Results tagged “dc9”

              

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.

      

East Vancouver’s latest buzzed about export, Japandroids, were determined to have a good time in D.C. The first (and second and fifth, etc.) thing they said to the audience was how much their short set in Philly had sucked the night before and how tonight they were determined to play better and play for longer.

Anyone who feels that frequent shrieking and howling are masks for an inability to sing need not listen to Baltimore's Ponytail. While Molly Siegel certainly isn’t a vocalist who solely screams at pitches usually reserved for dog whistles, she opts for cooing, whooping and grunting in lieu of uttering actual words. As such, Ponytail walks a tightrope between utterly infectious and thoroughly irritating. But judging by the utter excitement of the crowd at DC9 last Thursday, last week D.C. was decidedly with the yaysayers.

by DCist contributor Dave Weigel

              

Photos and words by DCist contributor Francis Chung

      

Given the blatant trend chasing that often consumes the world of indie rock (Freak-folk? Electro-disco? Indie-afro-pop?), it's sometimes easy to forget just how compelling a bunch of earnest dudes with guitars can be. Luckily for us, The New Year stopped by DC9 on Tuesday night to offer up a little reminder and a whole lot of rock. Formed by the brothers Kadane (formerly of Bedhead) in 1999, The New Year have spent the last nine years honing their craft as purveyors of guitar-based indie-pop that's by turns delicate, sincere and muscular (think Built to Spill, Death Cab for Cutie or fellow Texans, the American Analog Set).

One thing to be said for constant touring is that it's a very effective way to learn exactly what one's fanbase wants. When Delta Spirit started touring over a year ago in support of the Cold War Kids, they had an admirably high energy level and some fun percussion, but no songs that seemed particularly memorable. A year later, their gimmicks complement the songs rather than outshine them, and although Delta Spirit still falls into a trap of sounding repetitive, some of the new material they introduced at DC9 on Sunday night indicates that this might change as well.

The folks at DC9 like The Republic Tigers. The Kansas City quintet were at the 9th Street club in April, and the club liked them so much they brought them back for Friday's Liberation Dance Party.

Excitement abounds here at DCist HQ as we're all abuzz and ready for Unbuckled 7, which finally drops tonight. The show, as you already know, is at DC9 and features the genre blending Three Stars alum, Muhsinah, along with jazz/hip-hop outfit, Motel, led by bassist Matt Grason. Special guest DJ v:shal kanwar will also be joining the fray and setting the mood from behind the decks at various times throughout the night. Judging from the crowd at our last Unbuckled, we're expecting a packed house tonight. Do yourself a favor and arrive on the early side.

The (far too long) wait is over. After our sixth Unbuckled show, featuring Le Loup and The XYZ Affair that tested the integrity of DC9's second floor, we needed a little break. Well, we're sufficiently rested and ready to bring you the goods yet again. As you've all probably noticed, we've expanded our musical coverage some in the last year. With the talents of Sriram Gopal and W Jacarl Melton, DCist has been able to cover a lot more than indie rock. They put their heads together and came up with an amazing bill for Unbuckled 7. So without further ado, the details!

In recent years, France has been getting a lot of the publicity for electronic music — Daft Punk, Justice, and other Gallic house musicians have been all over. So when we saw that Digitalism, who play DC9 tonight, were from Germany, where minimalist bleeps and bloops dominate, it was a little surprising. They're not Parisians in a cafe, but Hamburg residents who record in a World War II bunker. Jens Moelle, one half of the duo, said that wasn't the plan.