Category Archives: We Love Music

Music Reviews & News

Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Ticket: Submerge 2012 shows/happenings 11/16-11/17/2012

GEMS, photo courtesy of GEMS

Two shows happening this weekend are part of the 2nd annual Submerge, the tail end of a nine-day flash “art happening”. From their site:

Submerge 2012  is an ‘ode to the District,’  an art exhibition and creative art space that will pay homage to the town of its creation; Washington DC. Submerge, the exhibition, will be a “group exhibition” uniquely created from a collection of solo-exhibitions. Participating artists both emerging and mid-career, were presented with the unique opportunity to craft a cohesive concept and body of works in what amounts to micro-installations and exhibition, organized under one roof. As a creative space, it will play host to a number of creative and cultural happenings to fully complement and augment this cities colorful identity.

No Kings Collective will will transform this temporary space on the historic H Street Corridor in an unusual mash up of art and culture. Submerge will surface at this project located at 700 H Street NE. Submerge will be a well curated, transformative environment, one that will cater to the expectations and curiosities’ of the novice and the experienced onlooker.

Friday, November 16
6pm-2am

Get Fashion will showcase local designers and vendor retail pop-ups from 6-11pm, live musical performances from 9pm-2am, H Street only food vendors, local DC brews, and artwork featured in the Submerge exhibition.

DJ starts at 6pm – Music starts at 9pm…

Featuring performances by:
Pree

GEMS
Margot MacDonald
DJ Skim

This event is free and open to public.
FB Event page

Young Rapids, photo by Kate Bentley – Passenger Photography

Saturday, November 17
8pm-2am

All Things Go x Listen Local First x DC to BC

All Things Go and Listen Local First and DC to BC help curate a night of music during the Submerge artfair in the temporary gallery and music venue on the historic H Street Corridor.  This is a great chance to check out some fun, exciting sounds in a cool and temporary space. Saturday night’s show will feature live sets from Turning Violet Violet, Dance For The Dying, Young Rapids, BRETT and Body Language. The night will also feature DJ sets from Nacey of Nouveau Riche and DJ Spicoli. The event will start at 7PM and go until around 2AM. Tickets are $12.

FB EVENT PAGE
This event is Ticketed. Tickets available here.

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: A Q&A with Wes Tucker & the Skillets

Photo Courtesy of Wes Tucker

Wes Tucker’s a guy who counts his blessings. He still remembers falling in love with Iota Club and Café in Arlington when he first moved to the D.C. area nine years ago. If memory serves him right, Iota was the first place he saw a show and the first open mic he played in upon moving here. “They really care about the music there and they care about people too,” he said. So you can imagine the excitement he exhibits while talking about his band’s album release show there this Saturday night.

His group Wes Tucker and the Skillets is a folk-rock band that sounds somehow reminiscent of Josh Kelley if he were to combine forces with Willie Nelson while having a R&B influenced band with funk tendencies to back ‘em. This is what you get with the band’s new album Afterlens – funktry. What’s funktry? Well, I’m not 100% sure about that but Wes certainly is and he took the time to chat with We Love DC about the band’s release (their fourth studio effort together) and more. Here’s what he had to say. Continue reading →

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Taylor Carson

Photo Courtesy of Taylor Carson

There was a time early on in his songwriting career when Taylor Carson had no idea what he was actually singing about. He’d write his own songs and play them live but he was much more concerned with pumping out material than anything else. Since then, Carson has matured from being a self-described cocky twenty-something into an analytical musician who feels strongly about writing the best songs he can with lyrics that mean something.

Carson has always had a connection to music having grown up the son of an opera singer in New Jersey. While he didn’t favor his mother’s genre of choice, Carson definitely recognized at a young age how opera made his mother feel. “It made her so happy to be on stage and she kind of went somewhere else and I feel that same way now,” he explained.

It would take Carson a bit of time to recreate that feeling but he would finally experience musical nirvana in his thirties. “I didn’t identify with [how she felt] until I got to a certain point with my music,” he said. “I was like, ‘Ah! So THIS is what she was feeling all that time.’”

