Above is the back of the LP jacket for Sri Aurobindo's forthcoming record, Cave Painting. The photo was taken by member Mike Romano on top of their house in Charles Village. The vinyl will be available within the next few weeks, hopefully in time for the band's show with Real Estate, Kurt Vile, and Lands & Peoples at the Ottobar on July 12.
You Ain't No Picasso premiered the download for another new track, and Friends Records just put "My Luv Is Stoned" up for a free download available in all digital formats. Have at it above, and you'll likely be just as stoked as we've been for months about this release. "Soul Vibrations of Man" and the front cover art is after the jump.
Last Saturday night Floristree hosted a night filled with noise, haunted pop, fuzzy melodies, and kids climbing up the walls like spiders. That last one is a true story, Limb were straight crazy. See for yourself below, and get the full set of Weekends, Limb, Holy Ghost Party, B L A C K I E, Salamander Wool, and Jared Paolini after the jump.
In an email Dan Deacon just sent us about Whartscape 2010, hometown favorite Spank Rock and a handful of other acts have been added to the fest. Here's what's new...
SPANKROCK MINK STOLE (lecture) SCOTTI B ERIC COPELAND GET EM MAMIS NADASTROM DAN FRIEL ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM LANDLORDS CHANDELIERS DJ YO YO DIETING
Dan promises to add more acts next week. Whartscape is July 22-25 at locations that are yet to be announced in Baltimore. Get your megapasses from Wham City here. TRAVELING ACTS: ARAB ON RADAR BIG DIGITS BURNING STAR CORE CHILD BITE CORAL LEGS DEAKIN DINOSAUR FEATHERS DUCKTAILS EAR PWR FAMILY BATTLE SNAKE FARMS GAY BOMB HEALTH HUME INNOCULIST JACK TOFT WITH THE VEGETABLES JAVELIN KOEN HOLTKAMP LAZY MAGNET LIGHTNING BOLT LIL B LIVING THINGS LONNIE WALKER LORD SCRUMMAGE NO AGE ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER PC WORSHIP PRINCE RAMA SEWN LEATHER SOCIAL JUNK SUPER VACCATIONS TALK NORMAL XIU XIU YIP YIP ZACH HILL +more TBA
BALTIMORE ACTS: ADVENTURE ALTERED STATES AMI DANG ART DEPARTMENT BETHANY DINSICK CARLY CHILD BRIDE CUP CACHE DAN DEACON ENSEMBLE DJ DOG DICK DOOR DOPE BODY DOUBLE DAGGER DUSTIN WONG ED SCHRADER FUTURE ISLANDS GRAVEBANGERS HEIGHT HOLLYWOOD IN EVERY ROOM JARED PAULINI JASON URICK JIMMY JOE ROCHE LESSER GONZALEZ ALVAREZ LITTLE HOWLIN' WOLF LOWER DENS MICKEY FREE MOSS OF AURA NARWHALZ (OF SOUND) NEDDLE GUN PARDALINCE BIRD PEARLY PLURAL MC PONYTAIL RAP DRAGONS SICK WEAPONS TEENSOULS TEETH MOUNTAIN THANK YOU THE CONVOCATION THE CREEPERS THE NEW FLESH TWIG VIDEO HIPPOS WYE OAK ZOMES +SECRET GUESTS +more TBA
Here are two newly available songs that haven't strayed far from my comp cursor since the weather's been warm. Both stem from the same realm, as Caleb Moore is a member of Lands & Peoples and also records under the solo moniker Dead Drums.
While "Restless Legs" was first made available a few weeks ago on a Lands & Peoples/INEVERYROOM split release that came out on Friends Records, it was conceived a good while back. Weekly Tape Deck recently premiered the track, allowing Caleb's hauntingly on-point vocals to croon the interwebs. You can snag the MP3/FLAC right here for free, and there are a few more of the cassettes floating around. Look for more good things to come from L&P here, as these folks get closer to their debut full length.
Caleb dropped his solo project's first release back in March, an incredibly blissful take on minimalist-ambient pop. "Carousin USA" takes a leap in a sunnier direction, and proves to be seasonally perfect. There's the feel of some super-warped early 90's radio R&B jams going on, topped off with cool-whip vocals and some fuzzy production. All this occurs before being blasted back into the marshmallows of outer space. To top it off, here's a new Dead Drums remix by Happy Family.
Baltimore legend Daniel Higgs is likely one of the more intriguing musical spirits to grace your ears. If his current outlet of spoken word and ambient folk hasn't yet hypnotically captivated you at one of his more recent live sets, it's more than likely his pipes that fronted Lungfish have once inspired you.
Daniel Higgs recently released a brand new full length called Say God, which came out about a month ago on Thrill Jockey. I have been spending a lot of time with this double LP, which the vinyl came beautifully packaged in a gate-fold jacket.
