BaltoZine Roundup: Maryland Deathfest & Matmos
The Baltozine Roundup is a regular feature wherein we take a look
at what national periodicals are saying about Baltimore-area arts,
events, people, and places. Be sure to pick up the magazines and read the full articles.
Decibel (#103) previews the Maryland Deathfest preview.
"Throughout Maryland Deathfest's seven-year tenure at Baltimore's Sonar Club, organizers Evan Harting and Ryan Taylor have played logistical trial-and-error in creating and hosting North America's premier extreme music festival, now in its 11th edition. Some of their moves have been out of necessity (outdoor vendors), some have been knock-'em-out-of-the-park successes (outdoor stages at either end of the Saratoga Street block), others not so much (2010's stage atop the slop on the building's east side). 2013, however, poses the biggest challenge for Harting and Taylor. And the following quote explains why: 'Just to give you an idea of what this place is about now, tonight, Ronnie from Jersey Shore is DJing.' If you're keeping score, Sonar closed down in early 2012. The venue reopened shortly after, allowing MDF's 10th anniversary to go on relatively unscathed and without incident. Since then, Sonar's ownership has changed hands and the multi-room live music venue has been transformed into a nightclub called Paparazzi. 'It's not the same anymore,' continues Haring. 'It's more a place that hosts dance parties and stuff....'" - Kevin Stewart-Panko
Uncut (#191) reviews The Marriage of True Minds, the new Matmos record:
Rating 7/10
"...The resulting responses are the backbone of an album typically cryptic in outlook - techno, metal, sidereal electronics, Foley soundwork and clipped, dirty funk all pass by, your ears complicit in the growing confusion. Matmos' compositional nous places all of these pieces into 'forced cohesion', letting the constituent parts speak to and with each other, whether contiguous or not. Gloriously polyglot." -Jon Dale`
"Throughout Maryland Deathfest's seven-year tenure at Baltimore's Sonar Club, organizers Evan Harting and Ryan Taylor have played logistical trial-and-error in creating and hosting North America's premier extreme music festival, now in its 11th edition. Some of their moves have been out of necessity (outdoor vendors), some have been knock-'em-out-of-the-park successes (outdoor stages at either end of the Saratoga Street block), others not so much (2010's stage atop the slop on the building's east side). 2013, however, poses the biggest challenge for Harting and Taylor. And the following quote explains why: 'Just to give you an idea of what this place is about now, tonight, Ronnie from Jersey Shore is DJing.' If you're keeping score, Sonar closed down in early 2012. The venue reopened shortly after, allowing MDF's 10th anniversary to go on relatively unscathed and without incident. Since then, Sonar's ownership has changed hands and the multi-room live music venue has been transformed into a nightclub called Paparazzi. 'It's not the same anymore,' continues Haring. 'It's more a place that hosts dance parties and stuff....'" - Kevin Stewart-Panko
Rating 7/10
"...The resulting responses are the backbone of an album typically cryptic in outlook - techno, metal, sidereal electronics, Foley soundwork and clipped, dirty funk all pass by, your ears complicit in the growing confusion. Matmos' compositional nous places all of these pieces into 'forced cohesion', letting the constituent parts speak to and with each other, whether contiguous or not. Gloriously polyglot." -Jon Dale`
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