Moss of Aura - Wading + Release Show

It's no secret that Baltimore's perennial art-pop force Future Islands and all of its components are complete obsessions of ours, and we are beyond stoked to be bringing the first proper Moss of Aura LP to life on vinyl, cassette, and digitally very soon.



The new LP is titled Wading, and above is the first heard single dubbed "Titan". Moss of Aura is the solo synthscapes of Gerrit Welmers, the entity behind all of the keys and beats found within Future Islands' work.

Moss of Aura is used as an outlet for decompression and reflection between life on the road, and Wading was composed and recorded while Welmers was home in Baltimore in between some extensive Future Islands tours. Though Wading is open for interpretation, it will transport you somewhere. Choose your own vacation, if you will.



The release party for Wading is Wednesday, August 31 at Floristree in Baltimore with White Life, Breeze and Schwarz. There will be 50 exclusive test pressing copies of Wading on vinyl available for the first time at this event, so be sure and snag one. Wading also includes a set of five postcards, one of which is personalized for the record.

Order your copy of Moss of Aura's Wading right here from Friends Records.

Tonight: Rap Round Robin

Tonight is the fifth annual Rap Round Robin, which looks to be one of the most diverse displays of Baltimore hip hop yet. Performing tonight at Floristree will be AK Slaughter, Mickey Free and Secret Weapon Dave, PT Burnem, OOH of Brownfish with seeWEED, Height With Friends, Jones, Mania Music Group, The Plural MC, King Rhythm, Soul Cannon, Rapdragons, and Disturbed Individuals.





The Rap Round Robin is at Floristree, starts at 9 PM, and you can RSVP here.

Video: White Life - "Time is Wasting"

A new video directed by Dakota Solt for a track off one my favorite albums of the year dropped yesterday. Check out the short for White Life's "Time is Wasting" below.



A few things we've learned - getting stoned and dancing around in your room to White Life is White Life-approved, the 90s are still very much alive, and Jon Ehrens is terrible at tennis. It's a good thing he can sing and write some pretty serious pop songs.

The debut LP from White Life is available from Ehse. Tour dates after the jump.

Video: Hollywood - "(Scary) Cemetary"

Baltimore's jaded-garage party kids Hollywood are back in action with a new LP, and they just dropped a video to prove it. Looks like Halloween came early this year, guys.



"(Scary) Cemetary" is from the forthcoming Stunts LP, and the video was directed by Evan Devine. The new album is due out on Big Neck, and will be commemorated with a release show upstairs at the Ottobar on August 28 with Roomrunner, and Lady Piss.

Photos: In Every Room, Jabon, Dada Trash Collage

You can catch In Every Room tomorrow (8/15) at the Metro Gallery with Lands and Peoples and Binary Marketing Show. The evening starts at 8 PM and costs eight dollars.

On July 1st In Every Room played a brand new batch of tunes, the first set they had played after months of working on new material. They performed with the Effervescent Collective, who are pictured doing their thing above.



Don't miss out on their set tomorrow at the Metro Gallery, and peep some more shots by Valerie of Jabon, Dada Trash Collage, and the rest of the show at the H&H below.

Show: Dope Body, Roomrunner, Hume, Secret Mountains

Witch Hat - "Blood People"

This article and song originally premiered earlier today on Impose Magazine.

Witch Hat  is the rising Baltimore punk trio of Chris Day, Noel Freibert, and Conor Stechschulte. Connor and Noel have been creating blunt and physical horror tunes together since 2006, while Chris (Vlonde, Bear & Pieces) joined in 2008. Brown in a Dog is to be the band's first proper full length, after nearly ten self-released cassettes and CDRs. The vinyl is out in a few weeks, but here is the first taste.



Believe it or not this six minute stomper is the edited version, with the album's proper cut clocking in at over nine gruesome minutes. "Blood People" is a tale of very close friends physically conforming to one another to escape the drowning sorrows of day-to-day life. It drives the album's relentless tone deep into your skull, a journey full of both material despair and "hard-nosed tom-foolery."

The starkly grotesque Brown in a Dog was produced in a body shop paint booth by Baltimore's Craig Bowen. It was mastered by Charlie Pilzer, whose eclectic career includes a Grammy for mastering and restoring the Anthology of American Folk Music.

With the arrival of Brown in a Dog will also come the release of a split 7-inch that includes exclusive cuts from Zomes (Asa Osborne of Lungfish) and Witch Hat. Both the the new 12-inch and the 7-inch are available in a few weeks on Friends Records.

Pre-order Witch Hat's Brown in a Dog LP right here.

Video: Adventure - "Rio"

The video for Adventure's "Rio" directed by Andrew Defreitas surfaced this week over on Pitchfork, one of my absolute favorite cuts from the new LP called Lesser Known. In case you missed it, a few months ago on Impose Magazine I premiered another video from that same LP, a rightfully joyous affair for "Feels Like Heaven".

Lesser Known is out now on Carpark Records.

Gem Vision - Lynx

Justin Kelly's Watercolor Records has been on another hot streak, relinquishing four new tapes recently that are all worth a good listen. I've been making my way through these releases, and already shared Jason Urick and Cex's ridiculously good dub edit cassette. Next up is a release from the label owner himself, a new Gem Vision album.

Gem Vision has typically taken a more ambient form on past releases, but Lynx is the first beat-oriented affair from the Baltimore sound collagist. Describing these cuts as beats is a term I'll assign quite loosely, as Lynx isn't for the traditionalist.



