Annie Clark of St. Vincent has two stage presences:  she is either wide-eyed, with an expressionless, impenetrable stare or releases her limbs into a musical collapse, swaying in unity with her guitar but being someplace else entirely. Her set Friday night at the Black Cat oscillated between these two energies, delicate stoicism and cathartic commotion.

Clark opened the set with "The Strangers," a track from the new St. Vincent record, Actor (4AD), released two weeks ago. The new songs are characteristically Annie Clark's, lush, poppy melodies fit inside moody and eerily enchanting structures. The songs pulsate with a chorus of her own voice and shake fists with fuzz-affected breakdowns. The album has more woodwind lilts and symphonic twirls than her last. She told Rolling Stone that in preparation for the album she watched Disney films like Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and Beauty and the Beast for inspiration. And indeed several of the tracks from Actor unwind like a whimsical fairy tale score.

Bringing some of the eclectic album sounds to the stage, She brought  McKenzie Smith, saxophone/flute and Paul Alexander, clarinet/violin, along for this tour. While not recreating the flood of otherworldly orchestral sound on Actor, Smith and Alexander added trills and guided melody to the otherwise minimal output.

High up in the set was "Marry Me," the self-titled track from her 2007 debut album on Beggars Banquet. She said the song was about "a syndicated television series that could find on your Fox listings," referring to the now defunct Arrested Development.

"So marry me, John/Marry me, John, I'll be so good to you," she wails in the chorus. "You won't realize I'm gone. You won't realize I'm gone."

For the encore she played a complete freaked-out version of "Your Lips are Red," which devolved into Annie thrashing on the ground, into a erratic noise bout. When the chaos faded, Alexander's violin emerged from the wreckage with a tuneful pickup. The resonant bass of the hook then kicked in and Annie transformed from guitar-shaking clamorer to hypnotizing songstress.

With the 2008 release of Ice Cream Spiritual!, Ponytail experienced a textbook case of Web-launched ascendancy: They've gotten plugs everywhere. But singer Molly Siegel's erratic pulsations and escapist chanting make the Baltimore foursome bigger than the Stereogum hype.

Along with drummer Jeremy Hyman's roto tom lightening speed shredding and the crafty, conversant guitar work of both Dustin Wong and Ken Seeno, Ponytail brought curious back-of-the-crowd dwellers up front and moved the Tenleytown spiritual basement to cathartic gyrations.

The no-stage floor setup was a good fit for Siegel, as she pushed through the arm-to-arm crowd and grabbed on to kids in the front row, almost as if she were christening them.

The songs transitioned with bouts of dizzying guitar loops and crescendoing delay bleeps. Siegel was laconic when she wasn't singing, saving her weeping/screaming non sequiturs for Ponytail's anthems.

The set was a part of American University's Capitol Punishment series, a semester-long group of free shows orchestrated by AU's student-run radio station, WVAU.

D.C.'s Mittenfields opened the night with Radiohead-influenced indie alt-pop (including a cover of "Bones") and the Screaming Females turned up the volume with one screaming female's howling vibrato and classic rock soloing. Instrumentally, the trio's stoner bass trilling and slow tempo pacing draws from late '60s Black Sabbath projects, but they break out of low-tempo with high-energy, in-your-face riot girl/poppy punk rock hooks. The band is currently on tour backing new LP, Power Move, and in May they'll play Big Bear Cafe.

Photos by Andrew Merrill

Wale, D.C.'s premier hip-hop wonder, leaked "Nightlife" today on his blog. The song is off his upcoming mixtape, Back to the Future, a collaboration with local rapper/producer 9th Wonder. It's slated to drop spring 2009. "Nightlife" features Philly's Young Chris of Young Gunz and gives a shout out to the 44th President.

I mack hard, set it off when on any song
My President is black, so is my credit card

Why were Ben Gibbard and his fellow Death Cabbers donning electric blue ribbons on their lapels at Sunday's Grammy Awards?  To launch a campaign against Kanye West's darling studio trick, of course.

Apparently Ben Gibbard hates Auto-Tune. You know, that plug-in tool that lets producers fix off-key vocal tracks. I don't know why Gibbard is treating this bit of recording technology like it's something new. Kanye might've Auto-Tuned the shit out of 808s & Heartbreak, but they probably should've started this campaign in 1988. Its sound is unquestionably prevalent in modern pop music (also called the T-Pain Effect), but when did Gibbard become the arbiter of musical purity?  And why has he co-opted the blue ribbon (against child abuse, anti-smoking, among others) as a symbol of his self-righteousness? Really, guys?

"Autotuning is a digital manipulation, a correction of a singer's voice that is affecting literally thousands of singers today and thousands of records that are coming out," frontman Ben Gibbard said.

