The Short List:
He Is We, Screeching Weasel, James Nasty, Hackish
By Michael Byrne
5/16/2012
Music:
Tyree Colion gets home and gets back to work
By Al Shipley
5/9/2012
The Short List:
Small Sur, Marduk, Cloud 9, Ronald Pearl, and more
By Michael Byrne
5/9/2012
Music:
Carly Ptak and Newagehillbilly raise their concept-album games, and make their escapes
By Raymond Cummings
5/2/2012
The Short List:
Black Lillies, Acid Mothers Temple, George Clinton, Buck Jones, and more.
By Michael Byrne
5/2/2012
Music:
MICA sound instructor and Baltimore experimental music polymath Erik Spangler stays the night with the Vigil
By Michael Byrne
4/25/2012
The Short List:
Hotel Lights, La Dispute, Blank, Suzanne Vega, and more
By Michael Byrne
4/25/2012
Music:
Drummer Devin Gray brings process to life and finds his writing voice
By Bret McCabe
4/18/2012
The Short List:
Rammstein, Fang Island, DJ Cliffstarr, Argonauts, and more
By Michael Byrne
4/18/2012
The Short List:
Rodney Atkins, Rocky Loves Emily, Rasputina, Wonder Years, and more
By Michael Byrne
4/11/2012
Music:
Lands and Peoples “sneak the weird into the candy” on their long-awaited debut
By Brandon Weigel
4/4/2012
The Short List:
Real Estate, Schwarz, Sterling Sisters, Natural Child, and more
By Michael Byrne
4/4/2012
Music:
Singer/songwriter ellen cherry reclaims her voice, charts her own career, and revisits the piano
By Michael Byrne
3/28/2012
Listening Party:
This Arkansas doom quartet’s debut album is so distinctive and bitchin’
By Lee Gardner
3/28/2012
The Short List:
Alcest, Lazerbitch, Guitar Wolf, Lost Lander, and more
By Michael Byrne
3/28/2012
Music:
Winning fans without records or an easily defined sound
By Al Shipley
3/21/2012
The Short List:
Excision, Alex Goot, Deleted Scenes, and This Century
By Michael Byrne
3/21/2012
Music:
Baltimore polymath Ed Schrader goes all in for music, to expectedly unexpected results
By Brandon Weigel
3/14/2012
The Short List:
Expansive Eye, Hank 3, Oranage Horse, This Century, and more
By Michael Byrne
3/14/2012
Music:
The new hip-hop sounds of Kevin Gift are indeed a little irrational, but only in the best way
By Michael Byrne
3/7/2012
The Short List:
Burnham, Secret Music, Sleeping With Sirens, and more
By Michael Byrne
3/7/2012
The Short List:
Heaviness of the Load, Bombenkinder, Langhorne Slim, Cults, and Young Statues
By Michael Byrne
2/29/2012
Music:
Ehse Records celebrates its free-range sound with . . . ice skating?
By Michael Byrne
2/22/2012
The Short List:
Amen Dunes, Islands, Antonio Harper, Teddy Douglas, Buckwheat Zydeco
By Michael Byrne
2/22/2012
Music:
Rapper DDm is out of the closet. Got a problem with that?
By Brandon Soderberg
2/15/2012
The Short List:
MartyParty, Adam Savage, Jenn Wasner, No Divide
By Michael Byrne
2/15/2012
Music:
Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner flies solo as Flock of Dimes
By Lee Gardner
2/8/2012
The Short List:
Black Stone Cherry, English Dogs, Toy Store Riot, Die Antwoord
By Michael Byrne
2/8/2012
Know Your Product:
Vincent Black Shadow begets Murder
By Michael Byrne
2/1/2012
Know Your Product:
Polygons beget Alexander Trust
By Michael Byrne
2/1/2012
The Short List:
You Me at Six, A lot Like Birds, Ruckus, Let the Monkey Go, Bone Thugs, and more.
By Michael Byrne
2/1/2012
Music:
Kickstarting the effort to get its long-awaited debut out on wax
By Al Shipley
1/25/2012
Listening Party:
Skull-oscillating total metal overkill, Loinclöth isn’t a joke
By Lee Gardner
1/25/2012
The Short List:
Abigail Williams, Octaves, Harvard, Sal Bando, and more
By Michael Byrne
1/25/2012
Music:
There Will Be Blood
By Michael Byrne
1/18/2012
Music:
Haunting similar yet wildly divergent sound spaces
By Raymond Cummings
1/18/2012
The Short List:
Evokatones, Jimmy Ha Ha, Ozomatli, Black Angel Down, and more...
By Michael Byrne
1/18/2012
Music:
The uncategorizable trio talks Baltimore’s new thing, playing quietly, and the philosophy of Lil Wayne
By Lee Gardner
1/11/2012
The Short List:
Esme Devra West, Independents, Sac au Lait, Attack! Attack!, and more
By Michael Byrne, Lee Gardner
1/11/2012
Music:
Unwelcome Freshmen confound what being a rap rookie means
By Brandon Soderberg
1/4/2012
Music:
Arranging without limits—size, genre, or otherwise
By Michael Byrne
12/28/2011
Music:
the most restless klezmer/rock/jazz/avant-garde/funk guitarist in Baltimore
By Geoffrey Himes
12/14/2011
Music:
DJs Exclaime and Fleg bring breaks to the people via one of Baltimore’s most successful parties
By Michael Byrne
12/14/2011
Music:
From 1997 to 2000, Baltimore quintet made powerviolent anti-music
By Michael Byrne
11/30/2011
Music:
Music used to look toward the future, but now it is “addicted to its own past.”
