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Contest: Taxlo 7 Year Anniversary Kick-off feat. Simian Mobile Disco, Tittsworth, Feadz, Triobelisk

smdEnter to win 2 free tickets to the show at Sonar, Sat Apr 25th.  Just comment this post (or email us here if you’re net-shy) to join our contest mailing list and enter for a chance to win!

Winner will be drawn at random next Wednesday Apr 22!

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MP3: Simian Mobile Disco – Sleep Deprivation from Attack Decay Sustain Release

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MP3: Justice v. Simian – We Are Your Friends from We Are Your Friends vinyl

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MP3: Tittsworth – WTF (featuring Kid Sister, Pase Rock) from 12 Steps

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MP3: Triobelisk – Xrystal Eye from 1

Resident Baltimore super-promoters Taxlo score another big-name coup de grace for one of their flagship events: their 7th anniversary kick-off at Sonar featuring UK electro-fiends Simian Mobile Disco. Skyrocketed into notoriety by a flurry of blog-friendly remixes of indie-rock hype tracks and standards, as well as themselves being remixed.  Their track,  ”Never Be Alone” (recorded under their more rock-oriented incarnation Simian), was redone to much fanfare by a little French duo known as Justice.

SMD unabashedly take the typically dense and self-insulating genre of electronica, and reconstruct it from the ground up with a bit of much needed populist humility and a noticeably more focused goal: digestable and interesting dance music.

Almost all of their tracks orbit a single, often simple hook, sometimes accented by an ultra-catchy vocal chorus, and they proceed to grow and develop the hell out of it for, on average, the span of a lengthy pop song.  And they are one of the few who can successfully do so, essentially abbreviating the tenets of electronica into something that isn’t so imposing to the average non-circuit head. But they manage to do so while leaving intact aspects of merit to appeal to those discerning aficionados, weaving in influences and nuggets from electronic icons like Daft Punk and Aphex Twin and utilizing all manner of analog-electro gear that would make suitable fodder for any electro-nerd’s wet dream.

Add in their opening support Feadz, Tittsworth and Triobelisk, and you’ve got a guaranteed party that commences the commingling of populism and quality into one big sweaty former parking garage.

Big flier after the jump.

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Contest: Morrissey’s Years of Refusal Giveaway

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MP3: The Smiths – Hand in glove 

Two days left to enter to win a 12″ vinyl copy of Morrissey’s latest effort, Years of Refusal.  Don’t forget: Moz plays the Warner Theatre this Saturday in DC.  Sold out, so hit up craigslist and try your luck.

Album Review / Contest: Morrissey – Years of Refusal (Lost Highway)

morrissey-years-of-refusalCourtesy of Filter Magazine, we have one 12″ vinyl copy of Years of Refusal to give away to one lucky winner.  To sign up to win, just comment this review or email us. We’ll randomly choose a winner Fri Mar 13. Morrissey plays the Warner Theatre in DC on Sat Mar 14.

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MP3: Morrissey – It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore

One of the trickiest things to do is weigh in on an icon. While I steadfastly maintain that feigning any sort of objective position to critique art devoid of personal experiences is folly, the hazards of bias and personal baggage are exponentially amplified when dealing with pivotal and popular figures.

Morrissey (Wiki), lead-singer from a little band known as the Smiths, is such a figure.  But if you’ll indulge me, I’m going to attempt to brazenly traverse this minefield of my mind and give some thoughts on his latest release, Years of Refusal.

Read the rest…

Contest: School of Seven Bells/Fujiya & Miyagi @ 9:30 Club (DC)

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Courtesy of the fine folks at the 9:30 Club, we have a pair of tickets to next week’s School of Seven Bells / Fujiya & Miyagi show  (Thursday Feb 17th).  

Send us an email to auralstates at gmail dot com or comment this post to enter!  We’ll draw and email a winner Tuesday night.  Sorry folks.  Winner has been emailed; congrats to Paul Kelch! Enjoy the show!

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MP3: Fujiya & Miyagi – Pterodactyls from Lightbulbs (2008)

Fujiya & Miyagi are a smooth and steady cadenced extension of some strong Can influences.  Though they faltered some on their third album (2008′s Lightbulbs) by mostly treading water stylistically, their music still has an undeniable intensity that sucks you in, simultaneously trance-inducing and grounding.  Read more about their motivations and music in my interview with David Best from a ways back.

