… Dave and Sarah flanking me at the back.. Standing ready for aural intercourse with the masses… and wow, they sure showed up. Despite us being extremely late (showing up 10minutes b4 the doors opened), and going on without soundcheck. The show was fun and met with a positive response though the crowd was rather somber and reserved.

Time for a tag-team post a la site-contributors Alex Mudge/Caleb Moore back in October…

David C. Section here, ready to give you a run-through of the 3 London bands on the No Pain In Pop (remember the name) compilation you WILL be hearing more from in 2009…

Trailer Trash Tracys: Even before Pitchfork gave them the nod I was into their song, “Strangling Good Guys.” Songs began simply enough, many times seeming familiar to shoegaze of the mid-80s/early 90s, Lou Reed or Suicide, but would quickly layer, sweeping in like warm seafoam waves; really quite a fitting sound for a venue overlooking Brighton’s famous beach and brightly-lit pier. Their Debbie Harry-esque vocalist, Susanne, provided a soothingly sedate melodic center to the drone of mid-range guitar as what could be seen of the sunlight faded. The bass and snare timbres of the trigger-pad drums were certainly reminiscent of MBV’s cut-and-paste constructive approach, and chipped through the mid-range guitar undertoe. However, most impressive and expressive were Adam Jaffrey’s basslines, whose grimey garage tones and placement oftentimes independent of the drums really drove the TTT’s sound.

A Grave with No Name: This London trio took the stage with a scaled-back drum set-up and looked similar to a band that might have opened up for Mudhoney in the early 90s. Their sound did not reflect the grunge aesthetic, with the singer’s delicately melodic vocal range certainly cutting through and floating above the cacophony. The band appeared to be having a rough night with the sound, as were every other band to be honest. Although the audience, myself included, enjoyed all the acts, the sound here wasn’t great, even when attempting to capture the more lofi aesthetics of the first three bands. AGWNN seemed particularly frustrated, starting and stopping songs. Overall, it was still an enjoyable slice of sludgey fuzzed-out rock.

The XX: The nights’ headliners, London four-piece The XX, seemed to bring many devoted fans up to the front of the stage. Nathan noticed their “super ugly hip London haircuts,” which seemed to harken back to high and tight, tiered bowl-cut fade, unisexx hairstyles my mom tried to shield me from in my impressionable pre-K days. Sedate melancholy beats within atmospheric pop dance songs, set off by some cool finger-touch drums stage right and solid male/female vocal interplay. A bit like contemporaries CocoRosie or Telepathe, but with a sombre R&B duet kind of feel and not devoid of ebullience. As I’ve said, the sound and equipment here at Revenge was not the greatest, but, following a microphone cutting out near the end of the set, a forced mic-share between the tall and slender male bassist and the petite female guitarist was a beautful electro-goth moment if ever there was one.

Afterthoughts on Brighton, the No Pain In Pop stage at Revenge, and The Great Escape: Not enough time! I really wish we’d been able to venture around a bit more that night, or at least been able to see our friends Gentle Friendly play before Zach Hill of Hella, and Black Lips on Thursday (*I’ve since heard that Jared is in jail in the UK at the moment for repeatedly hurling a sandbag at a car*) or some of the groups going on at the weekend like Dananananaykroyd (wait, was that enough “ans?”). We were set to follow Daniel of GF over to the Abe Vigoda show, but we missed it and instead went to a greasy spoon 24-hour caf to eat our very first meal of the day at 11:00pm.

Make it a point to track down the most recent No Pain In Pop compilation, featuring our own homegrown talent, Ponytail! This is a great independent label/promotions venture whose “top brass” have been really supportive of us (with Tom K and Kev even letting us crash with them in their packed hostel room that night! Thank you again, beastmates). Taking in the seaside air was refreshing after a long, arduous journey, but it was too cold, drizzly, and windy to even consider going to the beach, riding around on vespas, or hitting up the pier; still, between seeing the bands at the NPIP stage, spotting the drummer of the Mae Shi harrassing a bouncer twice his size outside a party he was supposed to DJ, and flying by the seat of our pants and living by the skin of our gnashing teeth, Brighton did not disappoint.

Stay tuned for our review of the Midlands weekend, Deerhunter, and future London shows with TTT’s, GF, Abe Vigoda, The Mae Shi, and many more!!!

And I, for one, certainly couldn’t be happier.

