In the latest iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we found five local songs ranging from joyous hip-hop to nostalgic synthpop to otherworldly instrumentals. 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.

---

“Raiments” by Ami Dang

In a city of idiosyncratic artists, few Baltimore musicians make more of an original mark than Ami Dang. Using sitar, voice, and electronics, she creates a transporting sound experience that weaves together the North Indian classical music of her heritage and the ambient DIY sounds of her home, Baltimore City. Get lost in this dreamy east-meets-west fusion in this early single off her upcoming album, Parted Plains, which draws inspiration from the epic folktales of South Asia and the Middle East, such as One Thousand and One Nights, letting your imagination tell a mythical tale of its own.

“Hooray” by DDm

This bright, bouncy sparkle of a first song off of DDm’s new album, Beautiful Gowns, very well might be our favorite song of the year. It’s the song we need in the world right now—a positive proclamation for finding some joy in these strange, turbulent times. It captures the affirmative approach that this Baltimore born rapper has decided to take in his music making, forging his own path and finding his own infectious beat, haters be damned, along the way. Give it a listen, add it to all of your playlists, and follow the chorus mantra: “Don’t stop, keep on dancing.”

“Be Great” by Eze Jackson

It’s hard to envision the Baltimore music scene without prolific rap artist Eze Jackson. From fronting alt-hip-hop collective Soul Cannon to emceeing the Bmore Beat Club rap showcase to collaborating with myriad artists, Jackson has been a potent and vital creative force for this city, a legacy that’s bottled in his latest solo record, Fool. Debuted last weekend during Artscape, it’s a dynamic mix of feel-good beats, hard-hitting verses, club bangers, smooth love songs, and poignant ballads, like this first track. Sparse and soaring, it’s an inspirational piece of poetry, on survival, on success, on self, and always, Baltimore. Call it an unofficial anthem, only solidifying that Jackson will go down as one of our city’s own greats.

“Not A Riddle” by Hunter Hooligan

Last month, on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, Baltimore singer-songwriter Hunter Hooligan released this celebratory piece of house music to mark the historic anniversary of Pride. Its message is one to consider any day of the year, that love is love is love, with its funky, buoyant melody and Hooligan’s mellifluous vocals tipping a hat to 1969 as much as they are looking ahead to the future. “What divides us? Inside us, we’re one and the same,” he sings. Whoever you happen to love, this feel-good dance number is an instant summer jam.

“I Drive” by Lower Dens

This veteran indie-pop band has written and released some of the city’s most acclaimed and accomplished albums over the course of its nearly 10-year run in Baltimore. But their upcoming album and first in four years, The Competition, is shaping up to be their most powerful yet. This second single reveals an intimate look at family through the LGBTQ lens. “Like a lot of queer and trans people, I’ve learned that real family is made, and it isn’t necessarily blood,” wrote singer Jana Hunter, who identifies as he/him, on Facebook. “This song is about leaving behind obligations to people who don’t love or care about you, being with and about people who do.” That is the driving force behind the title, and its urgency is heard in this gorgeous, nostalgically 1980s synthpop song, backed by the ethereal vocals of Baltimore R&B singer :3ION.

The Honey Dewdrops

Anyone Can See

On the eve of spring, this new record from local folk duo The Honey Dewdrops is a fitting dose of warmth. Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish fill their fifth album with heart, and their sincere, stripped-down songwriting is just the kind of music we need more of in 2019. Over the years, these Virginia natives have become an integral part of Baltimore’s Americana scene, bringing an authenticity to their sound that is exceedingly rare. Across all nine tracks, attention and care are paid to every note, be it through meaningful storytelling, skilled instrumentation, or golden harmonies on each gentle rhythm and driving melody. This music is sweet to the ears, easy on the heart, and will stick in your mind for some time to come.

Hunter Hooligan

Child of Venus (Act 1)

On first listen, Hunter Hooligan’s new album—act one of a two-part project—seems to be a glittering party-starter, full of sparkling beats, thumping bass, and all-around feel-good vibes. After all, it does start with the bang of a club-ready, contagious pop number, “C.Y.K.U.?,” with a mantra-worthy title acronym: “Can You Keep Up?” But on closer look, this record is a deeply personal and powerful opus of love and acceptance. The queer electronic artist explores his identity (“Ecstasy,” ft. Baltimore Club queen TT The Artist), grapples with doubt and fear (the poignant “Small Town Clown”), and, in the end, finds hope, emerging ready to fight (the futuristic “One Day at a Time”). This is a human collection of songs for music lovers of every cloth.

