
I ended up buying more records this year than the previous 10 years combined. Having your desk literally inches from an awesome record store can have that effect on you. And yet, as I was compiling this list this year, I found I was still discovering bands/releases I'd missed in 2010 - most likely because I wasted too much time trying to understand the unwarranted hype of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's Before Today (a charming exercise in lo-fi '80s nostalgia, but not something worth the amount of praise it received), or Arcade Fire's Suburbs [...]

MP3: Lizz King - Mr. Fella MP3: Lizz King - Till They Do Where do I begin? All Songs Go To Heaven was, to me, quite unprecedented. Honestly, I didn't even know about its release until Greg posted a preview for Lizz King's album party at the Windup Space. Shows how informed I am. I'm just glad to not have missed out. Now, although there are a number of routes I might take to [...]

MP3: Lizz King - Mr. Fella MP3: Lizz King - Till They Do Lizz King is a joy to behold; her opening performance for Daniel Johnston back in 2008 was an astounding moment that still sticks with me today. So, it is with equal joy that I announce local label Ehse Records is finally releasing her debut full-length All Songs Go To Heaven . [...]

MP3: Lizz King - Til' They Do Still have faith in the rock opera format, even after the Decemberists' valiant but failed attempt at validating and reigniting interest in the genre earlier this year? Well, maybe Aran Keating, the AK from AK Slaughter , has the recipe for you in the form of Grundlehammer , a full-on and homegrown rock opera by the Baltimore Rock Opera Society . Tonight's show at the LOF/T in Load of Fun features AK Slaughter, [...]
It's a dance party with Dan Deacon and you're invited! A closer look at part two of the two day Wham City tour that visited Oberlin College last night, October 14.

The past came to haunt me in the best possible way! Last Spring, at the very end of a show in a stuffy, odd house called Lemon Hill in a crappy area of Baltimore, a girl with just her banjo sat cross-legged on the floor and sang us all to sleep with absolutely beautiful lullabies. Her voice was smooth and soulful, and I snapped her photograph with a yellow glow from the only streetlight shining outside the windows. Her name is Lizz King , and I stumbled upon her MySpace page recently. How [...]