The same overloaded analog drum machine rhythm tracks, vocodered references to flowers, sunshine, and summer, and mellotron flute sounds abound.  New textures like soft-synth strings, banjos, cleaner acoustic guitars, and producer Dave Fridmann’s staples (such as big, overloaded drum sounds) certainly tweak the traditional BMSR listening experience, but overall the production is not a significant departure from previous releases.

Like previous releases, BMSR continues to serve both head and heart in equal portions: Eating Us works as both barely audible background fodder and close headphone study material (I’ve even caught my 11 year-old and 8 year-old whistling the tunes after a few listens in the car).  In short, irresistible stuff.  Here’s “Twin of Myself,” a bouncy, inviting three minutes and twenty-one seconds of sunshine:

MP3: BMSR - Twin of myself

Another standout track invites the “perfect soundtrack for summer” tag, as cliched as it might be.  ”Smile the Day After Today” tickles those neurons that make you remember warm days at the beach, or riding your bike with your friends after school in early spring.

MP3: BMSR - Born on a day the sun didn’t rise

Titles containing odd juxtapositions continue, conjuring disparate images of the sweet working in concert with, say, the solid (”Iron Lemonade”), or mixing the menacing with the child-like (”Dark Bubbles”).  A new title twist is the overtly lysergic “The Fields Are Breathing,” which perhaps plays BMSR’s hand a bit too openly, abandoning the subtle for the obvious with slightly less artful results.

In summary, don’t expect anything new from Eating Us, just more of the same predictable, everyday, humdrum wonderfulness that BMSR turns out in seemingly effortless fashion, release after release.

P.S.: BMSR leader Tobacco remixed Baltimore rapper Height’s “Baltimore Highlands,” which proves that BMSR can impose their signature sound on virtually any genre with great success.

MP3: Height With Friends - Baltimore Highlands (Tobacco Remix)

Label: Graveface Records

Releaste Date: May 26 2009

Track List:
Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise (free mp3)
Dark Bubbles
Twin Of Myself
Gold Splatter
Iron Lemonade
Tooth Decay
Fields Are Breathing
Smile The Day After Today
The Sticky
Bubblegum Animals
American Face Dust

I have an unabashed, unashamed respect for the Shins, a band who, along with Death Cab for Cutie, have defined what it means to be a successful, popular, and critically-respected indie band.

They’ve been featured in coloring books, gotten a shout-out from Natalie Portman in what was surely one of the wimpiest movies of all time, and I’m told are the second best-selling artist on Sub Pop (I assume behind Sebadoh). Which basically means they’re pretty old hat by now, and if you’re reading this you’ve no doubt already been exposed to them and you either love or hate or feel ambivalent about them. Their sound is pretty, bordering on cute at times, but much like Belle & Sebastian before them (or perhaps more like The Smiths to go back a bit farther), the understated music is subservient to the lyrics, which happen to be some of the most well-put in rock music.

Delta Spirit (who opened) you may have heard less about.  Their album Ode to Sunshine (2008) was an impressive debut, full of some really soulful tracks with Matt Vasquez belting impassioned, if relatively straightforward lyrics (not unlike Nathan Willet from Cold War Kids). A really good opener for The Shins, with their upbeat, rollicking country folk-by-way-of-California pop songs. More of a proper band than the Shins (who clearly are a vehicle for James Mercer), Delta Spirit had an impressive stage presence; all the band’s members had an invigorating energy. Young band fervor mixed with mid-twenties confidence. Some real foot stompers and sing-along opportunities, but the mostly thirty-something crowd at the Ram’s Head were pretty motionless, or maybe they just didn’t know any of the songs.

James Mercer and his considerably taller bandmates played a set mixed from all their albums, but not really loaded with favorites (I really wanted “Girl Sailor,” but oh well), all the while managing to keep those Oxford shirts tucked and clean. As far as those acclaimed lyrics go, I don’t know if anyone else could go on stage and deliver  a poetic gem like “Red Rabbits” undaunted’: “Out of a gunnysack fall red rabbits/Into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion/And we can’t allow a chance they’d restore themselves”.

