A few nights ago I couldn’t contain my star struck excitement when I ran into Adam Lempel from Weekends. I was holding a bottle of wine in my arm and ordering a falafel from the Hopkins dubbed late nightspot, uni mini. I noticed a hipster to my right wearing blue skinny jeans, accentuating his emaciated frame and his bobble head with a messy hair. A moment went by before we recognized each other. Adam, being the sweetie he is, said hello, introduced me to the other band member, Brendan Sullivan, and remembered that I was interested in conducting an interview.

Adam and Brendan were grabbing a bit to eat before leaving for New York City to perform more shows. So I took advantage of my run-in to ask a few questions. I didn’t record the answers so I’m not going to claim accuracy but I do remember the answer I got for the question,  ‘How did Hopkins spit you out?’

Adam understood what I was talking about. Hopkins is far from liberal-artsy. We have one arts building that the majority of the campus makes sure to avoid (they think the building is ugly). We are a research institution and everyone acts accordingly.

Adam’s answer was that he didn’t really spend a lot of time at Hopkins during his days here. His experience reminded my of one of my classmates’ – He’s a DJ who has infiltrated the Baltimore scene and brings influences from the west coast, from his home state down south and more. Adam was also a DJ for some time – frequenting Baltimore venues. But according to him, he got sick of playing other people’s music and decided to bring his own to the table.  Luckily, he already had the skill, being a trained guitarist from a young age.

I guess being indie at Hopkins kind of makes you an outcast. It’s unlike other scenes where everyone is in a competition to be the weirdest kid on the block, to the point where being weird is no longer weird. Here, you hear stuff like, ‘They’re playing that Collective Animal shit up there.’ I’m not saying Hopkins is unique, but it sure is a different environment – a research oasis in the middle of the funky, indie, creepy Baltimore desert.

I think this pushes kids like Adam stand out and rebel to new levels not found elsewhere.  Once he’s pushed the boundaries, he also find welcome in the city around him that has spit out artists like Beach House, Animal Collective and Wye Oak.

Listen to “A Defining Love” here

Weekends

are returning to Baltimore for a show tomorrow at The Hexagon. I need to get my tendency to be completely star struck under control; I always get really excited reporting about Weekends (since I’ve known the guy from Hopkins!) Adam has already agreed to an interview – can’t wait to hear how Hopkins boy turned Indie. In other news, today, they released their song off the Friends and  of Friends compilation. Check it out above…We can thank our own Adam Lempel for the album artwork. Also, I’m digging this song. The glo-fi vocals on top of the acoustic plucks of the guitar produce a really fresh combination. Wish I were around to hear them this weekend.

Thom Yorke and homecoming make for a great weekend. Combine George’s weekend and my weekend and that’s what you get. Get psyched for George’s post about the Thom Yorke, Flying Lotus concert. As for me, here are some things to get to know

BreakBot

because you can’t say no to disco

Snowden

because this is the best lyric I’ve heard recently, “Valium, in volumes. I thought I found the cure for my, I thought I found the cure for my problems.”

The XX

will be at The Main Stage at Sonar on Friday April 23, Baltimore. I have a ticket to go but will be in San Francisco. Fortunately, our guest writer, Tom, will be there to document the event.

Weekends

I know one of these guys! He went to Hopkins and they just got a write up on P4k! Cheers Baltimore and Hopkins. Click here for P4K debut

Upcoming: a new photo section to our blog, MGMT review…