ShowlistDC Music Notes: Tuesday 08-21-12



Today’s New Releases (with locally-penned reviews)

Bloc Party, Four. Reviewed by Elizabeth Nelson [Washington Post].

Blur, Parklive. Reviewed by Lindsay Zoladz [Pitchfork].

the Darkness, Hot Cakes. Reviewed by Andrew Leahey [Washington Times].

Owl City, the Midsummer Station. Reviewed by Allison Stewart [Washington Post] and by Andrew Leahey [Washington Times]. At the 9:30 Club on 9/10.

Redd Kross, Researching the Blues. Reviewed by Aaron Leitko [Pitchfork].

Spider Bags, Shake My Head. Reviewed by ChunkyGlasses.com.

Yeasayer, Fragrant World. Reviewed by David Malitz [Washington Post]. At the 9:30 Club on 11/14 and 11/15.



Articles


• Planning Guides: Washington Post Going Out Guide’s Nightlife Agenda. DC Music Download’s Weekday Hits and Upcoming Shows You Should Know.

• Interview: Valerie Paschall talks to Priests [DCist].

• Interview: Valerie Paschall talks to Meow vs. Meow [DCist].

• Interview: Gregory Ayers talks to Clarissa Villondo, co-founder of Indie Bands With a Mission [DC Music Download].

• Interview: Nancy Dunham talks to Mat Kearney [Washington Examiner]. Opening for Train tonight at Wolf Trap.

• DVD/Documentary review: Joe Warminsky on Sweet Rock: the Red Weasel Movement [Washington CityPaper]. It’s “a 35-minute documentary about a Salisbury, Md., band that was a small oasis of grunge-era good times on the Eastern Shore and whose members were familiar with D.C.’s late ’80s/early ’90s scene“.

• Republican Vice Presedential candidate Paul Ryan apparently loves Rage Against the Machine. That love is not returned [Washington Post].

• Are you tired of people saying that the local music scene sucks? Baltimore blogger Metallomusikum certainly is, and she wrote this handy list of things you and your band can do to make it better. (She wrote it back in January, but it’s still worth reading/following/taping to the fridge).

• Local band news: Periphery is dropping off the Summer Slaughter Tour due to a family emergency [Facebook].

• Chuck Brown Day: Ally Schweitzer tallied an hourly update on the event’s breakdown [Washington CityPaper] (PS: she also reports that refunds are available for those who had tickets).

Big Time Rush performed at a kids’ “state dinner” at the White House. Chris Richards was there [Washington Post].

• OK, we get it: making fun of Nickelback is like shooting fish in a barrel. Still, Maura Judkis critiques their new music video, “Trying Not To Love You” [Washington Post].

• More on Brightest Young Things‘ move to NYC: an article in the New York Times.

• The Washington CityPaper is curating a concert at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on 9/14. Kokayi, The Caribbean, and Alex (aka Alex Minoff) will be performing, and the event is free.

• Extra cash in your pocket? Check out the new Kickstarter from local power metal band A Sound of Thunder, to help fund their new album Time’s Arrow (and featuring an exclusive EP).

• Everyone’s been talking about Pussy Riot, and the Washington Post now has a blog post about the Russian punk rockers.

• Opera falls just outside the scope of what I cover here on ShowlistDC, but Anne Midgette wrote a few thoughtful pieces for the Washington Post recently, so I’ll round them up here: Taking Opera’s Pulse (a response to a recent cover article of Opera News, which sparked a conversation on NPR) and Opera: great personalities, bad actors.



Listening


• Here’s a roundup of Hometown Sounds DC’s local music videos of the day:
      – Screen Vinyl Image, “Night Trip” (8/20)
      – the Young Rapids, “Goods (Blue Light Sessions)” (8/17)

• Here’s a roundup of DCist’s music videos of the day:
      – Airiel, “Flashlight Tag” (8/20)
      – Wye Oak, “Spiral” (8/17)

• Live listening: Wye Oak, live from the 9:30 Club, 8/17/12 [NPR.org].