Carson started out as a vocalist in the seasonal concerts at his elementary school. He spent time as an athlete as well but remembers thinking how cool it was to be in music class. “I remember being like seven years old and watching a song be built and really being fascinated by that,” he said. “I just love the creation out of nothing.”

Continue reading →

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We Love Music: Paul Banks @ The Howard Theatre — 11/9/12

NXNE: Paul Banks - CMJ 2012 katekillet

Today, Paul Banks is simply Paul Banks. Yesterday, he was Julian Plenti.

It’s understandable if it sounds a bit confusing. Banks put out a first solo album under the pseudonym Julian Plenti while Interpol was on hiatus in 2009. Last month, he released a second solo album under his own name, embracing strategically and musically a new motto — simplify.

And simplification is the major difference between Paul Banks the solo act and his band Interpol. Banks solo enjoys more of the quiet moments, strumming to a more peaceful brand of post-punk than the more aggressive music found in Interpol’s albums. Sonically speaking, if Interpol wants to rush into awkward sex on the first date and harbor recriminations about it, Banks solo wants to romance and take it slow. And still maybe have some recriminations about what happens later.

The crowd of roughly 200 or so people at The Howard Theatre were there Friday night to listen respectfully to what Banks had to say as a solo artist. An early shout-out for “Interpol!” was shouted down by several others from across the room, “Paul Banks!” Banks offered up 15 songs from his two solo albums, the new ones from the latest album, Banks, sounding as sweet and melancholy as the songs from Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper. Opening with Julian Plenti’s “Fly As You Might” and “Skyscraper,” Banks and his three-piece backing band then seamlessly moved into material from the self-titled Banks.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: Justin Jones @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 11/10/2012

photo courtesy of Justin Jones

Today We Love DC is giving away a pair of tickets to see Justin Jones at Rock & Roll Hotel this Saturday, November 10th! Also on the bill Saturday are Luray and The Vagabond Union.

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address until 4pm today. One entry per email address, please.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email in 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the ticket window of the Rock and Roll Hotel on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

Comment away!

 

Justin Jones

w/Luray

The Vagabond Union

at Rock & Roll Hotel

This Saturday, November 10th

Doors 8pm/Show 9pm

$12 adv/$15 door

tickets available here!

 

 

Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: Little Big Town @930 Club, 2/14/2013: Win before you can buy!

photo courtesy of Little Big Town

Today We Love DC is giving away a pair of tickets to see Little Big Town at the legendary 930 Club before you can buy them! 930 club just announced the show, which will be on February 14th, 2013. Get a head-start on your Valentine’s day plans! If you missed them in September when they played at Merriweather, supporting Rascal Flatts, don’t pass up this opportunity to see them in one of the best venues in the country, the 930 Club.

Tickets go on sale Thursday, November 8th at 10am, on Ticketfly.

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address until 4pm today. One entry per email address, please.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email in 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the will-call window of the 930 Club on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

Comment away!

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Shiny Toy Guns @ Rock and Roll Hotel — 11/4/12

Carah Faye and Jeremy Dawson. Copyright and Courtesy, CJ Lucero.

The Shiny Toy Guns rode into DC Sunday night on soaring symphonic sounds and pulsating waves of light that dazzled a sold-out crowd of very enthusiastic admirers at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

Actually, the Shinys literally rode into town in a tour bus dragging a trailer packed full of supplies for victims of Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken, NJ, where they were headed not only to donate those supplies but offer a cadre of fans a lift across the river to a Monday night show in Manhattan. And that’s part of the appeal of this four-member band, which was celebrating the return of original singer Carah Faye Charnow — they are such genuine folks despite their love of glam glitz and big gothy boots.

Carah Faye does more than sing damn well — she trades off on synths and bass with Jeremy Dawson, keyboardist, bassist and all-around mastermind. Carah was away for the band’s second album but now she’s back for their third, III, and the chemistry between her and the rest of the band was superb. Besides jumping onto the keyboards when Dawson rotated off, she meshed very well with her fellow vocalist Chad Petree, who also mesmerizes on the guitar. Drummer Mikey Martin, of course, ably supported all three of his band mates with delightfully glam percussion.

