For the public interest, I thought I should take note of two fantastic videos (one brand new, one relatively new) from two Baltimore mainstays and Whartscape participants.

Height aka Dan Keach drops a video for “Mike Stone” off the recent Baltimore Highlands vinyl.  The video is a great loveletter to Charm City (and to a lesser extent, mix-and-match lettering).

Height With Friends “Mike Stone” from Team G on Vimeo.

In addition, Double Dagger read my mind and issued a video a few weeks back for one of my favorite songs in their entire catalog: sublime new joint “Vivre Sans Temps Mort” off More.

Double Dagger – Vivre Sans Temps Mort from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

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MP3: Videohippos – Narwhals

Photo credit: Josh Sisk (Whartscape 2007)

It’s surprising to me how few people know of Videohippos. I mean, they’ve been around the block more than a few times; they’ve been doing the Wham City thing since anyone can remember, not to mention their thumbs up from Pitchfork. And from Stereogum. And Oh My Rockness. Even so, if you ask your typical college-age trendy-type who’s hip to what’s indie, they probably haven’t a clue about the Hippos. Which is a big shame. Want to benefit your community for once? Tell your favorite music fan about Videohippos.

1. Do you have any particularly fond memories of Whartscape past?

- 2006: having to cancel the videohippos performance because it was so hot in the copycat bldg that my projector (mounted on the ceiling) was starting to melt. the first time jeremy and I performed Ultimate Reality- it was kind of a train wreck, but everyone was still freaking out, particularly Rjyan kidwell on top of the giant subwoofer that guy werner had let us borrow. somehow i thought i could handle playing with blood baby during a psilocybin experience. pete cut his finger in the industrial fan and it freaked me out real bad. getting to see the coughs and matt and kim play in my living room.

- 2007: videohippos set had a symetrical three screen video installation at Floristree- the videos we normally use were flanked by two mirrored screens of amazing footage that jim shot from the car window in Idaho. a temporarily crippled lizz king playing her set with a cane in the alley behind load of fun. impromptu butt stomach set on borrowed instruments when one of the bands didnt show up on time.

- 2008: funny clown crowd surfing. sewn leather starting his set by announcing “I gotta shart”, michael petruzzo performing topless, lizz dancing behind the creepers wearing only a life-size white tiger head.

2. Chances of Videohippos reforming as a bubblegum pop band?
– Not on my watch.

3. Any predictions for this year’s festival?

- Lots of personal space being invaded in the best way possible.

4. You guys have done your fair share of collaborating with other Wham City artists. Anything due to be released soon?

- We have a 10″ record coming out soon on vicious pop records that has three new songs. Each one is a collaboration with different friends: “firefoot” features Ed Schrader on vocals, Kate and Andrew of Teeth Mountain added percussion and strings to “bottles,” and DJ dog dick put the icing on “High Dive” with thoughtful lyrics and his trademark layered electronic sonics.

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MP3: The Art Department – Censor

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MP3: The Art Department – Second Nature

The Art Department has graciously provided us with 2 previously unreleased, unmixed tracks from their forthcoming and as-of-yet untitled album that looks to feature more of their signature quirky sound, replete with high-pitch quaver-vox and delicately picked lines.  While conceptually forged from random bits of Ehrens’ aural fixation on high-neck capos, the Art Department’s sound often bears eerie similarity to work from DC’s Q and Not U.  Jon Ehrens also took time out to answer our questions!

1. What is your most vivid memory of Whartscapes past? If this is your first time playing/attending, explain yourself/selves!

At last years Whartscape, when Oxes took the stage, they began their set with a tense guitar build-up. They hadn’t played in years and it was the first time that I – or anyone there – had seen them in several years. As the guitars chugged, drumless, and the anticipation built up, a police helicopter flew overhead, shining it’s spotlight on the band, and then the audience. The place went crazy, the band kicked-in and the set ruled harder than I could have ever imagined.

2. Who are you most excited to see this year?

JANITOR!

3. Choose one word to describe Whartscape, and what it means to you.

Lunacy – I’ve recently come to realize that Baltimore is making me insane, and I either have to indulge this and resign myself to lunacy, or move away and become a normal productive member of society. Of course I’ll choose the former, and participating in a festival in which over 130 bands play in 3 days for 20 minutes a piece will only encourage me do descend into madness.