By Baynard Woods
11/23/2011
Music:
This weekend, Marin Alsop will take her customary place on onstage at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for a rare, eclectic performance.
By Lee Gardner
11/16/2011
Music:
Cuneiform Records celebrates its stable of uncategorizable bands with Cuneifest
By Michael Byrne
11/16/2011
Know Your Product:
The virtue of a king and she’s doing everything right
By Michael Byrne
11/9/2011
Music:
Local creators of variable moods and cinematic scores harvest a new record from four years of ideas
By Jared T. Fischer
11/9/2011
Music:
After a three-year absence, grand opera returns to Baltimore
By Samantha Buker
11/2/2011
Music:
For heavy music scene vets, getting older has its advantages. But not many
By Michael Byrne
10/26/2011
Music:
Whatever you want to call it, it is alive and well and living in Darius Jones and Tyshawn Sorey
By Lee Gardner
10/19/2011
Music:
They did it with what they call "punk brains," a mixture of do-it-yourself, never conforming to what’s expected, and always pushing beyond the tropes of punk music itself.
By Brandon Weigel
10/12/2011
Music:
Effervescent Collective and Baltimore Experimental Dance Collective team up in
Cove Folder
By Jared T. Fischer
9/28/2011
Music:
The High Zero co-founder talks about expanding the festival and looking for a strong reaction
By Michael Byrne
9/14/2011
Music:
Players to watch out for at High Zero
By By Michael Byrne and Lee Gardner
9/14/2011
Music:
The collective Ryan Harvey and Mark Gunnery founded in the '90s has has become a major presence in the international folk community
By Al Shipley
8/31/2011
Music:
As the mainstream classical-music world winds down the summer festivals, Baltimore’s foremost new-music concert series are prepping for their 2011-2012 seasons.
8/24/2011
Music:
Misery Index, Motio, Octopus, Shondes, Silence Kid, Office of Future Plans, and more
By Lee Gardner
8/24/2011
Music:
Songwriter Naomi Dee befriends local music wizards and starts a rock band
By Jared T. Fischer
8/17/2011
Music:
Two new local mixes rework the sound of summer
By Lee Gardner
8/10/2011
Music:
The local MC talks getting humble and getting up to a bigger scale
By Michael Byrne
8/3/2011
Music:
After a short stint in prison, David Rice once again has become a ubiquitous presence on the Baltimore hip-hop scene
By Al Shipley
7/27/2011
Arts & Entertainment:
Todd Marcus intertwines jazz and community organizing in Sandtown
By Geoffrey Himes
7/20/2011
Big Music Issue:
DIY spaces are exploding, but Baltimore still has a venue black hole
By Michael Byrne
7/13/2011
Big Music Issue:
By Tom Delay, as told to Michael Byrne. Illustration by Ben Claassen III
7/13/2011
Big Music Issue:
House music returns to Baltimore—not that it ever really left
By Brandon Soderberg
7/13/2011
Big Music Issue:
Baltimore’s offbeat hip-hop underground expands its inner circle
By Al Shipley
7/13/2011
Big Music Issue:
No band is an island. And the same goes for rappers, venues, beats, genres, and all the rest of it. There always remains that connection between the macro and the micro, the guy twiddling knobs in some west Baltimore art space and the left-field leans of th
7/13/2011
Music:
For the first time in years, Animal Collective returns home to Maryland
By Brandon Weigel
7/6/2011
Music:
Ian Nagoski excavates the music of the early 20th-century Ottoman diaspora
By Lee Gardner
6/29/2011
The Short List:
The DJs deliver a postmortem for their weekly Monday night dance party
By Michael Byrne
6/22/2011
Music:
The singer/violinist talks about refusing to be defined by voice coaches, the canon, or biology
By Baynard Woods
6/15/2011
Music:
Moombahton: Dance music from D.C. via the world via the internet
By Brandon Soderberg
6/15/2011
Music:
Adam Trice talks touring, singing, and making peace with Baltimore
By Lee Gardner
6/8/2011
Singles Mixer:
Perhaps you remember this band, the duo of (former City Paper intern) Amanda Schmidt and Rod Hamilton
By Michael Byrne
6/1/2011
Music:
Meet the hosts of Baltimore’s intimate classical music evenings
By Samantha Buker
6/1/2011
Music:
Local metalheads pick the best of Maryland Deathfest
By Michael Byrne
5/25/2011
Music:
Jon Ehrens turns lo-fi roots into White Life’s big hooks
By Al Shipley
5/25/2011
Music:
Sonar closes for good, then reopens
By Michael Byrne
5/11/2011
Music:
Crass’ singer talks the crappiness of DIY and touring the States for the first time
By Michael Byrne
5/4/2011
Music:
