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Notes from Last Night

Last night, I went to the Black Cat and saw British twee band Allo Darlin’. I wouldn’t ordinarily identify as a fan of twee, but I do really dig the Field Mice and Camera Obscura, and I find Allo Darlin’ to be very much in line with those two bands. (Also, I recently reviewed the band’s latest album, Europe, for the Washington Post). I was pleasantly surprised to see that the show was packed (and packed with people who knew a lot of the band’s lyrics, too!). Live, the band really captures that “just exuberant enough to be slightly off-kilter” brand of indie-pop; I don’t think the bassist stopped jumping up and down for the band’s entire ~45-minute set. Another pleasant surprise: frontwoman Elizabeth Morris’s solo ukulele song “Tallulah” during the encore was performed to….complete silence! So great to hear DC crowds keeping quiet after a whole slew of chatty shows.

An unrelated story from last night’s show: I got an iPhone a few weeks ago, and I’m still warming up to it– sure, some of the apps are cool, but I’m not a fan of its email functionality, and that’s what I want a smartphone for, more than gadgets and doodads. Anyway, last night at the show, one of those apps came in handy: a flashlight app I’d recently installed helped a woman find her contact lens on the floor of the Black Cat. I kind of wanted to ask if she actually planned on putting it back in her eye– no amount of rinsing could possibly get nightclub grime off of that thing.

Weekend/Week-Ahead Planner

Planning guides:
• DC Music Download’s Weekend Hits.
• Washingtonian’s Music Picks.
• Smithsonian Mag’s events around the mall this weekend.
• We Love DC loves weekends.
• Local DC writer Steve Kiviat’s end-April International, R&B, and more music events.
• Washington CityPaper’s Jazz Setlist.
• TBD points you to shows of nostalgia.

Tonight – 27 April 2012
• Preview/Interview: Siriam Gopal talks to Orrin Evans [DCist], who plays both tonight and Saturday at Bohemian Caverns on U St.
• Lots of press around tonight’s Ted Leo show at the Black Cat, where he will play The Tyranny of Distance in its entirety. Also on Sunday. Both nights are are sold out. Interview by Leor Galil [Washington CityPaper] and preview by Chris Porter [Express].
• Punch Brothers at the 9:30 Club: Press includes an interview by Stephen M Deusner [Express] and Mike Joyce’s review of their new album Who’s Feeling Young Now? [Washington Post].
• Preview: Nicos Gun [All Things Go]. At Water Street Warehouse [3401 Water St NW, WDC].
• Preview: Marie Gullard on Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra [Washington Examiner]. At Strathmore.
• Preview: Michael J West on McCoy Tyner and Savion Glover [Washington CityPaper]. At the Howard Theatre.
• Preview/listen: Reese Higgins writes about Insect Factory‘s song “Radio Forecast”. Performing tonight at Artisphere.

Saturday, 28 April 2012
• Sweetlife Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion: Lots of press here too, including a preview by Rudi Greenberg [Express], set times [Washington CityPaper], and a Spotify playlist [Washington Post Going Out Guide]. David Malitz interviewed Avicii [Washington Post]. You can also stream the whole festival on the Post’s Style Blog.
• Good Old War plays at the Black Cat. Press includes Moira E McLaughlin’s review of the band’s album Come Back As Rain [Washington Post] and an interview by Tanya Pai [Washingtonian].
• Preview/interview: Stephen M Deusner talks to Miike Snow [Express]. At the 9:30 Club.

Sunday, 29 April 2012
• CD Review: Dailey & Vincent‘s The Gospel Side of Dailey & Vincent. Reviewed by Geoffrey Himes [Washington Post]. At Brunswick High School [101 Cummings Dr., Brunswick MD].

Monday, 30 April 2012
• Preview: Steve Kiviat on Stacy Brooks Band [Washington CityPaper]. At Westminster Church [400 I St NW, WDC].

Tuesday, 1 May 2012
• CD Review: Nanci Griffith: Intersection. Reviewed by Geoffrey Himes [Washington Post]. At the Birchmere.

Thursday, 3 May 2012
• Preview: Mike Madden on Washington Jewish Music Festival, which runs May 3 to 21 [Washington CityPaper].

Articles

• Interview: Metal Chris talks to Evan Harting, co-founder of Maryland DeathFest [DCHeavyMetal.com]. You can either listen to the interview via MP3 (~20 minutes) or read its entire transcript (or both!). Metal Chris talks both about festival logistics (parking, food) as well as the merits of downloading (Metal Chris rightly points out that many of the bands on the DeathFest schedule wouldn’t be known enough to come to the U.S. if not for the availability of their music online). Teaser from this cool interview: I think having at least some of your music available online for free is great and it gets your word out there. If you’re in metal to make money then you’re doing something wrong anyway.

• Local band profile: Stephanie Williams on Heavy Breathing [DC Music Download].

• Save the Date: 17 June is the next DC Record Fair [The Vinyl District]. It’ll be held at the Fillmore Silver Spring.

• Preview: Capital Bop looks at this year’s DC Jazz Loft Series at the DC Jazz Fest. Performers include Marc Cary with Cosmic Indulgence, trio Tarbaby, and bass clarinet player Todd Marcus.

• Preview: WPAS announces its 2012-2013 season [Washington Post].

• Metallomusikum continues her countdown to Maryland DeathFest with a preview of Black Witchery.

• Watch out for disco balls! In April 2010, a woman was allegedly hit by a falling disco ball at the Franconia Moose Lodge in Alexandria. Now she’s suing [Washington Post]. The horrific incident happened in April 2010 at a Sweet Sixteen dance, according to Robert M. Somer, the lawyer who filed the suit. He said the victim, Ana Guevara Blanco, suffered a concussion, a fractured nose and facial bones, was hospitalized, and ran up about $15,000 in hospital bills. After some plastic surgery, her nose still doesn’t look the way it once did, Somer said.

