Jason Urick (ex-WZT Hearts) had a banner 2009. Finally releasing his solo outing signed to Thrill Jockey, Husbands is a glorious burst of swirling experimental instrumentals, at once sunny and brooding. The album received much fanfare, both local and national, and Jason played a number of phenomenal shows locally before shipping off on a European jaunt in early 2010. He even worked on a killer split 7″ with Jason Willett for WildfireWildfire. This is his first show since coming home, and the perfect opportunity to see and hear how his worldly travels have affected him.

Fellow WZT Heart Jeff Donaldson isn’t doing so shabbily himself, continuing to push the boundaries of the chiptune genre with his noteNdo project, and some killer game system-generated visuals. Since WZT Hearts’ dissolution, Donaldson has been working out of New York around the Tank and 8bitpeoples scene. After playing the Windup tonight, he will hang around town for a the 8-Bit Alliance show on Sunday featuring fellow NYC’ers Anamanaguchi at Sonar. Check out our exhaustive interview with Jeff from 2008.

Microkingdom will debut their newest iteration, Prism Leisure: the core of Will Redman, Marc Miller and John Dierker will be supplemented by experimental cellist Audrey Chen and Microkingdom first-timer Chris Pumphrey on Fender Rhodes piano. Their abstract jazz paintings are near and dear to us at Aural States, playing one of our favorite sets of 2009 opening for our showcase featuring So Percussion. According to Will, we can expect a little bit of old, a little bit of new, and surprises as always. One of Baltimore’s most challenging and extreme acts, on what’s sure to be a night filled with instrumental bliss.

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)

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