When we last interviewed the “loudest band in Brooklyn” in late 2007, A Place to Bury Strangers were just starting to feel the taste of an immense new buzz surrounding their self-titled release and their accompanying live show. A year and a half later, they’ve signed to Mute Records, finished recording album #2, and gained quite a following of people who like both hazy reverb-laden shoegaze and louder, heavier fare. They have only a…

Back in 2005 when Seattle-based quartet These Arms Are Snakes unleashed Oxeneers or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home onto the unsuspecting college radio airwaves, the executive staff at our college radio station came up with a drunken continuum, with “tipsy” on one end and “These Arms Are Snakes” at the other. Reason being, their live show provided a rather impressive interpretation of their high-energy studio recordings, but singer Steve Snere’s antics (which…

We’ve seen the guitar, piano, drums trio before in DC but Caverns take that combination into a territory so far removed from the tightly crafted pop songs or gritty garage rock that sounds a little more familiar. The intricate melodies of pianist Patrick Taylor and the dissonant shrieks from Kevin Hillard’s guitar make for strange bedfellows, but the somewhat harsh juxtaposition, especially when backed by drummer Ross Hurt is not only memorable but highly…

The local music community has come together several times over the past year and a half to support Callum Robbins, the son of local music mainstay J. Robbins and Janet Morgan. Cal was diagnosed with a genetic motor neuron disease called Type 1 SMA, or Spinal Muscular Atrophy. As explained on the DeSoto records page supporting Cal, The disease affects the brain’s ability to communicate with the voluntary muscles that are used for activities such…