We kicked off this week’s Hometown Sounds podcast with the super-dancey lead-off track from Loi Loi‘s brand new album Me Dystopia on Blight Records. To experience more of the depth and range of this accomplished release, watch the music video for the album’s first advance single “Egipto”. Directed by Jen Meller, “Egipto” sees singer Kristie Di Lascio revel in sparkly sensuality, accompanied by Luna Honey’s baritone sax player Madeline Billhimer and Pedram Rahmatabadi as statues transformed by Di Lascio’s magical alchemy. Listen to this song late at night, with someone special, and you too will be transformed. Mark your calendar for Loi Loi’s album release show Saturday March 16th at Comet Ping Pong with Born Dad and Light Beams.
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Monthly Archives: February 2019
SHAED – Trampoline
Well over 1 million views on YouTube, it’s about time for Hometown Sounds to feature SHAED‘s breakout hit “Trampoline”. The synthpop trio was making their own national waves on the strength of 2016’s debut EP Just Wanna See, but last year’s MELT caught the attention of Apple and landed this single in a high profile commercial for the MacBook Air. Playing sold-out shows everywhere they tour, SHAED returns home Saturday night at U Street Music Hall, and you should count yourself lucky if you already have a ticket. We’ll give you the “Director’s Cut” that includes director Max Haben’s title and crew credits at the end.
Podcast for February 26th, 2019
We’re back! Tony shares his love for video game microblogging, and Paul dreams of Instagram inception.
Tracklisting:
Loi Loi – Don’t Know [Me Dystopia]
The Mighty Heard – Still High [Still High / Karma]
SYZYGYX – Blurred Visions [Is That All There Is]
Venray – Fire Away [Fire Away / It’s Alright, It’s Okay]
The Frontier – Dark Places [single]
Jon Camp – Headwinds & Tailwinds [Headwinds & Tailwinds]
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Don’t Stay Home This Week 2/25
Friends, this week sees the end of February and some choice #DCmusic for you every single night. No reason at all to stay home and miss it.
Monday 2/25:
It’s a strong night of dark music tonight at Dew Drop Inn. Alejandro Castaño’s new group Replicant Eyes, repped by Etxe Records, joins Blight Records‘ Luna Honey, vets of our Millennium Stage series, and Harrisonburg band Buck Gooter.
Tuesday 2/26:
Tuesday nights are best for discovering new gems and celebrating community at open mic nights and jam sessions. This Tuesday Sauf Haus‘s open mic night in Dupont Circle features hard rock band Black Dog Prowl, and advance sign-ups are open now.
Wednesday 2/27:
DC9‘s bill this Wednesday night gives you four DC rock bands to check off your dance card. Get there early (7:30 PM, champs) to fill your head with PineWalls, The Southern Ocean, The SuperChargers and 1 Identity.
Thursday 2/28:
Finish off February with your Hometown Sounds friends at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. This Thursday our #DCmusic series at DC’s most prestigious free stage brings jazz & soul masters Champion Sound Band to your ears and hearts. If you’re one of the many people we meet that hasn’t yet seen a show at the Millennium Stage, make this your first and grab a good seat when the gates open at 5:30 PM.
Don’t Stay Home This Weekend 2/22
You’ve made it through another week in this crazy, messed-up, weather-rollercoaster town. How about some live music to celebrate? Here’s our #DCmusic picks for this weekend.
Friday 2/22:
Veterans of our Kennedy Center Millennium Stage series, jazz/hip-hop band The Lucky So & So’s play a couple of sets heavy on improvisation tonight at The Abbey at St. Arnold in Cleveland Park. The no-cover show starts at 9, so come hungry & thirsty.
Saturday 2/23:
Friends, remember last month when we helped premiere the work-protesting music video “Monday” from experimental ambient musician Tristan Welch? Today’s the day his full album 40 Hours drops courtesy of Verses Records. Come to the album release show Saturday at Mobius Records in Fairfax to see Welch perform at 6:30 with saxophonist Ron Oshima and an opening set from Secret Wilderness, aka Jake Reid of Screen Vinyl Image. Welch will sell hand-silkscreened, union-made merch and collect donations for always underfunded addiction treatment center nearby.
Sunday 2/24:
Let’s finish up this weekend with some scrappy queer-friendly bands at Dew Drop Inn. Sunday night‘s lineup includes Panini Girlfriend, Born Dad and Twatsnot (Twatsnot to like?).