Versatile, joyous musician Dave Giegerich remembered through a pair of memorial shows
By Geoffrey Himes
4/27/2011
Music:
Atypical equals typical at annual coloring outside the lines
By Michael Byrne
4/27/2011
Music:
OOH steps outside Brown F.I.S.H. for a little mature content
By Al Shipley
4/20/2011
Music:
Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner talks touring, improving, and coming to terms
By Lee Gardner
4/13/2011
Music:
Get out your plastic for some vinyl
By Michael Byrne
4/13/2011
Music:
Post-Classical Ensemble spotlights the Russian roots of the infamous composer of
Rite of Spring
By Samantha Buker
4/6/2011
Music:
Zomes makes the most of a handful of notes on new album
By Michael Byrne
4/6/2011
Baltimore’s Vinny Vegas makes normal the new weird
By Raymond Cummings
4/6/2011
Music:
Postpunk icon Mike Watt contains multitudes, all wearing flannel
By Lee Gardner
3/30/2011
Music:
A new IFC series comes gawking in Baltimore
By Michael Byrne
3/30/2011
Music:
Remembering 25 years of the Hour Haus with one of its longest-running operators
By Michael Byrne
3/23/2011
Music:
Miloš Karadaglic
By Laura Dattaro
3/23/2011
Music:
Mick Collins tackles techno with the Dirtbombs’ double bass and drums bombast
By Lee Gardner
3/2/2011
Music:
How a former “thug rap” producer from St. Louis is making Baltimore’s musical landscape suddenly quite small
By Michael Byrne
2/23/2011
Music:
Mullyman and Rye Rye carve their own paths to success
By Michael Byrne
2/16/2011
Dirt Platoon still addresses the everyday reality of Baltimore hip-hop
2/2/2011
Music:
Peabody's Michael Kannen, Michael Formanek, and Courtney Orlando find musical kinship in a variety of 1971 sounds
By Bret McCabe
1/26/2011
Music:
A389 Records owner talks about the heavy music scene and the endurance of LPs
1/19/2011
Music:
Seminal Mid-Atlantic outfit Universal Order of Armageddon rises up onstage again
By Michael Byrne
1/19/2011
Music:
Sitarist/vocalist Ami Dang moves from long-form head trips to hybrid pop and beyond
By Bret McCabe
1/5/2011
Music:
Grant will bring three years of unprecedented musical adventure to the Baltimore-Washington area.
By Samantha Buker
1/5/2011
Music:
Talking cold music with DJ Cullen Stalin and Matmos' Drew Daniel
By Michael Byrne
12/15/2010
Top Ten:
In years past, City Paper has looked to its freelance contributors to vote in its annual Top 10 records poll. This year, we looked to Baltimore instead.
12/8/2010
Top Ten:
The record label Thrill Jockey is not based in Baltimore. Nor is City Paper on the Thrill Jockey payroll.
12/8/2010
Music:
The Reptilian Records founder looks back at his label and store's 20th anniversary
By Michael Byrne
11/24/2010
![Life\](/polopoly_fs/1.1064571.1289926626!/image/1252530487.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_100/1252530487.jpg "Life\")
Music:
Joanna Newsom focuses her singular talent on everyday travails
By Bret McCabe
11/17/2010
Music:
Future of Music Coalition member talks about payola, the music cloud, and Amanda Palmer
By Michael Byrne
11/3/2010
Music:
Meet Logan Mitchell Sr. and the SDIY Group--the outliers of Baltimore's fecund do-it-yourself musical landscape
By Michael Byrne
10/27/2010
![Baltimore\](/polopoly_fs/1.1050939.1287501182!/image/3549187968.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_100/3549187968.jpg "Baltimore\")
Music:
New jazz albums showcase some heady contemporary talent with local ties
By Geoffrey Himes
10/20/2010
Music:
Ninja Tune leans too heavily on outsiders for its imperfect anniversary comp
By Michaelangelo Matos
10/13/2010
Music:
Thomas Gabriel Fischer extends his titanic metal legacy with Triptykon.
By Lee Gardner
10/6/2010
Music:
As High Zero fights to tear down cultural walls, xenophobia and paranoia build them stronger
By Bret McCabe
9/15/2010
![Ligeti\](/polopoly_fs/1.954864.1283898671!/image/1310224372.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_100/1310224372.jpg "Ligeti\")
Music:
Mobtown Modern begins an ambitious new season with a tribute to a late 20th century giant
By Lee Gardner
9/8/2010
Music:
Q&A With the Organizer of the Female Fronted (Fuck Yeah!) Fest
By Michael Byrne
9/1/2010
Music:
Morphius Records’ founder talks about his latest undertaking—the Baltimore Independent Music and Arts Festival
By Michael Byrne
8/25/2010
Music:
Secret Mountains grow out of singer/songwriter grief and start to "Rejoice"
By Michael Byrne
8/18/2010
Music:
Violinist and musical polymath Dina Maccabee balances a world of projects
By Bret McCabe
8/10/2010
