Category Archives: We Love Music

Music Reviews & News

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Red Sparowes (+) @ Rock and Roll Hotel 4/11/10

red sparowes at rock and roll hotel in dccourtesy of Red Sparowes.

It is always difficult deciding how to start a post-rock concert review. This massive, instrumental genre has no convenient entry-point for the uninitiated and for those who already are, the music is usually so personal that any attempt to describe a particularly beloved band will fall short of the high expectations. I say this as someone who both reads and writes a great deal about music, and happens to have some very personal opinions about my own favorite post-rock bands. It is with this in mind that I am challenged to review Sunday night’s spectacular Red Sparowes concert at Rock and Roll Hotel. So, I will take the easiest route and start from the top.

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Wedding Present @ The Black Cat 4/9/10

The Wedding Present play Bizarro at the Black Cat courtesy of Frank Bors Jr.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of The Wedding Present’s seminal, break-up album, “Bizarro“; and to celebrate, band founder David Gedge is touring the U.S. playing the album in full. On Friday night The Wedding Present stopped in at The Black Cat to play a handful of non-“Bizarro” tracks and then the album proper from beginning to end. While the current Wedding Present line-up skews slightly younger than the blokes that originally played this material, the crowd on Friday night was definitely composed of first generation fans judging by the abundance of middle-aged and soon to be middle-aged men in attendance. It was certainly a night for reliving passionate youth for many as “Bizarro” is one of the great relationship-angst albums of all time. So great in fact that Gedge’s heart-wounded lyrics can still inspire a crowd of grown men to scream along with him even now, twenty years removed from the soul-crushing trials of youthful romance and the debut of the perfect soundtrack for them.

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Serena Maneesh @ DC9 4/7/10

Serena Maneesh
courtesy of Serena Maneesh.

Norwegian, neo-shoegazer, wunderkinds Serena Maneesh (finally!) returned to the DC area on Wednesday night when they played a painfully short but brilliant set at DC9. It has been four long years since Serena Maneesh first brought their mammoth live sound to our area; when they played to an embarrassingly small crowd at the State Theater in 2006. I was one of the lucky few in attendance that night and I have been a babbling fool about this band ever since; singing their praises every time the shoegazer revival is up for discussion and playing just about every track off their first self-titled debut at my DJ nights over the years. If you read my original review and then their #2 spot on my 2006 best shows list, it is obvious how taken I was by their My Bloody Valentine-esque approach to live performance. The State Theater show is one of the best shows I have ever attended. Hence my many years of agony awaiting their return.
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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ 9:30 Club 4/5/10

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
courtesy of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club rumbled into town on Monday night to subject a sold-out 9:30 Club to a shock and awesome display of rock-n-roll annihilation. Touring in support of their latest long-player, “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo“, BRMC embraced that album’s raw power style to play a set that was fast, loose, and loud. So loud that it often felt like the band was testing the audience’s commitment to BRMC’s maximum rock approach. The noise assault drove fans out in staggered waves through the set but left behind a sizable core of diehards to truly enjoy the display of sonic audacity and seemingly-effortless talent being unleashed on stage. Being a long-time BRMC fan, I was a bit shocked at the levels with which they could still manage to surprise and impress. After many years of watching Black Rebel Motorcycle Club perform, their Monday night, aural brainwashing made me feel like I was seeing the band for the first time all over again.

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All Politics is Local, Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School of Medicine @ Ottobar 3/28 & The Black Cat 3/30

courtesy of martindd23

Jello Biafra will turn 52-years old in June but you wouldn’t know it from listening to his new album “The Audacity of Hype” or by watching his punk-as-f*ck live show. Fueled by a combination of unyielding political outrage and a bottomless reserve of poetic wit, Jello Biafra has been calling it like he sees it to anyone and everyone who will listen (and sometimes to those who refuse too) for over 30 years. Biafra’s various political platforms have included his legendary, California, punk band, The Dead Kennedys; numerous musical collaborations, several spoken word tours, and most recently his first ‘official’ band in 25 years, The Guantanamo School of Medicine.
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The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: April Music Preview

Photo courtesy of
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courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Every band’s gotta start somewhere. Last month, we took a look at local acts at local venues. The homegrown groups got some sweet, sweet lovin’ via your attendance at their shows. April, the first full month of spring, calls for a savory new way to titillate your aesthetic sense. Here are five concerts to catch at the hometown venues you’ve learned to love with up-and-coming east coast (and Canadian!) musicians, air guitar pros, and a personal favorite of mine (aka live jazz). Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Midnight Spin

MS Piano
Photo by Rachel Levitin

The Cubs came to town to play the Nationals last July. As a Chicago North Sider by birth, I refuse to miss any Cubs-Nats games played inside the Beltway. As luck would have it, I showed up at the Bullpen beer garden outside Nationals Park before game two of the Cubs-Nats series; the same night Midnight Spin happened to be the entertainment on tap.

