Welcome to the Pitchforkast. Here, your friendly Pitchforkast team (YFPT) will attempt to predict the Pitchfork rating for albums that have not yet appeared on that Web site. Note: Ratings estimates are arrived at through expert guesswork.

TODAY: Liars, Sisterworld—leaked January 2010; out March 8

Holy dude do those Pitchforkers love their Liars. Ratingswise, Brooklyn’s finest rack up an Average Pitchfork Rating (APR) of 7.97—a solid pretty good that would be darn near very good if it wasn’t for that pesky pretty okay (6.3) the band got for its They Were Wrong so We Drowned. They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, Drum’s Not Dead, and Liars? Not a single one of those suckers came in under 8.1.

‘Course, as we all know, love for a recording does not guarantee one’s ability to write about it. Over the years, Pitchfork has collectively struggled to get a clear picture of just what it is that draws the publication to that band. Here, Jess Harvell’s metaphor-heavy treatment of the band’s last full-length release can stand in: “In essence, Liars is scorched-blacktop biker music played through the art-rock filter of a band that’s spent the last few years steeped in the bleak sounds of German new wave and early industrial.”

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This week, haterate spewed everywhere. The dudes behind Fan Death Records aren’t impressed with D.C.’s music—and they named names. Check out what they had to say, and the 100-plus comments—angry, amused, confused—that followed:

1. Fan Death Records to D.C. Bands: “Stop Sucking”
2. Twitter Adds Local Trending; D.C. Tweeting Skews Scatological
3. Arts Roundup: Michelle Rhee at Sundance Edition
4. New Songs for 2010: Free Music from Wale, XO, and Future Times
5. The State of the Union for D.C. Newspaper Cartoonists

The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet—really a sax quartet plus a drummer—brought its eclectic mix of jazz, world music, and the avant-garde to An Die Musik in Baltimore last night. The all-female group named after Billy Tipton, the biologically female saxophonist who spent his career and adult life identifying as male, played two sets of music far more whimsical and fun than what most might expect from an experimental jazz group.

More photos after the jump.

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Undoubtedly, two of the biggest names of the last decade’s indie rock and electronica were Spoon and Four Tet. In this week’s City Paper, our critics take a look at their new records and how each act is faring at the dawn of the 2010s.

Spoon’s Transference leaves Marc Hirsh underwhelmed:

Transference is larded with bits and scraps, which isn’t necessarily new—it’s practically all that 2002’s Kill the Moonlight was. Here, though, the scrappy pieces are presented as finished thoughts rather than experiments, and that’s where the trouble starts. “I Saw the Light” provides a keen demonstration: After a couple of minutes of a simplified glam shuffle, it tacks on an unrelated extended coda built around a repeated melody snippet played first on piano and then expanded to guitar. Like much of Transference, it’s a good idea in need of a song around it.

Mike Kanin has kinder words for Four Tet’s There Is Love in You:

And though this recording sometimes suggests a return to its producer’s more melodically expansive tendencies, it also features some of Hebden’s most well-crafted stabs at the minimalist techno he was always meant to create. Take “Love Cry,” the album’s lead single. After a minute-plus wombidillic intro—designed, it seems, to allow for easy turntable transition—the thing launches forward with a set of beats as clean and focused as anything Hebden has ever done. As it grooves forward, the track picks up momentum, first mixing in vocals—a Hebden first—and then a repetitive synth-bass line that calls to mind some of the better, odd-disco-rooted techno minimalism of recent years. With “Love Cry,” Hebden’s got himself an honest-to-God hit.

It’s hard to deny that Sean Gray and Christopher Berry have some bragging rights. In the last year their label, Fan Death, has put out a number of noisy 7-inches, 12-inches, and cassettes, including music by Drunkdriver, FNU Ronnies, and Ringo Deathstarr. In terms of productivity, they’ve outpaced just about every other D.C.-based label. More importantly, those records have made it out of their basement and into distro bins around the world. Last year the label’s annual concert series, DNA Test Fest, packed out the Velvet Lounge. But most of the bands they release and book reside in other cities—Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Austin. Turns out, there’s a reason for that.

