Height with Friends, the Baltimore indie rap supergroup lead by Dan Keech, is gearing up to unveil their new album. Height With Friends Versus Dynamic Sounds is a period piece set in the late 70s meant to capture the sound of classic live tapes of groups like The Cold Crush Brothers, The L Brothers and other early beatsmiths. This is the first in a series of three records that will be released by the group.
Height's current batch of friends found on this record include Emily Slaughter, Eze Jackson, Lord Grunge, PT Burnem, Secret Weapon Dave, CX Kidtronik and Mickey Free. “Infinity Ballroom '82 (The Penultimate Rap)” comes in mid-journey on Height With Friends Versus Dynamic Sounds, a quick yet long-winded jab that odes to Jimmy Spicer.
I asked Dan Keech to weigh in on the story behind “Infinity Ballroom '82 (The Penultimate Rap)”.
This song was an homage to the story-telling style of Jimmy Spicer. I love the way his story raps keep zooming out and getting bigger and introducing more and more characters. In that way, Jimmy Spicer's style reminds me of songs like Bob Dylan's “115th Dream,” in that so many disparate people, places and times are introduced that you can feel like you're on a psychedelic trip.
Jimmy Spicer met Howard Cosell, got granted three wishes and turned into a bat in his rhyme. In the same spirit, I rocked a set with HAL 9000, took a time machine back to the caveman days, and saw Jesus Christ get crucified in mine.
This amazing journey of a record is really soon, and stay tuned to Height for all of the details. Baltimore, look out for a release show at the Metro Gallery on August 3 with Other Colors, Chester Endersby Gwazda, Mickey Free and Secret Weapon Dave.
