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Album Review: Pontiak – Maker (Thrill Jockey)

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MP3: Pontiak – Wax Worship

Drenched in reverb, as though recorded in some distant wooded canyon, ex-Baltimoreans Pontiak follow up their hard-rocking psychedelic debut with another strong offering of much of the same. Which is problematic, because somehow this band sounds both all too familiar and equally difficult to describe. Stoner metal riffs that could have come off a Kyuss album are buried between, and sometimes subconsciously emerge from, more eerie and vaguely defined, druggy soundscapes. Luckily Ponitak pack enough twists and turns into a three-minute jam to keep you on your toes, never dragging their heels or resting their laurels on a single riff or sound (a habit some stoner rockers too easily settle into).

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Preview: Farm Fest 2009 feat. The Black Hollies, the Flying Eyes, Vincent Black Shadow and more!

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MP3: The Flying Eyes – Red Sheets

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MP3: The Flying Eyes – We Are Not Alive

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MP3: Vincent Black Shadow – Flash Roll

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MP3: The Black Hollies – Get Yourself Together, Girl

Ever wanted to camp out and attend a fantastic music festival on a big farm? Don’t feel like trekking out to Tennessee? Then boy, have we got the fest for you: Farm Fest 2009 out in Millers, MD.

Organized by local psych-rockers the Flying Eyes, the festival is a celebration of the creme de la creme of psych-influenced artists in the area:

The Black Hollies
The Flying Eyes
Strangers Family Band
Vincent Black Shadow
Hollywood
The Albertans
The Deaf Scene
Pinche Gringo
Bad Liquor Pond

Plus special guests:
DJ Amanda Otto
The Herman Melville Experience
and Ian Humphrey!!!

Do yourself a favor and get to this.

Tentative schedule:

The Deaf Scene- 4pm
Bad Liquor Pond- 5pm
The Albertans- 6pm
Hollywood- 7pm
Vincent Black Shadow- 8pm
Pinche Gringo- 9pm
The Flying Eyes- 10pm
The Black Hollies- 11pm
Strangers Family Band- 12am

PRE-SALE TICKETS ARE ONLY $13!!! BUY IN ADVANCE AND SAVE MONEY!
Contact us to buy them:
Adam-410-227-1786
Elias- 410-458-4057
theflyingeyes@comcast.net

1) Live music all day and night
2) Free camping
4) And a free copy of The Flying Eyes brand new EP, “Winter”, all for only $13 admission!!!

DIRECTIONS TO FARM FEST:

- Go North on I-83
- Take exit 27 for MD-137/Mt Carmel Rd
- Turn left at MD-137/Mount Carmel Rd
- Turn right at Falls Rd/MD-25 and go 6.2 miles
- Turn left at Hoffmanville Rd
- Turn left at Alesia Rd
(*NOTE*: Do not make the right turn onto the first Alesia Rd. you see. Continue underneath the bridge and then make a left onto the second Alesia Rd.)
- Make a right turn into the driveway marked with balloons a.k.a 4600!!!

Live Review / Preview: BSO Season Closer, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3…And Summer Music Preview (2009.06.12)

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The BSO tackled the great Rach 3, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minorwith the help of soloist Yefim Bronfman.  The 1996 Jeffrey Rush film, Shine, made a modern plug for its popularity, but Vladimir Horowitz was the master (and master propagandist) of the work, which earned him rapturous applause and television specials.  Rachmaninoff offered this testament of Horowitz: “He swallowed it whole. He had the courage, the intensity, the daring.”

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Whartscape 2009 as-of-now official info

Editor’s Note: This info just in, straight from Wham’s resident info-master Dina Kelberman.

Check out our awesome Countdown to Whartscape 2008 interview series here.

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>>>We are goons. This information may change often.<<<

For 4 years now Wham City has been organizing the WHARTSCAPE. What started as a summer warehouse party turned into a much bigger, multi-day outdoor festival with thousands of bands, performers, and folks traveling to Baltimore from all across the US and Europe.

Since, we organize this festival out of pocket and in our spare time, it is important for us to keep it comfortable and enjoyable for us to do. One thing we talked about at the end of last year’s festival was shrinking it down slightly and having it feel more community based and familiar.

This year isn’t focused around headliners, but mainly performers and friends that make up the community we tour, work and live in.

~

We are also greatly reducing the number of MEGA-PASSES (the ticket that grants you entry to every show and every day).

ONLY 300 Mega-Passes will be sold; this is the only guarantee that you can see all the shows.

Tickets will be sold to the individual shows, but it is strongly suggested that you buy a Mega-Pass, as it saves you money and assures you take in the entire poo-poo.

Whartscape will take place July 10-11-12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun.

We will begin selling tickets at 12 Noon, Monday, June 29th.

