Baltimore’s Celebration has started a new series into the Electric Tarot called Albumin. The first two tracks, ”Tomorrow’s Here Today” and “Blood is the Brine (Death)” were just “shared in the ‘now’” via their website. Once an albums worth of material has been recorded and mastered they will release them all on vinyl. Download both new songs on their bandcamp.
Celebration – “Tomorrow’s Here Today”
There’s a lot of words I could use to describe Baltimore’s Secret Mountains (rock, psychedlic, dreamy) but intense seems to be the one I usually drift to. On the upcoming debut LP, Rainer, their music hits a downpour of emotional intensity that I happily stroll through. The beauty is that they don’t achieve this through the ordinary standards – loud guitars, build-ups, kicked out drums – they bring it on through finely tuned arrangements that balance every element. The result is an ocean of fluxating mood…and intensity. ”Coasting”, the first single, is a prime example of that…and a song that I’ve played a bit too many times today.
Rainer comes out on February 26th via Friends Records. You can pre-order it here.
So damn…DUNGEONESSE!!!!!! I heard this on Friday from numerous sources and was totally blown away, but was also terribly bogged down with work. So if you haven’t had the time to check out this – please do RIGHT friggin NOW. Dungeonesse is the collaboration of Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock Of Dimes) and Jon Ehrens (White Life, Art Department). A little while back a friend of a friend of Jon’s let me know that this band was in the works…so when it finalled dropped I was just down right giddy. Wasner’s soulful r&b stroking Ehrens’ synthed out dreamland killers.
“Something that Jon and I talk about a lot is the idea of reclaiming pop music; placing it squarely in the hands of, I dunno, say a couple of regular nerds from Baltimore.” – Jenn Wasner
“I think we both knew that even if we intended to make something that was a straight ahead, radio-ready hit, it would come out sounding a little different because of both of our musical backgrounds in which the music we made did not have this intention.” – Jon Ehrens
The “Drive You Crazy” b/w “Private Party” split is out now on Secretly Canadian.
Today on PORTALS I featured a new track from Baltimore’s Which Magic. It’s a good one!
Baltimore’s Weekends, usually known for their buckets of gobs and gobs of energy, has an album of acoustic lo-fi renditions, Acoustic Tape Volume 1, coming out tomorrow on cassette via Friends Records and on CD via Reoccurring Dreams Records. Normally hearing this would come as a shock, but previously they put out an acoustic version of “A Defining Love” that was spectacular, so I figured the rest would be gold too. I was right! Take a listen:
Weekends – “Conspicuous Waste”
There is also a release show going down at the MICA Cohen plaza with KISHI BASHI. It’s free and they’ll be playing with a string quartet (!!!). RSVP here.
Baltimore’s omoo omoo‘s new LP nha’ has manage to pass by my ears a few times barely disturbing me. It’s a quiet, meditative, guitar excursion that doesn’t call attention to itself in the least bit…and that’s the beauty of it. The melodies are soft, the windows are open, and the volume is right. It’s Wednesday and I need this.
I don’t know how I’ve failed to stumble upon Baltimore’s Lovers & Reflections…but I have…and I’m sorry. Lovers & Reflections is the duo of singer/songwriter Regan Rebecca and producer Chris Moore. Moore’s synth filled rivers take me back to early Depeche Mode…and anything that does that is put on a higher pedestal. That being said I would be lying to say that the real knock me down factor of L&R is Rebecca’s soul rattling vocals. Seriously crazy good. In June they put out a two-songer that deserves every ounce of your attention. Stream it below (buy them on bandcamp):
Also they just did a super sweet remix of Alice Cohen:
