Nov 28, 2007
Three Stars: The Fake Accents
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of The Fake Accents is their ability to make their inherent contradictions seamlessly coexist. One might not expect that the same band who records and listens to their own practice sessions would also write a disclaimer on their first album that most of the songs that they’d written were actually just ripped off of other songs. Their songs are identifiable by both their catchy hooks and their noisy guitar riffs….
Nov 16, 2007
Wonder-Full Party with DJ Spinna & Bobbito Garcia
To say Stevie Wonder is a good artist would be an understatement. Over five decades, Wonder has amassed a catalog that not only includes over 30 albums but numerous songwriting and production credits. Fans in the District were treated last month to a two-and-a-half hour trip through a slew of rhythms and emotions. Wonder’s musical mastery has touched people worldwide, probably no two more than Brooklynites Bobbito Garcia and DJ Spinna. Both have made names…
Nov 05, 2007
What’s That You Say?
What’s That You Say? is our roundup of the best comments from last week’s posts. So help us out and keep saying funny, interesting, and weird stuff. We know you can. —— Speaking of weird, in regards to the manhole fire post, Jeffrey has this to say about the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers in our city: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it thousand times: this city needs to launch a fire safety…
Oct 24, 2007
DCist Interview: Travis Morrison
Travis Morrison Hellfighters play Thursday night at the Rock & Roll Hotel as part of a benefit show for Survivors and Advocates of Empowerment, with Ra Ra Rasputin and Jukebox the Ghost (***). 8:30 p.m., $10 in advance, $12 at the door. You can read our review of Morrison’s latest album, All Y’all here What does the new album, All Y’all, mean to you? Well, it’s the first thing I did with this band. Travistan…
Oct 12, 2007
Sunset Rubdown @ Black Cat
There’s something inherently likable about about Spencer Krug. Just ask Wolf Parade bandmate Dan Boeckner who snidely referred to him as the guy that everybody likes. Although that was a clear barb, Boeckner has a point. Dante DeCaro, another fellow Wolf Parade member likes him enough to continue touring with Krug (under the moniker of opener Johnny & The Moon). Fellow Canadians Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes) and Dan Bejar (Destroyer) like him enough to work…
Sep 27, 2007
Three Stars: Georgie James
We were as surprised as anyone to discover we had never done a Three Stars feature on Georgie James. With a big, heralded entrance onto everyone’s radar last year fueled by lots of live shows and an EP that won the hearts of pop lovers throughout the city, they became one of D.C.’s premiere bands. The band is driven by Laura Burhenn and John Davis (formerly of Q and Not U), doing their best take…
Sep 26, 2007
DCist Interview: Gruff Rhys
England’s “Britpop” movement in the mid-1990s has proven to be one of the most enduring music trends of recent memory. Checking the local club listings will reveal all sorts of dance nights aligning themselves with “Cool Britannia,” Creation Records and the like. Not many of the bands from that time are still together and making music though. The two stewards of the movement, Blur and Oasis, continue to release records now and then, although…
Sep 07, 2007
The Passion of the Gibbs: Open Season, Open Letter
Dear Al Saunders: Please run the ball this year. Seriously, Al. In this, the Fourth Season of the Second Coming of Gibbs, you’ve got to run the ball! I realize that you got handed a crazy paycheck last year to be the steward of the offense, and on some level, I imagine that you had to go out there and prove you deserved it. After all, you didn’t want to be thought of the same…
Aug 29, 2007
Three Stars: The Beanstalk Library
When the advance promo single from The Beanstalk Library landed in our hands in the midst of that blinding heat wave in early August, it seemed perfectly timed. The one-two punch of “Elephantitis”, a rushing, gushing power-popper, and “Fake It”, with its requisite jangle and harmonies, was the perfect antidote to midsummer malaise. Now the proper full-length, America at Night, is finally out, and the band’s finally got the album they’ve been working on since…
Aug 08, 2007
Popcorn & Candy: Love & War
DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: Ballad of a Soldier The AFI’s great Janus Films retrospective continues, and there is probably no title on the schedule this writer is more eager to see on the big screen. Grigori Chukhrai’s 1959 classic takes a simple concept — the tale of a Russian soldier making his way home to see his mother during…