Continue reading →

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We Love Music: Saint Etienne @ U Street Music Hall — 10/25/12 (or “Hey, NYC! I’ve Got Your Music!”)

saint etienne SPNR

Hey, NYC. This is your little brother DC talking. I’m not one to talk trash much (particularly when it comes to concerts), but I’m going to talk a little trash to you. You see, we just hosted a once-in-a-decade event at a cool little joint we have here called U Street Music Hall. The show was none other than Saint Etienne, the amazing disco/house band from London.

We sold that out and it was all kinds of amazing. (At least I think we sold it out, Mr. Eastman?) I see they are playing at Webster Hall tonight and somehow there are still tickets available. Now I know you get bands like Pulp and New Order up there and you know how to treat them right, right? Then, don’t miss out on Saint Etienne!

Let me tell you what you would be missing.

Sarah Cracknell (vocals), Bob Stanley (synths) and Pete Wiggs (more synths) are simply the smartest, lushest Eurodance band ever to hit the stage. Let me not fail to mention their capable fourth touring member — Debsey Wykes, formerly of UK post-punk band the Dolly Mixture, on backup vocals and cowbell! Now, Saint Etienne are indeed English, so they are a bit proper — and Cracknell, bless her, seemed earnestly embarrassed by the adulation she and her bandmates received at U Hall, as we fondly call it. But they earned every moment of frenzied screaming throughout their 17-song set.

Continue reading →

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We Love Music: Psychedelic Furs w/ Lemonheads and The Chevin @ The Howard Theatre — 10/22/12

The Psychedelic Furs Man Alive!

Brothers Richard and Tim Butler have such a strong love of performance that it’s not hard to see why they keep touring the Psychedelic Furs despite the band’s last album dropping in 1991.

To be fair, the Psychedelic Furs went through an intensively creative period in the first half of the ’80s, putting out timeless post-punk gems like “Love My Way,” “Heaven” and of course “Pretty in Pink.” When the Furs tour, they hit those highlights as well as “Heartbreak Beat” and “Highwire Days” naturally. Richard Butler, theatric and emotive, sings with his whole body, literally walking the audience through the songs on occasion. Bass player Tim Butler, silent in shades, stands behind his famously emotive brother, looking like the muscle in the room suggesting, “Yeah, you better listen to what he said.”

And what Richard says, or sings rather, is a well-loved catalog of songs about heartache and cynicism all delivered softly, lyrically and passionately. The Furs have a new song, “Little Miss World,” which fits in smartly with their better-known older songs. My personal favorite “All of This and Nothing” gave us a sharp saxophone solo from Mars Williams, who brilliantly solves the challenge of being in a six member group by taking a break from the stage when he’s not needed there. But the band and singer come together very well and Butler’s message to an ex-lover, “you didn’t leave me anything that I can understand,” always hits me in the gut. The Furs still sound great live and they perform well, easily justifying their longevity.

Continue reading →

Interviews, Music, We Love Music
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Q&A with J. Tom Hnatow

 

I first became acquainted with the soulful, sweet pedal steel guitar styling of J. Tom Hnatow pretty recently, whilst listening to, loving and obsessing over the last These United States record, released earlier this year. As I like to say- I may be late, but at least I made it to the party. Hnatow is skillful on the pedal steel, playing with nuance, subtlety and heart, but can also totally rock it out, and plays many other instruments as well. He was with TUS for seven years (starting out in DC), five albums, and about a thousand shows, living mostly on the road. He has recently left the band, moved from North Carolina to Lexington, Kentucky, and is now on tour playing guitar with The Mynabirds (another band with DC roots- front-woman Laura Burhenn lived many years in DC.) Amidst his busy tour schedule he took some time to chat with me on the phone about music, icons of the pedal steel world, leaving These United States, and more. You can see Tom play with The Mynabirds this Friday, October 26th at Black Cat!

