Indie/classic rock band The Beanstalk Library have played some really great shows the last few years, but new songs haven’t streamed since pre-pandemic while frontman Ryan Walker focused on music teaching and side projects. In advance of their headlining show Saturday June 29th at The Pie Shop with The Pinkerton Raid from Durham NC and DC newcomer Lena Trayham, TBL has a new song for your ears called “Out From Under You” and for your eyes, this accompanying music video. It’s shot by Mitchel Worley, director of recent vids from Dear Daria, Flowerbomb and Cinema Hearts. The band struggles with equipment, wardrobe, and performance in a weird church basement to a “private show fan”, played by this newsletter’s author himself. After well over a decade of devotion to covering DC music videos, I’m finally in one!
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Category Archives: video
GXB – Love Ain’t Enough
WORLD PREMIERE!
GXB is an emerging band with some veteran talent you may know and an assured, crowd-pleasing roots rock and roll sound. Their debut single “High Roller”, a towering, muscle-bound 70s riff on the player lifestyle, dropped on Bandcamp earlier this month courtesy of Root Nine Records. In advance of their show this Sunday at The Pie Shop, we are pleased as punch to share with you this live video of “Love Ain’t Enough”, shot in a single unbroken take by Luke Roberts for the August 21, 2023 Amplify event.
We got the scoop on this new band and the video from our friend Ben Tufts, widely known percussionist and educator who plays bass for GXB.
A Front Royal, VA native, singer and songwriter Guy Bouchie moved with his family to Kenya, Poland and Maine before settling back in NoVA a couple years ago. By chance, he took a job at a music store last summer where he met… me! Upon hearing Bouchie warming up one of the store guitars with a song, I asked “Is that one yours?” Before long we were working on demos in my project studio.
After we had a half dozen or so tracks together, we realized we needed another member if we wanted to play out. I’ve played drums in dozens of area bands over the years, but in the early 2000s I was actually playing more bass guitar than drums. I’ve kept up my bass chops through teaching, but the itch had been growing for a while. I went through the rolodex in my head of all the bass players I knew, but I started to realize I felt more precious about the basslines I’d played on the demos, than I did the drum parts. So I sent a couple demos to a friend and drummer Ben Melrod, and he loved the songs. And thus, GXB was born!
We could tell you a really clever origin story about how we arrived at the band name… but we don’t have one. We’d rather leave it to your imagination. It’s probably better than ours.
We had originally planned on playing our new single “High Roller” when we were invited by Luke Roberts to participate in his Amplify series. But we were having so much fun playing a brand new song at our rehearsal the night before, on the spur of the moment we decided to play “Love Ain’t Enough” instead–even though the lyrics aren’t quite finished and we might have sorta borrowed the outro riff. Our entire thing is about being genuine, having fun, valuing spontaneity over polish–so this is a snapshot of us still discovering the song in front of your eyes, warts and all.
We love that part at the end where the camera backs off, maybe the song is winding down, but nope it’s roaring back for one more time through the chorus. That’s the magic you get with this raw, no-cuts camerawork that lends the whole presentation authenticity and charm. Chef’s kiss.
Make your plans now to eat pie and see GXB along with Kentucky band Quiet Hollers, dream pop singer Lacey Guthrie, and DC’s own Ammonite at the Pie Shop on Sunday August 27th.
Sara Curtin – So Sorry
WORLD PREMIERE!
Five years ago, Hometown Sounds was damn lucky to host gifted songwriter Sara Curtin and her all-star band on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. In the intervening time, Curtin and her partner had twins (as did her longtime bandmate in The Sweater Set, Maureen Andary), the worldwide pandemic put our town’s live music scene on ice, and she responded with the #FromTheFamilyWall series, sharing a live song performance every day for 78 straight days. And then, emotionally battered by the world’s travails and her own postpartum depression, Curtin put down the guitar and didn’t pick it up for nearly a year.
March of 2022 saw the release of a new song of healing and rejuvination, Black and Blue, and even a self-shot music video back at the Family Wall. Now as 2023 dawns Curtin is back in our ears and our hearts with four songs on the ominiously-named EP Goodbye Forever, and we are honored to share with you the music video for its first single.
“So Sorry” is a feminist anthem for the daily struggle of communication and understanding and compassion, and it rocks hard thanks to her backing band of Ryan Walker from The Beanstalk Library and Brendan Polmer of Soft Punch. Polmer also filmed the music video, featuring Curtin’s aimless wandering in a wedding dress and singing in a house under construction and move in, wearing her signature black and white colors.
