Monthly Archives: August 2017

Aug 31 2017
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shows, video

Blankus Larry – Hotdog Rainbow

WORLD PREMIERE!

Blankus Larry is a unanimously anonymous post-normal proto-punk rock and roll band based in DC and VA Beach, and they are very excited about the upcoming Labor Day holiday in the United States. To celebrate, they whipped up this song and video gem called “Hotdog Rainbow”, which we’re honored to premiere to all hot dog lovers everywhere.

Band members Durdy and Bloody Larry shared this motivation for the song’s creation:

First, we need to settle a bitter dispute that has been roiling America recently: whether or not ketchup belongs on hotdogs. (Huffpost is definitely wrong with this article). How can you have a hotdog rainbow without ketchup red? Answer: You can’t. Ketchup is also in the first line of the song, so it must certainly belong on hotdogs. And any relish haters out there can buzz right off.

Second, we seem extremely divided as Americans lately, and while hotdog rainbows aren’t going to solve these problems, we hope that all Americans will take a moment to smile, sing along, and enjoy something that we all have in common: a love for hotdogs. And there’s even vegan hotdogs, so no American is left behind.

Their third album Hotdog Rainbows is set to be released in 2017 (YMMV due to Larry Standard Time). Catch up on their first two garage-rock party albums at their Bandcamp before seeing them rock your face off at the Black Cat on Monday September 18th.

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Aug 30 2017
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video

Tarica June – Selfie

The era of branding millennials as self-obsessed narcissists seems to have given way to a focus on self-care in the era of our narcissist-in-chief. Singer and MC Tarica June rebrands the ubiquitous “Selfie” as a message of positivity and happiness with our own bodies, as her lyrics extol the beauty of dark skin and kinky hair. The self-directed music video is impossible not to love, featuring young black girls dancing and singing along to June’s catchy anthem. Head to June’s Facebook page to post your own video for the song using the hashtag #TaricaJuneSelfieChallenge.

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Aug 29 2017
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shows, video

The Electric Grandmother – Police Department Theme Song

Pete Faust, a.k.a. John Mellor, and his wife Mary Alice Hamnett, a.k.a. Donna Jo Tanner, perform what they describe as “Sitcom-core” under the name The Electric Grandmother. Their new concept album Cancelled tells the chilling tale of a man driven insane after his favorite cop-drama TV show is cancelled due to the popularity of the evil rival show “Cop Force.” The show’s theme song is the album’s first single, “Police Department Theme Song”, featuring a pair of blissful, friendly cops working the outdoor parks beat. If only DC was more like this, and less like what we imagine happens on “Cop Force”. Stronger Sex’s Johnny Fantastic turns in a quick gender-nonbinary cameo, but you’ll see their full band show open The Electric Grandmother’s album release gig on Wednesday September 6th at the Black Cat.

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Aug 25 2017
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shows, video

The Cowards Choir – I Took A Drive

Andy Zipf’s folk band The Cowards Choir should be high on your bucket list of DC bands to see live. This weekend you can check that box when they return to Iota in Clarendon on Saturday night to headline an excellent night of music with DC bluegrass band Run Come See and out of towners The Pinkerton Raid. They’ve taken an approach to recording new material that mirrors the songs themselves: deliberate, unhurried, authentic and beautiful. Longtime videographers Clubhill Media film the band performing a new song all together in one take, and the video and song go up online together as part of The Singing Tree series. The latest is “I Took A Drive” and the allusions to a “toupeed tycoon” and “neon signs on the boardwalk” should leave no doubt as to the subject of the song.

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Aug 24 2017
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shows, video

Teen Mortgage – Is It

Kids, once upon a time, video was analog and VHS tracking really was our worst nightmare. Trash punks Teen Mortgage take us back to the camcorder glory days with “Is It”, the catchy single from their debut pay-what-you-want EP Strange Times on Burger Records. Jay and Ed met on Craigslist and probably also picked up the gear to make this video there too. Catch them next at the Rock & Roll Hotel’s 6th annual Brodown Throwdown Festival in the afternoon of Saturday September 16th.

