ShowlistDC Music Notes: Monday 02-13-12

We’re not going to talk about the Grammys here, because either you watched them (and already know what happened), or you didn’t (and probably don’t care). Also, can someone explain to us why liveblogging is something that everyone is doing now– if you’re watching the show live, are you also reading your computers? And if you’re not watching, do you really care what [random blogger] thinks about what’s going on RIGHT.THIS.SECOND on the TV?

Things to read:
• R.I.P. Whitney Houston. The Washington Post has a photo gallery and the Post’s Click Track blog brings back a 1996 profile of the singer written by Robin Givhan.
• Gavin Holland remixes Travis Morrison Hellfighers‘ “Moneytown”. [Washington CityPaper]
• DCist interviewed Shearwater.
• DC writer Aaron Leitko reviewed Field Music’s Plumb for Pitchfork.
• Live reviews: Dave McKenna on Willie Nile at Jammin’ Java [Washington Post]. Cecelia Porter on Nordic Voices at Dumbarton Church [Washington Post]. the Darkness at the 9:30 Club reviewed by We Love DC and the Vinyl District.

Free stuff:
• Heavy Uber Alles has tickets to Iced Earth at the 9:30 Club on 3/13 (contest ends today at noon)
• The Vinyl District has a copy of Of Montreal‘s Paralytic Stalks on yellow vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address. (contest ends Tuesday 2/14)
• The Rogers Revue has tickets to Disney On Ice at the Verizon Center on 2/18 (contest ends 2/17).


ShowlistDC Music Notes: Friday 02-10-12

It’s been a week of these Music Notes. Are you liking the feature? Send me an email (showlistdc@gmail.com) and let me know what you think! Also remember that you can add this blog to your RSS feed with http://www.showlistdc.com/more/feed/ . Have a great weekend!

Things to read:
Black Tambourine wants to record an EP of Ramones songs, and they’ve set up a Kickstarter to do so. If that’s not enough Black Tambourine in your life, remember that they’re playing the Chickfactor 20th anniversary show in April at Artisphere (buy tickets, if you’re so inclined).
• Geoffrey Himes interviews Ralph Stanley in the Washington Post. Stanley performs this weekend at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas.
Steve Aoki talks to the Washington Post about his music and also mentions Fugazi. Aoki is in Silver Spring at the Fillmore on Saturday.
• the Vinyl District continues its Gold Leaf Studios retrospective.
• the Washington CityPaper’s Spring Arts Guide.
• What to do this weekend and the following week ahead: The Vinyl District suggests Cate Le Bon and Marian Fahey McLaughlin at DC9 on Sunday, 12 February. Mark Jenkins also reviews Cate Le Bon for the Washington Post. TBD.com tells you about shows at unusual venues. Washingtonian offers picks for the next 7 days.
• Also reviewed in the Washington Post: Jess Righthand on Nicholas Payton‘s album Bitches (tonight at the Kennedy Center). Catherine Lewis on O’Brother‘s album Garden Window (Thursday at DC9). Jess Righthand on the Robert Glasper Experiment album Black Radio (Thursday at Strathmore).
• If you’re not sick of hearing about the sold-out Sharon van Etten show by now, the Washington Post has now reviewed opener Shearwater’s new album, Animal Joy (scroll down below the excellent SVE article).
• If you’re going to place your vote in November based on the candidates’ musical tastes, then you can thank the Washington Post for pointing you to the campaign playlists of Obama and Romney. (Seriously? Slow news day, apparently….)
• Live reviews: George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic at the 9:30 club reviewed by Dulani Wallace [the Vinyl District] and Erica Bruce [Washington CityPaper]. We Love DC on Thurston Moore and Kurt Vile at the Black Cat. Marlene Hall on the Kills at the 9:30 Club [Huffington Post].
• Bonus reading: this is not at all music-related, but we love a good vegan bakery, and Express has a nice interview with Doron Petersan of Sticky Fingers, in advance of her new cookbook Sticky Fingers’ Sweets: 100 Super-Secret Vegan Recipes, which comes out later this month. Petersan is doing a reading/Q&A at 6th & I on March 1st.

