Last time I hung out with Nat Baldwin was kind of rough for me, I’ll admit. I mean, I don’t harbor any ill will toward him in particular, but I’d be lying if I said my feelings weren’t just a little hurt. The whole time he just kept flexing his biceps and saying, “Come on, just touch ‘em, you know you want to.” And I was all like, “Nah man, I don’t want to touch your biceps again. I thought we were meeting to talk about your plumbing.” And he was all like, “You’re not even a plumber.” I reminded him that yes, in fact, I am a plumber with a high Yelp rating and a great reputation. He said he doubted whether anyone “so averse to touching his ripe, young muscles” could actually call themselves a plumber in “this economy.”
To be fair, the dude is mad fit, his muscles made ginormous from toting that double bass around all these years. He’s also got a new release out soon on Western Vinyl called Dome Branches: The MVP Demos. You don’t have to do much mental “heavy lifting” to sort out that the record is made up of demos for the 2009 release Most Valuable Player (TMT Review); the tracks were recorded in 2005 and 2006. And though all the iron pumping Baldwin does is not exactly what you’d call a team sport, these demos definitely are. They feature David Longstreth on guitar and electronics, Djim Reynolds on guitar, Nathan Horton on drums, Tim Keiper on drums, Matt Bauder on clarinets, and Jessica Pavone on viola. Baldwin said that while all those folks are great musicians (for instance, apparently Longstreth’s guitar parts were improvised on the spot for most of the recordings), none of them would stand a “blue slushie’s chance in hell” against him in a good old arm wrestling match.
Want to touch Nat Baldwin’s muscles in real life, or maybe hear what they sound like when they’re flexing right next to your face? As we’ve previously reported, he’s going on tour this fall, so you’ll have your chance. That is, unless of course your muscles are so withered that you can’t even walk. In that event, I’d say maybe stay home and listen to “Look She Said” instead (over on the Western Vinyl SoundCloud) instead.
Dome Branches: The MVP Demos tracklisting:
01. Lake Erie
02. Only to Find
03. Dome Branches
04. Black Square
05. De-Attached
06. One Two Three
07. The Felled Trees
08. Look She Said
09. Mask I Wear
Dates:
09.20.13 - Jamaica Plains, MA - Deep Thoughts !
09.21.13 - Hudson, NY - The Spotty Dog Books & Ale
09.22.13 - Buffalo, NY - Perot Grain Silos at Silo City
09.24.13 - Toronto, ON - Monarch Tavern #
09.25.13 - Oberlin, OH - Cat in the Cream Coffeehouse #
09.26.13 - Cincinnati, OH - Midpoint Music Festival
09.28.13 - Champaign, IL - Pygmalion Music Festival
09.29.13 - Chicago, IL - Hideout #
10.01.13 - Youngstown, PA - Cedar’s Lounge
10.02.13 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Chapel
10.03.13 - The Gates - Ithaca, NY - The Gates @
10.30.13 - Mechanicsburg, PA - Messiah College
12.16.13 - Portsmouth, NH - The Press Room
! Sophie Dickinson and Chris North
# Justin Walter
@ Keir Neuringer
• Nat Baldwin: http://westernvinyl.com/artists/natbaldwin.html
• Western Vinyl: http://westernvinyl.com
More about: Nat Baldwin