Furthermore, Mercer’s love-as-sea voyage metaphors are singularly imaginative and alienating.  While most people would probably consider the Shins a happy band, the lyrics seem genuinely fed up with the protocols of modern living (but I guess one of the nice things about playing in a band is that you don’t have to pay attention to those as much). Musically most people probably dismiss them as pushers of simple major chord progressions, which is half true.  But under scrutiny, the band has an uncanny, McCartney-like ability to make shimmering pop songs out of what are actually very complex chord structures. They played a few covers of the Beach Boys, Neil Young, The Beta Band, and of course, James Gang, because “Funk 49″ has apparently become the coolest song to cover lately. A few new songs were even premiered, which seem a bit more rockin’ and up-tempo upon first impression.

I have, on occasion, complained about the acoustics at Rams Head, but now I think that the first couple shows I saw there might have been bad apples. The quieter, less distorted, and decidedly more rhythmically and lyrically focused bands sound on point at Rams Head.  Even still, it’s probably not going to be the place to see bands who rely on big dynamic textures or guitar heroics, which is why Built to Spill and the Meat Puppets disappointed, and I imagine Dinosaur Jr. would as well. But I always liked that band better on record than live. I don’t see a point to posting anything from the Shins, so here’s the new Dinosaur song.

J’s vocals are really incredible. The guitars are a little more mid-range than I prefer, they don’t have that sunlight shattering through the haze of a forest floor kind of quality they used to, but shit they’re still really good for being like, y’know, dinosaurs:

MP3: Dinosaur Jr. - Over It

Photo credit (The Thermals, Point Juncture): Greg Szeto

Photo credit (The Shaky Hands): Shantel Mitchell

MP3: The Thermals - When I Was Afraid from Now We Can See (2009)

MP3: The Shaky Hands - Whales Sing from The Shaky Hands (2006)

MP3: The Shaky Hands - We Are Young from Lunglight (2008)

MP3: Point Juncture, WA - Sioux Arrow from Heart to Elk (2008)

The modestly-filled Black Cat enjoyed a good-to-great Wednesday night of rock from three Portland exports.  Point Juncture, WA opened the night with lushly arranged melodies, hovering all around the stylistic spectrum, ably switching from chill-out 90’s jam to jangle-pop and myriad other sounds.  Great energy, and impressive display of musical chairs with people switching instruments like they had a habit.

According to Skyler from Point Juncture, The Shaky Hands were one of Portland’s best kept secrets up until recently; and it was easy to see why.  Their brand of early pop rock calls forth equal parts from innumerable legends of the 60’s rock era, from the Beach Boys to the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion.  Their sound features significant jitter and jangle, often yielding breezy, yet muscular surf-rock songs.  They had probably the best stage presence of the night, combining a completely disarming classic rock aesthetic with high-energy, insistent music.  The bass lines were unrelenting, the drums driving and the guitar lines rained down riffs like glorious sheets of springtime rain.  An immensely enjoyable set that ran like clockwork.

The Thermals have clearly amassed a rabid DC following.  The familiarity of the crowd with their catalog was impressive, to say the least, as the often reserved DC set were dead set on drowning out Hutch and Kathy with supporting vocals.  Now I will readily admit, if you have no connection to their songs or lyrics, you may have a hard time at a Thermals show.  Their brand of pop-punk is founded on being relentless, high-energy; and the common criticism, that many songs do in fact “sound the same” does have some basis (like much pop, they often use the same chord progression).  You need that extra bit of investment to fully enjoy their music, and the emotional catharsis they so amply supply.  Because they’re not a group overly concerned with technicalities, rather expertly crafting moods through a synergy of words and music, the feeling you get when their infectious musical optimism warms you from within as their lyrics, in Harris’ speak-sung, punk-inspired vocals, drench you from without like a battering, cold and bittersweet rain.

They opened strong with the polemic anthem “Returning to the Fold,” filled with fire and verve and truly encapsulating their approach to music, and perfect for revving the crowd’s karoake engine.  Thankfully their latest album, Now We Can See, has added a bit of diversity in pacing of their set, anchoring a much-needed mid-set break after the exhausting “Pillar of Salt” with “When We Were Afraid,” “We Were Sick,” and “Test Pattern.”  We were treated to a new cut, another slower burner called “Can’t Let Go” that harkens back to their Hutch and Kathy material.  Even more variety was found in the form of their tasteful covers (remember their fantastic cover of Built To Spill’s “Big Dipper”?) of Nirvana (”Sappy”) and the Breeders (”Saints”).  Other highlights included a typically incendiary rendition of “Here’s Your Future” and a one-two set closer of early gems “Goddamn the Light” and “No Culture Icons.”  The band was tight from start to finish, but could’ve used a bit more help from the soundboard in fleshing out Harris’ vocals and guitar solos which were particularly difficult to discern on “We Were Sick” and “I Let It Go.”

