ShowlistDC Music Notes: Monday 06-04-12



Notes from This Weekend


On Saturday night, I went up to Sonar in Baltimore for a four-band black metal tour: Sweden’s Marduk, Norway’s 1349, Atlanta’s Withered, and Canada’s Weapon. There were also 7 local bands on the lineup– I’m not a huge fan of pay-to-play (which is the policy of asking local bands to pre-sell tickets to shows in order to play; I wrote a lengthy article for TBD.com about Jaxx last year where I talked a lot about that policy; you can read that article here), and I think that an ELEVEN-BAND lineup is a bit ridiculous, even for a Saturday night. Sure, having a lot of local bands on the bill helps bring people out to the show, but there were already four good touring bands on this bill!

Anyway: apparently they were staggering the local bands between the Talking Head Lounge (Sonar’s smallest room) and the Talking Head Club (the medium-sized room), to shorten the setup time, then all four touring bands played on the Club stage. Except that’s not exactly what happened. I got there around 8:30 and caught the end of Baltimore’s Strong Intention‘s set on the Club stage, then Weapon played a great set. Then, as Withered played its set on the Club stage, there was another local band playing AT THE SAME TIME on the Talking Head stage down the hall. No joke– one of the touring bands was competing for an audience with one of the local bands. Not only that, those of us trying to hear Withered from the back of the Club room had to strain to hear them over the sound of the local band playing a few feet away (if you’ve never been to Sonar, these two rooms are very close together). It made for a really frustrating night– sure, I’d just seen Withered about a year ago when they played Sonar with Krallice, but it would’ve been nice to hear them again without having their music mashed up with that of a local band. It made for a really frustrating night and just seemed completely unprofessional overall. Seriously, folks: don’t have a touring band compete for an audience and decibels with a local band. It’s just not awesome.



Local band news


So much news about local bands that we had to break it into its own section today!

Periphery‘s Matt Halpern is on the cover of the July issue of Modern Drummer magazine. You can check him out in action in this improvised jam he posted on YouTube last year.

• There are songs by Beauty Pill, J. Robbins, TONE, and True Womanhood (among many others) on this compilation album to benefit Jason Noble of Rodan and the Shipping News. Jason is battling Synovial Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

• You could join TONE‘s guitar army; the longtime post-rock band is looking for a guitarist.

Black Clouds have a “name your own price” deal for their album Everything Is Not Going To Be OK on Bandcamp.

• You can pre-order the new limited-edition Auroboros EP (250 hand-numbered copies that come with a free digital download) via Australopithecus Records. No, we can’t spell that either, so just click the link.

• In a local band? Check out Jammin’ Java’s Mid-Atlantic Band Battle 7. Prizes include $2500 cash, studio time, a band photoshoot, and more. Deadline to apply is June 9th.



Articles


Planning Guides
    • DC Music Download’s weekday hits.
    • DC Music Live’s weekly show roundup.
    • Listen Local First’s June featured artists and events.

• All Songs Considerd’s Bob Boilen deleted all his music [NPR].

• There’s always more Chuck Brown coverage: Chris Richards talks to Source Records’ Logan Westbrooks, the man who helped break “Bustin’ Loose” [Washington Post].

• The Washington Post ran a big feature this weekend about summertime classical music festivals: Anne Midgette on DC-area summer classical music [Washington Post]. Here’s a feature on the Castleton Festival in Rappahannock County, VA (and the $1.08M Guadagnini violin that was sold to finance it). Here’s a sidebar listing all the local festivals and 5 American classical festivals outside of DC.

• Interview: Steve Kiviat chats with zydeco player Curley Taylor on why he likes R. Kelly [Washington CityPaper].

• Interview: Metallomusikum talked to Edmonton black/death metal band Weapon at an in-store at Black Mess Records in Baltimore on Saturday.

• Mike Paarlberg on the comfortable routine of the Washington Performing Arts Society [Washington CityPaper]. WPAS’s president, Neale Perl, announced last week that he would retire at the end of next season.

• Looking for work in the music industry? Jammin’ Java in Vienna is looking for a full-time venue manager.

• Preview: Michael J West on the DC Jazz Festival [Washington CityPaper], which started this past weekend.

• Somewhat after the fact but somewhat relevant: Here are several previews for CapitalBop‘s DC Jazz Lofts, part of this year’s DC Jazz Festival: Siriam Gopal [DCist] and Listen Local First. Two shows were this weekend and the third is June 9th.

• The show was this weekend, but here’s an interview with Coup Sauvage & the Snips [We Love DC].

• The show was this weekend, but here’s Nia Hightower’s interview with Les Nubians [DC Music Live].



Listening


• DC rapper SmCity now has a video for “Hate, Love, & Money” [Washington CityPaper].

• DC Music Download’s Local Listening Booth.

• Rohan Mahadevan’s Song of the Day: Big Freedia‘s “Azz Everywhere” [DCist].

• Hometown Sounds DC’s Local Music Video of the Day: Koshari‘s “Wake Me”.

• Replayed: Justin Jones‘s “My Father’s Gun” [DC Music Download].



