DC has always enjoyed a thriving DIY house show scene, and the last few years its undisputed king has been the Paperhaus. The house holds the indie rock band of the same name, perhaps not a cunning masterplan but as it turns out a very good way to attract positive attention to both ‘hauses. Musician and booker Alex Tebeleff puts together diverse bills of both locals and touring acts at both Paperhaus and these days at Columbia Heights events space The Dunes. Last summer and fall the nexus of DC indie music, food trucks and good times came together at The Lot at Union Kitchen, an open air party curated by Tebeleff and others. Videographer Zambia captured the scene and assembled this fun video, and what else could the soundtrack have been but “All Through The Night” from Paperhaus’s 2013 EP Lo Hi Lo? For some true DC DIY spirit, come to the Paperhaus tonight for Philly’s Son Step, St. Louis’s Sleepy Kitty and DC bands Lies About and Greenland. Enter around back & bring some money to help the touring bands get to their next gig!
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Category Archives: video
Drop Electric – Lucille video
Drop Electric are probably the most prolific music video creators in the DC music scene. I’ve run 14 of their videos on the Hometown Sounds DC music video of the day feature. On days when a new Drop Electric video premieres, I like to have a little friendly competition with my friends over at DC Music Download to write a post about it faster than they can. This time they had the jump on me, premiering the sexy (NSFW?) new video Lucille, from last year’s Waking Up To The Fire, along with an interview with DE’s drummer Ramtin Arablouei. Of course you’ll read that before buying advance tix to the 9:30 Club for DMD’s 2 year anniversary bash featuring Drop Electric, The Sea Life, Young Rapids and The Raised By Wolves. Of course.
RDGLDGRN – Doing The Most video
DC, I hope you are “Doing The Most” with this glorious snow day. The colorful RDGLDGRN have a brand new video out today, another catchy number from their self-titled debut album. This time their studio drummer Mr. Dave Grohl shows up to tell a bit of their origin story before the dancing and rapping begins. The full time musicians striving for the big time seem to have been on tour for the entire last year, and they continue to wander the country through March, finishing March 22nd at the Fillmore in Silver Spring.
The Walking Sticks – You Might Like This Song video
Mellow dreampop band The Walking Sticks put a welcome emphasis on singer Chelsea Lee’s vocals in their songs. Their new EP Send The Night, a FREE download released last month, is required downloading in advance of their slot on Saturday night at The Black Cat opening for Who Needs a Pulse (formerly Mike & Cody) and DC indie rock darling Olivia Mancini & her Mates. Videographer Sam Janesko created this music video for The Walking Sticks’ new song “You Might Like This Song” from live performance footage and a classic Jimmy Stewart film, and the catchy doo-doo-doo vocal chorus has me definitively liking the song.
Bonus video! Olivia Mancini & The Mates rehearse a new song “Where Are You? (The Science of Love)”, with Pop-Up Video style facts about your brain on love. Don’t miss this great all-DC music lineup Saturday night at the Black Cat!
Tereu Tereu – Beyond The Coast video
Lots of cool stuff in DC is turning 2 years old these days. Our friends at DC Music Download have a big party next Saturday to celebrate the start of their terrible two’s, and we had a bit of a blowout ourselves last month. Our leadoff hitters that night were the quirky and awesome Tereu Tereu, and they take the stage again at the Black Cat Friday night for the second birthday party of singer and music journo Ryan Little’s label Bad Friend Records. Two years ago Bad Friends began by releasing the debut self-titled EP by Fredricksburg’s Raw Feels, also on Friday’s bill along with the insane Drunken Sufis. It ain’t easy for a scrappy label to make it in DC, so big congrats to Ryan Little for two years of putting out great music! Today’s DC music video of the day is Ryan singing “Beyond The Coast”, from their 2009 album All That Keeps Us Together.
Chopteeth – Eyi Su Ngaangaa (Live)
In case you haven’t yet become acquainted with Takoma Park’s big band Chopteeth, who usually have around 14 or so musicians jamming on stage to originals and Afrobeat classics by Fela Kuti and others, well let me fix that for you. Here’s a live video of them playing “Eyi Su Ngaangaa” by Ghana’s The Sweet Talk, from Chopteeth’s 2010 self-titled live album, at the Takoma Park Street Festival back in October. So much fun.
Nita Chawla – Bite The Bullet video
Tonight The Circus Life podcast‘s Justin Trawick brings his We Are The 9 singer-songwriter showcase back to Iota. If you haven’t been before, it’s a great opportunity to hear a variety of new and established songwriters perform. One up-and-comer on tonight’s bill is Nita Chawla, recent recipient of a House Artist Grant from House Studio DC. The fruits of that grant are her new EP Grace and debut music video for “Bite The Bullet” as part of House Studio’s $5 Music Video series.
Awthentik + Ethan Spalding – So Clean video
Don’t be fooled, DC. This song is not at all clean. Rappers Ethan Spalding, a.k.a. Violet Rocker, and Awthentik collaborated on a free mixtape called Beef & Broccoli way back in June 2012, and just last week released a music video for the track “So Clean”. This dirty Southern crunk-style slow jam is so thick with weed, you might cough just watching it. Viewer discretion advised!
Zo! – We Are On The Move video
Keyboardist Zo! is back with another snazzy music video from his excellent 2013 album ManMade on The Foreign Exchange label. “We Are On The Move”, featuring Eric Roberson and Phonte, has such a deep and funky groove it would fit in perfectly in a deep house DJ set from the mid-aughts. The throwback style of this video, featuring four well-dressed gentlemen strutting and dancing through the streets of downtown Raleigh, fits with Zo’s previous Sesame Street-themed video Count To Five. If you are a fan of Zo, go deep into the making of the ManMade album in this 45 minute long documentary.
The Highballers – King of the Plains video
This Saturday night Iota hosts the release show for the new self-titled album by my fave alt country band in DC The Highballers, with an opening set by North Carolina’s John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff. Last year’s release show for their debut album Soft Music and Hard Liquor was a raging success, so get to Iota early this time so you don’t miss it! Singer Kendall Jackson imparts just the right amount of swagger and sass in his twangy songs, providing a respite from music that takes itself too seriously on songs like “I’ll Break Something More Than Just Your Heart” and “I Need My Ass Kicked”. Their newest music video for “King of the Plains” tells the story of a confrontation between a humble country farmer and a wayward alien invader, with wacky animation by Matt Rasch. If you’ve never seen The Highballers live, trust me on this. They are on the short list of the most entertaining live acts in DC today, and they only continue to get better with every show I’ve seen.
Hometown Sounds 