The last record from Horse Lords was all about arrival. The destination? Utopia, of all places, sought through the collective experience of the Baltimore avant-garde quartet’s experimental instrumentals and self-described radical ideals. Now, with their fifth album, the band reflects on the journey itself, or what they call, “a thrilling portrait of revolution underway.”

Released last fall, each of the seven tracks on Comradely Objects is an intricate interplay of single lines and stratified polyrhythms that trickle, sprint, sprawl, soar, and combust. Along the way, they hone their idiosyncratic, shape-shifting sound into a meticulously controlled chaos—a masterpiece of creative freedom, contrasts, and contradictions.

In doing so, they bottle some quintessential essence of their city, too, and present its unbridled spirit for broader audiences to not only hear but feel. (In the right environment, you could even use these tracks for meditation.)

Over the last 13 years, Horse Lords—made up of saxophonist Andrew Bernstein, bassist Max Eilbacher, guitarist Owen Gardner, and drummer Sam Haberman—have garnered a loyal following and cemented themselves as a vital pillar of the local arts scene. And it’s not just for their sonic explorations. The band routinely pushes into uncharted territory, from releasing mixtapes studded with spoken-word poetry by rap artist Abdu Ali and samples from the Women’s March on Washington, D.C., to collaborating with the Acme Corporation theater troupe on a DIY opera at The Voxel in Old Goucher.

We can’t wait to see what they do next.

A meeting of the creative minds will christen the brand new Voxel stage this week as playwright Lola B. Pierson and local avante-garde rockers Horse Lords premiere their joint venture, The First Thing That Happens, on Feb. 13.

The new experimental opera, from local theater company The Acme Corporation, is an exploration of the human experience that finds a series of actors struggling to make their ideas come across and come to life. It’s a meditation on “the construction of the piece itself and about what we as humans and artists give up to communicate with other people,” says Pierson, who wrote and directed the piece.

The idea was born from an earlier collaboration with Horse Lords’ Andrew Bernstein, who worked with Pierson on Azimuth for Baltimore Rock Opera Society in 2015.

“We both had a really good experience working together,” Pierson says. “I’m a pretty big fan of their work, and Acme does a fair amount of work with music. So I approached Horse Lords about a year ago about maybe doing another thing together, and they for some reason said yes.”

The partnership highlights the avant-garde sensibilities of both groups, and the creative process has allowed them to experiment with what exactly “opera” means.

“I’m not sure if classic opera people would call it that, but we’re calling it that,” Pierson says. She and Horse Lords have been working together since last summer in a back-and-forth process, adding and changing elements in a sort of ongoing conversation as they crafted the piece.

“They’re very flexible and adaptable people, and they’re a highly collaborative band,” Pierson says. “Day to day they embodied a thing that I think theater is all about, which is reacting to the thing that’s actually happening in the room. They said something in one of our first meetings where they were like, ‘We kind of think of our work as tricking people into dancing to avant-garde music. And I was like, ‘Oh, I think of my work as tricking people into feeling to avant-garde theater.’ We’re good teammates.”

The results of this team effort will be performed in seven acts on the newly minted Voxel stage from Feb. 13-March 1. It’s the first performance at the Old Goucher performance space (and former home of The Autograph), which is owned by local software company Figure 53. While its daytime mission is to be an education and exploratory resource for the community, by night it’s on offer as a DIY theater space for rotating resident artists. Pierson, who works part time with Figure 53, was selected to be the first artist to use the new black box theater to stage The First Thing That Happens.

The venue offers a flexible new space for performers, who can reconfigure the 70-100 seats as needed and have access to in-house professional lighting and audio equipment.

“Right now it looks like a big empty box that’s available to do whatever you want, which to me as an artist is the most exciting thing in the world,” Pierson says. “I think it really has the potential to be an incredible asset to the Baltimore performance community as a whole. The support and the artists’ community we have here feels unique, and it feels like there’s this really special moment going on.”