In the latest iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we found five local songs ranging from mesmerizing pop and melancholy indie to avant-garde neo-soul. 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.

---

“Chastity” by Abdu Ali

The first single off the much-anticipated upcoming album from Abdu Ali is a journey through space and time. This fiery, neo-soul melody zigs and zags, pushing and pulling with “the struggle of feeling free,” as the artist puts it. “Do you love me? Do you hate me?” they pose, moving between doubt, affirmation, and discovery in this candid quest for self. An energetic beat unravels into a sparse, jazzy soundscape fueled by the artist’s signature scat and disparate streaks of saxophone. In the end, they find their own place, free of questions and limitations. Watch for yourself in the dance sequences of its futuristic video.

“C.Y.K.U.?” by Hunter Hooligan

If you were in search of an anthem for 2019, look no further than this new single off Hunter Hooligan’s new Child of Venus. The title acronym—“Can you keep up?”—is mantra-worthy and the beat should be blared out of a boombox held on our shoulders at all times this year. In typical fashion from this electronic artist, it’s a club-ready and contagious pop song, full of sparkling energy, thumping bass, Hooligan’s honeyed vocals, and all-around feel-good vibes. The rest of the EP (act one of a forthcoming two-part project featuring production by James Nasty and guest appearances by the likes of TT The Artist) is equally enticing.

“Speechless (Hurts So Bad)” by Lor Choc

Love Is Love, the second full-length record from Lor Choc, has arrived with a lead single with the fixings of an instant hit. (The track was first released last year and has now quickly surpassed her 2017 breakthrough “Fast Life” in online listens.) Where the West Baltimore rapper’s past successes were more an outward display of swagger, this new song, like the rest of the record, grapples with the complexities of the heart, using her candor and earnest verses to help fill the void of queer love songs in the realms of rap and R&B. The production is velvety and effusive, and Choc’s vocals might be her tightest and most soulful yet.

“Stay” by Outcalls

The girls are back. Pop-opera duo Outcalls has released their first new single since last spring. What starts as a heartbreak ballad builds into a funky song of empowerment—slowly taking off the rose-colored glasses of a past relationship as they move through the emotions of breaking up. Come for the trademark ethereal harmonies of singers Britt Olsen-Ecker and Melissa Wimbish, stay for the fast-flying playful verses in the middle of the song, building to a synth-studded vocal crescendo at the end.

“Evergreen” by Wye Oak

While many of these songs have us jonesing for warm weather, we can’t help but admit that we’re still stuck in the winter rut. So it’s a fitting time for this first new track from indie duo Wye Oak since the release of their stunning The Louder You Call, The Faster It Runs last spring. A sonic ode to seasonal depression, it’s a jangly reckoning with self-doubt. “Tell me what’s missing in my mind,” sings frontwoman Jenn Wasner as drums crash and reverberating guitar ambles out into space. “I’m taking everything back.” There’s no clear resolution, which is highly relatable, especially with snow now looming as we speak.

Every September, Fashion Week comes to New York, and the city is filled with glitz, glamour, and attitude. This NYFW, Baltimore musician Hunter Hooligan brought his signature dance floor-ready grooves to the runway with the debut of his new song “Pink,” which served as the backdrop for designer Stevie Boi’s collection by the same name. We sat down with him to talk about the process of writing a song for the runway, how style and music intersect, and Baltimore’s unique creative scene.

Tell us a bit about yourself as an artist.
I started writing original music when I was 12 or 13, and never really stopped. Music has been so many things for me over my life: It’s been like therapy, it’s been the place that I put all my hopes and wishes and fantasies, and it’s been the thing that has guided my life. I didn’t question it a lot. I’ve taken inspiration from my family, who have always been really supportive of me as an artist. My parents both had a very deep love of music. There were always all different kinds of music being played in the house when I was young.

When did you and Stevie Boi decide to collaborate on a song for his show?

The song came about because I spent time with Stevie Boi at TT the Artist’s film shoot for “Dark City.” He had brought several pieces from the collection to wear in the film. I was looking at them and asking him what was the message of the line, what had inspired it? By the end of the day I was like, “You know, I really feel like I could make something for you to use as a musical component for this line.” And he was really open to it.

What was the concept for the song “Pink?” What was your inspiration?

The first time I heard the song that became “Pink,” I knew it was the one. I had reached out to several different producers and wound up going into the studio with Will Lederer to fill out an instrumental he’d sent me. The lead synth in the song was this very golden pink for me—it was very joyous and effervescent. It was bubbly, light, all the things I associated with the line after talking with Stevie.

