Cataract Camp’s debut album is some of the most hyperactive rock D.C. has heard in some time—sort of like Black Eyes taking on the skewed pop songs of The Dismemberment Plan at a college house party. But Sing Rain doesn't mark the revival of D.C. spazz rock but perhaps the last gasp of it. Cataract [...]
Remember the Rare Essence 7-inch mentioned on Arts Desk yesterday? Adams Morgan vintage shop Joint Custody is giving away copies of a single by the classic go-go band for free, as part of its Record Store Day happenings tomorrow.
"It is just stock copies of an old Rare Essence release," writes co-owner James Ritter in an e-mail. [...]
You should visit some local music shops this Saturday, the sixth annual Record Store Day. Then again, you probably should visit a record store every weekend.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves: Record Store Day began in 2007 as a celebration of brick-and-mortar shops hoping to inspire physical trips with exclusive limited releases. This year, there'll [...]
One of cinema’s great modern innovators doesn’t have a single Hollywood film credit. That’s because Hideo Kojima works in the video game industry. Kojima, whose best known as the creator of the Metal Gear franchise, grew up aspiring to be a movie director, but wound up designing video games for Konami. The influence of film is clear [...]
In the tradition of Frida Kahlo and husband Diego Rivera, the Mexican Institute of Sound hopes to spark a discussion with its next work of art. The cumbia-playing electronic music act will release a new album, Politico, this summer. The record is a reaction to the current political climate of Mexico, according to band leader [...]
Despite the headlines, Dive is not an after-thought for Zachary Cole Smith, who's also a member of Beach Fossils. “Beach Fossils is not really my band at all,” the singer-songwriter says. “Everybody’s like, ‘Beach Fossils side project!’ and stuff. But Beach Fossils has nothing to do with me at all. I just play in the [...]
If it’s possible for the already out-there Prince Rama to take a left turn, the Brooklyn psychedelic outfit has managed it with Utopia = No Person. While the group is known for its Sanskrit vocals and tribal drum patterns, its new EP—out on Not Not Fun Records—includes dabbles in something even more alien to art poppers: exercise. [...]
Out for Good tells the story of Eddie B. Ellis Jr., a Prince George's County resident who spent 15 years in jail for manslaughter. Now in his 30s—he was convicted in his teens—Ellis works with recently released convicts (called “homecomers”) to help them readjust to life outside the prison system. Nico Colombant's [...]
Gerald Poulsen, who under the pseudonym Jerry Gray DJed bluegrass and Western music on WAMU-FM for nearly three decades, passed away last Thursday at 78. He died of complications from a 1989 heart transplant, according to his son, Mark Poulsen.
Until 2001, Poulsen spun well-known and rare selections on two programs on WAMU: He co-hosted the [...]
