Twas a night of indie folk superstars by candlelight - Monarch, Small Sur, Ben and Bruno, Bronze Float, Treevahs and Wax & Wane - and a good time was had by man, dog, baby and skeleton at the first of many "Bob's House Shows" (actual name TBD). Thanks to the phantom Baltimore Taper you can folk out to several of the sets at your own house, with your own dog or maybe someone else's, but next time you should come.
Ben and Bruno (Peter Brant - guitar, vocals, pictured below on right)
1. An Assumed Ascension 2. My Wife 3. War Party Crew 4. 100 Grim Reapers 5. Chant Z 6. New Friend Song 7. My Mother's Hand
Yesterday we lost the world's greatest mustician. When Goulet got his golden pipes on a song things really took off. Tip your forties (and your waiters) folks.
Grand Rapid's indie folk masters Ben and Bruno released 100 Grim Reapers in September, a group of songs based on a character named Ben, the story of his life a long while after his abduction by a religious fanatic and how Ben's relationship with his wife and two daughters are shaped by this past impression. It's delicate folk strums layered under jaw-dropping vocal swoons. You'll love it. Ben and Bruno - New Friend Song (highly recommended)
I have a new friend We hope to be old friends To live in peace as friends This friend She is a girl friend but not my girlfriend We have agreed not to kiss or hold hands We have planned To be at each other's weddings To be side by side through all the big things Not as lovers but as friends who love Cause they're not the same thing
Grab a super-limited LP which includes a 24" by 18" three color hand screen printed poster as well as a CD copy of the album here. Saw these guys play in a dark living room this weekend at Bob's house show, unbelievable. Audio forthcoming.
Nerdy excited for this. Two weeks ago we were lukewarm on Muscles but gave Ice Cream another chance because the song definitely had promise, people were raving about him, and because he's from Melbourne and part of the hotshit Modular label that brings us the likes of Cut Copy, New Young Pony Club, Digitalism, need we continue. What does Muscles sound like? Val Kilmer says it best in Real Genius - "It is possible to synthesize excited bromide in an argon matrix."
So two weeks later Muscles is on repeat, he's touring for a bit before supporting DAFT. PUNK. later in the year, and it's time to unleash the pristine pearl white Members Only jacket for a mutherflippin' Halloween cameo at Sonar. Hope you can join. Hot damn.
Local club hero Blaqstarr will be sharing the tables. Homey just got signed to Diplo's Mad Decent label (along with our favorite baile funk bangers Bonde Do Role) and produced a few tracks on M.I.A.'s future-album-of-2007-winner Kala.
Plus all the Tax Lo DJs - Simon Phoenix, Cullen Stalin, Dave Nada (T&A Records/Bullets), Chris O (Yo Majesty) - will be playing the best Halloween and party songs they have with them at the time!
Yes, in Baltimore even home shows have flyers. From resident/organizer/Small Sur band guy/extremely bearded man Bob Keal: "There will be no PA/mics used for the show. Monarch is coming up with a one-off quiet set just for the occasion, and everyone else's tunes will be special, too." Indeed. Email Bob (bobito at gmail) for directions and you'll soon be brown-bagging your way to a super special secret show! Starts at 7 and ends by 10:30.
While some use their post-birthday hours to hang up the disco boots and snuggle down to some well earned rest, today the Fabric London team is looking remarkably clear-eyed and sharp as they launch their very own podcast series. The hosts: a rotating series of club performers and guy-behind-the-guy musical luminaries. The scope: play whatever music inspires them, regardless of genre, time or any attachments people have to them with certain musical industries, and explain to listeners why they’ve selected the pieces they have. Plus you have to include at least one Michael McDonald track*, preferably from his whitehot 1982-85 period.
Subscribe/check out the first one hosted by Craig Richards here.
Yes we know the blogger community was talking about None Shall Pass in July or some other long gone era. Thought you had us for a second though! Probably already assembling a devastatingly dry and witty comment centered around our un-timeliness. (We actually only prefer compliments, such as your beard is nice or you're good at finding shortcuts.)