I remember it like it was yesterday. A friend of mine and I were a few lite beers into our evening about an hour before game time when out of the loud speakers rang the opening chords to Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride” à la Midnight Spin. It was love at first listen.

Beer induced love is a pure love, at least in my experience. My friend bet me that I wouldn’t remember the band’s name in the morning. That friend was wrong. Unlike a beer induced one-night stand, not only did I remember their name, but I wanted a second date. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: GroundScore

groundscore

All GroundScore wants is to have a good time and watch you dance. And no – that isn’t creepy. It’s freakin’ awesome.

This trio of DC metro-area jammers debuted their first full-length record late last year and is now determined to bring that “feel good” feeling back into people’s lives one east coast town at a time. They’re a group of self-proclaimed reggae rocking, blues driven, jamming machines who rehearse with the recording tape running at all times. Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Drinks, We Love Food, We Love Music
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St. Patrick’s Day: What’s the craic?

Irish banneSign of the times at Bottom Line by Corinne Whiting

St. Patrick’s Day seems to fall at a good time of year—just after we’ve groggily “sprung forward” and just as we’ve been teased out of our winter hermit holes by the sweet promise of spring. Winter vacation seems a lifetime ago; Memorial Day beach treks couldn’t feel farther out of reach. Truth be told, we’re ready for some good craic.

This holiday always seems an ideal time to check in with Irish mates I haven’t properly caught up with since my last trip to Éire. I write friends based in happenin’ Dublin and off “busy” getting sunburned in fabulous places around the globe to wish them a happy Paddy’s Day. (Note: if you accidentally let slip “St. Patty’s Day,” prepare to be scolded for incorrectly feminizing the legendary saint!) This year I surveyed my friends’ March 17 plans, knowing that the night before would be the big night out thanks to a national holiday on St. Patrick’s Day. Over there March 17 seems a day, at least for my friends, to take it easy—catching up over pints and coffees, cycling into the country and, most importantly, avoiding the chaos of city centre. The downtown Dublin parade, it seems, can be saved for the kids and tourists.

So what then does March 17 (unfortunately not a holiday here) mean for Washingtonians? Perhaps the Obamas will dye the White House fountain green again (touch wood). And while the holiday will no doubt give venues an excuse to charge covers to droves of bar goers on a random Wednesday night, it will also give bar goers an excuse to spend a Wednesday night clinking glasses of green beer, downing Irish car bombs and flaunting real or feigned ancestry (“Kiss Me, I’m Irish” buttons, anyone?). It’s also a day when cultural traditions get a wee bit muddled here in the “melting pot” of America—Scottish and English customs become Irish; anything Celtic goes….

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Here We Go Magic

HWGM Photo Courtesy of Tell All Your Friends

It takes two words to describe Here We Go Magic – an experience.

The second their melodies creep into your ear, a musical journey begins and there’s no stopping it until you’ve arrived at the final destination. Their sound is a lot like the freaky tunnel scene in the original Willy Wonka movie. You don’t know where you’re going until you get there.

Where do they take you? A layered, hypnotic trance of swirling nirvana featuring an acoustic guitar pulse paired with Luke Temple’s high-pitched voice. Sound’s confusing, doesn’t it? Here’s a suggestion: don’t get bogged down in the details. Just listen. Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: March Music Preview

Photo courtesy of
‘Project 365 – Day 2. It’s Only Rock’n’Roll’
courtesy of ‘.ygor’

Ticket prices for chart-topping acts who headline the big award shows are expensive. Not to mention the fact that tour stops at gigantic commercial venues like the Verizon Center take all the fun out of what a concert is supposed to be — an opportunity to hear quality live music. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule (like Muse at the Patriot Center last week), but whatever happened to showing the homegrown groups some sweet, sweet lovin’ by attending their hometown gigs? We’ve got 5 shows slated in March that deserve an audience. So spring something new on yourself this month  and check ’em out. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Muse @ The Patriot Center 3/1/10