4. When Wham City came calling and asked you to play, why did you say yes?

Why would I say no?

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MP3: Sick Weapons – Orgy on the China Train Live @ the Talking Head, taped by the Baltimore Taper

Photo Credit: Shawn Breen

Sick Weapons rock.  Flat out, no question.  Just listen to “Orgy On the China Train.”  Lead vocalist Ellie Beziat takes time to humor our line of questioning:

1. What is your most vivid memory of Whartscapes past? If this is your first time playing/attending, explain yourself/selves!

I ate a handful of mushrooms during Wzt Hearts last year. I remember drinking a strawberry daiquiri out of a pineapple. It is our first year playing Whartscape. We are super excited. Bring pineapples. Or mushrooms.

2. Who are you most excited to see this year?

Vincent Black Shadow are playing at 4:20 and that’ll be cool. We are using their equipment so we are stoked that they are playing!

3. Choose one word to describe Whartscape, and what it means to you.

Nerds. Look around man.

4. When Wham City came calling and asked you to play, why did you say yes?

One of our guitar players is Wham City. But I don’t know if ‘they’ came calling or if Peter O’Connell got drunk and put Dan Deacon’s head in a toilet.

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MP3: Height With Friends – One Enemy

Baltimore rapper Height recently dropped the hot, highly recommended full-length Baltimore Highlands and is certainly no stranger to the world of Wham.

1. What is your most vivid memory of Whartscapes past? If this is your first time playing/attending, explain yourself/selves!

My most vivid memory is seeing Enjoy Your Canary in the alley behind Load Of Fun in 2007. They did an early afternoon set for very few people, and they killed it. It was my first time hearing them, and it made me wonder how many other tight Baltimore bands I didn’t know about.

2. Who are you most excited to see this year?

It’s a three-way tie.

The Plural MC

He’s an amazing rhyme-writer. He gets clowned for not looking or acting like a hipster, which sucks. The wit of his songs is subtle, and you have to keep an open mind to catch it. I’m excited that he’ll get to perform for a different crowd at Whartscape. Perhaps people who have dismissed him in the past will be able to see his music in a different light.

Nuclear Power Pants

We did a mini-tour with these guys in January, and it was hard to not look like Amateur Hour next to them. They have great songs, and have put more thought into their live show than any other band I know.

Wye Oak

People already know the deal.

3. Choose one word to describe Whartscape, and what it means to you.

Localized.

It’s great that this year’s Whartscape focuses even more on local acts, instead of national acts that can play big shows here anytime. To me, Wham City did an excellent job of reaching outside their circle of friends to include other kinds of music. They could have easily used this event as a way to rub elbows with famous people. They did the right thing.

4. When Wham City came calling and asked you to play, why did you say yes?

I said yes because I wanted to play an tight festival with all my favorite Baltimore bands.

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MP3: Human Host – Taqaristan

Human Host is a bit infamous, and hopefully even moreso now that we’ve dropped some knowledge on you about their role in shaping MT6 Records’ direction.  Frontman Mike Apichella steps up to the plate:

1. What is your most vivid memory of Whartscapes past? If this is your first time playing/attending, explain yourself/selves!

Well, last year Human Host opened the saturday night show at Whartscape; that was at Sonar, and we played a decent set to our biggest crowd ever (about 400-500 heads!) and both the staff of the club and our always awesome laid back friends from Wham City made us feel right at home. Everything was completely professional, the sound was great, Wham City had people running a merch table for ALL the acts that night, and no matter what kind of stupid question or mistake was made as we were trying to figure out the logistics of the soundcheck/pre show set up, everyone treated every question or query we had as if it were seriously worth their consideration.

I can honestly say Whartscape ’08 was the nicest “behind the scenes” experience i have EVER had at any show I’ve ever played in my entire 18 years of working as a performing artist.

2. Who are you most excited to see this year?

Everyone, literally, because this year will be the first year i’ll be able to potentially stay and watch every single act; all other years Human Host’s summer time work schedule interfered with my ability to see the whole fest, but not this year. I’m really looking forward to taking in the totality of the event’s power particularly in regards the extreme diversity of this year’s line up, which seems to be what Wham City probably wants people to really focus on in terms of how to have fun with this thing

3. Choose one word to describe Whartscape, and what it means to you.

Whartscape is mystic – I see it as a single convergence of many events all rolled into one gigantic explosion of catharsis. Every emotion is there, expressed from every angle imaginable. What does that mean? It feels good for sure, but the feeling is not the answer, the answer to that question is irrelevant and eternally redefining itself in the form of a million more questions, and that’s why I love Whartscape/Wham City.

