The overabundance of glowsticks on U Street over the last three nights of the previous work week could only signal one of two things: a) Haunted House season had arrived early, or b) Deadmau5 sold out three consecutive nights at the 9:30 Club. The Toronto DJ, who is as famous for his enormous glowing mouse head as for his propulsive bass-heavy electronic beats, played two long sets on Wednesday and Thursday and a truncated one on Friday, which, according to his website, was cut short due to an onstage collapse. DCist photographer Jeff Martin was there to snap some photos of the well-lit spectacle before Deadmau5 had to abruptly cancel nine future shows. more ›

As Dan Bern explains it, when someone has a story to tell in Nashville, they write a nice little song that manages to tie everything together in two and a half minutes with a melody to boot. But in L.A., where Bern hangs his hat these days, when someone has a story, they write a movie. Movies cost a lot of dough, though -- something most singer-songwriters don't have lying around. more ›

How many times have you heard the following: “I liked their old stuff better.” If you’re Los Campesinos!, the answer is apparently, a lot. The band's most recent release, Romance is Boring, shows how the young Welsh eight-piece has grown even more jaded by the “less than idealistic romances” which colored its first two albums. It has the same excellent lyricism of the group's earlier work, and plenty of opportunities to scream out lyrics en masse (see: “This is a Flag. There Is No Wind.”) but a less lively and more mature sound than on breakout album Hold on Now, Youngster. more ›

There's a difference between nostalgia and timelessness, and Illinois rappers The Cool Kids walk on a tightrope very gingerly between the two. Everything from their wardrobe choice (a Penny Hardaway jersey and a Police T-shirt) to their lyrics (“I’m the only third grader in this school with a beeper,”) suggest a hefty nostalgia for the late 1980s and early '90s. They've even referred to themselves as the “Black Beastie Boys” (take a minute and process that one.) more ›

Shooting guns from one's pointer fingers, making lazy karate chops and wriggling like a snake are the sort of dance moves that would look ridiculous if the person performing them doesn't look slightly demented. But tall and lanky frontman Angus Andrew fits that bill, so this occasional silliness which punctuated his otherwise terrifying command of the microphone at the Rock and Roll Hotel Wednesday night just added to the atmosphere of insanity and darkness crafted by the (now) L.A.-based Liars. more ›

No, we don't relegate all of our noise music coverage to September. The folks at Sonic Circuits sponsor shows year-round, and Saturday's Off the Grid showcase proved that experimental bills need not be an exercise in sifting through diamonds in the rough. All six acts on Saturday were gems. more ›

Back in the winter of 2008, Yeasayer and MGMT packed the small backstage of the Black Cat. The show was noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First, there was the pre-sale ticket debacle that pissed everyone off, but ultimately taught us that tickets to backstage shows be purchased in advance (so, win?). And second, it was a rare chance to see two bands in a tiny venue who, at that time, were on the very cusp of blowing up. For me, this second point is one of the highlights of concert-going. At those small, early shows, the sound is often unbalanced, the venues are cramped and hot, the band may even be figuring their shit out on the fly, but the experience, the I-was-there-ness of thing, makes it special. In the end, attendance is worth a few peccadillos just to catch a glimpse of that talent which might eventually propel a band to true stardom. more ›

For the financially conscious concertgoer: here is how to reconcile paying $45 for a Wilco concert. The first hour (12 songs) in their set, in which the band received general and individual introductions via the “Fitter, Happier” computer voice and used a lot of fancy lighting, that’s one $15 show. The second hour (another 12 songs) in which they pulled out lamps, moved closer to each other and hinted that the audience could actually use the seats behind them, that’s a more intimate $15 show. Then the final hour (12 more songs) where they played fan favorite after fan favorite and band favorite after band favorite for a set that had the audience jumping and singing along even more than they already had been: that’s the final $15 show. more ›

A lot of bands have come out with a sound very similar to that of San Diego quartet The Soft Pack. Deadpan vocal delivery over distorted, simplistic guitar riffs and driving rhythms in two minute bursts has defined hundreds of rock bands since the inception of rock bands. Chances are, there are probably many out there without The Soft Pack's PR weight who are doing it better. Nonetheless, seeing a band using a tried and true formula yield such impressive live results should happen more often. more ›

Two and a half years ago, roughly two hours before Austin's Okkervil River packed the Rock and Roll Hotel to the point of immobility, a man named Jonathan Meiburg sat onstage and played a few mournful tunes before returning as part of the OR lineup. That solo set, accompanied only by guitar and trumpet, felt like an afterthought. Although the power of Meiburg's voice was unmistakable, the performance seemed wan, forlorn and forgettable. It couldn't have been more different from Meiburg's awe-inspiring appearance with Shearwater on Friday. more ›

Beach House is simply captivating live. But when their set consists mostly of tracks from their near-perfect, third full-length, Teen Dream--an album that's sure to appear on many year-end top ten lists--perhaps excellence is nothing short of expected. more ›

Many critics have called Joanna Newsom's triple-length album, , her most ambitious recording to date — and also her most accessible. But what's changed? Her songs are still epic yarns: the title track alone clocks in at a hefty 11:02, and that is to say nothing of the triple-album presentation. With her latest album, Newsom expands her fairy-tale menagerie, introducing fables starring daddy long legs, jackrabbits, and kingfishers. And then there is Newsom herself, heart and harp in hand, still very much the hatter at this tea party. more ›

