Everyone is surely losing their minds over the December release of the new Star Wars flick, but did you know that Daniel Craig’s fourth turn as James Bond, the Sam Mendes directed Spectre, comes out in just a couple of weeks? DC pop-punks The Max Levine Ensemble capture some of that superspy hype in “Sun’s Early Rays”, the first single from their new album Backlash, Baby, their first since 2008. Starring Katie Alice Greer from Priests and Sharad Satsangi from Ilsa, this video looks a whole lot slicker than their self-proclaimed “snacks and arts and crafts budget” should suggest. If you’ve enjoyed their summer-long pre-release album “stream” on the Black Cat’s jukebox, you’d better pre-order the vinyl release now while you can, or wait for the record release show on Sunday November 22nd at the Black Cat backstage with Sundials and Maneuvers.
Hometown Sounds
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Category Archives: shows
Soccer Team – Best Employed New Beau
We all know the adage of DC being a transient city. Bands, like the political and world-saving folks that come here, often leave eventually for greener or cheaper pastures. The energy of relatively young bands filling basements and posting free Bandcamp downloads is exciting, but the coexistence of that with grizzled vets putting out amazing new material is what makes DC a great music town right now. Along the lines of Dischord alum Chad Clark’s transcendent return of Beauty Pill earlier this year, now his former bandmate Ryan Nelson is poised to release the first Soccer Team album in a decade. Ryan and musical partner Melissa Quinley brought in drummer Dennis Kane and guitarist Jason Hutto to fill out the band for Real Lessons In Cynicism, out on Dischord October 27th. Don’t miss them this Sunday night at the always interesting Comet Ping Pong playing in between Polyon and Eternal Summers, but first watch this new music video for “Best Employed New Beau”.
Teen Mom – When You Go (Waltz)
For years slacker-tinged indie rock band Teen Mom have graced stages all over DC, from Fort Reno to the Howard Theatre and many basements and DIY spaces between. It’s been two years since their EP Gilly filled our ears, but today the trio of Chris Kelly, Sean Dalby and Tom MacWright released their first full length album Groovy. Every good album release needs a music video, so Teen Mom gives us these visuals for the waltzable, dreamy single “When You Go”. Like their previous single “I Wanna Go Out”, one of the best DC videos of 2012, “When You Go” repurposes old footage, this time a bizarre 60s film featuring people dressed as monkeys riding bikes. Admittedly it gets a bit slow in the middle, but the end is worth sticking around for. Teen Mom plays live next on Friday October 23rd at WMUC in College Park with Expert Alterations and Slumberland Records’s Mercury Girls.
Br’er – Masking
There’s a strong association with The Downward Spiral-era Nine Inch Nails in Br’er‘s new video for “Masking”, their brand new album‘s title track. Industrial beats and filtered vocals accompany this dizzying video with twisted faces and a loose story about abduction and forced facial shaving with a razor and snowballs that’s kinda sorta NSFW. Ben Schurr leads the noise pop ensemble, which currently includes Erik Sleight of Stronger Sex and videographer/drummer Ben Usie, also of Pree. Celebrate the release of Br’er’s new album and see their intense live show tonight at the Pinch!
The Very Small – The Worst Form Of Violence
This massive hurricane looks like it’s going to miss DC this weekend, which is great news for fans of live music shows and bad news for those who like wet excuses to stay in and “Netflix & chill” or whatever. Cap off this first October weekend with a trip to DC9 to celebrate the newest music video from rock band The Very Small. Robin Smith, Aaron Mann and Zack Be roped in esteemed music video director Nigel Lyons to create visuals for “The Worst Form Of Violence”, a brand new single release from their 2014 album Zoomed Way Out. The video combines vibrant colors that accompany the melodic powerpop riffs with haunting images of poverty and strife to eludicate the lyrics. Catch them anchor an all-DC music lineup this Sunday night with The Escape Artist and Boon.
Song Premiere: “Big Dumb Hooks” by The Beanstalk Library
I’ve seen a lot of bands in my time diving deep into the DC music scenes, and there’s no mistaking that The Beanstalk Library is the friendliest. Bandleader Ryan Walker exudes natural charm and enthusiasm when performing that follows him offstage into post-show mingling. He’s also the rare example of a frontman lending his talent to other bands, playing with Justin Jones and Andy Zipf’s Cowards Choir. The Beanstalk Library’s lineup of keyboardist Joel Hicks, guitarist Brian Pagels, violinist Erin Ryan, bassist David Gassman and drummer Adam Neubauer have an affectionate performing chemistry that’s rare to see.
