Soul Cannon

Soul Cannon (self-released)

If one band could be described as capturing the essence of Baltimore through sound, it would be the experimental hip-hop collective Soul Cannon. MC Eze Jackson and his Peabody-trained bandmates have been breaking musical boundaries in this city for more than a decade with their sonic hybrid fusing the likes of rap, rock, punk, jazz, and blues into a powder keg of NWA-meets-Rage Against The Machine fire. Speaking to everything from personal growth to politics, Jackson’s explosive vocals and breathless verses push the limits of tempo and power and encourage his bandmates’ livewire guitar, crashing drums, and glitchy electronics to play catchup. It’s this raw, unexpected energy that makes them so much like this town, refusing to back down or stay inside any lines. A mix of both new and old tracks, this long-awaited record bottles the band’s own inferno—a perfect introduction for the uninitiated, and a magnum opus for longtime fans. To see what we mean, simply start with “Play Hard.”

Sean K. Preston & The Loaded Pistols

Forgive (Rusty Knuckles)

Stumbling upon Sean K. Preston for the first time gives you a little taste of what it must have felt like for record execs to discover Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley. This rough-and-tumble raconteur happens to sound a little bit like both of those legends, but he is a man of his own talent, combining a medley of old-school genres—early rock-and-roll, roadhouse blues, honkytonk country—into something fresh and fierce in 2018. Preston has been one of Baltimore’s best-kept secrets for the past decade, bringing achy-breaky ballads, fiery barnburners, and bona fide musicianship to the city’s music scene. And it’s his honest-to-god storytelling—human tales, from hard luck to heartbreak—that we expect will put this new record, released via indie label Rusty Knuckles, on the map. Whether you’re from the Chesapeake, the Rockies, or the Rio Grande, you’ll swoon for old favorites, like the second track, “Homeward Bound,” and legacy-cementing newcomers, like the first single, “Last Call.”

See our full interview with Sean K. Preston.