No, not together, although that would be kind of funny.

The Points—pictured here, covered in beer and spit—recently posted five new demos on their MySpace page. Three chords used to be all The Points could handle, but these scuzzy, blown out recordings prove that the band’s aesthetic has evolved a little bit over the last year. “Now I Want It” has at least six chords.

Also, The Points are playing Friday, Oct. 16th.
@ Quarry House Tavern

Is Antelope broken up? Hard to say for certain. It’s been a minute since the band’s full length LP, Reflector, came out and they haven’t performed a show in almost a year. Then again, Antelope (which includes City Paper contributor Justin Moyer) has never really been in a hurry. Reflector came out two years after the band’s last 7″ single. Not exactly a hot-on-the-heels-type situation.

Whatever the status of Antelope may be, singer/guitarist/drummer Bee Elvy has been keeping busy. He recently posted some new material to his Website. Three video clips find him chanting over some house music-inspired synth bleeps.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: “IRM”
Having exhausted pop music’s reserve of rakish Euros—Jarvis Cocker, Air, Neil Hannon—on her last record, 5:55, Charlotte Gainsbourg has hopped over the pond and tapped Beck to produce her new one, IRM. Unsurprisingly, it’s weirder than her last. At least the title track—a Silver Apples-cribbing 2 minutes of metallic bonging and electronic squiggles—suggests that’s the case. “Leave my head to magnetize/ Tell me where the trouble lies,” she sings.

Michael Jackson: “This Is It”
The title track from Michael Jackson’s upcoming concert film, This Is It, basically gives fans what they wanted most of all: the Jackson of 20 years ago. Rumored to be a demo recorded during the sessions for either Off The Wall or Dangerous, the song has been posthumously polished a la “Free As A Bird”—adding syrupy strings, and maybe even a few extra Jackson bros to make it fully closing-credits-worthy.

On Fillmore: “Master Moon”
Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and Dazzling Killmen bassist Darin Gray—working together under the name On Fillmore—conjure up the ghosts of Martin Denny and Les Baxter on this exotica-tinged tune from the duo’s upcoming record, Extended Vacation. If Disneyland is looking for a fresh tune to blast through the Haunted Mansion’s PA, they may want to consider licensing this.

Lightning Bolt: “Flooded Chamber”
Lightning Bolt’s upcoming record Earthly Delights will be the duo’s first new release in four years. What have they been up to in the interim? “Flooded Chamber,” a track leaked from the album, suggests that drummer Brian Gibson and bassist Brian Chippendale were actually cryogenically frozen for most of that time, along with their zeal for repetition, blast beats, and distorted howls. In other words, not a lot has changed.

For more than a decade Kansas House has been on of the D.C. area’s most beloved D.I.Y. show spaces, hosting performances by bands like The Rapture, Q and Not U, Black Eyes, Love of Diagrams, Dismemberment Plan, and Golden, to name just a few. But in just 60 days the tiny corner house, located on 900 N Kansas St. in Arlington, will go silent forever.

“My house (Kansas House) just got sold and will eventually be destroyed,” wrote Collin Crowe, a tenant and a member of the band Buildings, in an e-mail announcing the end of the house’s existence. “We got a 60 days heads-up that we gotta move out by December 1.”

The property is reportedly in the process of being sold to a Virginia based development company.

Sampling the thought streams of D.C. musicians past and present.

The Jet Age:

-Our brand new album, “in ‘Love’”, is out on October 27! Keep your eyes peeled for ordering info and tour dates!: http://bit.ly/CeTKL

-Surprisingly underwhelmed by the new Revolver remaster. :( -E

Sockets:

-Vintage episodes of American Gladiator just aren’t doing it for me right now.

