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MP3: The Secret Machines – Dreaming of Dreaming

I was alarmed and concerned when I heard first news out of the Secret Machines camp right before their stint at David Bowie-curated Highline festival in New York: founding member, guitarist, backup vocalist and brother Ben Curtis had left the 3-piece band to pursue his other project, School of Seven Bells. I couldn’t (and still can’t) fathom why he would want to leave a band that had released two great to spectacular albums and was well on their way.

The Secret Machines have delivered some of the most transcendentally beautiful moments I’ve ever experienced in a live music setting. Thankfully, when I saw them at an errant DC stop at the Rock and Roll Hotel, they still seemed to be on point and building on their spacious post-rock sound, with new guitarist Phil E. Karnats (formerly of Tripping Daisy). They seemed to really be taking things into a darker and more jam-filled space.

Now, with their new track “Dreaming of Dreaming,” we can get a glimpse of where they are headed stylistically.  And it seems an organic outgrowth.  In addition, we get some tasty info: the self-titled album is being released on their own label, TSM Recordings, and has a street date of Oct. 14th.  I really can’t wait.

I make no secret of my love for Joss Whedon. He is able to adapt to any medium with his distinct style and complex, rewarding and believable characterization.

Foraying into TV, movies and comics, he really has mastered quite a few mediums of art and delivery. But his calling card and hallmark achievements will always be his TV series (Buffy, Angel, Firefly). His penchant for interesting concepts lead him to produce a number of intriguing and compelling TV episodes, such as the silence-dominated Buffy episode “Hush” and the Buffy musical.

Whedon’s latest project, the web-based music tragicomedy Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog, stars Neil Patrick Harris and follows his trials and tribulations as an aspiring supervillain and love-struck, socially awkward dork; it was written and directed with his brother during much of the writer’s strike and is packed with a host of familiar faces in the Whedon universes. The mini-movie is laden with hilarious musical numbers, filled with Whedon’s hallmark of charming characters and snappy dialog, and features a distinctly Whedonesque twist near the end.

I really can’t recommend this more highly.

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MP3: Wallpaper – T Rex

I gotta say, I’m impressed.

We here at Aural States get a lot of music. A lot. The majority of which is mediocre to above average. A surprising amount is actually quite good. There are very few things that come across my digital desk that I immediately toss into my personal “hate” pile, reserved for boy bands, inane cock rock and pointless and meandering stoner-jam bands.

But we have a new contender for most obnoxious, hated album of all-time. Meet Wallpaper.
Read the rest…

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MP3: Beach House – Apple Orchard from self-titled (2006)

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MP3: Beach House – Heart of Chambers from Devotion (2008)

One of Baltimore’s finest gets into the ever-fantastic London Black Cab for an inspired performance of Heart of Chambers.

Tonight, a friend of mine announced he was “retiring from listening to music”, but about a week before doing so posed a question that remains relevant: why has Lil’ Wayne caught on among the kids quicker than sipping tussin out of a baby bottle? Given John Poirier’s recent commentary on Lil’ Wayne’s showboating at Virgin Fest I figured now might be an appropriate time to post an account of my quest to find the answer. Read the rest…

On Aug 29, we will have a drawing for a free copy of this album to a lucky US winner! Comment this post or email us at auralstates@gmail.com with your name, address and contact email for future contests. We will announce the winner next week.

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MP3: The Faint – Machine in the ghost

There is something irresistible about the Faint. Even as they tread so much water in this release, re-defining the meaning of middle-ground moderation from the tempos to the production…they are still contagious. And definitively the Faint.

However, only sparks are left from the twitching dance-punk energy of the best tracks from Wet from Birth and Danse Macabre. Instead, each track on Fasciinatiion tends to sit in mid-tempo and just coast along. Veering more and more into one-dimensional electro and glitch-tweaking, the Faint have dropped a number of aspects that really gave their music a distinct and electric flavor. The most noticeable void is the lack of dramatic flair, largely attributable to the absence of string choruses (violin, viola, cello are all gone). Read the rest…

I was not expecting too much from the Saturday line-up, and this proved to be true. Indeed, I was not expecting too much from Virgin Festival at all, aside from a few select acts.

