Quick, let your hot date know there’s a change in plans tonight because at 9:30 at The Penthouse Baltimore’s total dreamboat Wildhoney will be playing a show on a diverse lineup with bands from Baltimore, North Carolina, and Britain. It’s kind of your chance for one of those summer of love dance scenes you’ve always sneered at in movies but secretly practiced in your bedroom. But if you don’t catch them tonight before they continue on their U.S. tour with Spook School, you’ll have more chances when they play DC9 Nightclub in DC on 6/25 and Metro Gallery in Baltimore 10/07 (plenty of time to plan for that one). Wildhoney’s latest 3-song record, "17 Forever", gets pretty and gritty with the band’s swooning, atmospheric blend of lo-fi shoegaze and post-punk. The title fits a collection of songs that glitter and brood through a teenage girl’s daydream. Airy vocal harmonies delightfully steer through surrounding storms of percussion, warm fuzz/bass, distancing reverb, and slicing guitars. They’ve been killing it in the past few months : a tour with Whirr, a new music video, and they’ve announced their next EP is due out later this year. Keep at it guys, we’ll be keeping an ear out!
– Leora Mandel