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Top U.S. Orchestras 2009: Former Baton of L.A. Takes NY Philharmonic for a Spin (2009.12.08)

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MP3: Claude Debussy – La Mer 2. “Jeux des vagues” from Quadromania CD1 – The Complete Orchestral Works, performed by Radio Luxemburg Orchestra under the direction of Louis de Forment

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts with the ease of a man who has world and time enough to sculpt with sound. This is no small triumph for NYC’s Avery Fisher Hall, where much can get swallowed if a conductor is not careful. The acoustics are kind to the Steinway, and dampen the coughing, but diminish a great orchestra. The higher your pitch the better off you are when playing this venue. Still, the programming was fantastic: Bartók, Ravel, Debussy. And this orchestra is one of the oldest in the world, with the most performances under its belt at 14,916.

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Sound Off!: Spectre

spectre1

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MP3: Spectre – Blazed feat. Sensational

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MP3: Spectre – Valour

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MP3: Spectre – Fracture

I haven’t taken rap, or hip-hop for that matter, seriously since I first heard “Get Low,” penned by some disillusioning bastard with a mixing program. So, needless to say it’s been years. Friends of mine would play their favorites in an attempt to convert me, all usually trashy jams you hear on Hot-99.5 (ruining the taste of high school students, one single at a time), which didn’t help in the least.

That’s the backstory of how I came to loathe the genre as a whole, just so you’re aware of my rap/hip-hop/R&B credentials before I go into this any further. But to be fair, I had an open mind to rap, believing somehow that it can express notable emotion in its own way. I just assumed that such art was almost unobtainable without some sort of black-market inside source so I never attempted to find it. Years later, this guy named Greg asked me to check out an artist named Spectre.  He sent me his 2003 album, Psychic Wars. This is where my viewpoint on rap and hip-hop shifted for the better. This is the art I was hoping existed, but never quite found.

Spectre, otherwise known as Skiz Fernando, is a Harvard-educated rap artist that runs his own “Crooklyn”-founded, Baltimore-based label called Wordsound. His default setting is sinister: a dark, contemplative tone that calls for chills on all occasions. And it works.

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Live Review: Wavves, These Are Powers, Vampire Hands @ The Market Hotel (2009.03.28)

wavves-2Photo credit: Tom Pavlich

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MP3: Vampire Hands – Opium Typhoon

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MP3: So Wavves – Bored (Anamanaguchi cover)

Being a Baltimore-based college student living in New York, I’d like to take some time to walk through a few of the differences I’ve noticed between shows in New York and Baltimore. In my relatively meager experience with the two, I’ve noticed that Baltimore’s dancing tends to be more self-satisfying. The wild jittering and jumping involved at concerts in our fair city serves a whole different purpose than in New York or Brooklyn. Baltimore’s dancing is more inward-based. You’re bouncing ecstatically, shaking your head from side to side pretending you’re insane…it’s all for you. Every single person in front of the stage looks stupid, and nobody cares even a little bit.

Brooklyn shows, however, utilize dancing in a whole different way. I arrived at the so-DIY-you-can’t-find-it Market Hotel last Saturday night to a packed room of youngin’s collaborating in clusters of 2-5. While they existed in groups, it was easy to see that the hipsters were (comically) more self-attentive than they were involved in their respective circles. This apparent self-obsession was the first negative foreshadowing of how these New Yorkers work at indie concerts.

Vampire Hands’ unfamiliar presence took the stage at the crack of 9:30. They consisted of a drummer, a guitarist, a bassist, and a dude who sang while he messed with some looping tools and circuit-bent electronics. Aside from reminding me that standar guitar/bass/keyboard/drums bands still exist in this ever nonconforming world, they also brought a couple of really great tunes. Read the rest…

Live Review: Switchblade Slice of West Side Life- West Side Story @ the National Theatre (2008.12.17)

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MP3: West Side Story – The Rumble by original Broadway cast

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MP3: West Side Story – Gee, Officer Krupke! by original Broadway cast

Get thee to the National Theater over Christmas — or at least by Jan. 17 — before its sneak preview of Lenny Bernstein’s iconic musical West Side Story heads off to a NYC Broadway revival. This same theater hosted the first shows of WSS back in 1957, and WSS is shaking the theater’s neoclassical foundations again fifty-one years later. Read the rest…

NYC Opera Nite: Bloody-Lipped Babe Meets Severed Head on Platter

Bloodlusting Broad

Bloodlusting Broad

Last week, I attended the only operatic event you need to see in 2008: Salome @ the Met Opera in NYC. Salacious greed of Biblical proportions makes perfect parallel to today’s vulgarity on Wall Street and Main. Plot-in-brief: Booze, more booze, and a winsome floozy — complete with black-winged angels of death. A voice in the wilderness… One act Opera put on in the midst of “A once-in-a-century credit tsunami.”

Join me in my Dress Circle seat… Read the rest…

Interview: Notendo (w/ Jeff Donaldson)

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…

Grizzly Bear @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (NYC)

[All photography by Joe Pepin. Photo collages by myself.]

I found myself feeling pretty conflicted walking out of the Music Hall of Williamsburg after seeing Grizzly Bear for the second time in the flesh. As songwriters and performers, they are the cream of the crop, and I can assuredly say that Yellow House has changed my life, and my direction artistically.

When I saw them at 2640 Space here in Baltimore, I didn’t expect much. Their records are so meticulously calculated with textures and ambiance, I honestly didn’t expect them to be able to recreate much or any of that in a live situation.

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Free summer shows (JellyNYC Pool Parties & Fort Reno series)

Summer time, and free music has never been easier or more gorgeous. Two East Coast institutions have released their concert schedules. Check for them after the jump:

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McCarren Park Pool (NYC) summer line-up partially announced…

I saw Ted Leo and the Thermals in the basin of a drained, gigantic community swimming pool in Brooklyn last summer.

It was amazing.

This summer looks to be the last one filled with concerts for the pool (at least for a while) as the McCarren Park Pool is undergoing some rehab on the order of $50mil.

Free JellyNYC Pool Parties schedule here.

Paid concert series schedule here.

Get planning on that day trip kids. The venue is unique and worth it.

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BAM! BAM!

BAM (also known as Brooklyn Academy of Music) is holding their 2nd annual Brooklyn Next Fest from February 15-24. The festival is tasked with the unenviable job of celebrating that stagnant music scene up in Brooklyn (sarcasm).

Notable performers include the excellent White Rabbits, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, epic heartbreakers the National, My Brightest Diamond, country-folk artist Laura Cantrell and a healthy dose of electronica from Excepter.

Check the official site here for more info.

And as usual, some vids/tunes after the jump for your perusal.

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Excepter – “Rock Stepper”

The National – “Fake Empire”