This week in the Baltimore City Paper, I wrote a feature about Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks From The Wire, one of the two official soundtrack albums out next week. For the article, I spoke to some of the musicians featured on the CD, including Juan Donovan from Darkroom Productions, Mullyman, Ogun and Diablo, and ran down the whole album track by track, which also includes Rod Lee, DJ Technics, Bossman, Dirty Hartz, Tyree Colion and The Get 'Em Mamis.

There's going to be a release party event in New York this Friday with some of the artists on the album (plus D.O.G.), I'm still debating whether to make a road trip up to NYC for it this weekend. And both of The Wire's soundtrack CDs will be in stores next Tuesday, January 8th, two days after the season 5 premiere. I don't usually push hard for people to go out and purchase records that I write about. But seriously, the 6th is my birthday, and I don't want you to get me anything, just buy this CD. I already have promo copies of both and I'm still gonna go buy 'em, since I haven't seen the whole package with the liner notes and everything. The Amazon.com sales rank for The Wire: And All The Pieces Matter just for pre-orders has been climbing steadily, and I'd be really thrilled if it could make a respectable showing on the Billboard 200 during a slow post-Christmas sales week. I don't know about any particular soundtrack release parties or in-store events going on here in Baltimore, but if there are any please let me know so I can promote those, too.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, D.O.G., Darkroom Productions, Debonair Samir, Diablo, Dirty Hartz, flyer, magazines/newspapers, Mullyman, Ogun, The Wire