 

Alexia: So how did you first start playing music?

Tom: I was forced to take piano lessons when I was a kid, like 8 years, and I hated it! Absolutely despised it, and, I think my Mom said something like “When you turn fifteen you can quit.” So I was like “Ok, cool, I’m out!” And then I sort of stumbled into playing guitar and thought that was pretty cool, and kind of went from there.

Alexia: And how did you get into pedal steel?

Tom: How did I get into pedal steel? I think I stumbled into it, because I played banjo and I played lap steel for a long time, and realized that what I was doing on the lap steel, there were a lot of things where I was trying to imitate a pedal steel, so I thought “Oh, this’ll be really easy! How hard could it be? I can play slide guitar!” And I learned rapidly that was not the case! I’m just sort of stumbling my way through it.

Alexia: Um, for stumbling you’re doing a pretty damn good job! (laughs)

Tom: (laughs) It’s smoke and mirrors! It’s an illusion.

Alexia: Was there any artist or album that first made you fall in love with rock & roll?

Tom: Yeah. Well, I didn’t listen to rock & roll as a kid much. I wasn’t that into it, and it wasn’t that my parents banned it, but we just weren’t allowed to watch MTV, and I just really was not exposed to rock & roll. My Dad’s like a real jazz guy. So, for some inexplicable reason, and I still don’t know why he did this, when I graduated from junior high school he bought me the Led Zeppelin box set. And I don’t think I’d ever heard a note of Led Zeppelin, other than, you know, of course “Stairway to Heaven”, and I was just floored by the fact that this music existed! So I was like “I’m going to play guitar,” so of course my first band was like Led Zeppelin riffs played even stupider. (laughs)

Alexia: Are there any people in the pedal steel world who are inspirational or icons to you?

Tom: Yeah- there’s a guy named Ralph Mooney, Waylon Jennings’ long-term sidekick, and he is just absolutely one of my favorites. And Ben Keith , I think he’s the only steel player who played on any Neil Young records, and I just love his playing. It’s just like so simple and beautiful and perfect. You know, any Neil Young song you hear the steel and it’s just like, it just couldn’t exist otherwise. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Sharon Van Etten

photo courtesy of Sharon Van Etten

 

Sharon Van Etten has a beautiful, pure, at times haunting voice, which she uses to bring her dark, hypnotic songs to glorious life. Her songs are vocal and guitar driven, dreamy, dark, moody rock with a folk influence. The Brooklyn-based Van Etten has released three albums to date- 2009’s Because I Was In Love, 2010’s Epic, and this year’s Tramp. She is currently on tour of the U.S., and in December will head to Europe and Australia. Sharon Van Etten plays DC’s 930 Club this Thursday, October 25th. Amidst her chaotic tour schedule she took a few minutes to answer some questions from We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman.

 

Alexia Kauffman: How did you start playing music?

Sharon Van Etten: I took piano lessons, violin lessons, clairinet lessons, then I was in choir and musicals.

Alexia: What music did you grow up listening to?

Sharon: Neil Young, The Kinks, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez (parents)
Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees, Guns ‘n Roses (brother)
Julianna Hatifeld, Lemonheads, Mazzy Star (sister)
PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Sonic Youth, Frente, Murmurs, Portishead

Alexia: Was there any artist or album that first made you fall in love with music/rock?

Sharon: Neil Young

Alexia: How did you start writing music?

Sharon: By making up words ad singing to chords I didn’t know existed yet. It was terrible.

Alexia: What inspires you?

Sharon: Everything. Love.

Alexia: Are there any singers that have been really influencial to you?

Sharon: PJ Harvey, Rufus Wainwright

Alexia: You’ve been touring a lot- do you have any favorite or really memorable moment from tour?

Sharon: Getting stuck in the mud at a festival and having the tow-truck get stuck and we had to get another tow-truck to get the two of us out. Ha!

Alexia: If you could collaborate with any artist who would it be?

