The Run Down - Tuesday March 4, 2008

Have I mentioned the crazy amount of shows this week. I mean good gravy boat gazoog(wha?) even Tuesday is jammed packed. Here in Baltimore be sure to bear witness to Savory James performing an all Nirvana cover set at the Talking Head with 4th Horsemen, Nocnitsa, and Red Rocket. At the Black Cat in DC do yourself a favor and take in Say Hi and Caverns. Finally in Philly, the only place to be is Johnny Brenda's to see the one and only Cadence Weapon along with Born Ruffians and Ape School. Well I lied. There is one other place to be in Philly and that's at the First Unitarian Church where Matt Costa and Jonathan Rice perform.

mp3: Cadence Weapon - House Music --> website --> buy
mp3: Born Ruffians - I'm One Of Those Girls --> website --> buy
mp3: Say Hi - Spiders --> website --> buy
mp3: Matt Costa - The Ballad Of Miss Kate --> website --> buy
mp3: Savory James - Sit Still --> website --> buy

The Run Down - Monday March 3, 2008

Heeeeere we go. In Philly there's Say Hi at Johnny Brenda's. In Virginia catch These United States at IOTA. In DC you have the choice between The Sketches opening up for Blind Melon at the 9:30 club, The Muggabears and Sisters at the Red and the Black, or Ilad, Lindsay Holler & the Dirty Kicks, and Stella Schindler at DC9. Have a good one.

mp3: Say Hi - Bluetime --> website --> buy
mp3: The Sketches - Dizzy --> website --> buy
mp3: The Muggabears - Automatic Others --> website --> buy
mp3: Ilad - Looking Glass --> website --> buy
mp3: These United States - Burn This Bridge --> website --> buy

Say Hi To Say Hi

Say Hi formerly Say Hi To Your Mom is and surrounds Eric Elbogen. I remember listening to Say Hi To Your Mom years back and assuming an affinity for it. I guess it slowly faded to the nether regions of my hard drive, because I had to search to find it again. The search was brought on by this new album, The Wishes And The Glitch, he just released. Something was different with this album from the previous releases. Call it an emotional change, a thematic change, or a change of sound. Whatever. It was a change. And I quite enjoyed it. Maybe it was the move to Seattle...or the change in name. He succeeds where others have failed. Electro pop is a difficult genre to be in. You can easily be labeled the next 'Postal Service' just for the use of electronic beats and melodramatic lyrics. A lot of these bands just fade into oblivion. Why? They let the technology distort their style of song writing. This is not the case with Say Hi. Elbogen has his fingerprints ingrained in each beat, whistle, croon, guitar note, and sample on The Wishes And The Glitch. This allows me to listen and love the sarcastic lyrics and catchy hooks rather than scratch my head over some bizarre sample or over layered sonic fuzz. You can catch Eric and Say Hi on March 3rd @ Johnny Brenda's in Philly or March 4th at the Black Cat in DC.

mp3: Say Hi - Toil & Trouble --> website --> buy
mp3: Say Hi - Shakes Her Shoulders