Benjy Ferree is a seasoned local musician of whom you may not yet know. While he regularly plays local gigs, you will surely never be met head on with advertisements promoting his next show unlike other bands in D.C. — his music already speaks loudly enough for him. Fans of Ferree’s music will attest to his robust voice and his ability to paint a warm emotional picture with his folk rock music and vivid lyrics…

When we last heard, the crew from Gypsy Eyes Records were in the metaphorical maternity ward resting comfortably with great things ahead of them. Those great things kick off this weekend in grand fashion, and you’re all invited to join the festivities. The upstart local music collective has put together an exciting two day concert series they’ve christened as the Forever Festival and the first incarnation is almost upon us all. On Friday, head to…

A couple weeks ago, DCist was outside the 9:30 Club when a couple fellas promoting their EP Thanks For Your Concern (but we’re okay) handed us a copy. The band is The Vita Ruins and we were expecting to hear more Pitchfork rock, an upstart college band, maybe even a rough EP by a new rock group recorded on affordable gear in their practice space. But we definitely weren’t expecting to hear THIS. And we…

A sentiment, as defined by Houghton Mifflin is “a thought, view, or attitude, especially one based mainly on emotion instead of reason.” The title is quite apt for the local DC rock outfit of the same name. The band is the brainchild of frontman Mike Medlock, and is as much his cathartic medium as his weekend playpen. Medlock is a passionate frontman, but doesn’t take himself too seriously, and wears his heart on his sleeve….

This past month’s rain washed out plenty of events in the District; among them was our chance to see Metropolitan with Shwa and Five Four at Ft. Reno on June 12. Instead, for this month’s Three Stars we’re reviewing the band’s third album The Lines They Get Broken. Metropolitan have one of the more upbeat sounds in D.C., and stay away from political commentary or avant garde art rock. The band’s sound draws from cited…

Three weeks ago, Tim Westergren, founder and CSO of Pandora.com and the Music Genome Project, paid a visit to Washington, D.C. to sample some local music and hold a town fair discussion at AU’s Greenberg Theater on the contemporary state of music licensing and artist reimbursement. Westergren was joined by Gary Greenstein of the independent nonprofit performance rights organization Soundexchange and David D. Oxenford, a music copyright lawyer at Davis Wright Tremaine, and led an…

In the early 1980s, Washington, D.C. was a mecca for hardcore punk music. The scene was so pure and original that it drew young rockers from literally all over the country, each wanting to mix it up with the original gods of this new radio-unfriendly sound. The names are quite familiar: Minor Threat. Scream. Jawbox. Soulside. State of Alert. Government Issue. Faith. The D.C. hardcore scene was a catalyst for the careers of Henry Rollins…

In wanting to further refine his ability to predict what new music might appeal to you based on your current tastes, Tim Westergren, founder of the amazing streaming music service Pandora.com has spent the spring traversing the U.S. hosting town hall-style meetings to discover new and legendary artists and sounds at the grass roots level, taking in local venues and bands along the way. For the curious of the lot, Pandora is the webcast interface…

>> The Washington D.C. Human Trafficking Meetup which tonight hosts freelance photographer Kay Chernush in the Langston Room at Busboys and Poets. Chernush will present photos she took while on assignment for the U.S. State Department in India, Thailand, Italy and Hong Kong in 2005 for their annual Trafficking in Persons Report which “serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages other countries to help fight forced labor, sexual exploitation, and…

Over the past several years, the dynamics of music marketing and promotion — both locally and nationally — have drastically shifted under the tectonic changes in the old school music industry and its marketing institutions. Corporate radio playlists by the likes of Clear Channel have done away with diversity on the airwaves, while the once-novel MTV is hardly an option to sort through new music. Today’s music connoisseurs often resort to digital downloading both legal…