Baltimore Archives - Vanyaland

Ryan Sickler hosts a bonafide celebration of living with ‘Live & Alive’

Jason Greenough — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:44:47 +0000

For all intents and purposes, Ryan Sickler is a big fan of living. Walking, laughing, breathing – the whole nine. So, it only makes sense that he took the opportunity to deliver the most artistically cordial yet deliberate middle finger to death as it came a’knockin’, and celebrate living at least one more time. With his new full-hour special, Live & Alive, which landed on YouTube at the tail end of October, Sickler returned to the stage with a vengeance. […]

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Manners Manners go to ‘Yr Well’ with blissful noise-pop results

Molly McCaul — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 17:13:15 +0000

For nearly a decade, Manners Manners have built a steady repertoire of EPs and singles, and with it a solid following of Mid-Atlantic rock-pop enthusiasts. Now, for the Baltimore project’s first release of 2024, the self-described queer noise-pop trio went big — sharing not only new single “Yr Well” this past Thursday (June 13), but also news that debut album I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All will soon follow come July 26 on 20/20 Records. Created in collaboration […]

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Stavros Halkias remains cautiously optimistic following his latest special

Jason Greenough — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 20:12:58 +0000

Although the city of Baltimore is experiencing the most success it’s had in terms of its sports teams in more than a decade, there’s an argument to be had that Charm City’s new favorite son is, in fact, Stavros Halkias. At least the reaction to his new special, and the creative renaissance he’s been on this last year and half, would have you thinking that way. With the release of his first Netflix special, Fat Rascal, which premiered on the […]

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Beach House release first chapter of new album ‘Once Twice Melody’

Michael O'Connor Marotta — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 11:57:09 +0000

They say no one listens to albums anymore, and when a band readies one for release, it’s important to expand that life cycle in the name of content. A few weeks back Johnny Marr unveiled plans to slowly rollout his new LP in EP-sized doses, and now Beach House are doing the same, releasing new album Once Twice Melody on February 18, but not before a string of four digital chapters that begins today (November 10) with four new songs, […]

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Sophia Kennedy channels grief and loss on the stirring ‘I’m Looking Up’

Michael O'Connor Marotta — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 13:26:28 +0000

There’s been a lot of talk this week about languishing, that dreadful sense of being we’re all likely experiencing as we navigate the second year of the pandemic age. But there’s another layer to the psychology of living in 2021 that adds to our increasingly lowered morale: Actual, true loss. We’ve long tuned out the numbers behind the COVID-19 pandemic, in this country and beyond, but the fact remains that many of us have experienced a traumatic death event over […]

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The Last Show: Hallelujah The Hills at Club 603 in Baltimore

Victoria Wasylak — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:41:09 +0000

Editor’s Note: Welcome to The Last Show, a new Vanyaland series where we talk to performers about their last traditional live appearance before the pandemic hit. As we slowly make our way out of this mess, and a return to stages appears to be coming (eventually), here are the stories of bands, artists, comedians and others who performed their last live gig in front of an audience around this time last year. These are their shows, their stories, their memories. […]

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Interview: War on Women raise ‘Wonderful Hell’ for a better tomorrow

Victoria Wasylak — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 11:20:25 +0000

Even in the angriest yelp that escapes War on Women singer Shawna Potter’s lips, a glimmer of hope is always smuggled underneath. Explicit, socio-politically engaged, and energized, the Baltimore punk band is long familiar with addressing deep-seated American conflicts in their music, with their last record Capture the Flag serving as a particularly thick-skinned example. The band’s new album Wonderful Hell (out digitally today, October 30), establishes a new setting for their modern riot grrrl movement and crucial calls for […]

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‘Charm City Kings’ Review: Meek Mill rules this great Baltimore melodrama

Nick Johnston — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 10:19:21 +0000

Editor’s Note: This review originally ran as part of our 2020 Sundance Film Festival coverage, and we’re reposting it this week with the film hitting streaming services. Revisit all of our Sundance 2020 coverage. *** Occasionally, we’ll get a film released from one of the indie distributors that is honestly just a baffling choice for them. Normally, these are bad movies that places like Fox Searchlight or Annapurna push into wide release in the face of all logic and reason, but there are some exceptions […]

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Wye Oak sew space between the body and consciousness on ‘No Place’

Michael O'Connor Marotta — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 18:30:31 +0000

We’ve spilled a lot of digital ink on just how terrible of a year 2020 has been for pretty much everyone. But truth be told, it’s been a remarkable year, so far, for new music. Up next on our release radar is No Horizon, the forthcoming EP from Wye Oak. It hits July 31 via Merge, and today (July 20), the Baltimore-born, Durham-based duo deliver another sterling track off the EP in “No Place.” The delicate, ethereal track, much like […]

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Future Islands allow us to feel summer sensations with ‘For Sure’

Michael O'Connor Marotta — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 14:40:10 +0000

We’ll keep this short and sweet: The new Future Islands single absolutely slaps, and it’s exactly what we all need for a sweet new summer banger dropping on a date like July 8. The track is called “For Sure”, it features backing vocals from Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak, and it’s the Baltimore band’s first dose of new music since a 2018 Adult Swim single. Let’s hope the follow-up to 2017 album The Far Field isn’t far behind, because this […]

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