-New Sockets column FORGOTTEN VINYL. First download is a posi disco raga by Charanjit Singh! http://bit.ly/2MKvoQ

Edie Sedgwick:

-Speedy Gonzales on the phone…trying to get me a licensing deal. Gonna need a big advance if I’m gonna sign with a stereotype…

-Hanging with Rodney Dangerfield and Trotsky tonight. Trotsky really pissed that Dangerfield called Marx’s dialectical materialism “a farce.”

Travis Morrison:

-http://bit.ly/oj8Tr AND http://bit.ly/ZFB1v. Weird day for a Washingtonian.

-my bus driver hit a squirrel today and mumbled at it for the rest of the ride. You can’t just jump out in the road like that.

This morning, I broke the news that Jawbox would be reuniting on a late-night TV show to be named later. It got named! This all set off a flurry of Tweets and blog posts: who knew so many people were pining for mid-’90s posthardcore? “This is all rather funny, isn’t it?” Jawbox singer-guitarist J. Robbins wrote in an e-mail today. “We’ve been kicking the reunion idea around for a while, not particularly seriously, since we decided to do the ‘Sweetheart’ reissue,” he wrote.  “When the Fallon opportunity came up, I think everyone looked at it this way:
1. it can be sort of a “diet reunion” – any time we’ve discussed playing again, we all agree that we’d want to be as good a band as we were 12 years ago. But 12 years ago, we could afford total immersion: we all lived together, rehearsed 3 times a week for 4 hours at a stretch and toured 6 – 8 months out of the year. It’s much easier to imagine doing justice to one song for one day than it is to imagine pulling off a full set and tour, particularly with [drummer] Zach [Barocas] being in NY and with the family and work commitments that we have. Maybe this will adequately scratch the reunion itch for those of us who are feeling it.
2. it’s such a weird idea, such an unlikely opportunity, why wouldn’t we do it?”

As to a reunion beyond the confines of late-night television, Robbins wrote: “I don’t think that doing the Jimmy Fallon show would really be a likely catalyst for that sort of thing. Or would it? I think we are all just playing this by ear and we’ll see how much fun we have. But it’s still unlikely given our number one condition, which is not to suck if we got onto a real stage in a room with people who give a shit about seeing us play. I think we’re all a bit taken aback that anyone is paying attention.”

A few days before all this, I spoke with Robbins about the upcoming reissue of For Your Own Special Sweetheart, Jawbox’s 1994 major-label debut.

Read More “Jawbox’s J. Robbins on the For Your Own Special Sweetheart Reissue” »

Jawbox hasn’t played a show in years, but there’s a chance you’ll be able to catch the band in action soon. Well, so long as you can stay up late enough.

Sources close to the band say that Jawbox will reunite on a late-night TV show to coincide with the reissue of the band’s third and finest LP, For Your Own Special Sweetheart. This is not a prelude to a tour, the same people say. I spoke to J Robbins last week, and he didn’t mention anything about this, but he did admit that a few one-off shows weren’t totally outside the realm of possibility. “We’ve entertained the notion of playing some shows, but that’s as far as its gotten,” said Robbins. “It’s conceivable, but only remotely, that we could play some shows.”

But playing on somebody else’s show? Looks like that’s a little more of a possibility.

Update: According to Billboard, Jawbox will appear Dec. 8 on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”

“Savory” video after the jump:

Read More “Jawbox to Reunite on Late Night TV?” »

Vampire Weekend: “Horchata”
The singing crab from Disney’s The Little Mermaid is going to be pissed. His lawyers are probably on the phone with Vampire Weekend’s people right now, wondering why they failed to clear the use of his faux-Caribbean accent for “Horchata,” the kickoff track from the New York–based band’s upcoming LP, Contra. “You’d remember drinking horchata/You’d still enjoy it with your food on the side-ah,” sings Ezra Koenig. Are those marimbas in the background, or is somebody banging on a bed of clams?

