You may know the distinctive Javier Diaz from the bands Spirit Plots or the newer Trajectories. His brother Nestor is a veteran of post-punk trio Golden Looks. But now, in the surreal fictional reality of The Electric Grandmother‘s new album Cancelled, the Diaz brothers are corrupt cops in the shlocky TV drama “Cop Force”, rival to the feel-good neighborhood romp “Police Department” from their previous music video. They’re probably better at violating civil rights than catching high-profile criminals, but these law enforcement officers always rock hard. Grab Cancelled for free while you can, and catch The Electric Grandmother next at the Uptown Art House on Monday October 16th.
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Category Archives: video
Reagan Bombs – Wind Me Up
Though he moved to LA a few years ago, superstar DJ Jesse Tittsworth can’t escape the pull of the DC music he grew up with. Partnering with filmmaker Scott Sanders, known for the 2009 blaxploitation comedy Black Dynamite, Reagan Bombs updates DC’s indigenous go-go sound with Techno and House influences to create “DC GoWave”. Their self-titled album was released on cassette and digital by the DC label Swedish Columbia run by Shelby Cinca, formerly of the DC bands Frodus and The Cassettes. The album’s first single is “Wind Me Up”, a well-known go-go catch phrase, and Sanders edited this music video with some of the same classic go-go VHS footage that contributed to the samples in the album.
Flex Mathews – Never Change
“If you hatin’ then you probably wasn’t fam anyway.” Flex Mathews has always seemed restless for creativity. Rappers often pop up on guest spots for hip-hop tracks, but Flex, true to his moniker, has lent his freestyling to Congo Sanchez, downtempo DJ Farid, funk & dub band See-I, trucker hatted troubador Justin Trawick and many more. DC often seems divided into cliques and scenes, but Flex transcends all boundaries. When we spot Flex in the crowd at a show, we know there’s a solid chance he’ll hop on stage and throw down rhymes without any rehearsal. His long-simmering debut artist album Hi I’m Flex Mathews just dropped, so now it’s time to watch the mission statement single “Never Change”, with classic hip-hop production and scratching from The Unown and an overflowing of hometown love from The Handsome Grandson.
Chain & The Gang – If I Was An Animal
Ian F. Svenonious’s sardonic pop outfit Chain & The Gang ready the release their 5th full length album Experimental Music on September 29th through Ian’s own label Radical Elite, in partnership with DC’s flagship Dischord Records. The album’s second pre-release single “If I Was An Animal” is the first with a music video, and you can get it now by daring pre-ordering the album now, as of course we did. Svenonious’s extreme wit and uncompromising style are on full display as he sings about what the animal world must think of the planet’s dominant species. We enthusiastically recommend Ian’s next show at Comet Ping Pong on Saturday September 23rd under his solo moniker Escape-ism celebrating a split 7″ with Justin Moyer’s new band Light Beams.
allthebestkids – Confetti
Genre-defying ensemble allthebestkids debuted their new single “Confetti” with a bang last week, dropping this music video shot during this year’s Funk Parade festival on U Street. The video’s backdrop hearkens back to one of our faves ever, Asheru and The Funk Ark’s “Funky DC” from 2014, and we hope more bands will follow suit. The song is a certified earworm, with singer Anya Ross’s killer hook accentuating Cody Valentine’s rap verses, and the crisp drums and big brass sound make us want to dance through the streets. Catch allthebestkids and Drive TFC on a sunset cruise on the Boomerang Pirate Ship on Sunday September 17th, because what’s better than partying on a pirate ship?
Blankus Larry – Hotdog Rainbow
WORLD PREMIERE!
Blankus Larry is a unanimously anonymous post-normal proto-punk rock and roll band based in DC and VA Beach, and they are very excited about the upcoming Labor Day holiday in the United States. To celebrate, they whipped up this song and video gem called “Hotdog Rainbow”, which we’re honored to premiere to all hot dog lovers everywhere.
Band members Durdy and Bloody Larry shared this motivation for the song’s creation:
First, we need to settle a bitter dispute that has been roiling America recently: whether or not ketchup belongs on hotdogs. (Huffpost is definitely wrong with this article). How can you have a hotdog rainbow without ketchup red? Answer: You can’t. Ketchup is also in the first line of the song, so it must certainly belong on hotdogs. And any relish haters out there can buzz right off.
Second, we seem extremely divided as Americans lately, and while hotdog rainbows aren’t going to solve these problems, we hope that all Americans will take a moment to smile, sing along, and enjoy something that we all have in common: a love for hotdogs. And there’s even vegan hotdogs, so no American is left behind.
Their third album Hotdog Rainbows is set to be released in 2017 (YMMV due to Larry Standard Time). Catch up on their first two garage-rock party albums at their Bandcamp before seeing them rock your face off at the Black Cat on Monday September 18th.
Tarica June – Selfie
The era of branding millennials as self-obsessed narcissists seems to have given way to a focus on self-care in the era of our narcissist-in-chief. Singer and MC Tarica June rebrands the ubiquitous “Selfie” as a message of positivity and happiness with our own bodies, as her lyrics extol the beauty of dark skin and kinky hair. The self-directed music video is impossible not to love, featuring young black girls dancing and singing along to June’s catchy anthem. Head to June’s Facebook page to post your own video for the song using the hashtag #TaricaJuneSelfieChallenge.
The Electric Grandmother – Police Department Theme Song
Pete Faust, a.k.a. John Mellor, and his wife Mary Alice Hamnett, a.k.a. Donna Jo Tanner, perform what they describe as “Sitcom-core” under the name The Electric Grandmother. Their new concept album Cancelled tells the chilling tale of a man driven insane after his favorite cop-drama TV show is cancelled due to the popularity of the evil rival show “Cop Force.” The show’s theme song is the album’s first single, “Police Department Theme Song”, featuring a pair of blissful, friendly cops working the outdoor parks beat. If only DC was more like this, and less like what we imagine happens on “Cop Force”. Stronger Sex’s Johnny Fantastic turns in a quick gender-nonbinary cameo, but you’ll see their full band show open The Electric Grandmother’s album release gig on Wednesday September 6th at the Black Cat.
The Cowards Choir – I Took A Drive
Andy Zipf’s folk band The Cowards Choir should be high on your bucket list of DC bands to see live. This weekend you can check that box when they return to Iota in Clarendon on Saturday night to headline an excellent night of music with DC bluegrass band Run Come See and out of towners The Pinkerton Raid. They’ve taken an approach to recording new material that mirrors the songs themselves: deliberate, unhurried, authentic and beautiful. Longtime videographers Clubhill Media film the band performing a new song all together in one take, and the video and song go up online together as part of The Singing Tree series. The latest is “I Took A Drive” and the allusions to a “toupeed tycoon” and “neon signs on the boardwalk” should leave no doubt as to the subject of the song.
Teen Mortgage – Is It
Kids, once upon a time, video was analog and VHS tracking really was our worst nightmare. Trash punks Teen Mortgage take us back to the camcorder glory days with “Is It”, the catchy single from their debut pay-what-you-want EP Strange Times on Burger Records. Jay and Ed met on Craigslist and probably also picked up the gear to make this video there too. Catch them next at the Rock & Roll Hotel’s 6th annual Brodown Throwdown Festival in the afternoon of Saturday September 16th.
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