Remember when talking about dating was fun? When it was married people borrowing friends’ phones to swipe, or tumblrs full of the profiles of misguided internet gentlemen. Then the infamous Aziz Ansari story grabbed hold and demanded we engage in serious and sometimes uncomfortable conversations about what’s wrong and how to fix it. We are ready for a breather here, and singer Louisa Hall has us covered on her shimmery debut music video. “Barista Boyfriend” is the title track of her new full band EP that comes out February 16th, providing an utterly charming example of her unique and witty view into modern dating life, with ample amounts of both caffeine and ukulele. Pre-order the EP and grab your tix to the release show at Vienna’s Jammin’ Java on Sunday February 18th.
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Category Archives: video
Wylder – The Lake (Live at White Star Sound)
Musicians sometimes first make “album versions” of songs that later evolve into new realms after countless performances shape the structure and flourishes we first encountered in our headphones. There’s a disconnect between fans that play a song’s album version over and over to learn it by heart and the musicians that perform it night after night and can’t help but tinker with it each time. Indie folk quartet Wylder bridges this by updating two songs from their 2016 debut album Rain and Laura to accompany two new songs recorded at White Star Sound in Charlottesville VA. Reminiscent of HTS loves The Cowards Choir, Wylder brought in cameras to film the recording experience, and today they released this video for the dreamy new song “The Lake”. The four song EP Live at White Star Sound comes out just prior to their next show headlining U Street Music Hall on Saturday February 17th, so you can pre-order the EP and buy your advance tickets right now.
Be Steadwell – Leo
The future of (some) music is direct patronage. The majority of music consumers these days sadly don’t believe music is worth paying for and owning, streaming music platforms have rendered obsolete managing libraries of MP3s, and most people don’t have optical drives, turntables or cassette decks anymore. Despite some bumps in 2017, Patreon is proving the viability of its platform to provide direct and ongoing support to more niche creatives, and we’ve been curious when a DC musician would sign up. The first we’ve seen is queer pop singer Be Steadwell, now in her fourth year of working as a full time musician. Patrons that want to sustain her music beyond buying albums and attending shows can sign up and get previews of upcoming releases and of course undying gratitude. While we patiently wait for Steadwell’s promised next album of love songs, her latest music video takes us back to 2017’s Breakup Songs with the adorable and self-reflective (and kinda-NSFW) “Leo”. Don’t miss Steadwell open for Letitia VanSant’s album release show at Black Cat on Tuesday February 6th.
Light Beams – Grow Pt. II (for PJ Harvey)
It’s pretty rare that live video shot at a house show has enough quality to make it worthy of sharing to you, dear DC-area readers. Justin Moyer’s new dance-rock project Light Beams played at the underground house venue The Beehive back in November, and Rob Parrish captured this lively performance of “Grow Pt. II (for PJ Harvey)”, from their debut release S/T Cassette on Don Giovanni Records. As someone who’s attempted to shoot Moyer’s energetic performances at official clubs, I appreciate Parrish’s camera work even more here. You’d be a fool to miss the next Light Beams show, because the Washington CityPaper presents them and Time Is Fire for absolutely free at the Luce Unplugged series at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on Friday January 19th.
Bat Fangs – Rock the Reaper
Ex Hex bassist Betsy Wright takes the lead in a new duo with Flesh Wounds drummer Laura King of North Carolina called Bat Fangs (nanananananana Bat Fangs!) Their self-titled album dropping next month on Don Giovanni Records looks to fill the sophomore-Ex-Hex-album-shaped hole in our hearts with huge 80s-era stadium rock riffs and punk attitude. “Rock the Reaper” is the album’s second advance single, after last year’s headbanger “Wolfbite”, and this flashy music video from Drew Hagelin of The El Mansouris gives the duo ample opportunities to look badass. The DC album release show is Friday February 9th at Comet with Faunas and Warm Sun, and you’d be smart to grab advance tix now.