In the latest iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we found five local songs to listen to right now, ranging from psychedelic folk-rock and Grammy-nominated hip-hop to avant-garde instrumental music. Check back each month for new top tracks, and follow our Spotify playlist as we continue to build a soundtrack for our city.

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“A Prism In Reverse” by Arbouretum

Over the course of the last nearly two decades, Arbouretum has garnered a local and national cult following for its experimental folk-rock, and this first single off the band’s new album, Let It All In, due out late March, is a perfect example of that magnetic, mystical sound. Harking back to classic song structures in a fusion of English folk and 1970s psychedelia, it’s a slow, steady march, always trudging forward, leading the listener through a vivid dream world from times gone by. A delicate but persistent melody,frontman Dave Heumann’s prosaic lyrics ride on undulating waves of reverberating guitar and resolute drums with the occasional windswept woodwind. In the end, he follows a mysterious maiden into the woods, perhaps a metaphor for finding solace in the natural world.

“Fanfare for Effective Freedom” by Horse Lords

It’s been four years since the last full-length release from Horse Lords, and with The Common Task, also due out in March, the avant-garde quartet returns with a potent first single that bottles all the unbridled energy that inspired their loyal fanbase over the last decade. Not shy about their self-described radical politics, the record points to a “utopian, modernist ideal,” with this first single tipping its hat to an early 20th-century progressive philosophy on individual freedom. Across seven minutes, both singular sounds and stratified polyrhythms oscillate between tight, insistent melodies and wide, unwieldly soundscapes. Whatever your leanings, it’s an intricate groove filled with inertia and possibility, continuing the band’s quest of making music for “the liberation of mind and body.”

“Sway Me, Sway Me Into the Arms of the Lord” by Infinity Knives

Infinity Knives is a project that welcomes us into the mind and myriad inspirations of Tariq Ravelomanana. Each of the artist’s eclectic tracks are a singular sound collage, mingling moods, from light and airy to murky and otherworldly, as well as musical genres like hip-hop, electronic, and classical. On his second album, Dear, Sudan—a full-length part-two to his spring 2019 debut—his production excels at both minimalist and complex. In the midst arrives this gorgeous seventh song. A raw, sparse, poignant piano melody builds up and fans out with digital flourishes and the layered vibrato vocals of local musician and Mind On Fire member Allison Clendaniel. Together, they float, then soar, like a bird in flight.

“You Can’t Put My Fire Out” by Letitia VanSant

Make this second single off Letitia VanSant’s new album an anthem for 2020. Circadian, out late next month, reflects on our natural rhythms, and this holy roller single is a waking moment, and one of reckoning. Known for fusing personal and political, the singer embraces both on this fiery, fearless new track, penned during the Supreme Court hearings of Brett Kavanaugh. “This song came out of reclaiming my narrative and sense of self-worth,” wrote VanSant, a survivor of sexual abuse herself, and the aftermath is the songwriter at her strongest yet. Building on the growth of her 2018 debut, Gut It to the Studs, her robust melody-making is on full display, and her rich vocal command roars to new heights. Letitia arrives ready to take on the world, and show it what she’s made of.

“Bad Idea” by YBN Cordae

One big takeaway from this year’s Grammy Awards? YBN Cordae. Nominated for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song, the 22-year-old rapper and Prince George’s County native has emerged as a rising star for his playful yet reflective approach to hip-hop. On his debut, The Lost Boy, the former Towson University student has recorded with such big names as Anderson .Paak, Pusha T, Meek Mill, and Chance the Rapper, as on this nominated single. Combining nimble verses with a bright, bouncy sample of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway’s “Be Real Black For Me,” Cordae tells his come-up story, speaking on humble beginnings, big dreams, and found success. Be on the lookout for more to come from this promising artist.

