The Week in DC Music
April 13th - 19th
Playlists For This Week’s Shows
Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube Music
In the News
On their Substack The Future Is Ours to Make, writer Chris Richards asks Katie Alice Greer about how her new album Perfect Woman Sound Machine, Vol. 1 is an L.A. record, allowing her to compare her current life to her time in DC fronting the punk band Priests and co-running the label Sister Polygon Records. It’s a fascinating contrast between the two music scenes and her evolution from one to the other.
For CapitalBop, Tait Manning interviews Mazi Mutafa, executive director of hip-hop arts education non-profit Words, Beats and Life, about its origins and the Jazz & Blossoms Festival this past Sunday in Franklin Park.
Fingerstyle guitarist Yasmin Williams just released the instrumental score to the film Saving Etting Street, a documentary by Dena Fisher and Amy Scott about carpenter Shelley Halstead and her mission to empower Black women in Baltimore. Tom Breihan at Stereogum has more details.
Don’t Stay Home
Monday April 13th
Metal or hardcore? Hardcore or metal? We pick hardcore (but honorably mention the metal). DMV bands Corvo and Invasive welcome Portland OR’s Reek Minds and Yambag from Cleveland to Rhizome Monday night.
Honorable mention:
Realms of Death (TX), Ninth Realm, Immortal Form, and Embalmed (Baltimore) at Pie Shop
Tuesday April 14th
Hudson Valley queer-jazz-punk band Meow Meow devotes their current tour to “raising money and awareness for food insecurity at every stop”. Punk show promoter DCxPC (the PC stands for Port Charlotte in Florida) hosts the four-band bill Tuesday night at Galactic Panther with trans-punks Somebody’s Daughter, intensely colorful songwriter Vivian Grey, and indie rockers Boxer.
Honorable mention:
Nappy Nappa and Melan open for R.A.P. Ferreira (Nashville) at Comet Ping Pong
Wednesday April 15th
Time for a quick history lesson. Psychedelic classic rock band Dead Meadow formed in DC and released their debut self-titled album on Fugazi bassist Joe Lally’s label Tolotta Records back in 2000. In 2007 they moved to LA, right before the Obama years made DC explode in popularity. Their current nationwide tour with guitarist Cory Shane, former member of Dead Meadow, promotes the release of Shane’s album The Inverted Jenny Flies Again, recorded back in 2002 with DM’s Jason Simon. The recently dormant hard/prog rock band Caustic Casanova returns to open this special Wednesday night show at Pearl Street Warehouse with guest drummer Marty Risemberg.
Honorable mention:
About Face (CA), Expiration Date, Reason Why, and No Empathy (Baltimore) at Simple Underground
Thursday April 16th
Thursday evening Silver Spring’s Quarry House Tavern welcomes indie rock band Cousin Simple in from Columbus Ohio, with ska groovers The Maka Sticks and Jarrod Hendricks of The Crystal Casino Band providing local support.
Honorable mention:
The Backing Tracks, Wheat for Sheep, and roomonfire at The Pocket
Friday April 17th
Delicately powerful dream pop quartet Blood Family Reunion headline Old Town Alexandria’s Galactic Panther Friday night, with radical tonal shifts from ripping Philly punks PsychoPomP, sonic landscaper Shifting Harbor from Portland OR, and improv drone collab with Ted Zook’s Fanoplane and Jeff Barsky’s Insect Factory. Wild!
Honorable mention:
Javelin (Danville IL), Blood Marsh, Palisades, and United By Choice at Simple Underground
Saturday April 18th
“Abrasively clean” minimalist punk band Landowner from Massachusetts joins DC’s BRNDA, the quirky post-punk band that never quits, and Drawn, a new-ish supergroup from Philly vocalist Nenet, drummer Nate Scheible, and guitarist Layne Garrett, celebrating the release of their debut cassette In a Softer World. Saturday night at DIY hotspot Rhizome.
Honorable mentions:
Sunday April 19th
The Artemis’s Sunday night music features Philly’s Heavy Metal Chess Club, our favorite band name of the week, with DMV rock bands ARAUJIA (hope we never have to say that out loud), Dutch Gunderson, and Makeup Girl.
Honorable mentions:
Why Don’t We Duet? at Pie Shop (matinee show!)
Patrick Budd, Two Ton Twig, and Ben Ryan (Nashville) at Pearl Street Warehouse
Dot Dash and little a open for The Sleeveens (Nashville) at Pie Shop
Jacob Augustine (Philly), Dayvd Beach, NADIE NADIA, and Your Trusted Officials at Galactic Panther
Before signing off, we’d like to pass along this essay from writer Elle Griffin at Elysian Press called “I quit Spotify—now I buy albums like it’s the 90s”. Of particular interest to us is her focus on Subvert.fm, a post-Bandcamp cooperative music platform owned not by VCs or Epic Games or Songtradr, but by the musicians and fans connecting on it. Add it to your bookmarks.
Thanks for reading and listening along, friends. See you next week.
-PV