New drummer Westin Glass deserves a special mention, as his boyish exuberance really elevated The Thermals’ stage antics, typically reserved to Kathy Foster’s endearingly giddy head-bobbing and Hutch Harris’ fantastically intense facial expressions.  Theirs is a refreshing and different type of showmanship, built on earnestness , lack of pretense or artifice, and genuine belief in everything in their music.  What you’re left with is a show that is as minimal and stripped as their music can be, devoid of grand-standing, posturing or preening.  Just jamming out the tunes with as much intensity and energy as you can muster.  This, The Thermals do without fail.

The Thermals

The Shaky Hands

Point Juncture, WA

All photos: Greg Szeto

Editor’s Note: If you look closely, you’ll see one Victoria Legrand from a little band called Beach House, playing backup dancer for Ms Sharon Jones.

Even though I have read about the history of now defunct Desco Records in the newspaper of record, I had never really heard of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings before. A name like that is like a secret code for soul, and they proved that they’ve got it in spades.

Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens kicked off the night by moving directly into the religious material. It is a fine line to walk as a gospel entertainer when it comes to performing praise and worship music in front of a mixed audience. “Let me hear you say, ‘praise Jesus!’” went over like a lead balloon with this crowd, but I bet it kills on Sunday. Still, the band was tight and the performance was solid, perhaps owing to the fact that the band is seeded with members of the Dap Kings.

Sharon Jones is a true entertainer, a real triple threat. She can sing, she can dance, and she can work an audience like a taffy puller. As a performer, she has incredible stamina. I don’t believe she ever stopped to rest or have a drink of water.

And what a voice!

Jones’ energy must stem from how long she waited for her break (40 years). As the Dap-Kings vamped, she told the crowd: “When I was 19, 20, 21 years old I went to sing for Sony records. They told me I was too fat, too black and when I turned 25, too old. Look at me now, I turned 53 this past Monday. Never give up on your dreams.”

The Dap Kings themselves consist of drums, bass/bandleader, guitar, horns and MC/hype man. For many people, the Dap Kings are as much of a draw as Sharon Jones, and it’s easy to see why. They are a nice soul combo, extremely tight, but they’d really be served well to have some kind of keyboards in the future. It’s important not to upstage your singer, but I thought there was a lot more room for them to stretch on rhythm breaks and use syncopated hits.

The sound lacked bottom end that should be a hallmark for this type of music. This is a shame because the bass player was well-qualified to groove. Just because you can’t hear any bass on old James Brown recordings doesn’t mean it ought to be played that way live.

Soulful, saucy, sultry, it was all there and when I count to four, give the drummer some more.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens

Baltimore: Dave is petting Fred. Sarah is arguing with her dad about pasta sauce. “Just a disagreement” … Fred is a good dog. “Not running away” .. We’re sitting in the frontyard waiting for Dave’s parents 2 send us off. Strawberry fresa goya under the evening sun. “It’s like 15mins til 6 and I’m cooking pasta” - Sarah … We leave for BWI at 6.

upset tummies

What time is it?!?!

Mustard fields. Trains punching us in the face. Farts that extend like Jake Gyllenhaal’s god channel in Donnie Darko. Exeter or Existential? Brick parking lots are so echo friendly. In other news.. when on her period “I turn into a bloodhound” ..we’re talking heightened sense of smell, folks. We smell horrible!

Showtime: we’re already involved in a major power struggle - our transformers + adapters don’t work. Not to worry, we bought batteries, and everything turned out smoothly. Playing a show after traveling for 20 hours is brutal, but the people of Exeter were terrific. See…..

First show: The Cavern @ Exeter (aka the Leaky Cauldron!)

Hillsborough Ave. so fine! so fine! very fine upstanding folks. much love. <3

Fine Art of Exeter

MP3: Animal Collective - Who Could Win A Rabbit

MP3: Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes

Animal Collective’s cult-like status was built on elements like their masked press photos and indecipherable lyrics, but the stuff of legend was found in their live performances. For all previous tours, the trio would use their live shows to preview tracks from upcoming releases…which is why anybody who saw them tour off of Strawberry Jam probably heard “My Girls” before it was remixed by a thousand DJs. Furthermore, interviews with the band revealed that not only had they lost or destroyed the samples of a lot of their older material…but that they’d actually forgotten the words to some of their fans’ favorite songs. So, if you really liked that one song off of Sung Tongs and couldn’t wait to see it live…you’d probably have to keep waiting.

