Quiet news day, so we’ve included a few of today’s new releases below.
Things to read:
• JUST ANNOUNCED: Madonna at the Verizon Center on Sunday, September 23rd. Tickets go on sale Monday, February 13th at 10 AM.
• DCist’s Weekly Music Agenda.
• Newt Gingrich as president would boost the grindcore scene in DC! Well, maybe not directly, but apparently a grindcore band calle Traumatic Anal Devastation played at a Gingrich rally in Las Vegas.
Apparently the band showed up outside the rally, plugged their instruments in, and generated what Gingrich staffer Terry ‘The Stick’ Foley called “the sound of a tank driving through a minefield.” Police showed up and pulled the plug on the youthful thugs after about 5 minutes (the equivalent of 20 songs, according to estimates from our grindcore research staff).
No reports of hearing loss or more than usual psychological damage from the Gingrich supporters who were present.
• DCist interviewed Theophilus London. (Yes, we know the show was last night, but this interview was published after our Music Notes ran yesterday.)
• RIP WAMU DJ Jerry Gray [Washington CityPaper]. The bluegrass DJ passed away last Thursday at the age of 78.
• Listen Local First (the folks who bring us DC Local Music Day) have started a Kickstarter campaign to bring DC music to SXSW [WLDC].
• Chris Porter on Alan Lomax [Express].
• Talking at shows: it’s not just for indie-rockers, although this patron’s interruption at a KenCen is a bit over the top.
• Live reviews: Mark Jenkins on Red Baraat at U St Music Hall [Washington Post]. Erica Bruce on the Kills and JEFF the Brotherhood at the 9:30 Club [the Vinyl District].
Today’s new releases:
• Air: Le Voyage Dans La Lune [Astralwerks] – an original soundtrack to the 1902 film of the same name; with guests Au Revoir Simone and Victoria Legrand of Beach House.
• Howard U alum Roberta Flack takes on the fab four: Let It Be Roberta – Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles [429 Records]
• Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral [4AD] – Screaming Trees frontman’s first solo record since 2004 after several collaborative records with Belle & Sebastian’s Isobel Campbell.
• Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks [Polyvinyl] – Remember when everyone in DC (and by everyone, we mean Jenkins, Lewis, and Malitz) ragged on Of Montreal’s 2010 trainwreck of a concert at the 9:30 club?
• Psychroptic: Inherited Repression [Nuclear Blast]
• Twilight Sad: No One Can Ever Know [Fat Cat] – They’re playing the Rock & Roll Hotel at the end of this month, and we recommend that you attend.
• Sharon Van Etten: Tramp [Jagjaguwar] – She’s playing the Black Cat on Saturday (we recommend it), and yesterday we pointed you to the Washington Post‘s interview with SVE.
• Van Halen: A Different Kind of Truth [Interscope] – playing at Verizon Center at the end of March.
Win tickets:
• The Vinyl District has tickets to Feist @ Strathmore on 5/9 (contest ends today at noon).
• DCHeavyMetal.com has tickets to Opeth/Mastodon/Ghost (5/9) and Meshuggah/Baroness/Decapitated (5/22), both at the Fillmore in Silver Spring (contest ends Friday 2/10 at 4 PM).
• ShowlistDC has tickets to Mos Def at the 9:30 Club on 2/20 (contest ends Friday 2/10 at 5 PM).
• Heavy Uber Alles has tickets to Iced Earth at the 9:30 Club on 3/13 (contest ends Monday 2/13 at noon)