Dominican bachata has led the Latin-music coverage in the mainstream news lately, but this weekend in the D.C. area, the theme is reggaeton, son, and duranguense.
Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Nengo Flow recently released a 17-song mixtape, Real G 4 Life Part 2. Heavily autotuned over fairly conventional beats, Nengo spits Spanish and Spanglish verses alongside fellow [...]
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 [...]
The Surf Club still has not permanently regained an entertainment license allowing it to present live music and sell booze in the same evening, but the club’s owner James Byrum announced on the club’s website Monday that tomorrow's tribute show to what would have been Buddy Holly’s 75th birthday (the rock pioneer was born Sept. 7) [...]
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, who are at Artisphere tonight, are a Cajun band. But they’re more than that. Formed in 1988, this French-singing Louisiana group, led by singer/accordionist Riley and fiddle player David Greely, started out by covering obscure Cajun two-step numbers and waltzes with energy and precision. But beginning with their 1995 [...]
The Kennedy Center’s Maximum India Festival opens today with just one performance, a free U. Shrinivas concert from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the Millennium Stage, but over the next 20 days it will feature 73 events involving music, dance, theater, literature, comedy, visual art, cuisine, and film. While the celebration may not include [...]
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 [...]
Editor's note: We would've had this up yesterday, but due to an apocalyptic spike in traffic, uploading this many photos was impossible. Apologies!
Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, brought his laptop, his mashed-up songs, and his crowd props to the sold out 9:30 Club Tuesday. More of a massive performance-art piece than a concert, this traveling [...]
Pianist Terry Adams is best known as a founder of the polymath rock and pop band NRBQ, which existed in various incarnations from 1966 to 2004 (and which received plenty of local radio play here in the '80s courtesy of Weasel on WHFS). Tomorrow, the now 62-year-old (and still wacky) Massachusetts-based keyboardist and his current [...]
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 [...]
How bad is the drummer shortage in D.C.?
So bad that when one percussionist leaves, three bands call it quits. At least, that was the case when Greg Gendron decamped for Japan last March. His departure spelled the end for Lejeune, The Courtesans, and Secret Pop Band—three long-running groups that regularly played at the Black Cat [...]