In this next iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we found five local songs we can’t get enough of, ranging from star-quality country music and jazzy R&B to experimental instrumentals with a touch of spoken-word poetry. Check back each month for new top songs of the moment, and follow our Spotify playlist as we continue to build a soundtrack for our city. 

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“Not That Into You” by Emma White

It’s not often that a Baltimore singer makes it big in Nashville. For starters, we’re just barely below the Mason-Dixon line, and our music scene is better known for its bluegrass roots, hip-hop heritage, and DIY devotees than its country stars. But Towson native Emma White has changed all that, with her pop leanings and stellar pipes leading her to be dubbed one of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know,” according to Rolling Stone magazine. White breaks the mold of heartbroken love songs and odes to Mr. Right with this righteous number about skipping games and not settling for anything less than what she wants. With fresh vocals, original lyrics, and hearty acoustic strums, she has all the trappings of a future—though all her own—T. Swift.

“Stay On It” by Horse Lords

We’re a few months behind on Horse Lords’ latest Mixtape IV, out this past May, but when we finally heard this compelling number, we were completely mesmerized. The experimental quartet takes their instrumental grooves to a new level with this adaptation of “Stay On It,” created by composer Julius Eastman in 1973. With its original political undertones and brazen departure from the mainstream, this homage couldn’t be timelier, and Horse Lords carries on those same themes as it transforms Eastman’s minimalist layering of vibes, strings, and brass into a sax-funked, festive dance number. Moving from syncopated rhythms to a beautifully dissonant chaos, it questions the norms and rethinks the very nature of sound. Best of all is the introduction, as Eastman’s program notes are turned into spoken-word poetry by the one and only Abdu Ali.

“Gut It to the Studs” by Letitia VanSant

It’s been five years since we’ve heard new music by Baltimore’s Americana darling, Letitia VanSant, and boy are we glad she’s back. The folk singer-songwriter returns with a full-length follow-up album (out February) that quietly rivals her already accomplished debut. On this rich single, VanSant announces a sort of rebirth—having quit her job to become a full-time musician, watching the world and her city change along the way. This title track uses her trademark harmonies, heartfelt storytelling, and authentic acoustic sound to start over, to reemerge with fresh eyes, to expose and embrace her truest self. It arrives just in time for the New Year, reminding us to do the same—gut it to the studs—while showcasing how the tumultuous times of 2017 have led to the creation of some pretty great art. 

“FreKweency” by MovaKween

One of the smoothest voices to come out of the woodwork this year is that of MovaKween. The local singer-songwriter has just released her first full-length debut, featuring this infectious single. The slow jam doubles as a freestyle jazz number, with MovaKween’s voice swinging between cooing neo-soulful lows and urgent hip-hop highs. In the vein of Erykah Badu or Jill Scott, she uses her honey-coated vocals and sharp rhymes to tackle larger topics, like the importance of female empowerment, creative freedom, and feel-good vibrations for the hardship-riddled city of Baltimore. Mark her down as an artist to watch. 

“Spiral/Wave Is Not the Water” by Wye Oak

Wye Oak might no longer live here full time, but they’ll always be a Baltimore band to us. The indie duo came home for the Ottobar’s 20th birthday this fall, and lead singer Jenn Wasner’s solo Flock of Dimes show before that. And who could forget their performance at BSO Pulse. (We know we never will.) It’s been a long year since their last album, Tween, but the band now gives us a possible sneak peek of its upcoming record with this new double release. Sure, they’re essentially two separate songs, but they compliment each other like no one might have guessed in the five years between their creations. “Spiral,” circa 2012, is a rolling, chord-running number that stems from the band’s early days—back when they first started adding electronic touches to their rock-forward sound—while “Wave Is Not the Water” is a song of 2017: blossoming, powerful, introspective. If it’s any indication of what’s to come, we can’t wait for 2018. 

