Sadie Dupuis will be among those performing at Black Cat’s inauguration night benefit show.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18
Black Cat: Cigarette, Governess, and Scanners. 7:30 p.m., $12. All ages, accessible venue.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19
Run The Jewels, The Gaslamp Killer, Cuz, Gangsta Boo, Nick Hook @ Echostage. 7 p.m., $43.45. All ages, accessible venue.
Run The Jewels, the duo of Killer Mike and El-P, is the best rap group in the game right now. What started as a team-up on a Killer Mike LP has turned into a full-on group with three classic albums, including last year’s RTJ 3. When El-P and Killer Mike aren’t taking shots at each other or their enemies, the group gets political. Killer Mike is also known for stumping hard for Bernie Sanders during the primary. On the eve of this horrible inauguration, Run The Jewels is just what we need. The original show date was the 12th, but it seems more fitting the show has been rescheduled for this day. As an additional perk, the reschedule of the previously sold-out show now has some remaining tickets, so get them quick.
Black Cat: TV Girl, Poppet, Johnny Fantastic 7:30 p.m., $12. All ages, accessible venue.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20
No Thanks: A Night of Anti-Fascist Sound Resistance in the Capital of the USA @ Black Cat. 6:30 p.m. $20. All ages, accessible venue.
If there is one thing D.C. knows how to do, it’s a protest benefit show. This stacked lineup of musicians and activists falls on the day of the inauguration, making it even more urgent. The bill includes local favorites Priests and Flasher, as well as Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz, and a solo set from Waxahatchee. Donations go to both Casa Ruby and ONE DC. We’ll have a full preview up later this week.
Rock and Roll Hotel: Steve Gunn, Lee Ranaldo with Thurston Moore, Meg Baird 7:30 p.m. $15. All ages, accessible venue.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 21
We Were Black Clouds, Foxhall Stacks, Loud Boyz @ Comet Ping Pong. 10 p.m. $12. All ages, accessible venue.
We Were Black Clouds had a bad year. The band was on the up and up, getting a reissue from a bigger label and gaining more recognition, then the bottom dropped out. First, the lawsuit from an inferior New Jersey band, The Black Clouds. Then the band got mixed up in the Martin Shkreli nonsense because its label, Collect Records, happened to be funded by him. Nameless and label-less, the group had to figure out where to go. Instead of thinking of something completely new, the group came up with the tongue in cheek name We Were Black Clouds and revived its sense of passion. This show is the band’s first of 2017 and only the second since their live return in November of last year. The group is also working on its third album, which members say could be their darkest yet.
Black Cat: the Antiball with Antibalas and Friends 8 p.m. $30. All ages, accessible venue.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22
Tokyo Police Club, Charly Bliss @ Black Cat 7:30 p.m. $20. All ages, accessible venue.
The Canadian four piece Tokyo Police Club has been around for more than 10 years. Through four albums and four EPs, the group has sharpened its hooks and amassed a catalog of great songs. The band’s last proper full-length was released in 2014, but last year the band issued a two-part EP, Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness, parts 1 and 2. Taken as a whole, the tracks could easily be an album. Songs like “My House” and “Not My Girl” are instant standouts and will be great in a live fashion.
Rock and Roll Hotel: Into Another, Supertouch, High Disciple 7 p.m. $16. Al ages, accessible venue.