Sharon: PJ Harvey

Alexia: I saw that you worked with The National’s Aaron Dessner on your latest album, Tramp- what was the experience of making this album like?

Sharon: Working with Aaron was amazing. He pushed me to try new things and he helped my ideas flourish in his instrumentation.

Alexia: Who are you listening to these days?

Sharon: Angel Olsen, TEEN, Triffids, Nick Cave, The Rolling Stones, Robyn Hitchcock, John Cale.

Alexia: What’s on the horizon for you?

Sharon: I have three more tours: US, Europe, then Australia. Then in January I am taking a three-month break to decompress, rest, write, and hopefully record. I really miss having a normal life.

 

Check out Sharon’s song “Warsaw” and “Serpents” from her latest album, Tramp. See Sharon Van Etten live this Thursday, October 25th at the 930 Club!

Sharon Van Etten
w/Damien Jurado
6pm/$18
get tickets here!

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Jeremy Dawson of Shiny Toy Guns

Photo courtesy of Shiny Toy Guns

Shiny Toy Guns have embarked on a tour in support of their new album III, out today (Oct. 23) in the United States. Not only does the album mark the group’s first new record in four years, but it also heralds the return of vocalist Carah Faye Charnow, who was the female singer on the band’s first album, We Are Pilots. (Shiny Toy Guns recorded a second album, Season of Poison, without her.) In returning to Shiny Toy Guns, Charnow has reunited with male vocalist and guitarist Chad Petree, drummer Mikey Martin and of course keyboardist Jeremy Dawson.

Dawson took some time out on the road in New Mexico, where it is illegal to talk on the phone and drive, to chat with We Love DC about getting the band back together and injecting the drama of the ’80s into their music.

Mickey McCarter: How is it going?

Jeremy Dawson: Good! We are slowly creeping across New Mexico. We are moving our equipment to California. We were doing a YouTube thing and soon we will start the tour.

MM: I’ve had a few times to meet you in the past and I’m always struck by how authentic you guys are. I really mean this as a compliment. I saw you in Baltimore for the first time some years ago and my friends were getting pictures with Carah. You walked up and said, “There are beers in the green room. Want to have a beer?”

JD: (chuckles) It gets lonely out there.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Tickets: Music worth checking out this weekend!

Tonight you can satisfy your musical cravings whether you prefer a dance night or a live show.
Black Cat starts a new dance night tonight on the backstage- Catalyst, “a party for people who like great music.” The night will be hosted by a rotating cast of awesome local DJs. Tonight’s kicks off with DJ Steve EP, and is $5.
Also at Black Cat tonight on the mainstage is The 9 songwriter series. Tonight’s edition features some great talent including Sam McCormally of Ugly Purple Sweater, Ryan McLaughlin of Typefighter, Victoria Vox, and Christylez Bacon. $10/9pm
Meanwhile, Comet Ping Pong has an awesome lineup of local and international bands tonight that will make you want to dance. Starting off the night are one of my favorite DC bands, Coup Sauvage & the Snips.  Their super-sassy neo-soul-punk realness is super-entertaining, not to miss. DC’s Drop Electric is also on the bill, and headlining the night are Berlin’s  Thieves Like Us, bringing their delicious blend of nostalgic disco-dream-pop. (If you like M83 or Miami Horror, check them out!) $10/10pm/All-ages.
Saturday night Chicago’s JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound bring their post-punk/soul extravaganza to U Street’s Tropicalia. Also bringing the grooves is DJ Baby Alcatraz. This is an early show! $10/7pm doors, music starts at 8pm!
Sunday, if you feel like a change of pace, or a touch of culture, why not head over to the National Cathedral? The Cathedral Choral Society will be performing their “Glory of France” concert, featuring the Durufle Requiem & Saint-Saens’ Symphony No. 3. Beautiful music in a gorgeous setting. 4pm, tickets from $20.
Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Norman Rockwell

Photo Courtesy of Norman Rockwell

It was a rainy Saturday night in September and I almost stayed home but I couldn’t. It was the night of Derek Evry‘s CD release show and I knew I’d regret missing it if I didn’t go. So instead of a boring night home alone, I braved the eerily dark storm and headed on over to Iota in Arlington. Long story short – it was the best live show featuring local music that I’ve seen in 2012.

