EAT

Feb. 1: Ice Cream for Breakfast at The Charmery

The Charmery, Towson, Medfield, and Hampden locations. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.

Instead of starting your Saturday with cereal and milk or burnt toast with butter and jam, make your way to The Charmery to try ice cream inspired by those breakfast favorites instead. Keep your jammies on for this annual sugar-crazed morning—taking place at all three of the ice cream shop’s locations around Charm City—and sample outside-of-the-box flavors like cold pizza, vegan açaí bowl, and whole bean coffee infused with Vent Coffee. If you really want to indulge your sweet tooth, order the Cereal Bowl, featuring five baby scoops, or the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” milkshake, made with cold brew coffee and croissant flakes.

DRINK

Feb. 2: Super Bowl Sunday

Locations, times, and prices vary.

Yes, we’re all still heartbroken over the Ravens’ early exit from this year’s playoff run, but no, that won’t keep us from celebrating football’s biggest night with plenty of booze, wings, and more booze. We rounded up the best places to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs—featuring beer specials and all-you-can-drink packages at local bars—where you are almost guaranteed to find crestfallen Ravens fans still mourning the Super Bowl game that got away.

SEE

Feb. 2: Groundhog Day on Groundhog Day

The SNF Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Avenue. 1-3 p.m. $8-11.

This Sunday, the world will watch with bated breath to see whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Groundhog Day. Whether the all-knowing groundhog declares six more weeks of winter or spring, celebrate this zany tradition by taking a matinee showing of Harold Ramis’ 1993 comedy of the same name at the historic Parkway Theatre. Whether it’s your first or thousandth time seeing the classic Bill Murray flick, don’t miss the chance to watch him relive Groundhog Day again and again on the big screen.

HEAR

Jan. 31: The Honey Dewdrops

Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 8-11 p.m. $15-18.

Since this Baltimore-based Americana duo released their fifth record, Anyone Can See, last spring, we haven’t been able to get tunes like “More Than You Should Say” or “Ecola” out of our heads. This Friday, snag a seat at Creative Alliance to hear Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish perform a collection of their harmony-soaked songs for an intimate audience. Be sure to pay close attention to the lyrics of songs like “Welcome to the Club” and “Going Rate”, which reflect the storytelling duo’s thoughts on the changing neighborhood of Hampden and the Baltimore Uprising.

DO

Jan. 31: Art After Hours

The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr. 8-11 p.m. $20-25.

Art lovers, rejoice! The Baltimore Museum of Art’s late-night affair is back with a celebration of radical self-expression through art and fashion, thanks to inspiration from current exhibits Ellen Lesperance: Velvet Fist and Mickalene Thomas: A Moment’s Pleasure. As always, this night of revelry is packed with things to see and do: An anarchist sweater workshop with artist Ellen Lesperance, a retro brooch-making tutorial with artist René Treviño, and live performances by local R&B songstress Joy Postell and the Baltimore Boom Bap Society. Don’t forget to take advantage of the after-hours access to the galleries, where visitors can take in the exhibitions that influenced the event.

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 roots-fueled funk and electronic instrumentals to country western ballads, for you to listen to right now. 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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“Painted Roads” by Cris Jacobs

The King of Baltimore rock-and-roll is back and he’s bringing the funk. Where 2016’s Dust To Gold was full of Southern trimmings—roadhouse blues, twangy ballads, thunderous stomps—this new tune off of Jacobs’ upcoming Color Where You Are is a downright groove, fueled by a flurry of piano, undulating bass, and spunky drums, speaking to the strange chase of stardom, and finding success on your own terms, wherever you are. The soulful sound is tried-and-true Jacobs to the core, but it’s also fresh territory for the veteran musician. It adds an instant pep to your step, and leaves you hungry, in these heavy times, for the lightness that the rest of the record could bring.

“Dis Ting” by Funsho

By now, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen or heard of Funsho. Be it on your television set—where the Nigeria-born, Maryland-raised musician first garnered national attention last year on NBC’s The Voice—or around the Baltimore region, where he’s been performing seemingly nonstop ever since. As the second single of his upcoming NUMB3RZ EP, this track is an early song of summer, featuring a swaggering Afrobeat melody, Funsho’s silky smooth vocals, and guest flows by fellow DMV artist King Kanja. Combining pop, soul, hip-hop, and R&B, he creates instant feel-good vibes. See for yourself when he performs before Harbor East’s FashionEASTa fashion show in late April.

