Lower Dens - Twin Hand Movement

Ever since her split release with Devendra Banhart, I have been an avid follower of Jana Hunter. There's No Home has been my slumber-time fallback for years, and will likely continue to be for the foreseeable future. Jana has since been playing with a full band backing her, and we here in Baltimore have watched the project steadily grow.

The band has now seemed to reach a full-on bloom, and also now has a name - Lower Dens. Even more importanly, Lower Dens has an album in the works with a proper release date set for July 20th. Twin Hand Movement will be released via Gnomonsong, and was recorded by Chris Freeland, mixed by Chris Coady, and mastered by Sarah Register (Talk Normal).

A friend left a cassette copy of Twin Hand Movement over at my house a few weeks ago, and it has yet to leave my tape deck. I was recently given the MP3s of the full album, but can't seem to stop hitting rewind on the warm and full sounds that the tape has blessed me with over the past few weeks. Twin Hand Movement is the real deal, full of Jana's silky smooth vocals that are now backed with heavy but calming bass lines, psychedelic guitar bliss, and carefully placed percussion.



"Hospice Gates" is the first single to hit the interwebs from the album, and is the tenth track on the release. It is a stellar example of how Jana's previously hushed and mellow psych folk has been rejuvenated into a more jangly form of folk-pop that is rich in texture and big on sonics. The album as a whole goes down smoother than milk, and it's been amazing to watch such a beloved project flourish into such a beautiful recording. July 20th can't come soon enough.

Lower Dens are out on tour with Future Islands, the remaining dates are below.

5.20 San Diego, CA - Tin Can Alehouse
5.21 Los Angeles, CA - Sync Space
5.22 Los Angeles, CA - The Smell
5.24 San Francisco, CA - El Rio (early)
5.25 Eureka, CA - Lil Red Lion
5.26 Portland, OR - Rotture
5.27 Ellensburg, WA - Raw Space
5.28 Olympia, WA - Northern
5.29 Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern (early)
6.1 Denver, CO - Rhinoceropolis
6.2 Kansas City, MO - The Foundation
6.3 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
6.5 Chicago, IL - Permanent Records (In-store @ 5pm)
6.5 Chicago, IL - The Hideout
6.6 Detroit, MI - Majestic Cafe
6.7 Toronto, ON - Double Double Land
6.8 Montreal, QC - Green Room
6.9 Burlington, VT - Monkey House
6.10 Dover, NH - Brickhouse
6.11 Boston, MA - Brookline Cable Access
6.12 Brooklyn, NY - Silent Barn
6.13 Baltimore, MD - Penthouse

Golden Westival Lineup

Everyone's favorite avenue watering hole is hosting quite the event next week. The Golden West presents Golden Westival and/or Golden Fest. Call it what you will, this a four night local music extravaganza of varying sorts.

The Golden West has been a popular workplace for artists, and this gathering aims to serve as a pretty bad ass employee talent show. A mere 20 bucks gets you in all four nights, or 6 dollars for each night. In addition to music, Braegen promises a theatrical performance and a science experiment.

Check out each night's lineup below:

Thursday 8/20/09
Crazy Dreams Band , Jana Hunter, Jones, Young & Rusty presents his Cocaine Sex Jams, Brian Adam Ant

Friday 8/21/09
Lo Moda, Ed schrader, Matrimonials, Necklace

Saturday 8/22/09
Mishaps , Cex, Old THUNDER HEART, Midnight Society, Zach Kaufman

Sunday 8/23/09
Pilgrim, Mickey Free, Child Bride, Macgregor Burns, Boner Jamz

Tonight: Ganglians at the Golden West

Head to the Avenue tonight to hit up an evening of bubbly psychedelic folk pop from Woodsist imprint Ganglians. One of the many hyped lo-fi artists resonating from the NYC label, Ganglians are a glaring highlight of the bunch.

As much I hate to play the often used Beach Boys comparison card, I have to. Monster Head Room just has way too many Smile-esque qualities going for it. It's not just the vocal harmonies of "Voodoo" that help to reminisce, the LP is packed with loopy and subtle sound effects often resembling the psyched out works of Smile.

Ganglians are playing tonight at the Golden West, with Jana Hunter and Adam Endres DJing the affair. Show starts at 10 PM and tickets are just five bucks.

