Spank Rock, Sweatheart, and Shodekeh at Talking Head

Last night, went again to one of the last few shows at the Talking Head Club in Baltimore.
This evening was a concert featuring underground hip hop artist Spank Rock and the DJs known as the Baltimore Bass Connection.
First up was Sodekeh, member of the International Beatbox Association, with his beatbox partner Max G.
They were pretty cool. I liked it when they recreated the Clipse's "Grindin'" beat. I think he was also using circular breathing in some parts.
The second act was a group from South Philly called Sweatheart. The band had Amanda Blank who also raps with Spank Rock. They were rock-electro-pop band that had hilarious songs about finger banging and diarrhea. All the members of the band had on oversized t-shirts and tights.
By the time Spank Rock hit the stage, the Talking Head was packed and hot. This has been quite a year for this regional hip hop artist.
Needless to say, it was an incredibly high energy set. They let audience members dance up on stage with them. It got pretty chaotic, but it was fun, reminding more of a house party than a concert.
Amanda Blank joined Spank Rock on a few songs. A South Philly girl who raps filthy lyrics - hot!
I was kitty cornered stage right near the speaker, and I was lucky to shoot some great closeup pictures of the night.

Diplo at The Talking Head Club

So, unfortunately, at the end of the year, Baltimore's Talking Head Club (formerly The Ottobar) is shutting down for good because of the building being sold.
It's the club where I've seen a lot of "Freak Folk" acts like Vetiver, Espers, Josephine Foster, and Six Organs of Admittance as well as great smaller indie groups like The Ponys, Jason Forrest, and JOMF.
They have a pretty interesting lineup for their last couple weeks of shows.
Tonight, was the final night for Taxlo's Taxidermy Lodge- it's put on by a local group of DJs, but the highlight was an appearance by Diplo from Philly.
He was pretty awesome - he did a lot of his mixes with Baile Funk as well as Dancehall, but he also included a lot of great 80's classics. He also knew when to leave a song alone and to let some of them just play. Such was the case with "Gigantic" and "Under Pressure"
Things I learned about dance music tonight:
1. Daft Punk is such a force of current dance music, it's not funny.
2. The 80's ruled! - I knew this already I guess
3. Baltimore dance parties are pretty damn awesome because of the diversity of people attending.

Vetiver and Beach House at Talking Head

Saturday night, I went to the Talking Head to see Vetiver.
Opening was Baltimore locals Beach House. They had an interesting sound: slide guitar, keyboards and drum machine with a pretty female voice, a little ambient, shoegaze-y quality. I was impressed. I heard they just signed with Carpark Records - I would look forward to their release.
Vetiver was pretty awesome. They are grouped with band like Espers and Brightback Morning Light, but they have this 70's country rock sound that really grounds them. The singer had a Gram Parsons quality as well. Incidentally, Otto Hauser of Espers was their drummer - I've seen him 3 times in the last year (it would have been 4 if Devendra Banhart hadn't cancelled his Baltimore show).

Brightblack Morning Light and The Espers at Talking Head

Last night, I went to a really nice show at the Talking Head. Called the Crystal Totem tour, I saw a few acts that are now being labelled "freak folk", but I don't really like the term.
Opening was a young, softspoken lady, Mariee Sioux. She played solo with acoustic guitar, and her voice was beautiful. I also enjoyed some of the poetic lyrics in her often lengthy songs. She seemed a little nervous, but once she started performing, it was really nice. I bought her cd.

Next up was local artist Daniel Higgs. When I first saw him, I was sleepy, so I don't recall much. I couldn't help think of Jethro Tull when he sang because he used some "olde english" phrasing. My favorite lyric: "Lucifer, the child bride Christ". He actually sang 2 songs about the devil and Christ. It was ok.

The Espers were on next. They were great. I really love the full sound with their larger lineup on their new record Espers II- a beautiful blending of the acoustic sound of guitars and cello with electric instruments including a keyboard. Very meditative.
I did find out that a lady I helped with a sprained ankle at a True Vine show a few months ago was Brooke, one of the guitarists for the band. She came up to me and thanked me for the help. That was nice.
Last up was Brightblack Morning Light, a group that took that meditative sound to even more mellow levels. I enjoyed their new album - it's got a slow groove with a lot of layers of vocals and instrumentation.
Unfortunately, it was about 1:30 am, and I was tired, so I decided to call it a night after they played three songs for fear of passing out.

The Espers- "Mansfield and Cyclops"
Brightback Morning Light- "Wildshiney Stars"

Josephine Foster at the Talking Head

Last night, weird americana singer Josephine Foster played at the Talking Head club. Good turnout for a Sunday night. Opening for her were a couple acts: Abuelo Hongo, a stoner couple playing acoustic noise/experimental, and Autumn Rains, an older gentleman not as good as Michael Hurley.
I liked Josephine Foster- her voice is operatic as well as reminiscent of songs from the 30's and her guitar is very much in the vein of experimental folk music. She played solo, and my favorite song was about grits. I wish I could have caught the last act, described as shoegazer pop, Beach House, but I had to wake up at 5 in the morning.

The Ponys & Jason Forrest at The Talking Head

I went late last night to the Talking Head in town to see Chicago's The Ponys and crazy mashup electronic artist, Jason Forrest.
The opener was forgettable- two guys on laptops bobbing their heads and amusing themselves. No thanks.
Jason Forrest, on the other hand, despite playing tracks on his laptop, was great. His style of music is the ultimate ADD mashup- he overlaps samples of other songs and create flurries of sound bites from various styles of music from punk to rock to techno and hip hop. Meanwhile, onstage, he was jumping around, dancing, and air guitaring to his tracks, and he even ran out into the audience to mosh with us. Cock Rock Disco!
He was briefly sidetracked when his laptop lost power, but his interaction with the audience was fun. He convinced a kid to strip naked onstage for beer.
The Ponys followed and they were great. I love their Celebration Castle record. It's pretty solid Chicago influenced rock- I think Albini produced the record. Their guitarist and drummer were just tight, while the lead singer, Jared, was fun onstage. Melissa the bass player was really cute- she reminded me of Susanna Hoffs and Chiaki Kuriyama.
They too had technical difficulties when the snare drum broke. While fixing it, the band had audience members come up to tell jokes.
Best one: What is brown and hiding in the attic?
The diarrhea of Anne Frank.

"I'm With You" - The Ponys
(Thanks to A Gentle Bossa Nova)
"My 36 Favorite Punk Songs" - Jason Forrest