But no, just wanted to congratulate Aesop Rock for wrassling the ADD mechanical bull that is our ipods, holding tight in heavy rotation for several months, and earning the 3Q 2007 Award for Continuous Portable Music Play. Against stiff competition no less, what with Joe Satriani, Drowning Pool and Atreyu all releasing stellar LPs.
Ok wake to this grocery list - try to guess which of the following songs has not been continuously on our collective playlists for the past several years.
Just know that even participating in this activity means you're a winner, so afterwards take five with some purple stuff or Sunny D. Also know that by not participating you risk the chance of being one of these.
Just send your sluttiest picture of yourself dressed as a cheerleader to the even sluttier staff over at Brightest Young Things. Note: all submitted pictures become the property of BYT. And those cats know Photoshop.
Our first Buttermore mixtape featured almost twenty top draw artists from Bmore proper including Dan Deacon, Small Sur, The Death Set, Videohippos, Beach House, Ponytail, Double Dagger, OCDJ...you get the picture, it was tighter than Red Foxx n ripple - but we didn't even scratch the surface son! So here's round two. Instead of spoiling you with 18 tracks we're taking a closer look at six Bmore bangers in the hopes you find a new favorite and catch some of these cats on the road (and we've already got plenty for a third pop). Rest assured they're all handpicked and receive the Butter Team seal of freshness for whatever that's worth. Enjoy!
Payola Reserve, a foursome formed in 2005 and named after the music industry's nobler side, channels AM psychedelic Americana with dynamic instrumentation including Rhodes, organ, piano, melodica, rhythm and slide guitars, harmonica, bass, guitars and drums. With geographic precision, their July 2007 sophomore release 200 Years evokes the Payola Reserve's native Baltimore, the two-step of the Appalachians and the brass sheen of Memphis. They get lots of college radio play, their instruments smell of rich mahogany, and we love the whole album. Next Baltimore show: November 2 at the Northstock Festival.
Pontiak's band of brothers (Lain, Van and Jennings Carney) are quickly evolving to become specialists in drudging, morphine drip blues-tinged desert rok. Stream their third release Sun on Sun from September here. Next Baltimore show: November 3 at Talking Head Club.
As you can hear for yourself in just a few seconds, Monarch is why you check music blogs - to get your new favorite songs that shape the days and changing seasons ahead.
After spending their formative years in Baltimore creating bands and watching them fall apart, Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner realized in the summer of 2006 that they'd have to learn to make all of the noise themselves. In just under a year of performing and recording, the two multi-instrumentalists and songwriters have come to be known as "the rare indie rock two-piece that could pass for a trio or quartet when you close your eyes" (City Paper), winning over crowds at every venue Baltimore has to offer as well as audiences up and down the East Coast and Canada. Read the full CP album review for their debut If Childrenhere, but mainly, just listen. Next Baltimore show: October 27 at The Paper Kingdom.
Celebration is enjoying a ton of well-deserved attention surrounding this month's release of The Modern Tribe. Solid top-tier blog buzz (double points for Pitchfork), premature "Album of the Year" claims, and a Simian Mobile Disco remix? Triple check. We're not complaining about overhype - The Modern Tribe is distinctive, trippy goodness that deserves to be shared.
"Fittingly the musical union of singer Katrina Ford, organist/guitarist Sean Antanaitis, and drummer Dave Bergander hails from Baltimore, a city crushed by institutional lower class and aggressively bristling with pockets of mutant art and culture. Their heady music feels ideally suited for all night dance parties in the hearts of decaying cities, a sort of beacon of the ritualistic power and magical potential of ancient civilizations performed and unleashed in the modern world." (Celebration's MySpace)
Celebration heads out on a huge tour this week, so check here to see when you can get down. Next Baltimore show: December 8 at 2640 Space.
