Noise: Archive for July, 2012

Mr. Moccasin, a local indie rock band led by Hanna Badalova (and featuring erstwhile CP contributor Jared Fischer) shares two songs from their forthcoming release XAHA. Fischer says the new album, whose title is the Cyrillic spelling of Badalova’s first name, is intended to focus attention on the singer, a poet born in Baku,...
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The Baltimore rapper Kane Mayfield has never met the downtempo electronic duo Thievery Corporation, though they’re based only an hour south in Washington, D.C. But he decided to borrow a few of their beats for his latest release, Rhymes By Kane: Thievery Corporation Edition, which was released as a free download this week. And...
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A little over a year ago, music fanatics attacked the internet like some kind of cyber-warriors when the line-up for Virgin Mobile’s fifth annual FreeFest was announced. As has become customary, jobless teens and real working stiffs with internet capable devices snatched up the free tickets at a seemingly impossible pace. And with the...
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Although rapper Dan “Height” Keech has released music as Height With Friends, highlighting a rotating cast of collaborators, since 2008, he’s all alone in the new video for “I Can’t Stand To Be Refused,” directed by Jett Steiger. Surrounded by forest scenery that fits with the naturalist vibe that’s been increasingly prominent in his...
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A day hasn’t passed since July 20th, 2008 that DJs and musicians in Baltimore and beyond haven’t remembered Khia “DJ K-Swift” Edgerton, shouted her out, and mourned her passing. But understandably, around this time of year the tributes start popping up with greater regularity to acknowledge the anniversary of her tragic death. This year,...
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In this week’s cover story, we visited Dan Deacon’s studio, where he was shooting a video for his new single, “True Thrush.” He described it as “a video based on a game, that’s based on the game Telephone.” The video came out yesterday, and it’s pretty great: Frankly, we could watch this for hours....
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New Jersey punks Gaslight Anthem are coming to Soundgarden on Friday at 1 p.m. to do a free acoustic set and sign copies of the CD booklet for people who pre-order their new album, Handwritten, which comes out next week. According to this, you can do your pre-ordering that day in the store.
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The great country singer Kitty Wells died at the age of 92 yesterday, July 17, of a stroke. Wells was most famous for her 1952 song “It wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” The song is a classic in the genre of the answer song, a song that takes the melody and theme...
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Just as countless aspiring musicians are constantly vying for stardom, music talent competitions are currently crowding the airwaves attempting to grab American Idol’s declining audience. Soon, one of them will be The Next: Fame Is At Your Doorstep on The CW. Right now, the show is crisscrossing the country to film episodes to air...
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The 2012 Afropunk Festival, an annual celebration of black musicians operating outside of the traditional “urban music” pigeonhole, will be held on August 25th and 26th in Brooklyn, New York, with headliners like Erykah Badu and the Gym Class Heroes. Baltimore’s own Spank Rock is on the bill, but the festival is also holding...
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Sonar, one of Baltimore’s most storied, and troubled, music venues is officially closed as of today. The Huntington Beach, CA all female electro-sleaze pop trio the Millionaire$, Guantanamo Baywatch, and others played the last ever show at Sonar on Sunday, July 8. “Talking Dan” McIntosh, the venue’s principle owner, could not be reached for...
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A few years ago, Gunwife Gone were one of the most unique and refreshing live bands in Baltimore, and they never really got their due or released an album (they still play shows now and again — apparently one is coming this Halloween). So it was exciting to hear that frontwoman Rachel Anne Warren...
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The offbeat local duo The Unstoppable Nuklehidz, who were ubiquitous at Baltimore rap shows a few years ago, have gone quiet more recently. But the less animated half of the group, Stevie Krizzo, has recently resurfaced as a solo artist, and has a lot to say on his first album. It’s not always clear...
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There’s something about seeing a band on the rise, at almost the exact moment that they seem to be catching on big time, that can make a show crackle with electricity, even if the band primarily plays acoustic instruments. Sunday night, halfway through The Lumineers’ set at Rams Head Live, one of the band...
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