Eva Moolchan, known musically as Sneaks, distills post-punk to its raw essence and doesn’t allow it to overstay its welcome. Her debut album Gymnastics expanded in size as it bounced from Sister Polygon Records to France’s Danger Records and now recently re-released on indie powerhouse Merge Records, but it’s still less than 14 minutes long. While we await Sneaks’ new album on Merge in 2017, the label commissioned this music video for “Tough Luck” to hype the re-release. Animator Jamie Wolfe channeled the repetition in the song into some seriously trippy visuals, abstractly reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons from the 70s.
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Category Archives: video
Dot Dash – Flowers
Are you heading to the Hamilton tonight to catch Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame? Then get to know your openers, the superbly-seasoned DC power-pop band Dot Dash. These musicians are vets of shoegaze and punk bands you’ve surely heard of, including Julie Ocean, Swervedriver, Glo-Worm and and Youth Brigade. This music video for “Flowers”, from their 2015 album Earthquakes & Tidal Waves, is charmingly lo-fi but subtly clever, so pay attention to the subliminal messages.
Flasher – Destroy
Flasher is evidence of the thriving, unstoppable energy in the DC punk and post-punk scene. Taylor Mulitz of Priests, Daniel Saperstein of Bless and Emma Baker of Big Hush are friends and roommates whose cross-pollination led to the 7 intense tracks on Flasher’s self-titled debut EP, self-released on Bandcamp and cassette earlier this year and now getting the 12″ vinyl release it richly deserves via Sister Polygon Records, the label absolutely blowing up the DC scene backing Cigarette, Gauche, Sneaks and of course Priests. Drew Hagelin of Cigarette and The El Mansouris directed “Destroy”, the debut music video from Flasher, setting the trio in outdoor urban landscapes that are both distinctly DC and unique in videos. The chorus of this pop song will linger in your head all weekend.
KAG – Diana Ross
It is a beautiful, unseasonably warm day today. Are you stuck in your office doing work while this beautiful day passes into history? Yeah, us too. Why don’t we go for a (weird, ominous) bike ride with Katie Alice Greer? The Priests frontwoman’s solo project KAG recently released a collection of experimental sounds called EP A, and also directed a few music videos to accompany it. “Diana Ross” is far from a disco song, but there is a pulsing beat and swirly vocals that echo 70s clubbing. The video feels more like a desperate escape from some unseen horror rather than a delightful ride through a summery day.
Bad Brains – Rise
Old school hardcore fans are cheering the news today that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017 nominees include DC legends Bad Brains. The band’s unique mix of hardcore punk and dub reggae influenced DC music immeasurably, and their iconic album cover art is still ubiquitous on clothing in DC. We love music videos here on the Hometown Sounds blog, and quality videos by this band are pretty hard to come by, but we did find one. “Rise” is the title track from their major label debut album from 1993 and features only half the band’s original lineup: Dr. Know and Daryl Jenifer brought on Mackie Jayson from Cro-Mags to play drums for Earl Hudson, and Israel Joseph I replaced HR on vocals. Be warned, the 90s are strong with both this song and video.
Congo Sanchez – Why Do We Wait
DC’s soulful & funky Congo Sanchez opens a night of funk jams at Gypsy Sally’s tonight billed as a “Dear Jerry” Afterparty for the Grateful Dead tribute shows going on in DC this weekend. This trio of singer Haile Supreme, rapper Flex Mathews and drummer Jeff Franca continue to work on a follow-up to their debut full length album Dealin’ With This from 2014. A few months ago they dropped the romantic slow-jam single “Why Do We Wait”, and the music video features the three vocalists crooning to their respective loved ones, in their own unique styles. Trust me, don’t miss their top-notch live show!
SHAED – Just Wanna See
Do you remember a dream-pop band called The Walking Sticks? Then you old school, brah, cuz they rebranded with the somewhat awkward name SHAED. Changing your band name is a very risky move, but it seems to have paid off when representatives from Photo Finish Records came across the first SHAED song on SoundCloud. Their new moniker’s debut EP Just Wanna See is out now, and no less than Billboard premiered the title track’s music video with a deep dive into the musical trio, Chelsea Lee and twin brothers Max and Spencer Ernst. The band wraps up a successful fall tour with Verite and Marian Hill tomorrow, so stay tuned for more local dates.
KAG – Narcissus
Yesterday we showed you the new music video by Priests, but that’s not all that frontwoman Katie Alice Greer has been up to lately. After moving out of the city for the first time in a decade, Greer began a solo project of experimental and ambient noise recordings, inspired by, as she notes, “weird suburbia, formidable famous women, and the 1947 film Black Narcissus”. Greer’s solo moniker KAG released four of these songs on a new (sold-out womp womp) cassette release called EP A, and you can check this new material out live tonight at Safari Restaurant & Lounge alongside Brooklyn’s Future Punk, Duchess Says from Montreal and Seattle punk band Bad Future. Greer also directs her own videos, so enjoy this industrial weirdness for the single “Narcissus”.
Priests – JJ
Priests, the snarling, acerbic quartet driving a majority of the energy in the DC punk scene currently, today announced the release date of their new album Nothing Feels Natural and debuted its first single and accompanying video. “JJ”, directed by singer Katie Alice Greer, features the four musicians sitting peacefully as strange hands poke, prod, smear and playfully abuse their enigmatic faces. Sister Polygon Records, the band-run label behind recent music by Governess, Pearie Sol, Cigarette, Gauche, Flasher and Sneaks, releases the new Priests album on vinyl on January 27th.
Lance Neptune – Cosmic Oceans
If last month’s XLR8R premiere of Lance Neptune‘s new track “Circle Rose” got you impatient for a new full-length release from the astronautical producer from Glenarden, MD, then we’ve got a little something to tide you over. This 2014 music video for “Cosmic Oceans” comes from Neptune’s earliest collection Synthesis, and takes you on a hallucinogenic tour through the weirdest Star Trek episodes you never saw.
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