So Whartscape is here. If you were smart, you saw Matmos last night. If you are smart, you’ll be seeing Arbouretum and Beach house headline tonight’s lush 2640 bill.

For those of you who might have missed it, we did a series of small interviews (min-terviews) with notable ne’er-do-wells who are performng Whartscape, asking the same 5 questions and seeing who tolerated us enough to get themd one; it was called Countdown to Whartscape.  Here they are, rounded up for your enjoyment and edification:

T-7 Andy Abelow

T-6 Arbouretum

T-5 WZT Hearts

T-4 Parts & Labor

T-3 Ponytail

T-2 Thank You

T-1 Jana Hunter, DD/MM/YYYY, the Creepers

T-0 Cex and Dan Deacon, Matmos

So, who did you like best?  Find anything interesting and informative, or maybe downright shocking?

1. Describe your feelings on Wham City and what it means to you?

When I first was making a decision about whether or not to take job
offers in Toronto and Baltimore I told my grad students in a class at
the Art Institute about the tossup and one of my super energetic and
hilarious students from Baltimore started ranting about Wham City and
how righteous the scene here was and telling me that I should skip
Toronto. I took her advice and haven’t regretted it. (Sorry Toronto!)

The show we are playing takes place on my birthday so it mostly means
Happy Birthday! Aside from that, it’s the fest that we missed last
year because we were moving and now we get to play in the sweet spot
with some of my favorite people from this city. Being on a bill with
Leprechaun Catering and Nautical Almanac is intimidating.

More than I can say in a questionnaire.

4. Come up with a snappy tagline/mantra/motto for one or more of the following: Baltimore, Wham City and Whartscape.

You’re never going to top “The City That Reads” for Baltimore.

I would wear a snake costume because Baltimore has been a
skin-shedding place for me.

This is it. It’s here. Whartscape 2008 kicks off tonight at the Charles Theater with a spectacular, Matmos- headlined line-up and we hope everyone makes it out.

For the last day of our Countdown min-terviews, we’ve got some heavy-hitters including Mr Green-skull himself, one of Wham City’s patriarchs, Dan Deacon, homegrown electronic music royalty Cex.

Read on!

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MP3: Dan Deacon – Wham City

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We’re winding down here and it’s time for the deluge of min-terviews and more. Today we’ve got Jana Hunter, DD/MM/YYYY and the Creepers featured.

Jana Hunter

First up is Jana Hunter, fairly recent Texan transplant to Baltimore, serving up some delicious, jangling, startlingly transparent and moving music. She was also the first bold soul to call us out on our slightly sarcastic costume question #5. Listen to some tunes and read on, intrepid web surfer!

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MP3: Jana Hunter – Valkyries
1. Describe your feelings on Wham City and what it means to you?

my boyfriend is in wham city and my roommates are in wham city and wham city was the first place i came to (almost) when i stayed in baltimore so i know nothing else of your town.

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Thank You are currently well-poised. SIgned to Thrill Jockey like Arbouretum, Pontiak and so many others, they recently released their J. Robbins-produced latest effort Terrible Two to warm reviews from all the typically curmudgeonly outlets (I’m looking at you Pitchfork).

Their special sauce? A particularly dis-equilibrated, frenzied mix of blistering punk guitars, electronic noise and melody, driving, demonic rhythms, primitive vocal utterances and a slew of other madness-cultivating sounds. It would seem manic is the new black this season. And everyone wants in.

Thankfully, I bought into it ages ago. So I have no qualms loving on Thank You. Jeff McGrath took some time to partake in our little min-terview series. Read on and enjoy this track!

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MP3: Thank You – Empty Legs from Terrible Two

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It approaches.  Only 3×24 hrs left and you’ll be at the Charles, waiting breathlessly for Matmos while freaking out with Teeth Mountain.  Or maybe you’ll be seeing a certain caped crusader at midnight.

Whatever.

Today’s mini-terview: Dustin Wong of Ponytail.  If you haven’t already, pick up Ice Cream Spiritual and read our review.  It’s a killer album.  Enjoy this cut and read on for Dustin’s answers!

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MP3: Ponytail – Celebrate the body electric (it came from an angel) from Ice Cream Spiritual

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The common thread linking the majority of Whartscape’s massive line-up is undoubtedly explosiveness.

You would be hard-pressed to pick an artist more emblematic of this than Brooklyn’s Parts & Labor. Bearing the marks of hardcore, punk and experimental tendencies, their sound has grown from mostly instrumental to encompass more harmony, more vocals and even horn passages, making them one of the most vital and bright iterations of noise-and-drone inspired music extant.

Parts & Labor will be electrifying your ears outside on North Ave for the last day of Whartscape. Be there. Listen to these tracks and read on for their answers to our pre-packaged Whartscape mini-terview.

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MP3: Parts & Labor – Fractured Skies from Mapmaker

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MP3: Parts & Labor – Voltage from Rise Rise Rise

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WZT Hearts produce some of the most glorious noise you can find around Baltimore. They create soaring, blistering and expansive soundscapes awash in electronics, feedback and drone. Their set on Saturday’s outside stage for Whartscape shouldn’t be missed.

Read on as laptop extraordinaire and Floristree-resident Jason Urick takes time to reflect on our Wham and Whart questionnaire.

And enjoy these tracks off their 2007 Carpark release, Threads Rope Spell Making Your Bones.

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MP3: WZT Hearts – Hearth Carver

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MP3: WZT Hearts – The Den

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Continuing in our series of Whartscape mini-terviews, next up is Arbouretum. We snuck in our set of Whartscape questions when we met Arbouretum’s somewhat reclusive front-man Dave Heumann at, get this, Cylburn Arboretum.

Get it?

Full interview from that meeting, consisting of things not related to Wham and Whart, coming in the next few days. Keep an eye out for their limited edition split LP Kale with friends Pontiak, featuring some John Cale covers, a couple Arbouretum originals and Pontiak’s entire album Sun on Sun. Album drops July 22…

But for now, on to the Wham City reflection and some fancy, Arbouretum-approved music!

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MP3: John Cale – Gideon’s Bible from Vintage Violence

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MP3: Arbouretum – Buffalo Ballet (John Cale cover) from Kale split LP (to be released 7/22)

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To celebrate all things Wham and Whartscape, we asked some of the artists performing to answer five questions. Andy was our first test subject. Stay tuned for tons more in the week to come.

Andy Abelow is all the fuck over the Baltimore scene, loosely dubbed “the Greatest Scene in the World” or “the Scene that Reads” by Rolling Stone. Like many in the musical circles of Charm City, he is an artistically polygynous multi-instrumentalist…going it solo as well as performing with many other acts including Jana Hunter and Bob Keal-fronted Small Sur (whose delightful debut album drops later this year).

If all this wasn’t enough, he clearly counts Elvis Perkins (one of my favorite artists to emerge in the past 10 years) as a source of inspiration.

Andy performs his fractured oft haunting take on folk rock at the 2640-situated Friday night show during Whartscape. A slew of other folk-influenced rockers fill out the bill including Jana Hunter, Beach House and Arbouretum. A show that likely shouldn’t be missed, sure to be filled with transcendent moments of beauty and clarity. Plus 2640 Space is sweet.

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MP3: Andy Abelow – Not of this world

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MP3: Andy Abelow – Waking up with easy eyes

Enjoy this music from Mr Abelow and read on to his answers!

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