MEGA PASS – $45

INDIVIDUAL DAY – $18

~~~IMPORTANT TICKET INFO (PLEASE READ!!):~~~

Only the Mega-Pass guarantees entrance to the nighttime events at Load of Fun, which has a much smaller occupancy than the MICA parking lot. Anyone without a Mega-Pass will get in on a first come, first serve basis. There is a very strong likely hood we will sell out of Mega-Passes, which will mean the nighttime portion is also sold out.

The strength of the mega-pass is truly mega.

~

Here are the 130 acts performing at this years Whartscape:

Adventure
Air Waves
AK Slaughter
Alexis Gideon
Allen Cordell
Ami Dang
Andy Abelow
Annex Theater
Art Department
At the End of Infinite Rope
Bad Brilliance
Barky
BDRM PPL
Beast Master
Bedlam Theatre
Big Bear
Bird Names
Black Vatican
Blood Baby
Blue Leader
Booge Border
Butt Stomach
C Spencer Yeh
Cars Will Burn
Celebration
Chandeliers
Charlotte and Joe
Child Bite
Child Bride
Clarissa Gregory
Connor Kizer and Adam Endres
Crazy Dreams Band
Dan Deacon Ensemble
Dan Higgs
DDMMYYYY
Despot
DJ Dog Dick
Dope Body
Double Dagger
Drip House
Eagle Ager
Ear Pwr
Ed Schrader
Eric Hnatow
Funny Clown
Future Islands
Gary War
GDFX
Golden Birthday
Grasslung
Hair Police
Height
Hooliganship
Human Host
Infinity Window
Jana Hunter
Janitor
Jared Paolini
Jason Willett
Jimmy Joe Roche
John Eaton
John Weiss
Justin Frye Meat Wallet Bells Pieces
Killer Whales
Kokomo
Leprechaun Catering
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez
Little Howlin Wolf
Liturgy
Living Things
Lizz King
Lo Moda
Lonnie Walker
Lord Scrumage
Magnet City Kids
Mark Brown
Married in Berdichev
Mason Ross
Melissa Moore
Meredith Moore
Mickey Free
Microkingdom
Milton Melvin Croissant III
Mincemeat or 10speed
MNDR
Narwalz
Nate Boyce
Nautical Almanac
Needle Gun
Nobel Lake
Nuclear Power Pants
Olaf Breuning
Peter Glantz
Pleasant Livers
Plural MC
Polygons
Ponytail
Quiet Hooves
R.M. O’Brien
Rap Dragons
Roto Romo
Rotten Milk Band
Santa Dads
Schwarz
Sewn Leather
Seyjano
Shams
Showbeast
Sick Weapons
Silk Flowers
Small Sur
Smartgrowth
Smarts
So Percussion
Soft Pink Truth
Something by Dina Kelberman
Spellcaster
Talk Normal
Team Robespierre
Teen Girl Fantasy
Teeth Mountain
Thank You
The Creepers
The Degenerettes
The New Flesh
The Title Sounded Better in French (Lola/Anna)
The Woes
Trockeneisis
Truth Serum
Twin Stumps
Videohippos
Vincent Black Shadow
Weekends
What Cheer Brigade Marching Band
Witch Hat
Wolf Eyes
Wye Oak
Y2KEITH
Yoshi Sodeoka
Zomes
Bands We Forgot
And More!

May the days be bright and clear and the nights dark, dark, dark…

Sound Off!: Spectre

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MP3: Spectre – Blazed feat. Sensational

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MP3: Spectre – Valour

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MP3: Spectre – Fracture

I haven’t taken rap, or hip-hop for that matter, seriously since I first heard “Get Low,” penned by some disillusioning bastard with a mixing program. So, needless to say it’s been years. Friends of mine would play their favorites in an attempt to convert me, all usually trashy jams you hear on Hot-99.5 (ruining the taste of high school students, one single at a time), which didn’t help in the least.

That’s the backstory of how I came to loathe the genre as a whole, just so you’re aware of my rap/hip-hop/R&B credentials before I go into this any further. But to be fair, I had an open mind to rap, believing somehow that it can express notable emotion in its own way. I just assumed that such art was almost unobtainable without some sort of black-market inside source so I never attempted to find it. Years later, this guy named Greg asked me to check out an artist named Spectre.  He sent me his 2003 album, Psychic Wars. This is where my viewpoint on rap and hip-hop shifted for the better. This is the art I was hoping existed, but never quite found.

Spectre, otherwise known as Skiz Fernando, is a Harvard-educated rap artist that runs his own “Crooklyn”-founded, Baltimore-based label called Wordsound. His default setting is sinister: a dark, contemplative tone that calls for chills on all occasions. And it works.

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News: Virgin Mobile Fest 2009, free.

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MP3: Blink-182 – Boring

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MP3: Wale – Wonder Why feat. Mike Posner, Big Sean, & Kenn Starr

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MP3: The Bravery – Rocket (Smashing Pumpkins Cover)

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MP3: The National – The Geese of Beverly Road [Live]

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MP3: Franz Ferdinand – This Fire

I pretty much gave up news postings on this site early on; the big dogs have the monopoly on that one for everything but the most local of scene happenings.  But this is one huge tidbit of news that needs airing.

The rumors of the demise of Virgin Mobile Fest this year have been exaggerated, apparently a great deal.  Press release just dropped tonight letting everyone know the shindig this year will be FREE OF CHARGE:

Virgin Mobile USA, creator of one of the largest and most critically acclaimed music festivals in the U.S., announced today that it would host the 2009 Virgin Mobile Festival on Sunday, August 30, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., free of charge. All tickets will be given away, and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have the first crack at securing the 35,000 tickets.

Some more good feelings:

To respond to the sharp decrease in national social giving, Virgin Mobile FreeFest will also host a special VIP seating area for those who complete 13 hours of community service at designated homeless youth shelters around the country.

When are these miraculous free tickets being handed out, and how you may ask:

Tickets to the 2009 Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be available to the public at http://www.ticketmaster.com at 10 am EST on Saturday, June 27th. Virgin Mobile customers and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers will be invited via email to a private “free-sale” (much like a pre-sale, except free) to be held Thursday, June 25th and Friday, June 26th.

Ticketmaster is waiving the convenience charge when fans pick up their FreeFest tickets at Merriweather or the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Customers also have the option to pay Ticketmaster to deliver their tickets. For more details on the ticketing, including options for donating money to youth homelessness and buying limited edition FreeFest T-shirts, check out virginmobilefreefest.com.

The lineup is not bad at all, especially in light of the new pricing plan.  Performers include Weezer, the newly resurrected Blink-182Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, JetThe National, Girl TalkThe Bravery, The Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, and Taking Back Sunday, HOLY F*CK, Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge.

So enjoy some flashback tracks above, and get ready to click for free/benefit causes.

Photos / Live Review: Elvis Perkins, Those Darlins @ the Ottobar (2009.06.18)

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MP3: Elvis Perkins – May Day!

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MP3: Elvis Perkins in Dreamland – Doomsday

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MP3: Those Darlins – Wild One

All photos: Greg Szeto

Not to be reductionist by any means, but if you’ve ever wondered whether riot grrl attitude would mesh well with honky-tonk country, look no farther than Tennessee’s Those Darlins.  Much more than that simple formula, they now stand as one of my top 5 favorite finds in an opening act over the past few years.  A commanding presence, immensely catchy music bolstered by tight playing.  A country-fried approach that goes beyond a simple aesthetic, something clearly oozing out of their pores and roots, they present a vital take on country that is fresh and electric.

My ears have suffered far too long under sterilized country radio, and clearly, they feel the same way: their sound is rooted in that of traditional country pillars like the Carter Family, and reflects the common bond that first brought them together and fueled their musical mission.  Their stage chemistry is phenomenal and exudes a perfect mix of sassy sexuality and confidence.  Their sound has grown greatly from their simpler roots, embracing blues and garage rock swagger and riffage to make their music deadly and more immediate than a boot to the nuts. They just released their debut LP and it’s a rollicking good time.  I would say they are a don’t miss act if ever you see them coming through your neck of the woods.

Elvis Perkins is now, in my mind, one of the unquestionably great singer/songwriters to emerge in the past decade.  He is as affecting and intimate as he is versatile and showmanlike.  My first exposure to him was opening for Okkervil River the last time they stopped by the Ottobar. He made them look like amateurs.  Perkins then was on the heels of his mournful LP Ash Wednesday, and was moving beyond words.  Effectively, an emotional demolitions expert.

His latest, self-titled LP, is a more balanced and lush affair, bright but only in contrast to Ash, and never excessively so.  He truly wows with his gorgeous aural textures and penchant for diverse instrumentation and sounds.  What’s more astounding is that he manages to effectively transport all this to the live experience, his backing band rallying about him as they hop around the stage with horns and drums in tow, blaring (highlights: “Shampoo,” “Doomsday”).  An ebullient and engaging affair that feels like going to see the musical equivalent of an acrobatic circus.  The show brought to mind the magnitude of childlike wonder that Sigur Ros effuses, but with a heaping dose of world-weary maturity and sagacity.

It would seem that Perkins has traded in some of his crushing emotional weight for a more whimsical bent, and it is a welcome bit of leavening.  Some his earlier work suffers with these changes, losing much of their resonance (“While you were sleeping”); thankfully, others take new life (“May Day”).  From all this, the overall impression you walk away left with is that you’ve witnessed something undeniably special, and you can’t help but wonder where Perkins will take us next.
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One Track Mind: Cex – “Last Gazp” / Bonus: “Brains out”

