Hometown Sounds

The charming and dapper rock star Jonny Cohen and his Love Machine are back with another music video from Cohen’s comeback album A Quiet Reminder on Teenbeat Records. Viewers enchanted by last year’s melancholy ballad “Let’s Pretend” can cheer up with “Tough Guy”, a folk song about the legend who never loses, directed by Cohen and Mark Robinson and recorded by The Jet Age‘s Eric Tischler. Just don’t tell Cohen that the Capitals don’t play baseball.

Newcomers to DC might not know our city’s long association with Unrest frontman Mark Robinson’s quirky independent label Teenbeat Records. While Dischord supported the aggressive, angular music in the 90s and 00s, Teenbeat’s indie rock bands always had an air of whimsy and awkward coolness. Though Robinson left DC for Boston back in 2000, some DC area bands still call Teenbeat home, including the supremely offbeat Jonny Cohen Love Machine. Absent from recording for a full 20 years, Cohen reassembled his full band for a new album called A Quiet Reminder which came out earlier this year. Cohen’s musical delivery is unlike any other, and his storytelling has a folksy frankness that utterly captures your heart. Robinson himself directed Teenbeat Release #557, the music video for the melancholy ballad “Let’s Pretend”. Your next chance to experience The Love Machine is Friday June 17th opening for The Taildraggers at vintage Rockville dive bar Hank Dietle’s Tavern.