AltWeeklies Wire
Max Ochs Still Works and Sings For Social Justicenew
By all rights, Max Ochs should be bitter. His college buddies, John Fahey and Robbie Basho, had more well-known and critically lauded musical careers. And the rare instance when Ochs does receive attention from the press, there's always an obligatory reference to his more famous cousin, Phil.
Baltimore City Paper |
David Dunlap Jr. |
12-09-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Minneapolis Hip-Hop Duo Atmosphere Goes For Studio Goldnew
Atmosphere's Slug and Ant look to a live-band approach for a breath of fresh air.
Baltimore City Paper |
Tony Ware |
10-14-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Which Otis Jackson Jr. Do You Like?new
Jackson has renamed himself as much as anyone in the Wu-Tang Clan, though Madlib is the moniker that subsumes all others--his umbrella pseudonym, if you will.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michaelangelo Matos |
10-07-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Madlib
The Wanderers' World of Finger-Picked Acoustic Guitar Blues/Folk/Raga/Whatevernew
The rice-paper umbrella for this monolithic-on-its-face style of instrumental, mostly finger-picked guitar folk, at least since the first disc of the three-part Imaginational Anthem series came out in 2005, has been "American primitive."
Baltimore City Paper |
Michael Byrne |
10-07-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Baltimore Hip-Hop's Biggest Outcasts Find Their Niche As Mania Music Groupnew
"We're like a gang of misfits, people that nobody wanted," says Dwayne "Headphones" Lawson, 28, describing the group of musicians whom he brought together to form Mania Music Group.
Baltimore City Paper |
Al Shipley |
09-09-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Daedelus Revisits Rave's Everything-Goes Approach to Music Mixingnew
Messy isn't necessarily sloppy; it can still be calculated. The mess-as-aesthetic is something Daedelus does best.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michael Byrne |
09-09-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Detroit Transplant Patrick Brander Tries to Spread Techno in House-Loving Baltimorenew
If techno is a minority player in Baltimore, as it is in many American cities (by European standards), at least some of that has to do with the landscape. Heavily molded by rock club culture and a painful 2 a.m. last call, Baltimore is not well equipped to give a techno party the hours needed to dig in for longer than a taste.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michael Byrne |
09-02-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Sublime Vacuum Rock of the Vivian Girls and the Crystal Stiltsnew
Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls are two of the most exciting and, yes, wholly original bands around today. Both take feel-good pop sounds from the '60s and '80s and fuck with them, turning them on their head.
Baltimore City Paper |
Mike McGonigal |
08-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
On Waiting For Ariel Pink's Warped Pop Songs to Catch Up to The Now Adult Artistnew
Between 2004 and '06, the imprint promoted the bejesus Pink's work then the full-court media press stopped dead. Information about his activities became much harder to come by, and recordings--now tougher to track down--began flowing through no-name labels.
Baltimore City Paper |
Raymond Cummings |
08-05-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Ariel Pink
Legendary Avant-Garde Musician and Philosopher Henry Flynt Performs Again After 25 Yearsnew
Before he called it quits in 1984, he recorded long drone pieces and shorter country jams, collaborated with Tony Conrad, Pandit Pran Nath, and Yoko Ono, and even replaced John Cale in the Velvet Underground for two weeks in 1966. He also pursued mathematics at Harvard and New York University and economics at the New School.
Baltimore City Paper |
Marc Masters |
06-24-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Ponytail Taps Into Something Deeper and More Adaptable Than Moon/Junenew
Molly Siegel's vocals are almost certainly the strangest and most refreshing in indie music since Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart taught his throat to cry. It's like listening to a child learn its first word in accelerated form, only it's a twentysomething art-school graduate backed by an epic, even more clamorous version of Deerhoof.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michael Byrne |
06-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Ice Cream Spiritual, Ponytail
Thrushes Let The World's DJs Feel Their Heartbeatsnew
Last spring, the introspective indie-pop outfit rose out the internet ether when "Hearbeats," the lead single off their then just-released debut album, became the No. 1 downloaded song for the week of March 30. In light of this success, the band offered a remix contest, intending to release its favorite version.
Baltimore City Paper |
Raven Baker |
04-08-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Dusting off Dusty Springfieldnew
From Lesley Gore to Amy Winehouse, female singers wanting to open the throttle on romantic need and desire have inevitably borrowed more than a little from Springfield -- especially if they were white women who loved black R&B.
Baltimore City Paper |
Geoffrey Himes |
04-01-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Dusty Springfield
Baltimore in Songnew
Music -- a song, a beat, a refrain, a certain riff, a band -- can recall a place without having to spell it out in the title.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
03-18-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Regrets? They've Had a Fewnew
They've survived booze, breakdowns, and bedlam but the Pogues are still standing.
Baltimore City Paper |
Neil Ferguson |
03-18-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Pogues