He added: "We just want to raise awareness while we're here and try to bring back the blue note ... The note that's not so perfectly in pitch and just gives the recording some soul and some kind of real character. It's how people really sing."

In defense of  the robotic sound in 808s, Kayne wrote:

"...if you don't like autotune... too bad cause I love it and have been using it since The College Dropout!" Everything in moderation, Ye, that's all we ask."

Nick Harmer, Death Cab's bassist remarked:

"Otherwise, musicians of tomorrow will never practice," Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer said. "They will never try to be good, because yeah, you can do it just on the computer."

Gibbard doesn't need Auto-Tune because he doesn't sing. You don't need fancy studio tricks when your vocal tracks are like softly harmonized spoken word. He owes Kayne, T-Pain, and  Akon an apology. Because at least they're trying to belt out a few notes!

Thank god for Twitter. How else would bloggers find out the name and production stage of Grizzly Bear's new album if Ed Droste wasn't tweeting away the details?

However, bloggers (like those over at Stereogum) are getting the specifics muddled. It's true, according to Droste's Twitter update 40 minutes ago, that the title of the new album is Veckatimest (Vecka-what?). But they're fucking up the track listing. OneThirtyBPM contacted the band and reported that:

The tracklisting is false. The release date will be May 26th. The rest of the information of the album will [be] revealed soon.

Pitchfork noted that the album "somehow involves recording with a children's choir, as well your favorite band's favorite neoclassical composer Nico Muhly and, possibly, forever-sleepy Beach House singer Victoria Legrand." These are the only e-leaked details.

Until the band demystifies the blogosphere, here are three unreleased tracks that are slated to make Veckatimest's final cut. Via KCRW, Letterman, and All Points West.

Tosin Abasi cuts a dapper figure in his wardrobe of boutique high-fashion pieces and thrifted vintage finds. You'd never guess that this chic and modern man is the brainchild behind the ruthless instrumental shred project Animals as Leaders. Even many of Abasi's friends are unaware of his latest undertaking–this D.C. guitar virtuoso told City Paper he keeps his music and his social life separate. But it's gonna be hard to be demure when Abasi unleashes his towering guitar leads and brutal metal vamps tonight at DC9, along with Warship and Goblin Cock.

Washington City Paper: So tell me a little about this project.

Abasi: It’s an instrumental guitar-driven project that was born out of the ashes of my old band, Reflux. Prosthetic Records saw my guitar work live and asked me to cut a solo album. Initially I said no. I didn’t think I had room to do another project, and I thought it seemed egotistical and unnecessary. But there was a lot about Reflux that was far from my musical ideal. So when Reflux disbanded and I went to school for music, I saw a solo thing as a way to express my voice.

WCP: What does the name come from?

Abasi: It’s loosely derived from this book Ishmael. The author used this telepathic gorilla to kind of critique human culture. It’s like looking at the world from an animal’s perspective. The name is kind of like, a lot of what we do is completely removed from the fact that we’re all essentially animals. We have a niche on the planet and we have a role in sustainable sort of ecology. But we’ve gone against our natural calling. The name is acknowledging that we do have more of a natural role on the planet. It’s also like, who would follow an animal to do anything? I think of the name as being both nonsensical and really literal.

WCP: How did you record it? Do you play all the instruments?

Abasi: I recorded the album almost a year ago. I played all the bass and guitar tracks and I had an engineer, Misha Mansoor, program drums, synth drums, and all the glitchy sounds in the recording. There were actually no amps or mics involved in the recording. It was all plugged in.

WCP: Is your live drummer gonna be following the ridiculously fast fills and drum patterns you recorded?

Abasi: It’s funny because Misha had this dude, Matt Halpern, in mind when he was programming the drum tracks. He put it in kind of like the way Matt would play it. He learned all the stuff before we auditioned him, and he tackled it all really well. Our goal is to sound like the album cuts live, but with a bit more energy – and a little heavier, too.

WCP: What your favorite metal album right now?

Abasi: The Faceless just put an album called Planetary Duality. In my opinion, it’s the next step in metal evolution. It’s the kind of stuff that makes your hair stand up. It’s so rich and harmonically complex. It’s really interesting stuff and so aggressive.

WCP: How do you feel about Dream Theater?

Abasi: I mean, they’re like a multi-generational band. They were an influence for my prog taste. I’ve kind of passed what they're doing, but John Petrucci still shreds. You gotta give it up to them for putting prog on a whole new level. And they never had a single approach. Some of their songs sound like Pink Floyd or the Beatles. But they’re in their 40s now, and they kinda dropped their bomb some time ago. I’d say they’re now standing on the shoulders of giants.

WCP: Tell me about your day job.