Arbouretum's 2007 sophomore album Rites of Uncovering offer a sprawling, experimental noir-folk quest to uncover “a sense of religiosity that is not tied down to a particular moral or ecclesiastical approach, but rather proto-religious feelings such as awe in the face of something greater.”
More from their bio: "Dave Heumann, the lead player in Arbouretum who is based in Baltimore, has played with Amomoanon, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Cass McCombs and Papa M., however Arbouretum is the first band for which he is the primary songwriter, guitarist and singer. His idea for the band was one whose songs would evoke natural forms and movements. Their approach is one of collective deconstruction, whereby they take apart the melodic and the rhythmic ideas of a song, turn them sideways, backwards, or invert them in order to explore and develop the song's possibilities."
Members of Arbouretum also play in Human Bell, Television Hill, the Anomoanon, and Frenemies, and the band is currently on a two-month European tour with Beach House. Next Balitmore show: too busy scrambling wigs in Stockholm, Berlin, Amsterdam and other exotic locales at the moment, but hopefully sometime in early 2008.
Download their set from last month's Current Canyon Fest here (they were unofficially named "Best Live Act" by Baltimore Taper Jeff Mewbourn).
When not posing naturally in the great outdoors, Baltimore's Two if by Sea is building a strong national following behind their sophomore release Safety. Local sources say they "tear it up live" with their "dark and heady brand of angular post-punk" that is compared across the pond to "groups like Editors and Franz Ferdinand." Maybe we "use quotation marks too often" or "don't practice excellent personal hygeine" but that's the blogger life, man. Shit is real. Next Baltimore show: 2008.
So that's it for this round, hope you made some new friends. Let us know if you have a local band you'd like to be considered for a future mixtape. And thanks for stopping by. But mainly stay classy.
What's all this fuss about Yeasayer? As KRS says You. Must. Learn. Visit our friends Brightest Young Things for all the beats n deets. Plus they have a ticket giveaway contest, so.
The folks at My Old Kentucky Blog also host a show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Left Of Center, Channel 26 every Tuesday at 12pm EST and 12am EST. This week - Nada Surf is in your building! Check the post here to hear all the live acoustic goodness. Nada has a new album dropping in February (Lucky) and they're touring right now, so. With Sea Wolf no less. The Baltimore show is November 2 at the 8x10.
Damn we love KEXP; homeys dropped sets from Simian Mobile Disco (the UK's hottest Cagney & Lacey electronica team) and many more this week during CMJ. Simian's jam starts out with "Sleep Deprivation" and everything unfolds like a funky black foam snake from there. Simian Mobile Disco - Live on KEXP 10/19/07
Setlist: Sleep Deprivation Animal House It's The Beat Hustler
Step into the Butter Team paradise garage to enjoy interprétations françaises de Warren G, fresh folky bleeprock CSS coverlove, and tightjeaned anthems from NYC's original punky brewsters. Plus we dug up some ol' Cut Copy vinyl from their 2001 Rendezvous EP - stay calm and digest slowly while we wait for In Ghost Colours to arrive in February.
DC dubstep DJ Dan Amitai (aka Smooth Henry for those in the underworld) dropped a rather pleasant Uffie/Crystal Meth mix recently that goes splendidly with any Kellogg's, Post or General Mills breakfast products. Crystal Method vs. Uffie - Over The Glock
And while it's Dan time, here's another mix from this month:
Retrospect vs. Amitai Part 4 stereolab - contronatura (kid loco’s prelude to the autumn of a faun mix) miles grayson - stuck in the mud david bowie - sound and vision blowfly - too fat to fuck fans- roly poly mickey lolich detroit city limits - 98 cents smiths - golden lights crystal method - over the line uffie - pop the glock federation - rusty james (portishead remix) stereolab: microlab: endless summer the police - deathwish meat beat manifesto - spinning around new order - mesh
One of Baltimore's hallowed indie music institutions, ye olde Talking Head Club, has been back up and running for almost two months now after closing at the beginning of the year and the lineup is certainly in full schwing. Maybe you pack a sangwich and go down there to check it out for yourself. It's a crime (little Bmore pun) to only point out a few shows but this weekend's looking ridiculous. Got folks from Norway (Ungdomskulen), some of our new faves from Nashville (Turbo Fruits, above), and a ton of solid Bmore MCs (Soul Cannon, Height, Jones, Bow n Arrow n more) all flexing out over a small stage the next few days.