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MP3: Cex – Last Gazp

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MP3: Cex – Brains Out

Cex aka Cexman aka Rjyan Kidwell recently dropped his new wax, Bataille Royale, on a Baltimore scene that is more than ready for this addition to its musical vocabulary.  This record is unquestionably the product of a bombed out soul, a spirit that is truly and uniquely urban.  Here we find soundscapes that, much like dub, reflect the darker side of the metropolitan experience.  Kidwell has openly stated this is a response to the predominance of standard (and saccharine) tropes of indie rock and psychedelia, and it certainly succeeds in presenting an alternative flavor.  Cex has carved a musical document that channels Baltimore while pond-hopping around various subgenres of electronic and hip-hop.

The first track, “Last Gazp,” is a burnt-out aural landscape: expansive and distant, while somehow, paradoxically, claustrophobic and overbearing.  Recurring machine-gun rattles are jarring and immediate, especially when juxtaposed to the mysterious melody.  ”Brains out” is a dark and foreboding, borderline psychoses-inducing cut of techno, the only words being exhortations of: “Blow your brains out.”  These tracks, and this record, deserve to be digested and pored over.  Each listen brings out more and more facets of this gem.

But, the real meat of Cex lies in his masterful live sets.  Lucky for us, this month’s More or Less party at the Hexagon has Cex performing tonight (he’s even giving away some copies of Bataille).  You can pick up copies of Bataille Royale at the lovely True Vine.

Sound Off!: The Rural Alberta Advantage

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MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don’t Haunt This Place from Hometowns (re-release on Saddle Creek  July 07, 2009)

The Rural Alberta Advantage have got something special. Like any good music group, a list of their influences (Neutral Milk Hotel, Mountain Goats, countless other gloomy bands) doesn’t even half explain their music. Trying to break down their debut album, Hometowns, into genres and comparisons proves itself a futile task because there’s something untouchable about them, almost as if what they create is more than its material aspects.

With pipes that ineffably burrow into you (like those of many who inspire him), Nils Edenloff’s vocal work probes around with rippled valor and finds it’s home right near where your most melancholy emotions reside. While Hometowns definitely sounds like a collaborative effort, most would point to Nils when looking for a frontman. He’s accompanied by Paul Banwatt, a drummer who,  if “Don’t Haunt This Place” tells us anything, has got some serious skills, and Amy Cole, whose voice perfectly accentuates Nils’ in all the most necessary places. They come to the table with a downcast mix of guitar-driven indie rock, sometimes heralding with frantic blasts of energy, others utilizing more contemplative moods bordering on folk-art, but always accomplishing what the song intends.

Following a near-zero-press independent release of the album last year on eMusic, the RAA have been steadily doctoring a now-developing buzz in the music world, and have opted to re-release Hometowns through Saddle Creek Records (a damn good decision). They may sound like a thousand other forgettable indie outfits, but something about these Albertans sticks regardless of that fact. Prediction: a total blog-based (cough) explosion of popularity in the next month or two.

Photos: Rufustival 2009 (2009.06.06)

All photos: Greg Szeto

Baby Aspirin played a standout set on Saturday (which you can hear here thanks to Jeff), impressing me much more than my previous experience with them at the Talking Head).  They recalled the tude and sound of the best and brightest of the riot grrl movement.  At times, they made me really miss Sleater-Kinney, then proceeded to step in and fill that void as fast as it opened.

Ecstatic Sunshine played in yet another iteration.  They really hit a groove after early set meanderings, exploring some interesting, spare and tropical vibes, perfect for the summer and outdoors.  Check out Jeff’s audio here.

Thrushes played a slew of new material (some of which they have been playing live for quite a bit) from their forthcoming sophomore effort, reunited with founding drummer Matt Davis.  They showed real progression and new life, playing more taut and uptempo than ever before, a welcome extension of their crushing mastery of midtempo and dirgelike compositions.

Chairlift ployed their spaced-out pop vision quite well, but I found myself increasingly inattentive in spite of the trio’s great vocals.

Wye Oak struggled through some unfortunate technical delays courtesy of some bad/breaking wiring on Andy’s Nord Electro.  The outdoor setting also sapped some of the affecting energy the duo normally exude in spades.  Not a bad set by any means, but not their best either.

Major kudos and congrats to Sarah for running a phenomenally tight ship for both Rufustival (set times were spot on) and the Metro Gallery as a whole.  Here’s hoping for many more years, and even bigger fests.

Baby Aspirin

Baby Aspirin @ Rufustival 2009
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