Yet, based on their performance Sunday night, Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist appear to have thrown some of this dogma out of the window. Although they played one unreleased track, “Blue Sky,” and added in some unfamiliar harmonies, the set was decidedly Merriweather Post Pavilion heavy. Furthermore, those older tracks that they don’t play…they played. By the time they hit MPP standout “Summertime Clothes,” they’d already opened with “Chocolate Girl” off of Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished and played Sung Tongs’ sentimental favorite “Who Could Win a Rabbit?” It was played in the style of Merriweather Post Pavilion, but it was still Who Could Win a freaking Rabbit, which I’d been under the impression that they didn’t play anymore. 

Then there was the onstage chemistry. When they made it to Chicago off of the Strawberry Jam tour, the songs were inarguably fantastic but the three members of the band all seemed to be in different places and on different agendas, and the set had lived or died by the energy of Avey Tare. Sunday night, all three of them seemed to be on the same page. Geologist was the most energetic body on the stage, with his bobbing upper body moving almost as quickly as his fingers, and all three seemed to be having fun onstage. Avey Tare made the comment that they like playing small shows and, although the small Ottobar stage seemed to limit the amount of open space between all of the tables, light fixtures and drums, no one ever appeared cramped.

Grouper, their opener for the remainder of the American tour had a show in Portland on Sunday night, we got Daniel Higgs as an opener. It’s definitely easy to see the vocal lineage between Higgs and Avey Tare as Higgs’ harrowing voice filled the room. His first track (which he said actually had about twenty more verses) lasted roughly fifteen minutes and had him solely on a squeezebox. It was enough for the people in the first fifteen rows who remained silent throughout his set, and actually told people to shut up as the crowd closer to the bar ignored the freak-folk local. 

People were not so quiet during the Animal Collective set. The crowd got progressively bouncier throughout the set and the sing-alongs started as early as “Leaf House,” but truly reached fever pitch at set closer “Brother Sport.” By the time they closed out the encore with “My Girls,” the crowd erupted into a dance party that looked akin to a drum circle in the middle of the floor…and lasted far after Animal Collective had left the stage. Everyone seemed to understand that the band had outgrown the confines of the Ottobar and that shows this intimate probably wouldn’t happen again in the near future. 

The very concept of Edie Sedgwick is one that deserves ample discussion. To save some precious time, here are a few words on the subject from our good friend Greg: “DC’s Edie Sedgwick is a unique performer that you might say bears little in common with his namesake.  The original Sedgwick was a socialite actress most recognized for starring in Andy Warhol films. The Sedgwick in question purports to be the original’s transgendered reincarnation and is signed, interestingly enough, to legendary Dischord Records.”

He’s not kidding.

Things are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer (Sedgwick’s latest offering from Dischord) appears, at first glance, to be constituted primarily of watered-down dance-punk and vocals that bring to mind the yelpy likes of The Rapture. But upon a more in-depth listen, you will find yourself entrenched in something unexpectedly enchanting. Possessing an atypical, under-the-radar disposition, “Red Dawn” is the chief purveyor of this quality, its bass-synth tag team providing a surplus of melancholy and the footing for a few rounds of anthemic chorusing.

Loopy basslines and post-punk percussion are found on just about every track of Sinister and Sinisterer, which makes the power-packed vocals sound all the more affluent (and the artist’s label choice, thus unsurprising). The bass-drums combination, however, gives all that it underlies a desultory feel. There’s never a sense of direction, aside from that of “Edie Sedgwick II,” where cooing vocals and a reminiscence of old Smashing Pumpkins maintain some air of intention (even if the song seems like a red-headed step-child compared to the album as a whole).

Climaxes are rare here, breakdowns even more so. And don’t even think about a crescendo. “Angelina Jolie”  meanders indefinitely during its three-minute lifespan with a uniform bass reptition and four or five varied vocal bits intermittingly. Time becomes dragged out and degraded when passing through the album’s tracklisting for just this reason. You imagine every song should end before its allotted time, even though the track would much prefer to ramble on in its own right. It’s almost like being caught behind the guy who insists on driving exactly the speed limit, which proves to be infuriating at its worst.