4. When Wham City came calling and asked you to play, why did you say yes?

Funny you should ask that.

We’ve played Whartscape every year it has existed, but i think that maybe the first year was the only one where we were actually asked to play, and we were more than happy to say ‘yes!’ since we knew some of the members of Wham City pretty well already, plus they had already been setting up non-fest shows for us off and on for about 6 months or so prior to the first Whartscape in 2006.

It was such an exciting fun event that ever since then I’ve looked forward to it so much every year I usually ask them if we can play it like 3 months in advance sometimes. It’s the best arts festival on the east coast, and really the only one suitable for showcasing Human Host’s work within the context of a big line up of acts, so as usual it’s a total honor to be able to join in the fun again.

When last we saw Karita Mattila, this blond soprano was biting the lips of John the Baptist – after his decapitation. She again gave Richard Strauss a workout with Four Last Songs. The conductor, Andreas Delfs, pitch-hit this gig for Mikko Franck in what was billed as an all-Finn tour de force: Finnish conductor, Finnish composer and Finnish soprano.

When told of the change, we lamented bitterly, because now Finn composer and conductor were out of the picture leaving us only the sun of Karita to light up the hall. We were to hear Helsinki’s own Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Manhattan Trilogy. This exciting composer was hand-picked by Sibelius himself to get a one-year stipend to go to Julliard – a move that paid off. Instead of his symphonic poem of much promise with movements Daydreams, Nightmares, and Dawn, we got Frederick Delius. Read the rest…

Once again, to celebrate all things Wham and Whartscape, we asked some of the artists performing to answer a mini questionnaire. Future Islands’ William Cashion was our first subject.

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MP3: Future Islands – Little Dreamer

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MP3: Future Islands – Pinnochio

Yeah? So what if last year’s Wave Like Home was fully kickass? Who cares if Future Islands are totally Wham City vets? I mean, they only played Round Robin and toured around with Dan Deacon on his last outing. Most of them were in the ensemble, but that doesn’t even count. They’ve been in like, what? Two Whartscapes before? Whatever. Here’s what bassist William Cashion, 1/3 of these synth-poppers, thinks about all of this jazz. </sarcasm>

1. If there’s one single thing, say an essence, that embodies all that Wham City has to offer, what would it be?

- Whartscape is pretty much the embodiment of what Wham City has to offer. Lots of friends, cool bands from all over, performances, jokes, and tons of emails.

2. What’s the best reason to live in Baltimore?

- The music and arts community / Cheap rent.

3. What do you think the chances are of Dan Deacon enlisting every artist performing at Whartscape for his next project?

- Probably won’t happen, too many dudes.

4. What’s your favorite part about Whartscape?

- A year’s worth of bands coming together for one special weekend.

To close out our series on MT6, I grabbed some joe with label-head Alex Strama (Newagehillbilly, Heroin U.K., tons more) to talk about all things empty six.

Aural States: So let’s start with your background, what came before MT6, how you got into experimental music and what drove you to start MT6?

Alex Strama: Well, before MT6…that started in ’98.  I was doing music way before that.  I graduated high school in ’95; in high school, I had a few bands I was in.  More towards the rock end.  Still kinda weird, but definitely more rock-oriented.  I recorded a bunch of stuff, but I didn’t know anybody that was gonna put it out.  I’m from Harford County, so I lived in the sticks, and at that point I knew very little bout the Baltimore music scene.  So I started it mainly to release my own stuff: in ’98 I put out a release from a band I was in called Operation Huss, a 3-piece indie rock band.

I would say what exposed me to experimental music was the Red Room.  Definitely.  About 2000, through playing with friends like Carlos (Guillen).  He was in the band the Penny Regime at that point, which was kind of a straight-ahead punk band.  He was really into the Red Room, had played with a couple of the guys like Dan Breen.  I’m believing that I probably played a show with Carlos or Dan or another band, and just kind of branched of into seeing some bizarre stuff.

