Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Sri Aurobindo are back again, this time with a release on Bmore Musically Informed‘s new imprint Friends Records. Cave Painting being their second full-length release, they really stepped up to the plate, delivering on expectations of a vital brew of psych goodness. The sound throughout the album oozes a primitivist feel, something less rooted in the realm of mind-altering psych and more in the ritualistic. You can easily imagine these songs soundtracking the Sris as a tribe, hovering around a billowing blaze barely contained by a stone circle.
Lead single “Soul Vibrations of Man” is a slice of classic psych, the blown out bass guitar line playing the foil to the lofty and crisp quality of the elevating guitar melody. Arinoldo’s vocals ring as if echoing through a metal canyon, and you get a solid sense of expanse and a bit of wonderment. “Don’t Know” roars to life with the rumbling storm of bass and rhythm guitars, a bed for the wailing the lead guitar to slowly percolate through. The doors are blown open when both guitars and bass tear into epic freakout solos near the halfway mark, gradually drifting off and dissolving into muffled, noisy moans. Easily my favorite track on the whole LP (aside from maybe the highly infectious “My Luv Is Stoned” with its ebullient, titular shouts).
Local psych enthusiasts already know they will love this (and most any) outing from the Sris, but this release manages to provide enough edge from other influences to make them sound much more unique than a simple homage to a genre. They continue to wrangle some fantastic guitar and bass tones (probably due in no small part to studio whiz Chris Freeland), yet this go-round they have crafted their most distinctive and cohesive offering yet. A blast to listen to, Cave Painting sounds ripe to give them broader appeal, something well-deserved and perhaps overdue.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
kick – shure beta 52
snare – shure sm57
overheads – shure sm81s
guitar amp left – shure sm57
guitar amp right – shure sm57
cello – di
violin – di
trumpet – at4033
tom – sennheiser 421
center stage – apex 460 tube (set to omni)
stage – mxl 990 (angled at 45 deg in towards the middle of the stage on top of pa)
mid room – oktava 012 (x/y)
back room – AT boundary
Jason Urick – “Fussing & Fighting”
Directed by Mark Brown
Password (if still locked): fussing
Thanks to the kind folks at Thrill Jockey (especially Paco Barba), we’re happy to premiere the video for the title track of Jason Urick’s new EP, “Fussing & Fighting.” Jason took a few moments to enlighten us on the EP: Read the rest…
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
kick – shure beta 52
snare – shure sm57
overheads – shure sm81s
vibes – at4033
guitar amp left – sennheiser 421
guitar amp right – sennheiser 421
bass – DI
center stage – apex 460 tube (set to omni)
stage – mxl 990 (angled at 45 deg in towards the middle of the stage on top of pa)
mid room – oktava 012 (x/y)
back room – AT boundary
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
kick – shure beta 52
snare – shure sm57
overheads – shure sm81s
guitar amp left – shure sm57
guitar amp right – shure sm57
tom – sennheiser 421
center stage – apex 460 tube (set to omni)
stage – mxl 990 (angled at 45 deg in towards the middle of the stage on top of pa)
mid room – oktava 012 (x/y)
back room – AT boundary
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
guitar amp shure sm57
center stage – apex 460 tube (set to omni)
stage – mxl 990 (angled at 45 deg in towards the middle of the stage on top of pa)
mid room – oktava 012 (x/y)
back room – AT boundary
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
stereo DI’s of Jason’s laptop
stage – apex 460 tube (c12 modded clone-set to omni)
stage – mxl 990 (angled at 45 deg in towards the middle of the stage)
mid room: Oktava 012 (x/y)
back room: AT871R Boundary
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
stereo DI’s
stage – apex 460 tube (c12 modded clone-set to omni)
stage – mxl 990 (angled at 45 deg in towards the middle of the stage)
mid room: Oktava 012 (x/y)
back room: AT871R Boundary
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We are a Baltimore-based blog covering regional and national music, written by music geeks, for music geeks. Ourcontent includes MP3 downloads, reviews, previews, exclusive interviews, contests and giveaways, and op/ed commentary.
If you wish to become a contributor, email us your location and 3 writing samples, which will become your first 3 pieces if accepted.
All contributors are unpaid volunteers, and as a consequence, we often receive gratis material from artists or venues for reviews. Regardless, we maintain all opinions unfiltered or unbiased to the best of our abilities.
Audio posted here is for sampling only. If you like what you hear, please support the artists. Especially any featured local artists. If you are an artist and wish to have your music taken down, please email us and we'd be happy to oblige.
Photo credit: Heather Van De Mark
Double Dagger: Masks EP
Pfisters: Narcicity
Lizz King: All Songs Go To Heaven
Imperial China: Phosphenes
Mopar Mountain Daredevils: Mopar Bloody Mopar
Lonnie Walker: These Times, Old Times
Built to Spill: There Is No Enemy
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Secret Mountains: Kaddish EP
Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart: Tales From the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 -Africa Sessions
Lands & Peoples: Lands & Peoples EP
Caleb Stine: Eyes So Strong and Clean
Wye Oak: The Knot
Pontiak: Maker
White Rabbits: It's Frightening
Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
Double Dagger: More
Elvis Perkins in Dearland: Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Dan Deacon: Bromst
The Thermals: Now We Can See
Soft Cement: Think About It EP
Arbouretum: Song of the Pearl
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Benjy Ferree: Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee
Weekends: Weekends
Height With Friends: Baltimore Highlands 12" LP, Limited-Run Vinyl Only
Caverns: Kittens! EP
Little Joy: Little Joy
Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet:Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet
The Secret Machines: Secret Machines
The Bug: LondonZoo
13th Floor Elevators: Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (Vinyl Mono LP only)
Arbouretum/Pontiak: Kale (Vinyl LP only)
Small Sur: We Live in Houses Made of Wood
AbeVigoda: Skeleton
ImperialChina: Methods: EP