Results tagged “bigstar”

The between-set music for Friday night’s homecoming show for DC boys The Walkmen was Big Star. Nothing but Big Star, all the time. About as a fitting as they come for California openers Broken West, who might currently be the most deserving heirs to the tattered power pop crown. They opened with lead single "Down in the Valley," drawing out the opening, ringing A-chord, double rhythm-guitar parts in classic power pop fashion. Occasionally, the band...

Thursday’s opening band for the DAM! Festival show at DC9 was Gaithersburg’s Bellflur. Initial impressions that they were (very) heavily indebted to OK Computer-era Radiohead proved true, with the band either attacking most songs with a “Paranoid Android”-like aggression, or plodding through “You and Whose Army?” style ballads. There were nice touches though – a full arsenal of effects pedals and some spooky vocal lines – and the band has a knack for making things cold and detached sound somewhat pretty. Sure, the only lyric we could understand was the ad nauseam repeat of “all this medication” from lackluster closer “Shooting an Elephant,” and yes, their ambition outstrips their abilities at this point, but it’s still nice to see a band tastefully taking some hints from prog and going for something bigger than a 3 minute pop song.

We've talked about the lineup, interviewd the organizer, and even talked to a couple bands. Now we want to give you the chance to hear what's coming our way with some MP3 previews of a few DAM Fest bands. The music staff got together, divied up the lineup, gathered some files together and is now serving up brief breakdowns of a few bands D.C. will play host to this weekend. If you've got some insight...