Yesterday All Our Noise posted a mammoth three-part interview with Gray and Berry. Among the topics discussed: the label’s humble origins, why they moved this year’s DNA Test Fest to Baltimore, and how they came to release Clockcleaner’s Hawkwindesque, 15-minute cover of Negative Approach’s “Ready to Fight” (performed, of course, while opening for Negative Approach).

Also covered at length: The general suckiness of D.C. music. Gray and Berry let loose, calling out D.C. bands for their careerist attitudes, Brooklyn-centric touring schedules, and wimpy songs. Names are named.

Read More “Fan Death Records to D.C. Bands: “Stop Sucking”” »

A round-up of recently released vinyl records by D.C.-based labels and bands

Mingering Mike & The Big D: “There’s Nothing Wrong With You Baby Pts. 1&2″
The first ever vinyl release from enigmatic D.C. soul musician/artist Mingering Mike. Originally put to tape by Mike and his cousin, Big D, in a bedroom, “There’s Nothing Wrong With You Baby” is about as raw as you can get. The rhythm track is an afro pick slapped against a phone book. But the song’s soulful message–encouraging a young girl to be unique–rings through. Packaging comes as originally designed by Mike, way back in 1969. All proceeds benefit Mingering Mike. A hot debut, to be sure.

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Tomorrow, D.C.’s True Womanhood will finally release its debut EP, Basement Membranes, on the Baltimore-based label Environmental Aesthetics. Recorded in at least three different studios—Brooklyn’s Death By Audio, Magpie Cage, and at home in D.C.—over the course of a year, the EP’s six songs are caked with haunting sonic gloop. Guitars drone, drums pound, and samples are mangled into a kind of neo-goth fog that would make Tricky a little jealous. Gloom has always factored heavily into True Womanhood’s schtick—just check out the early mp3 paired up with this One Track Mind—but Basement Membranes’s trippy production takes things a step further.

Check out a preview of “Shadow People” here:

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For now, the release is digital only, but physical release via CD and vinyl is apparently forthcoming. True Womanhood performs Friday with Exit Clov at the Strathmore Mansion. Doors at 8 p.m. $10-$12.

Bloc Festival 2010: Your pals at Festival Watch like to keep you informed about things that don’t happen in this country. Maybe it’s ’cause we’re jealous that we can’t really afford to go to them—and are hoping that we can live vicariously through those of you who can.

Anyway. If there’s ever been a festival that we here at FW might just think about emptying the ole bank account for, it’d be this one, on England’s Atlantic coast. Salt-n-Pepa, Grandmaster Flash, Roots Manuva, Ellen Allien, Autechre, and about a billion more awesome electronic acts? Color us there. Maybe.

It happens over the weekend of March 12-14. It’ll cost you (and us?) between 140 and 150 quid (what is that, like 300 bucks?), lodging included. Airfare is, of course, extra.

Read More “Festival Watch: Bloc Fest, Chaos in Tejas, Fantasy Coachella” »

If you couldn’t tell already, we’re extremely pumped for tonight’s Sockets Records showcase at the Black Cat. In this week’s One Track Mind, Leor Galil talks to one of the groups playing tonight, Imperial China, about “Corrupting the Integrity of the Grid,” his favorite song on the trio’s upcoming album Phosphenes. He writes:

… the track doesn’t rest so much as it swells—with powerful post-punk hooks, a delirious disco-punk beat, and dynamic change-ups. Though worldless, the tune manages to speak volumes with a blistering pace and experimental tone that split the difference between Battles and Fugazi.

Hear the song, and learn why Imperial China gets so passionate about urban planning, here.

In honor of tonight’s Sockets Records showcase, All Our Noise recently hosted a live session for space-punk trio Buildings. The band performed two songs, “Tesselations” (see above) and “Tiny Mountains,” which you can find at the AON site.

Read More “Buildings on All Our Noise” »