News :: Our Machine Watches Your Machine :: Bmore Musically Informed

Well, shit holler. Last month Baltimore music blog, Bmore, posted a double-sided mixtape of up-and-comer Baltimore bands. We're ripping the stump up by the roots here when with this post. Gotta give credit where credit's due, so head over to Bmore Musically Informed, cruise around, see what the north has got to offer. I like to check it pretty regular. See what's what. Been awhile. Then about a month ago, up pops this sweet set of sounds.

I've still got to give this one a few more listens, but already the stand outs for me include Zomes, Ecstatic Sunshine, Dope Body, and Winks (for delivering the best song title in the pack). I'd like to personally vouch for Weekends for delivering a solid, noisy set at a Friends Records event hosted by Subterranean A. Adventure, to his credit, put in one of the more surprising live contributions this year when Benny Boeldt's voice turned out to be as strong as his gaming thumbs at the Toro y Moi show at Rock and Roll Hotel. His newest record out on Carpark has some of the best melancholy synth work I've heard  in a while, swelling into a new style I like to call Ninja Gaiden-Goth.

Oh yeah, and add Dope Body's July 5 DC9 show to your summer viewing list.

Side One
[Side A] Baltimore: Spring 2011 // a bmoremusic.net mixtape by Bmore Musically Informed
1. Zomes - "Openings"
2. Weekends - "Home Alone (acoustic)"
3. Ken Seeno - "Cedilla in My Monogram"
4. Lands & Peoples - "Sexting"
5. White Life - "Real Things"
6. Eachothers - "Wild Yonder"
7. Microkingdom - "Aire Metal (Chopped and Screwed)"
8. Ponytail - "Honey Touches"
9. Adventure - "Feels Like Heaven"
10. Daytime - "Life / Afterlife (edit)"
11. Ecstatic Sunshine - "Hello Money"

Side Two
[Side B] Baltimore: Spring 2011 // a bmoremusic.net mixtape by Bmore Musically Informed
1. Celebration - "Only The Wicked (acoustic)"
2. Zu Shapes - "Olivia"
3. Moss of Aura - "Charter"
4. Winks - "Slap Me Choke Me Cum On You"
5. Dope Body - "The Shape of Grunge To Come"
6. Inflatable Mattress - "Green Tea Girlfriend"
7. Thank You - "Pathetic Magic (Dan Deacon remix)"
8. Avocado Happy Hour - "Daytime Television"
9. Gem Vision - "Untitled 1"

Review :: Armchair Telepathy :: Toro y Moi/Cloud Nothings

Toro y Moi/Cloud Nothings
"I Will Talk To You" b/w "For No Reason"
Carpark Records
7"



Quick on the heels of both acts' recent long-players, Carpark bundles Toro y Moi's Chaz Bundick and Cloud Nothing's Dylan Baldi for a double-header. Musically speaking, of course... though I'd love to see those two cuddlebugs together in swaddling clothes. It's a smart choice though, with both sides pleasing my attention-depleted mind.

Bundick further distances himself from his chill contemporaries here; in fact, he may be pioneering a new subgenre I'll coin at this particular moment as lukewarmwave. There it is, I said it, and it will be completely out of fashion by next week, replaced by heatwave or maybe blazewave even. For the time being, his contribution to this split could be the soundtrack to an alternate Bond universe where international espionage is replaced by the much more tangible enemy of hipster nonchalance, and that is grounds for a gripping screenplay.

Dylan Baldi's guitar tone is the star of this split, sounding like my rainbow-striped sweater if it could shred. Warm and colorful, a little scratchy and not washed, ever. It smells like shit, but I wear it almost every day. You get the picture. The guitar tone is matched with a caffeinated vocal that's trapped in a radiator and drums that sound like empty beer cans in a trash compactor. It all makes for a damn hummable tune.

Carpark came up roses with this one. Fortunately, both acts are visiting DC in April. Unfortunately, this one isn't a bundle. Cloud Nothings at DC9 4/11 and Toro y Moi at RnR Hotel 4/14. Don't miss em.

Cloud Nothings :: For No Reason

Video :: Remote Viewing :: Cloud Nothings

The Cloud Nothings album is out today on local label Carpark Records. So to celebrate the release we're posting some watchin's. After you're done with the videos, you should make a move over to Red Onion to pick up a copy on vinyl. This first one came out this past week and involves some awesome hair braid on hair braid action, which mainly reminds me of the last time I got drunk in Georgetown.

"Should Have"

"Should Have" - Cloud Nothings from John Ryan Manning on Vimeo.

For those of you who didn't catch this next one when it came out last fall, here's a video that makes me miss my MTV. It's a simple tale: shovel-toothed nerd kills homeless man, replaces organs with machine parts, programs him to respond to remote control and play basketball. It's a plan too good to fail. There's also a Herbert West/Re-animator thing going on that thrills the Lovecraft fan in me.

"Hey Cool Kid"

Carpark Records

And, finally, a live set that brings the whole act, led by frontman Dylan Baldi, down to Earth. With Beach House moving to Subpop this past year, Carpark kind of got the spring board treatment. But the hometown label continues to dependably bring lightweight acts to the foreground without wearing away any of the homegrown, sweat-and-toil earnestness that makes independent music great.

"Should Have [live]"

And now I'm looking forward to a solid tour from Cloud Nothings come SXSW season.

News :: Upcoming Releases :: November

Artist :: Album :: Label :: Format

11/9

Soft Moon :: TBD :: Captured Tracks :: LP

Tyvek :: Nothing Fits :: In the Red :: LP

Weekend :: Sports :: Slumberland :: LP

Hank IV :: III :: Siltbreeze :: LP

Les Sins (Toro y Moi) :: Lina :: Carpark :: 12"
Gary War :: Police Water EP :: Sacred Bones :: 12"

11/16

Dum Dum Girls :: Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout :: Slumberland :: 7"

Japandroids :: Heavenward Grand Prix :: Polyvinyl :: LP
No Joy :: Ghost Blonde :: Mexican Summer :: LP

11/22
Girls :: Broken Dreams Club :: Matador :: 7"

11/23

Royal Baths :: TBD :: Hozac :: 7"

Reading Rainbow :: Prism Eyes :: Hozac :: LP

Girls Names / Brilliant Colors :: I Lose / You Win :: Slumberland :: 7"

11/30
Sore Eros :: Know Touching :: SHDWPLY Records :: LP

first Tuesday of every month (except for this one)