I’m pretty much happy to ignore this year’s Grammys completely: Kokayi didn’t win, Stevie Wonder suffered the indignity of sharing a stage with the Jonas Brothers, and I won’t even get started on the bizarre Chris Brown/Rihanna incident that took place the night before the ceremony.

But there’s one moment of Sunday’s telecast that I just can’t get out of my head.

While accepting one of the skrillion Grammys that Coldplay nabbed, Chris Martin said, “We’re not, of course, the heaviest of rock bands, you may have noticed. We’re kind of the limestone of rock bands. Not as hard, but still charming.”

Gotta love the Brits and their self-deprecating “humour,” but c’mon-limestone isn’t exactly granite or anything, but isn’t it used in the construction of buildings? If Martin is going to try to be all cute and self-effacing, he should go all out: if he wants to compare his band to a soft rock, he should really reference the softest rock known to man.

But what rock would that be?

Because my science schoolin’ ended in the 10th grade, I turned to the Reston-based U.S. Geological Survey, our country’s foremost authority on minerals and rocks, and asked for help.

Read More “Science Supports Coldplay/Limestone Comparison” »

…but do you know about the supporting band for her current tour, Wildbirds & Peacedrums?

If not, you should – combining minimalist folk, Bjork-like caterwauling vocals, unusual instrumentation (lots of kalimba and whatever that stringed contraption is in the photo above), and insanely propulsive percussion, this duo were a pleasant if slightly misplaced surprise at Nordic Jazz 08 last year. At that show atop the House of Sweden, Wilbirds & Peacedrums opened for folksy jazz group Kristian Blak & Yggdrasil. That was a odd pairing; the pairing with Lykke Li, on the other hand, is downright inspired. Both are kind of spastic and mostly high-energy indie pop, but in completely different ways that I expect will complement rather than conflict with each other.

Unfortunately the show tomorrow at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue is sold out, but if you’re going, get there early enough to see the openers.

The Going Out Gurus broke the news that MCCXXIII (otherwise known as 1223) has closed it’s doors. The club’s owner claims a rent increase as the reason the decade-old Connecticut Ave. club is pulling the plug. This club was the cornerstone of what I think my sister likes to call “The Gaza Strip.” In other words, it’s dancefloor was wall-to-wall Eurotrash. And Michael Jordan.

The Gurus point out that: “MCCXXIII was one of Washington’s first pricey bottle-service clubs, and its upstairs VIP lounge, Spank, was the first local club to jump on the “reserve-a-bed” trend back in 2002.” Several years ago, we visited Spank while working on a piece about the basketball legend. The beds were in rough shape even then. There were rips!

As I linked above, Michael Jordan was a big fan of the place. It may have been the last club he visited before he left town.

Read More “MCCXXIII Dance Club Closes Its Doors” »

I just got back from the Green Inaugural Ball on Constitution Ave at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. I’m sure Darrow will have photos of this event soon. But I was thinking: I just saw Wyclef Jean. And I felt nothing. At one point in my life, Jean’s old band dominated every single house party I went to. Tonight, he looked kinda old slogging away with his bad Marleyisms. The dude wore a wife beater. He had a bumper sticker on his forehead. He’s got a gut. He phoned in a version of the national anthem. He used a flange pedal on the national anthem. When’s this guy going to get his own cruise ship?

Jean certainly worked the crowd (a couple hundred). But is it that hard to inspire a bunch of middle-aged gals who put paid $500 to get in? I counted only one lady doing some kinda hippie trance twirl thing in the back of the room. Just one. Is he pissed that will.i.am stole his schtick?

What made Jean’s performance tolerable was that you could chow down at the dessert tables and not feel guilty that you were missing anything. Let me tell you, the mini apple pie thingies with the cheese wedges on top really made the night. They were still warm by the time I got my mitts on them. And the fruit salad had just the right strawberry-to-melon-to-grapes ratio. The American Flag sugar cookies were a nice touch as well.

I still wonder is Wyclef the Phil Collins of hip-hop or the Kenny Rogers of hip-hop? I just thought of posting a clip of Rogers doing “The Gambler.” But I thought better of it. I’m going to try and forget I ever saw Wyclef Jean.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Richie Unterberger, who penned the books Turn! Turn! Turn!: The ’60s Folk-Rock Revolution, Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock’s Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock, and Unknown Legends of Rock’n'Roll, among others, will be chatting Monday night about his latest effort, a 400 page, detail-filled work called The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film, and showing rare films and playing rare recordings featured in the book. Unterberger’s book covers studio outtakes, BBC radio recordings from 1962-65, live concert performances, home demos, private tapes, and fan club Christmas recordings, and makes the case for why these recordings matter and which ones he would like to see get official releases.

I first came into contact with Unterberger when he was my editor at the now defunct indie rock, jazz, reggae and more music magazine Option. The California-based writer does extensive research for his published volumes, and writes in a straightforward, easy-to-read manner. Based on my conversations with him from way back when, along with his writing, I’d guess that tonight’s presentation will be detailed enough to please Fab Four fanatics and down-to-earth and honest enough for those who may only be familiar with the Liverpool lads greatest hits.

