The charming and dapper rock star Jonny Cohen and his Love Machine are back with another music video from Cohen’s comeback album A Quiet Reminder on Teenbeat Records. Viewers enchanted by last year’s melancholy ballad “Let’s Pretend” can cheer up with “Tough Guy”, a folk song about the legend who never loses, directed by Cohen and Mark Robinson and recorded by The Jet Age‘s Eric Tischler. Just don’t tell Cohen that the Capitals don’t play baseball.
Hometown Sounds
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Monthly Archives: May 2017
Soldiers of Suburbia – Thought I Meant More
This debut single by young pop-punk band Soldiers of Suburbia, stationed out in Haymarket VA, is pure high school drama gold. In their debut music video for “Thought I Meant More”, charismatic singer Tyler Plazio crashes and burns out of his trio and must find redemption from his friends while angsty lyrics and power chords give us just the right feels. Keep your eyes peeled on social media later this week to help them record their debut EP by supporting them through IndieGogo.
Mellow Diamond – Ashes to Breathe
Cellist Janel Leppin conjures bleak beauty on “Ashes to Breathe”, the lead-off single from her recently released sophomore album American God under her solo moniker Mellow Diamond. Leppin is well-versed in sonic experimentation, but on this track only her breathy voice and looped cello in use for this delicate meditation. Director Dan Sharnoff’s video is appropriately shimmery and prismatic, subtly fading between clarity and haze.
Podcast for May 24th, 2017
Tony puzzles over frozen burrito preparation, while Paul yearns for a comic book bro.
Tracklisting:
Be Steadwell – Sage (Witch Two) [Breakup Songs]
Rare Essence & Backyard Band – You Can’t Run From The Crank [single]
Jack on Fire – Ban White Men [War for the Matriarchy]
Glenn Yoder & The Western States – Optimist [Inherited Darkness]
Flowerbomb – Marbles [single]
Troy Everett – Black [single]
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Carolyn Malachi – Summer Cool
We don’t want to alarm you, but the unofficial start of the summer season comes this weekend with the opening of pools and a glorious long holiday weekend. Silky smooth soul singer Carolyn Malachi is already there with her new music video for “Summer Cool”, a new single produced by Jerel Abraham. Watch this lush video of Malachi crooning on the beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica and start making your summer travel plans now. Before you head out of town for Memorial Day, catch Malachi performing with legendary vibraphonist Roy Ayers, Godfather of Neo Soul, at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club this Thursday and Friday evenings, and enter to win tickets courtesy of SoulBounce.
Party Like It’s – As Long As You Love Me
YouTube and Ryan Seacrest (that guy is literally everywhere) have teamed up for a new musical competition show called Best.Cover.Ever., and submissions are now open. One of DC’s fave cover bands Party Like It’s got right on that challenge and filmed this joyous singalong cover of “As Long As You Love Me”, the signature song from 90s boy band Backstreet Boys. The ska band’s horn section really delivers and takes this party anthem to the next level. Ska ain’t dead by a long shot, and you can catch Party Like It’s this Memorial Day weekend at the 2017 SuperNova International Ska Festival in Fredricksburg VA along with Eastern Standard Time, The Pietasters, The Scotch Bonnets and so many more.
Black Alley – Complicated
Black Alley has devoted their musical energy to blending rock, R&B and DC’s homegrown sound go-go into a captivating style that grabs everyone & won’t let go. New songs by this band are few and far between these days, so it’s pretty exciting today to get a drop of a soulful new single “Complicated” and slick music video of the band recording the music. They’ve branded their upcoming show at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Friday May 26th as “The Return”, but for some of us they never left. Grab advance tickets and start Memorial Day weekend out with a blast!
Collider – The River
Today is one of those days that my social media feed was flooded with remembrances of a musical icon gone too soon. Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell’s death has sent many of us down a 90s grunge rabbit hole on Spotify or YouTube as we read reminisces of his legacy. You can certainly hear that influential style in “The River”, the new single from shoegazey rock band Collider. The song originally appeared in somewhat grungier form on their self-titled 2015 debut EP, but the band gave it a second life in a re-recorded version pressed to 7″ that comes out this weekend. We also get this wet and hazy music video courtesy of Mike Edwards of Delaware band Feral Ponies. Come to the Black Cat on Saturday night to celebrate the release along with Big Hush and Wildhoney, and dig that old Soundgarden shirt out of the closet for the occasion.
Bells and Hunters – Sense of Time
Indie rock band Bells and Hunters get wistfully nostalgic on their new music video for “Sense of Time”, from the second of three EPs comprising the Modern Witch’s Songbook, subtitled Wives’ Tales. Filmed in the last weekend of their tenure at Yellow House, the video shows Time, portrayed by Ben Silvernail of the band Distant Creatures, taking all their stuff away bit by bit. The video also serves as a farewell to guitarist Joe McMurray, who moved away from DC shortly after filming. Grab the EP for whatever price you like and pray that part 3 comes out soon!
Be Steadwell – Sage (Witch Two)
Be Steadwell‘s songs are bite size tales of heartbreak, coping and moving on that are delicious in their wit and lyricism. Her new album Breakup Songs gather together many of the tracks Be has released in the last year as single-take live-looped performances on her YouTube channel, and today we got the album’s first proper music video. “Sage (Witch Two)”, directed by Steadwell (she’s a filmmaker too!), indulges her fascination with witchcraft, astrology and other unexplained magics in her cautionary post-relationship rant. Catch her play a solo show next time she’s in town at the Brentwood Arts Exchange‘s Listening Room on Friday June 23rd.
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