Animal Collective at the Ottobar

Last night, the band Animal Collective kicked off their tour in support of their new record Merriweather Post Pavillion in their hometown of Baltimore in the intimate setting of the Ottobar.
The soldout crowd of about 400 filled up the club early in the evening, and were restless and a bit noisy for opener, local musician, Daniel Higgs.
When Animal Collective arrived onstage though, the crowd were riveted. The bands trippy, groovy electronics were incredible. Just using simple lights under tablecloths and an image of their most recent album cover on the wall, the show was simple, but the mood of the room was all about their sound and the audience grooving along to the music.
It was truly a privilege to see this amazing band in such a small venue.

Glasvegas at The Ottobar

After the VP debate last week, I went to the Ottobar to catch up and coming Scottish band, Glasvegas play at the Ottobar. The turnout was a bit meager- there must have been about 30 people there, but the band sounded great. Since they only have one record, there set was only about half an hour, however all the songs sounded great. There were enough Britpop fans there that there was even a singalong.
The bassist and guitarist danced around like the Fine Young Cannibals, and the lead singer admitted his only knowledge of Baltimore was Hairspray. I bet it wasn't even the John Waters version. . .

The Pogues at the Rams Head

Last week, I was lucky again to see The Pogues on their US Tour before St. Patrick's day. This time, they came to Baltimore!
Shane looked better than any other time I've seen him- this time he was upright, and I actually understood 90% of his speech. It was also good to see Phil Chevron play as he was treated for cancer last year.
As a tribute to The Wire, Spider Stacey dedicated "The Body of an American" to Mcnulty, and then asked for no one to give anything away about the last episode.
As usual, the band was on point- the sound at the Rams Head had the best sound of all the times I've seen the band play.
For the finale, when they played "Fiesta", Shane joined Spider in bashing his head with a tray. I hope they decide to come back to Baltimore next year.

Conservatory Avant-Garde Ensemble at Peabody

Last weekend, went to the Peabody Conservatory to see the Conservatory Avant-Garde Ensemble perform George Crumb's "Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)". This was the first time I went to a concert at Peabody, and I was really impressed. The space, the sound, all were impeccable. I loved hearing the Crumb piece performed live.
In addition, they also performed a piece by Peabody student, Amy Beth Kirsten entitled "For a Dream's Sake" (pictured) which was really nice- I particularly liked the vocal part of the composition.
They also performed "Mugam Sayagi" by female Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh.

Matmos at Floristree Space

Last night, went to Floristree to see recent Baltimore transplants, Matmos play a benefit concert for the Transmodern Age art festival.
Despite a noisy crowd during their set, I enjoyed my first time seeing them play their music. It was definitely part performance as well. They started the set with a video projector during the song "Rainbow Flag".
During their song, "Rose and Teeth for Ludwig Wittgenstein", they had two guys drum using bunches of roses, and in the following song, "Germs Burn for Darby Crash", they shaved a guy's hair into a mohawk.

A Night at the High Zero Festival

I went to a concert last night that was part of the High Zero Festival. It's basically a gathering of free improv musicians from Baltimore and the rest of the world to play together.
The concert started with Dutch musician/vocalist Jaap Blonk performing solo. His voice is an amazing instrument; one piece using his "cheek synthesizer" was in stereo- each cheek creating different sounds simultaneously. I was moved by his performance of a Dadaist poem where he shouted the German word "brüllen", meaning "to cry" about a hundred times.
The second piece involved several artists who had there own custom made instruments. They were accompanied by a vocalist and a dancer as well.
The third set included contrabass and 2 theremins, one of which, by Italian musician Massimo Simonini, was prepared so that it produced presampled sounds from piano to what sounded like an Italian disco song.
The fourth set featured former Wolf Eyes menber Aaron Dilloway on tape loops accompanied by a cellist, a violinist, and electronics.
Due to a computer now working, we were lucky to be treated with Jaap Blonk again, this time in a set featuring beat boxer Shodekeh and amazing local percussionist Dan Breen. I think this was the best set of the night.

Diplo & Switch at Sonar

On the same night as Sea & Cake, Sonar also had the DJs Diplo and Switch spinning.
Switch is the DJ that produced most of the latest M.I.A. record, Kala. His style of DJing was pretty fun to hear- a lot of house actually with crazy electronic sounds.
Following him was Diplo, probably my favorite DJ right now. He really know how to get the crowd moving. My favorite moments were when he did a Baile Funk medley, when he threw in a jazz riff, and when he segued from House of Pain to Daft Punk.