It would also be the first large-scale music festival since my early-to-mid teens years spent at HFStivals. Oh, how I was enamored by what I saw then, and how annoyed by most of what I saw now. Was it a function of maturation, or have things really gone that down hill since I was 14?

It would also be the first “mainstream” show I had attended in some years. I anticipated the crowd being radically different than what I was used to seeing–not really a value judgment, just an objective assumption. I also realized how much I have changed since freshman year of high school, both in regards to musical taste, and also life outlook.

Just for shit-and-giggles I dressed Saturday to blend in with the crowd. Not that I’m super fashionable in the first place, but I thought it would be nostalgic fun to don the old high school lacrosse practice singlet (get the pun? You would if you went to my high school). It turns out this was the goddamn uniform for the large portion of guys in attendance (if they were wearing shirts at all). It made me feel really old when kids asked me what year I graduated, I answered, and they looked at me like I’m old. Then they asked me to buy them beer. In all fairness I remember being 16 and thinking early twenties was old, too. Read the rest…

[All photography by Joe Pepin. Photo collages by myself.]

I found myself feeling pretty conflicted walking out of the Music Hall of Williamsburg after seeing Grizzly Bear for the second time in the flesh. As songwriters and performers, they are the cream of the crop, and I can assuredly say that Yellow House has changed my life, and my direction artistically.

When I saw them at 2640 Space here in Baltimore, I didn’t expect much. Their records are so meticulously calculated with textures and ambiance, I honestly didn’t expect them to be able to recreate much or any of that in a live situation.

Read the rest…

I had high hopes and expectations for this show. So high, in fact, that I skipped out on my first ever chance to see Underworld in Baltimore. I was a huge fan back when the Everything, Everything live album/dvd came out, and I was a huge fan of Trainspotting in high school. Who can forget that last monologue by Renton done over the opening chords of “Born Slippy Nuxx”? But that monologue is all about choice, and Saturday night I chose the rustic world of Bob and Small Sur over the nighttime beats of Underworld. I chose happiness and bliss.

Another huge factor in my decision to forgo Underworld was the fact that I love the 2640 space. I have never been to a poor show there. It is intimate, a place to see familiar faces and enjoy great music. This was the exact opposite of Virgin Fest, a scene resembling a Hieronymus Bosch painting, and unfortunately more often than not, with fitting music, too

It would also have been hypocritical of me not to show up. Ever since Aural States received We Live in Houses Made of Wood, we have been extolling the virtues of folky-americana-pysch-rock (not a catchy title, but I don’t know what else to call it) a la Small Sur. The band’s new album is nothing short of amazing, and I have been telling everyone who cares to listen (and some who really didn’t want to listen) how great this album is. Read the rest…

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MP3: Vivian Girls – Where do you run to

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MP3: Crystal Stilts – The Sinking

On Friday, August 15th, Baltimore’s Nerve Center in Remington will host the best lineup on a bill I’ve seen here (given I’ve only lived in Baltimore a year): Vivian Girls (Brooklyn), Crystal Stilts (Brooklyn), Witch Hats (Australia), Pygmy Lush (Virginia), and Mr. Moccasin.

I don’t know much about the latter two bands so I’ll skip over them but that doesn’t even matter.

Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts have (justified) hype buzzing all around them. I was fortunate enough to see both of them in Brooklyn a few weeks ago. Vivian Girls, taking their name from Henry Darger’s million page manuscript, are a 3 piece all female group that sounds like Y Pants or The Raincoatsplaying 60’s girl group songs. Their recent debut LP sold out fast, but you can find it on eBay for $80 or wait for it to be re-released by In The Red in the fall.

Unfortunately, I am also going to compare Crystal Stilts to their influences, but when you sound like a perfect mix between Joy Division and Velvet Underground, you can’t go wrong. Witch Hats will get my lazy comparisons as well to great bands of the past: The Scientists, Scratch Acid, Six Finger Satellite.

It is a shame that Baltimore rarely gets bands like these to come through and all on one night. The Nerve Center, arguably the best venue in the city, is a punk(row)house that hosts a plethora of bands spanning many genres and every show is a party. So be prepared to actually have fun, and if you don’t know where the Nerve Center is, your ass better call somebody! (I only know by sight)