Debate night or Tegan and Sara sapped much of the pull from this show, which should have been substantial.  The night featured a killer set from local mainstays Bad Liquor Pond (captured here by the Baltimore Taper), a spectacular set from Baltimore lush-rockers Thrushes (probably top of their game, which is ironic since they are on hiatus now until next year to regroup the loss of their drummer Ryan Sterner) and a charming set from recent hype-darlings Glasvegas.

Bad Liquor Pond was really in the groove, nailing their mid-tempo blues-n-psych as I’ve never heard them do before.  Thrushes was firing on all fronts, sweeping and grandiose waves of emotions swirling about enough to make anyone woozy.  Sadly, they were cut criminally short…just before they were to premiere some new material.  Glasvegas put on a set that was the epitome of showmanship, a mysterious and heady immersion hewed from the same cloth as Thrushes, namely the Phil Spector set.  The stage was pitch black and minimally lit by nearly exhaustive red dwarfs hanging above the stage and brief and brilliant flashes of white strobe, lending them a bit of a supernatural, otherworldly silhouette fitting for their spacious and reverbed-out, dark pop compositions.

Enjoy the photos from our newest photo contributor Ryan Creel, shooting in the difficult black hole lighting situation.

All photos: Ryan Creel

Bad Liquor Pond

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

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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).