I had no expectations of Michna going into this night, literally none. I had never heard a single track of his before, but he did come highly recommended from the More or Less crew, and others. Further more, Michna’s label, Ghostly International, is home to the crème de la crème of American electronic acts.

I read his press release, and knew he would be performing with a live backing band, that he had some connections to Diplo, worked with Bonde do Role, etc. But I knew nothing substantial. I was prepared for anything, and ready for nothing.

Quite simply, Michna’s set blew me away. Read the rest…

I saw the Blank Artists tour back in August at the Hexagon. You can read about it here.

Blanks Artists is at the vanguard of Detroit’s underground electronic music scene. Forget the bloated Richie Hawtin Contakt parties, or the overpriced Underground Resistance nights, these guys take techno back to the way it was–raw, DIY, and uncompromising.

Drew Pompa’s set anchored that night back in August. He’s a fun DJ to watch–he gets lost in the groove just like the audience. Fortunately Baltimore feels like home for Drew (I guess all post-industrial, crime ridden cities are the same), and he’ll be making the rounds again this Friday, the 17th, for the October edition of Baltimore’s own More or Less party at the Hexagon.

Between spinning, and running a label, Drew is a busy man, so I shot him a couple question via email. Read the rest…

…or so I was told when I decided to do some impromptu promo leg work for the More or Less birthday party with Ben Parris last night.

It was truly an amazing night. DJ Kel, of More or Less, opened up the night with a solid set, but Ben was the center of attention. The Once.Twice:Sound founder was dropping tracks I’d never heard of before, I don’t know where they came from, but damn those sampled saxophone stabs brought the house down.

Trouble was all the ladies moving and grooving had an affiliation, so to speak. So, a new friend (a recent transplant from Detroit, who was blown away that an entity like the Hexagon could legally exist in a city–that kind of stuff doesn’t fly in Detroit apparently), and I decided to press the fresh and get some people (women) to come up from the area around The Depot, and Club Charles.

We grabbed a handful of really well designed handbills done by More or Less founder Patrick Brander; beautiful graphic design work that would look good simply tacked to a hall as a type of low-budget art. We set off toward The Depot. Read the rest…

Baltimore is no stranger to electronic dance music. We’ve got bmore club, Starscape, Cex, Dan Deacon, etc. So what makes the launch of More or Less–a new Baltimore techno label, and outgrowth of the bmore-electro message forum–so special? Because the founding members “are proud to
bring Baltimore back to the grown folks table of electronic music.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

The bmore-electro forum is an invaluable resource for the Baltimore area EDM fan. Compared to DC’s Buzz Life forum, bmore-electro exudes decent taste in EDM, mainly Detroit techno and acid house. And to paraphrase what was said about The Clash, techno and house are the only EDM genres that matter. Read the rest…