Ed. Note: It’s no secret that I have an affinity for ska…of all waves.  Homecoming Queens seem to tread in a lot of grey areas.  They frequently burst forth with the exuberance of third-wave and pop-punk like Catch 22 and many of that era’s standard bearers, yet they have the capacity to transcend the limitations of those trappings, unafraid to reach into the realms of jazz to pull out some denser, darker and smokier tones, much like a less matured Mad Caddies.  But the potential is there, and occasionally shines through.

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MP3: The Homecoming Queens – Heathrow

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MP3: The Homecoming Queens – 13 and four tenths Miles

Guess who was supposed to review the Homecoming Queens live at Village Pub South a few weeks ago? Me. It was me. See, here’s what happened: the opening act, Tomahawk Chop, failed to do their part in promoting the show, so the promotion company only let them play three songs. In cases such as this you only need to know two things about Long Island punks: they’re stubborn as hell, and you should never take their set away from them. Word of this got to the rest of the bands, and eventually everyone scheduled refused to play. Bam, no show. That’s what you get for dealing with punks.

So, good news, in the parking lot I caught up with Jon Graber (vocals/guitar), Tom Kelly (bass), Rich Seibert (vocals/trumpet), and Phil Deitz (trumpet/flugelhorn/vocals) of the Homecoming Queens. We discussed the nature of the Long Island scene, the flaws of the modern music industry, and the Nuge.

Aural States – First of all, can you describe the Long Island ska/punk scene? Read the rest…

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MP3: Girl Talk – Bounce That from Night Ripper (2006)

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MP3: Girl Talk – Let Me See You from Don’t Feed the Animals (2008)

This fella probably needs little to no introduction.  Girl Talk has undoubtedly exploded.  Look no further than the utterly and completely sold-out shows lining his tour trek, including his stops at 9:30 Club this Friday Oct 10 and Sonar this Saturday Oct 11.  So let’s just get right to it.

Aural States- Talk a bit about how you actually put together the mash-up. You don’t use Ableton, correct?

Gregg Gillis- I use Audio Mulch. Basically Audio Mulch is a program that you can do a variety of things in. It is primarily used for sound processing, running things through it and putting effects on it, or manipulating pre-existing source material. But I use it in a way that utilizes the looping functions on it. I use a lot of loop players, and kind of work around having hundreds of loops in front of me. I then isolate the actual pieces of music that you hear as much as possible.

Typically, during a set there will be two to ten loops playing at any particular time. The actual combination of material is usually pre-thought out. It’s not like I’m improvising on the spot. But the transition from segment to segment is often times not as thought-out. So basically it is a whole bunch of loops in front of me, a variety of material, usually a bit more than I want to play, so I have a bit of freedom to jump around. I put together sound collages in real time basically. The software, I have always just basically used it to bring in ideas. When I record an album, that’s how I edit myself. But live it’s all triggering the loops and samples on the fly.

AS- You did a video during Whartscape, where you threaten Youtube fan video makers with legal action. This must be a joke? Read the rest…

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MP3: The Secret Machines – Atomic Heels

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MP3: The Secret Machines – Dreaming of Dreaming

I was very lucky to get some time to chat with Brandon Curtis of the Secret Machines this week.  With 2, soon to be 3, stellar albums under their belt, they have proven they can create distinct, independent soundscapes from album to album while still retaining signature and identity as a band.  Though the departure of founding member and brother Benjamin Curtis (now in School of Seven Bells) was obviously disorienting, it appears the Machines have bounced back, remaining vital and true to form while still progressing their sound and artistry.

Aural States- So could you tell us what you guys have been up to since the last album and touch on Ben’s departure? Read the rest…

Courtesy of Aural States & the Hexagon: Win a pair of free tickets to the first Baltimore Chiptunes festival at the Hexagon Sept 13th. Leave a comment or email auralstates@gmail.com with your name and contact info to be entered. Simple as that. A winner will be drawn and announced Thursday Sept 11th.

Photo credits (top to bottom): Nullsleep, modestdub, Richard Alexander Caraballo, Josh Davis (x2), unknown, Dr. Rek

Baltimore’s first Chiptune festival is fast approaching.

This showcase of everything right and good about video gaming hardware and electronics, will be held at the Hexagon on Sept 13th.

Starting at noon, there will be a DIY synth/circuit bending workshop featuring local luminaries including Carly Ptak (Nautical Alamanc).  Once things get dark, some fantastical spazz-inducing video and music performances will keep you up til the wee-hours courtesy of a crew of NYC kids from famed chiptunes momentum-drivers and scene curators 8bitpeoples.

