Gorilla vs. Bear has great footage of Beach House playing an in-store in Dallas. The performance–and film quality(!)–kill.

For more of a local vibe, check out this clip of the band performing at the Black Cat last spring:

Baltimore’s Wye Oak lands on the influential Stereogum. One of the best music blogs around steps to the duo, who have a gorgeous indie rock record coming out on Merge, for an interview. We learn that singer/guitarist Jenn Waster works as a waitress at the Golden West Cafe which earns her some serious cool points.

For more details, Merge provides. Wye Oak will be hitting the Black Cat on April 13. And you can watch them rock out here:

Baltimore’s Human Bell—seen here performing at the Adams Morgan record store Crooked Beat—just announced a national tour with Japan’s Boredoms, a band that Washington City Paper’s Aaron Leitko described as the most bizarre “ever to have graced the roster of a major label.”

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band might dispute that claim, but I can say for certain that the Boredoms are one of the top-five best live acts I’ve ever seen (Brown’s Island, in 1994, with Sonic Youth and Superchunk).

Human Bell is Dave Heumann, frontman of Arbouretum, and Nathan Bell, best known as bassist for Lungfish. According to both bands’ label, Thrill Jockey, the Boredoms “handpicked” them for this tour.

Here are the dates. Alas, no DC:

Mon Mar 10 Lousiville, KY Ear X-Tacy (in-store)
Wed Mar 12 Dallas, TX Good Records (in-store) w/ Kid Dakota
Thur Mar 13 Marfa, TX TBA
Sat Mar 15 San Diego, CA Canes w/Boredoms
Sun Mar 16 Los Angeles, CA Family (in-store)
Sun Mar 16 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theater w/Boredoms
Mon Mar 17 San Luis Obispo, CA Boo Boo Records (in-store)
Tue Mar 18 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore Auditorium w/Boredoms
Thu Mar 20 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/Boredoms
Fri Mar 21 Seattle, WA Neumos w/Boredoms
Sat Mar 22 Anacortes, WA Department of Safety w/ Mt. Eerie, Photosynthesis
Mon Mar 23 Missoula, MT The Palace (Badlander downstairs, free show)
Tue Mar 25 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue w/Boredoms
Wed Mar 26 Chicago, IL Congress Theater w/Boredoms, Soft Circle
Thu Mar 27 Chicago, IL AV-Erie

The Boredoms will be at the 9:30 Club on April 3rd

Virtuosic hand percussionist Adam Rudolph’s octet, Moving Pictures, is aptly named; their music has the sweep and ambition of a cinematic epic. Their sound itself is tougher to describe: Allmusic categorizes them as “Post-Bop” and “World Fusion,” which is accurate but only superficial, especially when it comes to their new album, Dream Garden (Justin Time).

More correctly, Dream Garden represents a multi-fronted fusion. Rudolph has always utilized drums from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and this time his band is armed with gourds, Indian bamboo flutes and penny whistles, a Pakistani oboe, and a Japanese shakuhachi, as well as standard Western horns, woodwinds, drums, and electric and acoustic guitars. Put together, they form a stew of world music that you’ll never find on those Putumayo compilations at Starbucks. This is dark, murky stuff, sinuous and a little eerie. It veers from raga-like meditations (”Twilight Lake”) to Soweto Afropop (”Walking the Curve”), but at its core is jazz-rock fusion of the Miles Davis variety (even the all-acoustic tracks play on the heavy beat and languid horn phrases of In A Silent Way and On the Corner).

Worldbeat it ain’t, but Rudolph and Moving Pictures make music that’s both cerebral and oddly danceable. You’ll find room for both considerations if you head out to Baltimore on Sunday night, when Creative Alliance at the Patterson presents the band at 8pm. Tickets are $20 ($18 for members). The Patterson is at 3134 Eastern Avenue, (410) 276-1651.

Beach House launched its tour tonight in its hometown of Baltimore. For those that can’t make it, the duo just put out a new video–this time for “Heart of Chambers” –off its lovely new album, Devotion. Check it:

This just in: A new Beach House video. Its for “You Came To Me” off their upcoming album, Devotion, and directed by Baltimore underground film legend Skizz Cyzyk. I can’t think of a better video to wake up to on this shit morning:

Last night Human Bell played an in-store show at Crooked Beat Records, and Aaron Leitko and Jason Cherkis took a moment to talk about the appeal of the latest project of Lungfish’s Nathan Bell. The conversation includes a handy primer on “Nautical Rock,” which should not be confused with Yacht Rock.

Below their chat is video of the band’s performance, recorded by Justin “Iceland” Moyer.

Lungfish has had a lot of bassists–three, last time I counted. While I wouldn’t count Nathan Bell as my favorite (I’m a Sean Meadows man) but he did play on both Necrophones and The Unanimous Hour, so….respect.

As it turns out, his new band, Human Bell–a duo with Arbouretum’s David Heumann–has a self-titled album that just came out on Chicago’s Thrill Jockey records. What’s more, they’ll play a free in-store at D.C.’s Crooked Beat on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. Human Bell isn’t bombastic, but it does rely on the same cyclical picking and deep vibes of both Bell and Heumann’s former groups. Here’s the MySpace if you want to check some sounds; the Thrill Jockey page for the album also includes streams of the tracks.

The good news is that the bass/drum powerhouse known as Om (a.k.a. Sleep’s rhythm section) has teamed up with Maryland doom-master Wino and Neurosis‘ Scott Kelly to form a new supergroup called Shrinebuilder.

What not to like, right?

Well, unfortunately it also means the end of Om as we now know it. Here’s the word from Om’s Al Cisneros via Earsplit PR:

“Om is continuing forward with a new drummer and working on a new recording. Please check the band’s website and myspace page for updates.

A live vinyl only LP “Om - Live at Jerusalem” will be forthcoming. This is Chris Hakius‘ final release with the group.

I personally apologize to east coast fans who planned on coming out to the shows. Please know that Om will be back in your area later in 08.

Thank you to all of you. Live dates resume in late spring. There is a LOT of new material on its way.
Shrinebuilder is also forging ahead.

See you all soon.” - Al/Om

Jack Carneal of Yaala Yaala Records just posted an update on his MySpace blog. Looks like the label is set to release some new music in April. Here’s the item in full:

Returned not long ago from Mali with my friend Paul Oldham. We had a wonderful time during our painfully short stay, a time compromised to some extent by the preponderence of wifi access and our having a teeny little old Mac notebook which to tote around, incessantly distracted by the temptation of the internets.

It was also an intense visit for your truly. I hadn’t been back since we left in 2000. Bamako hadn’t changed much as far as I could tell. Stepped out of the plane into that soft Malian night, smelled the smell of a million campfires burning, at least a few of them containing tires, and immediately beset upon by people trying only to help, in their way…

End result though is very exciting. Yaala Yaala was able to speak face to face with the incredible Malian artist Yoro Sidibe, a donsongoni player. If you’ve heard this ancient type of hunter’s music before then you know how intense and interesting it can be. IF you’ve never heard it you’re in for treat, an especially exciting one inasmuch as Yoro is the KING of ths type of music, almost literally. He’s 70 now and is the chief of the Malian Federation of Hunter Musicians.

Yeah, we’re going 100 percent legaux, whatever the hell that means. I have an opinion on the constant patting-themselves-on-the-back vibe of the Malian record industry (anti piracy, 100 percent legaux) meanwhile midlevel producers and “managers” still seem to me to be the worst pirates…More on that later.

We’re angling for an April release. This’ll be a hot one, folks, so get ready…