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Aug 23 2017
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Podcasts

Podcast for August 23rd, 2017

Tony and Paul are back in the game with a look at upcoming #DCmusic pre-orders with the theme Looking Forward!

Tracklisting:
Flex Mathews – Never Change [Hi I’m Flex Mathews]
The North Country – E-Meditation (Forever, Forever) [In Defense Of Cosmic Altruism]
Chain & The Gang – Rome [Experimental Music]
The Effects – Back and Forth [Eyes To The Light]
Phil Adé – No Fear feat. Tate Kobang & Saba Abraha [single]
Sam Cooper & The Sleepwalkers – Monster Heart [charity single]

Right-click to Download

Or listen in SoundCloud:

Subscribe to the Hometown Sounds podcast in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, TuneIn or your favorite podcast app! (and tell a friend too!)

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Aug 22 2017
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Presenting

Presenting BRNDA @ Millennium Stage

All of us at Hometown Sounds are totally excited to present BRNDA at our September #DCmusic showcase at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.

BRNDA, a four-piece from DC, has been compared to Adam and the Ants, Parquet Courts and Pixies. Perhaps this panoply of cultural post-its is unavoidable at a time when all music is
listenable, always pilferable. BRNDA, like any honest band, admits to the plundering, but they do have a few rules: No covers, No love songs. Also, simple is always better. So if they have scoured the late 70s, 80s and early 2010s for musical detritus, they haven’t made off with just anything salvageable. No, only the least ostentatious, most off-kilter will do. And so, if you find yourself unable to put your finger on just what you’re hearing, it is because BRNDA is not just some rehashed comfort listening. Couple the music with the world-wary, at-times indecipherable lyrical meaning of the vocalists (they all sing), and you might begin to doubt yourself…but you might also enjoy it. This is exactly how BRNDA wants you to feel.

RSVP here and come to the free performance at 6 PM on Thursday September 7th!

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Aug 21 2017
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video

The North Country – E-Meditation (Forever, Forever)

Andrew Grossman’s ever-evolving pop ensemble The North Country gears up for its third full length album release with a lyric video for the first single “E-Meditation (Forever, Forever)”. If you’re of a certain age (ahem), you probably remember seeing the original 1977 film in this video in school or perhaps at the Air & Space Museum downtown. It’s called Powers of Ten and it’s surprisingly created by Charles & Ray Eames, most famous for the iconic mid-century modern Eames Lounge Chair that’s included in the MOMA’s permanent collection. The film’s 70s “out there” (literally) style is a natural fit for E-Meditation’s repeated lyrics: “I feel the infinite touch / I see the unending everything / I taste the infinite taste / I hear the sweetest melody”. Pre-order In Defense of Cosmic Altruism and get this single in your hot little hands now before it drops on September 29th.

However, not all are happy with how this video turned out. See Grossman’s strategy meeting with long time manager Hersch Herschel below.

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Aug 04 2017
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video

The Sea Life – Red Eyes

“Red Eyes”. Come on. You were thinking it too, right? But no, the single by indie rock band The Sea Life is not an ode to the hazy smoke of creative inspiration that these lads (and lass) probably enjoy on the reg. The music video by directors Eli Sinkus and Robin Groulx of Not West Not East presents the very DC angst of slaving away at a corporate job while all you want to do is rock out. Singer Jon Weiss, bassist Jordan Sanders and drummer Jules Hale look so respectable and professional in their business attire, but their sadness at fading away as rock stars is heartbreaking. Enjoy youth now, it doesn’t last forever. Grab their album on digital for whatever price you like courtesy of Babe City Records, or buy it on CD, cassette or vinyl and put some scratch in their wallets.

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Aug 03 2017
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video

K.A.A.N. – No Sucka MC’s

Hip-hop producer Kato on the Track just wrapped up entries in the 5th of his No Sucka MC’s contest. This annual feature gives talented rappers a chance for production work and features with this prominent producer and his engineering imprint NastyTrax. Our favorite swift-tongued rapper K.A.A.N. (Knowledge Above All Nonsense) submitted this entry, with his stock verbal dexterity packing in a fantastic amount of philosophy. Follow K.A.A.N.’s SoundCloud feed for more tracks and fire!

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