A Baltimore Based Indie Music Blog
Tonight continues the string of good music nights here in Baltimore. Sonar is the place this evening with Medications, Edie Sedgwick, and Played Tomorrow performing. Down in DC there are two shows worth your time. DC9 has Japanther, Ninjasonik, and Food For Animals and the 9:30 Club has The Presets and The Golden Filter. Enjoy!
mp3: Medications – Safe and Sorry
mp3: The Presets – My People
mp3: Golden Filter – Solid Gold
Photo of Medications by Jason Hutto
Yesterday on Bobby D’s website he put up a free track off his upcoming album Together Through Life. The track, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’”, is another gruff blues train of a song. It’s the style he’s been toting for the last few albums and probably the best genre that suits his ragged voice. It’s also a great song. Sure it’s nothing like the classics, but can you really expect them to. The lyrics and swagger are still there.
mp3: Bob Dylan – Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
Image via
The two piece band from Miami, Awesome New Republic, caught my ear last year with a few demos they sent us in anticipation of their debut album Rational Geographic to be released later. Well the album is here (out April 14th) and it continues on their neon light escapade of wild and energetic disco whirlwind rock. If you listen close you will notice similarities to dance rock bands like MGMT or Friendly Fires, but instead the vocals have the sound of Mike Patton imitating Prince most of the time – which is COOL. Check it:
mp3: Awesome New Republic – Rotary Clone
mp3: Awesome New Republic – Birthday
Also if you’re in the area of Baltimore ANR is playing somewhere around here on April 13th. Be sure to check the Run Down when it comes to that day (they haven’t found a venue yet).
So this is it….the final four. My bracket is done. While I had fourteen of the sixteen bands/teams in the sweet sixteen, I now have none in the final four. I think this happens to me every year. At least I didn’t have a load of money riding on this one. Anyway this years final four is pretty great. Let’s take a look…
Vampire Weekend (Michigan State) vs. Radiohead (Connecticut)
Radiohead is quite the Goliath in this match up and it’s hard to fathom how anyone could pick those New England boys over them. But….stranger things have happened. My pick – Radiohead.
mp3: Radiohead – All I Need
mp3: Vampire Weekend – One
Bloc Party (Villanova) vs. Animal Collective (North Carolina)
I would like to think Bloc Party could hang with Animal Collective for the most part, but in all reality Animal Collective is in a different league right now…plus they have the hometown connection (and the conference connection if you’re a MD fan – go ACC). My pick – Animal Collective.
mp3: Animal Collective – The Purple Bottle
mp3: Bloc Party – Two More Years (MSTRKRFT Remix)
So I’m picking an Animal Collective/Radiohead final which would be one for the ages…and really that’s a tough pick to make right there…guess we’ll see what happens.
Take a look at part 1 and part 2
Tonight is fairly slow for music. I’m guessing it’s just a lull before the onslaught of shows about to hit at the end of the week. One show does stand out this evening and deserves a mention. Cotton Jones (Michael Nau of Page France) plays the Ottobar here in Baltimore. His music is truly wonderful and the live show is bound to be stellar. Opening fro him are The Christmas Lights who, despite the odd name, play some genuinely solid music. The Owls Go will also be performing as well. Enjoy!
mp3: Cotton Jones – Silver Piano Man
mp3: The Christmas Lights – Sign Of Life
On April 7th 4AD will release It Hugs Back’s debut album Inside Your Guitar. This England based band plays muted pop rock with fuzzy edges. It’s a soundtrack for that beautiful time of day when the sun breaks through storm clouds after a down pour…you know the time…when you start looking for a rainbow. There’s that light-hearted feel to It Hugs Back, but also some doom and gloom in the background. For those of you like myself who remember those glory days of listening to My Bloody Valentine and Teenage Fanclub, It Hugs Back play a similar vibe.
mp3: It Hugs Back – Unaware
mp3: It Hugs Back – Don’t Know
Metric, who have a new album Fantasies, have just put out a new video for the track “Gimme Sympathy”. When you start watching this you’ll say, “This is really it?” The band playing for nobody in some random basement. Boring. But wait – there are some twists that are entertaining. Song’s pretty good too…if you like Metric.
mp3: Metric – Gimme Sympathy
I’m trying to get through all the things I’ve managed to miss over the last few weeks and one of them happens to be Vampire Weekend’s performance on Jimmy Fallon. They performed their new song “White Sky” that might possibly be on a new album in the fall. What can I say? The song sounds like VW – strings, afro-beat – you know the deal. It didn’t blow me away (perhaps because I had just watched Public Enemy perform on Fallon as well and that was killer!) but it was….nice. Yeah. I can’t show the vid because it has disappeared from the internet, but here’s a high quality mp3 of it:
mp3: Vampire Weekend – White Sky (Live on Jimmy Fallon)
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