Gigs We Dig

Yamandu Costa BCGS Performance

|

Yamandu Costa is performing in Baltimore this April 21st at 8:00 at Kaplan Concert Hall in Towson University. The concert is being put on by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society and tickets can be purchased in advance here.

Speaking as a whole, Baltimore is not primarily thought of for its flourishing classical guitar scene, but the BCGS has routinely brought in world class acts to amplify the arts community in town alongside the stellar local academic institutions and their notable alumni. Yamandu's playing is ripe is virtuosity, humor, and warmth, and the concert promises to be an engaging and satisfying musical experience.

Read on for a brief history of the artist as well as a video of the attached mp3 brought to us by way of Rio de Janerio and DobleChapa films. You dig?

Yamandu Costa & Guto Wiritti: Schotish Choro

Read More...
Videos

Warning Track Power: Oh Oh Orioles

|

Spring has sprung in Baltimore and I took the liberty of a spring break this last week – The Dig included. The much needed R & R felt great and gave me an opportunity to go visit old friends KyleWhoDigs and SteveWhoDigs in Brooklyn. It also gave me time get to Opening day at Camden Yards and see my birds wallop the Twins. 

Baltimore is a sleeping giant in terms of baseball fan base. I still believe in Orioles Magic and I know that this town wants to believe with me. Local band Warning Track Power holds the faith and shows their pride front and center with their catchy fight song Oh Oh Orioles. 

Save for some mediocre lip syncing the video looks great and captures the excitement of a new season. It's also really funny that the song is about the potential of the Orioles but the band name is Warning Track Power implying that they have enough potential to rally excitement, but not enough to get the job done. I really hope they did that one on purpose.

The song is only a buck on their Bandcamp page and the video is embedded in the main article here so read on to check that one out. I'll see you at the Yard Baltimore. Let's go O's!

Warning Track Power: Oh Oh Orioles

Read More...
Interviews

An Evening with Andrew W.K.

|

On Monday night, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andrew W.K. and watching his spectacular performance at Webster Hall for the I Get Wet Ten-Year Anniversary tour. We had a nice conversation, and his show was an absolute party unlike any other I have ever seen. Read on for all the details.

Read More...
Flashback Fridays

1971: Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You: Wilson Pickett

|

It's time for another installment of Flashback Friday's and this time we're going way back in the alley to 1971 for Wilson Pickett and his tune Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You. I've wanted to write this article since last month when I bought my new (old) bicycle. It's a Schwinn SS from 1971 in great condition with all the original parts from the factory in Chicago. Naturally my next step was to try and pin point its personality with a song from the year of its creation and Mr. Pickett won this decision hands down. 

However, the first time I rode it I was overwhelmed with the sense of history which I was connecting with via my butt and the bike seat. Who where the owners before myself? What were they like? Why did they give up the bike, and what incredible things did they experience during there time with it? 

Read on and get the full low down on what was going on in the world when my bicycle was made and Wilson Pickett was still the king. 

Wilson Pickett: Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You

Read More...
Videos

Said the Whale – Big Sky, MT

|

I didn't think Said the Whale would top their great music video for "Lines" (a loving Back to the Future tribute that was one of my favorite videos of 2011), but this one for "Big Sky, MT" from their recently released album Little Mountain is somehow even better. It's an unfair comparison, since they are so different, so let's just say this video is also awesome. Read on for my thoughts on this amazing clip.

Read More...
New Releases

Texas Guitar Quartet: Red

|

The Texas Guitar Quartet has released their long awaited debut recording today. It is entitled Red after a three movement work of the same name from TxGQ member/composer Joe Williams. The album features music from J.S. Bach, Antoine de Lhoyer, L.V. Beethoven,  Issac Albeniz, and Joe Williams. Red is a remarkable new achievement in the world of classical guitar. The musicality is refined, their tone is rich, full, and pliable to their desires, and the repertoire is multi-faceted and unique unto the quartet.

I am pleased to present this album today not only because of how highly I regard this music and these musicians, but also because we helped Kickstart this album and the Dig Nation is nothing if not generous and gracious.

Read on for the full review TxGQ's new album Red. You dig?

Read More...
Unearthed Music

Pandercakes: Paint By Numbers EP

|

Pandercakes is a four piece band of Joel Floyd, Logan Goldstein, Desirée Richardson, and Phillip Soellner. Their music is textural, experimental, and unusually orchestrated. Yet it is also simple, accessible, poppy, and fun. Pandercakes is a purposeful contradiction. They fulfill the norm of the pop music medium but at the same time and push towards the unexpected. Even the name has a hidden depth. In their own words, "Pandercakes is a comment on the duality of popular music: appealing and accessible, but prone to demean itself in order to gain widespread approval." This is what Pandercakes is all about. At first glance they are a catchy band hell bent on a good time, but a second looks shows them as an intelligent and forward thinking quartet writing songs about French surrealist writers. 

The four song EP Paint By Numbers was released Feb 28th of this year and opens up with the title track. Paint By Numbers sounds like something from the Elephant 6 Collective, except that they are more immediately accessible. I really dig the textures they are creating in their music by combining a wide array of instruments and playfully tossing around vocal lines across the band.

Read on and get a full taste of this enticing band.

Read More...
Videos

Effi: Bye Baby

|

The Ef in Effi is for infectious. Seriously though, what's not to love? With left to right scrolling game boy style animation, astronauts, ukulele, horns, instant sing-along-abiltity, and a playful but ultimately not very helpful paper-mache sun, Effi's new video for Bye Baby is an immediate favorite. Effi is from Graz Austria and his new album Astronaut features 13 tracks that effortlessly playback with the perfect amount of hook and heart to reach out of your ear buds and into your regular rotation. His music is charming, multi-dimensional, and interesting in that way that has massive appeal across genre and market. He also very clearly has an eye for design and visual interest. I expect big things from our man Effi. Check him out via Soundcloud and Facebook. You dig?

Effi: Bye Baby

Read More...