Photo courtesy of
‘Muse – Patriot Center – March 1, 2010’
courtesy of ‘Mrs. Gemstone’

Even though I consider Muse one of my favorite bands, I have written very little about them over the years. The majority of the 6 times I have seen them perform took place far away from DC and therefore the majority of their shows did not end up reviewed on any of the DC sites I write for. It is fitting that Monday night’s show at George Mason University’s Patriot Center is the one to finally get a feature review out of me. Fitting because it was without question the best performance of theirs that I have seen. Fitting too because I have followed this band since they first washed up on American shores and have witnessed their progression as a live act. Over the seven years or so they’ve been touring here, Muse have not so much shown an evolution as performers as they have consistently demonstrated their massive power as a live act; an act so huge that whatever stage I saw them on seemed tiny in comparison to their unbridled, power-pop fury. With each tour, each stage got a little larger, and Muse seemed one step closer to realizing their master plan of becoming the best live band on the planet. Having seen them on Monday night, I think it is safe to say that they have finally realized that master plan.
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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Editors @ 9:30 Club 2/21/10

EDITORS_BWPrint5web_medium
courtesy of Editors

Editors made a glorious return to the 9:30 Club on Sunday night playing to a sold-out house of enthusiastic fans and soon-to-be converts. These dark, Brit-pop masters treated the crowd to a set mixing their passion-fueled back-catalog with their synth-focused latest, “In This Light and On This Evening“. The transitions between the new and old songs were not always the smoothest, but the sheer power and presence of one of the best performing bands around was more than enough to carry the crowd and the evening.

I have seen Editors on every tour and was particularly taken with their debut opening stint for Stellastarr* back in 2006. Since then Editors have put out a second great album of passion-pop, seen a ground-swell in popularity, and most recently embraced a dramatic stylistic shift on their new album. I don’t think anyone was expecting their hard left-turn into synth territory but it does not feel entirely out-of-place either. Tom Smith’s deep vocal style and the band’s over-all darker tone adjusts pretty easily from their trademark guitar to the new album’s near Gothic synth. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t skeptical going into Sunday’s concert. In fact I was not really sold on this synth-shift based on my album-play-through and I was hoping for this concert to provide me a final verdict on how I really felt about it.
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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Tortoise @ The Black Cat 2/16/10

a_3
courtesy of Tortoise

Indie-rock elder statesmen Tortoise played the Black Cat on Tuesday night and treated the modest-sized crowd to a set that was representative of their career modus operandi. Somehow their set managed to be simultaneously laid-back and intense in a way that was as mind-boggling as it was enjoyable. Covering the lion’s share of their latest album “Beacons Of Ancestorship” Tortoise once again displayed their utter mastery of genre collision and band member inter-play.

A lot of articles online hail Tortoise as the “godfathers of Post-Rock” and while I don’t particularly agree* I do recognize and enjoy the sea-change impact that they had on indie rock in the mid-1990’s. No one on the indie landscape does quite what Tortoise does in practice or in sound. They are the ultimate instrument playing genre colliders. Tortoise does with instruments what DJs can only dream of doing with an arsenal of samplers; Tortoise swallows difficult genres (Jazz, Krautrock, Prog-Rock, Dub, Punk, the list goes on…) and reconstitutes them into insane progressive mash-ups that evoke their influences in brilliant, discordant, and challenging ways. The fact that they can do all that and still lay down a deeply enjoyable jam is Tortoise’s own special brand of genius.
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Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Cribs @ 9:30 Club 1/19/10*

cribs
courtesy of The Cribs.

The Cribs treated DC to a fantastic evening of guitar-driven Brit-pop at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday night. Sporting their new 4-man line-up (now including pop-guitar legend Johnny Marr) The Cribs impressed and entertained the crowd of die-hard fans with a set heavily featuring material from their two most recent (and best) albums. While they did not stray very far from their musical comfort zone, the band did put on a dazzling display of their strengths that made for one of the most fun shows I have seen hit DC in quite some time.

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Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Adam Franklin & The Bolts of Melody @ DC9 1/6/10


courtesy of Adam Franklin

On Wednesday night, DC9 played host to Adam Franklin & The Bolts of Melody as they made DC the second stop of their month-long American tour. The small venue proved the ideal spot to observe and enjoy Franklin’s guitar alchemy and emotional vocal delivery up close and personal. The band put on a really special set for the modest-sized crowd of Swervedriver fan-boys and guitar-geeks who braved the winter’s chill to catch this mid-week show.

