Former locals, now wandering troubadours These United States return to town Saturday night for a headlining show at the Black Cat to promote their new self-titled album. You probably already know all about Jesse Elliott and his musical pals, but even so you should read David Malitz’s fantastic profile of the group in today’s Washington Post. The video for their song Water and Wheat, from their 2010 album What Lasts, visualizes their nomadic lifestyle perfectly. And really, who could expect a band called These United States to stay rooted in one place for long.
Hometown Sounds
Showing The World How DC Rocks
The Sea Life – Nocturnal video
Friday night the Black Cat hosts the second of three FUNdraisers for DC’s biggest music festival, the Sweet Tea Pumpkin Pie Music Fest, cramming this town full of great music Columbus Day weekend. The Black Cat shows feature some of the bands STPPFest is excited to host in October. This Friday’s show includes Graph Rabbit from NYC, Gary B & The Notions from Baltimore, and the Young Rapids from DC, and it’s started off by College Park indie rockers The Sea Life. Check out the video for Nocturnal, from their FREE self-titled debut EP, and get to the show early!
To hear lots more music from the festival, check out the official STPPFest Spotify Playlist.
Fort Knox Five – Revolution video
Tonight U Street Music Hall hosts “Tropical Boom” a fantastic line-up of dance music courtesy of Fort Knox Recordings. Headliners Poirier & Boogat are joined by an all-star lineup from the funky local label, including Alma Tropicália, Empresarios, Maracuyah, and a DJ set by Fort Knox Five vs. Thunderball. Fort Knox Five are well known for creating “Remints”, remixes and mashups of all sorts of music. Today we’ve got a video for their remint of Revolution by the Fab Four.
Happy Independence Day DC!
The District Dish interview
I recently sat down for an interview with K Street Kate‘s local talk show The District Dish. On camera! It was a really fun chat about the local music scene. Enjoy!
Vegas With Randolph – Supergirl video
Over the weekend modern rockers Vegas With Randolph debuted their new music video for Supergirl, from their 2011 album Above The Blue. Fun stuff!
Shudder To Think – Red House video
Frequent visitors to the Hometown Sounds DC Music Video of the Day feature know that I try to post videos for bands playing in town that night. There are a ton of great local shows that you should catch this weekend, including:
Friday
Death By Sexy @ Iota
The Grey Area (previously featured) and Koshari (previously featured) @ Fillmore Silver Spring
Jukebox The Ghost and Tereu Tereu (previouly featured) @ 9:30
Margot MacDonald @ Lubber Run Amphitheater in Arlington
Megaphone Barons (previously featured) and Glitterlust @ Red Palace
Saturday
Honor By August @ Iota
Justin Trawick @ Lubber Run Amphitheater in Arlington
The Silver Liners (previously featured) @ DC9
Sunday
Black Clouds @ Black Cat backstage
Brian Settles & Central Union @ Bohemian Caverns
But nothing comes together for a new DC music video feature. So I’ll go classic! Here’s Red House by Dischord alt rockers Shudder To Think, from their 1997 album 50,000 BC.
Pree – Lemon Tree video
Local folk rockers Pree open for North Carolina’s Bombadil tonight at the Red Palace on H Street NE. May Tabol brings vocal stylings totally unlike anyone else in DC music, and the band has steadily evolved into solid live performers. Today’s video for the track Lemon Tree comes from their 2011 debut album Folly.
http://vimeo.com/30966203
Head-Roc – UFCW Local 400 Anthem video
Today the Smithsonian Folklife Festival kicks off on the Mall, and Head-Roc, the Mayor of DC Hip-Hop, starts the party off right. Head-Roc is everywhere in this town, fronting his band GODISHEUS, writing for Huffington Post DC, and broadcasting on Capital Resistance Radio 97.5 FM. You’ve got two chances to see his “Black Rock Super Hero Music” set today, on the MONSTER Panorama Room sound stage at 1:30 PM, then again at the Good Hope and Naylor corner at 3:30 PM. Always championing causes close to his heart, he recently created a theme song and music video for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 chapter. I hope you get to enjoy the first day of the Festival instead of being locked in an office all day like me!
Andy Zipf – We Will Carry the Weight video
Tonight The Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan hosts a singer songwriter showcase headlined by Andy Zipf. Zips breaks the mold of traditional singer songwriters by bringing extra energy and creativity to his live performances, and by making most of his music avaialble for free for limited durations. This includes his most recent release, 2011’s Jealous Hands (go get it now!). Today we’ve got a simple, no frills live performance of We Will Carry The Weight, from Zipf’s 2009 EP The Cowards Choir.
Drop Electric – Fevered Egos video
Last Friday soundscape architects Drop Electric dropped a “Sampler Platter” of 4 songs on their Bandcamp page. The new tracks show their progress from the ambience of their first album to the more electronic influences as the band evolves and changes membership. Here’s one of the new songs, Empire Trashed:
Our video of the day, Fevered Egos, comes from Drop Electric’s 2010 debut album, Finding Color In The Ashes (still a free download!).