From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Library of Congress Mary Pickford Theater, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE. 202-707-5677. The event is free.

Old Man, Take a look at my list, mine’s a lot like yours is.

My list does indeed employ genre quotas and, yes, heavy metal does have an actionable case against me this year.

Statistical Breakdown
•6 downloaded albums, 4 physical versions
•7 Americans, 3 Internationals
•1 artist my Mom had heard of, although, to be fair, I didn’t ask about Fucked Up
•4 that I actually got paid to write about
•1 archival release on my list (my self-imposed limit, otherwise it’d be moldy oldie overload)

1. Love Is Overtaking Me, Arthur Russell (Audika)
• While I was familiar with his minimalist cello pieces and artsy disco tracks, this release revealed a completely different dimension to Russell’s body of work. These laid-back, countrified singer songwriter songs- imagine an avant garde Dan Fogelberg- show that Russell never completely left his Oskaloosa, IA hometown.

2. The Bake Sale, Cool Kids (Chocolate Industries)
• Hyped to hell, this EP was just asking for a premature backlash. However, I thought the easygoing, homemade sound (somewhere between the sparseness of Clipse and the juvenile hi-jinx of the Pharcyde) was too likeable to dismiss.

Read More “Justified and Ancient: David Dunlap Jr.’s Top Ten” »

May we suggest that you nerd out i.e. scan the list of new LP arrivals at Red Onion after the jump. Not on the list but just as fine as anything out there–two new titles from hot vinyl-only label Mississippi Records. Red Onion’s got both (a gospel comp. and a reissue of an obscure punk band you’ve never heard of but should).

Read More “New Arrivals @ Red Onion” »

“As you might know, I’m a debut artist,” said Sweden’s latest indie-pop export Lykke Li. “I only have ten songs.”

But those ten songs (plus a few covers) were more than enough to make a sold-out crowd at the Black Cat happy last night, although there was a definite sense after the hour-long set that fans wanted more. It was hard not to be charmed by Li’s performance, between her memorable tunes and rather uniquely spastic dance moves.

Seeing as how the crowd was a hip, blogger-friendly set, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a slew of words written on this show in the very near future, so I’ll just leave off with the photos.

Full photoset here.

I love George Michael. You don’t? Kiss my ass.

But the thing about George Michael is he’s a classic Greatest Hits artist. George Michael’s deep cuts aren’t gonna get anyone anywhere. The last George Michael Greatest Hits I bought is a two-disc job called Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael. George divided the disc into two parts: Disc 1 is “For the Heart”; Disc 2 is “For the Feet.” You know what I want? One disc “For the Car.”

Some artists are two-disc Greatest Hits artists. Queen, Zeppelin, Elton John…uh, I dunno, Rod?

George Michael is a one-disc-er. This is not a diss! So’s Abba, whose Abba Gold is probably the greatest Greatest Hits of all time! But just try to tell George that.

As evidence, I offer George Michael’s new Greatest Hits, called TwentyFive, which came out this past April over here, just in time to get us ready for George’s Greatest Hits tour of the States. It’s called TwentyFive Live. And just try to keep me away from it!

You won’t have as much trouble keeping me away from the six new songs on TwentyFive, whose discs are called “For Living” and “For Loving,” though. Obviously, George has passed the point where he has ANYONE around him who’ll break it to him that his best work will fit neatly on one disc, and that, “Outside” aside, an update on his Greatest Hits wasn’t exactly necessary. More evidence: His cover of “Feeling Good,” which, c’mon, Nina Simone has owned that for, like, ever. George! I’m telling you as a friend you’ve never met! 1) Enough with the Greatest Hitses, already; 2) The only person who can cover Nina Simone-owned songs is Rod Stewart, since his voice sounds exactly like hers now.

I’d be happy to provide the same service for Paul McCartney, if he’d listen.

For a few days, I was tasked with researching the life of Christopher Savage. Savage had moved to D.C. from Bakersfield, Calif. in the hopes of starting a new life. After five days in the District, he ended up dead. The cause of his death remains a mystery. His life is a different matter. He tended to wear his life on his sleeve. You can read the full story here.

But one thing that struck me–aside from everything else–about Savage was his dedication to being a punk rocker. He came here with three jean jackets emblazoned with shoutouts to his beloved Turbonegro. He also brought with him only one CD: a best-of Motorhead compilation. And for his new friends, a sack of Crass buttons.

Savage was 36. It’s just a long time to be a punk rocker. I don’t think this is so rare anymore. The Internet certainly helps. He lived on the Turbonegro fan message boards. And just about any band has some sort of forum for other fans to communicate with each other–trade bootlegs, merch, set lists, and just feel like they are a part of something. So few scenes feel like scenes anymore. Except on the Internet. Pitchfork makes a point about this today with its review of the new No Age record–a band very much rooted in a city and in an all-ages space.

Maybe with the music shake-up in Mount P, things could change here as well.