This is just a quick note to say thanks to the editors of Baltimore Magazine for awarding us with a spot in their City Guide 2009 as one of the top Baltimore-centric Corners of the Web and now including us in their Best of Baltimore 2009, designating us Best Arts Blog (we didn’t even pay for advertising, because we don’t have any!). We’re all really flattered and gratified that you think so highy of us.  Here’s the full recap of what they had to say:

In recent years, Baltimore has become an explosive center for new music, garnering national and international attention, but until Aural States, auralstates.com, launched last year, there was no single website that effectively captured the enthusiasm and dedication of the city’s music obsessives.  Founder Greg Szeto and like-minded writers post audio and epic reviews from shows, endlessly promote local bands, and, to celebrate the site’s first anniversary in January, hosted the city’s best new festival, Aural States Fest, featuring hometown standouts Arbouretum, Wye Oak, and Caverns.

While we might not post as frequently as your average blog, we try to make every post (except maybe ticket giveaways, we figure brevity is the best option there) passionate and possessing some depth beyond the superficial that largely seems to pervade the entire sector of “new media.”  We figure if someone can take the time to make the music, we can take the time to write about it in more than a couple paragraphs.  We hope we can continue doing this for a long time to come, and provide a meaningful and distinct voice in the discussion of all the amazing music going on in our wonderfully flawed city.

Thanks to all the readers, everyone who has and continues to contribute content in the form of words or photos, and most of all thanks to everyone in the music community, the people who run all the amazing venues in the city, and the labels and artists who take time to chat and let us plaster their MP3s and photos all over the ‘net.

Other notable music-related winners include Nolen and Bruce from Double Dagger as Best Dynamic Duo (Batman + Robin suits at the next show?), Carl Grubbs as Best Musician, Kathy Fahey (artist for many a beautiful show poster, the show/compilation The Birdwatcher’s Companion and Wye Oak’s If Children among many other things) for Best Artful Design, the BSO’s Marin Alsop and An Die Musik’s Henry Wong as MVPs (Visionary and Jazz/Classical, respectively) and the Baltimore Round Robin as Best Tour.

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