The Sea and Cake & Meg Baird at Sonar

Friday night, I finally got to see The Sea & Cake, a band I've been a fan of for several years. Oddly enough, on the PA before the show, they were playing John Prine.
Opening up was Meg Baird, lead singer from the Espers. Her solo music involves a lot of traditional Appalachian folk songs. They were all a little melancholy and bittersweet. She is a really good guitarist and her voice is very lovely.
The Sea and Cake were great to see live. They performed a whole range of songs from their catalogue, and their musicianship was pretty fantastic- Prekop, McEntire, Claridge and Prewitt are all talented on their instruments. I think the last time I saw Archer Prewitt play was with the Coctails.

John Prine at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

This past Saturday, I saw folk music great John Prine perform at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. He was amazing. I last saw him when I was in college, and in the interim he was treated for throat cancer, so despite his voice being a little hoarser, he was still pretty great. It was an older crowd with a more than a few aging hippies. The acoustics of the place were fantastic.
He played with a bassist and another guitarist who also did double duty on a mandolin. He also went electric towards the end of his set as well. My favorite songs he did were "Whistle & Fish", "Angel from Montgomery", "Souvenirs", "Lake Marie", "In Spite of Ourselves", and "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness". The last one nearly got me choked up.

Girl Talk at the 2640 Space

Sorry for the delays in posting. Last Tuesday, I saw Girl Talk play a sold out show at the 2640 Space, an old church in Baltimore. The kids these days go nuts watching a guy checking his email.
His set was pretty close to his V Fest set- the usual ADHD mashup of familiar hits of the past 40 years of music. I worry that there are cracks in his act though- Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" is not a clever sample.

Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price at Merriweather

Last week, I went to Merriweather Post Pavillion to see the Last of the Breed tour featuring Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price.
Ray Price started the night backed by the Cherokee Cowboys led by his son on guitar. He sings a pretty old school crooner style of country. Nice, sobering songs about love and heartbreak. I like his version of "Please Release Me" and Hank Williams' "Mansion on the Hill".
Up next was the Okie, Merle Haggard. He was pretty awesome to see play- I've always loved his blue collar working man songs. He did "Mama Tried", "Silver Wings" and "Okie from Muskogee". Towards the end of his set, Willie came out and they did my favorite of the night, "Pancho & Lefty".
Last up was Willie Nelson. He has always been amazing live- full of great songs and energy. I love how he always opens with "Whiskey River". He had Merle and Ray Price on stage, and the did "Crazy" and "Nite Life" all together. It was an amazing evening of real country music.

Mass Shivers with Oxter at the Current Gallery

Last night, went to the Current Gallery downtown with some friends to see Mass Shivers from Chicago play. The bass player is the boyfriend of one of my friend's cousins.
The space was nice, terrible parking though. The openers were a local band, Oxter. They seemed to be a trio of jazz guys who wants to "get funky" and "rock out". Technically solid, but while it seemed like the musicians were having fun, we, the audience, were made to suffer a numerous variety of false stops, dissonant Hammond organ chords, uninspired horn solos, bad samples of dialogue, and a cover of The Offspring's "Come Out and Play" (a la Miles Davis' "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson).
Mass Shivers reminded me why I like a lot of bands from Chicago- hard drumming, interesting solos, and no nonsense rock. A shame the jam band crowd left after the openers finished as they missed how a good rock set should be. No smiling, just serious music.

Stereo Total with The Octopus Project at Ottobar

I've been a fan of Stereo Total for about 10 years, since their album Monokini came out. I remember buying it on vinyl in NYC. Alas, for years, I lived in towns where the band never toured. After waiting so long to see them, I was not disappointed in their show.
Opening up was Austin, TX's Octopus Project. They have a lot of energy, but maybe because they are mainly playing instrumentals, I just don't get into them. Sometimes their music sounds like a harder version of John Carpenter theme music.
I wonder how popular they would be if they didn't have a hot theremin player- she's certainly not clara rockmore. I loved her stance as she played the theremin- reminded of a ballerina.
Stereo Total were great to see live. Françoise Cactus came off as being slightly scatterbrained on stage, but she was very endearing. She attributed her spaciness to jetlag. Brezel Göring looked liked an aging punk rocker.
However, when they played, they played great pop songs with a lot of energy and tongue in cheek. They had no pretense of trying to be cool- it was just pure simple fun music.

