Results tagged “rockandrollhotel”

From the first time I heard the music these guys make, whether together as the King Khan and BBQ Show, or in any of their other many incarnations (King Khan & The Shrines, Mark Sultan's unbelievably good solo album The Sultanic Verses, and so on,), I was in love. The nexus of garage rock, punk, and doo-wop could not be farther up my alley. In a world of electro-this and that, and sad-faced boys and girls singing sweetly, Blacksnake (King Khan's... real name?) and Mark Sultan bring a refreshing dose of pure, dirty, fun rock 'n' roll to the table.

              

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.

            

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.

Drop Electric has long been committed to social issues, performing regularly at benefit events and donating their proceeds to local charities. While the band has been concentrating on out-of-town and festival dates in recent months, on Saturday they will return to the Rock and Roll Hotel to headline an eclectic bill. True to form, the night's proceeds will benefit Empower DC, a community organizing group that works to improve and promote self-advocacy among the District's low and moderate income residents.

       

To start, this was a record-breaking show. First, for temperature. It was, bafflingly, the hottest show I've ever attended by far. And second, for decibels achieved, by both the band and the audience.

The late Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré was among Africa's most internationally renowned musicians. Listening to him, it was easy to draw the connection between the blues and its West African roots. If he was the bridge between two traditional forms, then it is only fitting that his contemporary counterpart is his son, Vieux Farka Touré. One of world music's rising stars, Touré will be performing on Monday night at the Rock and Roll Hotel, playing what he describes as "the new reality of African music."

It's not every day we get to interview a cartoon. OK, we've never interviewed a cartoon. But that ends today with Major Lazer, the creation of DJs Diplo and Switch. The Major's cartoon backstory is that he's a Jamaican commando who lost an arm in a secret zombie war in 1984. He was rescued by the U.S. military, who replaced his arm with a laser, and now he flies around on a rocket-powered skateboard fighting monsters and partying a lot. He owns a dance club in Trinidad and makes dancehall and ragga-influenced electronic music sung in Jamaican patois, with help from friends Diplo and Switch.

             

Words and photos by DCist contributor Francis Chung

This was the wrong show to have forgotten to bring earplugs. Scotland's newest highly hyped export, Glasvegas, are not afraid to be very, very loud. They've got fuzzy shoegaze guitar riffs that would make their countrymen in The Jesus and Mary Chain proud, and the audience-filling charm that would make bands like the amazing but overlooked Twilight Sad jealous. Even those of us with throbbing eardrums found the band magnetic enough to overlook the pain and hearing loss and look forward to the day when they'd return for more.

Back in 2007, L.A.'s The Broken West seemed to make a point of stopping through D.C. on a weekly basis. In the space of a few months, they opened for The Walkmen, The Long Winters, and shared a bill with The Whigs. Each time I caught them they were pretty good -- never great -- but didn't quite live up to the tried-and-true California power pop of their proper debut, I Can't Go On, I'll Go On. Their latest, Now or Heaven, is a little more done-up, with more blips and beeps and an altogether denser atmosphere.

Drop Electric was no different from many a local band. They played the occasional festival, headlined local clubs, and were on their way to garnering a decent local following. But their story took a tragic turn last month, and the band is still trying to recover.

We last heard from Karsh Kale (pronounced Kursh Kah-lay) with the release of Breathing Under Water, the talented producer/composer/percussionist's genre blending collaboration with Hindustani music's heir apparent, sitarist Anoushka Shankar. But apart from that recording, and a DJ set here and there at Science Club or Bossa, the District has not seen Kale perform in concert since 2003's Asian Massive tour. That will change on July 4, when the fireworks on the Mall will segue into sonic fireworks at the Rock and Roll Hotel for Return of the Asian Massive, and fans of the burgeoning global electronica scene should take note.

     

What is it about Bergen, Norway? The city of 250,000 is the home to numerous bands, including Kings of Convenience, Annie, Röyksopp, Sondre Lerche, and Datarock. The latter, a group of red jumpsuited goofballs, played Saturday at the Rock and Roll Hotel and did not disappoint.

In a fairer, better world, Jon Langford would need no introduction; in a world that makes Kenny Chesney a country star, he probably does. (Unless, of course, you read our interview with Langford last fall.) So: Since founding the protean punk outfit the Mekons in Leeds, England, three decades or so ago, he's become that Godfather of the Chicago alt-country scene that flowered in the mid-to-late 1990s, as well as a celebrated painter. (That's his portrait of Buddy Guy on the wall at the Birchmere. You can see it, along with 214 of his other objets d'arte, in his 2006 book, Nashville Radio.)

During "I Made a Resolution", Sea Wolf songwriter Alex Church promises that he's never going to sing a sad song again. But considering that Sea Wolf's set at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Sunday had been half downtrodden weary balladry and half more uptempo yet equally gloomy chamber-pop, this resolution will likely go the way of the standard "I'm going to quit smoking," "I'm going to lose weight" and "I'm going to stop drinking." Church is clearly a moody balladeer at heart, but he has a way with picturesque arrangements and much like the songs on Midlake's The Trials of Van Occupanther, some of these songs brought to mind woodland cabins and cloudy skies as easily as broken hearts. This sort of moody songwriting might not necessarily lend itself to memorable live performances but luckily for Church and co., their set had enough variety in terms of tempo so that there were only a few lags in their set.

       

Written with DCist contributor Amy Maxmen

Some joyful men the likes of The Hold Steady's Craig Finn and Jens Lekman have graced D.C.’s stages over the past year, but all pale in comparison to the utter excitement exuded by Pela’s Bill McCarthy. Since their performance at DAM! Fest in October, Pela has had a rough couple of months. In addition to McCarthy’s 45 stitches in his hand, there was an allusion to a band member who went into the wilderness of his mind during that period, and a less than amicable split from their record label, Great Society Records. As it turns out, these challenges not only birthed four new songs, but the sort of fire onstage that made an already exciting live band put on a show that caused even lukewarm fans to leave with fists and hearts pumping.

Pela, the Brooklyn four-piece, had quite a year in 2007. They released their debut album, Anytown Graffiti, in April, had their music featured on the dearly departed Veronica Mars, made inroads at influential radio stations like KEXP, Indie 103.1 and WOXY, and spent most the year touring the country. They also headlined our own Unbuckled 5. In November, they decamped to L.A. to record their sophomore album and planned to spend the early part of 2008 back on the road.

Tilly and the Wall, a five piece from Omaha, Nebraska, have been catching buzz around the indie scene for a few years now. Their energetic performances have earned them a reputation as one of the most fun bands to see live. They've also got a gimmick: rather than a drummer, Jamie Pressnall tap dances to produce the band's percussion. With a new album on the way and a heavy touring schedule, Tilly is a busy band these days. Here are a few questions we asked lead singer and bassist Kianna Alarid; catch the band tonight at the Rock & Roll Hotel (with Capgun Coup and Pash, $12, 8:30 p.m.).