A few weeks ago Holy Ghost Party performed at the Metro Gallery as a duo, with their debut full length fresh off of a release on cassette (Friends) and vinyl (GenPop). Guy Werner taped the whole live set, a calculated raucous that occupied in the same realm as their Worlds in Collusion performance did earlier this year.
Head over to Push Record Play for sets by Deradoorian and Co La from the same night.
While the first night of IRL aims at your heart, the second night of the exhibit opening aims to please your feet. This Saturday 9/10 you'll find Co La, Deradoorian (Angel from Dirty Projectors), Holy Ghost Party, and Maxmillion Dunbar at the Metro Gallery.
This will be your first chance to grip Co La's Fugitive of Leisure cassette, a summer single series that concluded today with the full album up now over on Altered Zones. These new Co La bangers are further affirmation of Papich's "new anything" genre, a re-contorted and re-imagined sound defined by years of pop music.
Check out cuts from all four acts playing the second night of IRL below.
You can RSVP for night two of IRL at the Metro Gallery right here.
David Jacober and Zachary Utz make a lot of music, and a wide variety at that. Their main project is Dope Body, a Baltimore staple that got some Pitchfork love yesterday.
However their other outlet, a less loud and abrasive entity, is set to release it's debut. Holy Ghost Party are only an EP deep at this point, but are now ready with their first full length. It's a self-titled affair, and is out this weekend on cassette via Friends Records.
Holy Ghost Party is over 35 minutes of some of the weirder pop music you'll hear. While combining elements of countless genres, somewhere it all comes together into some form of prog-pop. In Dope Body, guitar is used to create alien-like noise that's meant to puncture your head-space. But in Holy Ghost Party, similar styles are used to add unique percussion and a rich layer of strange that's fit for a more cosmic experience.
The album will first be made available at Worlds in Collusion tomorrow, where Holy Ghost Party opens up the event starting at noon. Check out the new tape here.
A few weeks ago we presented a killer bill at the Golden West which included Raindeer, Weekends, Winks, and Holy Ghost Party. Some of our favorite younger bands from our fair city, the evening proved to live up to the hype by selling out and providing stellar aural pleasure for those who made it in to the Golden West before capacity was reached.
Valerie was there to capture all the action, including Raindeer's first ever Baltimore show which had kids dancing and singing along the words to tracks from their debut EP.
I haven't done a Clusterfuck post in a while, but this weekend's abundance of shows is calling for it. I've already highlighted the majority of these shows, so we'll keep it short and sweet as a friendly reminder of what you can treat your ears to this weekend.
Tonight the Windup Space is where you should be, as Shark Tank will be rocking their record release show with Ed Schrader and Moss of Aura. More info right here.
Tomorrow night sports a bill curated in full by yours truly, as Weekends, Raindeer, Winks, and Holy Ghost Party take over the Golden West. These are some of my absolute favorite new bands from Baltimore, and I'm stoked to bring them all together for one bill. This one's just $5, more info on the affair can be found right here.
And last but not least, Sunday night's got a killer show as well, as everyone's favorite doom-folk outfit will be celebrating their new record upstairs at the Ottobar. For their record release show, Arbouretum will be joined by Secret Mountains, making this more than worth not paying for. Yup, this one's free, and it starts at 9 PM.
Next month is looking pretty stacked in terms of shows to see in Baltimore, and we were stoked to add another to the batch by putting this bill together. On Saturday, February 12 the Golden West will host four of our absolute favorite newer local projects with Weekends, Raindeer, Winks, and Holy Ghost Party all rounding out the raucous lineup.
Tickets are just $5 and you can grab them in advance right here. Starts at 10 PM.
The duo of Holy Ghost Party contains 2/3 of Dope Body, but is a whole other entity in and of itself... a psychedelic blast of prog pop with just about everything in between.
Winks is Chase from INEVERYROOM and Adam from Weekends, and this is to be their first show of 2011. This will be your first chance to grib their new album, She's Done.
This will be Raindeer's first ever hometown show, the project of Charlie Hughes joined by Beau Cole of Lands & Peoples and Devin Byrnes. New material out soon via Gprecs.
Weekends continue their onslaught of free-form pop scuzz, with their first proper LP Strange Cultures dropping right around the time of this show on wax via Friends Records.
The debut EP from Holy Ghost Party is now available - four tracks from the duo of David Jacober and Zachary Utz, who are also 2/3 of Dope Body. This batch of new tracks is called Prog Parents, and will also be a part of an LP the band is currently finishing up.
Above is the brand new "CHEF SOLDIERS", which you'll find on the forthcoming full length DADVIBES, but not the current EP called Prog Parents. It's much like the hardly-tamed weirdo pop I've featured from these dudes before, but marches in a sunnier direction. Interwoven bursts of prog and psych are crossed with layered percussion and infectious vocals. This is done in a fashion that makes pinpointing a genre rather precarious, as there is seemingly a plethora of influences at work.
