Arbouretum: Song of the Pearl

Arbouretum have been steadily climbing to an album of this magnitude since 2003. Song of the Pearl consists of one epic folk anthem after another, with the band’s sound bigger than ever before. This is by far the band's most cohesive work to date.

Previous efforts Long Live the Well-Doer and Rites of Uncovering eluded to greatness, culminating into what is to be released via Thrill Jockey on March 10th. Having crooned my ears for weeks now, this album is a grower that is majestic even upon first listen.

The album portrays vast sounds of indescribable doom, with no thought left unanswered. The LP is clean and crisp, but with a dark and jagged feel in all the right places.

I highly recommend indulging in this record. Vinyl is limited to 1000 pressings, but it will be available digitally as well. Arbouretum's CD release party will be this Tuesday, March 3rd. The show is at the Talking Head, with Meg Baird and James Blackshaw opening. It would not be a good plan to miss this one.

Photo Review: True Womanhood, Weekends, Bad Liquor Pond

Last night's show at the Metro Gallery sounded great, with all 3 bands contributing unique vibes to an aurally pleasurable evening. Bad Liquor Pond's psych-soaked jams really do themselves way more justice live, and last night was a classic example of such.

Weekends set up on the floor, and attracted the largest crowd for the Wednesday night show. Displaying why they are one of the most fun bands in Baltimore, the duo blasted through a stellar set that solidfied faith in rock and roll, and left ear drums feeling fuzzy.

True Womanhood were an intriguing surprise, having only heard a few tracks prior to last night. I am certainly looking forward to what twists and turns the future brings to their psychedelic pop sound, and recommend grabbing their demo at their next gig.

Special thanks to Chrissy for the wonderful photography, as this was her debut covering for Bmore Music. Check back here often for more of her excellent local show coverage.

More Double Dagger Next Week

Double Dagger are playing the Zodiac next Thursday, March 5th. My excitement for their new album has now grown to epic proportions. The band is currently finishing up with mastering and artwork, and we can all assume the album art will be brilliant yet again.

Thrill Jockey are doing the honors of releasing More in May, Double Dagger's debut with the Chicago-based label. The show next week features New Flesh and Sick Weapons as support. They play the same space March 21st with Future Islands and Child Bite, with some shows in New York spattered intermittently.

Sample the most important song to come out of Baltimore in 2007 below. If you're not already familiar, "Luxury Condos for the Poor" rocks everything wrong with urban renewal and Baltimore's real estate landscape. One can only hope the new album will include More intellectually luminous attacks on our society's missteps.

Stream "Luxury Condos for the Poor" below, download more free DD tracks here.

Leonard Cohen @ Merriweather Post Pavilion

The legend that is Leonard Cohen will be playing at Merriweather Post Pavilion on May 11th.

Tickets go on sale to the public this Friday the 27th.

However, the presale is tomorrow from 10 AM to 10 PM. Go here for that, the password is "takethiswaltz".

Do not miss your chance to see a musical icon in the friendly confines of an amphitheater residing in the capital of soccer moms, otherwise known as Columbia.

No word yet if Animal Collective is opening. But, I noticed Grouper just got added to AC's bill May 11th in DC. Nice.

Bmore Music Blog, Now With Real Photos!

With much excitement, I would like to introduce Chrissy. For the past year readers of my blog have been subjected to shotty photo skills, compliments of myself. No longer shall you read Bmore Music concert reviews paired with sub par photography.

This blog now has its very own photographer. Chrissy is here to the rescue, and is bringing some serious photo credentials along with her. She will also attend more shows than you, and will share some pretty snazzy pictures on this site to prove it.

Bmore Musically Informed is also now complete with a Flickr page.

The flash gallery above is some of Chrissy's favorite prior work, which should help you get acquainted. Check in often for her current work, which will begin with tomorrow night's promising lineup at the Metro Gallery.

