BrightestYoungThings: Listening Party: Art Department

With about 3/4 of The Art Department's songs hovering around the 1 minute mark, you'd think that an entire show would last about 15 minutes (it's longer we swear). However, this 3-some from Baltimore jam packs their brief tracks with intricate guitar work and interesting, provocative lyrics. We asked them to highlight some of their stuff, old and new so you can be ready for their tonight's show @Velvet Lounge with the Andalusians

“Looking”

This song is off the first “record” from 2005, . This record I recorded by myself in my parents basement over the course of a weekend. This song is just a pop number about the fears that arise when becoming an adult. This is one song we avoid playing live because we’ve never been able to make it sound right

“Julia, I Can’t Run Anymore” (LIVE)

This version of this song comes from a session we did for Third Rail Radio at university of Maryland. These sessions are being released on CD-R by a Charlotte, NC label called Kinnikinnik. We’re releasing these to document the sound of the live band playing the songs from the first record. We had had a pretty standard set that formed over the course of a year, but we released these with the intent to move on from that.

“Get On”

This is a rough mix of a song that will be on the record that we will hopefully eventually release. We recorded 13 songs with our friends in Athens, GA namely Mercer West who engineered and produced the sessions. We got some additional help from his bandmates in Quiet Hooves, among other Athens luminaries. The tapes are still in GA and have yet to be formerly mixed and mastered. We also have yet to name the album, get album artwork and find a way to distribute it. Oh, man…we got a long way to go.

“Not Called The Shots”

This, too, is an unmixed song that will be on the upcoming album. It features Greg O’Connell on the banjo. I want to call the new album Black Flag, but Jason wants to call it Rollins Band. No one likes either.

Want More:

Art Department will be playing Tonight at the Velvet Lounge with Andalusians. Doors 7:30pm/Show 9pm/21+/$8 BE THERE!