Trying to get all these SXSW photos out the door… but I keep taking more photos. It’s a never ending cycle… anyway, I saw Lower Dens play a day show at SXSW for the Sun. One of my favorite new Baltimore bands, really looking forward to their next record. The out of crowd town seemed to love them too, based on the response from the large crowd at this early show.
I had never even heard of this band when I shot them the other day for the Post, but they had a good sound and the singer/guitarist Brittany Howard has a great voice and really strong stage presence… this was fun.
See the rest of the Alabama Shakes photos (and others) in my APRIL SHOWS set.
I did a couple of photo sessions with Baltimore band Arboretum to help promote their record on Thrill Jockey. Great guys, we had a lot of fun. See all the photos (or most of them) here on flickr!
See all my Dope Body at SXSW shots here.
I woke up early on my second day to catch Dope Body play at Scoot Inn, at the Thrasher/Converse stage. So many sponsored stages this year. They were great and still full of energy, even bright & early, as you can see here: Continue reading
See the rest of the Psychic TV & Celebration photos here.
This show was a real surprise. I knew what to expect from Celebration, one of the best (and most long-lived, at this point) current band in Baltimore… I have seen them many times, own all their records… so I knew they were gonna be great. But Psychic TV… that’s another matter. Genesis P-Orridge’s project post-Throbbing Gristle has gone through so many manifestations through the years (and I honestly lost track a long time ago), so I didn’t know what to expect. I was honestly expecting some 80s “I.C. Water”-era proto-rave… instead, what I got was 90 minutes of rollicking prog-rock, including at least two Hawkwind covers (but maybe three?) and some great banter by Orridge, include a claim (which I don’t think is true?) of actually having been a member of Hawkwind. Anyway, great, really unexpected show.
Today I attended the Trayvon Martin rally at the Baltimore City Hall. It was packed full of people, include on the steps, which surprised me. The overall feel was positive, with everyone I interacted with being friendly. There were a few people with sort of wingnuts signs there, and a surprising amount of t-shirt vendors, but in general it felt like a very honest, positive event. I’m glad I went.
See some photos above and some more photos here.
(Posted via Instagram for sake of being able to post them “as it happened”. Follow me on twitter or instagram at @joshsisk to see more liveblogs when I do them.)
Last night I went to the candlelight vigil for the Charles Village Video Americain, which closed it’s doors yesterday after years in the neighborhood. Customers, fans, employees, and the owner and his family spoke about how the store affected them over the years.
I decided to just use instagram for these in the interest of being able to post them as it happened, and I will be attempting to do more “from the scene” sort of liveblogging posts on my Twitter (@joshsisk), so follow me there if you are interested! More finished versions of these photos will make it to my site eventually.
Nether Street Art made a piece of street art from one of my photos of K-Swift & Scottie B. It’s up now in Baltimore City (as you can see above)!
Here is the photo it’s taken from:
In the grand tradition I’ve been following for the last few years (see 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007), every year I try and make a photo set of my favorite shots from the year. It’s a good exercise, I recommend it for all creative types, it lets you see how your work changes and grows over time.
This year, I am doing it a little differently… two posts. I posted my top concert posts yesterday, this is the Top Non-concert ones. Here we go!
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I shot these with Dan in his house in… 2009? Wow. Don’t know why I never posted these. These were for XLR8R Magazine, which no longer exists in printed form (RIP). The fabric in the background is the fabric that was used (he had it hand-made) for the tent that is on the cover of Bromst (which was photographed by the lovely & talented Baltimore photographer Frank Hamilton).
Photos taken in Mount Vernon in the last days of fall to announce their blessed union!
Awesome show, from beginning to end. 3 very different, yet complimentary Baltimore music groups, all on one bill! A great weekend for the Ottobar, who also hosted a sold out Wye Oak show the following night… anyway…
I have seen Matmos several times, and they are always different. This night, they chose to create a droning/grooving sort of atmosphere with a Caribbean (to my uninformed ears) feeling type of beat, very noddable and swayable. One of their songs got pretty minimal industrial, again to my uniformed ears, and I would SWEAR that on one song they used the same sample as Ministry does on one of their “Land of Rape And Honey” era records… but maybe I am just a goth.
Celebration remains one of my absolute favorite bands to see live in Baltimore… I love their old material and their newer stuff is growing on me more and more now that I have seen it played live a few times. Their set has morphed into only having one or two songs from the “The Modern Tribe” era, and they are still a treat to watch.
Dan Deacon used this show to introduce his new five piece ensemble (who I have posted about here recently) , and I really enjoyed the additional instrumentation. I think it worked best on the newer songs, ones that I assume were written for this group, but even on the classic Deacon songs, I think they added alot, especially the dual percussion. Live drums really can create a feeling like nothing else. The crowd seemed to agree, they went CRAZY, which is too be expected, and it was a really really fun set. Somehow I managed to stick it out the whole time at the front… a bit of a while since I managed that, but I was having a blast!
In the past few months I have become involved with (In) Parenthesis, a Baltimore-based photography collective. Our goal is to broaden knowledge about current issues in the field of contemporary photography, and our first curated show, Fields of Vision, is on display now at CaseWerks Gallery (1501 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore).
The Baltimore City Paper (who I work for often) wrote a story up about the show, which you can read here.
Photo L-R: Marian Glebes, Dean Alexander, J.M. Giordano, Jill Fannon, Sean Schiedt, Josh Sisk. By me & Rob Brulinski.