Weekends / Bad Liquor Pond / True Womanhood

Heck of a triple bill this Wednesday at the Metro Gallery. Local ear-melters Weekends will be opening along with psych rockers Bad Liquor Pond. They will both be getting kids in the mood for True Womanhood, who shall bring their avant pop sound up from the depths of DC.

Bad Liquor Pond's Radiant Transmission was a more than pleasant surprise this year, but their live show is where it's really at for the crew. As for Weekends, I've already shared a plethora of positive emotions as of late.

This is an evening you should not miss folks. Stream tracks below.

Celebration Tonight

Their first show in awhile, Celebration will be headlining The Windup Space tonight. The group's unique brand of tribal atmospheric rock will fail to disappoint, and Katrina Ford's ambitious pipes will surely bellow up and down North Ave. Lone Wolf and Ami Dang open up the affair, which kicks off at 9 pm.

David Sitek played a heavy part in creating both of Celebration's fantastic albums, as the local native produced both LPs. David Sitek's mega huge band, TV on the Radio, just announced an evening at the 930 Club on June 6th. Tickets go on sale here on Saturday at 10 am. Expect them to sell out, faster than Stringer Bell runs from Omar.

The Old Lonesome Sound

Splice Today clearly had an itchin for some good ol' fashioned country jams. The site recently put together a highly recommended free mp3 mixtape of traditional folk songs interpreted by tons of high caliber musicians.

A hefty bulk of the compilation is filled with Baltimore artists. Wye Oak's rendition of "Black is the Color of..." is eerily brilliant and freshly added to my yellow playlist. Other locals include Caleb Stine, Dave Heumann & Stephen Strohmeir, Danny Greenwald, Noble Lake, Walker and Jay, Tommy Tucker, and Payola Reserve. Notable artists from more distant lands include Deer Tick, Phosphorescent, and Headlights.

The mix is solid throughout, but one lesser known artist deserves your attention. Danny Greenwald is hoping to have his debut ready within the month. And if the demos I've heard are any indication, prepare your ears for a feast.

Mr. Greenwald was kind enough to let me stream a sample from the upcoming album. As for the release, College Park's WMUC is broadcasting a live CD Release show of Danny on March 9th at 8 PM. Stay tuned for more details.

Exclusively stream "Thats Not Very Nice of You" below.

Animal Collective / NHL Hockey

Brightest Young Things posted a pretty awesome interview with Geoligist of Animal Collective yesterday. The interview takes place at a Caps game, as Geologist is a pretty big NHL fan. Unfortunately, dude's a Flyers fan.

Instead of your typical questions, hockey trivia is thrown at famed noise folker Brian Weitz. He does pretty well, scoring an 11 out of 15 on the quiz while even consuming alcoholic beverages.

Next time Animal Collective are in the area will be at the 930 Club on May 11th. Tickets are extremely sold out. Expect detailed coverage on bmoremusic, but it looks like you better start scanning here if you want to actually go.

Vetiver: Tight Knit

Since 2004, Vetiver have relinquished several quality folk albums ever so pleasing to ears abound. The latest of the bunch dropped today, and secured that the trend is continued.

Tight Knit, in my opinion, is Vetiver's pop album. And in accordance, is their first to be released via Sub Pop. The album floats along from start to finish with each track begging for you to go relax in a rocking chair on someone's front porch. These are songs that even your grandmother will crack a smile to. And man, do I mean that in a good way.

While 2008's Thing of the Past proved the group's natural ability to make a cover their own, Tight Knit solidifies Andy Cabic's song writing capabilities. This album is fulfilling in every facet, and deserves your spin when in need of some fine country rock.

Catch Vetiver March 11th at Sonar. Sharing the bill with local heroes Beach House, this show is a must see. Expect detailed coverage of the affair next month.

Stream "Everyday" off of Tight Knit below.

Marnie Stern / Weekends

With more shows than popped collars at Power Plant* on a Friday, March is shaping up to be pretty grand. One of the million shows worthy of your attendance next month reps Marnie Stern and the local standouts Weekends.