I went to the Red Room Crap Shoot, which still happens the first Tuesday of every month.  You just come in with anything, any instrument, that makes a sound.  It’s like an open-mic but more collaborative, they pick a couple of people and then you just kinda do your thing.  I would say that definitely opened me up to experimental music because I hadn’t heard anything like that before.  Awesome, great feeling to be exposed to that stuff. I mean I was listening to some early Sonic Youth before that which was pretty out there…but the Red Room definitely opened me up to the weirder side of Baltimore music.

AS: When did MT6 start evolving into an engine for the more creative and experimental stuff to come out of Baltimore?

Alex S: Probably not until 2004.  Between 2000 and 2004, I probably released about 10 things…mostly of stuff I was in.  This band called Rot Guts, 2 bass players, a drummer and a keyboardist.  We played shows and released something.  Some friends were in Chief Pokawa.  So at that point, it was just me and close friends.  But at that point, in 2004, I was approached by the band Human Host who were looking for someone to put their stuff out.  It was all CD-R then, so that was the first official CD release.  So the first chapter was me releasing my own, and real close friends’, stuff.  Then when I released that, it was kind of a new chapter.

Read the rest…

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MP3: Old 97′s – I Will Remain

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MP3: Old 97′s – Color Of A Lonely Heart Is Blue

The Old 97′s played a sold out show at the Recher this past Saturday night.  This show was a special night for those fans of Old 97′s because on this tour, Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond (both members of Old 97′s) opened with solo acoustic performances.  The Recher filled early with fans eager to hear the openers as well as the main act.  Murry started the evening playing either guitar or harmonium with his very quiet and haunting, old style country melodies.  Rhett took the stage next playing many new songs from his latest release, Rhett Miller,  as well as some great classics.  Old 97′s played a lengthy set to close the evening.  For Rhett Miller fans: he will be playing the Black Cat in DC on September 17th.  Tickets for this go on sale THIS Friday (July 3rd).

Enjoy the photos from the evening.

Old 97′s

Read the rest…

If you’ve been looking for a way to celebrate Michael Jackson’s life, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one coming up.  We’ve got a pair of free tickets to giveaway to Who’s Bad, performing a sizable number of MJ’s hits at Rams Head Live on Jul 8th.  BYT covered the 9:30 Club performance and seemed to have a favorable opinion on proceedings.

Entering is simple: comment or email us at auralstates at gmail dot com with your most vivid, moving or hilarious MJ memory.  Winner will be chosen on Jul 7th at 5PM.

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MP3: Discovery – I Want You Back (In Discovery) from 2009′s LP (Jackson 5 Cover)

Editor’s Note: LP was dropped a week early for $8.  $2 goes to Oxfam America.

I think I’ve done my fair share of radio bashing here at Aural States. Whether it was by wholeheartedly agreeing with Spectre’s assessment of modern hip hop radio, or whilst dissing the filler-engrossed waves put out by what was once 99.1 HFS, I think I’ve made my opinion clear (of course, for these purposes, I ignore the few respectable oases still in operation today. Props to WTMD and WPFW for solid programming).

As if to spite FM radio’s gloomy condition, Discovery, the product of Ra Ra Riot vocalist Wes Miles and Vampire Weekender Rostam Batmanglij, have found something to like about turning on their dials. They find use for the treading beats and beaten-to-death subject material thrown together by dozens of half-assed MTV projects, the difference being that their output is surprisingly enjoyable in its entirety, rather than only mildly so in single form.

The most interesting track on their debut, LP, comes in the form of a Jackson 5 cover. They deftly dodge the the problem of recreating Mr. Jackson’s superpitch vocal work by using R&B’s recently popularized all-purpose miracle cure–autotune, suitably reimagining one of Motown’s greatest tunes in context with modern radio conventions (right down to the too-fake-for-life drum kit and glazed-slick production). The funny thing is, it sounds completely authentic, like something blasted out of a high-schooler’s mom’s minivan on the ride home after senior prom. Because they’ll remember that moment for the rest of their lives.

Their song selection couldn’t have been more appropriate for a good-ol’-fashion modern-meets-classic comparison. The Corporation-written chorus progression translates well into any medium, and the lyrics remain just as relevant today as they were 40 years ago. Past releases have proven that all performers involved have a keen eye for catch, making Discovery’s cover an ideal candidate to show where pop music has gone.