Before writing the lyrics, I went down a rabbit hole on the history of pink in fashion, and that took me to the idea of timelessness and recurrence, of pink going in and out of fashion and what that has meant in the broader cultural landscape through time. I was also thinking about pink being this intimate color, and I had the idea for the lyric “we’re turning pink.” That took me to researching the act of blushing. That universal feeling of blushing is so warm, and it can be so innocent, or it can be sexual, it can be multifaceted, it can be exciting, it can be scary, it can be embarrassing, and it can be vulnerable.

It gives away your emotions.
Exactly. I was thinking about vulnerability, recurrence, and timelessness. Then this whole story popped into my head and everything I’d been researching became clear. This story of reincarnating through time and experiencing this intimacy, and the common thread of that being this biological act of blushing. I recorded a demo and sent it to Stevie, not really knowing what he would make of it, and he replied almost instantly saying, “It’s perfect.”

Was the process of writing and recording “Pink” any different than your other songs?
Yes, I actually did something I’d never done before on a song, which was talking the verses instead of singing them. Every melody or lyrical approach I’d taken up until that point felt too wholesome. I was very cognizant of the fact that this was ideally going to be on the runway, so there needed to be this attitude or this sort of cool to it. The turnaround from writing to recording the song to getting it out was also very quick compared to my usual process. I usually get to sit with a song for longer, but this was very exciting, and I felt so grateful to be a part of the wider vision for the line and to experience the show itself.

What was it like being present at the fashion show?
It was really fun. I have a deep love for style, and fashion is sort of the “fine art” of style. Seeing a show that was about fashion as an art, taking clothing and elevating it to the position of an art object was really fun. It was wonderful to be there and to see the clothing presented, there’s a performative aspect to it. It was gorgeous.

Did you blush when your song played?
Immediately the nerves kicked in when the song started, but I just had to check in with myself and be like “this isn’t about you,” you know? It’s not about the music—the music is an accessory in the atmosphere in the wider experience of the show. The show was very much about the clothes and very much about Stevie and his artistic vision, and I was just glad to be part of that and to contribute in some way.

How would you describe the correlation between fashion and music?
The two to me are intrinsically linked. I saw an interview with Nicholas Cage, of all people, and he said something that really struck me. He was talking about the rhythm of his performance in a film, and he said, “I think all great art aspires to be music.” That to me rings true, not because I’m trying to put music above other art forms, but there is an immaterial aspect of music. All you need to make music is your voice and a sense of rhythm. I think that gets at a very pure sense of creativity. It’s literally just the manipulation of sound, which is not a material thing, it’s energy. As someone who makes music, all other art forms funnel into that for me. Fashion for me, is really style, and style is storytelling, and storytelling is magic. And that is so essential to the music, because it’s a physical embodiment of it.

Can you describe your personal relationship with style and fashion?
For me, fashion and style are transformative. It also acts as a place for me where a lot of my other influences, not necessarily musical, find a home in expression. My number one rule for style is give yourself permission to try on anything, because fashion can be a way to explore your identity. And when used for that, it can be extremely healing, it can be extremely validating, it can be extremely personal and spiritual. Because that is the sort of power of fashion when utilized in its most noble pursuit, is the expression and the exploration of identity.

What is your favorite thing about being an artist in Baltimore?
There is such a wealth of creativity, art, excitement, and passion here. And it’s pure in a way, because we don’t have that external pressure that “hubs” like New York or L.A. or Chicago put on artists to make money for other people. There’s no one looking over our shoulders. It can be a double-edged sword to not have that kind of attention on our city’s art scene, there’s the good and the bad with that, but because of that I think there is so much pure intention.

Baltimore is an incredibly fertile place. It’s full of inspiration, it’s full of stories, full of every ingredient you need for creativity—beauty, mystery, enchantment, and struggle. I think that Baltimore is very much so the rose growing in the concrete. And everybody wants to focus on the concrete for some reason. The rose is much more beautiful.

How would you describe Baltimore’s style scene?
Adventurous! Uninhibited, unhinged. There is a sort of disregard for convention, which I think is essential to personal style. There is also an adventurousness to the designers here. Stevie Boi is incredible, and Bishme Cromartie is absolutely divine. Baltimore style is personal, it’s expressive, it’s adventurous, and it’s not lost in its own performance. Because there is a performative aspect to fashion and style, but the expression is not lost in that. I think that there is enough distance between style and fashion here. That they’re not absolutely devouring each other. Baltimore hasn’t traditionally had access to the fashion houses and big brands, and we’ve proven that we don’t need that. We’ve shown that our natural sense of style trumps all of that noise.