There does exist a bank of truly interesting sound on Sinister and Sinisterer. “Sissy Spacek” sports a rad guitar bit in its last minute, while “March of the Penguins” uses jazzy keyboards at random throughout its whole. I just wish that Edie Sedgwick would choose to use these clips more often, as they tend to be the most enthralling bit of the song.

Regardless of how infrequent these distinctive fragments of audio are, when they merge with their foundational mathy beats, the result leads me to label Sinister and Sinisterer as a study in copy/paste art. During the more robotic jams such as “Anthony Perkins,” it becomes apparent that Edie Sedgwick finds the broken record method equally effective in situations not relating to drug abstinence, which if you ask me, is really not the best decision in this case.

However unpleasant this may sound, many moments make Sinister and Sinisterer worth listening to. Emerging at the album’s close, “Rob Lowe” uses all of these methods to create something essentially enjoyable. Bumping and bouncing with the power and determination of a broken mechanical bull, its collection of audio clips coalesces in a way that just isn’t found elsewhere. Its dance-with-chaos character turns out to be a favorable way to end the record (because otherwise you’d feel like you just went through 34 futile minutes of frustration).

What then can be said in conclusion about Edie Sedgwick? You could point out that by closing with “Red Dawn,” “Rob Lowe,” and “Edie Sedgwick II,” they’re humane at the very least. You might also suggest that they probably make for a great time live. I’d say they just need to favor their prime material, being that the rest of their stuff will only get them as far as vague Tom Vek and Clor references (also, that I still don’t understand what the song titles have to do with the content, but that’s of no consequence now).

Label: Dischord Records

Release Date: May 15 2008

Track list:

1. Sissy Spacek
2. Mary-Kate Olsen
3. Angelina Jolie
4. Anthony Perkins
5. March of the Penguins
6. Bambi_G.W. Bush
7. ODB
8. Red Dawn
9. Rob Lowe
10. Edie Sedgwick II

MP3: Frodus - The Earth Isn’t Humming

MP3: Caverns - Dancing With the Scars

Solar Powered Sun Destroyer opened what was sure to be a memorable night. At first, I wasn’t sure if they were on the right bill or not.  Having not seen or heard them before, I didn’t know what to expect. They were good, don’t get me wrong, but they weren’t really what I was expecting. I guess seeing a show headlined by Frodus, I was expecting more of a scream-y band.

Now, I’m not making a case for bands that sound different not playing shows together. Their sound was post rock-ish, and compared to what I knew lay ahead, just didn’t really blow me away. Better suited to open a Mogwai show, I felt. I guess it was just the whole mood of their set which was much more hushed and restrained than everyone else who played this evening. The set started, ended and re-started abruptly because of a loss of sound, which I’m told was possibly due to their own lighting (awesome, by the way, pretty blues and whites in an otherwise completely dark Talking Head).

I missed Caverns at Aural States Fest. I had heard they were pretty active, and I wasn’t misled. It seems like Early Humans have been channelled by 2 of DC’s finest new bands: Imperial China and Caverns,  and I couldn’t be happier. What’s more, just like Early Humans, both bands are 3 pieces.  Coincidence?

Caverns play a form of instrumental and highly technical metal/punk augmented by piano. Guitarist Kevin Hilliard commanded attention, from the stage and the floor, for the duration of their set. Back and forth he runs like a madman. Into the crowd, back to the stage, hardly ever stopping except to heap praise on the night’s stars: a recently reformed Frodus. He utilized every inch of floor space he could find, and when he ran out he pushed his way into the crowd to open up an even larger hole. At one point he accompanied piano player Patrick Taylor with his foot (a welcomed display of histrionics). The band chugged along at breakneck speeds, propelled by Ross Hurt’s drumming. Several times throughout the show Hilliard paid homage to Frodus. “The best band ever from DC,” according to Hilliard. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say “best band ever,” but definitely in the top ten. I reserve the best spot for Fugazi (speaking of bands reforming…).

