HyeTension is one of over 50 local bands performing at this weekend’s Audioteka Festival (Photo courtesy HyeTension).
By DCist Contributor Chris Kelly
TUESDAY, JULY 11
Lace up your Doc Martens and get ready for the pit: The Flatliners hit the Black Cat with a straight-ahead, high-energy, hook-heavy punk attack inspired by the likes of NOFX and Rancid. The Toronto outfit is joined by fellow Canadians PKEW PKEW PKEW and Oklahoma singer-songwriter Garrett Dale. Doors 7:30 p.m. $13-$15.
Describing its sound as “apocalyptic cowboy music,” Portland nine-piece Roselit Bone mixes ranchera, cowboy country, and spaghetti Western soundtracks at Hill Country. Doors 8:30 p.m. FREE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12
After fronting dance-rockers Gossip for more than a decade, Beth Ditto recently struck out on her own with an album of pop-rock anthems, Fake Sugar, that finds the powerhouse vocalist belting out Southern-fried fare inspired by Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, and Suicide (as disparate as that sounds, it works). Experimental pop artist U.S. Girls opens at the U Street Music Hall. Doors 7 p.m. $20.
L.A.’s Sir Sly celebrates the release of its sophomore album, Don’t You Worry, Honey, bringing danceable, synth-tinged indie pop to the Rock and Roll Hotel. Don’t miss similarly-tuned openers SHAED, a D.C. pop project on the rise. Doors 7 p.m. $20.
Alt-rock survivors Incubus and Jimmy Eat World bring old favorites and new records to Jiffy Lube Live. Doors 6:45 p.m. $29.50-$79.50.
THURSDAY, JULY 13
For the first half of the decade, Sam O.B. crafted scintillating synthscapes for tastemaking labels like LuckyMe under the moniker Obey City. These days, he has shifted focus to lithe and lush funk-soul music with a decidedly old school feel. Check out his new sound at Songbyrd. Doors 7 p.m. $10 in advance, $12 at the door.
Australian country music star Kasey Chambers performs at the Birchmere in support of January’s Dragonfly, an ambitious double-album that was produced by songwriting legend (and fellow Aussie) Paul Kelly. Doors 7:30 p.m. $35.
FRIDAY, JULY 14
Club Heaven & Hell in Adams Morgan serves as the home for Audioteka Fest from Friday through Sunday. The event, produced by 7DrumCity and the Greater District Sound Club, brings together 56 local bands over the three days. Each of the three stages features five to eight acts per night, with each act playing a 45-minute set. $12-$35.
Under a name cribbed from WMATA, D.C. duo Rush Plus explores the experimental fringes of techno, dabbling in New Age and ambient music. The pair takeover U Street Music Hall with the braintrust behind D.C.’s finest globe-trotting record label 1432 R. Doors 10 p.m. FREE before 11 p.m., or $5.
Earlier this year, D.C.-born thrash metal gods Darkest Hour commemorated two decades in the game in a very New D.C. way: by teaming with DC Brau to release a German-style Helles beer called “Savor The Swill.” DC Brau returns the favor by co-hosting the band’s gig at the Rock and Roll Hotel, which also features D.C.’s Genocide Pact and Denver’s Havok. Don’t forget to buy this metal-as-fuck poster at the show. Doors 8 p.m. $20.
Darkest Hour too hardcore for you? James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt will be at Nationals Park. Doors 5 p.m. $94.50-$135.50.
The members of D.C.’s Dawkins are only in their late teens and early twenties, but when it comes to making music, they are wise beyond their years: their Radiohead- and Animal Collective-inspired brand of experimental pop is organic yet synthetic, ambient yet propulsive. The band marks the release of its debut EP at the Uptown Art House with equally-impressive D.C. duo April + VISTA and CMPVTR CLVB DJ-producer Stclair Castro. Doors 8 p.m. $10.
SATURDAY, JULY 15
D.C.-based electronic artist Flash Frequency, whose work bounds between ambient soundscapes and forward-thinking hip-hop beats, promises a night of new music and live instrumentation at the 9:30 Club Backbar. Doors 11 p.m. $5.
SUNDAY, JULY 16
For something completely different, head to Rhizome, where Berlin-based composer-accordionist Ben Richter explores the outer fringes of experimental orchestral music. He’ll be joined by like-minded talents Jacob Becker and Jax Deluca (who “moonlights” as the director of media arts at National Endowment for the Arts). Doors 8 p.m. $10 suggested donation.
The Vans Warped Tour still exists and is returning to Merriweather Post Pavilion. As always, there’s something for punks of all ages, with Anti-Flag, The Ataris, Dance Gavin Dance, GWAR, Hatebreed, Hawthorne Heights, Save Ferris, Sick Of It All, and many more slated to appear. Doors 11 a.m. $29-$52.
MONDAY, JULY 17
After a six year hiatus, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band Gorillaz returned to soundtrack the Trump era with Humanz, the pair’s latest exploration of boundary-less electronic pop. Rap iconoclasts Vince Staples and Danny Brown were featured on the album and will be there when the virtual becomes reality at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. Doors 6 p.m. $49.25-$199.
It’s the “Time of the Season” to catch classic British pop band The Zombies (and singer-songwriter Don DiLego) at the Birchmere. Doors 7:30 p.m. $55.
