Clik here to view.
Desert Music: Burning Man Confronts The Rising Beat
Noise complaints are not an issue you would expect to associate with Burning Man, the week-long, outsider arts festival that takes place in Nevada’s remote Black Rock Desert. But that is exactly what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
GEMS Is No Longer A D.C. Band, But We’ll Try Not To Hold That Against Them
Circa 2012, dream-pop duo GEMS sounded refreshing amid D.C.’s somewhat conservative indie-rock scene. Kill the One You Love With floaty songs like “Pegasus” and “Never Age,” University of Virginia...
View ArticleAnimal Collective To Drop An Album Recorded Live At 9:30 Club
In June 2013, big-deal experimental-pop band Animal Collective played a sold-out, three-night run at D.C.’s 9:30 Club. If you’re a fan who missed the gig, chill: The group is about to release a live...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Babe City Records: The D.C. Label That Started In A Basement And Moved Up To...
On a Saturday night, multicolored balloons bearing the image of cartoon character Tintin sail down from the balconies of D.C.’s 9:30 Club. Hours later, the balloons are still there, dancing among the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Inspiration Or Appropriation? Behind Music Copyright Lawsuits
Where do you draw the line between inspiration and appropriation when it comes to musical compositions? That question is at the heart of several high-profile court cases, including the recent “Blurred...
View ArticleWhy This Band Is Fighting For Its Right To Have An ‘Offensive’ Name
Simon Tam’s band is in a dispute. But it isn’t a battle of the bands. He’s fighting for his group’s name. In early October, Tam comes to Washington to embark on the next step in his prolonged legal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Smithsonian Acquires Collection Of Classic Hip-Hop Photos
More than 400 classic photographs of hip-hop artists including Foxy Brown, Lil’ Kim, T.I., Black Sheep and N.W.A.’s Eazy-E have been acquired by the National Museum of African American History and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photos Of Landmark Music Festival, A Rare Megaconcert In D.C.
Washington, D.C., doesn’t get a lot of major music festivals: It’s had to make do with smallish events out in the suburbs, including the Sweetlife Festival, the now-defunct Virgin Mobile FreeFest and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
If The Floor’s A-Rockin’, Just Keep A-Bouncin’
In a town known for “keeping it weird,” the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Ore., doesn’t immediately stand out. But it’s got plenty of character below the surface. The interior of this 100-year-old...
View ArticleFor Banned Books Week, A Playlist Of Provocative D.C. Music (And More)
This post has been updated. Nationwide this week is called Banned Books Week. At the D.C. Public Library, it’s called “Uncensored.” Banned Books Week was established in 1982 to raise awareness of books...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘No Suits. No Corporate Control.’ Remembering The Freeform Heyday Of WHFS 102.3
“WHFS in Bethesda, Maryland, coming to you from high atop the Triangle Towers. Ease on back, take your clothes off and have some wiiiine…” If you listened to D.C.-area radio station WHFS in the early...
View ArticleThe D.C. Music Salon Peels Back Layers Of D.C. Music History
Go-go clanging around the walls of D.C.’s historic Howard Theatre. Soul music and jazz, rising from this town’s hardest-knock neighborhoods. Working-class whites, long gone from D.C. proper, communing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Life And Death Of Tower Records, Revisited
These days, virtually every type of music imaginable is at our fingertips nearly anytime, anywhere. But for decades, getting that kind of access meant trekking to an actual store, where the store...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How D.C.’s Rock Scene Helped Save This Record Store From Oblivion
Navigating shifts in the music industry is tough enough on record-shop owners. It seems unfair they’d have to contend with so-called acts of God, too. But that was the burden foisted upon Martha Hull...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Teen Mom On Its Final Show — And That Controversial Name
Teen Mom doesn’t have much time to overthink its final days as a band. Guitarist and vocalist Chris Kelly is getting ready to move to Colorado, and there are cassettes to make and one last show to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Latest Vintage Craze In Music Isn’t Vinyl — It’s These Old-Fashioned...
Before smartphones, before voicemail, before the advent of answering machines, the easiest way to record your voice for a loved one was to step into a Voice-O-Graph booth. The Voice-O-Graph was a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
These Atlantans Are Invading D.C. Nightlife — And Maybe That’s A Good Thing
No bottle service. No dress code. No high door fee. Could it be the future of nightlife in D.C.? Ask the people behind promotions group WERC, and they might say it’s the present. That’s because the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
GoldLink’s Debut Album Is Here Early
One of the most promising artists out of the D.C. region, rapper GoldLink released his debut album today, the followup to 2014’s The God Complex. And After That, We Didn’t Talk arrives on Soulection a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Art Of The ‘Clean Version’
If you listen to music on the radio, chances are you’ll hear a lot of lyrics that don’t match the ones on the original album recordings. When songs get profanity, obscenity or references to drugs or...
View ArticleFred Armisen To Appear At Red Onion Records In D.C.
This post has been updated. Last month, Portlandia co-creator Fred Armisen reportedly sang the praises of D.C. label Dischord Records during a taping of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. A few years back,...
View Article