Dove Lady – Can’t Be Sad
Dove Lady are the best in DC at making rock weird. The duo of Andrew Thawley and Jeremy Ray revel in creativity, both stereophonically on their many EPs and the accompanying music videos that cannot escape the descriptor “trippy”. The newest is “Can’t Be Sad”, which comes not from their latest EP G, but instead from late 2017’s E (pro tip: both are name-your-own-price downloads). Bucky Illingworth helms this video, and woo boy there is a lot going on. It starts with the pair watching a clip from an awkward TV series called Bibleman, and from there indulges in some pretty astounding and disturbing visual imagery that we won’t pretend to interpret.
Don’t Stay Home This Week 2/19
Here’s your official Hometown Sounds Don’t Stay Home #DCmusic picks for the short week to come. See you there?
Tuesday 2/19:
Dangerous Pies has a cool VA-heavy bill tonight. Two acts from Charlottesville, improv jazz flutist Gina Sobel and soulful r&b collective Free Union, join a new DC r&b band with a memorable name, Indiana Jonesin.
Wednesday 2/20:
Welp, just in case it doesn’t snow 5 inches followed by a delicious coating of sleet & ice, please head to Sauf Haus on Wednesday night for another GoldPants Party. Open mic hostess Ginny Hill teams up with GoldPants Rentals for a series of shows, this week featuring bilingual folk rock from Elena Lacayo and fun pop-ska covers & originals with Party Like It’s!
Thursday 2/21:
We love Bluebeat DC‘s devotion to showcasing the DMV’s enduring ska scene. Their regular monthly show at Wonderland Ballroom hits this Thursday night with The Scotch Bonnets and Annapolis’s Late Risers.
Don’t Stay Home This Weekend 2/15
President’s Day Weekend! Woo hoo! Gotta love almost all those Presidents. Here’s what we got for #DCmusic for your weekend life.
Friday 2/15:
Three DC indie rock bands fill out an early show at DC9 tonight. Mayors of Marble Falls is a new band born from the ashes of Constant Alarm and Bonjour Ganesh! Ménage À Garage and The Feed never disappoint. Music starts at 7 PM sharp.
Saturday 2/16:
Roxplosion is the ace photographer of the scrappy bands making up the DC music scene, and sometimes he even books his own shows. Saturday night Roxplosion presents a staggering four band bill at Dangerous Pies, including Millennium Stage alums Wanted Man, Teen Mortgage, Sheila and the new lady supergroup The OSYX. “Possibly too much rock and roll for one stage, but necessary permits have been acquired so get ready to say ‘I did not know human beings could play that kind of stuff without being bionic or Jedi'”.
Sunday 2/17:
Three of DC’s essential go-go bands share the stage Sunday night at the Fillmore Silver Spring. See Trouble Funk, E.U. and Rare Essence together and get your fill of DC music history.
Micah Robinson – Heart Song
Valentine’s Day, Hallmark Holiday, Singles Awareness Day. Soulful singer Micah Robinson shows us what’s really important on his new single “Heart Song”. This song serves as the theme song for his #LIVE2GIVE initiative, which he described in this essay on his website.
What a time to be alive! It’s truly a blessing to live in an era marked with so much progress, opportunity, and access.
Unfortunately, we also live in time characterized by EXCESS. So many people have so much more than they need, while so many others live in an ongoing state of “less than” or “just barely”. I believe that’s mainly because so many of us are conditioned to believe that acquisition is more important than impact; we live to get.
The music video for “Heart Song”, directed by Jay Gregory, shows Robinson helping to feed his community through this generous spirit of outreach. We love this idea on Valentine’s Day a lot more than a box of chocolates or a fleeting Tinder date. Donate to Robinson’s GoFundMe to help future efforts to reach out and connect with everyone in DC.
Bumper Jacksons – Many Paths to the Top of the Mountain
The February edition of the Bumperletter hit inboxes yesterday with an announcement of a spring west coast tour and this live video from the Bumper Jacksons. “Many Paths to the Top of the Mountain”, an original ditty by Chris Ousley from their 2017 album I’ve Never Met A Stranger, gets this lucky crowd dancing and feeling fine last September. We loved the Bumper Jacksons’ recent sold-out show at the Barns at Wolf Trap (especially the secret history of their name), but hopping around a dance floor is by far the best way to experience this lively band. Chris and singer Jess Eliot Myhre next play a duo show at the Mansion at Strathmore as part of their Capitol Jazz series on Thursday May 2nd.
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