A long time posting but I did the damn thing at SXSW this year and here are some photos. Pictured: the Dum Dum Girls, the XX, Dave Nada stagediving, me and one of the GWAR dudes, Dam-Funk, Major Lazer, Rye Rye, Haushka. This year was a lot of fun… even though it was freakishly cold!
Last month Michael Byrne and myself covered this festival for SPIN. You can see the coverage here. We saw, among other things: Andrew WK performing classical music with Calder Quartet, the Ex, Terry Riley and Bang the Can performing In C, Saint Vincent, Vampire Weekend, Ben Frost, DJ/Rupture (several times), the xx, Joanna Newsom, Adrian Belew… and many more.
Knoxville is also a great town! So many great and beautiful music venues and every seems to be really nice. One thing that I thought was really great is all the people working at the various venues that were hosting the festival seemed VERY knowledgable about both the history of their venue and music in general. And they were super polite and friendly. Also don’t miss King Tut’s Egyptian Diner if you ever are in Knoxville… its a treat!
Last week, I shot Of Montreal and James Husband’s tour kick off in Baltimore. It was a fun show, though I was SO SICK. I apologize to anyone I spoke to at that show, I was totally delirious with fever and probably made no sense. This was one of the most grueling photo editing sessions ever, since I had to file the photos by 9am. Somehow I managed it between fever dreams and dry heaves.
Check out the full Of Montreal photo set here.
This was one of the best shows I went to all year – I was nervous, I sort of generally expect reunions to be underwhelming, but this was way more than I could have expected. David Yow was frenetic, full of energy, jumping into the crowd constantly, whipping his dick out (see above), yelling at the lighting crew to turn the lights up all the way. The band was incredibly tight, the sound was great – all in all, a great show.
Last sunday, I went and saw GWAR. It was mind-bending. It was really a challenge because Gwar soaks the crowd in fake blood/pus/semen/gore. And those things don’t work well with cameras. So I wrapped my camera in a hastily-assembled plastic sheeting condom, which made it VERY hard to shoot. I think i did okay, though… you can see the rest of the photos here.
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!
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.
View the whole set here. The show was fun, though I miss the days that Mastodon and Kylesa hung out in my house with my old roommate Sonny and played sold out shows at the Velvet Lounge vs sold out shows at the 9:30 Club. Still, times change and both bands are still very talented… I’ll never like Mastodon’s new sound as much as their earlier work, but it suits them and has obviously won them alot of fans, so more power to them.
Third time I have seen Frodus this season, and they are still really awesome. Sick Weapons were really good as well… a Baltimore band to watch. Click here for the rest of the photos…
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.