Noise: Archive for July, 2008

| Image by City Paper Digi-Cam If you follow local venue politics–and why would you?–you already know this, but some weirdness and changes have been under way this past spring and summer at the Lo-Fi Social Club. Under circumstances that are still mostly unclear–which involve a few accusations from former employees about unpaid wages...
Read more »

Yesterday, Scarey Studios, a left-field concert space in West Baltimore, abruptly announced via MySpace, “hey dudes/dudettes, scarey studios is no more and all shows coming up are cancelled, sorry! it was fun(ny) but couldnt last forever , cause you know people could hear our shows for 5 square blocks.” In an e-mail to Noise...
Read more »

The good news is that the Ian Nagoski portion of the True Vine‘s inventory is currently being sold off for change. Like, you can grab Brian Eno’s Here Come the Warm Jets and Music For Airports for $25 and $20 minus 25 percent, respectively. Some stuff is up to 70 percent off and, our...
Read more »

Off the wires this morning were the lineup times and days for this year’s Virgin Festival. If you drive I-95 with any regularity, the festival’s billboards have already beaten into your head just how all over the place this thing is–Bob Dylan the same font and size right next to Jack Johnson makes the...
Read more »

OK, perhaps you’re all music festival-ed out after last weekend’s Whartscape, but maybe you’d still like to check out some ear-ringing noise–and preferably for free. It’s a bit of a hike for those people who also choose to love their planet and hate on oil by not owning an automobile, but “DNA is the...
Read more »

Last weekend, while Artscape and Whartscape were sprawling across the center of Baltimore, there was a smaller, less heralded street festival going down across town, at the corner of Lafayette and Caroline streets. The Charm City Community Block Fest celebrated its fourth year on Saturday with a full day of performances and concessions, while...
Read more »

Late notice, yes, but the public viewing for Khia Edgerton, aka Baltimore’s Club Queen K-Swift, who passed away this past Monday, is being held from 3 p.m. this afternoon until 8 p.m. this evening at Joseph Brown Funeral Home (2140 N. Fulton Ave). Further funeral arrangements are as follows: Friday, July 25th Viewing: 10...
Read more »

www.joshsisk.com Scottie B and K-Swift A funny thing about Baltimore club music is that you can listen to it almost endlessly and not get sick of it. By all rights you should–it’s technically repetitive as all hell, and there seems to be a mathematical law that demands that over the course of three DJs,...
Read more »

DJ K-Swift, one of the most beloved figures in Baltimore club, passed away this morning in a swimming pool accident, allhiphop.com is reporting. K-Swift, born Khia Edgerton, was 28. In addition to being one of the most ubiquitous faces behind this city’s turntables, Edgerton was an immensely popular DJ on 92Q–starting there at 18...
Read more »

| Image by Puja Patel We’d already started writing up our memories of this year’s Artscape when we received some shocking news this morning about a performer who was responsible for one of our favorite moments from the festival. Khia Edgerton, aka DJ K-Swift, passed away at Good Samaritan Hospital from injuries sustained in...
Read more »

There’s many different ways you could look at “Weird Al” Yankovic: a comic genius, an opportunistic hack who got lucky, and all points in between. But if you still harbor an inner 11-year-old who once thought UHF was the greatest movie ever, and wore out a cassette of Off the Deep End or Dare...
Read more »

Wham City’s alternative to Artscape is only in its third year, but already it’s starting to feel like an institution. So much attention, in the indie press and online, was lavished on last year’s festival and the advance hype for this year’s installment that you get the feeling there are a good number of...
Read more »

Note to Floristree: please start a subwoofer donation bucket now. You know, a place where people can drop the odd spare change or $5 bill in the hopes that, someday, shows at the much beloved warehouse space will have some low end in the mix. We can deal with the heat. We can deal...
Read more »

Considering how much Baltimore club is defined by high energy and fast tempos, it’s no mean feat to make some of the most aggressive, in-your-face music the genre has to offer. But that’s just what’s being accomplished these days by Dirty Nation Entertainment, a pair of college kids making their own noise that DJ...
Read more »

Raspberry Campaign | Image by Al Shipley If there was ever any doubt as to the effectiveness of the Ottobar’s air conditioning and ceiling fans, their worth was amply proven on Wednesday night. When the house is packed, the room inevitably heats up until the ceiling is dripping with condensation. But at a sparsely...
Read more »

In the mail this morning was an exciting little teaser from Samuel Burt of the High Zero Foundation. In it were a few details of this year’s marathon of noise, improvisation, and other bits of uncategorizable, wonderful oddness. The fest, celebrating its 10th anniversary, runs Sept. 17-21, and, once again, the main attractions will...
Read more »

It only happens once or twice a year, but now and then it feels like the whole Baltimore hip-hop community converges together under one roof for a particular show, where damn near half of it is on the bill and much of the remainder is in the audience networking. Usually, the occasion is the...
Read more »

Last spring, Baltimore/Washington metro area all-femme outfit Odd Girl Out released its first record after a torrent of fits, starts, catastrophes, and road bloacks. Drawing heavily on pop-punk, Joan Jett, and alt-rock in general, Hurry Up and Wait was a tuneful jolt of local rock fun, and revisiting it recently got us wanting more...
Read more »