Monarch

2007-10-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

I wasn't foolin' about this band in my last blog. As you may or may not know, I'm especially wary of most anything indie-rock, but this little band has crept into my heart like very few things I've heard this year. It may be that I'm in a weird/stressful place with the new city which makes me predisposed to "pretty" music lately (Lloyd & Michael, Picastro, and Rachel's are also in heavy rotation), but this is tremendous. They're a two-piece--another cute couple band--with a sound that puts the swollen communal/dramatic vibes of the Arcade Fire through this weird Kim Deal/Chan Marshall/Jeff Tweedy filter. Skygazing melodies, basement folk, and we're-all-in-this-together gut grazing lovliness for the unsmug gallery set.

I suppose I say the latter mainly because that's where I saw them live for the first time: A place called the G-Spot by the Streetcar Museum--which, a while ago, I thought was an abandoned mill --populated by furry forest dudes, horn rims/hipsters, little kids, and a lot of people that just looked like total vis arts pros. Oh yes, also the artwork of one of my idols, William Schaff , who was also in attendance with his dog (who licked my face!), albeit in a bad state of drunken sadness. In any case, I shook his hand and said "your paintings mean a lot to me." I'm going to pretend that he had any capacity for understanding and/or caring just then, but I suspect not.

Listen to their music here

Baltimore

2007-10-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Baltimore

Found this thing on my second day in town. Bmore goes straight for my heart.

If you know me at all, you know this is probably the best thing I've ever seen.

My office is indeed this cute.

This is part of a cluster of abandoned mill buildings up Falls Road.

Can't remember the dudes name, but he was in fact playing a fluorescent light and tweaking it via pedal into some heavy-as-fuck proto-industrial business. At Floristree, which reminds me of a much larger Fritz.

Incredible concert space in an abandoned church.

Surprise! Bmore loves Dan Deacon.

My very bare apartment. Thank god it's so small.

I'll post a picture of the Tavern soon.

I have a desk.

Travel Light

Monarch

Baltimore