Weekend on the Radio, 4/2

All Weekend Long

• Barnum and Bailey Circus, Royal Farms Arena, check website for details
• Wicked, The Hippodrome, check website for details
• Peep Show, Carroll Arts Center, check website for details

Thursday, 4/2:

• Venus Envy, Gallery 788, 7 p.m.
• Delta Spirit, Baltimore Soundstage, 8 p.m.

Friday, 4/3:

• Never Sleep Alone, Gypsy Sally's, 8 p.m.
• Black Masala, Creative Alliance, 8 p.m.

Saturday, 4/4:

• TT The Artist, The Crown, 8 p.m.

Altered Freebies: Delta Spirit; Buke & Gass; Robyn

What's better than music? Free music. Producer Nick Jackson has scoured the Interwebs to bring you the best free downloads featured on this week's Altered Fridays, 4-7 p.m.

Delta Spirit: Bushwick Blues & White Table (live)

WTMD favorites Delta Spirit check in with a pair of live tracks. "Bushwick Blues" has a slower tempo than the original, which amplifies the folk influences, "White Table" begins with a solitary slide guitar and builds to an explosion of twangy feedback. Be sure to enter their contest, you could win a signed maraca!

Buke and Gass: Your Face Left Before You

Buke and Gass is another boy-girl duo from Brooklyn, like a less abrasive Sleigh Bells. "Your Face Left Before You" is noteworthy for its shifting tempos, which divides the song into several mini-suites. The pounding drums are the glue that holds everything together.

Robyn: Hang With Me

Three things Sweden is known for: Blondes, beauty and immaculately made pop music. "Hang With Me" reaches an ABBA level of catchiness and sophistication. The web of happy synthesizers mask the meloncholy of the lyrics. Robyn wants to be just friends, but she sounds tentative, as if she knows it won't work out. In a perfect world, Robyn would be the biggest pop star of them all, but America wants Ke$ha.

CD of the Week: History From Below

Delta Spirit burst onto the scene in 2008 with their debut Ode to Sunshine, featuring the TMD favorite "Trashcan." 

 

After a couple years of non-stop touring, the band teamed up with producer/engineer Elijah Thomson and My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster to set to work in the Waits Room of Prairie Sun Recording Studios. 

The resulting album delivers an intoxicating mix of Americana, swaggering rock ("Bushwick Blues") and wistful ballads ("Devil Knows You're Dead")

Delta Spirit performs at the 9:30 Club on July 3rd.