The Baltimore duo Beach House’s first two albums were fairly popular on an indie level, and made a good number of year-end lists. But that all seems like a prelude now to the massive reception that the band’s Sub Pop debut, Teen Dream, has enjoyed since its release in January, as one of the most universally acclaimed albums of 2010 so far.
Big In Japan functions as not just a side project or offshoot of the long-running Baltimore quintet Lake Trout, but as effectively a subset of it — all three of Big In Japan’s members also play in Lake Trout, and even the two musicians in the latter who aren’t members of the former have sat in with Big In Japan during live shows. Still, Big In Japan have now been doing their thing, with on-again off-again live residencies full of low key improvised grooves, for over a decade themselves, and have grown into a distinct entity. While Lake Trout focused more and more on song-based studio creations, Big In Japan remained exclusively a live concern, only issuing live recordings as albums.
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Live At 8×10 2009 was released for free by The Biggest Label Ever, the same website that issued Lake Trout’s recent live album. With numerous improvised pieces edited down into a handful of untitled tracks, the structure is identical to Big In Japan’s debut release, 2001’s Goodlove Sessions Vol. 1, but the formal similarities highlight the differences in content. Big In Japan may still be playing at the 8×10, the Federal Hill club that’s been their stomping grounds since the ’90s, but musically they’ve continued to develop and diversify their sound away from the jazzy flute riffs and drum’n'bass rhythms that used to be their signature.
As 2009 came to a close, it became clear that More, the third album by Double Dagger, was one of Baltimore’s most acclaimed albums of the year, on both a local and national level. Unfortunately, I’d been attempting since its release in May to identify the album’s appeal, to no avail. The power trio’s Thrill Jockey debut, recorded in a vacant space above the Current Gallery, is as raw and loud as the band’s popular live shows, but for whatever reason, it took a while for me to warm to it.
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Ultimately, it was the More’s second track, “Vivre Sans Temps Mort” that provided my entry point to appreciating the album, with its slow burn groove stretched out over five minutes in contrast to the album’s faster and shorter songs. But of the latter, the frantic groove of “We Are The Ones” is another highlight, bringing to mind Stay Afraid-era Parts & Labor.
For years, Karmella’s Game have been one of the most infectiously fun live bands in Baltimore, with a bombastic treble overload of squealing synth lines and polished female vocal harmonies. However, like many power pop bands, they’ve struggled to translate the energy of their concerts to studio recordings without losing the heft of their rhythm section and the crunch of their more guitar-driven material. Their 2003 debut EP, What He Doesn’t Know Won’t Hurt Him, was promising but still tentative and lightweight, while their first full-length, 2006’s The Art Of Distraction, was a confident step in the right direction, with heavier rock and almost proggy song structures.
Needle Gun, a noise band formed in Baltimore by four teenagers in 2006, feels like a bit of an anomoly. Historically, the noise scene in Baltimore seems to be defined largely by solo improvisors, or home recording projects. But Needle Gun, in addition to being much younger than the average noise act, are a live band with a firm lineup who play rock venues, and their music isn’t purely improvised. Still, they are clearly connected to, and embraced by, the estabished Baltimore noise scene, as evidenced by their ties to Ehse Records, who released their recent album Afternoon Computer Umbrage, and Twig Harper of Nautical Almanac, who produced the disc.
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The first time I saw the duo of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, at a small, half-empty club in Baltimore shortly before the release of their debut album, If Children, will always stick out in my mind as a cherished memory. And it’s not just because their band, then called Monarch and now known as Wye Oak, have since gone on to national acclaim and a deal with Merge Records. More than any me-first bragging rights, I remember that night as the first time I heard several songs that I’ve since fallen in love with an obsessed over, as If Children subsequently revealed its emotional depth and musical ingenuity more with each listen.
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