Welcome newest contributor, audio-visual wizard Guy Werner! Guy will be providing us with video and audio from shows around town. His first volley: clips from the Thank You/Mi Ami show at Floristreea few weeks ago. Check after the jump for videos from Katherine Fahey’sThe Birdwatcher’s Companion opening at the Metro Gallery, Jenn and Andy of Wye Oakand Caleb Stine.
Clip fromMi Ami’sSet (click here for longer, higher-res)
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this interview are highly political and solely my own, which is why I have identified the interviewer as myself and not the whole of Aural States. Aural States as an entity is politically neutral…like Sweden.
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As I walked into El Rancho Grande, that lovely community-invoking coffee-house on Falls Road in Hampden, I see strewn across the table lots of construction paper. Surrounded by people cutting furiously and laughing. The cutting is for hand-crafted posters advertising Hope Night, an Obama benefit night of music, community and activism. It is an immediate realization of the ideas inspiring the night.
And they’re just getting started…
I took some time out last night to chat with Andy about this Sunday’s event, how it developed, and more specific reflections on the nature of politics and music…
Firstly, we have winners for our Wye Oak CD Release Giveaway! Julia Oat-Judge (Bmore) won the big score, nabbing tix to Thursday night’s show at the G-Spot and a signed copy of If Children. Laura Steiner (Takoma Park) is the runner-up. She will be getting a signed CD care package in the mail real soon. Thanks to Jenn and Andy for the swag! And don’t forget, CD release show tonight @ the G-Spot, 8PM doors! Now, onto the interview!
On a truly lovely Saturday morning, I trekked over to the Evergreen off Cold Spring Lane for some coffee, a stellar bagel-wich and continued to the second part of our interview (postponed due to the chaos preceding their SXSW trip) with Andy and Jenn of Wye Oak.
We chatted about their virgin SXSW experiences (and Jenn’s other career considerations), the importance of family and Baltimore.
Read it all after the jump. You can also catch up on part 1 and listen to their Creative Alliance live set here. Read the rest…
It’s simple and free. Just send an email to auralstates at gmail dot com with your name and location to enter for the following swag:
2 tickets to the G-Spot show this Thursday
A copy of the Merge-released If Children, signed by Andy and Jenn with little hearts around their names.
A random winner will be drawn on Wednesday and contacted via email (We’ll even tell you where the G-Spot is, if you need to find out!). A runner-up will also be drawn to receive a signed CD. Only locals will be eligible to win the tickets though.
Feeling a little more ambitious? Then try this on for size:
Pick your favorite (or any) Wye Oak song.
Send your name, email, the name of the song from 1), and a picture that you think represents the song to auralstates at gmail dot com.
One winner will be chosen for originality and possibly hilarity or maybe even artistic merit. For this mammoth effort, the winner will receive the tickets/CD prize package and … *drum roll*
a date with Andy! Yeah, that’s right. We’re putting him out to stud.
Stay tuned for part 2 of our interview with Andy and Jenn. In the meantime, check out part 1 and their live set from the Creative Alliance, courtesy of Jeff the B-more Taper.
Our latest, Merge-signed hometown heroes Jenn and Andy of Wye Oak, get together with Stereogum and play “I Don’t Feel Young” in the back of a Toyota Yaris tooling around Austin at SXSW. Check the video here.
Maybe I can get them to play “Family Glue” in my Scion tC.
Stay tuned for part 2 of our interview coming in the next few weeks. ————
We here in Baltimore are fucking spoiled. I thought it couldn’t get better than the Beach House release…but hell if Wye Oak didn’t give an equally intense show for their final hometown show before SXSW and their return for If Children’s Merge re-release party at the G-Spot.
Baltimore-based duo Wye Oak (formerly Monarch) played a spectacular live show at the Creative Alliance by Patterson Park this past Saturday. If you weren’t there, fear not! Thanks to our newest friend the Baltimore Taper, we here at Aural States are hooking you up big time with an exclusive on a live recording of the show.
Stream Wye Oak’s entire set below. Click song titles to download MP3s.
And to round things out, Andy and Jenn sat down, then moved around alot, with me before Lo Moda’s set for part 1 of a 2-part interview. Read it after the jump. Read Part 2 here. Read the rest…
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