Category Archives: video

Near Northeast – Millennium Stage preview

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It’s impossible to understate the contribution to the DC music community provided by the Kennedy Center’s free Millennium Stage series. For nearly two decades now, these free post-work shows bring performers large and small, far and near to a diverse and attentive audience full of kids, senior citizens and other people you don’t usually see at DC music venues. Not only are all shows professionally live-streamed online to those that can’t make it, but their vast archive of performances is an untapped trove of amazing music.

DC indie folk band Near Northeast are so excited about their upcoming show that they’ve prepared a special collaboration. The band, comprised of Avy Malik, Kelly Servick and Austin Blanton, originally formed after accidentally meeting while backing an Indian classical singer & dancer at a performance at the Kennedy Center in 2013. At their Millennium Stage show on Friday August 26th, they revisit the fusion of East and West that brought them together with a collaborative performance featuring Soumya Chakraverty (sarod) and Debupriya Nayak (tabla), and a new composition called “Indali”.

The band shot this short video below during recent rehearsals for the show to give you a taste of the styles they explore. If you’re new to this band currently capturing a lot of buzz in DC, watch their excellent music video for “Under the Pines” and grab their 2015 debut album Curios for whatever price you like. RSVP for the Millennium Stage show & don’t miss it!

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K.A.A.N. – Water

Columbia MD rapper KAAN releases killer singles about as fast as he strings together words, which is (Spoiler Alert) really quite fast. The quick-fire rapping might be an attention-grabbing strategy, but it takes a deft talent to pull it off like KAAN does, and who’s to argue with results anyway? The latest single by Brandon Perry’s moniker, which stands for Knowledge Above All Nonsense, is the Blev-produced “Water”, and this time KAAN tapped fellow MD musical collaborator The_Faiz_Phase with music video duties. Follow KAAN’s SoundCloud feed for a steady flow of sonic gems, and try to decode all the lyrical knowledge before the next one drops.

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Spirit Plots – Burnt Tapes

Spirit Plots celebrated the release of their long awaited self-titled full length album on vinyl with a special show this past weekend at 7DL Drum Studios that included a pressing of the record for every attendee. We don’t usually run live concert takes on our DC music video posts, but Fred Yi did such a good job capturing this short & sweet, snarling punk rock take of “Burnt Tapes” that we had to share.

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Aaron Abernathy – Favorite Girl

Soul singer Aaron “AB” Abernathy has built an impressive musical career since graduating from Howard University. Influential hip-hop group Slum Village tapped Ab as its musical director in the late 2000s, which led to a gig playing keys in Nat Turner, the backing band for Detroit’s own underground star Black Milk. Ab has released a series of singles, EPs and collabs, but DC is way more than ready for a full length solo album by this retro-soul champion, and in October we’ll get it when Monologue finally drops. The appetizer is now served with this lead-off single, a classic and soulful tribute to mothers called “Favorite Girl”.

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Tarica June – But Anyway

Tarica June does double duty as Howard University-trained lawyer and rising MC. Both she & her family are from DC, so the changes that money and gentrification have brought to the city are both troubling and musically inspiring to her. Her single “But Anyway”, originally on her free 2014 mixtape S​.​O​.​C. Mixtape Vol. 1 and also the new re-juggled EP Stream of Consciousness Vol. 1​.​5, absolutely blew up the internet a few months ago with the release of the music video, directed by June herself. The unmistakeable 90s era samples from Suzanne Vega and Eric B & Rakim instantly hook you, allowing June to spin rapid fire lyrics about nostalgia and disruptive change, before the backdrop of her neighborhood Petworth. Sometimes it seems that nothing can stop rich newcomers from gutting the city’s character, but Tarica June’s hopeful message resonates in cities all over the country.

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Rorie – Storyteller

Did you dig that song “Climate” by Rorie from the most recent episode of our podcast? We had a hard time picking which song to play from Rorie’s newest EP Singing & Silence, because all the tracks were fantastic. Prior to the EP’s release, “Storyteller” got the music video treatment from Stephen Stonestreet of Charlottesville’s Stonestreet Creative, and it beautifully presents this young singer-songwriter poised for wider attention. Read Rorie’s blog post about filming the video here, and catch her at Vienna’s Jammin’ Java on Sunday August 14th opening for Reeve Carney.

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The Galaxy Electric – Please Come Home Soon

Psychedelic dream-pop band The Galaxy Electric have honed their performance chops recently through a series of live gigs around town, supporting acts like FuzzQueen and Young Summer. Today they released a slick live video of their single “Please Come Home Soon”, from their debut full length album Everything is Light and Sound, shot at their “secret getaway spot” in Princess Anne, MD on the Wicomico River. The beautiful riverside setting makes me dream of escaping this epic DC heatwave, and only coming home when the heat index has two digits. If you’re still in DC on Friday night, The Galaxy Electric help inaugurate DCDIT’s newest house venue Haushouse with Dovelady and Lithuania from Philly.

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Kingpen Slim – Drug Dealers Anonymous

While fans of niche streaming service Tidal heavily hyped the Jay-Z featuring lead-off single “Drug Dealers Anonymous” from Pusha T’s new album, DC rapper Kingpen Slim took the beat from DJ Dahi and spun his own tale of coming up on the streets. If you missed Slim’s secret video screening last week at Blind Whino, check out the visuals below, and grab the track while you can from SoundCloud.

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Stephen Redhead – Cap Heights

Aw yeah, Redhead is back! We’ve been fans of bespectacled rapper Stephen Redhead from PG County since 2012, though the wait for his debut album Exxxactly grows long. He recently released a new single “Cap Heights”, produced by Nature Boi, as an exclusive for his friends on Apple Music. Now the music video, from House Studio & Kimshimwon’s $5 Music Video series, can make him some new friends and fans everywhere as he warmly welcomes us to his home town.

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Carolyn Malachi – Blowing Smoke

When you’re totally independent and a perfectionist, music can take its sweet time getting from concept to listeners’ ears. But release day is always a triumph, and DC Grammy chapter member Carolyn Malachi is celebrating today with the release of her new EP Chapter 1: Where You Are. These four songs precede an album Rise [Story 1] which Malachi envisions as the first in a trilogy, showing how much work she’s done in the 3 years since her previous album. The jazzy R&B singer just released this gorgeous music video for “Blowing Smoke”, showing her love of community and DC’s indigenous hand dancing. Don’t miss WAMU Bandwidth’s interview with Malachi today for the surprising story of how she hooked up with her current band!

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