• Press about the Summerland Tour featuring Everclear, Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray, Lit, and Marcy Playground at Wolf Trap: Rohan Mahadevan [DCist] and Denise A Levien [the Rogers Revue].
• Allison Stewart’s Singles File [Washington Post]. Featuring songs by Rick Ross featuring Jay-Z and Dr. Dre, Prata Vetra, Solos, Le1f, and Afghan Whigs.
We’ve got a double “win ‘em before you can buy ‘em” contest this week here on ShowlistDC! Hot Chip and Sleigh Bells are playing at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday, July 22nd, and Metric is playing at Strathmore on Friday, September 21st. Tickets to both shows go on sale this Friday (May 18th) at 10 AM, but we’re giving away a pair of tickets to each show before you can buy them! You can enter to win tickets to either show (or both shows!), but you can only win tickets to one show. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me which show you’d like to enter for (remember that you can enter for both!) and I’ll pick the winners at random (using random.org) on Thursday, 17 May at 7 PM Eastern. Be sure to use a valid email address when you enter, so I can contact you if you win (and don’t worry: your email address won’t be posted publicly when you comment on this entry).
The first of the two shows is Hot Chip and Sleigh Bells with a special DJ set by James Murphy (DFA/LCD Soundsystem). Hot Chip is a British electropop group that formed in 2000. The group has released four albums which have all been extremely well-received (the lowest score they got on Pitchfork was a 7.0, with the other three albums receiving an 8.0 or above). They’ve got a new one coming out in June, In Our Heads, so this show is certain to feature a lot of new songs as well. Opening the show is Sleigh Bells, a New York duo of Derek Edward Miller on guitar and Alexis Krauss on vocals. It’s been a busy year for Sleigh Bells: they put out their second album, Reign of Terror, in February, sold out the 9:30 Club in March, and opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Verizon Center last week. Then there’s James Murphy, who co-founded DFA Records and performed in LCD Soundsystem, who’ll be doing a DJ set to open the whole show. Murphy announced that he was retiring LCD Soundsystem last year (the group’s last concert was in New York in April 2011), but he didn’t drop out of music entirely: he released a song with Gorillaz and Andre 2000 earlier this year, and it’s great to see him still out performing, so make sure you get to this show early enough to catch his opening set. When tickets go on sale, they’ll be available via ticketfly.com for $35 (lawn) or $45 (pavilion) plus applicable fees. (Note that we’re giving away lawn tickets.)
In September, Canadian indie-rock group Metric is playing the majestic theatre Strathmore up in Bethesda– this place has fantastic sound, so it’ll be great to hear these guys in such an incredible space. Metric formed back in 1998 and has released four studio albums, with a fifth– Synthetica– coming out in June. Another show that’s sure to feature a bunch of new tunes! Frontwoman Emily Haines posted a note on the group’s official site about the album, writing, “SYNTHETICA is about staying home and wanting to crawl out of your skin from the lack of external stimulation. SYNTHETICA is about forcing yourself to confront what you see in the mirror when you finally stand still long enough to catch a reflection. SYNTHETICA is about being able to identify the original in a long line of reproductions. It’s about what is real vs what is artificial.” We’re not entirely sure what that means, exactly, but it sure sounds intriguing. Tickets for this show will go on sale 5/18 via ticketmaster.com for $47 plus applicable fees.
Check out some music videos of all of these bands, then let me know in the comments which show (or both!) you’d like to attend. And if you come across this post after the contest has closed, you can pick up tickets via Ticketfly for Hot Chip/Sleigh Bells and Ticketmaster for Metric.
• On Monday, we pointed you to an article about Bruce Springsteen‘s use of a teleprompter in live performances [Washington Post]. E Street Band member Nils Lofgren has written a letter in response. [Springsteen] would show us the sign [with the name of a song request] and then immediately “frisbee” it down the stairs to the teleprompter crew to surf the net and find the lyrics while we all talked up a quick arrangement at his microphone, knowing he’d be counting it off in 20 seconds. Many of those audibles were Bruce songs unrehearsed or played in years or decades.
• We can’t think of a more terrible supergroup than the Sons of Beatles. No, we’re not joking; apparently the sons of the Fab Four might form a band. For now, though, you’ll have to settle for the equally terrible-sounding solo show of James McCartney at the Fillmore on 6/11.
• EP Review: Marcus J Moore on Martyn‘s Hello Darkness [Washington CityPaper]. Note that there’s an audio file embedded at that link, in case you’d like to take a listen.
• Substitutions: Wayne Brady steps up to host the Radio & Television Correspondents’ Association gala in June [Washington Post] after Louis C.K. dropped the gig when Greta Van Susteren threatened to boycott it. C.K. ended up in the Fox anchor’s crosshairs because of a vulgar 2010 Twitter rant in which he called Sarah Palin a word that we not only cannot repeat here but which is widely regarded as the worst thing you can call a woman. (He told The Wrap this week that he dropped out because “I wasn’t that excited about it” and “I didn’t want to cause them problems.”) As for his replacement? “Wayne Brady is as close to safe as you can get,” said Adam Frucci, editor of Splitsider, a blog devoted to comedy. “He’s pretty squeaky-clean.”
