On March 9 Baltimore goes French with Justice at Sonar. But to make up for the slight Gallic lapse Baltimore club icon Scottie B will step up behind the decks after the Justice set to rep the home team. Aural States recently sat down to talk to Scottie B and Shawn Caesar, legendary DJs, owners of Unruly Records and pivotal figures in forming the genre known as Baltimore club.

If you need a Baltimore club primer check out Andrew Devereaux’s essay “What Chew Know About Down the Hill?”: Baltimore Club Music, Subgenre Crossover, and the New Subculture Capital of Race and Space at the Journal of Popular Music Studies. I originally learned of the article through Al Shipley’s Government Names website.

Or you can opt for the less academic approach and listen to the Scottie B tracks after the jump.

Be on the lookout for the new Scottie B mix album From Bmore With Love soon.
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Tonight at An die Musik Baltimore jazz legend Lafayette Gilchrist will perform with area saxophonist Carl Grubbs.

Gilchrist was featured on the recent Wire soundtrack.

He didn’t begin playing the piano until age 17, and before that he was a boxer. Some say his playing style mimics the rhythm of a young Sugar Ray Robinson. The left hand, the foot work if you will, constantly shuffles, while the left hand jabs, then lets loose a flurry of blows.

I remember Carl Grubbs, who studied with Coltrane, from the time I shadowed at St. Paul’s. He was teaching a class, and I was blown away by what he had to say.

All in all, this should be a great performance.

–Bez
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A couple Tuesdays ago, I got a chance to talk with Martin and Drew of Matmos. While the weather outside was icy enough to force Maryland polls to stay open for an extra hour and a half, I met the two at their row house by the Hopkins campus. We sat down at their dining room table, and Drew lit candles.

The interview is divide into halves. In the first half Matmos talk about their new hometown, their childhoods, and tripping face.

This is the first interview in a semi-regular series profiling Baltimore music makers

–Bez

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My least favorite time of year is upon us. The cold and lack of Vitamin D aren’t exactly uplifting, but I have to admit winter does have a certain melancholic beauty.

To best describe the characteristics of winter beauty I use the Japanese word edaburi, which translated as near as may be, means the formative arrangement of bare branches on a tree in winter.

And there are many songs I think of as winter songs. These songs tend to be sparse, minimal and a more about space than mass, just like the tree in winter as opposed to the tree in late spring.

Winter comes as close to nothingness, to the void, as we can get. So then, it’s also the time of year I read Beckett. It helps to think of winter music in terms of Beckett’s style, or maybe International Modernist architecture. All the excess is cut away, and only the essential meaning is left.

Some choice winter tracks are after the jump.

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***Update***

In Samuel Beckett related news, there is an upcoming production of Krapp’s Last Tape at JHU starting February 16, and running for five performances.

Last night’s Matmos performance at the Floristree was mixed, but to be fair to Matmos it wasn’t their fault. The performers and the audience were not on the same page. The audience was younger, hipper, and more attractive than me, but then again I was there for the music, not to get drunk and bolster my social status. Matmos’s music does take a little bit more effort to digest.
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Dub, born out of Kingston dance halls and soundclashes, will be the topic of an upcoming lecture at Peabody Conservatory. On Wednesday, February 6 Michael Veal, of Yale University, will give the free talk on the bass-heavy, reverbed-out reggae offshoot . And later that night a bunch of Peabody students, otherwise known as Soul Cannon (Baltimore’s live hip hop band) hit the stage of the Talking Head.

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UPDATE: I have been obsessed with dub-step master Burial’s 2007 LP Untrue lately. 3 tracks for your listening pleasure…–A.S.

Dub icons Lee “Scratch” Perry and Mad Professor

Soul Cannon

–Bez

So far Sonar’s decade celebration year has been rocky, to say the least. General Manager Dan McIntosh found it necessary to personally take over booking responsibilities. When the past booking staff left Sonar, they apparently left many of the club and lounge slots open.

In a recent press release the troubles are only mentioned in passing, but what I find most interesting is talk of Sonar’s focus returning primarily to djs. For the time being Lisa Chaplin Suit, found and president of Baltimore Music Conference, and Chad Moore, of Give Productions, are acting as talent buyers. Here is what they have to say:

“I wanted to see Sonar stay as a viable venue for the dance community
and want to bring in those that may not have played in Baltimore for
quite awhile and in many cases, have never played here” stated Ms Suit.
Engaging Mr. Moore with her ideas, the two then met with Mr. McIntosh to
discuss the possibilities. “I want dance music! I want a variety!” were
the words from Mr. McIntosh. “We still have 2 years on our lease and
lots of ideas so we don’t plan to go anywhere else anytime soon! We are
making upgrades to the venue to include a new state of the art video
system! We want to bring everything in here and when the lease is up, we
can move somewhere bigger if need be” he continued and so a new
beginning has started.

It’s just my speculation, but when people talk waiting out the lease, shit can’t be going well. But heres the bit I do like:

In addition to the February 23rd show, Sonar will have the newly formed
‘Koncrete Jungle Baltimore’ parties starting in March as well as a
weekly party in the lounge featuring drum and bass hosted by Justin
Patchett of Top Ranking Records. Ms. Suit and Mr. Moore also have plans
to bring electronic dance music into Sonar twice a month as a Saturday
show as well as any additional nights that the schedule allows.

I would really like to see dnb come back to Sonar. For awhile, there was a really strong jungle scene going in this city, until Lonnie decided to be a party-pooper. Junglists can be some angry, intimidating people, and I don’t know if they will forgive Sonar so easily.