I got to the venue early and caught the other acts’ soundchecks. This included brief bursts of tunage from local folk-rockers The WeatherVanes and Americana folk-rockers Norman Rockwell. My interest was piqued since I’d never heard Norman Rockwell live before. They were a new blip on my local music radar at the time. I had listened to The WeatherVanes before but I’d only heard of Norman Rockwell recently after they shared the stage with some of my favorite local musicians, including the incomparable Ben Tufts.

Needless to say, it was love at first strum. Norman Rockwell is a Northern Virginia-based band and a name to know if you’re keeping an eye out for up-and-coming talent in the DC area.  Not only can Joshua Johnston (Guitar/Harmonica/Vocals), Ben Hirsch (Guitar/Banjo/Mandolin/Violin/Vocals), Sean Meyers (Bass/Guitar/Vocals), and Nathan Read (Drums/Percussion/Vocals) all sing in beautiful four-part harmony with each other but they’re sound is refreshing in an almost nostalgic way. Norman Rockwell sounds as if Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and The Band all got together and said, “Let’s combine our powers for the greater musical good!”

The guys of Norman Rockwell took some time to do a Q&A with We Love DC in anticipation of their CD release show this Saturday at Jammin’ Java. Tickets are available online for $15 and the show starts at 8:00 p.m. Here’s what they had to say:

Rachel: How did you all meet and decide to form the band now known as Norman Rockwell?

Norman Rockwell: Josh and Ben met at various open mics in the greater Washington, DC area. Sean and Nathan have previously played in other bands together. We all met at The Soundry, an arts space/music venue where Sean ran his first open mic. The atmosphere was incredibly open and catered to any and all types of music. We then decided to join together to form Norman Rockwell.

Continue reading →

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Hot Ticket: Saint Etienne @ U Street Music Hall, 10/25/12

Photo courtesy of Saint Etienne

When former music journalists Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs formed the band Saint Etienne in London around 1990, they sought to make music for films — to borrow a page from Brian Eno. If you’ve never sat and listened to the band’s first two albums — Foxbase Alpha and So Tough — from start to finish, you must do so immediately. They will transport you from driving Italian sports cars on a sunny afternoon to sipping wine at dusk in empty city plazas to dancing the night away in smart Europop dance clubs. The albums are the soundtracks to the fabulously interesting life experiences of your daydreams.

When recording Foxbase Alpha, Stanley and Wiggs intended to use different singers for every Saint Etienne song, adding to the varied texture of movie soundtracks. But to their delight and ours, the lovely Sarah Cracknell alone fulfilled their expectations so completely that she quickly became the permanent third member of the group.

Borrowing from Italo disco and other dance genres, the trio fused different musical strands into ambient house originally before moving into what critics called folky electronica in later albums. Cracknell’s lush voice and the sweet and synthy stylings of Stanley and Wiggs forged an alluring brand of dreampop that became the band’s signature sound.

Around 2000, Saint Etienne shifted into trip hop, becoming more followers than trailblazers with several interesting if occasionally dull albums. The band kept very busy for seven years after 2005 engaging in musical projects other than releasing studio albums. But they returned this year with Words and Music by Saint Etienne, a fantastically great album that not only sees them re-embrace their Italo disco roots but indeed fully unearth them in a shimmering spectacular of pop nostalgia that is so good your ears cannot help but melt with joy upon hearing it.

I.M.P. Productions is bringing this remarkable trio to the intimate U Street Music Hall for a concert on Thursday, Oct. 25. Local smooth house band Volta Bureau, featuring U Hall co-owner Will Eastman, serve as openers. Inconceivably, the show has not yet sold out. Do yourself a favor and buy a ticket now for this potentially once in a lifetime show.