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MP3: Sempiternal Amaranth from Alpinisms (2008)

School of Seven Bells is a project formed from the split factions of two established groups (the Secret Machines and On!Air!Library!), but their airy, dream-like melodies seem to transcend and rise above what some view as a tumultuous origin.  Instead, their music relays the organic spirit of the relationship between Benjamin Curtis and the Deheza twins that catalyzed the group’s genesis.  Where F&M create a subtle and often minimal sound, School of Seven Bells coalesces an enveloping din of fuzzed-out guitars and a cloud of electronics.  This instrumental haze is purposeful as Curtis has openly stated the music is a lens to amplify the lyrics.  In this fashion, the music serves to set the pace and tone of each song, ultimately enhancing the impact of the strong vocal harmonies.

Last Chance- Thrushes/Glasvegas/Bad Liquor Pond Giveaway


Last chance kiddies. Enter the contest!  We’ll be contacting a winner sometime tonight!

Thrushes / Glasvegas Contest

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MP3: Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gone

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MP3: Thrushes – Ghost Train

So one of our local favorites, Thrushes, are playing a great show October 2nd at the Ottobar.  Headliners are the fantastic sounding Glasvegas.  The bad news?  Due to some personnel shakeups in the form of drummer Ryan Sterner’s departure, Thrushes are taking some time this winter to regroup.  Drummer Scott Tiemman from Avec will be filling in for this appearance and they will officially be on hiatus afterwards.

As a “keep our seat reserved, we’ll be back soon” gift from Casey and crew to you, lucky readers, we are giving away one honking prize pack featuring:

  • 1 guest list
  • 1 Sun Come Undone vinyl
  • 1 Heartbeats Remixed cd
  • 1 limited edition 18 x 24 signed and numbered poster (pictured right) by Miss Amy Jo

Entry is simple, just leave a comment or email us at auralstates at gmail dot com.  We will let the winner know on Sept 30th.

CONTEST IS OVER, WINNER (B. SALZMAN) HAS BEEN EMAILED (11:59PM, 09/30).

Imperial China & Caverns play the Cat backstage, world burns in flames of awesome.

Email us at auralstates@gmail.com or comment this post for a chance to win a Caverns prize pack featuring a bunch of new merch (shirts, lighters, stickers, buttons etc). Winner drawn next week.

Two of our DC favorites, Imperial China and Caverns, are playing a show with True Womanhood tomorrow night at the Black Cat Backstage. And it seems DC is starting to pay attention, with this DCist Three Stars interview feature.

To whet your whistle, here’s a slew of A.S. exclusive downloads, “Radhus”(an old fan-favorite) off Imperial China’s Methods: EP and a few older ones from Caverns:

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MP3: Imperial China – Radhus

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MP3: Caverns – The Family that Slays Together Stays Together

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MP3: Caverns – Turkish Bathhouse Armageddon

While you are listening, read our interview with Kevin from Caverns, our review of Imperial China’s EP, our live review of their show at the now-defunct Lo-Fi…or just check out all of our previous coverage on Caverns or Imperial China.

Caverns are working on their first full-length album, Silk Scorpion. You can check out the progress on their blog. They will be heading into the studio over Labor Day to throw down some new tracks for you, dear listener.

Imperial China are busy honing their live show, shopping up some new material and making daytrips up to Baltimore to check out all the cool shit we have going on.

The Fiery Furnaces – Remember (Thrill Jockey)

We have two copies of this Fiery Furnaces album, Remember, to give away to two lucky winners. Just leave your name and email as a comment on this review or shoot us a line at auralstates@gmail.com. We will announce two winners in 2 weeks.

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MP3: The Fiery Furnaces – Navy Nurse from Remember (Disc 2)

I have some news for all you Furnaces fans out there: the Fiery Furnaces have released a 2-disc live set from Thrill Jockey Records this week. That either made you cringe, jump for joy or raise an eyebrow high asking “how the hell does that work?”

The main source of contention/confusion: the nature of a live Fiery Furnaces show. Read the rest…

The Faint – Fasciinatiion (blank.wav)

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…

F Yeah Tour contest still going strong!!

Our ticket giveaway for the F Yeah Tour is still going strong, winner will be drawn on Monday! Just email us to be entered! In the mean time, enjoy this new Death Set remix!

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MP3: The Death Set – Boys & Girls (Stinky Love Drowning in a toilet RMX)

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