Abasi: Right now, nothing. I was teaching guitar lessons at a few local studios and working in a coffee shop. But I got tired of teaching and the coffee shop – Mayorga – closed down. The band is eating up a good amount of my time. Right now I’m just trying to plan a tour and start doing the music thing seriously.

WCP: What do your friends think about Animals as Leaders?

Abasi: Well, nobody really knows about it. I mean, music doesn’t have much relevance in my social life. It was never important. Nobody I’m friends with is really into my kind of thing, so I never told them I used to tour for a living and have professional endorsements. It was kind of fun to never mention that part of myself. But now I’m playing music again. It’s back to the grind.

Electro-pop soul singer Lykki Li began her U.S. tour at the Sixth and I Historical Synagogue Saturday night. Her lascivious taunts and synth vibrations roused the crowd from pew-sitting to aisle-dancing.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums (below) opened the night with a minimal confluence of jazzy vocals and tribal drum beats, but the crowd was eager to see the headliner.

Equipped with a black cape and prima donna 'tude, Li (first name pronounced LICK-e) performed all the bangers from her debut LP, Youth Novels. She opened with "Dance, Dance, Dance" and chimed her mini bell with steady drumstick hits. As the energy picked up, so did the bodies, creating a makeshift dance floor in a space more conducive to Shabbat service than body grinding.

Li swayed on stage with a kind of staccato, robotic grace. She had a rock star presence that almost seemed too big to contain within the Synagogue's dome. When not breathily crooning into the mic, she was railing on a crash symbol or hyping the crowd with a back and forth hip-hop sensibility (she even managed to sample Lil Wayne midway through one song).

The sold-out crowd was enrapt with Li's charming Swedish eccentricity and adorable voice that sounds a decade younger than her 22 years. Her songs weren't straight studio cuts, either: "Complaint Department" had heavier kicks and deeper grooves than the album version and played out like a Euro house jam. "Window Blues" was more acoustically sophisticated, with Spanish guitar that sounded more distinguished and brooding live. Li led the audience in the song's French chorus, accentuating each word with a resonant drum thump.

The night was still young when the show ended, but Lykke Li gave the crowd some spirited dance pre-game and maybe even a few melodies that would be sung all the way to the next party.

More photos here.

Photos by Brandon Wu

The Dirty Projectors weren't in DC this New Years, but I followed them to Manhattan where they played an all-star show curated by Akron/Family. What better way to usher in 2009 than with Dave Longstreth's prowling stage presence and oscillating vibrato?

This was a special night for the Knitting Factory since it marked the last show at its TriBeCa location. The venue is slated to reopen in a smaller space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (hint: the venue's target audience are not Hasidic Jews). Most of the Manhattanites I talked to didn't sound too bummed, chiming that the move was almost inevitable since The Burg is the epicenter of all things hip and young. Hopefully The Dirty Projectors make a stop in our town soon. But here are some photos and an mp3 from the show to hold you over for now.

(Click on photos to view them in better quality)

Dirty Projectors – Rise Above (Live at Knitting Factory)

Canadian Nivek Ogre, the mastermind behind cult industrial icons Skinny Puppy, now performs under the moniker OhGR with former Skinny Puppy member Mark Walks. OhGR is like a darker, less explosive (literally) continuation of Skinny Puppy. If you donned green tights and black eye shadow to Skinny Puppy shows, you’ll be happy to know that you can keep the wardrobe and makeup. OhGR still maintains the jangling-rusted-chain-in-the-alleyway aesthetic that drove you out of your bedroom lair in the ‘80s. Check them out Sunday at Rock and Roll Hotel to promote their newest release, Devils in My Details.

OhGR took a few minutes with Black Plastic Bag to talk about the new album, industrial, and mainstream culture.

Is it hard for you to establish an independent voice for OhGR? Do you ever wish you could transcend the legacy of Skinny Puppy?

That’s what this project is about in a lot of ways. I try to dig back to the things I loved about Skinny Puppy while addressing my personal needs. You know, there’s such great expectations with Skinny Puppy. I’m always trying to fulfill that. The spectacle becomes dwarfed by today’s standards. It’s much more difficult to parlay a certain visual expectation, because in the ‘80s we could use high tech machines and pyrotechnics. Skinny Puppy was largely misinterpreted. Everyone thought we were that satanic Eskimos of the North, well, at least to most mainstream people, in pop culture. But Skinny Puppy was just a way for me to explore things that terrify my personally. OhGR is more of a fantasy world for myself. We still deal with dark concept. I always will explore dark projects and dig into embryonic dark channels.

Can you say anything about Devils in My Details?

It was therapeutic. It is one of my favorite projects of my entire career. It's definitely some of the my blackest material.

Your lyrics have sometimes been fiercely political on past projects. Where there any specific issues you sought to comment on for this album?