Audio To Go: Jana Hunter 6/2/09

Last Tuesday's Cass McCombs and Jana Hunter bill at the Metro Gallery proved to be a pleasant way to spend your week night. Both artists put on stellar sets, jam packed with new tunes. Not sure if the comedian lodged in between performances was repping new jokes as well, but he sure did a fine job of sending out the awkward vibes.

Jana Hunter's new tunes have shown much promise for any future effort in the works, and her band seemed as tight as ever last week. While most of the new tracks don't stray too far away from her prior work, Jana's infused a bit more pop in her sound. You can hear for yourself, as Jeff was there to record the action. Download the MP3s or FLAC files from Jeff right here, and note his prediction for favorite set of the year.

Bonus: Jeff also has the Arbouretum set from the Creative Alliance last week available.

Tomorrow: Cass McCombs and Jana Hunter

Not too many better ways to spend your Tuesday evening than soaking up the croons of Cass McCombs and Jana Hunter. Both will be gushing new tunes galore, with Cass McCombs right on the cusp of releasing his new album.

Domino releases Catacombs tomorrow everywhere but here, as it's official U.S. release isn't until July 7th. All signs point to Catacombs reaching back to the simple yet undefineable sounds of A, more or less folk pop with a dark twist. Cass's nomadic behavior portrays his three albums varying styles, an evolution of a timless sound that might have reached it's defining point.

Tomorrow night should be a solid look into the top notch songwriter's new tunes, and the same should reign true for the opener Jana Hunter. I caught Jana open up for Papercuts a few weeks back, and the set was chock full of new stuff. All were promising builds off the sure and sturdy sounds of There's No Home, and were very well accentuated by her backing drummer and bassist.

This one starts at 8 at the Metro Gallery, with the cover being $10. And here's to hoping that Cass will be bringing some fresh copies of Catacombs to share with us.

Excitement Building (Dinosaur Jr.)

Tomorrow night the legends that are Dinosaur Jr. will be gracing Baltimore with their presence at the Ottobar. To say that I am a little amped for this show is quite the understatement.

With this tomorrow night, and Animal Collective playing there next weekend, I think the Ottobar might soon spontaneously combust from awesomeness. Expect detailed coverage of both completely sold out shows in the coming weeks.

Tons of other stuff to do this weekend as well, including True Vine's benefit tonight at Floristree that sports Matmos, Jana Hunter and a ton more. Please go and show some support for one of the best record stores around.

Also tonight, Jeff the Taper is sponsoring a pretty intense lineup that include the always fantastic Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad. Tons of choices, enjoy!

Baltimore @ SXSW

The organized chaos that is South by Southwest gets going in less than 2 weeks. Bmore shall be wholeheartedly represented, with the range of local musicians heading down running the full gamut. Flocking south to Austin, Texas will be local flavors of hip hop, dream pop, avant, freak folk, spazz rock, club, and bit-pop.

SXSW attendees can look forward to highly anticipated new music showcased by Beach House, and performed by the teen club phenom that is Rye Rye. Below lies your friendly guide to Baltimore's representation of official shows at the annual music conference, complete with dates and venues. Start packing folks:

Adventure:

Thursday, March 19 10:00 p.m.

Volume (614 E 6th St)

Beach House:

Thursday, March 19 1:00 a.m.
Volume (614 E 6th St)

Friday, March 20 8:45 p.m.
Cedar Street Courtyard (208 W 4th St)

Saturday, March 21 6:00 p.m.
Auditorium Shores Stage (Lady Bird Lake) (Riverside Dr & S 1st St)

Blaqstarr:

Saturday, March 21 12:00 a.m.

Friends (208 E 6th St)

Chavy Boys:

Saturday, March 21 1:00 a.m.
Friends (208 E 6th St)

Ecstatic Sunshine:

Thursday, March 19 8:00 p.m.
Volume (614 E 6th St)

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez:

Thursday, March 19 9:00 p.m.
Volume (614 E 6th St)

Jana Hunter:

Saturday, March 21 8:10 p.m.

Beauty Bar Backyard (617 E 7th St)

Ponytail:

Saturday, March 21 12:00 a.m.

Club de Ville (900 Red River St)

Rye Rye:

Wednesday, March 18 8:00 p.m.

