The venerable Dischord Records keeps the spirit of punk music alive in DC. Their latest release is the sophomore album Little Acts of Destruction by Red Hare. This cred-filled quartet of Shawn Brown, Dave Eight, Jason Farrell and Joe Gorelick have many well-known band names on their resumes, including Swiz, Fury, Bluetip, Garden Variety, Retisonic and of course Dag Nasty. Plus the album was recorded by J. Robbins of Jawbox and Channels. The album’s furious title track recently got this music video from Farrell, featuring an animated war between animals.
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Monthly Archives: June 2018
Luna Honey – Relinquish
Luna Honey is the newest band on the roster of atmospheric label Blight Records. The married duo of vocalist Maura Pond and bassist Levi Flack devoted their first year of marriage to founding a band, which took off when the duo met Blight label head Benjamin Schurr. The result is the full length album with extra-bleak title Peace Will Grind You Down, dropping on July 13th. The album closer “Relinquish”, full of delicate chimes, creepy drones and distorted vocals, now has this epic 7 minute long music video crafted Pond that provides polarity-flipped black and white nature imagery accompaniment to fully envelop the mood. The album release show is exactly one month away on Friday July 13th at Hole in the Sky with Among The Rocks & Roots and Social Station.
Stronger Sex – Dead Women
Leah Gage, half of the vocal-driven synth band Stronger Sex along with Johnny Fantastic, shows off acting chops in the new music video for “Dead Women”, from their recently released full length album There Is No Stronger Sex. Director Mark Williams Hoelscher casts Gage in dual roles as mother and daughter with a tumultuous dynamic that plays out in tragic fashion. Watch the beautifully shot video and then click over to ImperfectFifth.com to read Gage’s inspiration behind the song and video. Stronger Sex takes the stage at DIT house venue The Beehive on Saturday June 23rd with DC expat Bruisey Peets and Minneapolis’s Lunch Duchess.
Don’t Stay Home This Week 6/11
Wow, what a weekend DC just had! We hope you got the most out of it. Now keep the good vibes going this week with some #DCmusic, perhaps some of the fine selections we present below.
Monday 6/11:
The sprawling DC Jazz Fest kicked off this past weekend and goes throughout the week with events all over the city, both big and small. Tonight Ivy City Smokehouse hosts a funky, brassy show for the festival with DuPont Brass and jazz/go-go fusion band The JoGo Project.
Tuesday 6/12:
DC metal heads, head to the Angelika Film Center in Fairfax Tuesday night for a special night with A Sound of Thunder. After a short selection of music videos, witness the big screen premiere of their new animated video “It Was Metal” and make your way to the upstairs lounge for a private happy hour with your friendly fellow NoVA/DMV metal fans and an acoustic set from the band.
Wednesday 6/13:
The Foggy Bottom Whomp-Stompers are dedicated to entertaining DC with hot jazz, early swing, rags, stomps and blues from the 1920s and 30s. Dress your dapperest and limber your joints as the band throws a free swing dance party Wednesday Night at Pearl Street Warehouse.
Thursday 6/14:
This humble blog and so many others drew inspiration from DCist, the granddaddy of online local news coverage in DC. After an awful saga between a billionaire and unionization, the beloved site and its years of archives vanished. Now thanks to WAMU and Kickstarter backers, the site is now poised to relaunch, providing their much-missed distinctive voice to coverage of the news, arts and culture of DC. Celebrate DCist’s return Thursday night at SW arts club Blind Whino with a dance party and mingling with fellow DC media enthusiasts.
Don’t Stay Home This Weekend 6/08
Between the Kingman Island Bluegrass Festival, the Capital Pride Parade, DC JazzFest, or binge-watching Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, there are a lot of options for your precious time this weekend. Here are our picks for filling your life with some #DCmusic.
Friday 6/08:
Ace photographer roXplosion goes to more shows than just about anyone. Tonight the beloved documentor of DC band visuals camps out at burger joint Slash Run with BOAYT, DoubleMotorcycle and Ménage À Garage three bands guaranteed to rock your Friday night hard. And no cover!
Saturday 6/09:
Kingsley Flood is the rare band in a long distance relationship between DC and Boston. Celebrate the release of their fourth full length album Neighbors and Strangers Saturday night at The Wharf’s Pearl Street Warehouse with support from two highly recommended DC acts, Humble Fire and Glenn Yoder & The Western States.
Sunday 6/10:
Keep the glowy, rainbow-colored love from Pride going Sunday night at the Black Cat. Heather Mae, Olivia Mancini and Crys Matthews are three queer DC singers and songwriters that will blow you away with wit and emotion.
Oh He Dead – Blood in the Water
As we said on yesterday’s podcast, it’s hard not to chuckle a bit at the band name “Oh He Dead”. The band’s core duo of Cynthia “CJ” Johnson and Andrew Valenti mix their distinct but complimentary voices with some truly lush instrumentation on their debut single “Blood in the Water”, the title track from their new 3 song EP. The song’s title refers originally to the feeding frenzy of sharks, but here music video director Scott Kenney transports the tension to basketball, with a sole player dribbling and shooting at Jones Point National Park in Alexandria. Grab your tickets now for Friday night‘s show opening for 10 piece New York ensemble Hollywood Anderson & The Hits at the 14th St. Busboys & Poets.
