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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Wham City has unquestionably changed the landscape of Baltimore music forever. So in anticipation of Whartscape 2008, we sat down with one of WC’s original members, Adam Endres (of Blood Baby & the Creepers) to get a little history lesson and peek into what exactly is driving the Wham City train, and where they are heading.
Aural States: I wasn’t quite sure if we should start with Whartscape history or Wham City history first.
Adam Endres: It probably makes sense if I do a modified, abbreviated history of Wham City. We all moved here in that first summer (2004) from Purchase College where we met.
AS: Who were the core members that formed Wham City at Purchase? You and Dan (Deacon)?
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MP3: Blood Baby – Paint the bush
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MP3: Ponytail – Jammin’ on a major scale
Editorial note: There has been some dispute over the information posted here, but we merely presented information we were told at the time of interview. A full transcript will be posted shortly.
Apparently there are some massive changes underway so we have removed the previous information at the email request of Wham City, received 0133AM 06/30/2008 :
we are having a meeting right now, will know everything ASAP.
sorry for the miscommunication.
if you could please remove that post or something to the like, it would help us a great deal. we are getting flooded with emails from bleep. thank you,
meredith moore
We completely understand the uncertain nature of booking an event such as Whartscape. and the changes in venues will be immediately reported as we are made aware of them. Keep on keepin on.
Update 06/30/2008 1052AM: Hmm, here’s what the Myspace bulletin says this morning, and it looks pretty similar to what we initially reported. Check it after the jump:
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