Silo Halo – Casa Alta
Fans of the darker, moodier output of the Etxe Records label have waited 3 years for new songs by Silo Halo, the post-punk duo of Greg Svitil (Teething Veils) and label head Christopher Goett (Girl Loves Distorition). “Casa Alta”, the advance single from Silo Halo’s new self-titled album, presents a meditative desert road trip to Goett’s melancholy lyrics directed by Julie Goett. The avant-garde label celebrates its 10th anniversary by showcasing its current lineup of Silo Halo, Teething Veils, The Red Fetish and Near Northeast at Capital Fringe on Saturday January 20th, so RSVP now and don’t miss this impressive display of musical community.
Astra Via – This Will Be Our Year
Happy New Year DC! 2017 is safely in the books, and now’s the time for pundits and prognosticators to analyze it in gory, frustrating, negative detail. The pop duo of Olivia Mancini and Jarrett Nicolay as Astra Via instead send us a hopeful message with a timely cover of the 1968 classic “This Will Be Our Year” by English rock band The Zombies. Mancini crafted this uplifting video of 2017’s many inspiring moments that shouldn’t be forgotten as we power into 2018. Will we be blessed with new Astra Via originals to follow their 2014 EP SUPERBESTLUCKYSONGS?
Top 5 Videos of 2017 #1: Bumper Jacksons – I’ve Never Met A Stranger
All this week we’ve done our annual countdown of the best #DCmusic videos of 2017, and now it’s time for the big finish. And there weren’t any videos bigger than the title track from the new Bumper Jacksons record I’ve Never Met A Stranger. Even though the sprawling hot jazz ensemble led by Jess Eliot Myhre and Chris Ousley have released multiple albums over their 5+ year history, this was their first music video, and it’s unforgettable. They started with the simple idea of playing the ode to drunken good times while riding bikes and followed it to the logical conclusion of a colorful and costumed mass ride through the city led by songwriter and video director Ousley. Washington Pedicab and BicycleSPACE provide transportation for the small musical crew that eventually grows to huge proportions as it winds through some of the most beautiful spots in DC. The visual feast rewards multiple viewings, especially on a living room sized TV, with new joyous and whimsical touches you hadn’t noticed before. This crazy, messed up, emotional and trying year of 2017 should go out on a high note, and for us there’s nothing better than this. Cheers.
Top 5 Videos of 2017 #2: Humble Fire – Taliesin
Dream pop band Humble Fire brought much needed beauty into 2017. Their long awaited album Builder dropped back in July, and we were honored to feature the quartet in our Kennedy Center Millennium Stage #DCmusic series in October. We also got two music videos, and our #2 pick in the Top 5 Videos of 2017 is the first, “Taliesin”. Dancer Sadie Leigh choreographed, directed and performs in this poignant tribute to the late father of singer Nefra Faltas. He was an architect and Faltas wrote the cathartic song on a journey to the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Taliesin West, Arizona. The lyrics, sounds and movement combine to create transencent grace.
Top 5 Videos of 2017 #3: Bad Moves – The Verge
Baby Pony Food Productions are masters at crafting great music videos. The directing team of Ben Epstein and David “Spoonboy” Combs showed up in the #3 slot in our Top 5 Videos of 2015 with “Sun’s Early Rays”, the first in the action-twisted trilogy by The Max Levine Ensemble. For 2017 the duo used a simple and mesmerizing motif of pouring water for the debut single “The Verge” by Combs’s pop supergroup Bad Moves. The waitstaff at Torrie’s diner in Shaw handle the refilling chores in gorgeous slo-mo, giving the viewer ample opportunity to contemplate what the hell is going on in this establishment. The quartet of Combs, Daoud Tyler-Ameen, Katie Park and Emma Cleveland head to the studio early next year to lay down a full length album for Don Giovanni Records, and we simply cannot wait.
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