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MP3: Solar Powered Sun Destroyer – Ghost Light (Live on WMUC)

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MP3: Solar Powered Sun Destroyer – Intromission

Some of you may or may not remember me gushing a bit about SPSD when they opened for Appleseed Cast at Sonar a few weeks ago. Even more remarkable, and something I may have neglected to mention, is that the show was one of their first ones back after a massive line-up overhaul.

Seems even more people have hopped on the fan-wagon this week as, in anticipation of their show tonight at the Black Cat, DC blog DCist conducted one of their Three Stars spotlights on the fellas.  I’ve said pretty much all I desire to at this point, so go back and read that review and enjoy the above cuts (thanks to SPSD for kindly letting us host them).  I will likely gush a bit more when they open a phenomenal bill at the Talking Head on May 8 with Aural States regulars and Aural States Fest alums Caverns and a little band called FRODUS headlining.

If you are in DC tonight, do head over to the Black Cat Backstage, where SPSD will open for Tera Melos.  $10/doors @ 9PM.

Giveaway: we have 3 copies (CD) of the new album, paired with posters, to give to 3 lucky winners, courtesy of the fine folks at Thrill Jockey Records.  Just comment, leaving a contact email to join our kind-of monthly email list, and you could be randomly drawn on Friday!

Winners!

Katie

James

Petrnotail

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MP3: Double Dagger – The Lie/The Truth

Double Dagger are undoubtedly one of our fair city’s most brilliant and potent gems.  Combining the best parts of the music and arts scenes from around town, the talented trio bridge the oft-chasmic valleys separating the social circles of indie, hipsterism, art and hardcore punk roots in the town.  Their broad appeal is a testament to their talent and magnetism.  And with this latest album, they assert themselves as a constantly progressing entity that can be so much more than the tongue-in-cheek amalgamated genre they wittingly (and back-handedly) coined “graphic design-core” so many years ago, and have been straddled with ever since by the lazy music writers of the world. Read the rest…

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MP3: Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Doomsday

After many attempts to categorize the folk genre, I have found it impossible to pigeonhole such a broad spectrum of music. Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan may have paved the way for the male vocalist, but the breed of folk sound has evolved with popular taste.

In his first release since Ash Wednesday’s debut in 2007, Elvis Perkins released his sophomore album on March 10 2009, titled after his live band: Elvis Perkins in Dearland.  Although the record drops traces of indie folk rock influences, the singer-songwriter leaves plenty of room for the spoken word. His lyrics flow more in the form of poetry than verse-refrain, marinating in tender prose of allusion and symbolism:

Read the rest…

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MP3: Frenemies – Having Sex

Frenemies is the nom-de-guerre of one Chris Freeland, sound wizard behind a vast number of your aural experiences in and from this town, regularly working sound at the Talking Head and engineering any number of albums from local artists.  But when he’s not behind the EQ, he makes some pretty fantastic music of his own.  Look no further than his days as drummer for Baltimore legends Oxes.

His Frenemies project has been a bit infrequent lately, rarely playing out and sporadically dropping nuggets of goodness like mana from heaven to a privileged few.  A week or so ago, Chris dropped the Spring-beckoning track “Having Sex” on me and I haven’t been able to turn it off since.

The fantastically playful melody starts things off, simply tapped out on a Casio.  Collaborator Steve Hefter drops some baritone, sleepy vocals to set the mood perfectly as the entire track coasts along at a steady, lackadaisical pace, gliding along like a gentle, smooth breeze on a lazy sunny day.  Your head is swiftly lost in a haze that perfectly mimics that blissful bit of post-coital haze.  A special treat arrives when you find the supporting female harmonics are actually Jenn Wasner’s, her lush voice turning out a Francophone version of the chorus a little over a minute into the affair.  The particularly inspired inclusion of horns-and-hand-claps really gives the track a great, classic lounge feel that conjures nostalgic images of the classic crooners while mixing with the synth melody, closing out the track with gently fading harmonic reprisals of the refrain.

You would do yourself a disservice to not have this song on your spring/summer soundtrack.

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MP3: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey – Sean’s Song from Walking With Giants (2004)

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MP3: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey – Oklahoma Stomp from Winterwood (2009)

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MP3: Lafayette Gilchrist – New Jack from New Jack (2005)

I showed up late to the 8×10, but fortunately for me so did JFJO. Due to their typical punishing road schedule, the band was arriving from Brooklyn (where they returned the following day to record an EP) and ran into congestion caused by an accident. This pushed the evening a little later than usual, but the band was gracious, the audience forgiving and all was well.

The 2009 FJO lineup is great. I was a little skeptical that Brian Haas (keyboards) would find someone who  could replace Jason Smart, one of my all-time favorite Ohio drummers, but I was pleasantly surprised by the versatility and rhythmic dimensionality that Josh Raymer brought to the show. He can pull a lot of rabbits out of the trick bag, ranging from hip hop break beats to straight swing.