Curtin has a delightful history of hand-crafting unusual physical merch to support her digital music releases (organic shea butter lotion!), and this time is no exception. Head to Bandcamp now to grab the Music & Dish Towel Bundle, with towels for each song and a special edition “fuck it” towel, because who doesn’t need that. January 31st is your next chance to catch Curtin live in the songwriter-focused We Are The 9 group show at Pearl Street Warehouse.
Astra Via – A Christmas Spirit
WORLD PREMIERE!
Who can help but admire the dedication of indie pop duo Astra Via to release a new holiday song every single year? We’ve featured “Merry Christmas, We Got This!” from 2020 and last year’s “It’s a Prepper Christmas” in our annual Holiday Spectacular podcast episodes, and now we get to delight in sharing with you the music video for their newest single “A Christmas Spirit”. Singer Olivia Mancini, also of Washington Social Club, and producer Jarrett Nicolay aka My New Mixtape deliver their own spin on Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol with their usual wit and wisdom and a groovy doo-wop beat that deserves to dislodge Mariah Carey from your brain. And A+ on the costume department!
Hometown Sounds wishes you Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and lots more live music in 2023!
Oh He Dead – The Foreigner (Tiny Desk Contest)
In February 2020, singer CJ Johnson told her Oh He Dead bandmates that she was pregnant. While they struggled to understand what this development meant for their big dreams as a powerhouse band, CJ penned this song about her life and the changes that were inevitable. Then the pandemic shut touring down for everyone, and Oh He Dead set out to connect to fans online instead of on stage. Their 2019 Tiny Desk entry “Lonely Sometimes” blew up big time, so we’re hoping “The Foreigner” catches fire with viewers and NPR Music in 2021.
Micah Robinson – Waiting For You (Tiny Desk Contest)
Jazzy & soulful, singer Micah Robinson delivers the feelings on a new single “Waiting For You”, featuring a trio of talented musicians backing up Robinson’s powerful vox. We’d definitely love to see this classy gentlemen play a full set for the Tiny Desk!
Justin Trawick – Starting Over (Tiny Desk Contest)
During the pandemic, musicians have had to get by without the large, attentive crowds they might have drawn previously. Some stream on social media platforms, while others perform on balconies or backyards. For the 2021 Tiny Desk Contest hosted by NPR Music, folk singer Justin Trawick decided to perform “Starting Over”, the title track from his 2009 solo EP, for a flock of sheep residing at Midnight Forest Farm in Lovettsville VA. How do the woolly farm animals take to his heartfelt songwriting? Watch the video to find out.
Griefcat – Revolution! (Tiny Desk Contest)
The always amusing folk duo Griefcat illustrate a facet of DC’s work from home culture during the pandemic that perhaps few had considered. We’ll leave the surprising topic for you to discover in “Revolution!”, the 2021 Tiny Desk Contest entry from Louisa Hall and Annie Nardolilli. You’re already curious about those pink fuzzy outfits, how can you not watch this video right this second?
Near Northeast – Window (Tiny Desk Contest)
Honestly, seeing Tiny Desk Contest entries from DC bands popping up in my YouTube feed is giving me post-pandemic life. Indie folk band Near Northeast‘s annual submissions are always top notch videos thanks to long time video collaborator Kip Radt. This year he captures the zeitgeist with a guest appearance from Brood X on the song “Window” from Near Northeast’s forthcoming album. Great to see you again NNE, we hope the fine judges at NPR Music take note!
The Hunted Hare – Lovely Secret
WORLD PREMIERE!
Since March of 2020, audio engineer and composer Dennis Kane’s solo moniker The Hunted Hare has uploaded no less than 5 albums of peaceful, dark and brooding music to his Bandcamp, with a sixth entitled Between Two Rivers dropping Friday June 4th. We spoke with Kane and his musical collaborator Amy Domingues earlier this year for the Luce Listening Party podcast, digging into his recording process and motivations for staying creative during lockdown.
Today we’re thrilled to get back into the music video game with a world premiere of the new single “Lovely Secret”. Kane’s layered instrumental guitar work lends itself well to soundtracks, and his music videos have demonstrated this well. The visuals of “Lovely Secret” fit the mood perfectly, with trippy red leaves floating behind a woman’s mysterious face. We love the commitment The Hunted Hare shows to the music video form, and are happy to cap off this string of excellent releases with this premiere.
Hometown Sounds 