What else can we look forward to from you? Any upcoming projects people should know about
Yes! There is a project that I’ve worked on for a very long time with DJ James Nasty as the executive producer, called “Child of Venus,” which will be a multi-part musical narrative. Part one will be here soon.

Full disclosure: The author’s husband produced “Pink.”

In the latest iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we found five local songs ranging from homegrown hip-hop and hearty folk music to disco-infused pop. 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.

---

“Division St. Blues” by Butch Dawson

It’s hard to pick the best song off DIY rapper Butch Dawson’s new EP, Swamp Boy. Each song is a mini-masterpiece, like “Feel Nobody”—an instant hit with fans now drowning out the artist himself during the chorus at local concerts—and “Distances,” a simply gorgeous dream on which Dawson flexes his singing abilities. But this slow-motion melody paints a poignant portrait. Over a run of piano keys and a knocking bass beat, the 25-year-old unleashes sharp, slow-burning rhymes, speaking to his native West Baltimore, and the steadfast community and confidence needed to survive the city streets. He gives local shout-outs to arts collective Llamadon, hometown favorite New Balance 993s, and of course, the song’s titular stretch between Madison Park and Upton. Weary yet unwavering, the song is a beautiful, honest ode, and Dawson has become an important city spokesperson, as seen in his recent feature in The New York Times. Check out the album’s full review in our upcoming October issue.

“Pink” by Hunter Hooligan

Summer might be winding down, but this airy piece of pop (yes, more pop!) from local singer-songwriter Hunter Hooligan is like a dewy, star-bright July night. With an updated disco beat, this modern love song exudes a lush, shimmering, 1970s vibe, with breathy backup vocals, hushed verses, and seductive sentiment imbuing every inch of its melody. Roses? Check. Champagne? Check. Produced by Will Lederer of Row Homes, the song was crafted for the fall collection of fashion designer Stevie Boi, premiering on the runway during New York Fashion Week, and its buoyant melody is full of flirtation and promise. Hooligan is an artist on the rise in Baltimore, having collaborated with Bmore Club legends TT The Artist and Rye Rye, and this new track is one of his most fun songs yet. We’re looking forward to what he does next.

“Drippin” by Kotic Couture*

Consider Kotic Couture an artist you need to know yesterday. The local rapper is a force to be reckoned with and a fiery live performer, popping up on lineups across Station North, playing MC with DJ Trillnatured during the Version dance parties at The Crown, and becoming an integral part of the DIY scene along the way. We dig his high-energy hits “Go Awff” and “Get Ya Life” but this sparse new beat, produced by Baltimore’s legendary Mighty Mark, lays the perfect foundation for Kotic’s strengths to shine: swift rhymes, infectious hooks, and swaggering style. It’s a take-no-prisoners track, filled with fearless spirit and the trappings of staying power.

“An Eagle” by Marian McLaughlin*

Marian McLaughlin is an old soul, and her songwriting is akin to the folk verses of the 1960s as much as it is the Medieval ballads of the 15th century. The local singer is a true poet, and her labyrinthine lyrics wrap perfectly into her intricate, guitar-forward Americana-chamber music. This song off her upcoming tome of an album, Lake Accotink, named after a reservoir in northern Virginia, represents natural cycles of the environment—leaves falling, trees blooming, life, death, climate change. In a stream of consciousness with the sparse jangle of chimes and bells, her story unfolds as an intimate ode—a vivid country scene with a friend or lover, building into an earthy rumination on love and loss. It’s a wild eulogy of sorts, and it showcases McLaughlin’s greatest strength: through music, wholeheartedly baring her soul.

“Payroll” by TT The Artist

It seems like everything that TT The Artist touches turns to gold. Who else could create a “hip hop sci-fi musical thriller,” set in 2040 featuring strippers, aliens, and androids, and turn it into one of the hottest late-summer jams? As the first release off of TT’s new Club Queen Records, it uses a Bmore Club beat, slowly transforming into a dark circus melody equipped with bouncy rhymes by Baltimore native Starrz and heavy beats and production by prolific producer Mighty Mark. Of course, there are swaggering verses and a catchy chorus, infusing the track with fiery female empowerment, which ties into the music video, where women hold the power, neon reigns supreme, and TT transforms into a no-nonsense cyborg boss. While you’re at it, dig into her label’s debut album, featuring fellow club queen UNIIQU3 and a cameo by Baltimore rapper Tate KoBang.

*This song is not on Spotify. We’ll add it to the playlist if or when it comes online.