Podcast for June 6th, 2018 feat. Matt Byars of The Caribbean
This week The Caribbean‘s Matt Byars dials in to to hype the upcoming Seventh Stanine Music Festival on June 16th at Rhizome!
Tracklisting:
Jon Camp – A Sizable Step [Stifled Hair-Trigger]
Battles feat. Kazu Makino – Sweetie & Shag [Gloss Drop]
Beauty Pill – Dog With Rabbit In Mouth, Unharmed [Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are]
Oh He Dead – Blood in the Water [Blood in the Water]
Saturday Night – Fish in the Pond [Saturday Night]
Glue Factory – Lay Around [S/T]
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!)
Presenting the Beauty Pill Symphonette at the Millennium Stage
Your friendly neighborhood #DCmusic blog and podcast Hometown Sounds is very proud to present the Beauty Pill Symphonette on Sunday June 24th for our June showcase at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.
Beauty Pill is a Washington, DC band led by singer/guitarist Chad Clark. The band includes Basla Andolsun (bass), Jean Cook (voice/monome), Drew Doucette (guitar) and Devin Ocampo (drums). The band sprang from the DC punk scene, distinguishing itself with detailed arrangements and technological experimentation.
The band recorded a suite of songs in view of the public, as a commissioned art exhibit. The result is an album called Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are.
For this Kennedy Center show, the band will incorporate a horn quartet, expanding to a 9-member ensemble Clark calls Beauty Pill Symphonette. They have only done this once before for a special 2016 performance at the Smithsonian Museum Of American Art.
“The horns bring a glow to the notes,” says Clark. “It’s subtle, but I love the sensation of it. The purpose of music communication. You’re communicating an idea or a feeling or a sensation. We value all three equally.”
RSVP here and come to the free performance at 6 PM on June 24th!
Don’t Stay Home This Week 6/04
The rain is over, the sun is shining and there’s #DCmusic to check out! Here are our show picks for the coming week.
Monday 6/04:
Strong bill of fun DC bands at DC9 tonight. Khyber Pass is a new electronic duo featuring Kristie from Loi Loi. Pagan Reagan makes heavy fuzzy psych rock and their name is fun as hell. MUNDY will wow you with theatrics and costumes, and Lola Tried bring road-tested indie rock from Austin TX.
Tuesday 6/05:
Rhizome is the place to check out hot new music Tuesday evening. Light Beams is one of the most exciting bands in DC today, putting the Justin Moyer mark on dance-punk. Black Myths is a new jazz duo featuring the omnipresent bassist Luke Stewart, while No Plans is the first outing for a new band featuring Jason Mogavero of Jack On Fire.
Wednesday 6/06:
MilkBoy ArtHouse hosts old and new faves on Wednesday night. ROM and BRNDA make indie rock so crackingly fun, both band names need #ALLCAPS. Rob Stokes recently got a glowing write up from Chris Richards at the Post. Sad Fish bring weirdo pop from Atlanta. Have we talked you into going yet?
Thursday 6/07:
Head right back to College Park’s MilkBoy ArtHouse Thursday night for a totally different night of music. Ciscero is a talented rapper on the rise, nailing recent collabs with April George and GoldLink. There aren’t enough hip-hop shows like this in DC, so don’t miss out!
The Hunted Hare – Everywhere Green
WORLD PREMIERE!
Friday June 1st is a big day for Verses Records. The DC-based experimental label decided to drop two major releases on the same day. Known for their expansive 40-ish track benefit compilations, the first is VR, a modest 12 song split release with Liverpool’s Romeda Records, featuring Tag Cloud, James Wolf, DMLLL and The Hunted Hare. The second is the sophomore album Lost Wilderness by The Hunted Hare, the solo moniker of minimalist guitar wizard Dennis Kane.
On last year’s full length album Nothing Is Always, Kane established the tone of the project as melancholy and pensive, providing tenor and baritone melodies through cello tones and electronics. Lost Wilderness, despite its bleak title possibly referencing over-development and climate change, reveals a warmer, more summery vibe. “If there’s a theme to this recording”, Kane says, “it’s about balancing the needs of a peaceful inner life with the demands of living in a chaotic world”. Hometown Sounds is honored to premiere the music video of the album’s first single “Everywhere Green”, a soothing mix of heavily saturated nature shots with archival footage of dancing flapper women, slowed down and perfectly synced to the whispers of Kane’s pleasing melody. Mood is key with instrumental music, and Kane delivers a release worthy of turning off all the lights and letting it fully envelop you.
The Hunted Hare performs songs from the new album Sunday night at Bossa, opening the night for a collaboration between Ben Harbert (Los Angeles Electric 8) and Chris Hamley (Alarms & Controls, Circus Lupus) adapting 20th-century pre- and post-minimalist music to electric guitars, delay pedals and drum machine.
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