Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch at the 2015 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella)
MONDAY
The Anniversary, Laura Stevenson, Thin Lips @ Rock and Roll Hotel 7 p.m. $20. All ages, accessible venue.
The Anniversary called it quits in 2004 after releasing just two albums. The Lawrence, KS band released their debut Designing a Nervous Breakdown in 2000 on Vagrant Records, which at the time was in the midst of a renaissance with a roster of emo stalwarts Saves The Day, The Get Up Kids, and Dashboard Confessional. The Anniversary fit in with the roster, even though the band was more synth-pop, thanks to an emo bent. Everything changed when the band went baroque pop with sophomore record Your Majesty in 2002. The band released a handful of singles after, but dropped the hammer in 2004. Band members formed other projects but the group reformed to play festivals this year and is now doing a whole reunion tour. Who knows if any new music will come out of the reunion, but if it does it will be welcome—the demos the band was kicking around before the split had so much promise.
Julien Baker, Graying @ U Street Music Hall 7 p.m. $18. All ages, accessible venue.
Julien Baker knows how to write a sad song and she knows it. She even has a lyric “Wish I could write songs about anything other than death.” Her debut album Sprained Ankle is made up of nine of them, and each one is both devastating and amazing. Most of her songs are made up of just guitar and vocals, adding to the haunting effect. Baker wrote the tracks on her album while attending Middle Tennessee State University and finished them off with a studio sheen at Spacebomb Studios. While sad songs might seem like a bummer on a wonderful fall-like night, a Julien Baker concert is one of the best shows you can see.
TUESDAY
Blood Orange @ The Lincoln Theatre 6:30 p.m. $35. All ages, accessible venue.
Dev Hynes has worn many different hats. His first band Test Icicles was loud dance punk. After that band dissolved, Hynes played under the moniker Lightspeed Champion, reforming himself into a folkie. With Blood Orange, Hynes slips into another skin, this time R&B and electronic pop. The first Blood Orange record Coastal Grooves was a collection of pop-rock songs in 2011, overshadowed upon release by Hynes’ other endeavors. In 2012, Hynes worked with Solange Knowles on her defining release True, and he wrote Sky Ferreira’s then biggest song “Everything is Embarrassing.” Not to be outdone, Hynes doubled down for his next Blood Orange release, Cupid Deluxe in 2013. The sprawling album was a blender of sounds and guests unified by Hynes’ talent. This year he upped the ante with his best release yet—Freetown Sound. The record is like a mixtape, with songs coming in and falling out and like Cupid Deluxe, it is chock full of guests like the Empress Of highlight “Best To You” and the Carly Rae Jepsen-featuring “Better Than Me”. Blood Orange rarely tours, so this is a special performance, and there may be guests involved.
DC9: Violent Soho, Meat Wave, and Natural Velvet 7 p.m. $12. All ages, inaccessible venue.
WEDNESDAY
U Street Music Hall:The Album Leaf and Sister Crayon 7 p.m. $20. All ages, accessible venue.
Black Cat: Haley Bonar and Luray 7:30 p.m. $12. All ages accessible venue.
THURSDAY
Angel Olsen, Alex Cameron @ 9:30 Club 7 p.m. $20. All ages, accessible venue.
Angel Olsen doesn’t want to be put into anyone’s box. The singer-songwriter got her start with haunting folk songs, but she isn’t about to retreat to a cabin in the woods. Olsen’s third album, Burn Fire for No Witness, broke down some of the preconceived notions listeners expected out of Olsen, but with this year’s incredible MY WOMAN, she proves she can be whatever she wants to be. Deceptively promoting the album with the lead off track “Intern” a song made up of pillowy snyths. Olsen changed her look in the video donning a silver wig like a pop-star. The second single “Shut Up and Kiss Me” is a barn-busting track with rollicking guitars and a girl-group like chorus. The catchy track is my personal song of the summer. The rest of MY WOMAN is made up of steady rockers and a meditative b-side with the longer drawn out slow tracks.
Comet Ping Pong: Sex Stains, Coup Sauvage & the Snips, and Governess 9 p.m. $12. All ages accessible venue.
FRIDAY
Fillmore Silver Spring: The Offspring 8:30 p.m. Sold-Out. All ages, accessible venue.
Black Cat: God Is an Astronaut 8 p.m. $15. All ages accessible venue.
SATURDAY
Comet Ping Pong: Mykki Blanco, Olivia Neutron-John 10 p.m. $14. All ages, accessible venue.
Lincoln Theatre: Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, EZTV. 6:30 p.m. Sold-Out. All ages accessible venue.
SUNDAY
Built to Spill, Hop Along, and Alex G @ 9:30 Club 7 p.m. $25. All ages, accessible venue.
Built to Spill is full of lifers. The Boise, ID band has been releasing music since 1992, and have been doing it on a major label since 1997. Signed in the major label boom, Built to Spill did things their own way making some of the best music of their career. The band’s latest album 2015’s Untethered Moon was a jolt of energy for the band more so than an excuse to tour. While Built to Spill are great on record, live is where they truly shine. This show is special as the two openers, Hop Along and Alex G are just as great in a live setting. Hope Along released on of the best album’s last year and just reissued their first album, an overlooked gem, this year. Alex G singed to Domino Records last year moving him out of a bedroom and into a studio with last year’s Beach Music.
Cymbals Eat Guitars, Field Mouse, and Wildhoney @ DC9 8 p.m. $12. All ages, inaccessible venue.
Cymbals Eat Guitar have come a long way since their debut album. The New York band have had some line-up changes but over the course of four records, the band has found their sweet spot and created their best album yet, Pretty Years. Instead of retreading their steps, Pretty Years builds on their guitar focused sound and adds saxophones and synths making some of the most direct music the band have ever released. Instead of meandering epic tracks, Pretty Years is pop focused like the Springsteen like “Wish” and “Have A Heart” the band’s first love song. Pretty Years is one of the best albums of the year, and is sure to reinvigorate interest in band.
Black Cat: Tenement, Dusk, and the Rememberables 7:30 p.m. $10. All ages accessible venue.