To prep for what is sure to be a memorable occasion, we took some time to chat with noteNdo (aka Jeff Donaldson), chiptune artist, member of WZT Hearts and former Baltimore-now-NYC resident about the scene, his music and the upcoming Baltimore fest which he is helping organize.

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MP3: noteNdo – INTERLOPER

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MP3: noteNdo – VIDEOLOOP

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MP3: noteNdo – Video Loop Live @ Metro Gallery, Oct 9 2007 (courtesy the Baltimore Taper)

Aural States – So let’s start out with the basics, your musical background and how you got into things. Read the rest…

Arbouretum is the band, Kale is the album. It’s a split album done with Pontiak and featuring some John Cale covers, as well as new material.
Aural States sat down to chat with Arbouretum frontman Dave Heumann about a month ago at the Cylburn Arboretum, of all places. The wind rustling through the trees can be heard in the background on my hand-held recorder.

Also, be sure the check out Arbouretum and Pontiak at the Talking Head on September 5th.

Read the rest…

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MP3: Bela Fleck – Foggy Mountain Special from Bluegrass Sessions V.2

If you are a musician, especially an instrumentalist, you have likely heard the name Bela Fleck. If you are a lover of bluegrass, you have likely heard the name Bela Fleck. If you are a banjo lover, you have likely heard the name Bela Fleck.

The list goes on, endlessly. Bela Fleck is one of the most versatile musicians of our time, excelling as both a genre-defying instrumentalist and an arranger. His instrument of choice: the banjo. Raised in New York City and named after the famed composers Bartok, Dvorak and Janacek, he has quite a legacy to live up to. Like so many others, Bela started out on the guitar. But his love of Earl Scruggs’ definitive banjo work in bluegrass and country quickly swayed him onto the banjo. Like the next logical progression from Scruggs, Fleck takes many of the aspects that Scruggs introduced into bluegrass (strong jazz influence, lyrical quality, fluid phrasing, awe-inspiring and complex licks) and takes them to the next level.
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Download the whole set as a ZIP archive in MP3 or FLAC audio format.

Abe Vigoda
Floristree
Baltimore, MD
July 9, 2008

Source: Peluso CEMC6/ck4(card)>PS-2>AD-20>NJB3
Transfer: NJB3>PC>SF-7>Wav>FLAC
Taper: Jeff Mewbourn (jm292@yahoo.com)
http://baltimore-taper.blogspot.com

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I have tried to apply the lede to nut graf format I learned during my brief print journalism career to Aural States posts. My former editor rode me for excessive “throat clearing.” I never got over that habit, and I’ll now take the chance to indulge.

I had gotten very little sleep the night prior to this show, and had been working outside in the hot sun all day. I came to the Metro Gallery badly sunburned and dehydrated. All I really wanted to do was zone out on the couches in the back. I seriously contemplated skipping out on the night, and going to sleep early.

Physically I was present for the opening acts, but not really mentally with it enough to make definitive critical judgments. Read the rest…

Wham City has unquestionably changed the landscape of Baltimore music forever. So in anticipation of Whartscape 2008, we sat down with one of WC’s original members, Adam Endres (of Blood Baby & the Creepers) to get a little history lesson and peek into what exactly is driving the Wham City train, and where they are heading.

Aural States: I wasn’t quite sure if we should start with Whartscape history or Wham City history first.

Adam Endres: It probably makes sense if I do a modified, abbreviated history of Wham City. We all moved here in that first summer (2004) from Purchase College where we met.

AS: Who were the core members that formed Wham City at Purchase? You and Dan (Deacon)?

Read the rest…

Adventure plays the Talking Head Club July 5th, and somewhere during Whartscape weekend July 17th-20th (venue TBA).

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MP3: Adventure – Poison Diamonds

I’m fairly certain that if Benny Boeldt (aka Adventure) wanted to, he could pave a path as one of the most riveting and innovative video game soundtrackers in history, scoring a sweet deal at Square Enix for the next Final Fantasy or Microsoft for Gears of War or Halo and pumping out material to rival Nobuo Uematsu.

But I have a feeling he’s not really interested in that. Instead, he’s got a solid deal on DC’s Carpark Records, making his nest alongside numerous other Baltimore and Wham City related acts such as Beach House, Dan Deacon, Ecstatic Sunshine, and Lexie Mountain.  Now a true Baltimorean, Benny is an active member of Wham City and about to move in with Johnny Siera, and Adam Endres.

“Battle Cat” off his debut LP dropping in Septmber has been making the rounds and raising eyebrows at diverse outlets such as New York Magazine, Wired, Tiny Mix Tapes and Pitchfork. Before his career rollercoaster begins, gently with Whartscape next month followed by the first big drop with his own tour beginning around August, Benny took some time to sit down with us and chat about his path to Baltimore, his music, his costuming dilemmas and more…

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