Prog Parents hits similarly from start to finish, with the instantly-addictive "Toys" and "Tricky", to the supernatural and industrial jams of "Beachwhole". This tape is an awesome introduction to these Baltimore folks, and comes highly recommended. The cassette was just released on WTR CLR, and you can snag yours right here. HOLY GHOST PARTY - PROG PARENTS WTRCLR008 Duration _ 15:00
On August 21, DJ Rice was attacked and beaten while walking home at night in Baltimore. He spent eight days in ICU, and is still at Johns Hopkins. Some friends of his are having a benefit this Sunday at Floristree in order to raise money for DJ's medical expenses. Performing will be Future Islands, Weekends, Holy Ghost Party, Butt Stomach (Dan Deacon and Kevin O'Meara), and INEVERYROOM.
DJ is nothing short of an all around amazing dude, and on top of that has an incredibly rad music project called Teenage Souls. Above is "Ice Floe", a new track that will be on his forthcoming WTRCLR cassette. Our heart goes out to DJ and his family.
Also this weekend - on Saturday, September 4th head down to DC with a bunch of other Baltimore friends. The Cherch is hosting a show with all Bmore bands. Future Islands, Microkingdom, Dope Body, and Weekends will all be performing. Music starts at 7 PM, BBQ get's going at 5 PM. Also, BYOB. Above is the mix I made of all the bands playing this for our friend Jimmy at Head|Underwater.
Holy Ghost Party open up the show at the Golden West tonight with Fergus and Geronimo, A Giant Dog, and Junkers. Show starts at 10 and will run ya five bucks.
I shared the new Holy Ghost Party track "Shit House Luck" a little while back, and now present ya'll with another gem off of their forthcoming EP. Take a gander at "Tricky".
The intro reminds you where these guys are from (both dudes also play in Dope Body), with some industrial beats that eventually break way to the catchy and elaborate pop song that's found not too far below the surface. This is one of the bigger sounds found within their upcoming release, using noises lesser known to somehow create things that are comfortable and familiar.
The new EP from the duo via WTR CLR couldn't come soon enough.
Last Saturday night Floristree hosted a night filled with noise, haunted pop, fuzzy melodies, and kids climbing up the walls like spiders. That last one is a true story, Limb were straight crazy. See for yourself below, and get the full set of Weekends, Limb, Holy Ghost Party, B L A C K I E, Salamander Wool, and Jared Paolini after the jump.
The flier above is for a show Holy Ghost Party are playing this Saturday night at Floristree, along with Weekends, Salamander Wool, Jared Paolini, and B L A C K I E.
Baltimore's Holy Ghost Party is a duo that sports two familiar faces - Zachary Utz and David Jacober. You would likely recognize these dudes from their harsher and louder music outlet, Dope Body. Holy Ghost Party is a whole other story, one that gets going properly this summer with an official EP dropping on WTR CLR.
The EP is titled Prog Parents, and David passed along a copy to me the other day. It has been on super-heavy rotation since, with its infectiously hooked pop songs wrapped in layers of twisted sound and melody that are poised to entrance. Hear for yourself.
"Shit House Luck" is the second track on the forthcoming EP. It features an almost tropical vibe, morphed and blended with tamed noise and some pretty heady vocals. The only thing that even remotely resembles Dope Body throughout these tracks are their signature industrial guitar sounds, yet with Holy Ghost Party they are used more as a percussive element or to add a more layered feel.
I'd be sure to look out for the proper release of Prog Parents this summer, as these guys show a ton of promise for good things to come. The release will be limited to 100 copies on WTR CLR. Here's some live footage of Holy Ghost Party from last summer, and as you can see/hear their sound has evolved quite a bit since then.
The Soft House hosted a killer lineup last Friday night, and one of our photographers Valerie was there to shoot the whole evening. I unfortunately missed out on this one, but I heard through the grapevine that it was a more than stellar affair. Get a glimpse of some more shots below, and the full photo set after the jump.
Tonight you've got two adventures to choose from, one of which will weave you in and out of the silky marmalade forest full of ambient pop bliss, while the other will enter you into the stank-filled jungle of experimental angst and pure adrenaline. This might sound like a harsh curve, and well, that's because it is.
One of my favorite Baltimore spots, The Soft House, is hosting a super nice one tonight with Happy Family, Do While, Avocado Happy Hour, and Holy Ghost Party. Will of Happy Family just released one of the best splits I've heard in a while, one that features Run DMT on the A-side and himself on the B-side. The beautiful track streaming above is from that tape, and you can snag the whole thing from Wigflip now. Also, Avocado Happy Hour will be performing Spiegel en Spiegel by Arvo Part, and ice cream treats are promised by Amanda from AHH.
If you choose the jungle adventure, you'll be heading to the Golden West where you'll find the Twin Stumps album release party for Seedbed. Their new LP on Fan Death is incredibly awesome, and these dudes are even better live. They'll be supported by Leather and Janitor, and this one will run you five American dollars.
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'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.