I've already recently spewed my emotions on Weekends, but Marnie Stern's guitar licks should be enough to get your tushes to Sonar on March 12th. Girl can rock, and is hands down one of the nastiest guitar virtuosos of recent memory.

Her newest album is a whirlwind of riffs, plucks and melodies, and one can imagine it translates well live. Don't forget to scoop Weekends debut album while you're there, as it is easily one of the most fun albums to squeeze out of 2009 so far.

*I submitted a UD definition for Power Plant to link to, but my objectionable remarks were deemed unruly by the same editors who allowed "P diddy" to be defined like this.

Peep Marnie's video for "Ruler" below.

Free Beach House Show

Friday the 13th is jam packed with stuff to do in the city that reads. In addition to the raucous at Joe Squared, Bmore's favorite dream poppers are headlining the Zodiac. 

Beach House have been reportedly hard at work on their follow up to Devotion, and have displayed some new songs at more recent shows around town. Looking to butter up your Valentine before the big day? Alex and Victoria will swoon your date to the point where they may even forget that they don't even really like you. Awesome!

Beach House don't have anything scheduled after this until March 11th when they play Sonar with Vetiver. Expect detailed coverage of that appealing bill next month, but check them out Friday to hold you over. The show is free and also sports The Creepers.

Updated Playlists For Your Ears

New and improved playlist action, bmoremusic now complete with playlists that vow to be aurally superior than this "david after dentist" remix. While not as amusing as a 7 year old hopped up on dental meds, take a listen and you mightt feel a bit like David.

There are two colored coded options for now. Yellow one features freshly updated and naturally diverse regional picks. Artists on here either reside in Baltimore or DC, or have members that originated in these parts. Example: TV on the Radio's cover of Daniel Johnston's "walking the cow" makes the cut because David Sitek is from Columbia. Not to mention, it's a sweet cover of an excellent original.

The green one has tracks spanning space and time, paired with new stuff influenced by such. Right now it ranges from Nigerian funk from after the country's civil war, to warped and obscure French disco from the late 70's, to even a band from New Jersey!

If you have suggestions for either playlist, or life in general, email:

bmoremusicallyinformed@gmail.com

Free Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad Show

The Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad are back in action, telling girls they are too skinny in a theatre near you. Free show this Friday night at Joe Squared that features DMFS and Nikc Miller's bluegrass band that covers classic 80's and country jams known as the Wild Bonerz. Expect horse head antics, drumbots, and captains of mediocrity all night long.

Supporting the bill will be two Brooklyn bands including freak folkers, The Zombie Nationalists. Bringing baked goods to every gig, Scott Alexandar Makes Freinds will also be there with cookies in hand. Show is 21+ and starts at 10.

DMFS has a new album in the works, and promises it to be more outrageous and overproduced than their 2007 classic Die Humpin'. The band was kind enough to give me 2 demos from the new album to share, both of which are still works in progress but embody all that is glorious about the squad. Stream "Big Check" and "Big Fist" below.

Everyone Loves Weekends

It took me a week or so and my fourth try to finally arrive at a record store in Baltimore that wasn't sold out of the Weekends' debut. But man, was it worth it.

Already garnering comparisons to Ponytail, this Baltimore duo fills any rock and roll void one might possess with riffs of pure joy. No Age's Nouns was a similarly great record, but each and every jam on Weekends' s/t debut blows Nouns out of the water.

The album is fun, light, and utterly perfect for long rides with the windows down. I highly recommend checking these guys out live next go around. You can do so at the Metro Gallery on February 25th when they play with Bad Liquor Pond, get on that folks.

Stream the ridiculously great "Summer Knights" below.

Cotton Jones: Paranoid Cocoon

Cotton Jones, formerly the Cotton Jones Basket Ride, just dropped their second full length. Paranoid Cocoon will provide you with hazy psych pop that does a body good.

This is the Cumberland, MD natives' first via Suicide Squeeze. The LP sounds something like if the Papercuts went back in time and recorded some psychadelic country tunes with Rodriguez. Overall, the album is a spacious and cohesive affair that won't disapoint.