• Listen: local band Teething Veils has recorded a song called “Cobblestone” [Washington CityPaper]. {full disclosure: I’m scheduled to be singing on Teething Veils’ upcoming album.}
Last night, I was at local band Fuchida‘s first-ever show. The Black Cat’s tiny backstage was packed, which was particularly awesome: it was so great to see so many people out to support a local headliner– and a metal(ish) band at that!– especially at a venue that’s not pay-to-play, as so many of the area’s local metal-friendly venues are. I guess it’s no surprise that there were so many people there, since the members of Fuchida used to be in other bands (Tone, Bronze Age, and Blue Tip), and the group’s frontwoman often DJs at the Black Cat under the name DJ Lil’e. There were certainly a lot of instruments on stage– three(!) guitars and an eight-string(!) bass plus (of course) drums– which certainly created a voluminous sound. The group refers to itself as ‘New Wave of American Black War Metal’, and while it was certainly obvious that this was their first show, they sounded good, and I look forward to hearing more from them. Also, the Black Cat now has New Belgium’s black ale 1554 on tap, which is delicious.
The night before, I was at Empire (formerly Jaxx) in Springfield for A Sound of Thunder‘s CD release show. I’ve already gone on record that I like the album, Out of the Darkness [Washington Post] (you can check it out on Amazon). The female-fronted power metal group sounds great on record, and they bring a lot of energy to the stage– singer Nina Osegueda is a great frontwoman, running all over stage and getting the crowd revved up– but one of the best parts of their live show is guitarist Josh Schwartz, who’s just awesome to watch.
On Friday night, I went to a completely non-metal show: a cappella groups Cartoon Johnny, Euphonism and Vox Pop did a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at Williamsburg Middle School in Arlington. This is the second year I’ve been to this event (they’ve been doing it for 4 years), and it’s always a little surreal to be at a concert full of children– I’m really short, so it’s rare that I can see over the heads of the entire audience! Still, despite the chaos of the children (I never thought I’d see a mosh pit at an a cappella show, and yet the kids just go crazy right in front of the stage), the musicianship at this show was fantastic. Cartoon Johnny has just added a new member, Guye Turner (who is a teacher at Williamsburg Middle School), and this is the first time I’d seen the group perform a full set with him. They sounded fantastic– Guye gelled so well with the group, it’s hard to believe he’s only been singing with them for a few months. Can’t wait to see where they go from here. Euphonism were enjoyable as always, and I’ve become more and more impressed with Vox Pop every time I see them. CJ and Euphonism are both small groups (CJ has 6, Euph has 7), while Vox Pop is an 11-member group. Having once been an a cappella singer, I know the challenges of performing in a larger group– but Vox Pop sounded so good. They are by far, to my ears, the most cohesive and interesting large a cappella group in this area, and it’s always fun to see them perform.
Articles
• Bruce Springsteen doesn’t lip-synch, but he uses a teleprompter in concert [Washington Post]. Springsteen is such an exciting performer precisely because his art has always seemed to lack artifice. He is exuberant but also sincere, and he makes his fans believe it, too. His tunes aren’t just tunes; they’re mini-anthems of hope and possibility and unrealized dreams. They’re little musical novels. Which is why a teleprompter tampers, ever so slightly, with the spell Springsteen has cast for nearly 40 years. If he believes as deeply as we assume he does, why the need for a cheat sheet?
• Thought you were done with SXSW coverage? You were wrong. Chris Richards has a lengthy article on Robert Glasper and his performance in Austin [Washington Post]. The Robert Glasper Experiment is at the Warner Theatre tomorrow (4/3).
• Profile/interview: Megan Buerger on Kishi Bashi [Washington Post], performing with Of Montreal on Tuesday at the 9:30 Club.
• Joan Reinthaler on the University of Maryland’s School of Music’s “The Art of Argento” Festival, which celebrates the work of Dominick Argento [Washington Post].
• Uber-hipster blog Brightest Young Things is expanding to New York [Washington CityPaper]. 2011 was Brightest Young Things’ most successful year, and its first profitable one, [BYT leader Svetlana] Legetic says. But she isn’t inching back from the operation’s online presence to take advantage of the breathing room that comes with a bigger staff. (The site now has six full-time employees with benefits, plus two part-timers and an army of volunteer contributors, compared to three full-timers a year ago.) As far as bylines go, Legetic will still write the site’s weekend events newsletter, and guide its more ambitious editorial projects. But a lot of her energy in the next few months will involve Brightest Young Things’ more imperial ambitions. This summer, the site is expanding to New York.
• The Washington Post’s sixth annual Peeps contest (sorry, we just can’t bring ourselves to call it by its official name, “Peeps Show”) has concluded. We do love this music-related one, so kudos to Derek Hills and Brinda Krishnan (of the band Not My Sister) for their sugary creation! There are a few close-ups here and here and here.
• Local arts news: Scott Tucker (Cornell University’s choral director) will be taking over as the head of the Choral Arts Society [Washington Post]. The Society’s current head, Norman Scribner founded the organization 46 years ago and is retiring at the end of this season. Tucker’s experience includes fundraising (of particular interest in today’s climate), commissioning new work — he commissioned more than 30 new pieces while at Cornell, including works by Augusta Read Thomas, Chen Yi and Libby Larsen — and world music. He spent part of a sabbatical year in South Africa, learning traditional music by rote from an expert who requested that he not write anything down, saying, according to Tucker, that “those staff lines are like prison bars to the music.”
• Tittsworth is really excited about the return of Trouble & Bass to DC (and has a pair of tickets to give away to a promotion-friendly twitter user).
• Patrick Foster on Sleigh Bells and Liturgy at the 9:30 Club [Washington Post]. Apparently the headliner– which has 2 albums under its belt– played a short, 45-minute set.
