Dream Theater – Fatal Tragedy

Dream Theater – Master of Puppets (Metallica Cover)

Darkest Hour – The Sadist Nation

Wooly Mammoth – Head Full of Collision

Mastodon – I am Ahab

Isn’t that heavy metal image hilarious?

The first two tracks come from progressive metal standard-bearers Dream Theater. Almost all of them students from the Berklee school, their instrumental prowess is awe-inspiring. Fatal Tragedy comes from their prog opus/concept album, 1999′s Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes from a Memory while the second track is a cover of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.” For a previous tour, Dream Theater played several “Evening with…” format shows where they played seminal albums from rock history, namely Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Metallica’s Master of Puppets, in their entirety.

DC locals follow with the bands Darkest Hour (lead track from their ridiculously good LP Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation) and Woolly Mammoth (channeling some classic metal ala Sabbath and a load of blues-inspired rock). Mastodon rounds out your 4-for set. Enjoy!

I have a crush on a little French fille named Yelle. This is both a musical crush and a physical one. Emotionally…not so sure. How do the French just get electro and synth so much better than us?

Check video after the jump. Here are some tracks off her upcoming LP Pop Up, to be released this week!

Yelle – A Cause Des Garçons

Yelle – Je Veux Te Voir

Yelle – 85a

Read the rest…

Check my show review at BYT.

Jeff the Taper was in the house as well and was kind enough to provide us with the entire live recording, exclusively.

Check after the jump for the tracks. Download MP3s of each song by clicking on the name or a ZIP file of the whole set by clicking the band name.

You can find the Death Set‘s set here.

Read the rest…

Check my show review at BYT.

Jeff the Taper was in the house as well and was kind enough to provide us with the entire live recording, exclusively.

Check after the jump for the tracks. Download MP3s of each song by clicking on the name or a ZIP file of the whole set by clicking the band name.

You can find Matt & Kim’s set here.

Read the rest…

Here’s a funky post-punk/new-wave/electro flavored Friday pep session. Check yo self before you wreck yo self.

MGMT – “Kids”

Polysics – “Buggie Techinica”

Q And Not U – “End the Washington Monument (blinks) Goodnight”

The Faint – “Posed to Death”

The Presets – “Are You The One”
————

You should get your ass to this show. It is guaranteed to be ridiculous. Friday morning be damned, live for Thursday night. It will likely sell out AND be sweaty as all get-out. Be prepared for a spazz-dance workout, you wacky kids! This could be the show of the week. I highly recommend you pick up Matt and Kim’s self-titled debut here and the Death Set’s latest release Worldwide here.

But for now, take these complimentary magical, musical pills and get pumped:

Matt and Kim:

Matt and Kim – “No More Long Years”

Matt and Kim – “Verbs Before Nouns”

The Death Set:


The Death Set – “Negative Thinking”

The Death Set – “Impossible” (Dan Deacon Remix)

Read the rest…

I walked into a fairly impressively packed Sunday night at the Ottobar. The last time I saw it this packed was for cult-legend Daniel Johnston a few weeks back. But the crowd was an altogether different variety. The sea of X’s made me a little wary of the band taking forever to sound-check on stage. Spring break was over, and it looks like this was the show that you had to be at to be in the know for homeroom tomorrow.
Photo of HEALTH, right|Flickr user HateMyWay

Read the rest…

New video from the kids in Thrushes in anticipation of their Heartbeats Remixed CD, coming out in May. Be sure to check em out, opening for Raveonettes this Friday at the Ottobar (info on flyer to the left).

While you’re at it, check out our interview with the band and an MP3 of “Trees” here!

Pete & the Pirates are a group of strapping young lads from the merry ol’ (Reading to be precise). And I stumbled upon them while checking Black Cab Sessions for a new update.

Suffice to say, I was wooed enough by their talented guitar rock (who would’ve thought some English kids could play catchy guitar rock…oh wait…). But there is a certain affable, kooky, cheek-pinchingly endearing aspect to it that almost makes me forget the bad experiences I’ve had with some of their peers’ more pretentious approaches to music.

Download these tracks and get swashbuckley with it:


Pete & the Pirates – “Bright Lights”

Pete & the Pirates – “Mr Understanding”

Pete & the Pirates – “Come On Feet”

Music videos after the jump
Read the rest…

DC sent some of its premier music-makers to Baltimore this past Saturday. Imperial China specialize in a decaying, spaced and fuzzed out, tribal brand of post-punk. Some apt comparisons have been thrown about to Battles. I would challenge that they are a sight more intense. They played a ferocious set that was highly percussive. At times having 2 members on drums, their lines created a sense of anticipation and foreboding. Both front-men doubled duty on guitar and bass, switching frequently. This fed into the chaotic feel of the music and was topped by the twitchy guitar and bass work, post-punk flavored and coming down like sheets of rain. The entire set was utterly haunting and senses-smashing. They have some great musical ideas and it will be exciting to see where they take things.

And now, onto Caverns.

What can I say. These guys are 2 for 2 in my book. They absolutely destroyed. Their songwriting possesses perfect control of pacing and packs a lot of guitar, drum and keyboard depth into digestible and cohesive tracks. Guitarist Kevin’s energy was through the roof, frequently thundering down off the stage to romp around the floor amidst the audience mid-song, ax flailing and wailing. He even chased off a pre-set heckler within the first minute of the first song. But when appropriate he pulled back in a stunning showcase of his ability to not only shred but inject serenity and nuance into his playing. “The family that slays together stays together” is probably the best example of this.

Patrick’s keyboard work was lush and immersive, but almost overpowering. In fact, the whole sound was pretty damned deafening (as has been commented on before by Jeff the Taper). But the songs even held up in the din of induced tinnitis. I would have liked more clarity from the guitar in the mix, but nothing could be done on Caverns’ end of this. It was hard to pick out the drums most of the time, but when they came through they seemed on point. The thing I really appreciated this go-around that I overlooked last time with Say Hi was the electronics by Ira. Asking to have all the lights cut out, I realized they lug around their own lighting. And it does a spectacular job of accenting the music and setting the mood, simply with the colors amber and white.

Spectacular set, personal highlight being “This are Syntax”. It was also nice to hear the title track off their newest album, “Silk Scorpion.” Talking to Kevin after the set, he said that Caverns will be in the studio and pre-production for the album for the next month or so, emerging to play again with Imperial China at Velvet Lounge at the beginning of May.

Thanks to both groups for coming up. Good luck to Caverns in the studio. We can’t wait to hear some new material.