One of the strongest issues for me is the idea of outward appearances. it’s a two-fold condition. The outward appearance is an illusion of the inward manifestation. I think the biggest revelations I’ve had in my life were found living in the US. Especially the idea of freedom. I’m allowed to exist to support the premise of freedom in a country. At times I sometimes see myself as a shepherd to kids who could become dissident. I don’t know if I’m doing a service or a disservice.

How do you feel about industrial today, the scene, the music, its development?

I’m kind of far removed from it. The spirit of industrial music was lost quite a long time ago. The original idea for industrial music was just a category for abstract ideas and abstract music. The American embrace of industrial was an hybrid of industrial and metal. The idea of industrial music was, well, it didn’t matter what you used. Glass in your cupboard or a rat running across your floor. For me, OhgR is not a way to reinvent that idea, but just trying to be open to anything. I think industrial music became a fashion statement. You had to dress a certain way. The arpeggios had to sound the same. It kind of signed its own death. It didn’t allow itself to extend the way it was intended to.

Do you think the tone of your music is fitting for Washington? Do you think your live performances have more resonance in specific locales?

Yeah, to a certain degree. We were doing a theatric bit where I came out as a soilder and two hooded soldiers came up behind me. The soldiers decapitated me, and when they took of their hoods they were Bush and Cheney. We got called unpatriotic and anti-American. Ohio tried to stop us from using fake blood on stage. They said we couldn’t use fake blood because it’s sticky. I asked them what was in their drink mixers, and of course corn syrup was in them. Well, that’s all that was in our blood. We haven’t played Ohio since then. But I think Washington has a lot of malcontents, and that’s who we appeal to.

Finding words to describe Vampire Weekend seems futile, since they've become the A-list blog stars of 2008. But in case your Internet has been disconnected since January, Vampire Weekend is the project of four Columbia-educated Upper West Side turned Brooklynites who play intoxicating indie pop imbued with Afro-beat inspired soukous rhythms and melodies. The band's eponymous debut album was released in January and has become one of the most vibrant and refreshing albums of the year. They're playing tonight and tomorrow at 9:30 Club with The Teenagers. (Sorry, kids, both shows have been sold out for months, but there's still hope!).

Drummer Chris Tomson took a few questions from Black Plastic Bag before they electrify a sold out audience tonight.

Have you seen Twilight or Let the Right One In? What'd you think? If not, do you have a favorite vampire movie?

Unfortunately, I haven't seen either movie, although my roommate (the notorious Buddy Herms) did see Twilight. He described it as being "entertaining enough to not be upset as it takes your money." I've never been one for Vampire movies in general, but I would have to list The Lost Boys with Kiefer Sutherland as my all-time favorite.

Do the recent collaborations with Chromeo speak to the direction of Vampire Weekend's sound? More synth on the next album? Possible Discovery cameo?

I think that the Chromeo collaborations speak to how awesome they are rather than anything for our sound. It started with their remix of "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance," which we all felt took the song on a great new tangent. And then our jamboree-style live take of the same song really opened our eyes to the joys of live talkbox! Chromeo definitely does their own thing and does it extremely well, so we'll leave the synth-jams to them.

What's the best part about playing on Conan?

Meeting Conan! He was super nice, and it was very interesting to watch their read-throughs of potential monologue jokes. It made it clear that to be that consistently funny, you've got take it at least somewhat seriously.

Why do you think so many reviewers place importance on your alma mater? What do you wish they'd emphasize instead?

With the way that we dress and some of our lyrical directions, I can see why people would try to place a lot of importance on our collegiate background. Ultimately, though, it doesn't really bother us, and as our album has been around for a while now, that sort of thing has not been as prevalent. As long as reviews, whether positive of negative, are focused on the music that we've made, that's really all we can ask for.

Do you ever just want to thumb your nose at the preppy, hyper-literate mold and come out on stage in cut off shirts and combat boots?
What does hyper-literate mean? We all pretty much perform in what works for the situation. If its 100 degrees at Coachella, then I'll wear a sleeveless t-shirt and the appropriately short shorts. Or, if its mad muddy at Glastonbury, Ezra will come on in his Wellington rain boots. When any amount of people have paid money to see you, though, you kind of want to look nice, right?

What did you guys do last time you were in DC?
Well, our keyboardist Rostam is from DC, so his mother cooked us an incredible dinner and then we played at the Rock and Roll Hotel. After a solid night's sleep, we drove the minivan up to Philly for the next gig.

All time favorite DC band?

Off the top of my head I would say my favorite DC musicians are Henry Rollins and Rostam Batmanglij! After a quick wiki search, though, I would also like to add Duke Ellington and Marvin Gaye.