Grab some free MP3's of a live Daytrotter session posted a few weeks ago right here. The session inlcudes three cuts from the album including my personal favorite "Up a Tree", and an unreleased track. The group is currently touring the country and will be at the Black Cat March 23rd and the Ottobar on March 30th.

The Black Keys are Recession Proof

All walks of life showed up to see 2 dudes from Akron, Ohio wail on their guitar and drum kit last night. The Black Keys played at Rams Head, which was fully occupied head to toe on a frigid night in downtown Baltimore.
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney filled the room with a brand of soulful blues rock that makes you wonder why any band would ever need more than 2 members.


But then you remember bands like them.

No talks of a stimulus plan or bailout were to be heard, only primal altercations about real estate to view the duo's performance. The band displayed a wide array of their catalog, even rocking "The Breaks" off the 2002 classic The Big Come Up.

The Black Keys played an excellent show, however there certainly were questionable vibes regarding the show's environment. But, dudes rocked too hard to care.

New Spank Rock Mix

Fresh new mix from Devlin of Spank Rock hit the interwebs yesterday. Grab the Bicicleta Mix over on the Fully Fitted blog.

The mix was recorded by Devlin live in his living room, making full use of the echo pedal. Pretty quality stuff with a full range of artistic diversity. 

The mix features acts spanning from Animal Collective to Selda to Willie Hutch. There's even some Neil Diamond thrown in for good measure.

Click here to go scoop the MP3 for free with much thanks to FF.

Lean Horse Marathon

New Baltimore music from up North, Lean Horse Marathon is a healthy dose of lo-fidelity noise folk. LP1 EP is the debut album from this new solo artist, and you can stream it here exclusively in its entirety below.

Hums, crashes and echoes of all varieties are rocked, but always tearing back to that noisey dream pop sound which one can't resist. The EP as a whole sounds like if Elliott Smith and Bradford Cox had joined the Microphones to record, and Panda Bear's laptop treatment got involved somewhere in the process. Not to mention, Skinny Pony Race clearly has a ton of influences locally.

Internationally, Lean Horse Marathon just got signed to Netherlands label Rack and Ruin, who will be releasing the EP online. Stream the whole thing below, and look for another album in the coming months.

Ponytail Do Their Laundry

Ponytail were featured on P4k's A>D>D series today, rocking out in a laundromat. The set was recorded with a 4-track and an analog camera, and features confused patrons who just wanted to get out their ketchup stains. One can only hope Ponytail will be performing shriek-infused epic post rock jams next time they go do a load of whites.

Both pieces from today's posting were off Ice Cream Spiritual, "7 Souls" and "Late for School" which is rocked heartily above.  The only laundromats the band will be touring right now are over in Europe, until at least March.

*Edit (2/3): I replaced yesterday's "Late for School" video with the rendition of "Die Allman Bruder" posted today. They also posted "Beg Waves" a la NYC laundromat.

Deekee Zjevotneya & Aural States Fest

Music was brimming from Baltimore this weekend as per usual. I'm sure Aural States will have coverage of their extremely well put together mini-fest this weekend, Greg's already got up MP3s of Wye Oak's set compliments of the Baltimore Taper. Sri Aurobindo absolutely killed it, while Wye Oak, Arbouretem, Caverns, and Lo Moda all put forth solid sets.

However Saturday night's bill at the Talking Head had a glaring bright spot. Deekee Zjevotneya are a bona fide rock band with tons of promise for the future. Charlie and Brian have written some ridiculously clever and catchy lyrics, with Brian Adam Ant's folk tune nature getting tossed in the dryer with a load of Pixies.

Ex-Wailsound's drummer Andy Thomas and Jake the Snakemaster each boasted incredible skills, solidfying the bands instantly mind-numbing sound. Looking forward to what the recording process produces from them, surely check back for more deets on these guys in the near future.