Saint Etienne w/ Volta Bureau
Thursday, Oct. 25
doors 7pm
$30
U Street Music Hall
All ages

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Dark Dark Dark

 

photo courtesy of Dark Dark Dark

Dark Dark Dark hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, but spend much of their time on the road. Their sound blends moody piano and clarion female vocals with understated percussion and layers of cello, accordion and horns to create a dark, dramatic and beautiful melange. Dark Dark Dark is currently on tour in support of their new album Who Needs Who, and you can see them play tonight, Monday, October 15th at DC9. We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman got to have a little chat with Nona Marie from Dark Dark Dark recently, and here’s how it went.

Alexia: So how did you first start playing music, and singing?

Nona: Well there was a piano in the house, and we always just played.

Alexia: In your family house?

Nona: Yeah, in my family house, when I was a kid.

Alexia: And how did you start singing?

Nona: My mom sang a lot around the house just listening to the radio and, I don’t know, singing in the car.

Alexia: Are there any singers past or present that really inspire you?

Nona: I mean yeah, every singer inspires me. It’s my favorite thing.

Alexia: Are there any artists or albums that first made you fall in love with music?

Nona: Yeah, I guess I really loved listening to that Joni Mitchell Blue record- that was a good one.

Alexia: How did Dark Dark Dark come together?

Nona: We just, Marshall and I just started playing together in Minneapolis, um and then just started traveling around and meeting people and playing with different people, and sort of over time it became what it is. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: The Temper Trap @ The Fillmore, 10/13/2012

Today We Love DC is giving away a pair of tickets to see The Temper Trap at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, on Saturday, October 13th! Tickets are on sale now through the Fillmore website.

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address until 4pm today. One entry per email address, please.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email in 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the will-call window of The Fillmore on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

The Temper Trap

w/The Neighborhood

Saturday, October 13th

8pm/All Ages/$25

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Public Image Ltd. @ 9:30 Club — 10/8/12

PiL p_a_h

“This is a fucking amazing band,” says John Lydon of his bandmates in Public Image Ltd., or PiL, toward the end of Monday’s show.

Well, yes, they are actually, so let’s take a quick look at them before we talk about Lydon himself and the Monday night concert.

Drawn largely from a PiL lineup in the late 1980s, the modern incarnation of the band plays funky post-punk. They are well coordinated as a unit in a way few bands are and they sound great. Drummer Bruce Smith thunders and snaps through the show. New guy Scott Firth on bass is a key ingredient in the consistency of the post-punk sound. And guitarist Lu Edmonds? On one song, the man is playing a saz, a kind of long-necked lute. The next, he’s on a big guitar. Before you know it, he’s fiddling (literally) with a banjo.

And the three bandmates provide a key part of a pattern to many PiL songs vocally — if PiL can be said to have any sort of pattern. They occasionally sing a repeating chant, usually consisting of a song’s title or subtitle, building a harmonious chorus as a backdrop to Lydon’s wails, yelps and croaks.

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Entertainment, Music, Special Events, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Virgin Free Fest, or The Festival of Lines, 10/6/2012

photo by Alexia

Since festivals offer so much to see in so little time, and everyone may have a different experience, we decided to get a few perspectives on Saturday’s Virgin Free Fest. We Love DC’s music writers Alexia and Jonathan write about their experiences, and guest writer Sarah Jackson shares her thoughts too.

Alexia: Who knew that the drive to Saturday’s Virgin Free Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion would be a portend of the dreary, largely agonizing day that would follow. What should have been a breezy, 1-hour drive from DC to Columbia, Maryland, where Merriweather is located turned into a three-and-a-half hour punishment- two hours of which were spent in an almost complete standstill after taking the exit to Merriweather.
At three o’clock, when I had imagined myself jumping and dancing along to The Dismemberment Plan on the West Stage I was instead sitting in my car on Brokenland Parkway, a mere stone’s throw from the venue, so close, but yet so far. At one point we could see the field and the side of the stage, and even hear the din of the music, but that was only depressing/enraging, as we were stuck in the hell of festival traffic. The only entertainment we experienced was watching people get out of their cars to pee on the side of the road. Eventually, after passing all of the full parking lots, we located parking approximately (not exaggerating) a mile away from the venue. I think there were supposed to be shuttles, but none passed us as we walked in the herd of festival-goers to the venue.

