Greetings
Don’t worry, there’s still a second chance for all those Atlantis shows you tried and failed to get tickets for: the Fan Exchange! How will that work, we wonder. In the meantime there’s a lot a lot going on in live DC music this week, so let’s get to it.
In The News
Chris Richards at WaPo chats with DJ Nativesun of the group Black Rave Culture in advance of a new album dropping later this month.
DCist writes about last week’s rare fulfillments and much more plentiful disappointments in the lottery of tickets to The Atlantis.
Chad Clark of Beauty Pill announced a special Dolby Atmos mix of their 2015 landmark album Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are, sold as a limited edition NFT through the Foundation platform. Mint your own edition for 0.13 ETH, which comes out to about $270 USD, and help Clark retire some of his life-saving medical debt.
Petworth Porchfest
Perhaps you too saw on The Socials that Petworth Porchfest posted their 2023 schedule, clicked on it, scrolled scrolled scrolled scrolled and wondered what the heck to see? Next Saturday April 22nd no less than 86 porches or other stages will each present 1 - 5 acts in an area that sprawls from the Georgia Avenue Metro station up to Brightwood Park. Props to the PP website designers for including a helpful Google map along with the schedule that requires quite a bit of vertical scrolling.
As always, we’re here to help make sense of this. Sure you could wander around aimlessly and see some great stuff, as 99% of the event patrons will. But there’s a better way.
The Petworth Rec Center main stage kicks off with funky vocalist Dior Ashley Brown at 2 PM, and wraps up the festival with go-go greats UCB at 6 PM.
At 3 o’clock, you’ll have to choose between ska groovers The Fuss at 4022 13th St NW, fun as hell rock stars Kinda Evil at 3801 7th St NW, DC, folk singer Annie Stokes at 203 Upshur St NW, instrumental experimenters Boat Burning at 1236 Quincy St NW, and indie pop singer Ari Voxx at 4430 9th St NW.
4 o’clock brings out funk band Gordon Sterling and The People at 816 Farragut St NW, bilingual folk singer Elena La Fulana at 1518 Varnum St NW, and indie rock group Dougie at 203 Upshur St NW.
Finally at 5 o’clock the porches welcome folk band Bellweather Bayou at 4203 9th St NW, Dear Daria frontwoman Maryjo Mattea at 4430 9th St NW, post-punk duo Venray at 508 Decatur St NW (we bet Maryjo is bummed to miss Venray!), comedy-folk duo Griefcat at 307 Taylor St NW, and Dave Mann’s ever-evolving rock band No One Sphere at 4209 8th St NW.
Who are you excited to see in this lineup? Who did you stumble upon and make friends with? Let us know!
Don’t Stay Home This Week
Monday April 17th
Listen fam, these early-in-the-week-nights can be a bit thin for live music. The one show we found for you on this night was hip-hop duo 84 Faces playing at The Pocket, but now it’s sold out and our policy is firmly against recommending sold out shows. :(
Tuesday April 18th
It’s always a good night for Justin Moyer’s drum-heavy synthrock band Light Beams, and Tuesday they join Baltimore’s Handapple in setting the Black Cat stage for experimental rock band Xiu Xiu.
Wednesday April 19th
The Quarry House on Wednesday night has Midwife all the way from New Mexico, Philly’s nyxy nyx, and a new project from Tommy Elms of Fix Your Hearts with the sweet name Stonecipher.
Thursday April 20th
Thursday night’s Pie Shop lineup features Pittsburgh’s Zack Keim and two DC faves, Sonic Eddy (M. Renfro of Pagan Reagan & The OSYX) and the full Voltron assemblage of Moozy. Don’t get too stoned.
Friday April 21st
A couple of weeks ago we helped acquaint you with Dorinda, the new project from Spring Silver’s bassist Reid Williams. Dorinda’s woozy hip-pop EP release show hits the Runaway Friday night along with Big Cry Country and NAYAN (fka The NRIs).
Saturday April 22nd
In addition to Petworth Porchfest, we’d be remiss in neglecting the festivities of Record Store Day. In your rush to nab all the exclusives, head to Mobius Records in Fairfax VA for some live in-store rock with a solo set from Flowerbomb, Ice Out and NAYAN, and try the special RSD collab beer with Bluejacket dubbed “Heavy Metal Drummer”.
Sunday April 23rd
Kenny Pirog’s blues-rock band applies thick post-punk vibes in their new song “By the Mile”, which comes out Friday April 21st. Sunday night they generously play a free show in the Black Cat’s Red Room bar.
See You Next Week
Thanks for reading, and forwarding this link along. There’s still a whole lot of music fans in the DMV area who have never heard of Hometown Sounds, or many of the bands we’ve mentioned here. Stay safe, DC.