Rufus Wainwright stopped by NPR’s DC office for a Tiny Desk Concert.

• Listen to yU‘s latest 7″ release [Washington CityPaper].

• Listen to Substantial‘s “Check My Resume” [DC Music Live].

• Listen to Mac Demarco‘s “My Kind of Woman” [ChunkyGlasses.com].

• Podcasts: Hometown Sounds DC’s podcast for 8/19 and ChunkyGlasses.com’s Episode 13.



Live Reviews

Be’La Dona and Klymaxx at Fort Dupont Park, 8/18/12. Reviewed by Sarah Godfrey [Washington Post].

the Dirty Projectors and Wye Oak at the 9:30 Club, 8/17/12 & 8/18/12. Reviewed by Rohan Mahadevan [DCist] and by Aaron Leitko [Washington Post]. 9:30 Club posted the setlist from 8/17 [930club.tumblr.com].

Gold Motel at Jammin’ Java, 7/23/12. Reviewed by Stephen Bradley [Washington Times].

the Kennedys and Naked Blue at the Hamilton, 8/19/12. Reviewed by David Hintz [DC Rock Live].

Lorelei, Deathfix, and Sun Wolf at the Black Cat, 8/17/12. Reviewed by David Hintz [DC Rock Live] and photographed by Erica Bruce [Washington CityPaper].

Barry Manilow at Wolf Trap, 8/16/12 & 8/17/12. Reviewed by Mark Beachy [MD Theatre Guide], by Denise A Levien [the Rogers Revue], and by Reel Film News

Marina and the Diamonds and MS MR at the 9:30 Club, 8/14/12. Reviewed by We Love DC.

Raise the Roofbeams, the Beanstalk Library and Red Sammy at DC9, 8/16/12. Reviewed by David Hintz [DC Rock Live].

Christian Scott aka Christian aTunde Adjuah at the Bohemian Caverns, 8/16/12. Reviewed by Michael J West [Washington Post].



Giveaways


NEW The Vinyl District is giving away tickets to the Brian Jonestown Massacre at the 9:30 Club on 8/22 (contest ends today at noon).
• DC101 is giving away tickets to the Rockstar UPROAR festival with Shinedown, Godsmack, Staind, Papa Roach, and more. Show is at Jiffy Lube Live on 9/2 (no indication of when this giveaway ends).
NEW The Vinyl District is giving away two Slumberland LPs: Lorelei‘s Enterprising Sidewalks and Echo Lake‘s Wild Peace (contest ends Friday 8/24).
• DC101 is giving away tickets to Ben Harper‘s acoustic show at Wolf Trap on 9/4 (contest ends 8/26).
NEW Local band Cassandra Syndrome has a contest that includes T-Shirts and tickets to their concerts on 9/1 (with Cybergeist and Death Maschine at the Recher Theatre) and 9/14 (with Kamelot, A Sound of Thunder, and Fallen Martyr at Empire).
• DC101 is giving away front row tickets to DC101′s Kerfuffle with the Offspring, Sublime, Rome, Garbage, etc., at Jiffy Lube Live on 9/15 (contest ends 9/3).
• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to see Gotye at Merriweather Post Pavilion on 9/30 (no indication of when this contest ends).