Ever come home from work one day and there's just a bunch of dudes standing in your backyard? Press photos are fun like that. Perhaps they had a pirates in the supermarket type shot going and the parrots never showed up. But with this Soul Cannon joint we hear Roots + Kanye, so.
What did you do for your 8th birthday? McDonald's? Your party was at McDonald's?
London's Fabric crew wants to avoid your awkward social mistakes by ringing in their ocho with more than twenty top notch wig scramblers spread over three rooms. Plus McGriddles!*
Fabric press officer James Mack tells us: "We've prepared a whole long weekend's worth of parties starting on Thursday with Adventures in the Beetroot Field. Since their rowdy party for our birthday last year, AITBF have consistently thrown the most forward-thinking bashes in the capital. For our birthday, they've given us quite a special gift: three rooms filled to the brim with the likes of The Aliens, Lightspeed Champion, The Whip and Envelopes."
*At press time we were not able to confirm the availability of McGriddles in the UK, but if you agree to fly us over, we will help you sneak some in. Just don't keep them in your knickers very long as the syrup chips are heat-activated. See our review of LCD Soundsystem's FabricLive 36 mix here.
Baltimore, Maryland; self-appointed “Greatest City on Earth.” Copenhagen, Denmark, “A much, much cooler city than Baltimore.” Who wins? Excluding the vast crime rate differences we can only judge by musical output while the local convention and tourism marketing departments beat it out. The four months I spent living in Denmark earlier this year were surreal - possibly due to the endless supply of marzipan and chocolate bars, massive street festivals and dance parties, and Lego Land. Fortunately Danish supergroup Efterklang release their new album Parades today, offering a familiar throwback to those days of throwing back cold Carlsbergs on the back of pirate ship floats.
Efterklang produces epic tracks not easily unpacked - intertwined vocals, brass and electronic strands march out of your speakers from every direction possible to form the perfect soundtrack for lazy afternoons, rainy mornings, or just getting pumped up for that big spelling bee.
March, Baltimoreans! These are clutch tunes for the fall while we wait patiently for new Sufjan. Also check out Rumraket (the record label Efterklang runs on the side) for more great soup n' turtleneck jamz including Canon Blue and Taxi Taxi.
Robert Goulet was born with one in 1933. Lionel Richie's was reportedly insured for more than two million dollars.
We're talking mustaches people, the true calling card of any serious professional crooner. You wouldn't hire a clown to fix a leak in the john would you? Everyone knows enhanced upper lip plumage helps you drop more soul on the yazz flute, so we’re doing the music world a fricking service by ranking the top 24 musiticians of all time:
1. Robert Goulet 2. John Oates 3. Freddy Mercury 4. Prince 5. Lionel Richie 6. Jesse F. Keeler - DFA 1979 7. Stevie Wonder 8. Patrick Simmons - The Doobie Brothers 9. Franz Nicolay - The Hold Steady 10. Rick James 11. Bill Preston 12. David Crosby 13. Ray Parker Jr. 14. Morris Day 15. Herbie Hancock 16. Ike Turner 17. John Oates (he's that good) 18. Vince Guaraldi 19. Looking Glass 20. George Harrison 21. Walter Becker - Steely Dan 22. Patti Smith 23. David Macklovitch - Chromeo 24. Orleans
Not just a clever name, the Beatbots A/V Club has tons of tasty indie A/V treats from the Current Canyon Festival for your discerning perusal. One sample below - even at his hairiest, Iron and Wine's Sam Beam has nothing on the power folk beard wielded by Small Sur's Bob Keal, who closes the set by saying "Thanks we're from Small Sur, we don't have any CD's." Which of course sends you scrambling to aquire this rarified acoustic heat black market style like a pair of Yugoslavian blue jeans.
