Many people in this town fondly remember Jesse Elliott’s gang of rock troubadors These United States. As frontman and lyricist, Jesse’s performances were often transcendent, attempting to divide your attention between poetry of his words and the energy of his delivery. Nomadic bands like These United States never stay rooted down long, and after scattering to various locations around the country, they recently decided to part ways. According to TUS’s Facebook feed, Jesse has formed a new band called Ark Life that recently played its debut show out in Denver. I’m very much looking forward to their inevitable swing through DC. Here’s the last TUS video I had saved up from their time here, Nobody Can Tell from their 2010 album What Lasts.
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
Category Archives: video
Shark Week – Baby Maybe video
Late Friday, before their SXSW send-off show at the Rock & Roll Hotel, Shark Week debuted their first music video for Baby Maybe, a song coming out on 7″ in April. Despite only having a short 3 song EP available, Shark Week has exploded in popularity in DC through their rugged and captivating live shows. Playing SXSW and the Sweetlife Festival in May could send Shark Week to the big leagues, and this beautiful video shot in Puerto Rico is a big step in that direction. Check out The Vinyl District for a fun interview with Shark Week about the video and the direction of the band.
Lionize – Dr. Livingston video
Lionize has fused hard rock and reggae into a unique sound for almost 10 years. Today begins a long tour for the band supporting Clutch that sadly has no DC dates as of now, though they do play both Baltimore and Richmond in April. The brand new video for Dr. Livingston, from 2011 album Superczar and the Vulture, definitely displays the love of their hometown, guest starring HR from Bad Brains, ska legends The Pietasters and the instantly recognizable 9:30 Club staff.
Lowercase Letters – Give Me video
Genre-hopping band Lowercase Letters are heading out of DC to make their mark on the national music scene at SXSW in Austin. Kimshimwon from House Studio DC is producing a SXSW video tour diary of the band making their way to the country’s most insane music festival, and the first installment recently went live.
But that’s not really a music video, right? So here’s a great song of theirs from a couple of years ago, Give Me.
Young Rapids – Bad Egg video
Buzz band Young Rapids released their first music video recently for Bad Egg, from last year’s debut album Day Light Savings. Shot by some friends at the Corcoran College of Art & Design, it’s kind of a mash-up of Artomatic and Wicker Man. Young Rapids are taking their infectuous energy on tour in April, so look out for a local show to kick it off.
Midnight Hike – Good Good Time video
Rock band Midnight Hike are the proud parents of a newborn music video, just released yesterday, from their second full length album Shoot The Moon. This band has shared the stage with Cheap Trick and Blue Oyster Cult, and your next opportunity to see them up close comes next Friday night March 15th at DC9. Hopefully they will bring their costumes.
Astra Via – Fast Forward video
Jarrett Nicolay and Olivia Mancini, collectively the pop duo Astra Via, just released a new music video Fast Forward (pay what you want download!), the lead-off track of their upcoming EP. This song dials back the pop shimmer of their earlier work in favor of a deeper and more emotional hook. Props to Jeff Nesmith of Gypsy Creative Communications for a music video that compliments the song perfectly.
GEMS – Pegasus video
Dream pop duo GEMS just released a new music video for their not-yet-for-sale single Pegasus. It’s black & white, gauzy, melancholy and beautiful, just what you want out of your modern dream pop music. GEMS doesn’t sound quite like any other band in DC, and to my ears that’s a great thing. They’ll be playing a show at the Rock & Roll Hotel next Wednesday March 6th to warm up for making new fans at SXSW.
Can you believe I wrote an entire post without mentioning they used to be called Birdlips? Oops, damnit.
Brett – Visions (The Soundmen Remix) video
Kevin Bayly once played guitar in the 80s influenced band The Dance Party, and now he’s pumping out dance tracks as Brett. Last year’s double single Confidence / Kate Moss garnered a huge number of remixes, and I expect a similar number from the new double single Rap Songs / Visions. Party DJ king Chris Burns has already cranked out a great one, as has the NY/Seattle duo The Soundmen. Here’s a brand new music video for The Soundmen’s remix of Visions, which will either make you want to go surfing now or stay the hell away from really huge waves.
Tom Goss – Can’t Hold Us video
It’s not often that you see a well-produced music video of a live performance. When bands do appear in their videos, almost always they lip sync to the pre-recorded track. For his latest video, just released today, singer Tom Goss performed an acoustic cover of Macklemore’s song Can’t Hold Us, and the video shows how he uses loop pedals to layer the music together, freeing him up for an impressive rapping performance. Catch Tom live at the Dunes this Thursday with Eric Himan as he sets out on tour.
Hometown Sounds 