On Tuesday the Washington Area Music Association announced the nominees for the 26th annual Wammies, which take place Feb. 19 at the State Theatre. It’s no secret that I and others have long been critical of the local awards ceremony's mistakes, omissions, and policies. I'd hoped this year would be very different but, alas, I [...]
With so many new bands cropping up every day, there's bound to be some crossover in the name department. For example: There's a Boston pop-rock group called THE MEN, a Brooklyn noise-punk band called The Men, and an electronic project from Le Tigre's JD Samson called MEN. It can get pretty confusing.
Things got pretty confusing [...]
What better way to kick off a summer weekend than with a heady mix of post-rock, ephemeral doom, brutal crust metal, and, um, a 14-woman vocal choir?
Tonight's show at St. Stephen's Church is far from sweetness and light. Headlining the affair is Ilsa, a local metal-laced crust punk act (or, conversely, crust-punk infused metal [...]
Bob Mould moved to San Francisco in 2009, and did not release an album in 2010 (let alone one featuring him as an “electronica” vocalist) but that didn't stop him from winning two electronica Wammies at the 25th anniversary WAMA Awards show at the State Theatre in Falls Church Sunday night. Late Monday afternoon, the [...]
In 1994’s metal-head romp Airheads—in which the decidedly un-metal trio of Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi, and Brendan Fraser hijack a local radio station to promote their band— there's a memorable exchange with a suit from Capitol Records, played by Harold Ramis. Asked to name the victor of a wrestling match between Lemmy and God, Buscemi [...]
Jay Randall, frontman for grindcore act Agoraphobic Nosebleed, has opinions, and a blog to share them on. In mid-November, that blog got a new message affixed squarely at the top of the page. It reads:
Disclaimer notice: The ideas expressed on this site are solely the opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the [...]
Magrudergrind singer Avi Kulawy doesn’t want to talk about Scion, the Toyota brand that controversially released the group’s recent EP, Crusher. Kulawy would rather chat about the years his band spent toiling in D.C.’s underground music scene. He’d rather discuss how the trio brought its unique spin on grindcore—an aggressive sound that combines elements of [...]
My editor suggested in a post yesterday on the Wammies awards ceremony that I might want to add my two cents regarding this year's nominees, and he’s right. The slate of nominees for the 25th anniversary Wammies contains a familiar ratio of impressive choices, mind-boggling omissions, and troubling mistakes (2008-formed Baltimore band Mama's Black Sheep as “New [...]
HO HO WHO?: Jesu is Justin Broadrick's latest project, a name you might remember from his work in "I've seen kids in all black wearing that t-shirt" bands like Godflesh and Napalm Death. More post-rock than grindcore, Jesu has just released the digital-only Christmas EP, which he describes as being "inspired by the onset of [...]
The 44th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival came to a close yesterday. As I noted earlier, due to financial reasons, this was the smallest Folklife Fest ever, but it remains a well-curated, exciting event. It could be publicized better, but for those who did attend, there were unique things worth seeing.
I spent much of the final [...]
