Last night I saw Matt & Kim and Amanda Blank at a sold out show at Sonar. It was a good show, I have seen both acts many times before, in front of MUCH smaller crowds, so it was cool to see them finally getting recognition. Posi show! Check out the photos from the show!
I provided the cover, splash page, and an additional photo for today’s Baltimore Citypaper feature story on the new crop of rock bands making waves here in town. You can read the story here. Vincent Black Shadow and Sick Weapons are featured above. Double Dagger, Dope Body, the Art Department, and bunch of other good bands are featured as well.
Also shown is another photo of VBS from a story earlier in the year that I never posted, also from Citypaper.
Four photos of Dan that I recently posted. These were shot a few months back. Dan’s always a great subject… check out some of my other shots of him, both live and posed.
A few fridays ago, Metro Gallery hosted what I hope is a reoccuring event in Baltimore: an outdoor show in a relaxed environment with only two bands (both great). As I have gotten older, the idea of a two band bill has become OH SO ATTRACTIVE… Click here for photos from the Celebration/Beach House show.
Fun night. Dan Deacon, No Age and Deer Hunter played in a round robin, sometimes playing at once! Dave Nada and Jackie O played in another room, and Love or Perish and other bands played in the back room! Click here for all the photos…
Amazing show. I love the Warner Theater, it’s one of my favorite places to see performances in DC… though it is weird to have assigned seats!
A few recent publications… John Gallagher (Dying Fetus) in Decibel, Rye Rye in the Stranger, and Santigold on Rollingstone.com.
Sunday I checked out Santigold (formly Santogold, but she apparently had some legal trouble with that infomercial guy of the same name) and Trouble Andrew at the Rams Head. It was a good time… my friend Jahphet (from the Death Set) is in her touring band, which was awesome to see. Also, I always get a kick out of her two dancers… they have been with her for awhile, at least since I saw here at SXSW two years ago and they are awesome.
Check out the whole Santigold / Trouble Andrew set here. You can also check out her video for LES Artistes, one of my favorite songs by her.
Maryland Death Fest 2009 was amazing. I only was there for one day, but it was incredible! So many bands… I never expected to see Bolt Thrower, ever! Much less with Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death and Wolves In The Throne Room! Not to mention Misery Index, Birdflesh… too many bands to name, really. Also the festival was very well run, which was impressive for just how big the scope of it all was. So many metalheads in one place and there were not really any major problems, at least not that I heard about… congratulations to everyone involved at MDF and Sonar!
Click here to see the rest of my Maryland Death Fest 2009 photos. Or, click here to to see a Slideshow from Maryland Death Fest 2009.
The other day, I checked out Lady Sovereign’s show at Sonar with Hollywood Holt and Chester French. It was pretty fun, I actually though the standout of the night was actually Hollywood Holt… that dude seems like he is gonna break soon, at least judging by his stage persona.
Sunday, Dan Deacon and his Ensemble rolled back into the area (along with Future Islands and Teeth Mountain). It was awesome to see so many friends playing on the big stage at the 9:30 Club. It was especially great to see Denny Bowen (of Double Dagger, Smart Growth fame, and part of the Ensemble) up there, as I have known Denny for years, and used to have his high school bands playing in the basement of my old house, the Dirtfarm. Such a good show, so great to see Dan’s songs performed with instrumentation, and to see him work his showmanship magic on such a huge crowd, and a “professional” space.
Future Islands and Teeth Mountain were really good as well, I was especially taken by Teeth Mountain, their set really benefited from the big sound that is possible at a venue like the 9:30.
Dan Deacon photo in German magazine Intro. Claire Huxtable in URB magazine. Both on newstands now.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed in Decibel, Martyn in KMag and DJ Broadcast magazines. Also, check out Earplug’s SXSW write-up featuring my photos, and a small shot of the Death Set in XLR8R.
B Magazine also ran one of my shots of Dan Deacon on the cover:
A text recap may or not be coming soon but here is the photo recap…
diplo & kid cudi @ mad decent blowout
des ark
thunderheist
the golden filter
lady sovereign
frodus
milemarker
ponytail, kanye west
mad decent, thou
DJ Sega, Annihilation Time/bridge party
Look for the new issue of CMJ, coming out next month. I have the cover and two shots of Dan on the inside.
ALSO! Listen to Dan’s new album Bromst on NPR’s site. The whole album! It’s not even out yet.
This month in XLR8R (#125, the March issue), I have a 8-page spread about Dan Deacon, a photo of Dutch dubstep artist Martyn, and then a contributor profile of myself (featuring a photo of me by my Dad!). Should be on newstands now! Pick it up.
From a photo shoot I did for them and Relapse Records.
Pig Destroyer shot in the Grindcore issue, on newstands now. You can look at the original shot here.
Last night I went and saw Swedish performer Lykke Li at the “Historic 6th & I Synagogue” in DC. Great show. Live, she adds alot more drumming and dynamic sound versus the album… mostly at the hands of her backing group, a group of Swedish men who my friend declared as being the most handsome backing band in the world. The venue was seated-only, which at first I was put off by, but it was really cool. A totally different atmosphere than a rock club.
Art collective Wham City has been regularly having shows at it’s space Zodiac (formerly a resteraunt, right next to the Club Charles)… last week I stopped in to check out Dan Deacon performing some newer material and the new piece by Jimmy Joe Roche. Also performing was Adventure, (who has a split LP out now with Dan), but I didn’t get any photos during his set.
Jimmy Joe Roche (co-creator of last years’ Ultimate Reality performance piece/DVD and wicked Magic: the Gathering player)’s piece was CRAZY and deserves a special mention : he had loops of millisecond samples from metal songs, and video loops of various satanic imagery, all hooked up to a laptop… and a EKG, attached to his forehead. The EKG recorded electrical activity in his brain, and would make changes to both the audio and video images as his mood changed. Since he was thrashing in place and basically freaking out, you can imagine there was ALOT of activity! It was pretty awesome and really appealled to the dormant headbanger lobe of my brain.
Look out for the upcoming XLR8R feature on Dan Deacon, with photos by yours truly, for his appearance on Andrew WK’s new talk show, and for his new record BROMST.