D.C. has a rich musical history, but there’s still a chapter being written: what’s happening now. Indeed, there are tons of bands dominating the local music scene and DCist has only scratched the surface in our coverage of local music. Welcome to Listen To This, a new semi-regular feature wherein DCist’s music staff shares new(ish) and/or noteworthy music from local artists that they’ve come across.
ACME, “California Girls” & “Numbers Game”
It wouldn’t surprise me to see local party-starters ACME top the Billboard Charts by this time next year. The soul/electro-pop duo, whose name stands for “A Company the Makes Everything,” creates the kind of smart, dynamic, infectiously catchy dance tunes that simultaneously nods to pop music’s past while boldly looking ahead to its future.
In one of two new singles the group just released, “Numbers Game,” the spacey, futuristic synths propel a classic rhythm, which harkens back to some of Michael Jackson’s golden years. The song is a straight-up club banger, as is the group’s other single, “California Girls,” which, like so many pop stars before them, is an ode to the women of the West Coast. — Matt Cohen
ACME plays tonight at Fort Loko as part of the inaugural In It Together Fest with Paperhaus, Wanted Man, Vunderbar, Spoonboy, and comedy from Robot Butt. Due to the DIY nature of the show, we won’t publish the address, but you can find more information about the show here.
Soundtrack to Sleep, “Sometimes People Don’t Suck”
Tucked amongst the lush green suburbs of NW’s Foxhall Road is a pleasant surprise—a recording studio. Run by students, the studio on George Washington University’s Mount Vernon campus is a true gem; it’s a free tool for students to not only utilize as musicians, but to learn as producers. From those studios, D.C./Northern Virginia-based quartet Soundtrack to Sleep recorded their first full-length album, aptly named “Sometimes People Don’t Suck.” The album features all the mid-range riffs, shouts, and distortion of the band’s emo and pop-punk idols (not to mention a Signals Midwest reference). Oh yes, expect lyrics about best friends, boredom, and trashy apartments— no pretense to be found here. Screams augment melodic “oohs,” creating an ambient space. Time feels slow on this album. It feels like coming home from your shitty summer temp job and falling asleep at 10 p.m., hoping that you pass out before your roommate, his girlfriend, and their happiness walk through the door.
But don’t chalk these guys up to stereotype. While so many of the pop-punk bands making headlines are writing either sugary-sweet or sugary-sad songs, Soundtrack to Sleep doesn’t seem to waste any time considering how a girl’s bangs translate to metaphor. “When will we stop feeling so goddamn sorry for ourselves?” asks CJ Ballesteros in ”Whiskey Water.” References to local liquor stores and fountains are endearing accessories on top of this diary-like collection. It’s not all booze-drenched walks around the Washington Monument. Soundtrack to Sleep mix personal images with large-scale stories of kids just figuring “it” out. — Tori Kerr
Soundtrack to Sleep plays at The Lab All Ages (1819 N. Quaker Lane, Alexandria) on Friday with Massachusetts’s Vundabar and Northernmost.
The Sea Life, “Prozac and Merlot”
I caught this local dream-pop quartet live for the first time a couple weeks back at a special show at the Luce Foundation Center in the American Art Museum. It was an odd venue for the band, which is used to playing around the local DIY circuit, but oddly fitting considering their latest single, “Prozac and Merlot,” perhaps best describes the kind of crowd that would spend an evening schmoozing and knocking back red wine at an art museum after hours.
But make no mistake, The Sea Life aren’t a band for the museum crowd. Though their recordings, which can only really be described as stoner dream-pop, feels like the perfect soundtrack for a Sunday afternoon snooze, their live shows are furious, with each of the band’s four members raucously rocking out as if they were a harDCore band circa 1985. Though “Prozac and Merlot” is certainly an anthem for the mellow, it’s nonetheless ferocious in its dreamy buildup and fever dream-like melody. — Matt Cohen
The Sea Life will play next at Comet Ping Pong on September 13 with Paperhaus, BRNDA, and DJ Outputmessage. More info here.
