D.C.’s Black Eyes was one of those bands where you ended up collecting every song. The quintet didn’t record a lot of them, for one thing—fewer than 30 in the three years it existed. That, and the group’s chaotic, genre-hopping, paranoid post-hardcore was—and remains—utterly singular.

You can get a small sense of how that sound emerged at Hugh McElroy’s Ruffian Records Web site, which recently posted some free MP3s from two of McElroy’s pre-Black Eyes projects, A.K.A. Harlot #1 and Exaspirin, as well as a 1996 session McElroy engineered for New York art punk outfit the Vestpocket Psalm. While you’re there, you can also grab (for free) every song that Horses—McElroy’s 2004 band with Black Eyes members Dan Caldas and Mike Kanin—ever recorded, as well as Hume’s Wyfe EP.

Read More “Ruffian Records Posts Rare MP3s, Plans Releases with Sockets” »

Over the last 15 years, Kansas House, a tiny four-bedroom home in Arlington, has seen members of bands that recorded for almost every D.C. record label—Dischord, Teenbeat, Slowdime, Simple Machines—crash on its floors, perform in its living room, or be thoroughly revolted by its rat-infested basement.

Kansas House is not a club. Shows happen there once or twice a month. But the experience of seeing a show at Kansas House is different. At the Black Cat, for instance, you buy a ticket and see a band. But anyone who’s crammed into Kansas House’s tiny living room to watch Black Eyes, Q and Not U, or Trans Am could be forgiven for feeling  like they were part of a movement.

You can still feel that way, at least for a few more months. On Dec. 1, Kansas House’s epic run will finally come to an end. The building is in the process of being sold to an Arlington development firm. Eventually, the house will be demolished to make way for mixed-use development.

Read More “I Think We’re Not in Kansas House Anymore” »

Local DJ faves Jesse Tittsworth and Will Eastman and a group of partners are opening up their own space on U Street, the Going Out Gurus report at The Post. Expect the 250- to 300-capacity U Street Music Hall to open early next year at 1115 U St., formerly the Cue Bar. “The whole place is going to be a dance floor,” Eastman told the Gurus. “There will be a few booths and bar stools, but it’s a dance club. It’s for dancing, not sitting.” Eastman will still be hosting dance nights elsewhere though, like his popular Bliss night at the Black Cat.

From the Dept. of Ex-Washingtonians: Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, whose last two labels stopped releasing music, are now signed to Matador Records. And the dubby, noisy group Mi Ami—which, like Leo & Co., was on Touch & Go—has signed with Thrill Jockey. The San Francisco outfit includes two members of the disbanded Black Eyes.

Read More “Music News Roundup, No Sitting Edition” »

Dan Caldas and Hugh McElroy, formerly of DC’s Black Eyes, recently dropped in to Radio CPR to host an episode of “Dissonance.” They play some Dog Faced Hermans. Also some Huggy Bear. A few revealing Black Eyes anecdotes–the free jazz-era, mid-concert puking, the two-drummers epiphany–also get dropped and Caldas plays introduces some music by his new band Authorization. Anyway, you can stream it here.

Several old shows–The Andalusians, The Shirks, The Points–are also archived on the site.

Traditionally I wimp out during autumn. As surely as the leaves turn yellow my listening habits slip toward fey and mopey Englishmen—you know, Belle and Sebastian, The Zombies, The Clientele. It’s time to put on the knit scarf, to stand next to an empty soccer field and gaze wistfully into nowhere, to renew that SSRI prescription. Come over to my house, we can watch some Tony Richardson movies together.

But maybe not this year.

San Francisco’s Mi Ami, which includes former Black Eyes members Dan and Jacob, have just released a new 12-inch called “Ark of the Covenant.” You can buy it from the Dischord Web site. Suffice it to say, this is not a fey record and though I generally disdain terms like “banger,” “thumper,” and “heater,” they all apply here.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what the Dischord site says:
“Heavy and frantic dub punk from San Francisco’s Mi Ami, featuring Dan and Jacob of Dischord’s Black Eyes. A spacious exploration of 21st century paranoia and psycho-sexual body terror. “I don’t wanna live, I wish I was dead.” Debut release from Lovers Rock. Limited to 500 copies, 45rpm, 140 gram vinyl, hand screened covers.”

And if you still need convincing: