Bring Pillows: Soft Fest

Another weekend in Baltimore, and yet another heap of shows to choose from. One event certainly stands out, spanning both Saturday and Sunday. Soft Fest features some of the areas finer mellifluous tunes.

Both days get going at 6 PM and run until midnight, with over ten acts each night all worth checking out. Organizers promise other activities of a more humbled variety, including chess tournaments, silent films, and Tom Selleck. Yup.

I was even told that the entire space would be lined with blankets. All mellow vibes aside, there's some pretty extraordinary talent lined up. Start clicking below:

Saturday
6:45: Run DMT
7:00: Semya
7:20: Holy Ghost Party
8:00: Each Others
8:20: The Bow Legged Gorilla
9:00: Turquoise Cats
9:20: Soft Cat
10:00: Poor Mouth
10:20: Avocado Happy Hour
11:00: Dustin Wong
11:20: M.C. Schmidt

Sunday
7:00: Daytime
7:20: Comeback Ranch
8:00: Bethany Dinsick
8:20: Happy Family
9:00: Andy Abelow
9:20: Lands and Peoples
10:00: Pilar Diaz and Lindsay Rowzinski
10:20: Secret Mountains
11:00: John Somers and Liz Meredith
11:20: Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez

I've highlighted a bunch of these artists before, as a lot have contributed some of the more beautiful tracks from within 695. Dustin Wong's magnificent Seasons has found its way to my turntable often, an LP drenched in unique textures and layers.

Avocado Happy Hour are currently working on their next album, with much to look forward to. They kindly sent me over a couple live tracks from an acoustic set they did at Sonic Circuits. Below is "Sitting Down", performed with a vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel, and Amanda singing through a megaphone.

Happy Family had an EP titled Sound Farm that had me pretty excited s few months back, with one of the catchier floaty bedroom pop jams I've heard. Check out "Cups" below.

And Lands and Peoples have shown much promise, as their hand-sewn sleeved EP is lush with dreamy folk pop sure to have you thinking of some of the better acts possessing similar sounds. Check out EP standout "Bad Habits".



There are others playing that I've pointed out before, and many of which I hope to recommend in the future. Stop by and stay awhile on Saturday or Sunday, or both. I've been asked to provide you with this email address, in case you need to know the location of said gathering. With a flyer like the one below, and Tom Selleck promised to be in attendance, showing up is a no brainer.