The recordings do a magnificent job of capturing his current live sets, entrancing you with Higgs' words and sounds that are head-deep in mystical transcendence. When watching Daniel perform, I have always felt as if you're being given the opportunity to gaze inside the mind of Mr. Higgs, and Say God feels no different. Take a listen.
The production is more than certainly worth noting, with textures that have the feel of field recordings, rooms filled with wood floors, and tapes from live sets. "Say God", the third track on the album, uses a live recording of Zomes performing a show in North Carolina last year. The album was produced by the always wonderful David Sitek (TV on the Radio, Celebration), with help from Higgs also.
The ambient gospel of Say God will likely be one of the more important releases to come out of our city this year. I highly recommend snatching this one on wax, and plan to begin indulging with your mind as open as can be.
After the jump you'll find some nice footage of a performance from 12/9/09.
I saw Reading Rainbow in Philly at Extra Extra fairly recently and they alone are worth coming out for. Woven Bones just dropped a solid new LP on HoZac. The Art Department always rule, and were sounding as tight as ever at their recent set at Penthouse with Future Islands and Lower Dens. Unregistered Nurse hooked us up with a pair of free passes, so drop a friendly letter in our email here and we'll pick a winner this Friday.
Peep an official new Woven Bones video after the jump.
Baltimore label Creative Capitalism has been responsible for some of our city's finest sounding and looking releases to come out over the past few years. The collective has been rather quiet as of late, so it was quite welcoming to get a new release from them in my inbox a few weeks ago.
The release comes compliments of Miracles, a Brooklyn band that is helping to keep Creative Capitalism alive as it goes through a "transitional period". Miracles look to be a doing a damn fine job at keeping the project afloat, as their release dubbed Ovum is nothing short of awesome.
Try and picture if Double Dagger started listening to a lot of drone and throw in some heady psych jams, and you've pretty much got yourself Ovum. The release is seven seamless tracks that flow in to post punk melodies and out of scuzzy psych synths with ease. Here's one of the bigger tracks on the forthcoming release...
"From Clouds" starts with a bass line that quickly shows you why I made the Double Dagger reference above, but heads off into a pretty blissful tribal synth jam that proceeds to hit you on multiple levels. This EP is best served in full, and you can listen to the entire album over on the band's site right here.
The album is limited to 150 copies on wax, and the release party is at Death by Audio up in Brooklyn this Wednesday with Baltimore's Weekends aiding in support. Miracles - Ovum Creative Capitalism 2010
1. Trackless 03:28 2. Taking Off Masks 04:55 3. From Clouds 05:27 4. False Castles 02:26 5. Voice in the Dark 04:45 6. --------------- 00:43 7. 15 Drops 01:50
The flier above is for a show Holy Ghost Party are playing this Saturday night at Floristree, along with Weekends, Salamander Wool, Jared Paolini, and B L A C K I E.
Baltimore's Holy Ghost Party is a duo that sports two familiar faces - Zachary Utz and David Jacober. You would likely recognize these dudes from their harsher and louder music outlet, Dope Body. Holy Ghost Party is a whole other story, one that gets going properly this summer with an official EP dropping on WTR CLR.
The EP is titled Prog Parents, and David passed along a copy to me the other day. It has been on super-heavy rotation since, with its infectiously hooked pop songs wrapped in layers of twisted sound and melody that are poised to entrance. Hear for yourself.
"Shit House Luck" is the second track on the forthcoming EP. It features an almost tropical vibe, morphed and blended with tamed noise and some pretty heady vocals. The only thing that even remotely resembles Dope Body throughout these tracks are their signature industrial guitar sounds, yet with Holy Ghost Party they are used more as a percussive element or to add a more layered feel.
I'd be sure to look out for the proper release of Prog Parents this summer, as these guys show a ton of promise for good things to come. The release will be limited to 100 copies on WTR CLR. Here's some live footage of Holy Ghost Party from last summer, and as you can see/hear their sound has evolved quite a bit since then.
Tonight Sonar's got a stellar one-two punch with Tortoise and Jason Urick both taking the stage. Both acts are game-changers within their own right, and both are now signed to Thrill Jockey Records. I asked Jason Urick last night about this one, who had this to say about tonight...
"[This Show] is a huge thrill for me as the first Tortoise record opened up a lot of doors for me musically at a young age that help shape my tastes and interests more than any other band from my youth... I'm eternally grateful for that and it's humbling to share a stage and a label with them."
It's always endearing to see folks share a stage with such deep respect for one another, and of course this one promises to stimulate the ol' earbuds. Both acts are fairly fresh off new releases on Thrill Jockey, and Jason's Fussing & Fighting has been one of my favorite Baltimore records to surface in 2010. Mark Brown made a stellar video for the title track that we premiered a few months back, and you can peep it after the jump.
