Photo Review: Whartscape 2009 Day Two

Photos by Valerie

Oh, Whartscape. I've already shared my love for Friday and Sunday's happenings, and alas we now have a ton of visuals for Saturday. Day two in the MICA parking lot was more than solid, with a wide array of sounds and vibes.

I stumbled up just in time for The Art Department, a band that I've yet to check out live. Their songs left me confused, as I knew they were played all wrong yet I was oddly attracted to them. Their knack for creating quirky pop songs backwards and upside down was truly unique, leaving me repulsed yet wanting more all at once.

Weekends rocked from the pavement, playing right in the middle of the early crowd as they prefer. One of Baltimore's best new bands, they sounded as tight as ever surely winning over some new fans. Sporting some new songs called "Roomate" and "Raingirls", I was pleasantly surprised that these new jams were readily available in CDR form. The new EP is called Suburban Dome, and it comes highly recommended.

The Woes bluesy New Orleans style rock were a welcome surprise, as was the marching band shenanigans of the What Cheer! Brigade. This was a full on marching band that completely stormed Station North, leaving nothing but dancing Whartscapers in their wake. Certainly a new twist on the collegiate sport genre, and a whole mess of fun.

Sick Weapons were fantastic and rocked pretty hard, almost as hard as Vincent Black Shadow. These guys completely leveled the crowd, scorching from all angles with their brand of psychedelic punk metal. Vincent Black Shadow completely ripped it, leaving you feeling all kinds of rowdy and wanting more. A stellar addition to the lineup.

This concludes our Whartscape 2009 coverage. Much thanks to Wham City for putting together such an awesome event, and here's hoping for many more years to come.

Photo Review: Whartscape 2009 Day Three

Photos by Chrissy

This year's Whartscape was nearly impossible for one entity to swallow in its entirety, and the third day certainly put the exclamation point on an action-packed weekend.

Above, Chrissy captured nearly 100 shots of the majority of the bands playing in the MICA lot, and not without bubbles, relay races, and slow dances! The weather remained beautiful and worries of interferences of any kind did not dare to cross anyone's mind. This year's Whartscape was extremely well run all around, and much thanks to Wham City for all of their hard work.

Early in the day, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez showed off a wide array of promising new tunes that bubbled and crooned their way through the hot mid day sun. Zomes provided a very chill and transcendent set of looped out melodies. And, Santa Dads provided smiles to all as they beatboxed and trumpeted their way through a pretty laid back set.

As the sun began to fade behind the brick wall, excitement began to soak through the crowd. After Gary War's solid set, Future Islands took the stage. Synth pop bliss immediately ensued, as the trio tore through a set well balanced with joyful anthems and heartfelt ballads. Sam is a true showman, as he poured out his heart and soul throughout the entire performance. Bubbles were blown, and dancing was contagious.

As most would expect, Double Dagger absolutely killed. Fresh off their national tour in support of More, it was clear that they were a bit amped to be back on their home turf. Nolan began the set with a slow dance to "Vivre Sans Temps Mort" and ended it with crowd surfing to my personal favorite "Half-Life". Inflatable drums were tossed into the crowd, much softer than the real one thrown last year. Nothing but good vibes all around, as these guys rocked just as hard as ever.

Dan Deacon put everything he had into Whartscape 2009, and one would expect nothing less from his performance Sunday night. Performing with his ensemble, the crowd somehow seemed to double in size. With group interpretive dances leading onto North Ave, a new song, and a relay race, this performance was nothing short of legendary.

Happy faces were worn proudly by everyone present, and the crowd even seemed to actually abide this time when Dan suggested everyone dance more up and down rather than sideways. Not to mention the ensemble sounded fantastic, a seemingly difficult task when working with that many talents onstage.

Stay tuned for photos this week from Day two (Saturday) of Whartscape 2009.

Photos: Whartscape 2009 Day One

Photos by Chrissy

Be prepared to be bombarded with photos from all three days of what was a pretty fantastic Whartscape 2009. Above is the photo set from the first day, and if you missed the performances outside the BMA due to work like me, be sure to check out Jeff's recordings over at Beatbots.

Friday night's seated show inside the BMA's auditorium was a great way to get things rolling. There was some pretty hilarious comedy, mind-frying videos, and some stellar musical performances. The legend that is Dan Higgs put on a capivating all vocal performance, and Brooklyn's So Percussion boggled brains with their mesmerizing and electrifying percussive entourage.

But the night was capped off with perfection, with Celebration taking the stage as a six piece. Starting off with some old stuff, but quickly getting into new material, the band filled the room with atmospherical rock gems that never age in beauty. The new songs sounded great live, and they played at least one that hasn't yet been released on their site. Katrina Ford's voice sounded amazing as usual, and it was good to see the majority of the crowd getting out of their seats and coming up to the front of the auditorium.

Stayed tuned for a ton of visuals and thoughts from days two and three of Whartscape.

Mixtape: Happy Whartscape 2009!