Critically-acclaimed singer-songwriters Marissa Nadler and Alela Diane showcased their considerable musical talents at DC9 on Tuesday night, captivating an attentive audience with intimately stripped-down sets of folk songs. more ›

By DCist Contributor Dan White more ›

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the Real Estate/Girls show Tuesday night at the Black Cat was an extended tribute to The Clean, an open-mic homage to the under-known but influential Kiwi punk band. Hell, the show might have been a two-set-long cover act, the way both bands indulge in heavy chorus pedal and simple chord progressions and fancy-free songs about summer love. You'd certainly be in your right mind to be excited by a show with so much surf-punk. How could Girls go wrong? more ›

On paper, a Lenny Kravitz show on the heels of the 20th anniversary re-release of his debut album, Let Love Rule, is an intriguing prospect. Add in a setlist that has but one song released after the year 2000 and I'm downright excited. So why was Tuesday's show at the Warner Theater a bit of a dud? Pacing, mostly. Kravitz managed just 13 songs in a two hour span in a set that started and finished strong but veered eerily into "Jazz Odyssey" territory in between. more ›

The 9:30 Club was absolutely packed Wednesday night for the D.C. debut of Them Crooked Vultures, a recently-formed hard-rock “supergroup” featuring Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, who formerly played bass in a little band called Led Zeppelin. Joined by touring guitarist Alain Johannes, the high-profile trio treated the crowd to an impressive 90-minute set, more than justifying the hype that made this one of the most highly-anticipated shows of the year.
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Written by DCist contributor Daniel White more ›

When the Dodos last visited D.C., we were so impressed that we had considerable difficulties keeping our excitement down to one paragraph. The group's youthful exuberance was just barely outmatched by their technical skills, and they excelled at making surprisingly full-bodied sounds using primarily drums and guitar. But their flourishes with additional instruments (trumpet, vibraphone, extra percussion) pushed were what pushed that set over the edge, providing an accurate mirror to last year's excellent Visiter. more ›

"We've got new songs, we've got old songs, we've got songs we can hardly play!" more ›

Six nights of noise came to an end at the Black Cat on Sunday night, with a fistful of performances that ranged from highly anticipated to incredibly obscure, at volume levels from a low buzz to a constant stream of noise. more ›

In person, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ferocious sound doesn’t differ enough from that of their three fine full-lengths and innumerable EPs to make a live album a necessity. But if they decided to cash in with one, I’d buy it just for frontwoman Karen O’s stage banter, which, through sparse, has the advantage of sounding like it’s being translated from Japanese. more ›

To listen to the self-titled song from Philadelphia's Free Energy, a breezy surf-ready tune about being young and alive, it would be easy to think that their Black Cat show should be filled with a couple dozen teenagers. Instead, the audience was populated with the people who Free Energy producer, James Murphy, has referred to as "all out of escapes" on the last LCD Soundsystem album. Not an X'ed hand in sight. more ›

Having to find a last minute replacement bassist is usually not the secret to putting on a phenomenal show. When that bassist is from your band's original lineup, however, it's a recipe for celebratory nostalgia. more ›

Bat For Lashes certainly know how to set a mood. If the wolf howling in front of a full moon draped behind them on the 9:30 Club stage Saturday night didn't give away their intentions to create a mystical night, the glitter, lights and feathers adorning the stage (and lead singer Natasha Khan) pushed the point home. And that was before Khan even opened her mouth. Her ethereal, chilling voice rung clear through the venue for opener "Glass," instantly ending chatter and leaving the audience wide-eyed. more ›

Before starting their set at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Tuesday night, the members of Akron/Family taped up a torn American flag with a blue and white tie-dyed square in the upper left hand corner. This flag, which adorns the cover of Akron/Family's latest release, Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, might initially give the impression that the band are followers of the Book of Phish and that album title, a mantra torn from one of those pages. And Akron/Family certainly projects a communal atmosphere and engages in some extended improvisations. But the sheer expanse of their stylistic range keeps them from being pigeonholed as a "jam band." They're far more interesting. more ›

Editor’s Note: We realize this show wasn't in, or really anywhere near, D.C. But as it was My Bloody Valentine's only show anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic region, and lots of D.C. area folks traveled down for the show, we thought we'd share the experience for those who, sadly, couldn't make it. more ›

Written by DCist Contributor Matthew Siblo more ›

Just like the biggest summer movie blockbusters tend to be mindless affairs full of car chases and loud explosions, summer concerts are sometimes best enjoyed with big, dumb rock songs being played at high volume with thousands of people singing along. That was certainly the case last night as Stone Temple Pilots closed out their short July tour under the stars at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The crowd was far from a sell out, likely owing to the band's appearance at last year's Virgin Festival, but what those in attendance lacked in numbers they made up for in volume and sheer fanaticism. more ›

I came to Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby - the husband/wife rock troubadour duo who played the Black Cat backstage Wednesday night - separately, in very different ways. I caught Rigby as a surprise opening act for Steve Earle at an old theater in my hometown more than half a decade ago in a performance so witty and funny that it inspired my dad's band to go out and record one of her tunes, the sly “Keep It To Yourself.” Meanwhile, English punk-rocker Wreckless Eric (born Eric Goulden) had a minor hit, “Whole Wide World”, that was reverently covered by the beloved, now-defunct Philly band The Bigger Lovers and received some minor notoriety in power-pop circles. more ›