Photo credit: Flickr user Dorret

Hunting for safety from the sun’s rays made me feel something like an animal Sunday. I was leaning against the old rusted fence in the MICA parking lot, watching Santa Dads do their own thing–and it is totally theirs to keep, when I became aware of all the Wham City members working their butts off in the draining heat. I remember running into (who I believe was) Stefani Levin of Wham City at the Load of Fun on Saturday night. She was clearly fatigued, and (not knowing who she was) I asked “hell of a show, right?” She exhaled loudly and replied, “I’m working.” You might imagine what hell organizing and executing this monstrous Whartscape must have been. For those of us who attended, I think it’s time to give a quick thanks to the people that put this rad fest on.

Read the rest…

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: 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.

Enjoy these exclusive world premieres from Baltimore Highlands while you read this review!

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MP3: Height With Friends – Baltimore Highlands

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MP3: Height With Friends – Code of Love

I would hardly consider myself expert or even well-versed in hip-hop or rap, but I know that the vast majority of what goes on in those circles today is distasteful to me.  I am weary of the over-the-top chest-puffing machismo and misogyny, xenophobia, and militarism that plagues much of modern rap/bling-hop.

Thankfully Height is different. Read the rest…