A few big names released albums while I’ve been away the last couple months so here’s a brief recap:

Modest Mouse – No One’s First, and You’re Next

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MP3: Modest Mouse – The Whale Song

Any time a band as huge as Modest Mouse drops a new album there’s usually plenty of fanfare and press to go around, but this EP came out to relatively little attention.  But I suppose it’s easy to be dwarfed by new singles by Radiohead and Jay-Z and Kanye West, and the news of the Beatles remasters to be released on the 40th anniversary of their break-up. No One’s First and You’re Next is definitely worth checking out if you were a fan of the last two productions.  Although the EP is made up of songs that didn’t fit on those albums thematically, the sound is consistent and it’s generally easy to see which songs came from which session.

There’s nothing bad on here, in fact the quality of songwriting is very high, with none of the self-indulgent repetition that afflicted this band’s outtakes and studio sessions in their early years. It’s not cohesive from one song to the next, but you shouldn’t expect it to be since it wasn’t recorded with a theme in mind. This eclecticism goes a long way to making the record feel more lightweight than the slightly overwrought Modest Mouse that appeared on the last two albums. It’ll be fun to see whether they can grow without heavy guitars in the same way The Flaming Lips did in their second decade.

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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.

**I’ve assuredly missed some shows. Please add your show/suggestions via comments.

FRIDAY

• Brightblack Morning Light, Zomes, Fursaxa — The Talking Head Club. (CM/GS)
  Get your freak-folk/droney/stoner jams out at this FULLY stacked, not-to-be missed show. Brightblack Morning Light = blissful reverb-soaked throwback mellowness.

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  MP3: Brightblack Morning Light – Oppressions Each

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Debate night or Tegan and Sara sapped much of the pull from this show, which should have been substantial.  The night featured a killer set from local mainstays Bad Liquor Pond (captured here by the Baltimore Taper), a spectacular set from Baltimore lush-rockers Thrushes (probably top of their game, which is ironic since they are on hiatus now until next year to regroup the loss of their drummer Ryan Sterner) and a charming set from recent hype-darlings Glasvegas.

Bad Liquor Pond was really in the groove, nailing their mid-tempo blues-n-psych as I’ve never heard them do before.  Thrushes was firing on all fronts, sweeping and grandiose waves of emotions swirling about enough to make anyone woozy.  Sadly, they were cut criminally short…just before they were to premiere some new material.  Glasvegas put on a set that was the epitome of showmanship, a mysterious and heady immersion hewed from the same cloth as Thrushes, namely the Phil Spector set.  The stage was pitch black and minimally lit by nearly exhaustive red dwarfs hanging above the stage and brief and brilliant flashes of white strobe, lending them a bit of a supernatural, otherworldly silhouette fitting for their spacious and reverbed-out, dark pop compositions.

Enjoy the photos from our newest photo contributor Ryan Creel, shooting in the difficult black hole lighting situation.

All photos: Ryan Creel

Bad Liquor Pond

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The duo of pianist Irina Nuzova and cellist Wendy Warner packed every available seat this Saturday. While late arrivals missed out on the CityPaper’s Best-rated chairs, no one sighed from discomfort. These ladies first whipped out an eloquent Myaskovski Sonata in A minor – offering daring bliss to rapt listeners.

Warner is a Rostropovich competition winner who debuted under the baton of the maestro himself, so the Myaskovski – dedicated to Rostropovich – was the apt choice. The first movement opened the soul, ending with the cello’s notes sounding alone.

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[All photography by Joe Pepin. Photo collages by myself.]

I found myself feeling pretty conflicted walking out of the Music Hall of Williamsburg after seeing Grizzly Bear for the second time in the flesh. As songwriters and performers, they are the cream of the crop, and I can assuredly say that Yellow House has changed my life, and my direction artistically.

When I saw them at 2640 Space here in Baltimore, I didn’t expect much. Their records are so meticulously calculated with textures and ambiance, I honestly didn’t expect them to be able to recreate much or any of that in a live situation.

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