4 Hours at the Virgin Festival Day 2

Scored a free pass to the Virgin Festival at the Pimlico Racecourse, so I went for a few hours before the crowd and overpriced food was too much to bear (it wasn't that bad, but when Panic! at the Disco started their set, it was time to go).
I started in the "Dance Tent" and caught local artist Dan Deacon play. His music is an electronic mashup of synthesizer and ipod- it's okay. I just wish he were more trained in music because it has too much of an amateur-goofing off feel to it.
The computer DJ Girl Talk was next- I gotta admit, he was pretty damn fun to hear mashing up several songs at once, and the crowd went crazy for him.
I then went to see Regina Spektor perform at the South stage. She was alright- I liked a few of her songs, but not so much into the songs with too many vocal gymnastics.
I also caught some of Matisyahu. I wonder that if her were not an orthodox Jew, would he be as well known? I haven't really been into his songs so much.


The last act I saw was Spoon. They were pretty good. Former Spoon member Roman from local act Oranges Band joined them for some older songs.

Charlie Louvin and Lucinda Williams at Rams Head

Last night, went to the Rams Head downtown to see Charlie Louvin and Lucinda Williams play.
I was more excited to see country music great Charlie Louvin and he did not disappoint. He was classy, funny, and his voice was great. He played "Great Atomic Power", the song that Uncle Tupelo covered which introduced me to their music.
Lucinda Williams was pretty good as well. While I prefer her earlier songs, her voice is still stirring. My favorite part of her set was when she and Charlie dueted on a pair of songs.

Odd Bathroom Paintings

If you read the food blog, Fougoo mentioned the unusual photos in the bathroom of the restaurant Nasu Blanca. Well since they don't really have food, we put them up here.
There was definitely a mysterious scat and bukkake interpretation to these photos of Asian ladies with brown and white liquid on their faces.
The brown one is in the men's room at the restaurant, the white is in the ladies room.

Panda Bear with Scott Mou & WZT Hearts at Ottobar

Went last night to the Ottobar to see Animal Collective member Panda Bear play. Somehow, he planned a limited tour and decided to grace our humble town. I saw Spank Rock hanging out at the bar in the back.
Opening up was local band, WZT Hearts, a trio that includes 2 laptops and a drummer who also yells. Their sound is ambient-noise- some interesting stuff, but watching them is a bit too much like an internet cafe.


Up next was Jane member and Other Music employee, Scott Mau. I know I've asked him for help when I've been at the store. Musically, he played rhythm on an acoustic guitar, ran a sampler, and sang with a lot of echo in falsetto. It was a little disappointing.


Panda Bear was pretty awesome. His sound is electronic psychedelic pop, and his set was fantastic. He played with no breaks and segued from song to song, with his visuals matching the music. Trippy, occasionally groovy, and really nice.

A Night at the Wire 2007

HBO's The Wire is one of my favorite programs on television, and it's pretty cool that all production of the show take place in and around Baltimore. I was lucky last night to go to their final A Night at the Wire event thrown in support of the Ella Thompson Fund.
When we arrived, we had the chance to tour the soundstages for the fifth season shooting. We got to see the sets for the Western, City Hall and the Mayor's Office, and the new set for the Baltimore Sun news room. The props team showed us fake guns, drugs, and bodies, and in wardrobe, we looked at clothes for the Bunk, Brother Mouzone, and Marlo.
After the tour, we wandered around the silent auction items and grabbed some drinks. By far the coolest item up for sale was Omar's shank he used to castrate his would-be assassin from the last season. David Simon, the show's creator, clearly wanted this item, so I didn't have a chance in bidding.
The party was also really cool in that you could easily mingle with members of the cast. We got to see McNutty, Kima, Herc, Carver, Lester, Marlo, Snoop, Cutty, Rawls, Dukie, Rhonda, Levy. I talked to Clay Davis, Chris Partlow, and Landsman.
Clark Johnson, who was on Homicide and has directed a few Wire eps, was there as he has a role as the Baltimore Sun editor in the new season.
Some hints overheard about the new season were that Daniels will become Colonel, Sydnor is the last untouched and pure member of the unit by the end of the show, the Sun's Michael Olesker cameos, they shot some at the Washington Post recently, and Carcetti is going to make the run for Governor of Maryland.
The night ended with auctioning off of items like a speaking part on the show ($12K), Dinner with McNutty ($7K), Cookout with Kima and Bubs ($7K), Lester's doll furniture that Clarke Peters actually made, and an autographed box of Honey Nut Cheerios from Omar ($500). My friend, the Sunmonkey, got ticket to an O's game courtesy of Gov. O'Malley, right behind home plate. I hope he invites me.