Small Sur - Yosemite
Get the full report here, and scroll downa bit for the Double Dagger set from last week. All audio courtesy of the baltimore taper.
Now let us run through haunted forests with unmelting technicolor ice cream sangwiches and listen to weekend beats. Let us nestle by hearth's edge in only the squeakiest yellow rubber rain boots with adventurous dusty tomes. Let us take long trips on the short wave. Let us save up energy for Of Montreal on Sunday.
We sat down with Of Montreal guitarist Bryan Poole to talk about their 2008 album Skeletal Lamping and what kinds of theatrics and/or shenanigans we Baltimorons can expect from their upcoming 10/14 show at Ram's Head Live. BT: We can't wait to get some pyschedelic indie pop up in this bitch on Sunday. How's the tour been so far?
BP: Great - we're in Buffalo tonight..started touring back in January, so we've done the entire US and Canada once over already, went to Europe a few times, played some festivals, and then now we're starting to do the US again.
Each tour you bring a new type of theatrical production element into the mix - so without giving any big secrets away what can we expect to see on Sunday?
Well, definitely a higher stage production than probably most shows you'll see. I mean, I won't say it's the Flaming Lips because they're the tops, but we're definitely trying our bit. We have a new stage we've built, very Gary Numanesque, and it's pretty freaking awesome (slowly for emphasis). Kevin's brother Dave is gonna be with us too, and he adds more of a theatrical element to the show.
He wasn't the guy in the full-body white leotard eating bananas at the Irving Plaza show was he?
Probably (laughs). Yes.
That guy was awesome. So do you get to pick your own props/costumes?
Yeah, there's no hard set rule, just be kinda freaky. We're influenced by Sly Stone, Prince, Funkadelic, Sun Ra - for me Sun Ra just blows my mind, what they were doing, because I really believed they were from Saturn. It's kinda glammy.
What would you like to see the Bmore folks wear to the show for a total freakout?
They could do whatever they want, we'd like to make it a party but it doesn't need to be like Halloween. If you feel like dressing up, do it. If you want to wear some glitter, that's OK. If you wanna wear overalls, that's fine too. It's cool to participate and we want the crowd to be into it.
I have a friend coming dressed as Mr. Belvedere.
All right.
We heard Feminine Effects performed on Monday on Minnesota Public Radio and it was a different type of throwback influence than you might expect from the band - instead of 60s pop it's more solitary 70s and piano based...does this reflect the tone of your next album (Skeletal Lamping)?
On the whole, no, but there are some songs ike that. Kevin has a couple of different personas that he can tap into, the main one being Georgie Fruit. Georgie writes all the funky songs. For the songs like Feminine Effects he has another character called Lisp Crispy, and that's probably more of like a Joni Mitchell type of character, a little more subdued and reflective. I love that song and he has a couple more like that.
How close is it to being finished - we heard early 2008 and then October 2008?
Yeah, right now it's tentatively scheduled for October.
The new Radiohead album drops on digital download today. What are your thoughts on bands making music available directly to fans for an open rate?
If we could do it, we'd love to. They're not really an exception, but to be able to just put it up there and say pay whatever, it will be interesting to see if people pay for it. If you're a fourteen year old kid you're just going to download it, you know? And there are going to be fans who order the box set, but that's more few and far between. I'm sure they'll get random amounts of money as well. But yeah, to cut out all the middlemen is a great liberator. We've talked about it before, maybe having online exclusives that we're in control of or have for free on our Web sites and stuff, just not the official record. Because Kevin does have a problem with writing too many songs, and sometimes it's hard figuring out where they should go.
My favorite thing about it was just seeing the real time connection among fans everywhere as we all got it once. Reminds me of being in middle school when everyone goes to the record store at midnight to buy Use Your Illusion.
