We at Hometown Sounds are pretty old hat in the DC music podcasting game, but we get pretty excited to see new shows join in the scene. Audio Barre is a new podcast highlighting some cool acts in our area, and their latest episode goes in depth with one of our long time faves, funky brass band Black Masala. In addition to interviews, the producers at Centreville VA studio Blue Hippo Recordings shoot live performance audio and video, and this clip of Black Masala performing “Oh No” from last year’s full length album I Love You Madly shows how unique and funktacular this band is. Too bad you can’t experience this live music party any time soon. Oh wait! Look at that, they’re headlining a big show tonight at Iota in Clarendon with Brooklyn’s Slavic Soul Party and Big Mama Shakes from Richmond. If you love tuba as much as we do, we’ll high five you there.
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Monthly Archives: April 2016
Laura Tsaggaris – Unsteady
Singer-songwriter Laura Tsaggaris‘s most recent album Everyman is now available to the masses who use online radio service Pandora to shape their musical tastes for them. She pairs that announcement with the release of a new music video for “Unsteady”, composed of footage from various live tour shows courtesy of Toot Toot Pictures. Our music buds Bobby Thompson and Ben Tufts make fleeting appearances as members of Tsaggaris’s touring band.
Maryjo Mattea – Getting Over You
SONG PREMIERE!
Maryjo Mattea has the charisma and the songwriting chops to rise above lesser singers and develop a substantial following. The garage-rock formula from her previous band Two Dragons And A Cheetah worked because of Maryjo’s captivating stage presence, and clearly none of the bro’s in her new outfit Maryjo Mattea & A Pile of Dudes are going to take away from that. Her solo EP Four Minute Symphonies comes out on April 28th with a release show at Songbyrd featuring Uptown Boys Choir and Party Like It’s, and Hometown Sounds is all atingle to premiere the second single from it. Unlike the first single, the catchy power-pop number “Rocket Science”, “Getting Over You” starts out as a classic torch song before ramping up the drums and slide guitar courtesy of blues rocker Jonny Grave. RSVP here to see Maryjo and her guitar summit the biggest pile of dudes in the city.
Podcast for April 20th, 2016
Set up in Tony’s new “music show room” home studio, the Hometown Sounds gents go through listener feedback and give you tips to catch up on your podcasts in the car and the shower.
Tracklisting:
The Harry Bells – Mathilda [Roosevelt Island EP]
Paperhaus – Silent Speaking [single]
Tanner Carlton – We Don’t Have the Time
Wylder – Swells [Rain and Laura]
Maryjo Mattea – Getting Over You [Four Minute Symphonies]
CrushnPain – Enjoined [All Mountains EP]
Or listen in SoundCloud:
Subscribe to the Hometown Sounds podcast in the iTunes Store or your favorite podcast app! (and tell a friend too!)
Paperhaus – Silent Speaking
Psychedelic indie rock band Paperhaus has undergone many changes in their 7 year history as a DC band. After recently vacating their eponymous house where they ruled the DIY/DIT house show scene, core member Alex Tebeleff rejiggered the lineup to include Deleted Scenes’ Matt Dowling and Rick Irby, who also goes by the solo moniker Jau Ocean, and took the band to Philly to record under producer Brian McTear. The first single in this new era is “Silent Speaking”, and Pree’s Ben Usie made a lyric video for it that should utterly creep you out if you have Ommetaphobia (google it, I just did). Come get trippy at the Black Cat tonight as Paperhaus celebrates the release of this single and also Blight Records’ CrushnPain’s new EP All Mountains, with support from Nag Champa.
Fellow Creatures – Wouldn’t You Like To Know
Sam McCormally and Will McKinley-Ward’s experimental rock group Fellow Creatures apply dreamlike qualities drawn from their musical collaboration into their newest music video. “Wouldn’t You Like To Know”, directed by the band, creates a moody, non-literal interpretation of a frightening event that occurred on a tour stop in Cincinnati. You can hear Sam and Will recount the tale of “party jail” on this episode of the ChunkyGlasses podcast, including their entire origin story as metamorphosis from the well-loved folk rock band Ugly Purple Sweater and reflections on our city’s music scene. Their debut full length self-titled album is $7 on Bandcamp, and the only better use of your hard earned money is to pay the door guy at U Street’s Tropicalia to let you into tonight’s party celebrating its release.
The Grey A – Unusual As Usual
Continuing this week’s theme of spotting local venues in music videos, rock band The Grey A took Comet Ping Pong’s status as both a busy restaurant and late night music venue as inspiration for their newest music video, “Unusual As Usual”. If you’ve ever worked in food service the antics depicted by director Adio Ash are probably old hat, but the rest of us would prefer to live in blissful and delicious ignorance, thank you very much. The Grey A returns to the scene of the crime next Wednesday April 20th to celebrate their new single release and kick off a quick tour with a late show at Comet featuring Indiana’s Austin Lucas and Joey Kneiser & Kelly Smith of Nashville band Glossary.
Lighting Fires – I Remember When
A common theme of ours on the Hometown Sounds podcast is how the music scene in the NOVA suburbs never get love & attention from DC proper. Perhaps I’m biased because I live over the river in Arlington, but old school Clarendon venues Galaxy Hut and Iota are two of the best spots to see live music in the whole DMV. Guitarist Andrew Gaddy and drummer Adam Neubauer of the dance-rock band Lighting Fires have deep ties to many bands in that scene, so of course they chose Iota for the shoot of their first music video for the insanely catchy single “I Remember When”, from last year’s pay-what-you-want 4 song EP Friend Fiction. Lighting Fires kicks off your weekend right with an early show Friday night at DC9 featuring DC’s Grey Gardens and Nashville’s *repeat repeat.
K.A.A.N. – Phoenix
Knowledge Above All Nonsense is both the mantra and moniker of Columbia MD rapper K.A.A.N. His flow is so staccato and dense, you’ll be listening dozens of times to catch all the knowledge whizzing through your ears. K.A.A.N.’s technical ability is unmistakable and music videos like today’s feature “Phoenix” will cement his status as THE rising star in DMV hip-hop. “Phoenix” comes from K.A.A.N.’s latest release Eclectic Audio, a 5 song mixtape EP that needs no guests or flashy producer credits, just thoughtful production from ORBT that easily stands up to K.A.A.N.’s rhymes.
Amber Mimz – Never Be
Soul singer Amber Mimz has a honeyed, laid-back delivery that allows her songs to sprawl out for maximum effect. Her latest release THREE ep dropped three new mellow jazzy tunes into the world, and she celebrates tonight with an opening slot for Tiffany Gouché at an early show at U Street Music Hall that also serves as a launch party for literary sanctuary Chloe Society. Get in the mood with this music video for “Never Be”.
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