“Ecola” by The Honey Dewdrops

The first day of spring is officially upon us and few songs feel more fitting than those off of the new album, Anyone Can See, by local folk duo The Honey Dewdrops. This light-as-air instrumental features hearty acoustic strings and a lilting melody. But don’t let its simplicity fool you; it’s a deeply intimate tune propelled forward by the authentic chemistry of bandmates Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish. With each plink of banjo and strum of guitar, it builds and beams outward, rising like the sun at dawn.

“Requiem for Yaya” by Infinity Knives

It’s hard to pick a favorite track off the new full-length debut from DIY artist and Station North stalwart Infinity Knives. On In the Mouth of Sadness (Ugly Nigga from Heaven), each experimental number is a short snippet into another world—one you’ll want to explore for hours, be it a twinkling cosmos, a chaotic underworld, or a glitchy technicolor other dimension. Wavering between minimalistic melodies and complex compositions, this collection is a masterful collage of sound, some six years in the making, featuring special guests such as local rappers DYYO, Josh Stokes, and Giddeon Gallows. We found this heart-tugging fourth track especially transformative.

“Long Gone” by Jesse Hanlon

Out of obscurity, we stumbled upon this new two-song EP from Towson High grad, fledgling musician, and apparent old soul Jesse Hanlon. He makes the sort of hypnotic outlaw country music that’s making a comeback on the national stage, thanks in part to other young backwoods musicians like Tyler Childers and Colter Wall. If these two debut tracks are any indication, Hanlon should keep it up; they’re tall tales of hard luck and heart break—the sort of jangly, guitar-busting blues of a dusty spaghetti western (or the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)—and they’re persuasive. This title track, featuring a hint of psychedelic and surf inspiration, sounds as if it was written from another lifetime.

Wume
Maintain (Ehse Records)

The perfect word to describe Wume (pronounced woom), the Baltimore-by-way-of-Chicago duo, would be “chill.” Their minimal psychedelic music is chill, their personal vibe is chill, and the way you feel while listening to them is, you guessed it, chill. See them live or listen to their new record, and, before long, you’ll find yourself hypnotically bobbing along. Their sound is a sort of soundtrack groove, as drummer April Camlin’s steady beat and keyboardist Albert Schatz’s sparkly synth transport you into the opening scenes of a 1980s space film, swelling and swirling like some antiquated arcade game. Inspired by early German krautrock and funk, the duo layer their instruments and a few stray instrumental-esque vocals into polyrhythmic structures—a sort of ordered chaos. The repetition somehow manages to not sound droning or monotonous, but rather lulls you into a pleasant trance. True to the name of the album, Wume’s low-key, cadenced sound maintains, but we doubt that’s all they’re going to do. In fact, as they return home from a European tour with Dan Deacon, it’s safe to say they’re only going to grow.

Read an interview with Albert Schatz and April Camlin of Wume.

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The Honey Dewdrops
Tangled Country (self-released)

The Honey Dewdrops are like a cold glass of lemonade on a sticky summer afternoon. They’re simple, sugar-coated, and Americana to the core, a mix of sweet vocals, pretty melodies, and gentle, strumming guitar. It doesn’t hurt that the Virginia natives also share a lovely little love story, too: The songwriting couple spent nearly two years traveling across the country before settling in Baltimore last summer, and all their adventures and mishaps are chronicled on this fourth studio album. It’s full of love songs, blues ballads, Southern spirituals, and the kind of music heard in the depths of the Appalachian woods. They sing about hitting the road and breaking down before ending with an instrumental that feels like finding home. Mandolin and banjo plink and pluck, acoustic guitar twangs, the occasional harmonica whines—and all the while, warm harmonies permeate throughout. A year on the road must have been the ultimate test of marriage, but this album sounds like it only brought them closer. On every song, their love shines through.

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Blacksage
Basement Vows (Friends Records)

There’s a new kind of girl power taking over the music industry, but it’s not all pop princesses, choreographed dance moves, and bubblegum hits. Sometimes, the spotlight goes dark, with electro-goth queens like Grimes, Purity Ring, Lykke Li, Zola Jesus, and even Lorde taking center stage. These femme fatales have created their own genre, combining deep house and trap music with good old-fashioned pop and R&B. In Baltimore, Blacksage has edged its way into the dark corners of this new world, with vocalist Josephine Olivia and producer Drew Scott making music that’s as ambient and brooding as it is bold and bright. From out of the darkness of their second album comes a glimmer of light, with murky, snaking lullabies like “Stay” interwoven with more upbeat, synth-riddled pop songs, like the title track. The songs come on low and slow. They’re moody, sexy, and haunting, like some smoky film noir. Olivia’s vocals ache and echo between low purrs and high coos while Scott’s heavy beats throb in the depths beneath. They toe the line between eerie and spellbinding, but you’ll find yourself seduced in no time.