Huge congrats to DC rapper GoldLink on his Grammy nomination in the “Best Rap/Sung Performance” category for his hit single “Crew” featuring Baltimore’s Brent Faiyaz and our own Shy Glizzy, which recently achieved Platinum status. GoldLink’s first proper studio album At What Cost is one of DC’s best exports of the year, and its newest single Meditation is a slick merger of his staccato raps with singer Jazmine Sullivan’s smooth crooning, over percussive club production from KAYTRANADA. This slick music video’s storyline of Link’s problematic nightclub romancing is gloriously upstaged by Sullivan and her crew delivering the song’s hook with primo style.
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Monthly Archives: November 2017
Podcast for November 29th, 2017
Tony’s got “tourist” maracas, while Paul replaces his coffee maker.
Tracklisting:
The CooLots – Y Don’t U [Rebirth]
Elena y Los Fulanos – Morir Ballando [Volcán]
Husbands – Lost Jam [single]
Smart Went Crazy – A Good Day [Con Art 20th Anniversary Reissue]
Stronger Sex – Hassle [There Is No Stronger Sex]
Flash Frequency – It’s Sad to Know I’m Not Done [Cascade Dreams II]
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!)
Loi Loi – Trying To Remember
Did you miss Loi Loi‘s new music video premiere over the Thanksgiving weekend? For shame. Kristie and her sibling Johnny Fantastic put out an excellent 5 song EP called Viva La Vulva on Blight Records, and just finished a whirlwind US tour to promote it. The new music video for “Trying To Remember”, directed by Blight’s chief visual artist Jen Meller, puts the focus on Kristie’s striking face as a horror-flick worthy synth riff propels her on foot through the woods by day and the city by night. Loi Loi plays twice this weekend, first Friday night at Slash Run with The Artist Formally Known As Vince Band and Haarpo, and kicking off a night of DC music at house venue The Castle on Saturday night with Sheila, Laurel Rose and Ezra Mae and the Gypsy Moon, so pick your poison now.
Be Steadwell – Do Re Mi / New Rules
Be Steadwell just can’t stop singing breakup songs. Sporting an eye-catching moustache from her Halloween costume as Ruby Rhod from The Fifth Element, her latest YouTube video is a solo mashup cover of two summer jams, “Do Re Mi” by blackbear and “New Rules” by Dua Lipa.
Lightshow – Shoot for the Stars
Homegrown rapper Lightshow shows the dark side of freelance driving in his new music video “Shoot for the Stars”. Like an Uber driver for criminals, Lightshow provides getaway services for heists and scams, all while singing hooks out the sunroof. The footage of Chinatown in this video is especially gorgeous. Grab Lightshow’s newest album Kalorama Heights, named after the posh neighborhood now hosting the post-presidential Obama.
Backbeat Underground feat. Aaron Abernathy – She Don’t Love Me (Like I Do)
There’s something special about music videos filmed during the song’s recording, a crackle that’s visible in the collaboration between musicians as they focus not on pleasing the crowd but in perfecting the sound for the studio engineer. Instrumental soul ensemble Backbeat Underground brought in the heavyweights for their new single “She Don’t Love Me (Like I Do)”, with a brass section including DC jazz greats Joe Herrera, Matt Rippetoe, Kirsten Warfield and Daniel Wallace, and vocals from Aaron Abernathy, whose 2017 album Dialogue is one of the highlights of the year. Now signed to the venerable DC electronic funk label Fort Knox Recordings, Backbeat Underground continues the legacy of brass-led jazz and funk that’s crucial to DC music’s identity.
The Galaxy Electric – Tomorrow Was Better Yesterday
The Galaxy Electric channel nostalgia for 60s mod style with the title track to their new EP Tomorrow Was Better Yesterday. Blight Records’ Jen Meller directs the duo of Jacqueline Caruso and Augustus Green in their new music video for the single. The commitment to authenticity is impressive, from the costumes to the Super 8 color film format to the setting, the site of the 1964 New York World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. Let these two hip weirdos take you on an analog-synthesized journey through time and space.
Podcast for November 15th, 2017 feat. Maryjo Mattea
This week special guest Maryjo Mattea drops by to tell us about her new politically-charge single and spin some of her fave DC tracks.
Tracklisting:
Two Dragons and a Cheetah – November 8, 2016 [single]
allthebestkids – DreaMastR [Go Out With A Bang]
Loi Loi – You May Be [Viva La Vulva]
Derek Evry – Thank You Enough [Pop Perspective]
FuzzQueen – Ribbons and Flowers [single]
The North Country – The Last Curtain Call [In Defense of Cosmic Altruism]
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!)
Dove Lady – Ferbalicious
The ambitious DC duo Dove Lady chose wisely with their debut music video for “Ferbalicious”. Though simply named One, their first full length album is a complex tour through ideas and influences, showing this group’s inexhaustible supply of creativity and ambition. Despite the tags “alternative”, “punk” and “post-hardcore”, the single “Ferbalicious” features a classic and crisp breakbeat vibe that hearkens back to DJ mixes from the mid 2000s. The video, directed by Julian T. Oliver with co-direction and cinematography by Nigel Lyons, features drummer Andrew Thawley as “The Traveller”, meeting vocalist Jeremy Day as “The Dreamer” and joining him on an astral journey to form their musical partnership. Keep a browser tab open to their upcoming EP E that drops on November 17th (or go ahead and pre-order it for $999.99, we ain’t stopping you) and don’t miss their next show on Friday December 8th at Comet Ping Pong with out-of-towners Zula and Dehd.
K.A.A.N. – The Whole World
Columbia MD rapper K.A.A.N. takes his deft lyrics to the Hollywood hills in his new video “The Whole World”. The production from Grammy nominated Dem Jointz takes K.A.A.N.’s vibes to uncharted territories, proving that the fast rap game isn’t all he can do. Jointz has mainstream attention from his production work on Dr. Dre’s final album Compton, and matching that with K.A.A.N.’s independently driven social media following is a powerhouse collab delivering both this single and the upcoming album Dem-A-God.
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