Sick Weapons, I must admit I had never heard of, and I felt guilty because I got the feeling I’ve been a little behind the times. It was apparent that I may have been the only one there who hadn’t heard of them before. The crowd gathered much closer to the stage for their performance. Singer Ellie Beziat swigged from her bottle of Natty Boh, and even rapped a little, recalling a grade school project. It’s not the rap they’ll be remembered for, but the way in which they pumped everyone up for what was still to come: the gods of spazz, Frodus. Sick Weapons played sleazy Baltimore punk with no filler or frills, just the way we like it. Just like blue crab and Old Bay, that’s all we need.

Frodus is a band I that I’ve known about since their release Fireflies but had never seen live…until now. My expectations were high, and I was anxious to see them. Fortunately, they did not disappoint. I really never thought that I would ever see this band perform live, so the news that they were back together was so great to hear. The place really went apeshit for these guys and it’s easy to see why.

Drummer Jason Hamacher started things off with a little “deep tissue massage” on a willing member of the audience, just to loosen things up. Then on went his gloves, and for the next hour Frodus rocked the Talking Head. At one point someone asked Hamacher to try and kick him in the face. That never happened, but he did make his way from the stage mid-song, trading off drumming with guitarist Shelby Cinca.  Diving into the crowd, he was passed along the ceiling and then back to his kit to finish the song without missing a beat. This show may as well have been billed as “Frodus Karaoke” because I’m not sure who sung more, Cinca or the audience. It was clear that a lot of people in the audience knew this band, and knew them well. This was clearly who everyone was there for.

The evening ended with the  classic “Cha Chi” to which Cinca told the disappointed crowd, begging for more, “DC bands don’t do encores.” When it was all over I picked my jaw up off the floor and tried to clear the sound of sirens from Cinca’s bullhorn from my ears into the next morning. If Wall Street is reading this, your asses best be hiding right now because Frodus is back in a big way (and I think they’re gunning for you).

Frodus 

Sick Weapons

Caverns

Solar Powered Sun Destroyer

White Rabbits have always been a concussion ensemble of vicious rhythms and unconventional minor compositions. With It’s Frightening (release May 19 2009), they take things in a different direction. Overall, It’s Frightening is not as danceable as their freshman effort, but has more intricate compositions and lush textures as well as a consistency that Fort Nightly (2007) lacked.

Their sophomore effort is a departure from Fort Nightly, which relied more on hooks, momentum and dynamics to carry the album. Fans of their debut may be disappointed by this followup, which focuses more on composition, texture, and interesting arrangements. The most engaging songs from Fort Nightly such as “Kid on my Shoulders,” “Navy Wives,”and “While we go Dancing” were carried by Stephen Patterson’s powerful vocals and It’s Frightening marks a significant shift toward featuring his vocal influence.

The opening track, “Percussion Gun,” seems to act as a segue to the new material, calling back to Fort Nightly. “Company I Keep” is a nice down-tempo tune that breaks the album up and keeps it from getting frantic following the hysterical “The Lioness.” The standout track may be “Midnight and I,” featuring double-tracked baritone vocals, spacious guitar phrasing - and was that a creaking garden gate or cymbals? I’m hearing things again…

Few bands I’ve seen in recent years have as impressive a live experience as White Rabbits. Before putting on their latest studio effort, I prepared myself for a minor disappointment. How could any recording capture the energy that is so essential to this act? The band has really come into its own with the use of texture, reverb, and space to highlight the (frightening?) mood they are trying to convey. I’m not privy to the recording engineer’s notebook, but portions of the album sound almost binaural. Better than standing in the crowd is feeling like you’re sitting on the stage. If you haven’t heard this album through a nice pair of ear goggles, then you haven’t really heard it at all.

It remains to be seen whether White Rabbits will pause in this vein until it’s cashed, or continue to develop their sound into something far more strange and compelling. Perhaps more evolutionary than revolutionary, It’s Frightening reflects increased musical maturity at the expense of raw intensity, so if you’re looking for a re-hash of Fort Nightly, you won’t find it in this album. What you will find is a solid followup and perhaps a hint of things to come.

Editor’s Note: White Rabbits’ Steve Patterson also happened to be Aural States’ first interview.

Label: TBD Records

Release Date: May 19 2009

Track List:

1. “Percussion Gun”
2. “Rudie Fails”
3. “They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong”
4. “Lionesse”
5. “Company I Keep”
6. “The Salesman (Tramp Life)”
7. “Midnight and I”
8. “Right Where They Left”
9. “The Lady Vanishes”
10. “Leave It at the Door”