Doors for the show tonight are at 8 PM, and this one will run ya $15.
The epic Texas post-rockers Explosions in the Sky are coming to Baltimore, and I couldn't think of a more perfect setting for them than the church at the 2640 Space. Get the details after the jump, and you can snag tickets starting June 25. Thursday September 2nd 2640 Space- 2640 St Paul St. 7pm show/ 7:30pm show- ALL AGES EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY Guest TBA
Tickets onsale Friday June JUNE 25th at missiontix.com and Red Emma's
Last Saturday night the Natural History Museum hosted a killer sweat-fest that featured Weekends, Dope Body, Rapdragons, Teenage Souls, and Peer Pressure. Valerie was there to shoot most of the action, and you can look out for new things from most of these bands very soon.
Weekends' Strange Cultures hits vinyl in about a month, and a video is in the works that is a collaboration between the band, the Copycat Theatre, and Guy Werner. Dope Body passed along some new tracks last week that are off their next release, one of which you can listen to here. And last but certainly not least, Rapdragons just dropped Featuring Baltimore yesterday.
Weekends
Dope Body
Rapdragons
Teenage Souls
You can peep all of Valerie's shots from the night after the jump.
Tonight the Annex has a more than solid affair with locals Santa Dads and Drew Swineburne paired with the pop-punk of Mayflower. It starts at 8:30 and will run you five beans. This should surely be a pleasant way to spend your Tuesday evening.
Peep some classic Santa Dads footage from Whartscape '07 after the jump.
From the first time I met Nick Often and Greg Ward of Rapdragons last year, the two Baltimore rappers were enticing me with a local-oriented project they had in the works. The project is titled Featuring Baltimore, and it will be officially released for free tomorrow via their very own LTD Comp.
Featuring Baltimore is a full length mixtape, where in which each song samples from a different Baltimore artist. The result of Nick and Greg's superior taste in local music and knack for beat-cooking is 16 tracks of hip hop ready for any summer party. Hear a taste below.
"Dragon's Heart" samples "A Dog's Dick" by Lower Dens, one of the standout tracks on the new Lower Dens LP that drops later this summer. The Rapdragons take on the jam capitalizes on the killer bass line found in the original, and of course adds on top verses of Nick and Greg's party rap that Bmore has come to know and love.
The full release can be downloaded for free on LTD Comp tomorrow, and features samples deriving from The Agrarians, Beach House, Double Dagger, Future Islands, Ponytail, Weekends, Baby Venom, Dope Body, Arbouretum, Secret Mountains, Mr. Moccasin, The Art Department, Lo Moda, and more. Peep the full track listing below.
Rapdragons - Featuring Baltimore (LTD Comp.)
01 Early for Work (samples Late for School by Ponytail)
02 Come Harvest (samples Growing Season by Secret Mountains)
03 Plot Twist (samples Shakescene by The Agrarians)
04 Trivial Prey feat. Rebel Conscious (samples Grave Hunter by Mr. Moccasin)
05 Camp Everywhere (samples Camp Nowhere by Weekends)
06 Real Summer (samples False Spring by Arbouretum)
07 Memory (samples Vision by Dope Body)
08 Manifest (samples Camouflage by Double Dagger)
09 Bury (samples Dig by Blood Baby)
10 Rap'n'Roll feat. AK & Hanna Badalova (samples Rock'n'Roll by The Art Department)
11 Slick Rick (samples Eyepatch by Baby Venom)
12 I Went to Her feat. Seven (samples You Came to Me by Beach House)
13 Constant Metropolis (samples Istanbul by Lo Moda)
14 Dragon's Heart (samples A Dog's Dick by Lower Dens)
15 Big Dreamers (samples Little Dreamer by Future Islands)
16 Gotta Go feat. Hemlock Ernst (samples Cannot Move by Existencils)
Baltimore's favorite thrash-surf trio Dope Body are getting really close to a new full length, as lead singer Andrew Laumann passed along a few new tracks to me yesterday. As expected, they have blasted my insides with their tainted and scuzzed-out energies, and I for one am stoked for the new release. Hear for yourself below.
"Enemy Outta Me" begins with a testament as to why this band is a must, as a guitar is twisted and morphed to produce sounds typically heard in industrial graveyards. It's a scorching reminder as to how Dope Body is doing something totally new, yet are still paying homage to their predecessors with sounds of endearment.
This is not for the light-hearted, but you probably already figured them out with a name like Dope Body. The new album couldn't come any sooner, but you can catch these guys this weekend with a slew of other local favorites. This Saturday at the Natural History Museum you'll find Dope Body accompanied by Weekends, Teenage Souls, Peer Pressure, and Rapdragons. Get ready to sweat, a lot. Peep some footage of Dope Body at last year's Whartscape below.
