Beach Slang made dozens of new BFFs in D.C. at last night’s performance.

Philadelphia’s Swearin’ and D.C. stalwarts Title Tracks and Beach Week warmed up the downstairs room at The Black Cat on yet another snow day.

While we appreciated Title Tracks‘ debut last year, it lacked the immediacy vital to fueling its anthemic power-pop. Their follow-up, In Blank, more than compensates with bounce to spare.

It Was Easy is probably the best title John Davis could have settled on for the debut recording from his newest project, Title Tracks. The album is a quick listen, full of breezy, light-hearted pop songs that recall the tempo, attitude and 1960s/70s influence of his most recent band, Georgie James. It also seems to describe the effortlessness with which these songs were written. Neither his skill in creating hooks nor his use of…

Photo by erin_m This was a good year for the Three Stars feature. We got to talk with a lot of up and coming local musical acts who specialize in a variety of styles. We foresee great things happening for acts like Pree and Laughing Man, and we even talked to now-Grammy nominee Christylez. Here, we recount some of our favorite moments from Three Stars interviews we conducted this year. The most interesting and…

In a year that saw its fair share of Springsteen-inspired punk, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists might be one of the few bands that can hold their own in such weighty lineage. If Springsteen mesmerizes tens of thousands as a workhorse of the arena, Leo’s gregarious charisma and sweat-drenched performances are entrenched in the glory of packed, low-lit clubs. Over the course of a marathon 20+ songs at the Black Cat on Thursday, Leo even…

John Davis of Title Tracks. Photo by Shervin Lainez / http://www.shervinfoto.com Within the same breath of announcing the dissolution of one-album wonder Georgie James in the summer of 2008, co-creator John Davis revealed that he already had another project underway. Over the past decade Davis had shown that he could do high-strung hyperkinetic rhythms (as the drummer of Q and Not U) and more polished and melodic power pop. His newest outfit, Title Tracks,…

Written by DCist Contributor Matthew Siblo In a year when the District’s summertime rituals were routinely threatened, the mere presence, however abbreviated, of the Fort Reno summer concert series was comfort in and of itself. As the series’ truncated six week calendar came to an all too abrupt finish on Thursday, it did so on an appropriately gorgeous evening with the eclectic pairing of The Grendel Babies, Casper Bangs, and Title Tracks. The Grendel Babies…