The Urban Cartel are another signpost on the trend of DC bands blending hip-hop and rock influences together to create a fresh sound, comparable to RDGLDGRN and The Cornel West Theory. “What She Wants”, a soulful song from their FREE 2011 collection Cassette Music, gets the music video treatment from footage of their recent show at the Fillmore Silver Spring. The UC is generous with the Bandcamp, so grab their newest release The N.I.T.E. as well!
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Category Archives: video
The Caribbean – Imitation Air video
DC’s music scene is often dominated by young acts frantically chasing the buzz of popularity. The Caribbean, 15 year veterans of making breezy, laid back and lyrically-focused indie rock in DC, stand in stark contrast to that accepted wisdom. They seem in no hurry to get where they’re going, content to experiment with synth sounds and Michael Kentoff’s falsetto vocal delivery. “Imitation Air” is the first single from their 6th full length album Moon Sickness, released last month on Portland’s Hometapes label. Longtime producer Chad Clark, also of the band Beauty Pill, described the music video for Imitation Air:
“There’s a door. We don’t know what’s beyond the door. We don’t know whether it leads outside. The door is a Schrödinger’s cat. We don’t know whether the door represents decimation or liberation. The door glows with promise or menace; we don’t know. You begin to argue amongst yourselves in slow motion about what to do about the door. With a lot of debate, one by one, the trio members open the door and exit to … we never find out what it is.”
Mark your calendars for Saturday March 29th when The Caribbean supports the CD release show for Hometown Sounds faves The Jet Age at Comet Ping Pong.
Under The Counter – The Ides of March
The monthly comedy + jazz + indie rock night Under The Counter returns to The Dunes in Columbia Heights this Friday night!
Jokes from Nate Johnson, Tom Sherman, Michael J. Foody & Erica Johnson, hosted by Ruth Rasby
Power pop from Black Checker
As always with Jonathan Parker‘s Too Big To Fail Octet, this week featuring Linsay Deming!
Have you wondered what Hometown Sounds podcast co-host Tony Porreco looks like in person? Or in the bath? Wonder no longer, thanks to the new video flyer!
(The show’s organizers live in the DIY music space The Bathtub Republic, FYI)
RSVP on the Facebook event
Thomas Blondet feat. Leyla Chatti – Tu Va Partir
DJ and producer Thomas Blondet‘s resume includes many keywords of DC’s nightlife history: Buzz, Pollen, Fever, Club Red. The record label he founded with ESL’s Farid Nouri, Rhythm & Culture, has a well-respected catalog of lounge, house and world-influenced cuts, including Blondet’s just released full length album Futureworld. The newest single from that album, the sexy “Tu Va Partir” with French vocals from local Leyla Chatti, features remixes from Zeb and Double A and a music video shot by Mauro Demony of Dub Africa at Local 16. Catch Blondet’s regular Rhythm & Culture DJ night every Sunday at 18th Street Lounge.
PHZ-Sicks – Black Women video
Presenting a welcome contrast from the usual treatment of women in rap videos, Woodbridge’s PHZ-Sicks steps aside to let the beautiful black women in director John Ledbetter‘s music video for “Black Women” take the spotlight and sing the positive messages in the lyrics. Grab the single from iTunes or cop the whole full length album The Moment from Bandcamp.
RAtheMC – Drive You Crazy video
In the beginning of RAtheMC‘s newest music video, she expresses her disappointment and frustration at the time she was cut from the singing competition show The X-Factor. Now The X-Factor itself has been cut from our TV screens, but RA still goes strong as one of the DMV’s hottest rappers according to XXL, MTV Hive and her many devoted fans. Drive You Crazy features Baltimore singer Joe Maye and many great cameos from DC musicians and radio personalities.
Unrehearsed DC videos
Justin Trawick is a rarity in DC music, a full time musician with a lot of ideas and talented friends to help pull it off. His weekly podcast The Circus Life just got a snazzy new website, and his latest project Unrehearsed DC launched last week. Under the direction of videographer Rafael Suanes, Unrehearsed DC presents live videos of musicians performing songs in unconventional locations. Justin takes the debut video slot, performing an unreleased heartbreak song called “Honest Eyes” to 20,000 empty seats at the Verizon Center at 8 AM before a Hoyas game. Surely in just a few years, Trawick will sing there again with every seat filled.
The second video features The Beanstalk Library, fronted by frequent member of the 9 Singer-Songwriter Showcase Ryan Walker. Half the band bundled up after DC’s last round of snow to sing “Knight In Armor”, from last year’s album The View From Here, in front of large metal pipes and miscellaneous construction equipment. Where will this live video series go next? Paddleboats on the tidal basin? The Capitol Rotunda? The X-2 Metrobus? No pressure, guys.
Shark Week – Go West video
Legendary composer Ennio Morricone clearly inspired the distinct guitar sound of garage rockers Shark Week in their 2013 A-side “Go West”, so of course the band tapped director Dana Beierle to shoot a music video in the style of classic westerns he scored, filmed on location in J. Lorraine TX and our own western suburb of Burke. If you’re a vinyl fan, pick up the Saturnce 7″ in all its analog glory, otherwise iTunes is the place to go.
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