Music Review: Voodoo Pharmacology

Voodoo Pharmacology is a six person group of multi-talented musicians who make their home base in Baltimore, MD. Calling themselves experimental music might seem pretentious to some, so to avoid the moniker, I would call them eclectic musical expansionists.

The group brings an uproar of sound and sight to the stage, and the performance is not toned down when it comes to their recordings. The songs on their EP Her Mirror Was a Window start a journey that roves all over the musical landscape. Electronica songs such as "01110010011000010110100101101110" seem to not clash but exude in to adjoining tracks. To say this album would be easy to find in the post-modern music bin next to Don Cabellero wouldn't be unexpected.

Between the melodic intricacies of the music and the sparse use of lyrics Voodoo Pharmacology weaves a musical tapestry that will get them noticed as time passes. Each of their recordings (which include Her Mirror Was a Window, The March Ides: Radio Testimonials of the Coming Apocalypse, and the self-titledVoodoo Pharmacology) is a testimonial to their tenacity to be music performers in a landscape of music moving more towards polished corporatism.

Fortunately for us, their are still bands like Voodoo Pharmacology, willing to take more leaps and break more boundaries. Drop by their website and grab their tunes and wait for them to come to your town. It will be worth it.

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As always, a video to accompany the post. Here's Voodoo Pharmacology jamming live in Baltimore...

Music technology and Hanging Out

Call me nostalgic, but some of the best memories I have from hanging out with my friends when I was young was listening to music as a group. Whether it was chilling in J's basement listening to his dad's Hendrix Band of Gypsies with a little DasFX added in, or hanging out upstairs at MJ, Dan, and Dave's house listening to Kill Creek and 10 Foot Pole, or listening in Super-Polo-Surround-Sound to the acoustic guitar track on Hum's 'The Pod', it was always fun, always meaningful, and always seem to strengthen the bond between all of us as friends.

Before I start the next section let it be known, I LOVE MY iPod. This is really about how you use it.

So my daughter wrote a list of 25 things about her on facebook. One of her things was sitting in the car with her boyfriend listening to music. Suddenly, it hit me. They just sit there, listening to music. Probably just the two of them, or at most a couple more friends (it's not a big car). Space is limited, and time. They listen to his iPod or her iPod. It can't bee too comfortable. Is it possible that the days have past when 10 or 15 people can share a musical experience? Can it be the magic of group listening is slowly draining from the world?

I can't say yes or no to this. Music is a personal thing, but it is not an individual thing. It's not meant to be held between your ears for you alone. I have some adapters to use my iPod in the car so everyone can listen, a couple in the house to use on old tape players, and Eric brought one to band practice so we can listen to his iPod or mine through the PA.

My point is this, listen to music with friends. If you have a song you can't get enough of, sit with someone and listen to it together, talk about it. Explore music!

It is the last magic left.

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This is an appropriate tie-in...here's Big Wreck with "That Song"