Good morning DC music friends. We’ve heard from a few subscribers that overzealous spam filters are flagging our newsletter. We have a lot of images and links and song player embeds that might upset the email systems, and we ain’t gonna change, so we implore you to mark us as Not Spam and add us as a contact and any other appropriate voodoo.
In the News
Dorvall Bedford at CityPaper writes about pop singer Cat Janice’s journey to release her certified catchy new single “Dance You Outta My Head” on her birthday, while in hospice for aggressive cancer. The party looked fantastic on her IG and TikTok.
Both CityPaper and the Washington Post shared details of Pinkhouse’s new “punk-lite” EP Vanity Project.
WaPo’s media critic Erik Wemple investigated the downtown battle between sports mogul Ted Leonsis and street musician David Halmon.
David Segal at the New York Times documented the dystopia of songs by DC folk duo Bad Dog showing up on streaming services under other names.
ICYMI, influential music criticism site Pitchfolk was gutted of staff and folded into Conde Nast’s GQ magazine. WaPo’s pop music critic and DC musician Chris Richards shared his thoughts. For more, read Ted Gioia’s The Honest Broker Substack about the ongoing collapse of music journalism.
Artomatic is back! Hooray! The unjuried art festival runs from March 8 to April 28, and performers can register now. It’s a really cool DC institution.
Finally, the DC Abortion Fund is hosting My Body, My Festival in mid-May at three venues, featuring a ton of great DC bands including Pretty Bitter, Flowerbomb, Cherub Tree, and Outerloop.
New Releases
Garage punk band Teen Mortgage’s self-titled full length album is now available on two colors of vinyl at their Shopify page.
DC turned out in force on a frigid, snowy night to celebrate grungy dreamy pop band Flowerbomb’s new EP Gloom Scroll Vol. 1 last week. Now it’s available online to add to your playlists and Bandcamp collections.
Electronic musician/DJ Bernard Farley aka B_X_R_N_X_R_D aka Outputmessage is amplifying the black techno community with his sprawling anthology collections F_X_M_X_L_Y. v2’s collection on Bandcamp is 20 songs, but the deluxe limited edition version on custom USB drive includes 130 songs over 17 hours.
Prolific, soulful rapper Wes Felton drops two releases on the same day. It's Not You, It's Me is an emotional roller coaster of an EP produced by Judah, while Second City Sonnets of Dante' Pope is a love letter to producer Dante' Pope’s hometown of Chicago, also featuring Kenny Allen.
Don’t Stay Home This Week
Tuesday January 23rd
Jazz harmonicist Avon Dews is back at Blues Alley this Tuesday night. He doesn’t have any songs we can embed in the newsletter, so here’s his Millennium Stage performance from 2017.
Wednesday January 24th
Indie surf rock band Skate Stance is back at the Quarry House Tavern Wednesday night, anchoring a 3 band lineup with Philly’s Hooky and Fiona Kohrman of Halpine, Dim Wizard, and The El Mansouris.
Thursday January 25th
Takoma Park venue Rhizome isn’t devoted only to experimental jazz and drone music. You’ll get your fill of punk anarchy Thursday night with Knoxville’s Bad Idols and DC bands Chill Parents, Palladists, and Trash Boat & The Ambush. Masks required.
Friday January 26th
Pre-save the new album Utopia by synthpop band Mystery Friends and you’ll be reminded to experience it when it drops on Tuesday January 23rd. That gives you a few days to learn the lyrics before MF headline the Atlantis Friday night, along with guest star Amanda Dove’s rock band Kinda Evil.
Honorable mention: Lauren Calve at Pie Shop
Saturday January 27th
The only thing we love more than an EP release show is a DOUBLE EP release show! Top shelf rock band Broke Royals drop their new EP Big Dream Friday on the streaming apps, and singer Maryjo Mattea’s 90s throwback band Dear Daria’s new EP Solastalgia comes out the same day. Both bands show off their shiny new tunes Saturday night at Songbyrd, along with indie rock band Milo in the Doldrums.
Huge bummer news: Even though we still have a new album to look forward to later this year, this Saturday’s show by old-timey folk/jazz band The Bumper Jacksons’s at Joe’s Movement Emporium in Mt. Rainier, MD will be their last ever. Do NOT snooze on those advance tickets. Thanks to Jess and Chris for more than a decade of unique and crowd-pleasing tunes that will live in our music libraries forever.
Honorable mention: Scorpio & Lotion Princess at DC9
Sunday January 28th
Perpetually touring Chicago garage-rock duo North By North roll back into town Sunday night at the Pie Shop, assembling a trio of DC rock bands to bring out the faithful: Perro Sombra, Ammonite (feat. members of The OSYX), and Endlings (feat. members of Lightmare).
This Newsletter Is Nearly Too Long For Email, Says Substack
But we just didn’t feel like cutting anything. Sorry not sorry! Thanks for reading, see you next week!
-PV