Live Reviews

• Siriam Gopal on Me’Shell N’Degeocello at the Howard Theatre [DCist].

• All Our Noise recaps Cloud Becomes Your Hand at 52 O St.

Contests

• Heavy Uber Alles is giving away a pair of lawn seats to Megadeth and Rob Zombie at Merriweather Post Pavilion on 5/13 (contest ends today at noon).
• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of I Break Horses‘ Hearts on vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends Tuesday 5/1).
• NEW The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of Megan Reilly‘s The Wall on vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends Thursday 5/3).
• 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).
• 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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Notes from last night (and a request for feedback)

Last night I headed out to DC9 to see French atmospheric black metal/shoegaze band Alcest. (Apparently it was quite the week for atmospheric black metal bands in the U St corridor, since Liturgy opened for Sleigh Bells at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday). Their set focussed mostly on their newest album, Les Voyages de L’ame, which sounded great, despite the absurdly omnipresent smoke machine. (Seriously, it’s as if those guys were pumping enough smoke for a space the size of the 9:30 club). Oddly, the crowd seemed to be the biggest for opening band deaf heaven– either that, or people just pushed closer for the headliner’s set. Other openers were locals Black Clouds and Auroboros.

Hey, while I’m at it, it seems to be a SLDC Music Notes tradition to ask for feedback on the last weekday of the month. What do you like/dislike in this daily round-up? Are their things I could add or change? Feel free to let me know, either via a comment on this post or by email, showlistdc@gmail.com.

Weekend/Week-Ahead Planner

Planning Guides
• Washingtonian’s Music Picks.
• Smithsonian Mag’s Around the Mall.
• TBD’s April Fools round-up (no joke!).
• Washington CityPaper’s Jazz Setlist.
• We Love DC loves weekends.

Tonight – Friday 3/30
• CD Review: Dan Miller on First Aid Kit‘s The Lion’s Roar [Washington Post]. Performing tonight at the Black Cat.

Saturday 3/31
• CD Review: Catherine Lewis on A Sound of Thunder‘s Out of the Darkness [Washington Post]. Also reviewed by NoVA Metal Review. CD release show at Empire (formerly Jaxx).
• CD Review: Christopher Kompanek on Cloud Nothings‘ Attack on Memory [Washington Post]. Performing at the Red Palace.
• CD Review: Mark Jenkins on Perfume Genius‘s Put Your Back N 2 It [Washington Post]. Performing at IOTA.
• Interview: Sriram Gopal talks to Victor Provost [DCist], performing at the Dunes in Columbia Heights.

Sunday 4/1
• Interview: Capital Bop talks to Bill Cole, whose Untempered Ensemble performs Sunday at the Historic Bohemian Caverns on U St.
• Interview: Rudi Greenberg talks to Andrew W.K., who’s playing to a sold-out 9:30 Club.
• Article: Rudi Greenberg muses on songs that Bruce Springsteen has covered. The Boss is playing at the Verizon Center.

Thursday 4/5
• Interview: David Malitz on Charles Bradley [Washington Post], performing at the 9:30 Club.
• CD Review: Moira E McLaughlin on School of Seven Bells‘s Ghostory [Washington Post]. Performing at the Black Cat.

Other Articles

• Chris Richards muses on musicians who wear masks [Washington Post]. As the hyper-connectivity of social media pulls our planet into a tighter huddle, [Aaron] Jerome [of SBTRKT] is one in a growing number of vanguard pop artists flirting with the idea of anonymity. They often wear masks. Some conceal their names. A few refuse to perform in public altogether. Many make electronic music, including Deadmau5, the Bloody Beetroots, Redshape and Zomby. And although artists and authors have worked under pseudonyms for centuries, protecting one’s anonymity today feels like an implicit protest against our increasingly Facebookish society. These artists are asserting their power by refusing to be identified, asking us to like them without clicking “Like”.

• Local band news: local metal band Division welcomes a new singer, Scott Stewart. If that name sounds familiar, he was the band’s original singer.

• Local musician news: Justin Jones will be releasing a full-length record on 9:30 Records [Washington CityPaper].

• Speaking of the CityPaper, check out their Best of DC edition. Lots of great music picks in the issue’s Arts & Entertainment section.

• A rare Louis Armstrong recording is going to be re-released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings [Washington Post].

• CD Review: DC’s Joe Colly on Miike Snow‘s Happy to You [Pitchfork].

Live Reviews

• Dave McKenna on Noel Gallagher with his High Flying Birds (and some Oasis tunes) at the Warner Theatre [Washington Post].

• Chris Klimek on Fiona Apple at 6th & I [Washington CityPaper]. Chris Richards also weighs in [Washington Post].

• Robert Battey on pianist Yoonie Han at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater [Washington Post].

• Charles T Downey on Elias Quartet at the Library of Congress [Washington Post].

Contests

• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of VCMB‘s Ssss on vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address. (contest ends today).
• (S)Hell fest is giving away a T-shirt! Enter via twitter using these instructions (contest ends Saturday 3/31 at noon).
• The Vinyl District is giving away a signed copy of Rufus Wainwright‘s Out of the Game. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends Tuesday 4/3).
• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of Donovan Quinn‘s Honky Tonk Medusa on vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends Tuesday 4/3).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to Creed at the Warner Theatre on 4/24 (contest ends Sunday 4/15).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to Nickelback at the Verizon Center on 4/30 (contest ends Monday 4/23).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to Marilyn Manson at the Fillmore Silver Spring on 5/1 (contest ends Sunday 4/1).
• 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).

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