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ShowlistDC Music Notes: Monday 04-23-12



Notes from Last Night (and the weekend)


Last night, I went to the Arlington Temple in Rosslyn to see the San Francisco vocal band the House Jacks, who have been around since 1991 but are more recently known for their work on the NBC a cappella competition show The Sing-Off. The quintet did not disappoint, performing a ton of original songs and a few selected covers; they always do a selection of audience requests, and it’s pretty amazing to me how little it takes to make for a convincing cover of a pop song (the guys did just fine with Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and Maroon 5′s “This Love” with just the lead and percussion– sure, some of the other guys were tossing in some harmonies or other auxiliary parts, but they really weren’t necessary). Better was the guys’ take on audience requests they didn’t know; Deke Sharon provided a particularly hilarious guess of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe”. (Notably, my request for their version of the Monday Night Football theme was not indulged– the House Jacks actually performed the song with Hank Williams Jr. last season, but the theme stopped being aired after a few weeks when Williams made a Hitler comment.) The show overall was great, though; I captured a few tunes on video: early in the show, Nick Girard soloed on a cover of Gnarls Barkley‘s “Crazy”, and for the encore, Deke Sharon invited openers Euphonism on stage to sing Bob Marley‘s “Three Little Birds”.

On Friday night, I went to see Trampled By Turtles at the 9:30 Club. My friend Tom Herbers runs their sound (and recorded their most recent album Stars & Satellites). There were a couple of all-star jams with openers These United States, including a booming cover of The Band‘s “The Weight”. Overall, I thought they sounded great (definitely better than the last time I saw them), but the one thing that continues to be frustrating is the number of people who talk and talk and talk during the band’s slower, quieter songs. I guess the crowd made up for it during the louder ones (there was a moment where everyone was jumping in unison so fiercely that I thought the entire 9:30 club building was going to levitate).



Articles


• Profile/interview: Chris Richards talks to Sam McPheeters, from punk’s Wrangler Brutes, about his new novel Loom of Ruin [Washington Post].

• Interview/profile: Jonathan L Fischer celebrates the blog All Our Noise and shares some of the blog’s favorite live videos over its 4 year history [Washington CityPaper].

• The Washington Post has a column called “She The People: Women Writing on Politics and Culture”. This week, Suzi Parker muses on What American women could learn from Pussy Riot, a Russian punk rock girl band. Three of its members have been in police custody since March for overtaking the pulpit of Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral in February and chanting “Mother Mary, drive Putin away.” Their crime: hooliganism.

• Interview: Mike Paarlberg talks to Norman Scribner, who’s stepping down as director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington [Washington CityPaper]. Scribner founded the Society in 1965.

• Preview/Interview: Nancy Dunham on the Wombats [Washington Examiner]. At the 9:30 Club tonight.

• Preview: Brianne Nemiroff on Fountains of Wayne [TBD] – at the 9:30 Club on Thursday.

• Also on Thursday: watch The Last Waltz at Artisphere [Washington Post].

• Metallomusikum continues her countdown to Maryland DeathFest with profiles of Deviated Instinct and Hellbastard.

• Listen: The Caribbean remixes Deleted Scenes‘s “Bedbedbedbedbed” [Washington CityPaper].

• Listen: Chris Burns‘s debut EP [Washington CityPaper].

• Spotted: Biz Markie is allegedly moving to R St NW [Washington CityPaper], according to a recent episode of Celebrity House Hunting.

• A Woodbridge pizzeria was robbed by a gunman in a Kiss mask on Wednesday night [Washington Post].



Live Reviews


• Megan Buerger on Chairlift at U Street Music Hall [Washington Post].

• Joan Reinthaler on Verge Ensemble at U of Maryland [Washington Post].

• Aaron Leitko on Radiohead Jazz Project at Twins Jazz [Washington Post]. Note that we can’t find that article online anywhere, so that’s a link to the page in Saturday’s paper.



Contests


• DC101 is giving away a pair of tickets to Nickelback at the Verizon Center on 4/30 (contest ends today).
• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of the Naked and Famous‘s Passive Me, Aggressive You on vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends today).
• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of Ben Kweller‘s Go Fly a Kite on vinyl. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends Wednesday 4/25).
• The Vinyl District is giving away a copy of the Domino Records Zine and Flexidisc set, Smuggler’s Way. Winner must have a North American mailing address (contest ends Thursday 4/26).
NEW 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 Friday 4/27 at noon).
• 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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