Photo Credit: Greg Szeto

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MP3: Thank You – Empty Legs from Terrible Two (2008)

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MP3: Leprechaun Catering – Adult Carrot

2009 started off right with 2 great art openings in Station North, anchored by 2 shows from some great Baltimore musicians.

The Windup Space opened an exhibit of Jordan Kasey’s interesting landscape art that has a bit of Magritte surrealist touch to it.  Friends Thank You and Wheatie Mattiasich helped open this exhibit; Thank You were burdened with a bit of technical difficulty early in their set but managed to bang out a slew of their nimble, stuttering tracks from Terrible Two including the ever-hypnotizing rhythmic exercise “Empty Legs.”

The Hexagon Space played host to Emily Dierkes’ Recent Works: Pink Clouds Remixed exhibit.  Leprechaun Catering played a banging set of glorious racket that had the Hex packed and pulsating.

Wheatie Mattiasich

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I contemplated whether or not to write this post as I kind of hate rehashes of old material.  Mostly because that’s one of the purported signs of a blog’s decline.  But fuck it, we’ve had a banner inaugural year and tons of shit needs to be highlighted.  Below is just a smattering of our best/my favorite articles and coverage we’ve had in the past year.

Of particular personal significance was my chance to interview one of my musical icons, Béla Fleck, breaking controversial first word on Whartscape logistics and getting press access for Bonnaroo.  So check out some of the highlights of the first of many years to come for Aural States.

Interviews:

Béla Fleck

Lo Moda (w/ Scott, Peter, Raili, Christian, Antony, Gillian)

Matmos (w/ Drew Daniel, Martin Schmidt)

The Presets (w/ Julian Hamilton)

Wham City & Whartscape (w/ Adam Endres)

Wye Oak (w/ Andy Stack, Jenn Wasner)

Show Reviews:

Photos / Review: Lo Moda, Miracles, Thrust Lab @ the Windup Space (2008.11.21)

Built to Spill, Meat Puppets, The Drones @ Rams Head Live

Jay Reatard, Vincent Black Shadow, Ratsize @ Sonar

Small Sur Record Release Party @ 2640 Space

Times New Viking vs. No Age

Show Review: Daniel Johnston, Lizz King and Jason Dove @ the Ottobar

Show Review – Matmos @ Floristree, Baltimore

Album Reviews:

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet – Self-Titled (Nettwerk)

The Bug – London Zoo (Ninja Tune)

Small Sur – We Live in Houses Made of Wood (Tender Loving Empire)

13th Floor Elevators – Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators Mono LP (Sundazed)

Marin Alsop & the BSO – Dvorák: Symphony No 9, Symphonic Variations

Abe Vigoda – Skeleton (Post Present Medium)

Autechre – Quaristice

Other:

Bonnaroo 2008 coverage (our first national festival!)

Countdown to Whartscape 2008

Whartscape 2008

Virgin Fest 2008

2008 Wrap-Up

Live Audio Exclusives from the Baltimore Taper

Down the Vine – Updates from the True Vine courtesy of Jason Willett

Enjoy these exclusive world premieres from Baltimore Highlands while you read this review!

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MP3: Height With Friends – Baltimore Highlands

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MP3: Height With Friends – Code of Love

I would hardly consider myself expert or even well-versed in hip-hop or rap, but I know that the vast majority of what goes on in those circles today is distasteful to me.  I am weary of the over-the-top chest-puffing machismo and misogyny, xenophobia, and militarism that plagues much of modern rap/bling-hop.

Thankfully Height is different. Read the rest…

Luckily, my editor is on in-between semester break. Otherwise, I’m sure he would be in T.A. mode and grade my late post accordingly…

However, I dragged my feet somewhat deliberately. What’s the point of a 2008 summation if you don’t have at least a little critical distance between current time, and the past year? One doesn’t write a book report until the book is actually finished. A conclusion about a hypothesis can’t be reached until the experiment is actually completed. You don’t say, “Wow, baby…that was some good sex,” until the deal is sealed–unless you’re an ego-tripping moron with a teenager’s maturity level.

January 29, 2008 was my emergence from the world of sub-par print music journalism into the realm of much more serious online music writing. I don’t take credit for the upgrade; that goes solely to Greg Szeto, the music editor at my former publication, and the founder and managing editor of Aural States. I know good coat tails when I seem them, and I was really excited to jump into this venture with Greg. 

The results have been unthinkable, really. Much of the work I’ve felt the best about, and been the most proud of in the past several years has been for Aural States.
For me, 2008 has been a year of amazing music–recorded, live, and starting recently, making it again. To be accurate this journey’s proper beginnings are in the fall of 2007, but isn’t it weird how events usually arise from prior events in sequential order? Event chains, I think they are called.  I have been into music all my life, but 2008 is unique in the fact that I actually, in some small way, took a spot in a broader network of music, and culture-of-music people. I began blogging, and people were actually reading what I wrote.

This status of blogger doesn’t feel quite like it fits yet. Around Baltimore, indie/hipsters types (definitely loaded words, which are commonly mistaken for being synonymous with “music types”) don such close-fitting clothes. Perhaps, feeling as though this is a role I need to grow into is a healthier stance, than having skin-tight clothing restricting, and inhibiting movement (read: critical movement, and development).

Also, clothes being the signifiers that they are designate people into one group. I personally don’t fit into one single group musically, and probably not socially, either. From my understanding (and I think it’s an accurate understanding) the same goes for Aural States. To be clear, this does not mean AS has to be everything musically to fulfill our eclectic mission statement, but we simply need to be who we are, and only who we are.

And who are we? Music geeks: pure, unabashed, genuine music geeks.

My (Highly Subjective) Most Memorable Live Performances of 2008 (in no order, and it’s more than 10)
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