Today we’d like to direct you to this powerful music video from songwriter Emma Ghaemmaghamy. You may have seen her, as we have, busking around metro stations or the Wharf, and it’s worth your time to take in the New Zealand born singer’s music and messages. “Superhero”, the single from last year’s EP Taking Flight, tackles the growing and emboldened racism many in this country feel after the results of the last election. Check out Emma G’s Patreon and support music like this in DC!
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Category Archives: video
SHAED – Melt
Props to dreamy pop group SHAED for the recent release of their sophoromore EP Melt. Yesterday Vice’s i-D site premiered the title track’s video, again crafted by director Max Haben who delivered the first video for “Silver Knife”. The song references singer Chelsea Lee’s short lived solo career on a major label at a young age, a sore subject she now tackles as a close knit family trio with her fiancé Spencer Ernst and his twin brother Max. The video’s setting at a derelict factory in Charlottesville echoes the apprehension of the song, but we particularly like the song’s beautiful dénouement in a field at sunset. Hey SHAED, how about giving us a peaceful ambient album next?
Be Steadwell – New Girl
It’s been a red hot second (almost a year actually) since queer pop singer Be Steadwell uploaded one of her solo vocal looping songs on YouTube. Good things come to those who wait, and now we have this sultry one-take version of the rebound love story “New Girl”, from 2017’s cathartic album Breakup Songs, shockingly available for whatever price you want on Bandcamp. Yo Be: How about a Bandcamp roundup of these YouTube versions? Steadwell plays next at City Winery’s Wine Garden on Monday October 15th, opening for Alana Davis.
Astra Via – U Don’t Wanna Know
WORLD PREMIERE!
Good news DC, Astra Via are back in action! If you’re not familiar with the name, perhaps you are already familiar with its members, Jarrett Nicolay aka My New Mixtape and Olivia Mancini. Mancini usually rocks out hard with her Mates but collaborating with Nicolay imparts an electronic pop spin on her unmistakable voice. After a series of excellent EPs back in 2012-2014, the collaboration went dormant as other projects rose to the fore. We kicked off 2018 with Astra Via’s surprise return doing a delightful cover of “This Will Be Our Year” by the Zombies. Now we are thrilled to premiere the music video for their new original single “U Don’t Wanna Know”. Local artist George Fox directed the video, providing Soviet propaganda imagery to accompany the song about life in Russia. The band has this message to their fans old and new:
Hey Comrades! Astra Via has seen the future and it’s looking good if red is your favorite color and you prefer your wars served cold. Check out this cautionary tale as you enjoy our latest single.
GoldLink feat. Miguel – Got Friends
DMV superstar GoldLink just dropped a new music video for “Got Friends”, his first single following the hugely successful 2017 album At What Cost. Shot by Christian Sutton in LA, the video is actually a short film with occasional snippets of the song, eschewing the music video format even more than he has in the past. Without spoiling anything, the film begins like an outtake from the currently airing David Simon drama The Deuce, but then takes a sudden turn towards another popular HBO show.
Wes Felton x The Product – Stranger Fruit
What did you do at summer camp this year? If you were lucky enough to attend Hands On The Future, a youth program that trains and prepares teens and young adults for the entertainment industry, then you got to hang with and learn from DC rapper Wes Felton, well known as one half of The CrossRhodes with singer Raheem DeVaughn. Felton’s upcoming mixtape King In The Wilderness with producer Derek “Product” Wilson drops soon through Fresh Kids Music Group, and in the meantime Felton released this video for the advance single “Stranger Fruit”, described as “an outcry to our ancestors and young people who have died at the hands of society’s traps and gimmick”. The video was shot at the summer camp, comprising half rhymes and singing and half inspirational tribute to nature and bonfires.
Teen-Beat – Dischord. Arlington, VA
This video [Teen-Beat catalog #535] is a little unusual, so let us explain. Record labels are the glue that binds musical creativity together into a product that can stand the test of time. The DC area in general, and Arlington in particular, greatly benefited from two independent labels that did amazing work documenting and organizing their scenes. Teen-Beat is a record label founded by Mark Robinson of the band Unrest in 1984. It has since moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, but in its DC heyday featured indie rock bands such as Tuscadero, Phil Krauth and Jonny Cohen’s Love Machine. This video was shot and scored by Robinson at Dischord House, the Arlington home of Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson’s label documenting the punk, post-hardcore and rock output of DC for decades. It’s a brief and intense glimpse into the creative space that’s shaped our city’s musical legacy, and it moves pretty fast so get ready with that pause button. Remember, do not attempt to visit Dischord House.
Bad Moves – Crushed Out
Indie pop supergroup Bad Moves has earned the distinguished moniker. Their upcoming debut full length album Tell No One on Don Giovanni Records is the most anticipated release in months, and last week the album’s fourth, that’s right FOURTH, music video premiered on Stereogum. “Crushed Out” is a delightfully catchy song about those queer high school crushes that overwhelm at the time but seem so obvious in retrospect. Clyde Peterson and Max Otero get the band into adolescent cosplay for the video, and Katie Park’s forlorn singing will grab your heart and not let go. Insanely, the album release show Friday September 21st at Black Cat isn’t sold out yet, so consider yourself warned.
Jasmine Gillison – In My Chest (Song Premiere)
Today Hometown Sounds is delighted to premiere the debut single “In My Chest” by singer/songwriter Jasmine Gillison.
We’ve had our eye on Gillison for a few years now, since we shared her performance of “I Get It” from a very early episode of Justin Trawick’s podcast The Circus Life back in 2013. Her debut album Little Light has been a long time coming, though she never imagined it as a bright-eyed 5th grader playing in the school band. It wasn’t until after college, thanks to the encouragement of friends, that she got up in front of a crowd at a local Open Mic Night and performed her first official set – a few cover songs on guitar. Thanks to those friends, she’s been writing and performing ever since.
The debut EP is a bit of a departure from her usual acoustic performances, with new arrangements highlighting the depth and width of Gillison’s aptitude for storytelling. Jasmine was fortunate to work with many talented musicians in the DC/MD/VA area on this project, including Producer Ben Tufts (educator and percussionist in bands such as FuzzQueen, Virginia Creep and Uptown Boys Choir), Producer and Session Bassist Howard Rabach of Machine Room Studio in Arlington, VA., as well as a host of other musicians and great friends. The song’s instrumentation, including vibraphone playing from Tufts, is reminiscent of the lovely and influential early downtempo work from the French band AIR.
The Wharf’s Pearl Street Warehouse hosts the Little Light EP release show on Sunday September 16th. The early show starts at 5 PM and features Nardo Lilly and Laura Tsaggaris along with Gillison’s headlining full band performance.
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