Okkervil River’s densely lyrical, humanist brand of saloon rock attacks with a punk backbone and crescendos into high voltage, often thanks to baroque arrangements. Slowly perfected over seven albums, the stuff is instantly recognizable today as indie rock thanks to big-picture turning points in pop (Win Butler on the Grammys, Justin Vernon backing Kanye West, [...]
New York art punks Les Savy Fav have earned a reputation as one of the most unpredictable live bands around. Frontman Tim Harrington—all beard and belly—is known for kicking up a ruckus, so Ryan Little and I headed over to The Black Cat Saturday to see if its low ceiling could withstand Harrington's assaults.
Pre-Show Banter
Ryan Little: How many [...]
Earlier this week, WAMU's DCentric blog interviewed me about my story about punk and go-go shows. In that piece, I reported that it took Eckington residents a year to shut down a punk venue, and just a week to quash a go-go show, as WAMU's Anne Hoffman nicely summarizes it. And that conversation got me thinking: [...]
Would you believe a 30th anniversary concert organized by D.C.’s punk historian in the world’s most historically self-obsessed rock scene is not about nostalgia? That’s what Mark Andersen of Positive Force wants you to believe. In an interview with Arts Desk, he discussed the legacy of the Wilson Center, D.C.’s longtime punk institution, and the future [...]
On Monday, Brooklyn indie site Impose Magazine wrote up a little piece about a new band from Lawrence, Kan., that evokes the brightest days of the D.C. hardcore scene. "Anxiety," a fuzz-filled jam by newbie quartet Mouthbreathers, is actually a little more reminiscent of the early '80s West Coast hardcore sound, but the cover art [...]
Volcanoes are emo. So is Gilbert Arenas. Obama is emo, but that's OK, because Andrew Jackson was an emo president, too. Even critically acclaimed NBC comedy Community is emo*.
Emo, as a term, becomes more convoluted with every passing year, now barely containing anything of the dynamic, cathartic post-hardcore sound that erupted out of D.C. in [...]
HO HO WHO: Long Beach’s psychedelic punk band Crystal Antlers hold the dubious distinction of having its debut album, 2009’s Tentacles, be the last new release on famed Chicago indie Touch & Go. Label-less, the band spent a summer in Mexico for inspiration and the sunshine seems to have paid off: Crystal Antlers emerged [...]
Are you curious about rock music’s influence in Asia? This weekend offers a couple of examples, plus a rare visit from a Cuban band, a return visit from a soul music veteran, and more.
Friday September 24
Los Angeles band Dengue Fever has a Cambodian lead singer, Chhom Nimol, and instrumentalists in love with 1960s Khmer rock [...]
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 [...]
The label says Bodycop doesn't have any photos; here's a picture of Foreigner instead.
This is heavy, terrifying music, all sludgy White Zombie guitars and defiant no wave crassness. On "Don't Move," from the upcoming self-titled cassette by D.C.'s Bodycop, slow and dissonant guitars chug beneath sinister pitch-shifted vocals from some other dimension. The only discernible [...]
