Red SammyA Cheaper Kind of Love Song (self-released)Red Sammy's Adam Trice played a handful of these songs solo at The Windup Space in April, with just an acoustic guitar and a hushed desperation...
Susi WyssThe Civilized World (Holt Paperbacks)Wyss, a Hopkins fiction writing grad, infuses her debut novel with a warmth and empathy that practically radiates off the page. Using five female...
Wye OakCivilian (Merge)Is Civilian destined to be 2011’s Teen Dream? That breakout CD catapulted Beach House—Baltimore’s other celebrated dream-pop/indie-rock duo—to international acclaim, and this...
Jessica Anya Blau
Drinking Closer to Home (Harper Perennial)
Blau's second novel, her follow-up to 2008's acclaimed The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, delves into the thornier aspects of family life....
Celebration, Felicia Carter & Amy Shook, and Skull Defekts
CelebrationHello Paradise (Friends)After releasing two discs on a well-known indie imprint (4AD) with major distribution, Celebration split from the label and began posting its music online. Over the...
Henry Wong converted an empty room above his downtown CD shop into a cultural hub dedicated to jazz and classical music.
Henry Wong came to the United States from Hong Kong to finish school and study medicine, but things didn't go as planned. The lure of Western culture proved too great and pulled him away from his...
At age 50, Eliza Bussey suddenly decided to learn music.
Eliza Bussey has always been around music. She attempted to play the guitar as a little girl and worked at the Metropolitan Opera House as a young woman. But, until recently, she could never read a...
Indie director's latest ode to Baltimore opens this month.
When Baltimore's own Matt Porterfield becomes a big star—and we have no doubt it's going to happen—you want to say that you were with him from the start. So, first check out his wistful and...
ArbouretumThe Gathering (Thrill Jockey)When I first heard Arbouretum had brought a keyboardist into the fold, I groaned at the prospect. Over the course of its three previous discs, the band had been...
The Shattered Wig ReviewIssue #28 (Shattered Wig Press)It's been awhile since Rupert Wondolowski put out a Wig issue, but it was worth the wait. When a labor-of-love lit journal takes an unplanned...
