Punk always works best with urgent problems to address, and the DC quartet Bacchae have no shortage of issues on their minds. “Dig”, the lead single from their new self-titled pay-what-you-want EP, addresses toxic relationships and romantic commodification with fervor, but its new music video puts a garish VHS-level spin on the topic. The band-directed vid is an 80s-era send up to home video dating, and the lest you think this horrific dystopia is alternate history, it’s as real as drug store photo developing and physical maps crammed into your car seat’s back pocket. Catch their charismatic live show next in Baltimore Friday night at the Windup Space with Malwalker, Spooled Up and Daddy Issues.
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Showing The World How DC Rocks
Monthly Archives: August 2018
Podcast for August 8th, 2018
Tony laments the loss of pay phones, while Paul shares some advice for band names.
Tracklisting:
Den-Mate – Sick [Loceke]
La Roche – Dust [Thaum]
Dot Dash – Unfair Weather [Proto Retro]
Maimouna Youssef – GPS [single]
American Television – Death Defier [Death Defier]
IMKA – The Unspoken Agreement [single]
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Broke Royals – Higher
The dapper gents in Broke Royals are clearly aiming for breakout success with their anthemic radio-friendly pop sound. The single “Higher” from their debut self-titled album put them on the map with a feature from Southwest Airlines. Now the single has a music video directed by Scott Hansen, with amazing aerial footage of the band at the highest peak in Georgia, possibly recognizable as the setting for recent Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters. All this attention is great, but it’s 2018 and Broke Royals what it takes to make it. To that end, they just launched a Patreon to engage their superfans in the band’s success. Direct patronage is a lot of work, but we think Broke Royals have what it takes to thrive.
Don’t Stay Home This Week 8/06
Welcome to August DC. Here are our live #DCmusic picks for the week to come.
Monday 8/06:
The Fort Reno summer concert series is back for pair of rain-date encore shows this week. Tonight catch previously scheduled bands The NRIs and and Small Dad play with Rockville punk band Meatbot.
Tuesday 8/07:
AdMo’s SongByrd Cafe hosts a delightful night of songwriting Tuesday night. Babbling April and Bal Boheme, two bands featured on our DC music podcast, open for a touring band from Columbus Ohio called Trying.
Wednesday 8/08:
DC9‘s Wednesday night show features female-fronted darkwave and indie rock from Daamsel, The Neuro Farm and City Witch. If the songs below hit you in the heart, then this show is where you need to be.
Thursday 8/09:
This Thursday will be the final rain date of Fort Reno’s 50th Anniversary season. Bid farewell to the beloved outdoor summer music fest with Koshari and Wolves of the Dry Ravine, fortuitously rescheduled from last week.
Don’t Stay Home This Weekend 8/03
We have been assured that this persistent rain and oppressive humidity will clear out soon. As we do twice every week, here are our picks to fill your life with #DCmusic.
Friday 8/03:
Tonight Rick Taylor’s long running post-punk DJ night We Fought The Big One returns to its monthly home at CoHi’s Marx Cafe. Instrumental explorers Spectrums performs songs from their just released EP II, and Hometown Sounds founder Paul Vodra spins a guest set of all DC music.
Saturday 8/04:
The Twin Moon Arts Collective returns to St. Stephen’s on Saturday for the fourth annual Strange Adventures, a music and arts festival benefitting Positive Force, Casa Ruby and the Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop. The music starts at 3 PM and includes small dad, Cool Baby, Near Northeast and more.
Sunday 8/05:
Cap off the weekend by discovering new bands at U Street’s Velvet Lounge. Sunday night get your indie rock on with Sunshine Hysteria, Smith Gardens and our recent podcast feature Frass Green, plus New York band Lucy.
Presenting Light Beams at the Millennium Stage
Every month Hometown Sounds presents one of DC’s finest bands on the Kennedy Center’s free Millennium Stage series, and in August we are thrilled to bring you the cutting edge dance punk of Light Beams.
Light Beams began in 2015 when longtime Dischord artist Justin Moyer (El Guapo, Supersystem, Edie Sedgwick, Puff Pieces) — influenced by 80s-era freestyle music and Sheila E. — started playing sampler and timbales with Sam Lavine, the longtime drummer of D.C. hip-hop mainstays the Cornel West Theory. With the addition of bassist Arthur Noll, formerly of Kid Congo Powers and Alarms & Controls, the resulting polyrhythmic melange, sometimes called “block rock,” reinvents late-20th century dance-pop using the tools of the 21st. Known for their blistering live performances and relentlessly positive attitudes, the band hopes to inspire audiences to feel good about themselves in an era when the menacing shadows of night seem more threatening than ever before.
With a cassette out on Don Giovanni Records and a split-seven inch with Ian Svenonius’s Escape-ism out on Lovitt Records, Light Beams has just completed a full-length record and has just completed a full-length record and is touring the Midwest in September. They are proud to be playing the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage for the first time.
RSVP here and come to the free performance at 6 PM on Friday August 31st!
photo by Alicia Moyer
SHAED – Silver Knife
Dream pop trio SHAED continue to impress with their polished sound and visuals. Their 2018 summer EP Melt is due to drop any minute now, and its first single “Silver Knife” just got this dramatic music video. DC based Director Max Haben presents dancer Anna Pinault in a mysterious scenario involving a recently bloodied knife that allows much room for interpretation. SHAED, known originally around these parts as The Walking Sticks before signing to the Photo Finish label and touring widely, play the Steppin’ Out Festival in Blacksburg VA this weekend.
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