Yeah, exactly. I haven't downloaded it yet, but our video guy Nick is a monster fan so I'm surprised I haven't heard it blasting already.
Have you ever been visited in a dream by David Bowie?
Yeah! We're fans of Flight of the Conchords and we just saw the David Bowie episode. Plus we had just watched Labryinth on the last tour. Dan, our sound man, it's his favorite movie of all time and he knows all the songs. It's kind of fraggle rockish.
Do you dig Dan Deacon or any other Bmore artists?
Yeah we saw him in Minneapolis, he was great...really amazing how we was able to set up on the floor and captivate the crowd. Had everyone parting like the red sea at one point to form this huge circle and the whole room was packed with people...his stuff is all over the place. No separation between the band and the stage - in dramatic terms you might call it breaking down the fourth wall or something.
Thanks for making time with us while you're on tour. See you Sunday.
A quick look at Of Montreal over the last few years:
Stream their most recent album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Detroyer?here and then buy it here. Buy tickets for the Sunday 10/14 show at Ram's Head Live here.
If you still don't understand why this band is awesome, you need more awesome lessons.
It's beautiful to see rabid Radiohead fans across the world denying themselves sleep in the middle of a week waiting for their precious download link to appear in the inbox (finally appeared around 7am this morning and the race was on). Puddlegum says, "Ten years after OK Computer shocked the world, Radiohead released In Rainbows on October 10 (10/10). Though no one was expecting the album to be released until 2008, Radiohead announced In Rainbows just ten days in advance. In Rainbows, which consists of ten letters, has ten tracks, and would be downloadable from a rumored ten servers. In September, Radiohead began to send nine cryptic messages to their fans. One image was titled Xendless Xurbia, with hundreds of white arrows pointing up, each with a black arrow pointing down. Coincidentally, one of Radiohead’s new songs is called Down Is The New Up. Interestingly enough, X is the Roman Numeral for ten. The tenth cryptic message will be posted today, October 10."
We've been listening to Florida's new indie crunk champs Black Kids all day, and frankly, you should too. They're unsigned at the moment but currently enjoying a steady steam of blogger foam a la Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (but in both cases, the attention is well deserved). Read the Ptichfork review of their Wizard of Ahhhs EP here. Note to Contra-playing contrarian hipsters, there are two African Amercians in the band and they are young, so, not just a clever name. Start listening/playing the "sounds like" game to see what everyone's so excited about (hint: Go! Team and Robert Smith?)
If in the previous elections you voted for Chuck Norris as a write-in candidate for Comptroller, City of Baltimore, and if Nitro was (or still is) your favorite American Gladiator, then we've got plans for you next Monday. College Park and DC-based The Dance Party are at Sonar on 10/15 with The Hourly Radio. Expect sweat, switchblades, lipstick, fast women and catchy jams because The Dance Party take it deep at all times. Be honest with yourself - are you getting enough guitar solo?
Check out this hott interview/Miami Vice photo shoot from our favorite DC blog Brightest Young Things (photos above from BYT and Joel Didriksen). Network with The Dance Party socially.
and were going to post riveting notes from his performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg(?) this weekend, and then found this cut from La Blogotheque which is much, much cooler:
Rebel 'gainst the changing seasons, get outside and go banay-nays at the Current Canyon Festival! The kind folks at Current Gallery (a local artist-run gallery/studio/performance space) have amassed a wig scrambling lineup of local/national artists guaranteed to bring the am to the pm this weekend. Plus over 15 video artists/performances and a mad craft market (bring your own pigeon feathers). Everything goes down at 30 S. Calvert St. from 1-9pm Sat and Sun. Bmore duo Monarch (below) are undoubtedly one of the most anticipated acts of the weekend, more on them when we release round two of the Buttermore mix series very soon.
We fired a quick round at a few of the organizers - Andy Cook, Liz Flyntz and Small Sur's indie solo supergroup frontman Bob Keal - to get you the full premium steez.