Lynx was created just like any good beat album should - with some serious record crate digging. Kelly admits the process might not have been typical though, as he tells me he began by going to record shops looking for the most cheesy album covers he could find. From there it was all about re-contextualization, or as Kelly describes, "sampling and then destroying the sample and then finding some way to make it work."



The result is Lynx, almost 40 minutes of lo-fidelity light radio jams and obscure 80s re-imaginations that feel like a roller rink daydream. Some of the ingredients described include "Total Funk Recall", "Scrambled Romantic Saxophone", and "Don't Care Jive".

Lynx is available on cassette and as a free download from Watercolor Records.

Tonight: Blastoids, In Every Room, Religous Girls

Brave the thunderstorms and head to the back lot of Current Space tonight for some outside tunes with Blastoids, Religous Girls, and Baltimore's In Every Room.


The show starts at 9 PM, and costs just five dollars.

Prince Rama - "Rest In Peace"

Prince Rama are part of a massive Floristree lineup tomorrow with Liturgy, Witch Hat, PC Worship, and Adventure. Show starts at 9 PM, and it will cost you "ye$" dollars.

Brooklyn's Prince Rama are set to release their second full length on Animal Collective's Paw Tracks. Though they've slimmed down from a trio to a duo, little has changed.



With Michael Collins on hiatus, sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson have gone to create a record called Trust Now with Scott Colburn. "Rest In Peace" is a cut from the new LP, and starts off with a glorified Kung Fu burst that's straight out of your favorite 16-bit video game. The mood quickly changes and summons the spirits with a heady blend of tribal percussion, soaring vocals, and psychedelic entrancement.

The synths cut a lot sharper than in past efforts, with a much more pounding presence and fiercer low-end. All of the cosmic swirls and mysterious lyrics are still fully in tact, as "Rest In Peace" looks to solidify a sound that Prince Rama has been touring with for several years now. In order to promote the new affair Prince Rama is issuing out karaoke videos of tracks from the forthcoming LP by friends, including Woods' G. Lucas Crane's questionable and creepy rendition of "Incarnation".

Tuesday's Floristree show is a must, and you can RSVP here. Flyer by Chris Day.

Show: Co La - Chance Gets Lucky

There are shows, there are events, there are happenings, there are productions, there are parties, and sometimes there is just a room with people in it and music being played. Tomorrow night Co La (Matt Papich) and Daytime (Neal Reinalda) are presenting all, some, or none of these occurrences at Remington's Open Space.



July 30th's gathering is called Chance Gets Lucky, and it promises to go beyond the normal boundaries of Co La's champagne-pouring performance. The piece is based off a series of stories that have been posted on the Co La's Tumblr, and promises familiar songs that are remixed and re-contextualized. Papich describes tomorrow like so:

"At some point it becomes clear that the music is winding down. Encoded in the sound is a message that begins to make people aware of their surroundings again. This is partially because everyday sounds have been introduced on top of the music. It reminds people that abstractions are only openings, not the whole thing. Many people only now notice the changes in the space, and are surprised to see the monochrome paintings on the walls. They take pictures of themselves and their friends in front of them, like tourists, but often flash a little cleavage or moon the camera. Spirits are high. There are a variety of fliers and handbills on the floor. Some advertise events that have already happened, others represent services or brands. The flyers are simply designed, but colorful. Some are pure color, it's hard to tell if these are advertisements or not. There are now items for sale at the reception desk. One is a book whose cover reads "Bum Joke Book". Inside there is a spiritual exercises guidebook. There are also small porcelain copies of popular logos, like the Nike Swoosh or the Macintosh Apple. They've been cast so that you can smoke pot out of them, packing a bowl carved in the cup of the Swoosh, and hitting from the long pointy side. "

The evening starts at 9 PM, costs five dollars, and you can RSVP right here.

Photos: Witch Hat, Dope Body, Creepoid

Dope Body continue their "bro-rock" onslaught to support Nupping, and last month they were joined by Baltimore's Witch Hat and Philadelphia's Creepoid at the Golden West.





Valerie Paulsgrove was there to capture the action, never missing a chance to catch Andrew Laumann contort his face in ways we never thought were possible. Keep your ears peeled for Witch Hat. Chris, Connor, and Noel just finished up a new LP and it looks to be available sooner rather than later, more details to come.

Tonight: Callers, Nat Baldwin, Lands and Peoples

Tonight the Metro Gallery has a pretty blissful one for a Wednesday with Callers, Nat Baldwin (of Dirty Projectors acclaim), and Baltimore's own Lands and Peoples.





The show tonight starts at 8 PM, costs eight dollars, and you can RSVP right here.

Dan Deacon - Meetle Mice & Silly Hat Vs. Eagle Hat

Word from Dan Deacon's press agent came Friday of some reissues in the works, this on the eve of the weekend where Dan attended Comic-Con with Francis Ford Coppola to promote the upcoming film he's scoring called TWIXT which stars Val Kilmer.



Above is "Spring", lifted from Deacon's Silly Hat Vs. Eagle Hat. Originally written while Dan was in college and distributed at shows via CDR, Dan specifies that the composition is something he did as he was just learning how to interact with sound.



"My own face is F word" comes from Meetle Mice, which originated similarly. Dan writes, "These albums are like seeds. They sound, look and feel very different from the fruit that they've grown but they are still of the same tree." Both Meetle Mice and Silly Hat Vs. Eagle Hat are getting the reissue treatment compliments of Carpark Records. On September 13 the label will be releasing both albums together as a double LP. In addition to vinyl, Carpark is also dubbing a limited number of each album to cassette.

Meetle Mice and Silly Hat Vs. Eagle Hat will be available September 13 via Carpark.