With about 29 different artists, this playlist only represents 20% of the bands playing.

Random Whartscape Spotlight: Gary War

This year's Whartscape mostly focuses on artists from around the 'hood, but also welcomes those from round yonder as well. Gary War fits the yonder category with perfection, as his origin seems to go unknown.

Permanent residence or not, Gary War is a ridiculously busy entity. Dude's got a bunch of tapes and vinyl already released with Shdwply and Sacred Bones, and more on the way with Woodsist.

It seems apparent that his nomadic behavior reigns true in both physical space and aural recordings. His debut full length dropped on Shdwply last year, titled New Raytheonport. Completely drenched in lo fidelity neo-pop, this LP was one of my favorite releases of last year that for the most part went completely overlooked.

Ariel Pink helped produce New Raytheonport, and it's incredibly easy to tell. Like Pink, Gary War's ability to write psychedelic dream-tone jams seems to flow effortlessly. This collection of synthy lounge tunes is truly unique, and feels as if it could have come out of three different decades...all at once.

You can download the album for free or buy it (recommended) over at his blog, along with a bunch of other releases of his. Gary War plays Whartscape during the day on Sunday at the MICA parking lot.

Whartscape 2009 Lineup (Updated)

Aural States got the full scoop today, and Wham City now has the official details posted. Here are the basics.

This year one day passes are 18 bucks and a full festival MEGA pass is 45. The Mega pass guarantees access to every event, which is important considering the night events at Load of Fun are first come first serve AFTER Mega pass holders get in. Load of Fun is small.

There will only be 300 mega passes sold. Mega pass and individual tickets will be sold via Wham City's site on June 29th at noon. Shows will take place at the MICA art studio lot, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Load of Fun from July 10-12.

But more importantly, the music. There are over 130 bands playing:

Adventure, Air Waves, AK Slaughter, Alexis Gideon, Allen Cordell, Ami Dang, Andy Abelow, Annex Theater, Art Department, At the End of Infinite Rope, Bad Brilliance, Barky, BDRM PPL, Beast Master, Bedlam Theatre, Big Bear, Bird Names, Black Vatican, Blood Baby, Blue Leader, Boogie Border, Butt Stomach, C Spencer Yeh, Cars Will Burn, Celebration, Chandeliers, Charlotte and Joe, Child Bite, Child Bride, Clarissa Gregory, Cliff Evans, Connor Kizer and Adam Endres, Crazy Dreams Band, The Creepers, Dan Deacon Ensemble, Dan Higgs, DDMMYYYY, Despot, DJ Dog Dick, Dope Body, Double Dagger, Drip House, Eagle Ager, Ear Pwr, Ed Schrader, Eric Hnatow, Funny Clown, Future Islands, Gary War, GDFX, Golden Birthday, Grasslung, Hair Police, Height, Hooliganship, Human Host, Infinity Window, Jana Hunter, Janitor, Jared Paolini, Jason Willett, Jimmy Joe Roche, John Eaton, John Weiss, Justin Frye Meat Wallet Bells Pieces, Killer Whales, Kokomo, Leprechaun Catering, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, Little Howlin Wolf, Liturgy, Living Things, Lizz King, Lo Moda, Lonnie Walker, Lord Scrumage, Magnet City Kids, Mark Brown, Married in Berdichev, Mason Ross, Melissa Moore, Meredith Moore, Mickey Free, Milton Melvin Croissant III, Mincemeat or 10speed, MNDR, Narwalz, Nate Boyce, Nautical Almanac, Needle Gun, Noble Lake, Nuclear Power Pants, Olaf Breuning, Peter Glantz, Pleasant Livers, Plural MC, Polygons, Ponytail, Quiet Hooves, R.M. O'Brien, Rap Dragons, Romo Roto, Rotten Milk Band, Santa Dads, Schwarz, Sewn Leather, Seyjano, Shams, Showbeast, Sick Weapons, Silk Flowers, Small Sur, Smartgrowth, Smarts, So Percussion, Soft Pink Truth, Something by Dina Kelberman, Spellcaster, Talk Normal, Team Robespierre, Teen Girl Fantasy, Teeth Mountain, Thank You, The Creepers, The Degenerettes, The New Flesh, The Title Sounded Better in French (Lola/Anna), The Woes, Trockeneisis, Truth Serum, Twin Stumps, Videohippos, Vincent Black Shadow, Weekends, What Cheer Brigade Marching Band, Witch Hat, Wolf Eyes, Wye Oak, Y2KEITH, Yoshi Sodeoka, Zomes, Bands We Forgot!, And More!

Got that?

Whartscape 2009 In The Works...

This year's Whartscape will take place in a month, spanning July 9th to the 12th. Tickets will be on sale soon for your purchasing pleasure.

The only band confirmed to be playing as of yet is Double Dagger on the 12th, which was announced as part of their national tour this summer.

I understand that I just provided you with little to no information, but thats all I got now. Check back for more details soon, or find something more informative to read.