Weekly Music Agenda: 6/2/09 - 6/8/09
Cut Off Your Hands play Friday with Viva Voce at the Iota Club. Photo by Kyle Gustafson, www.photokyle.com
>> Missouri-by-way-of-Brooklyn group White Rabbits made a little publicized stop through the District last month as openers for Spoon’s set at George Washington University (Britt Daniel produced their second record, the strong, melodic It’s Frightening). They’re back this time to headline the Rock and Roll Hotel, bringing fellow Brooklynites The Subjects along in support. Doors at 8 p.m. $12/14.
>> Keith Emerson is ill and had to cancel his Birchmere show. I can’t imagine this affects a great deal of DCist readership, but I could be pleasantly surprised. We wish him a speedy recovery.
WEDNESDAY
>> Rock Plaza Central famously (sort of) posed the question, Are We Not Horses?, with their debut album, in which they revealed themselves to actually be strictly adhering Neutral Milk Hotel disciples with a penchant for intricate, rootsy arrangements. The Toronto ensemble still managed to craft a uniquely weird sound on that record, one that should translate well to the Black Cat Backstage. With The Suckers, $10, 9 p.m.
THURSDAY
>> Nine Times That Same Song was Love is All’s debut album, and despite its name, featured a variety of different arrangements that never lost their pop sensibility nor their nasally Scandinavian accents. There’s a strong homemade sense to their music, but their sound’s bigger and rounder than those groups usually pegged as “lo-fi.”. They came back two years later with A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night, which stuck to the same lovelorn themes but hit them with brighter, bolder production. Check them out at the Backstage with Real Estate and local boys Ra Ra Rasputin. $12, doors at 9 p.m.
>> True legend of Americana - and much more - David Grisman brings the David Grisman Quintet to the Birchmere on Thursday night. Not exactly a cheap ticket, but in terms of bluegrass and instrumental virtuosity, it doesn’t come much better than this. $39.50, doors at 7:30 p.m.
Blind Pilot, playing Sunday at the Black Cat
>> How many happy, adorable couples are cranking out indie pop tunes these days? The Rosebuds, Mates of State…the Raveonettes aren’t together, right? Just friends? And what’s this about Pete Yorn and ScarJo making a go of it? All share some stylistic similarities, but the often hushed, always pretty pop of Dean & Britta, which they’ve reliably churned out since the days of Luna, may just be the sweetest of them all. Either way, the debate’s on. They make their case Friday at the Black Cat mainstage, doors at 9 p.m. $15, with openers Cheval Sombre. Which I think means “Sad Horse”.
>> Frankly the thought of Disco City - D.C.’s undisputed champion of disco revival/renewal DJ sets — sounds a little grating. But everything we’ve heard says it’s a night of cheap fun, and some of the selections are more timeless than the schlock your average wedding DJ pulls out from the same era. Plus, it’s free. Doors at 9:30 p.m at the Rock and Roll Hotel upstairs bar.
>> Good night to head out to the ‘burbs. The legendary John Prine headlines, the near-legendary Steve Earle opens, lawn seats are $25, and you can bring your own brews and ‘cue with you. If the weather’s nice, no chance there’s a better place to be come Friday night than Wolf Trap. Tickets $25 - 42, 8 p.m.
>> Dear Viva Voce: Do you all ever fuck around? We were not sure. Please let us know. Sincerely, DCist.com. At the Iota Club with awesome, up-and-coming New Zealanders Cut Off Your Hands. Doors at 9:30 p.m. $15.
SATURDAY
>> Speaking of hightailing it to suburbia, if you couldn’t go Friday, you should really go Saturday. David Byrne - yes, the David Byrne - comes through Wolftrap. He’s fresh off the 2008 collaboration with Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, and it should be pretty damn interesting to see how the oddball electro-pop translates live at the Filene Center at Wolftrap. Not to be missed. With another DCist favorite, DeVotchKa. Tickets $25 - 45, 8 p.m.
>> Consistency is a virtue, folks, and the 60s garage/soul DJ set WAG! has it in spades. With a nearly unlimited scope of tunes to pick from in an era where thousands of bands were hailed as the next Beatles - to say nothing of the next Box Tops, Count Five, or even the Electric Prunes - if you haven’t been, this might be the week to check it out. At the Black Cat Backstage, $5, 9:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
>> Portland’s Blind Pilot are nothing if not persistent. Meaning not only have they trekked on bicycle across the American West bringing their indie pop - acoustic, of course - to towns and villages both big and remote. Also meaning that they have been firing off reminders about this show for quite some time now (in addition to an area stop in Richmond supporting The Decemberists on Thursday). They did make a stop on Last Call with Carson Daly, which can’t be held against them, and did a strong performance of “3 Rounds and a Sound.” They join up with Local Natives on the Black Cat mainstage, $13 with doors at 8 p.m.
>> Do The Hold Steady ever stop touring? We’ve caught them a few times now, and while there’s a formula, every set I’ve ever seen (which is quite a few) has been a real communal affair, good vibes and a good buzz to accompany the best classicist rock going these days. Maybe their last album wasn’t quite up to the level of their first three (those being pretty much unimpeachable, in my opinion), but it was good by anyone else’s standards. Oh, but their 9:30 Club show on Sunday is sold out. Sorry folks — try here. Doors at 7 p.m.