Having Matt Hayes on upright bass is a welcome addition over the trio, since it provided a constant bottom end that could free up Brian’s left hand to do more intricate comping. For a group that plays a lot of free jazz, it’s nice to have a bass player with less of a melodic role that can hold the song together while Brian Haas is tormenting his Fender Rhodes (at last count in 2006 he told me he had played thirteen electric pianos to death).

JFJO recently released their album Winterwood for for free download

As for Lafayette and the New Volcanoes…nothing sounds like a real piano, but I was let down by the thin sound of the Kurtzwiel electric piano Lafayette played all night.

Mahler's Ninth -- a Dance of Life

I thought I could walk away from three Sundays ago’s BSO performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and wash it all away with a little leftover Dom Perignon down at Sotta Sopra.

But I couldn’t. The Ninth haunts me. I’m walking down the street on a Tuesday, and suddenly, the first movement swells in my ears once again…flooding my brain. The very sidewalk under my feet seems to transform into an immaterial wave of string-song — I lose my bearings.

To quell the swoons, I’ve picked up a prescription: Lenny Berstein’s recording, as well as Mahler protégé Otto Klemperer’s take. But here’s where Marin Alsop started me off…

Read the rest…

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MP3: An Horse – Postcards

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MP3: Appleseed Cast – Marigold & Patchwork

Though the visual fireworks Wednesday night undoubtedly went to the Faint/Ladytron show, the aural ecstasy hit peak levels on the club stage of Sonar, where newly re-organized DC natives Solar Powered Sun Destroyer channeled a cinematic intensity reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, perfecting the scream and gradually overwhelming roar of the perpetual combustions that fuel a star. Much like a dying sun, their sound conjures images of faded power, gasping for a few last brilliant moments before exhaustion (mirrored by the sweat-drenched and spent bodies of the band at the close of the set). At times, they bore some similarity to early work from Thursday as lead-singer as he took a similar, hardcore-influenced approach to delivering vocals, oscillating between delicately vulnerable to explosively cathartic, always with spring-loaded tension ready to trigger.

Instrumentals waxed and waned similarly as each member was given a chance to shine, emerging from the swirling, heavy din of the group as a unique voice. Particularly impressive was the muscular power and robotic precision of Jimmy Rhodes’ drumming. It all coalesced together into something massive in the most physical sense. It was impossible not gravitate towards them if you were anywhere near their orbit.

The Aussie duo An Horse followed, upping the ante even more. Lead singer Kate Cooper’s Feist-like vocals nimbly punctuating some fantastically tight guitar and drum work. At first blush, their music is relatively simple and effective indie-pop (at least on record), but live it truly blooms into something bigger and better, something more infinitely more immediate and affecting.

Appleseed Cast emerged to bathe the room in intricately weaved aural goodness. Much like their two openers (but multiplied many-fold), the Appleseed Cast exude a gravitational force, a primal invitation to visit dwell and explore the deepest recesses and catacombs of the band member’s collective creative spirit.  If you are big on aural immersion, painted with broad strokes of post-rock, they are for you.  If not, your loss.

Appleseed Cast

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MP3: White Lies – Death

A few years ago, when I was just getting into “indie” (a term that remains definitionally ambiguous to this day), I went to my first non-Merriweather Post Pavilion concert at the 9:30 Club. I got all jazzed up and went with a friend of mine to DC, thinking we were the most “deck” kids around for going to an “indie” show in a big city. The lineup consisted of Louis XIV, Hot Hot Heat, and the headlining Editors, who seemed radically inventive to me at the time. Upon a casual re-listen, they play like a bunch of guys with reverb pedals and enough time to listen to college radio. The misguided person I was at that point in my life would hold onto White Lies’ To Lose My Life like he did to his copy of Is This It.

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The Faint

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MP3: MC Solaar – La Concubine De L’Hémoglobine from Prose Combat

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MP3: Gojira – Clone from Terra Incognita

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MP3: Katy Perry – Hot ‘N’ Cold (feat. Yelle)

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MP3: Plastic Bertrand – Le Petit Tortillard from An 1

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MP3: J.P.M. and Co – Plus jamais ça from Psychoses Freakoid 1963-1981

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MP3: Ludwig Von 88 – Baby from La révolution n’est pas un diner de gala

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MP3: Joseph Canteloube – Baïlèro from Chants d’Auvergne

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MP3: Edith Piaf – Padam…Padam…

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MP3: Daft Punk – Phoenix from Homework

So I’m heading off to Paris for a week of R&R.  Updates will be a tad sparse while I’m out.  But I figured I’d leave you with a smorgasbord of French flavors that span decades, styles and genres.

From the smooth, somnambulic flow of rapper MC Solaar, to the brutality of modern metalheads Gojira, and  punk  both modern (Ludwig Von 88) and early (Belgian Plastic Betrand). From doggedly cultish and eclectic offerings of classic outsider/weirdo producer Jean-Pierre Massiera and the oft-esoteric electronic superstars Daft Punk, to the painstaking collecting and arranging of French folksongs by Joseph Canteloube and plenty of mainstream offerings from the iconic Edith Piaf and to recent international star Yelle.  French artists provide some great offerings for musical canon.

A semaine prochaine!