Andrew Weathers Ensemble Lately it’s occurred to me that I’ve caught a number of North Carolina bands coming through town playing shows with local acts. That in itself isn’t remarkable, since they’re only a few states down the coast, but time and time again every band that hails from North Carolina turns out to...
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Willie Nelson (courtesy Rounder Records) Willie Nelson played just one song from his terrific new album for Rounder Records, Country Music, in his 32-song concert at Pier Six Sunday night, but “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” was delivered in a moody, drummer-less arrangement that reflected T-Bone Burnett’s production on the album. And the album’s theme...
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Steve Earle “I got to know this city over the past seven or eight years,” Steve Earle told his Rams Head audience Tuesday night. “I know all about lake trout now. I learned about Baltimore from some guys who grew up here and loved the city enough to turn it into some of the...
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Wale The old saying, “Hip-hop makes great records but puts on lousy shows,” is a cliché only because it’s so often true. There was reason to think that Wale might defy this pattern, because this MC emerged from Washington D.C.’s go-go scene, where the live shows are usually stronger than the studio recordings. Wale’s...
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We’re far enough out from the heyday of 1990s alternative rock that all of its big bands have experienced some combination of commercial decline, falls from grace, breakups, and reunions. But perhaps none have squandered its goodwill with fans quite as extravagantly as Smashing Pumpkins since Billy Corgan revived the band’s name in 2006,...
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Gov't Mule What makes Gov’t Mule the most satisfying jam band of this era? Unlike most of its genremates, this quartet doesn’t play music; it plays songs. Attend a concert by Phish, Widespread Panic, the Yonder String Band, or the Funky Meters, and you’ll hear hours of skillfully played, feel-good, undifferentiated music unfurling like...
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Sir Richard Branson Seriously: M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Pavement, T.I., Joan Jett, Thievery Corporation, Matt and Kim, Yeasayer, Sleigh Bells, Chromeo, Modeselektor, Neon Indian, and some other stuff. I can’t even remember last year’s lineup beyond it not being worth heading to Sonar for, let alone Columbia. So, good job. The free tickets go “on...
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Nels Cline has been one of the greatest guitarists operating on the overlapping fringes of rock and jazz for a few decades now, even if publications such as Rolling Stone and Guitar Player didn’t start properly recognizing him as such until he joined Wilco in 2004. But Cline has continued to pursue his own...
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Landis Expandis It’s here. Geoffrey Himes talks about Rockville bluegrass label Patuxent Records. Al Shipley suggests that Baltimore may have missed it’s moment in the mainstream hip-hop sun. Michael Byrne muses on what a record label means these days. And Lee Gardner talks to old-school Baltimore party king Landis Expandis about collecting boomboxes. Enjoy.
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Lafayette Gilchrist Lafayette Gilchrist continues to tour the world as pianist for the David Murray Quartet and as co-leader of a quartet with Chicago drummer Hamid Drake, Hungarian bassist Matyas Szandai, and Hungarian saxophonist Mihaly Dresch (the latter group releases its debut album this fall). But Gilchrist still lives in Baltimore, and this past...
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Back in February local out-sounds label Ehse Records organized one of the best things to put on ice since whiskey. The inaugural Ehse on Ice party hit the Dominic “Mimi” DiPietro Skating Rink at Patterson Park Feb. 26 and featured performances by Sky Crab, Secret Secrets, and a mirthfully bonkers set from the always...
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Get Em Mamis The Windup Space doesn’t book hip-hop shows very often, but it’s proven that when it does, it gets it right. Saturday night’s bill was in many ways the perfect trio of acts to represent Baltimore rap at the venue: left-field and approachable enough for the Station North crowd, but still hip-hop...
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