Mocky & GZA: “Birds of a Feather”
It’s a bit of a stretch to call this song, assembled by Canadian producer Mocky, a collaboration. The rapper merely plops into the middle of the song, drops a single throwaway verse—a free-associative rant about birds—and abruptly vanishes. Plus, the tweeting birds and sunshiny jazz-pop seem a little out of character for the man who helped found Wu-Tang Clan.

Usher: “Papers”
Honestly, you’d think women would be a little more discreet when hanging out with Usher. The guy’s constantly blabbing about his deepest and darkest secrets. His breakout album was called Confessions, for God’s sake. Then again, it must be pretty hot to hear somebody like Usher sing your dirty business. “Papers,” the first song to leak from Usher’s new record, tentatively titled Raymond vs. Raymond, finds him giving everybody the skinny on his recent divorce. Apparently, it sucked. “At 10 I lost my mama/And I been through so much drama/And I turned into the man that I never thought I’d be/I’m ready to sign them papers,” he sings, presumably from his analysts’ couch.

Bear in Heaven: “Dust Cloud”
It’s hard to imagine how Brooklyn space-rock band Bear in Heaven can make it through a band practice without having a box of Dramamine on hand. “Dust Cloud,” from the group’s second full-length, Beast Rest Forth Mouth, surpasses mere wooziness and goes all the way to seasickness. Do not walk and chew gum and listen to this song at the same time.

Think of all the truly awesome things that Merge Records has accomplished in its 20-year existence. Not only has the label—founded in the late ’80s by Superchunk members Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan—released countless 7″ singles, LPs, and at least one boxed-set by myriad worthy artists, but they’ve pulled off a few truly improbable feats. Merge basically invented the tolerable use of brass in indie-rock. Before Neutral Milk Hotel, the best you could get was June of 44’s Fred Erskine playing balloon-on-scalp-style free jazz trumpet. The label also put out countless Lambchop records, even though Europeans were the only people who listened to them.

But most remarkably, Merge has grown into a widely successful record label in the most humble and respectable way possible—keeping their business personable, modest, and honest. Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, an oral history assembled by John Cook alongside Ballance and McCaughan, tells the label’s story through countless photographs, fliers, and extensive interviews. Washington City Paper recently spoke with McCaughan, who will be reading selections from the book tonight at Crooked Beat.

Q&A after the jump:
Read More “Merge Records’ Mac McCaughan @ Crooked Beat Tonight” »

Sweater rockers of the greater D.C. area, it’s time to start knitting! Slumberland has just announced a 20th anniversary concert at Black Cat.

Way back in 1989, when DC was still more of an all-hardcore-all-the-time kind of place, Slumberland Records took a chance and pressed its first 7″, What Kind of Heaven Do You Want, a compilation featuring DC-based indie-pop bands Velocity Girl, Black Tambourine, and Powder Burns. Since then the label has become one of the most beloved purveyors of twee and fuzzy music, releasing a slate of well-loved records by Stereolab, Rocketship, and, more recently, Crystal Stilts, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

The anniversary concert will feature performances by label artists both new (Crystal Stilts) and old (The Ropers, Nord Express). Lineup details after the jump.
Read More “Slumberland Announces 20th Anniversary Show @ Black Cat” »

So, you like Daniel Johnston’s music. And maybe you’ve glanced over the Waller, Texas-based outsider artist’s drawings—surreal folk-art interpretations of Superman and Casper the Friendly Ghost, along with other, harder-to-define images—and liked those, too. So how’s about getting lost in a three-dimensional labyrinth where his drawings spring to life and gyrate to  his greatest hits?

Last week Austin, Texas-based game company Dr. Fun Fun released Hi, How Are You, an iPhone game based on Johnston’s work. It’s pretty weird.

It’s also habit-forming: In terms of rock-nerd esoterica, Hi, How Are You beats the pants off of Brian Eno’s snoozy iPhone-based ambient music generator, Bloom.

Maybe some other outsider/folk artists, or their estates, should consider getting in on this as well. A couple of  recommendations:

Read More “Three More Outsider Artist iPhone Apps” »