Live Reviews

• Stephen Bradley on Crystal Fighters at the Rock & Roll Hotel [Washington Times].

• Stephen Brookes on Deviant Septet at the Atlas Performing Arts Center [Washington Post].

• Joe Banno on the BSO‘s Mozart performance at Strathmore on 5/31 [Washington Post].

• Ross Bonaime on the Dandy Warhols at the 9:30 Club [Brightest Young Things].



Giveaways


• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of 2:54‘s S/T on vinyl (contest ends Tuesday 6/5).
• Brightest Young Things is giving away a pair of tickets to see Monty Alexander at the Hamilton on 6/9 (contest ends Wednesday 6/6).
NEW The Vinyl District is giving away a pair of tickets to see The Cribs at the Black Cat on 6/7 (contest ends at noon on Wednesday 6/6).
• Scene Trek is giving away a pair of tickets to The Cribs at the Black Cat on 6/7 (contest ends at 3 PM on Wednesday 6/6).
• Brightest Young Things is giving away a pair of tickets to see Gotye at Merriweather Post Pavilion on 9/30 (contest ends Thursday 6/7).
• Metal Injection is giving away tickets to the Rockstar Mayhem Fest featuring Slipknot, Slayer, and Motorhead at Jiffy Lube Live on 7/29 (contest ends “randomly” as the concert date approaches).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to see 311 and Slightly Stoopid at Jiffy Lube Live on 7/28 (contest ends Sunday 7/22).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to see OAR at Merriweather Post Pavilion on 8/10 (contest ends Sunday 7/29).

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ShowlistDC Music Notes: Wednesday 05-23-12



Articles


• Planning guides: DCist’s Weekly Music Agenda and This Week in Hip-Hop. BYT’s summer events.

• Most readers of this blog probably aren’t really into opera, but I still urge you to read Anne Midgette’s thoughtful column Peter and the Press [Washington Post], about how Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, deals with negative press: namely, bullying radio station WQXR to remove a blog post containing a negative review and pressuring Opera News to stop reviewing the Met. Fascinating food for thought about criticism in the modern era (when internet postings can just disappear on a whim) and censorship in general.

• Preview: Brian Ossip on Thrice [DC Music Live]. Performing tonight at the Howard Theatre. All Things Go also previews the show and has a profile on opening band O’Brother.

• Heads Up: Robyn has added a second U-Hall DJ show [Washington Post].

• Preserve this: Chris Richards on the 25 recordings being added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry [Washington Post]. This year’s additions include Parliament’s 1975 album Mothership Connection, a collection of news reports from Edward R. Murrow, Leonard Bernstein’s debut performance with the New York Philharmonic, Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”, and hip-hop Magna Carta “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugarhill Gang.

• Heading to Maryland DeathFest this weekend? Even if you’re not, NPR’s DeathFest Preview will give you plenty of new metal tunes to check out.

• Speaking of DeathFest, Metallomusikum has an interview with MDF organizer Evan Harting. A few weeks back, we pointed you to DCHeavyMetal.com’s interview with Harting as well.

• Metallomusikum also interviewed Bryan Giles of Red Fang, who will be playing at Sonar on 6/21 with The Sword.

• Local listening: Hometown Sounds DC’s local video of the day is Lenorable‘s “Ligeia”.

• Local band news: Remember how we keep telling you that local power metal band Division is adding old members back into its lineup? Well, their recently reinstated vocalist Scott Stewart recently checked in on the band’s blog.

• The show was last night, but you still might be interested in reading an article/interview with Crystal Fighters [DCist].



Live Reviews


• Scott Galupo on Lady Antebellum at Merriweather Post Pavilion [Washington Post].

• We Love DC on Penguin Prison at the Rock & Roll Hotel on 5/19. Farrah Skeiky reviewed the same show [Brightest Young Things].

• We Love DC on Sound Bites at the 9:30 Club.

• Kara Capelli on Spirit Animal at the Red Palace [Brightest Young Things].

• Robert Winship on Astra Via at the Black Cat [Brightest Young Things].

• Ross Bonaime on Father John Misty at the Rock & Roll Hotel [Brightest Young Things].

• Jeb Gavin on Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams at Merriweather Post Pavilion [Brightest Young Things].



Giveaways


• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of Electric Guest‘s Mondo on vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends today).
NEW SceneTrek is giving away tickets to Yann Tiersen & Piano Chat at the 9:30 Club on 5/26 (contest ends Friday 5/25 at 3 PM).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to the sold-out Radiohead show at the Verizon Center on 6/3 (contest ends Sunday 5/27).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to Dave Matthews Band at Jiffy Lube Live on 6/16 (contest ends Sunday 6/3).
• Metal Injection is giving away tickets to the Rockstar Mayhem Fest featuring Slipknot, Slayer, and Motorhead at Jiffy Lube Live on 7/29 (contest ends “randomly” as the concert date approaches).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to see 311 and Slightly Stoopid at Jiffy Lube Live on 7/28 (contest ends Sunday 7/22).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to see OAR at Merriweather Post Pavilion on 8/10 (contest ends Sunday 7/29).

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