Ratscape II is coming up this weekend (July 19-21) at Hour Haus Studios, located on the SE corner of North Avenue and Howard St. Unlike some of the other Baltimore festivals, Ratscape is somewhat of a DIY kind of thing, and most of the bands playing are not well known, although there are some distinct exceptions. As the day wears on, you will notice the lineup features more established groups that record for known labels.
There are more than 40 bands playing from all genres of music. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a preview of what every band sounds like? Well I thought I would give it a shot. Some of them were kind of hard (impossible to find). But here’s the best I could do. If I could find a video, it’s posted. Otherwise, enjoy the audio. This is a long post, keep scrolling.
FRIDAY July 19
Friday’s line-up is starts off with rap but then quickly moves into some electronic, contemplative, emo-pop, punk and then psychedelic/doom sounds. It’s a good mix.
Eze Jackson: rap; 2:45 – 3:15pm
Something Complex: electronic, rap and more; 3:30 – 4:00pm
Seaglass: punk, sadcore; 4:15 – 4:45pm
Expert Alterations: minimalist pop, Velvet Underground-y; 5:00 – 5:30pm
NO VIDEO
The Matrimonials: booze flavored party rock; 5:45 – 6:15
Choke Motel: keyboards instrumental, jazzy/funky; 6:30 – 7pm
NO VIDEO
Nice Guys: avante punk, no rules; 7:15 – 7:45
The Pleasant Livers: Whartscape veterans, bizarre noisy insanity; 8:00 – 8:30
USSA Pleasuredome: transcendental soundscapes; 8:45 – 9:15
Special People: punk rock; 9:30 – 10:00pm
Shining Mirrors: indie rock; 10:15 – 10:45pm
Raindeer: lush pschedelic pop; 11:00 – 11:30pm
Arbouretum: awesome folk-tinged doom; 11:45 – 12:15am
The Flying Eyes: psychedelic rock; 12:30 – 1:00am
The Sterling Sisters: Gothic, NeoCountry. These folks wear cowboy hats and everything. 1:15 – 1:45am
Saturday, July 20th
Saturday starts off with some folk and country inspired bands and then moves into the punk realms.
Dead Whale Ramblers: conscious folk/grass; lots of strings; 2pm – 2:30pm
Could not find a video but I’ve seen them live. Kind of a early 90s grunge- punk thing going on. Listen. 2:45 – 3:15pm
NO VIDEO
Et Al: Dreamy indie rock. They have a SoundCloud, too. 3:30 – 4pm
NO VIDEO
Voodoo Pharmacology: epic melodies, banjos, strings, masculine vocals, creepy lyrical themes; what’s not to like here? 4:15 – 4:45pm
Gutterhooks: psychedelic punk rock recorded lo-fi like early black metal; kvlt pvnx. Listen. 5:00 – 5:30pm
NO VIDEO
Foghound: stoner rock; 5:45 – 6:15pm
Lazlo Lee: bluesy garage rock; 6:30 – 7pm
Bobby E. Lee & The Sympathizers: I will just use the description they provide — swampy, stompy good timey music; 7:15 – 7:45pm
Wet Brain: almost surf/garage rock. Only videos I could find were embedded in their Facebook page. You might be able to see this one. 8:00 – 8:30pm
Hollywood: catchy Ramones-esque punk rock with more intelligible vocals. 8:45 – 9:15pm
Listen here.
NO VIDEO
Ravagers: Punk. Period. 9:30 – 10:00pm
Advlts: progressive punk; is that a thing? Anyway, these guys deliver. 10:15 – 10:45pm
Baklavaa: No, you are not tripping, it’s just Baklavaa. Also, you will never be able to unsee this video .11:00 – 11:30
Christopher Nobody & The Nothing: agressive punk noise with some surprises thrown in. Found a video but nothing on Facebook. 11:45 – 12:15
Slow Jerks: fist pumpin’, sing-a-longin’, crowd participatin’ rock and roll. 12:30 – 1:00am
Hard Dads: punky power three piece. Here’s a video from somewhere in the Copy Cat building. 1:15am – 1:45am
Sunday, July 21st
If you like metal, then Sunday is probably the day to attend Ratscape. As the day progress, the music becomes darker and heavier and blacker and grindier.
NeverThought: They call themselves nu metal. You decide. 2:pm – 2:30pm
The Last Valorians: modern metal; 2:45 – 3:15pm
Oath: This is a new band. I am told this is stoner/doom something. Come find out. 3:30 – 4:00pm
Pallid: post-rock, ambient/drone; 4:15 – 4:45pm
Phantom Lanterns: post-rock 5:00 – 5:30pm
Mountainwolf: sludgy stoner rock. Check out this live recording on BandCamp. Listen. 5:45 – 6:15pm
Big Mouth: I think the video speaks for itself. 1…2…3…4….! 6:30 – 7:00pm
Nude Mass: this band is new, with members of Slow Jerks/ Lazlo Lee & the MCs. 7:15 – 7:45pm
Urine: also new d-beat noise punk explosion with members of dead peasants/ecco/chaos destroy/endlessbummer. 8:00 – 8:30pm
Sexgender: They call it noise-punk. I’d agree. Most of the videos I found of this band are crap so just listen here. 8:45 – 9:15pm
Barbelith: dark, depressive, atmospheric black metal; 9:30 – 10:00pm
Melungeon: sludgy, experi-mental noise. Could not find a video but you can listen here. This band shares a member with Whoarfrost, if that gives you any indication of how weird and unpredictable this music is. 10:15 – 10:45pm
Cemetery Piss: angry black metal. Don’t let the SoundCloud link fool you, this is what Cemetery Piss sounds like. Listen. 11:00 – 11:30pm
Rukut: hardcore, grindcore. This video is like samples of a lot of songs but there are not a lot of good videos of this band out there. 11:45 – 12:15pm
Noisem: This death metal band, formerly known as Necropsy this band, is currently signed to A389 Records and recently played the Scion Fest. Also they are all like still in high school or something. 12:30 – 1:00pm
And there you have it, something from every band playing Ratscape. It’s kind of nice to think that Baltimore has this much talent. And also, that this is just a tiny bit of it.
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