Here’s Henry:

If you’re playing the kind of punk that kids like to call screamo or hardcore,  sooner or later you’ll realize you’re under scrutiny. The critic will probably start off by reminiscing about Majority Rule and pg99, comparing you to Orchid or Envy before rightfully asking what your contribution is to a music that is said to have peaked ten years ago.

Personally, I’m fucking stoked because of bands like Code Orange Kids. I saw them for the first time Monday night at the Charm City Art Space in Baltimore. Something about a post-industrial city – all those tall rusting buildings, the rail yard, the harbor water – it all lends itself to this type of hard, grimy music. Not to mention how creativity always seems to spawn wherever affordable spaces are abundant. Hailing from Pittsburg I bet their town has had a huge influence on their sound.

Actually I first heard about Code Orange Kids from Welch Canavan, a friend from DC who transplanted with several friends to Braddock, a town outside Pittsburgh that is said to be dying. Welch and company has been working on rebuilding houses and have even started booking shows. Their efforts were covered two years ago in a short documentary series as part of a Levi Strauss campaign. Somehow, even though it wasn’t my hands that held the hammer, I still felt proud seeing pictures of their newly refinished houses.

Meanwhile, back in metropolis, forces like gentrification and growing economic inequality are closing community run spaces, banning all age venues and displacing families who lived in neighborhoods that were once cultural hubs. The music that became our religion growing up has been co-opted and repackaged into an embarrassment: whiny white boys screaming I hate my ex-girlfriend and these are all the violent things I’d like to do to her, while assholes in the pit punch each other in the face. This is why people hate on screamo.

During Give, one of the songs Code Orange Kids played off their new album, the song slowed into a sludgy break down. Jami, Reba and Eric, their three vocalists started screaming, hands clenched together in praise while the rhythm pulls away/ there are no walls that can hold this. Tremendous. Reminds me of why I love punk.

It makes sense doesn’t it? The labor of the re-builder and labor of us as musicians is the same. Our music, our old house on the outskirts of another dying city.

http://www.ccspace.org/
http://codeorangekids.bandcamp.com/
http://codeorangekids.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/codeorangekids

There’s a nice little surprise around 1:40 from a skeleton.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Twelve O’Clock in Baltimore is a film that explores the illegal dirt bikers that ride around the city’s streets in giant packs.  If you’ve never witnessed riding behind 25 dudes on dirt bikes and ATV’s popping wheelies  on a crowded city street it’s something.  The 1:00 minute mark in the video is such a good shot.

This film explores the illegal practice of dirt bike riding through Baltimore City. Three riders from different neighborhoods are followed through the streets of Baltimore on their dirt bikes. Over the course of the film, their motivations for being part of the group are revealed. As the police are not legally allowed to pursue the bikes despite their being illegal to ride in the city, the complexity of tension between riders and police gets deeper.

The riders, converging from all parts of the inner city, regard their practice both as a recreation and a protest. The dirt bike culture of Baltimore is a primal and energetic response to the tension between social classes. When the riders embark on the city, they suddenly have a platform. It plays on the delicacy of their lives as they know it from their marginalized communities.

Lofty Nathan, the film’s producer, has started a kickstarter page to raise donations for the completion of the film.  Donating even a small amount can get you a copy of the dvd & other bonuses.

So as most of you probably already know Age Sixteen broke up a few weeks prior to the release of this split.  It’s a shame because their half of this split absolutely kills.  Don’t worry though because 4/5ths of those guys are forming a new band which I’m sure will be just as good as Age Sixteen.

Wren Lloyd‘s half of this split sounds sick though I think they are a band that must be witnessed live to gain the full experience.  Musically they remind me of Canada Songs era Daughters – thick distortion, nauseating feedback and a lot of blast beats.

Download: Wren Lloyd|Age Sixteen Split.

Octaves

The Kindness of Strangers

Pianos Become the Teeth

Renae

Wren Lloyd

The Defect

The Talking Head (Sonar)|407 East Saratoga Street, Baltimore.

6 pm|$8 Bucks|All Ages

If you have the chance to go see them live don’t hesitate – they blew me away.  Oh, and they’re coming back through Baltimore with Trash Talk and Alexisonfire at the Ottobar on April 24th.

They turn on lights about 2 minutes into the video – I wish my camera was able to capture better in low-light.

La Dispute – Such Small Hands & Said the King to the River

Click here to view the embedded video.

La Dispute – Bury Your Flames

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s an awesome 20 minute video of Fucked Up playing a couple of songs for the French (French-Canadian?) website Bandeapart.fm.

After dismissing this band for so long, watching this video really pumps me up to check out their old releases.

+ Gaia in Baltimore

Anyone know where in the city this is located?  More of Gaia’s art HERE.

(via Wooster Collective)

+ Alexa Meade – Living Still Lifes

D.C. based Artist Alexa Meade uses acrylic paints on her subjects to create some crazy live installations.  I feel bad that her subjects have to sit for so long caked in paint, but they do look very impressive.

]]> http://stokingtheroots.com/2010/03/24/fucked-up-gaia-alexa-meade/feed/ 0 http://stokingtheroots.com/2010/03/08/charm-city-art-space-diy-community/ http://stokingtheroots.com/2010/03/08/charm-city-art-space-diy-community/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:06:23 +0000 Chad http://stokingtheroots.com/?p=2799 Click here to view the embedded video.

Janine Conway filmed,edited and produced this short documentary on the beloved Charm City Art Space – a well known punk/hardcore/indie/whatever music and arts venue in Baltimore, MD.

It’s neat to hear from the venue organizers and attendees on why this venue has been/is still a really important space in Baltimore for musicians and artists.  It’s cool that she was able to conduct the interviews before the venue moved into the new Charm City Art Space building – which is actually right next door to the old space.

The case is basically a guy, while in a drunken stupor, inadvertently kills a woman’s cat by throwing a television at a wall and crushing the little beast.

Be sure to watch the last minute because it rules:

“No, We’re tough, we hate those people”/”They’re straight, we hate them”/”You just use people and you move on”/”We only smash stuff outsiddde.”

Tough. As. Nails.