Things to listen to and/or watch:
• No tickets to tomorrow’s sold-out Sharon Van Etten show at the Black Cat? NPR brings you her World Cafe performance.
• Local rap duo DTMD released a video for “Raw” [Washington CityPaper]
Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn did a Tiny Desk Concert at the NPR offices.

Free stuff:
• 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 today at 4 PM).
• ShowlistDC has tickets to Mos Def at the 9:30 Club on 2/20 (contest ends today 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)
• The Vinyl District has a copy of Of Montreal‘s Paralytic Stalks on yellow vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address. (contest ends Tuesday 2/14)


ShowlistDC Music Notes: Monday 02-06-12

We here at ShowlistDC have an ArtsBook-shaped hole in our hearts and inboxes this morning, as TBD’s Arts Editor (and daily ArtsBook scribe) Andrew Beaujon has joined Pointer as Senior Online Reporter. We’ll miss Beaujon’s thorough compilation of the DC area’s arts news– and his snarky commentary along the way. In his absence, here are a few DC-area music news worth sharing today:

Things to read:
Sharon van Etten is the name that’s going to be all over the indie-rock news this week, as her new album Tramp comes out this week, and she’s playing the Black Cat on Saturday (as recommended by ShowlistDC!). Lots to read here– Marc Masters has a lengthy chat with SVE in the Washington Post, and NPR has a piece on the indie-folkster as well.
• Miss the Super Bowl’s Halftime show (with Madonna, LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, MIA, and Cee-Lo)? Jon Pareles over at the New York Times gives a summary. (The only quasi-scandalous thing that happened: MIA flipped the bird. Pitchfork has some video.)
• Maura Judkis on Apple’s Siri joinig Erykah Badu and Biz Markie as a guest vocalist for the Flaming Lips [Washington Post].
Empire Jazz Club tries again [Washington CityPaper], reports Michael J. West. They will have a weekly calendar starting this week that will include karaoke (Wednesdays), film discussions (Sundays), and live radio broadcasts.
• Do you get confused between the bands U.S. Royalty and American Royalty? Joe Warminsky sets up a handy chart to help you tell the difference. [Washington CityPaper]
• DC’s Marc Masters and NC’s Grayson Currin’s latest the Out Door [Pitchfork] “explore[s] the instrumental methods of lute-player Jozef Van Wissem, cross formats with Austin multi-media factory Monofonus Press, and meet Bay Area black metal experimentalists Sutekh Hexen“– and is, as always, a good one-stop shop for catching up with the latest noise news.
• DC’s Aaron Leitko reviews the new Royal Baths album Better Luck Next Life over on Pitchfork.
• Live reviews: Anthony Pirog at Twins Jazz by Michael J. West [Washington Post]. Crystal Heidemann on Night Beds at the End [the Vinyl District].

Things to listen to and/or watch:
• Listen: NPR is streaming Shearwater‘s Animal Joy, which comes out on 2/14. They’re opening for Sharon van Etten at the Black Cat on Saturday.
• Listen: NPR brings us the 9:30 club sets from JEFF the Brotherhood and the Kills.
• Listen: NPR and WXPN’s World Café bring us Girls.
• Listen: Here are 9 new Latin metal bands recommended by Jasmine Garsd [NPR]: Mexico’s Split Heaven, Arcania, Goatzilla, The Arkitecht, and Majestic Downfall; the Dominican Republic’s Archaios; Brazil’s Krisiun; and two US bands– Miami’s Inferion and Los Angeles’s Tukaaria. The link has soundclips if you need some tunes to wake you up this Monday morning.
• Watch: DCHeavyMetal.com shares three new local metal music videos, from the bands Fierce Allegiance, King Giant, and Auroboros.
• Watch: Bill Frisell did some John Lennon stuff at a NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
• Watch: Bon Iver‘s “Holocene” and “Beth/Rest” plus Kristin Wiig’s Lana Del Rey impersonation/apology on “Weekend Update” on this week’s SNL, courtesy of Stereogum.

Win tickets:
• The Vinyl District has tickets to Feist @ Strathmore on 5/9 (contest ends Tuesday 2/7 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).