The Week in DC Music
January 27th - February 2nd
In the News
Dorvall Bedford over at the CityPaper recapped the last few years for funky pop band Strutman Lane, who Kickstarted the creation of their first “real” self-titled EP and launched an east-coast tour last week at The Atlantis.
The WaPo (still billionaire owned) dispatched Going Out Guru Chris Kelly to interview young DMV Crank rapper Nino Paid.
DC indie rock lovers of a certain age will have already grabbed tix to the reunion show for Babe City Records’ flagship band Young Rapids at DC9 on Saturday March 8th. If you’ve come to DC since their farewell show back in early 2017, here’s a refresher.
For fans of helping out folks over on the left coast dealing with wildfire destruction, Hit the North Records assembled a charity compilation called Love Los Angeles to support the Mutual Aid LA Network. $10 (or more, wink wink) gets you 88 b-sides, covers, acoustic versions, demos, live recordings, remixes and more, including our awesome friends in DC band BRNDA.
Live music blog ParkLife DC assigned Steve Satzberg to review the recent show at The Atlantis featuring Mystery Friends, ViRG, and Daphne Eckman.
I Admit, I Have Been Staying Home A Lot, Because It’s So Cold And Also, You Know. But You Don’t Have To Stay Home This Week
Monday January 27th
Jazz venue Blues Alley steps into the pop/adult contemporary music realm Monday evening with two sets featuring songwriters Justina Beth-El, formerly of the DC band L.A.T.O, and Kevin Rose, vocal teacher at Howard University.
Wednesday January 29th
Rising from the ashes of Lightmare, singer Shady Rose’s new band Endlings fuses fuzzy post-punk guitars with their insistent, captivating vocals on their debut EP the ugly. Hear the whole release live Wednesday night at the Pie Shop after fully enjoying new songs by hard prog rockers A Shrewdness of Apes and garage punks Hungry Bug.
Honorable mention:
Broommaker (fka Teething Veils) and Hotel Sewing Kit with Jason Anderon (Canada) at Rhizome
Friday January 31st
Dreamy indie pop duo Glosser released their 4 song EP Angel Dust last November, and made us wait two and a half months to see them play it live. Find out if it’s worth the wait (it is) Friday night at DC9 with local openers Close and Flo Petite.
Hold our beer, because this stacked Friday night can’t have just one show pick. Strangers That Clique, a band pushing the boundaries of funk, rock and hip-hop, cap off a killer night of music that starts with indie rock YouTubers Fake Radio and hits hard with lyrical rapper Night Train 357.
Saturday February 1st
Broke Royals, one of DC’s tightest and classiest pop rock bands, celebrates their 10th birthday by dropping a new version of an early song “The Thick Of It” and headlining Union Market’s Songbyrd Saturday night. Experimental indie band The North Country also hit us with a sublime new single “The New You” to hype the show. Also playing is Cal Rifkin, a band as awesome as their name!
Honorable meniton:
Toro, XK Scenario, and Druid Stone at Quarry House Tavern
Sunday February 2nd
Shadow Riot is a new DC punk band fusing the vox (Kamyar Arsani) and guitars (Jeff Barsky) from Time Is Fire with the bass (Dug Birdzell) and drums (Jerry Busher) combo from classic Dischord bands Fidelity Jones, All Scars and Las Mordidas. They’re so punk that their two existing singles are only available on Bandcamp, not Spotify, and their new 7” “Quiet,Please!” isn’t even going up on Bandcamp. Get it Sunday night at the Black Cat Red Room and don’t miss Baltimore’s Quattracenta by showing up fashionably late.
Playlists For The Streamers
Not only is the BNDCMPR playlist generator for Bandcamp still broken, but now the live music aggregator DC Music Live is also on the fritz. Our job here may be a little harder without these excellent free community tools, but we will prevail.
To the lucky few ticketholders for Friday night’s sold out Pie Shop show featuring Color Palette and Flowerbomb, I (Paul Vodra) will be filling in the cracks DJing my other musical love, mashups. Hope to see some of you lovely readers there.
-PV
Pie Shop Jan 31 or GTFO