Matmos
Ultimate Care II (Thrill Jockey Records)

You know the routine: throw in your clothes, add detergent, pick the cycle, crank the knob. Soon the water fills the basin and the low, heavy, seaside swish-swash builds as your clothes begin to wash. It’s so familiar you almost don’t hear it, but now the local experimental electronic duo Matmos—famed for using mixed mediums, unusual instruments, and synthesized soundscapes—has taken this part of your everyday life and turned it into an entire album—their ninth. This isn’t the first time that Martin “M.C.” Schmidt and Drew Daniel have pushed traditional instruments aside for more unusual sources, like balloons, insects, cigarettes, playing cards, whoopee cushions, and oatmeal. Now, their very own washing machine becomes the star of the show, and right before your ears, this ordinary object comes to artistic life. As the water falls, you drift into a magnitude of imaginary underworlds, swinging between tumbling tribal safaris, fiery abysses, and the twinkling cosmos. Across 38 minutes, the sounds evolve into an avant-garde symphony—and a mesmerizing feat. You’ll never look at laundry the same way again.

See our interview with musicians M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel of Matmos.

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Great American Canyon Band
Only You Remain (Six Degrees Records)

With spring finally upon us, there’s no better time than now to throw a duffle in the trunk and take to the open road. It doesn’t matter where you’re going, but, as this young indie-folk group teaches us through its debut album, what matters is the journey. The band began in 2011 with husband and wife Paul and Kris Masson, who cut across the country in search of a new home. As they drove from coast to coast in their old ’82 Mercedes named Dolly (as in Parton), quietly discovering the American landscape and reflecting on the horizon, they distilled their adventures into music. Rich in reverb, full of hearty harmonies and dreamy melodies, you feel like you’re right alongside them, barreling down some desert highway, standing under a moonlit sky, or admiring the sun at dawn. Now settled in Baltimore, the couple has brought on two more bandmates who play guitar and drums to round out their earthy, Americana sound. It’s made for dreamers, be they on city streets or country roads.

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Horse Lords
Interventions (Northern Spy Records)

Since 2012, Horse Lords has been a band to watch in Baltimore. The local experimental quartet makes intricate, instrumental grooves that ramble off into sprawling, ambitious jams. Like some wild, wayward thing, each song uses singular sounds that build and morph and combust into something uniquely minimalist yet complex. They defy genre, though we called their last album, Hidden Cities, a “No Wave/Fela [Kuti] mash-up.” Much of this third album stays true to that funky, foraging approach, like the first track, “Truthers.” But then the band also takes some surprise turns. At times, it reaches rich, guttural depths with songs like “Bending to the Lash” and “Time Slip;” at others it tweaks out into strange terrains during intermittent interludes called “Interventions.” Somehow throughout, the band manages to maintain its trademark momentum while simultaneously smashing any potential for categorization on its head. So we stand by our words: Horse Lords is a Baltmore band to watch. We’re excited to see what they come up with next.

Hidden Cities
Horse Lords (NNA Tapes)

This local quartet weds an angular, careening sense of experimentation to elastic polyrhythms, often with ecstatic results. Their instrumental tunes coil tightly and release powerfully, like some dreamy No Wave/Fela mash-up that quivers as much as it shakes. It’s an approach that’s especially effective on “Outer East” and “Macaw,” tunes that unfold over the course of 10-plus minutes and allow the group to fully exploit its probing dynamism, a quality that makes Horse Lords one of the city’s most exciting bands.

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Overjoyed
Half Japanese (Joyful Noise)

It’s hard to believe this is the first new Half Japanese record in 13 years. Produced by Deerhoof’s John Dieterich, it finds the local, lo-fi legends (cited as influences by the likes of Kurt Cobain and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck) sounding more buoyant and accessible than ever. Jad Fair’s preternaturally optimistic lyrics and singsong delivery reign supreme, but Dieterich’s crisp production also underscores the potent playing of guitarist John Sluggett and bassist Jason Willett (co-owner of Hampden’s The True Vine Record Shop). Overjoyed is a welcome return.