Baltimore's Microkingdom is guitarist Marc Miller (ex-Oxes), drummer/composer Will Redman, and sometimes John Dierker on reeds. These folks have been blasting our fair city and beyond with their warped out and post-apocalyptic free-jazz journeys for the last few years. Their first two EPs were self released, but their debut long player will be released on vinyl via Friends Records this Fall.
Marc and Will have been working on this LP since their inception, and are now ready to share the result. The second track on the new album will be titled "Air Metal", a song in which the chopped and screwed version was found on their last EP, Spectacular Edges. The originally intended cut will now appear on Three Compositions of No Jazz.
Three Compositions of No Jazz will be the the fifth vinyl release in the Friends Records catalog, following up the Future Islands/Lonnie Walker seven inch and Bed of Seeds. Full length records from Weekends and Sri Aurobindo are now due out in July, while this will hit shelves in the Fall.
The cover art for this record is the work of Chris Day who is the owner of Lost Ghosts Records, has an amazing solo project dubbed Bear & Pieces or B&P, and who also plays in Witch Hat. Also, look out for a separate Microkingdom cassette release from Friends Records, which will be of a special Dischord-inspired set.
Microkingdom Three Compositions of No Jazz
FR005 2010 Friends Records 140 g Colored Vinyl 500 Copies
Side A 1. Peppermint Crab 2. Aire Metal 3. Real Constituent Planets 4. Gamut Runner pt. 1
Side B 5. Gamut Runner Pt. 2 6. DKR RZR 7. The Myth Of The Rainy Night 8. Surgery Ghosts
The fellows at Fan Death Records sent me over the debut EP from Puerto Rico Flowers sometime early last Fall. I and many others were instantly hooked, and 4 became one of their many standout releases. It was recently followed up with a 7 inch titled 2 that contained a Neil Young cover that was somehow even darker than the original.
Whenever I've chatted with Chris and Sean about John Sharkey's solo project, I've always been told that no interviews would ever be granted and nor would live shows be planned. Well the latter has now chaged, as Puerto Rico Flowers is now slated to play in Baltimore this October.
Puerto Rico Flowes - Let's Make Friends
The event will go down at the Talking Head on October 16th, and will feature DC's Screen Vinyl Image and Baltimore's Pfisters. This will be the the one and only North American gig for the project in 2010, and Sean of Fan Death said the other night, "who knows maybe last PRF show ever." So yeah, who knows.
Puerto Rico Flowers also has another release with Fan Death in the works, to be titled 7. I got a chance to spend some time with the lead track off of 7 this week, and can assuredly report that this is yet another PRF release folks should definitely be stoked about. I would highly suggest snatching a copy of 2while you still can, and the same goes for tickets to the show in October.
Last night Future Islands came home to Baltimore from a national tour, headlining one of the year's best shows so far that also sported Lower Dens and The Art Department. Above is some video footage compliments of Jimmy MacMillan of them performing the slow-rolling beauty that is "In The Fall" alongside Celebration's Katrina Ford.
After the jump you'll find video of "Little Dreamer", also from last night. This was the last song of their set, in which Sam had requested the lights be turned on for.
Last Thursday night The Spits roared into town, giant red-eyed skull and all, and played Sonar with Nobunny, The Points, and Hollywood. This show was a great party in every regard, with killer sounds to accompany the antics. Nobunny are always a good time as you can see from the photos, and The Spits' version of sludged-out no-wave punk rock was fantastic as well.
Valerie shot the whole affair, and you can peep the full set below. The Spits
Tonight there's a doubleheader, so start up in Hampden at Jesus Camp, then head on down to the Penthouse. Married in Berdichev, Winks, Dead Drums, Alexander Trust, French Quarter, Pollination Population all play at Jesus Camp starting at 5 PM today.
Tonight at the Penthouse you'll find Future Islands and Lower Dens returning from a national tour and joined by The Art Department. This show starts around 9 PM.
A couple weeks ago an entire floor at the Annex was dominated by fantastic sounds from the likes of Run DMT, Prince Rama, Emily Reo, Winks, and a lot more. I was out of town catching Dan Deacon, Height with Friends, and Dustin Wong all invade New York at the Cake Shop, but Adam from Weekends was in attendance. He played a set with Winks, and shot some really rad photos.
Run DMT
Prince Rama
Emily Reo
Check out Adam's full photo set of the night after the jump.
Adam from Weekends and some of his friends shot photos of his show with Height with Friends at the Hexagon a couple weeks ago, which was the release party for Bed of Seeds. Adam's shots help portray the packed house and friendly vibes, all part of an all around awesome evening.
If you missed out on David Carter's recording of the entire Height with Friends set last week, you can download/stream it above. The full photo set is after the jump.