BT: Tell us about some of the bands you're looking forward to seeing.
Andy: I'm always psyched to see Monarch. Andy Stack and Jen Wassner are super talented musicians and songwriters. Their stuff reminds me a lot of The Jesus and Mary Chain or Yo La Tengo at their peak. Also excited to see AK Slaughter again, their brand of hip-hop is funny and really catchy. (BT note: they flow over Hall n Oates beats!)
Bob: Karl Blau - he's been a part of the music scene in the northwest for a long time now and he's touring in support of his newest record, Dance Positive, which is available via Portland, Oregon's Marriage Records. He is an incredibly prolific songwriter and collabs with tons of NW notables on a regular basis, including Bret Lunsford (Beat Happening, D+) and Phil Elverum (Microphones, Mt. Eerie, D+).
Liz: Lexie Mountain Boys is always a high energy spontaneous spectacle. Definitely one of the most original and highly-hyphenated acts in Baltimore. Attempts at descriptions often use the terms acapella - all-girl - perplexing- performance art- mouth sounds - costume-shop. Degeneration, Dripping Blood, Fading Away is Jamie from Bunny Brains' band with her 9 year old daughter. WZT Hearts has a new album out called Thread Rope Spell Making Your Bones, and it will be pretty rad to see them perform new stuff.
BT: Rad indeed, Liz. Rad indeed. Sounds like a lot of bazaar art/music/video you dont want to miss.
With the constant spaghetti stream of Day-Glo Play-Doh being squeezed out of Baltimore recently (see: any video from Dan Deacon, Jimmy Joe Roche or of course the Video Hippos) we sat down with one of the many local artists whose work is saturated in buckets of neon paint and awkward moments from 80s bob digi pop culture.
Bmore artist Meredith Moore is most recently known for the fabulous Videohippos spot Narwhals (below) and for probably the most blinged out music video of all time, Diamondz, featuring a Crystal-laced composition by Wham City chief Dan Deacon. And there's lava aplenty in both videos, which we respect.
A quick volley and serve:
BT: How did you arrive in Baltimore doing rad video art?
MM: I was born and raised in Oklahoma, and early on I discovered the richness of creating things/worlds/on your own terms. In high schoolI I yearned for more than just getting stoned and painting self-portraits. I applied to art school and picked Baltimore because they offered me the most in scholarships. I had never been to the East Coast. Culture shock! Good for me!
I started MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) as a painting major, and was super bored with it a year later. I took a video class on a whim and fell in love. I love the accessibility of the medium - we all grew up on television and movies - AND its 4 dimensional - working with time. Making an experience. I am very in to experiences. Very awesome.
BT: How did you hook up with Videohippos and Dan Deacon?
MM: I had two video classes with the drummer, Kevin O'Meara, but we only eyed each other from afar until the last class when he asked if he could use my video (monster trucks and puppets) for a song. This lead to us becoming partners in crime (and love) and i went on a week long tour with Videohippos and Dan Deacon down to Florida where i encountered the amazing films of Jimmy Joe Roche and the man himself. After that i was hooked on Wham City, Kevin, Snake Mistakes, and audio/visual orgasms. Best times ever.
BT: How do you get hamiltons?
MM: I'm a door girl at shows, I film and edit the Ed Schrader Show sometimes, and i hawk shit and do some basic hustling. (ha!) I just got a job at Whole Foods that pays the bills but doesn't zap me of all my time and energy and allows me to not worry about money and focus on new projects - i'm too young and smart (22) to begin some sort of mediocre career.
BT: We agree. Stay on the hustle. So what's next?
MM: Well i just graduated, so now its all relatively up in the air....but me and my roommate Mark Brown (of are we not men dj status) are starting a video podcast called netdreams which i am very excited about. Also I'm working on the beginning of a super secret personal project, and later this year I'm going to be making a video for one of Dan Deacon's new songs (shhh).