La Zona Rosa (612 W 4th St)

Thursday, March 19 12:00 a.m.
Aces Lounge (222 E 6th St)

Peace 2008.

With a chance to finally catch my breath, figured I'd let the world know I'm still kickin. Rejoicing the completion of my collegiate career, last Thursday and Friday nights were packed with keyboards, booze, dancing, guitars, and visualistic stimuli at Round Robin.

Eyes Night sported a look into what to expect from some of Bmore's best for next year, with Beach House, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, and Jana Hunter all playing some new tunes. Santa Dads were beat boxing bluegrass at its best and Teeth Mountain created sounds that must be the envy of hippy drum cirlces worldwide.

Feet Night was a spastic affair that offered congo lines, spilled drinks, and some of Baltimore's most fun acts. Future Islands exhibited why they are a taste best served live, and were the evening's high point with a bill that boasted Dan Deacon, Deathset, Adventure, and Double Dagger.

Brimming with politcial hope and economic demise, 2008 also featured some pretty incredible music. I can already predict entries for my local top 10 of 2009, with Animal Collective's confusingly named Merriweather Post Pavillion LP being released January 6th and Dan Deacon's Bromst seeing daylight in March.

Look forward to new features on the site next year, including dual air bags, Oregon Trail graphics, and even a hot tub. Also expect exclusive premieres from The Humblebees and Brian Adam Ant's new ensemble.

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez Album Droppage

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez creates art. His visual art is displayed above, and more can be found here. Lesser's aural works have been collected on Carpark's Why is Bear Billowing?. The album consists of just him and his guitar, and proves to be all that is needed.

The LP swoons along simplistically leaving behind aftertastes of Devendra Banhart and the late Nick Drake. Often consumed by music that combines every genre possible, its always nice to hear songs that aren't hidden behind any unnecessary layers.

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez has gotten some national press as of late, some of which appears to be confused. Pitchfork "reviewed" the album a few weeks back. However half the piece was spent claiming that Lesser did not fit in with his peers, referring to "the wham city membership card he carries."

Since when do art collectives have to contain bands that all sound the same? And since when did such collectives have membership cards? Is this similar to the one I got when I joined the Bo Knows fan club on the back of my Wheaties box in 1989? Who knows.

I do know that Lesser will be touring the U.S. throughout September with Jana Hunter, and I also know that I couldn't think of a more perfect fall show to attend.

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez and Small Sur Release Party

Jana Hunter heads the bill for Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez and Small Sur's CD release party at the 2640. Should obviously be a pretty stellar lineup. Hopefully this will not be a repeat of the chat-happy whartscape crowd.

Whartscape Hotness

Friday night's set in the steamy old church went as imagined, but at times not withstanding excessive verbal socialization throughout parts of the crowd. Highlights that I caught included Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, Golden Age, Arbouretem, Jana Hunter, and Beach House. Lesser Gonzalez, to the left, may have possibly written some of the most preeminent folk songs of recent memory. The LP drops September 9th.

Jana Hunter had the task of playing the middle stage before the headliners took the main stage. Despite Dan Deacon repeatedly reminding people to put aimless conversation to rest throughout the evening, people continued to suck. Jana still sounded great, and obviously needed to be performing on the main or back stage.

Beach House filled the space with sounds that made it impossible for even the most ignorant of folk to gab to their neighbors about ice cream and shoes. They were loud, they were into it, and as usual their familiar sounds resonated otherworldly.

Friday @ 2640

This Friday has the potential to be one of the most aurally stimulating sets of the upcoming Whartscape weekend. I saw Beach House open up for Grizzly Bear at the space last year, and the high brick ceilings of the old church hugged and echoed Victoria's voice with luminous results. Expect similar brilliance in a few days, with a full house of onlookers reaping the benefits.

Another Friday night highlight, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez's first release is due out on September 9th. Expect to hear future praise of the LP on this site. It's going to be titled Why is Bear Billowing?, and will be released by Carpark. Check out his curiously awesome artwork here.

Baltimore by way of Texas songstress Jana Hunter will also grace the sanctuary's presence. Her LP was one of my favorite albums of last year, with folksy sounds of pure beauty from start to finish. There's No Home was released on Devendra Banhart's label Gnomonsong. Please indulge in her highly recommended Daytrotter session.