Ben Folds Five, photo courtesy of Virgin Free Fest

By the time I got in to Merriweather I was, not too surprisingly, in a foul mood. Thankfully I didn’t miss too much of Ben Folds Five’s set, and got to watch them do their thing from the sunny lawn. Their set was, for the most part, upbeat and energetic. Somehow hearing “Brick” in a festival setting, as popular as it was for the band, seemed inappropriate. The introspective, heartfelt song was a little too personal and quiet for the atmosphere of constant gabbing and partying going on all around as the band performed. They were at their best for the setting with bouncier numbers like “Kate” and “Army” which had the audience singing along and getting into the groove.

Much of the rest of the day was an overcrowded, dirty, cold blur. I fought my way through the hordes to catch Santigold’s set, which I was looking forward to. Unfortunately as much as I like her music, and appreciated her fun dancers, it was so crowded that it was hard to see much, and I didn’t really connect with the performance onstage.

I managed to make it back to the Pavilion stage for a good portion of Alabama Shakes’ set, which was actually great. I’d never heard the band before, and the singer’s vocals were powerful, soulful, engaging.

M83, photo courtesy of Virgin Free Fest

While a disproportionately large part of my day felt like it was spent either being cold (and I was a smart one who brought an extra sweatshirt along- there were plenty of people walking around in halter-tops and short-shorts), inhaling dust from the herds of people clomping around, searching for my friends (extremely crappy cell service the whole day) or waiting in lines (20-plus-minute lines for everything from getting a drink to taking a pee in a dark port-o-potty with no toilet paper) there were, thankfully, a couple redeeming high points by the end of the night. After waiting in line for probably a half-hour while listening to M83, my friends and I got to ride on the beautiful, lit-up ferris wheel which was adjacent to the stage on which M83 was performing. This was a magical moment. We had, for that brief time, a perfect view of the stage, awesome lights, perfect sound, and the scary-big crowd in front of the stage, which I was so thankful not to be in. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Gotye @ Merriweather, 9/30/2012

 

photos courtesy of Gotye

Chart-topping Australian artist Gotye* and his band played an outstanding show at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday, September 30th. They are in the midst of a world tour, and joining them for this leg were openers Jonti and Missy Higgins. Gotye and his group of super-talented multi-instrumentalists radiated enthusiasm, talent and boundless energy onstage. The weather may have been cold and drizzly, but their exuberant performance was enough to lift the audience up.

Most of you readers may have only heard Gotye’s number one hit “Somebody That I Used To Know”, and I will admit, I hadn’t heard much more than that myself before Sunday night. Back in April I caught part of Gotye’s impressive set at the Coachella Music & Arts festival, which was so packed the crowd was sprawled densely well beyond the borders of the tent he was performing in. What I did catch was super, and enough to know I wanted to see more. Sunday night Gotye and his band owned the stage, showcasing their talents on a host of instruments- organic and electronic, from lap-steel guitar to midi pads, synth-drums to two full drum-kits, and Gotye never seemed to stop moving the entire time.

They started out the night with the hypnotic, groovy “The Only Way” from Gotye’s 2006 album Drawing Blood, and it was instantly apparent that we the audience were in for an exciting ride. The band’s energy was high, Gotye especially- partway through the song running to one of the drum kits and having two-kit drum freak-out, ending the song full tilt. Most of the music was from Gotye’s most recent album Making Mirrors, and the energy level never really dropped for the entire night. In addition to the amazing musicianship of all the players, the audience was treated to beautiful, weird, trippy and even hilarious videos and visuals playing on a huge screen behind the band along with almost every song. The combination was a completely entertaining multimedia extravaganza. Continue reading →