This is where every review and article on the planet about The Bolts of Melody offers a quick rundown of Adam Franklin‘s prolific career. If you don’t know the man you can read about Swervedriver (personal favs of mine), the interesting Toshack Highway project, and Magnetic Morning on your own dime. For our purposes what is really important is that after many years of self-imposed exile from effects-pedal, guitar work Adam Franklin, one of the very best, has returned.
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Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Arctic Monkeys @ 9:30 Club 12/8/09*

Arctic Monkeys Tickets
“My Arctic Monkeys Tickets” courtesy Greta Kauffman

Arctic Monkeys made their return to the 9:30 club in a rip-roaring fashion on Tuesday night with a set-list that mixed their trademark hyper-pop with their new album’s dedication to song-craft and musical exploration. The effect was at times lost on the sold-out crowd but the combination of their good-will towards these Brit-pop phenoms and the lads’ savvy use of radio hits peppered through-out kept the good times going for all. I was extremely pleased to see this young band so committed to their artistic development in a live show when so many other young acts fall back on crowd-pleasing when faced with sudden global levels of success.

I last saw Arctic Monkeys at the Coachella Music Festival in 2007 on the “Favourite Worst Nightmare” tour. The band in ’07 was confident and beaming, clean-cut in hair and dress. Their set then was a barn-burning bit of guitar-driven Brit-pop that left everyone smiling. A great time but somewhat disposable on an artistic level; really a reflection on their sophomore album which to this day feels like a minor offering compared to their blisteringly awesome debut. Since I last saw them play, Arctic Monkeys have gone on to become one of the biggest bands in Brit-pop and have toured the world several times over; lead singer and songwriter Alex Turner put out an excellent 60’s pop-inspired side-project (The Last of the Shadow Puppets); and the band has produced “Humbug“, easily their most adventurous and daring music yet. The lyrical risk-taking and musical development on “Humbug” is a breath-taking statement by the band that they are serious craftsmen and represents their evolution from being the latest Brit craze to being vital musicians in a landscape full of one-n-done, Ipod commercial composers.
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The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Very Small

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Boys start bands in high school. It’s one of the great American clichés. But — every once in awhile — the guys that truly love  music end up making a name for themselves, and it’s all because of their dedication to the game.

DC’s most dedicated award in rock music goes to — The Very Small.

Never heard of ’em? That’s okay. They’re not big yet. They’re not signed to a label. They practice in a make shift rehearsal space in their basement, all while cracking jokes and keeping it real. And — they’re kicking-off their first tour this Thursday at The Rock & Roll Hotel on H Street.

Remember those guys who decided to make a rock band and played every single “battle of the bands” possible back when the captain of the football team ruled the school while dating the head cheerleader? These are those guys.

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The Features, We Love Music
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December Concert Preview

Photo courtesy of
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courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Some people may be inclined to warm up by a fire during the cold months, but if you’re like me, you prefer to get the feeling back in your hands and toes by dancing it out. Or at the very least, getting your mind blown by some amazing musicians (local and not) in the month of December. The Roots, Erin McKeown, and even some crazy kids who call themselves The Phenomenal Handclap Band will be gracing our city in the next 30 days, so let’s get to the preview!

Right at the beginning of the month, local musician Andy Zipf (and pfriends) will be celebrating the release of his new album, The Long Tail, at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse on Wednesday, December 2 ($10, $50 VIP).

Saturday, December 5 The Big Pink is coming to Black Cat ($13). I have to admit, their name didn’t immediately ring a bell with me, but I recognized their song “Dominoes” as soon as it started playing, and I bet that will happen to some of you, too. If you like Matt & Kim, mixed with a little bit of Kings of Leon, and topped off with a British accent, perhaps you should check these guys out. Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Music
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Album Review: The Sun & Earth

Photo courtesy of
‘PB080006’
courtesy of ‘dcjasmine’

Middle Distance Runner, hailing from our very own District of Columbia, released their first[edit: second] full-length album a few weeks ago, so I decided to check it out. MDR has been touring like mad for quite some time, so by the time I listened to The Sun & Earth, I had already heard many of the songs before.

The thing is, I’ve gone to a lot of shows. And heard a lot of songs. But I have to say, these songs stick out in my mind because they are just so darn catchy. And what better test of an album than listening to it in your car and being unable to stop yourself from reaching over and cranking the CRAP out of that volume knob? I almost sprained my wrist, I tell you. Continue reading →