Apart from a one-off single “Whiskey Mountain” honoring the late Sean Meyers of Norman Rockwell, it’s been a couple of years since we tasted and digested the full length album The View From Here. After many months road-testing new material, TBL is nearly ready to drop a new EP, and Hometown Sounds is tickled pink to premiere the first single from it.
“Big Dumb Hooks” is a classic pop song with a driving beat and singalong chorus. Walker knows the power of a catchy melody and well-placed ooo’s, and this song really will sink its hooks into you as advertized. TBL makes well-crafted pop-rock music with deft songwriting, hard-hitting drums, full guitar/bass sound and flourishes from violin and keys for a mature sound that’s criminally underrated in DC these days.
As we mentioned on yesterday’s episode of our DC music podcast, The Beanstalk Library kicks off a show this Friday night September 25th at Iota, playing with a band from Boston called The Lights Out. Lead guitarist Adam Ritchie played in high school bands with TBL’s Brian Pagels and they haven’t shared a stage since 1999. Funk & soul party band Precautionary Measures finishes up the night. As with almost all Iota shows, tickets are only available at the door, so get there early!
Catscan! – Voodoo Dollhouse
Last week electronic rock duo Catscan! unleashed the second single from their unbelievably catchy full length album Challenger Deep, a generous pay-what-you-want download on their Bandcamp. Mason Shelby and Paul Tsiaperas still know how to do a proper single release in 2015, making a goofy music video for “Voodoo Dollhouse” with plenty of burning dollhouse footage, and a dance remix by Eric Randall with rapping from Height Keech. Furthering the generosity, both the remix and the original are available for further manipulation under a Creative Commons license, so other bedroom noodlers should see how far this earworm can go. Mark your calendars for Catscan!’s next live show on Saturday October 17th at the Velvet Lounge with Electric Grandmother, ShowPony and Aggressive Pedestrian.
The Grey A – Dumb Fool
Georgetown’s classy Americana-focused venue Gypsy Sally’s celebrates 2 years of music with an anniversary show this evening featuring Jim Lauderdale and Human Country Jukebox. But their intimate Vinyl Lounge space hosts another in their free Capital Americana series, tonight featuring a fantastic lineup that includes Uptown Boys Choir and The Grey A. In true Washington fashion, The Grey A’s single “Dumb Fool” speaks to the need for campaign finance reform as a precondition to tackling the big issues of the day. This slick music video, a classic noir tale of murder and mistaken identity, comes from NYC film maker Adio Ash of Impaired Films. See them tonight for free and grab their 2014 debut full length album My Country.
BRNDA – Snacks
Sometimes Dave wears a dress. Sometimes Leah wears a tie. Sometimes Johnny wears a full suit. Sometimes Alex wears a totally sweet hot pink blazer. BRNDA infuses the post-punk aesthetic with a hugely welcome dose of wackiness, as balloons, streamers and painted banners cover the debut music video for “Snacks” and render the well-known DIT venue Paperhaus almost unrecognizable. “It’s a party!” Dave howls, and BRNDA’s high-energy performances always make it party-time, with or without snacks. BRNDA’s new album Year of the Manatee is out now on Babe City Records, and their next show is at the newly relocated Bathtub Republic on Saturday September 19th with Puff Pieces, Positive No and Teen Liver.
#TBT The Cowards Choir – Is This A Wrecking Ball
Here’s the thing about being a fan of local bands: the only thing constant is change. Local bands can come and go, change their names, lineups and style, sometimes before you even realize what happened. Casual music fans don’t have to worry about this so much with Walk The Moon or The Weeknd or whoever, but at the local level, all bets are off.
Andy Zipf’s talented quartet The Cowards Choir, with Ben Tufts, Adam Neubauer and Ryan Walker, came together by accident but quickly developed some powerful chemistry and one of last year’s best releases, the four song EP Cool Currency, which you can still download for whatever price you like at NoiseTrade. When people would ask me who was worth checking out in the DC music scene, I’d generally first steer them towards The Cowards Choir, and made them as many new fans as I could.
Sadly in 2015 things stalled for the band as they prepared material for an anticipated full length album. First percussionist Ben Tufts announced his imminent departure, and recently drummer Adam Neubauer followed suit. The last two shows featuring the original lineup are tonight at the Black Cat and Saturday at the annual Ben Tufts & Friends charity fundraiser at Jammin’ Java. While Andy Zipf will continue on both solo and with other supporting musicians, these are your last chances to see his finely crafted songs backed by two of the finest drummers in this town.
It’s #TBT so watch the excellent music video they made last year for “Is This A Wrecking Ball”. See you at the show.
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