Arrive to Get The Led Out at Rams Head Live between 7pm and 8pm on Dec. 26th. Once inside the door, enter to win 2 orchestra seats for Robert Plant on Feb. 1st at D.A.R. Constitution Hall. The Robert Plant table will be directly in front of the entrance and the first bar. A winner will be picked on Weds. Dec 28th and will be announced through our Facebook, Twitter and email blast! Good Luck to all!

2010 is no exception especially with the array of bad-assness that the year had to offer. Instead of giving you one more Best of Albums list, I would rather just make a list to surmise the lists.

I’ll tell you up front that mine will be only a little credible, in so far as I have ears. After all this is the girl who was so excited that we booked Rise Against…The Machine. (Yep. Go tell your friends.) But it is all the more reason for you to make your own as well. There is a comment box just down at the bottom and while you are at it, feel free to tell me exactly how wrong mine is.  You can tell me how oh so right it is as well.

In making your own list it is imperative that you follow the rules of the listing process. They must be ranked on a scale of 1 being the best. Don’t throw up 10 albums and say “these were good” and then not put them in order. You can thank NPR for keeping that method alive this year. (blob or bust, NPR!)  No ambiguity with the list method. On or off, black or white, honey dew or cantaloupe.

To view all contributing lists that I used I am gonna have to give it big up to my Largehearted Boy blog out of Alabama and his comprehensive list of the lists! Take a look at some of the other posts as this blog just happens to be a part of my secret stash.

Unanimously “Liked” Album Winners of 2010: The Facebook Tribute

1. Arcade Fire – Suburbs

2. The National – High Violet

3. The Black Keys – Brothers

4. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

5. Robyn – Body Talk

6. Sleigh Bells – Treats

7. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor

8. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

9. Beach House – Teen Dream (Bmore’s very own)

Looks like pop culture got a little melodramatic this year and then tripped.  Keep it classy.

Rams Head Alumni

(too many to list. would defeat the concise nature of listing)

Now it’s your turn. Ready? Go!

98 Rock is already calling it an instant classic and the Baltimore Sun’s Sam Sessa may have summed it up best when he shared one fan’s sentiment: “I can’t believe I am only ten rows back from the Beastie Boys!”

Indeed, last night’s show here was something special. “Balltown”….er, B-More, represented well, responding appropriately to the Beasties’ song choices: moshing furiously during hardcore sendups like “Heart Attack Man”; grooving oh so sweetly on the slow jam instrumentals and, in general, vibing out with a Chesire size #@*%-eating grin. Encores aside, the most memorable moments for me were the big-timing entrance to “Root Down”, and the sheer playfulness of “Remote Control” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” Oh yeah…lets not forget about Mix Master Mike. He somehow managed to outshine the amazing set piece that the Beasties are carrying with them for Bonnaroo. Its always great when hyped shows live up to the billing – this one did so and more, and by the time the Beasties get to Manchester, Bruce and Phish better watch their backs: it seems like Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA got show-stealin’ on their mind.

Photograph by Jim Hendershot

Photograph by Jim Hendershot

Photography by Jim Hendershot

Want more pics like the one below? Check out the Baltimore Sun’s stash on flicker.

Baltimore Sun

to perform live at Pier Six Pavilion on June 25, 2009

This show is sure to put a smile on your face & a twinkle in your eye !

*no telescope needed.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=95EeUAvAba4

Of course the blips and bleeps are electronic music and of course your favorite rock venue is Rams Head Live. How these two combine famously is the purpose of this post and, with a bit of vision, this blog’s and venue’s faithful will realize how well the two can fit. After all, electronified music’s been around well before Rams Head and arguably even Rock and Roll.  See also:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkyIqYYBX-4

Let’s spend another minute on some history.  Nation, formerly the mid atlantic’s most prominent electronic music venue, featured a legendary Friday Night Party so popular youth from all over the Eastern Seaboard traveled without any knowledge of the performers or even if entrance was feasible.  The venue featured one main room, same as Rams Head Live, two tiers of balcony space, same as Rams Head Live, a VIP lounge with the real cushy seats, same as Rams Head Live, and an elevated DJ booth, again same as Rams Head Live.  If Nation primary flaw it was its sound which tended to rattle around the mostly cinder block walls adorning the dance floor.  Nation’s other major drawback was its location well off the Metro Line and in DC’s warehouse district.

The seedy atmosphere often became part of the draw to the electronic music crowd when Nation was popular.  But you read this blog for the music and if you got to this sentence you are at least curious about electronic music in some small way.  More importantly, you subscribe to the fact that Rams Head delivers the best music in town and would not let you down on providing the blips and beeps.  That said, Rams Head Live offers much better sound in its venue and a far safer venue (you could throw a glow stick on Police Headquarters from the door).  So in fact the experience Rams Head will provide is going to be superior to Nation while giving that atmosphere of the large vacuous club many remembered from their youth or want to experience for the first time.

So in sum Rams Head is introducing electronic music at a pace of one act per month; just enough to allow palatable digestion.  Next month’s act, the Crystal Method (american for Chemical Brothers), are a perfect appetizer for the electronic music meal.  Their dj sets invariably include popular groups like Radiohead and Animal Collective mixed with their head twisting effects and massive amount of energy.  The result is one of the most entertaining and enduring  electronic acts having sustained popularity for more than fifteen years.  Their big room sound caters perfectly to the venue and will be an experience not to be missed.

Beep Bup Bop Bop Bope Boop eternally,

DJ Associate, Guest Blogger