Even with the worst of COVID behind us, we’re still living in an increasingly strange world, and for that, there’s never been a better time to get up and dance.

Luckily, RoVo Monty delivers a perfect soundtrack with his debut album, Water Sign, which feels like a coming-out party of sorts for this homegrown pop artist,
who has spent the last decade becoming a pillar of the local arts scene.

Inspired by fashion, dance, and disco, Monty’s effervescent music celebrates queer love, self-expression, and communal joy. And with nods to generation-spanning icons like Prince, Janet Jackson, and Beyoncé, his electronic melodies are ones that you can’t help but move along to. It’s no surprise, given that Monty is a choreographer himself, and those skills heavily inform his nine new club-ready tracks—hands down his best work yet.

Produced by Bmore Club legend Mighty Mark and up-and-coming mix-master Mateyo, each tune is full of bouncy beats, irresistible hooks, and velvety vocals, and altogether, it sounds like the spark that could turn Baltimore into a dance town again.

“Midas” kicks things off with a vogue-inducing bang, and from there on out, the record’s lush soundscapes never skip a beat, shifting between soft, airy, R&B slow jams (“Planes”) and big, shimmering, upbeat anthems that would’ve been right at home at The Paradox (“Sanctuary”).

From his performances at the Baltimore Pride Festival to cameos in Netflix’s Dark City: Beneath the Beat by TT The Artist, RoVo Monty is a rising star to know now—and dance with as soon as possible.

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.

Ophelia Slowly
Guy Blakeslee (Everloving)

Blakeslee graduated from The Park School of Baltimore, a sort of indie-rock finishing school that counts members of Animal Collective and Yeasayer as distinguished alums. Here, Blakeslee sheds the neo-psychedelic blues he forged with The Entrance Band over the past decade, opting instead for moodier soundscapes that perfectly match his introspective lyrics. The album is produced by yet another Park grad, Chris Coady—known for his work with Beach House and TV on the Radio—who adds a shimmering finish that buoys these songs.

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Heart on My Dirty Sleeve
Arty Hill (Highlandtown Music)

An Eastern Shore native, Hill solidifies his standing as the area’s leading honky-tonk hero with this sprawling two-disc set. Over the course of 27 songs, he two-steps and waltzes through classic country styles that could make Willie weep (“The Golden Rule Don’t Apply” and “Waiting for the Light to Change”) or summon Hank’s ghost (“Here Where the Rain Comes In”). This month (November 6-9), Hill conducts songwriting workshops at, appropriately enough, the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. 

Of Water and Ice

DJ Spooky (free download)

Paul
D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) continues his MICA residency through spring
2014. He’s reportedly working on a new book and an opera that he will
debut in Baltimore sometime in the fall. He visited Antarctica a few
years ago and, during a recent residency at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, created this suite of electronic music inspired by the vast tracts
of uninhabited territory he encountered. It also functions as a
companion piece to Miller’s The Book of Ice, which comes highly recommended.

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Atlantic Guitar Quartet

Atlantic Guitar Quartet (self-released)

This
local quartet plays mesmeric chamber music that’s enchanting and
peculiar, but never precious. These five compositions——three of them
written specifically for the group by Christopher Gainey, Ronald Pearl,
and David Smooke——radiate an intensity that has nothing to do with
volume or the layering of instruments. Instead, they draw upon an
internal combustion that smolders without igniting. It’s a perfect match
for music that wafts and curls, and, ultimately, lingers so hauntingly.

Medea

Manuel Barrueco (Tonar Music)

The first half of
this disc is comprised of solo pieces nodding to 19th- and 20th-century
Spanish folk music, and Barrueco wrings every bit of dramatic emotion
and gentle nuance from them. The guitarist then performs movements from a
flamenco-infused orchestral suite with similarly evocative results.
Barrueco, who teaches at Peabody, conveys the tragedy at the heart of
the Euripides play that inspired the music and, buoyed by the Tenerife
Symphony Orchestra, taps its mythic grandeur. It’s a compelling
performance that makes Barrueco’s January appearances with the BSO
especially intriguing. They’ll be performing a guitar concerto written
for Barrueco by composer/Towson professor Jonathan Leshnoff, a piece
that Barrueco says “exploits the guitar to its fullest.” Considering the
source, that statement warrants attention.

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The Quick & The Don’t Get Any

The Country Devils (RatHawk Records)

Six
songs in, this disc seems in danger of racing past without showcasing
the band’s considerable strengths. The first half gallops along at a
breakneck pace——pausing only for the unfortunate sing-along “Mentally
Ill”——that exudes a generic cowpunk vibe that probably goes over better
in bars than on record. But when the tempo eases on “Death Blues,”
singer Michael Beresh settles into a twangy sweet spot that he and the
band sustain for the rest of the album. The transformation is
considerable as Beresh wrings feeling from each line, shadowed by sparse
banjo, mandolin, or pedal steel guitar at every turn. And, as the music
slows to a crawl on “Beatlemania vs. Gun Control” (extra credit for the
WTF title), the Devils achieve a level of poignancy that’s downright
heavenly. An album of dirges may be in order.

The Country Devils play The 8×10 on January 25 with Bobby E. Lee & The Sympathizers and Chester River Runoff.

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Secrets Within

Small Apartments (Friends)

The recent
return of husband-and-wife rockers David Koslowski and Shirlè Hale,
after an extended stint in North Carolina, injects a healthy dose of
kick-ass into the local music scene. After releasing the anthemic
Monumental Life (as Free Electric State) in 2012, they’re back with a
new band featuring Helikopter drummer Greg Dohler and a characteristic
set of sublime, head-nodding tunes. It’s an unabashedly 1990s sound, but
it never veers into nostalgia. “You Never Dreamed,” “Threads,” and
“White Winter Birch” certainly recall The Pixies, Nirvana, and My Bloody
Valentine——but they also radiate a restless creativity that’s barely
harnessed by recognizable parameters. That’s what gives Koslowski’s and
Hale’s music its undeniable kick.

Small Apartments and Weekends play the Ottobar on January 25.