Indie Sleaze 3 was a blast! July 6th at the Ottobar, slotting in right after the legendary Lydia’ Lunch’s band played an early show, was a fun combination of old and new heads. Click here for more photos on Flickr or check my Instagram (joshsisk). Probably will post a few more throughout the week on Insta as well.
This was a lot of fun to shoot, 4 stages, 10,000 or so dance music fans, tons of lights and costumes and dancers and booze and everything else! In the full set, you will find photos of: Skream & Benga, Moby, Diplo, Tittsworth, Scott Henry, Armand Van Helden, Zedd, and lots and lots of fans.
Raver culture was there in full effect at Virgin Fest this year… perhaps fitting, since we are apparently in the midst of a full-fledged rave/dubstep takeover… Deadmau5 brought out a huge throng of kids, who stayed til the very end of FreeFest, the west stage area by the ferris wheel reaching the biggest capacity it had all festival.
There were also a lot of dudes doing Deadmau5 cosplay:
I worked with Sam Sessa at the Baltimore Sun on a piece about the breakdancing scene in Baltimore. The monthly party 4 Hours of Funk (at Wind Up Space) and the weekly Dig (at Joe Squared) are both hotbeds of breaking, as well as popping and locking. Both parties are fun, even for the uninitiated like myself. It’s pretty impressive just to hang back and watch their moves.
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I shot a few quick portraits of Scottie B and Cullen Stalin for a City Paper article, on stands now.
Cullen Stalin and Scottie B lay No Rule to rest – read the City Paper article here
The other monday I tackled not one, not two, but THREE shows in one evening. First I shot Ramblin Jack Elliott for the Washington Post in Rockville, MD. He played a church to a music preservation society crowd. Nice people, and a cool setting. The last time I saw him was at a huge political event in San Francisco, years ago… it was cool to check him out, even for a little bit, in a more intimate space.
Next up was Dirty Beaches at the Black Cat in DC. My girlfriend has been telling me to check out his music for quite awhile, but I must admit I had never heard Dirty Beaches until I stepped into the show. The lights were almost totally down, he was light by what looked like a single light… a white-tshirt clad 50s greaser-looking guy freaking out on a guitar, unaccompanied, playing crazy, fuzzy music out of Blue Velvet or something similar. It was pretty great. I’ve since gone back and gotten several of his records and downloads of his earlier tape only releases, and his music is great! Really recommended.
Finally, I limped back to Baltimore, dead tired, to Cullen Stalin’s No Rule party at Metro Gallery, to see DJ Ayres of the Rub and T&A Records. Ayres is an awesome guy, and a great DJ. I usually only see him at big events like SXSW or My Crew Be Unruly, so I really wanted to make it, say hi, shoot a few shots. Glad I did.
A few weeks back, Rye Rye and Say Whut did a video shoot at Metro Gallery in Baltimore for the Baltimore Sun. It was streamed live on the internet by a huge camera crew, as part of the promotions for Rye Rye’s debut full-length, which should be out soon (We’ve been waiting for it to drop for like a year or so!)… it was a great time, and while at first it felt a little weird, with all the lights and cameras, as soon as Rye Rye got going, the crowd loosened up and enjoyed the show… really getting into it and even taking the stage. It’s great to see her career taking off lately, and I am excited to see what happens when the album comes out! Click below to see the rest of the shots!
DJ Excel, DJ Booman and Bmore Original helped organize what I hope becomes a regular event, a record pull at Club Reality in Baltimore City. Labels, artists, DJs, Producers, and media from DC/MD/Va got together and talked, met each other, networked, performed, and had a dialogue. A cool event and very chill, low-stress, very little drama. Follow the record pull on facebook, or check out the new website.
Last week I had the good pleasure of catching the assignment to shoot Dave Nada and his second Moombahton Massive party at U St Music Hall. It’s not often you get to go hang out with an old friend for work, so I relished the opportunity. I have know Dave since he was a member of Medic, a thrash/metal/hardcore band whose record I put out more years ago than I want to admit. Since those days he has been on a steady rise as an internationally-known DJ and producer, a career arc which this year hit a new high with his creation/discovery of Moombahton, a new genre of dance music that fuses elements of Dutch House and latino culture. It took the dance music world by storm and it’s momentum is still building…
Read the Washington Post Review | See the Moombahton Massive photo set
Simon Phoenix celebrated his birthday saturday night at the Golden West, and it was a blast… the Golden West is turning into a great, multi-faceted place for shows, the new management and the booking staff over there are among the best things to happen to the Baltimore music scene in quite awhile.
This was awhile ago, but just now getting to it… my good friend Dave Nada just moved to LA to further his production career, and he threw a big Moombahton dance party at U Street Music Hall in DC to celebrate. They have a no-photo policy there, but I had like 10 minutes between the two sets I was shooting that night to run over and get a few quick snaps of the artists who were performing, including Matt Nordstrom, DJ Ayres, Jesse Tittsworth, Dave Nada himself and more… We literally snapped these on the street in front of U Hall, with people weaving through us on their way to go out to dinner or the clubs, then after 10 minutes I hauled ass back to 930 to shoot Die Antwoord! Fun stuff.
Good luck in LA Dave, though I know you don’t need it!
View all the photos from the set here | View all my photos of Dave Nada from over the years here
I didn’t make it to any haunted houses this year :[
But I did check out a few bars, and then ended up at Sonar, for Taxlo’s annual party… saw a few costumes, talked with a few friends, saw Chris Devlin from Spank Rock DJ… Click here for the full Halloween set
Next year I need to hit up the Haunted Mill.
The other week I worked the Fool’s Gold/Scion/Taxlo show at the Ottobar (with Jokers of the Scene, Trackademics, Nick Catchdubs, Sammy Banannas)… met several of the people at Fool’s Gold, who were all really nice and awesome, and checked out the various artists. It was a good time. I felt like the crowd was sort of confused when Trackademics started, as if they didn’t expect some live hip hop at this show, but what can you do? Click here for the full Fool’s Gold set