Tony heads to Texas, while Paul sets the record straight.
Tracklisting:
Will Eastman – Froggie [Hilo]
Venn – Surreal [Venn EP]
Dulio – Nostalgia Web [single]
The Sea Life – Red Eyes [The Sea Life]
Vegas with Randolph – Women in Airports [single]
Yoko K – Lou [We Stand: An International Compilation In Support of Planned Parenthood]
Or listen in SoundCloud:
Subscribe to the Hometown Sounds podcast in the iTunes Store or your favorite podcast app! (and tell a friend too!)
Director Zak Forrest doubles up on songs for the second video from Babe City Records‘ first DC hip-hop artist Nappy Nappa. Both “Hellraiser” and “Nightriders” are dark and menacing tracks, far different in feel than Nappa’s happy-go-lucky debut video “Do My Dance”. “Hellraiser”, produced by Mr. Dickerson and featuring Spvck La Boost, is a prime time dance floor banger, while the Invisibae-produced “Nightriders” turns the BPMs way down as Nappa’s droning lyrics bounce around wickedly in the back of your head. The video tours through a disused industrial park and an underground dance party, showing off Nappa’s crew with generous and beautiful shots of fire. Grab Nappa’s debut EP New Balance on cassette while it lasts.
Chris Ousley and Jess Eliot Myhre’s Americana roots music ensemble the Bumper Jacksons have matured their sound as they expanded to their current 7 piece configuration including trumpet, trombone, pedal steel, upright bass and drums. Their new album I’ve Never Met A Stranger comes out in early May, so mark your calendars for their hometown release show on Friday May 12th at the Hamilton with Letitia Van Sant and Be Steadwell. Today’s music video, their first ever, is the title track from that album, Ousley’s tune about liquid-fueled companionship and finding common ground. It’s a joyous song amplified by the depicted epic musical bike ride courtesy of BicycleSPACE and and Washington Pedicab. Bravo Jacksons!
Last week Hometown Sounds hosted a live performance by MC and producer Kokayi at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. (Did you miss it? Watch the full video here!) Though his musical output was solo, he tapped DJ and video artist Kevin Chambers a.k.a. Flash Frequency to provide visuals for the performance.
Earlier this week, DC’s longtime legendary electronic producer and DJ Will Eastman released his long-awaited debut full length solo artist album Hilo and its first music video, and lo and behold the abstract, trippy animations from Flash Frequency are here too! “Froggie” opens the album with a slow build to dance floor reverberations reminiscent of the glory days of 90s rave mainstays Orbital and Sasha. The full album is an emotional journey through Eastman’s struggles with anxiety, depression and acceptance of his discovery as adopted, communicating through dance floor beats, peaceful ambience and guest appearances from Alex Tebeleff, Eau Claire and Outputmessage. I can’t wait to hear this at full volume at U Hall.
Did you know that DC’s own queer black woman singer and live looper Be Steadwell is playing tonight at Strathmore’s classy North Bethesda offshoot Amp? Good, now you do. And if you have somehow missed the acquaintance with this incredible musician, we’ve got a music video today to show you her power as a performer and producer. Most of Steadwell’s videos are single-take solo live performances of her intense lyric-driven songs, but today’s is a collaboration with Brooklyn duo Climbing PoeTree. Released back on Valentine’s Day, the single “How I Taste”, from Climbing PoeTree’s soon to be released ambitious album INTRINSIC, is about exploring our own desires as a tangible act of self love. The insanely sexy video featuring Shayna Small and directed by Climbing PoeTree was released in a coordinated global uprising to end violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation, and sex slavery. Music with ambition to change the world for the better has never been more in fashion.
The music videos served up by DC rap superstar GoldLink over the course of 2016 were slick, glitzy visuals that positively reeked of LA style. It’s nice to see Link return home for his first single of 2017, “Crew”. Trading verses with Young Jefe a.k.a. DC’s Shy Glizzy, with LA singer Brent Faiyaz crooning the chorus hook, GoldLink’s song laments the women who only want him for his fame and money now that he’s in the big leagues. Video director Matthew Dillon Cohen gives us lots of badass footage of Link’s 4 wheeling crew tearing up DC’s streets.
DC’s Babe City Records, the home of indie rock and shoegaze from the likes of The Sea Life, Go Cozy and Witch Coast, is a surprising promoter of young rapper Nappy Nappa. But Nappa’s outlook on life is goofy and positive, a far cry from many street-level DMV rappers, and fits well with the fun DIY party vibes of Babe City. Nappa’s debut release New Balance is out now digitally and on cassette, and last week the debut music video dropped, for the Black Moses produced “Do My Dance”. Director Zak Forrest captures Nappa twisting lyrics and drinking Buds with his bud in a field.
Have you ever looked at photo albums on Facebook for someone you don’t know, a friend of a friend or perhaps a date, and been mystified at what the hell is going on in these pics? Who hasn’t, right? Then you’ve got the idea for this music video for “DC Tour Company”, the brand new single by party rock band Turtle Recall that we premiered on our podcast a few weeks ago. The pics fly by quickly, showing the heavy gigging band performing all around town and keeping the party going after. Tonight they celebrate the release of their new album with a show on the Black Cat’s main stage, alongside The North Country and Run Come See, also welcoming their new album into the DC music scene. Watch this video and come join the party tonight!
Had enough of Reesa Renee yet? Us neither! Yesterday we featured her new collab with Black Cobain, but today the floppy-headed singer takes us back to her 2015 EP Lovers Rock with a brand new video. “Delay” is a dream-pop torch song taking us in close to Renee’s longing for love, shot beautifully by Amil Barnes. After Renee travels to SXSW to perform at the WeDC house, check her out next at the Funk Parade Kickoff Jam Thursday March 16th at Tropicalia.
DMV rapper Black Cobain is currently blessing the west coast with his talents, but his new single “Brown Sugar” is a collaboration with our own afro-headed sweetheart Reesa Renee. This empowering ode to ladies with brown skin is a sexy, slinky mix of rap and R&B, and the video features Renee singing with Miss Black Virginia USA Midori Amae and the mysterious _PandaWhite, who really shouldn’t be so shy hiding underneath a giant panda head.
Hometown Sounds 