A hearty congrats to Bmore residents and Butter Team faves Wye Oak, formerly Monarch, who recently signed to Merge and will re-release their outstanding full length debut If Children with a bit more indie muscle. Wye Oak - Warning
If you were wondering about the name change, "Monarch" was already used by a bunch of other bands and the new name is a shot out to the honorary Maryland state tree, so. People just don't name drop their favorite trees enough and we applaud this move (also would have accepted Baby Superstore, Sans Pants, or Super Tight Blazers).
You can catch Andy and Jenn at The Talking Head on 1/17, or see our November interview along with some live stuff here. Maybe R. Kelly will return their calls now!
Earlier in the week we checked out Bow n' Arrow, Oppenheimer and Monarch at Lo-Fi Social Club (be sure to bookmark Lo-Fi's dope new site here). Actually missed Monarch due to an early bedtime, but we got a chance to rap with Jenn and Andy beforehand to confirm or deny rumors of their possible "Trapped In The Closet" style hiphopera in the works for 2008. Is it true? Let's find out:
Bmore artists playing local shows over the next seven days include, but are not limited to: Dan Deacon, Videohippos, Ponytail, Monarch, Thrushes, Ecstatic Sunshine, Jones, Shields, Height, Double Dagger, Thank You, Tall Grass, Television Hill and The Heavycoats. Here's a super quick rundown:
We're still listening to the dope acoustic sets procured by Baltimore Taper a few weeks back; this time up to the plate we have Jenn and Andy from Monarch (bottom two on the teeball team photo above). The set consisted of a few from If Children, the debut of “Half a Double Man" and several other generally unplayed older songs. 1. Intro 2. Please Concrete (highly recommended) 3. I Don’t Feel Young 4. Archaic Smile 5. On Top of Spaghetti 6. A Lawn To Mow 7. (false start) 8. Half A Double Man
Download the whole set here. Next Bmore show: November 19th @ Lo-Fi Social Club.
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.
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.
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.
