Live Music Helps Beat the Summer Heat

Well, there’s no denying it. It's summertime in Baltimore, where the heat and humidity is so oppressive it feels like the entire city has taken up residence in someone’s mouth for three months. 

Which leads to the real question: is there a way to survive summer in the city that doesn’t involve mass consumption of snowballs and/or investing in central air for your efficiency apartment?

Luckily there is, and it comes in the form of this Saturday’s show at the Ottobar. Two of my favorite Baltimore bands (The Pilgrim and Oak) share the bill with Ilsa—a staple of DC’s nihilistic punk/metal scene—and Harvey Milk; the best band to come out of Athens, GA, since the B-52’s.

Oak remains a stoic force of downbeats, doom and droning notes tinged with feedback drawn out to excruciating lengths. While Oak is working on how to make heavy heavier, The Pilgrim carries on their crusade to breathe life back into rock and roll. With a vibe straight out of 1974 yet undeniably 2011 in execution, The Pilgrim fuse blues-inspired classic rock with the last four decades of punk and grunge. Add in the sweetly strong vocals of their lead singer, Mis, and by the time The Pilgrim has finished playing their set, you’re left wondering why they weren’t the headliner.

Then Harvey Milk will take the stage and remind the whole room why their brand of noise rock has lasted since the 1990s. Trying to pin down Harvey Milk into one genre is impossible and pointless. Experimental noise? Yes. Stoner-psych rock? Yup. Sludge and thrash? You got it. An amazing time Saturday night? Absolutely. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10.

Later in the week be sure to check out Wednesday’s show at Golden West with the Fungi Girls, the Flying Eyes and Arlington’s Foul Swoops. Categorized as lo-fi scuzz pop, I’m curious to find out what exactly lo-fi scuzz pop is, and seeing the Foul Swoops is probably the best way to find out.

Just because it’s unbearable to be out of doors doesn’t mean you should stay in!

• 9 p.m. on Friday at The Wind Up Space: Blackbirds, New Media and Goodbye New Plans, $8.
• 6 p.m. Sunday, at CCAS: Paul Newman & the Ride Home, the Eeries, Railsplitter and Rainy Day Cacophony, $7.
• Also, the Hexagon will be no more at the end of July, so stop in Thursday to see Ashborer, Ruin Lust and Oak.