Now Do This: Sea Patterns, Arab Spring, The Under Sixteens, and Ryan Phillip

This Saturday at the Kung Fu Necktie are some of the best bands Baltimore and Lehigh Valley have to offer; please welcome to the stage Sea Patterns, The Under Sixteens, Arab Spring, and Ryan Phillips. Sea Patterns and Arab Spring both hail from Baltimore, and have played multiple shows there previously in places like the Charm City Art Space. The Under Sixteens and Ryan Phillips are bands from Lehigh Valley, and prove to be fantastic additions to this lineup.

Perhaps you remember a past article I wrote up on Sea Patterns. Let me refresh your memory: a power-indie group of rock with a beachy sound and echoing vocals, Sea Patterns is a gritty but fresh icy wave of ocean into your face, so remember to hold your breath when you dive in. This band has what it takes to tear out your insides with its bare teeth; it's raw youth at its finest, and it's exactly what you need this weekend.

Arab Spring is Mac McCormick's solo project, made up of distorted power chords, synth tunes, and a drum machine. It's got that Adam and His Package kind of feel in its one-man-band kind of deal, but it's definitely its own creature. Arab Spring is loud and in your face; it takes you prisoner in its noise-rock and pulls you down a tunnel in black and white vision. 

Kind of weird surf rock with slanted vocals make up most of the songs by The Under Sixteens. Songs like "Simplify" roll along like a sailboat from shore. Their newer songs like "Stale News" have more of a rough fuzzy quality to them where sounds overlap just enough to create a sense of blended noise. The Under Sixteens are collision course rock with a dash of swingin' drums.

Ryan Phillips is synth wave with bouncing drum beats; his music is that feeling you get after you wake up and you try to put together the bits and pieces of your dream from that night. The synth shines through softly in this blur of memories kept tied together with steady drums. This is the kind of music that counterbalances the rest of the bands on this setlist, the kind of music that pulls everything back into equilibrium.

Just a heads up: this is a 21+ event. Definitely head out Saturday to Kung Fu Necktie--you don't want to miss this. Get ready, get pumped, and go NUTS.

Baltimore Bands: Sea Patterns

Music Review

Being from Baltimore, the local music scene has always been something I've been a part of. If you're in town this Thanksgiving break, you've got to go see Sea Patterns rock out at the Charm City Art Space this Friday, November 23rd.

Made up of singer/guitarist Kevin Wenger, singer/guitarist Jeff Koplovitz, and drummer Chris Sweeney, the power-indie trio describes itself on its facebook page as "kind of noise pop stuff like a punk arguing with a smiths fan." The band started in 2009 and continues to grow in its production of violent, catchy, beachy sounding songs that get you smelling salt in the air and feeling the grit of sand against your teeth. With only three years behind it, Sea Patterns has a developed sound that still feels raw like a teenage make-out sesh. Rock out to some rough and tumble surfy noise rock this weekend and get a head start on memorizing those hard to catch lyrics by checking out their soundcloud. Don't forget to get a download of their album off of bandcamp.