The Aislers Set

Slumberland Records, the locally formed label that has released some of the best, noisiest indie pop ever pressed to seven-inch, turned 20 this year, and it’s celebrating all weekend. Tonight’s show at the Black Cat features current Slumberland bands Crystal Stilts, Brown Recluse, Frankie and the Outs and Pants Yell!, as well as three reunited bands from the area, the Ropers, Lorelei, and Nord Express.

We asked some of the people involved with Slumberland over the years to share their favorite memories of the label. We ran some yesterday, and here are the rest:

Read More “Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm: 20 Slumberland Memories, Part 2″ »

Sweater rockers of the greater D.C. area, it’s time to start knitting! Slumberland has just announced a 20th anniversary concert at Black Cat.

Way back in 1989, when DC was still more of an all-hardcore-all-the-time kind of place, Slumberland Records took a chance and pressed its first 7″, What Kind of Heaven Do You Want, a compilation featuring DC-based indie-pop bands Velocity Girl, Black Tambourine, and Powder Burns. Since then the label has become one of the most beloved purveyors of twee and fuzzy music, releasing a slate of well-loved records by Stereolab, Rocketship, and, more recently, Crystal Stilts, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

The anniversary concert will feature performances by label artists both new (Crystal Stilts) and old (The Ropers, Nord Express). Lineup details after the jump.
Read More “Slumberland Announces 20th Anniversary Show @ Black Cat” »

Friday

• The Footprint in Hip Hop Tour: Method Man & Red Man, Ghostface Killah, Duo Live. 9:30 club. $35. All ages.
• Sophia Bass, Ruthi & the Tracers. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials. Birchmere. $25.
• Head Automatica, Cubic Zirconia. Black Cat. $15. All ages.
• Carol Bui Butterflies, Impossible Hair, US. Comet Ping Pong. All ages.
• The Mass Shivers, The Alphabet, Hello Babies, Greenland, Wild Fictions. D.C. Mini Gallery. $5. All ages.
• Abigail Williams, Goatwhore,  Daath, Abysmal Dawn, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky, Fallen Martyr, Nightmare Ritual. Jaxx. $12/$15. All ages.
• The Winter Sounds, Go Home Robot, Achtung Panda. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.
• Bob Dylan. Ripken Stadium. Call for price.
• Bonjour Ganesh!, Ghost Light, The Mean Ideas. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10. All ages.
• Project Natale (Fri. & Sat. shows). Twins Jazz. $15.
• Sunsets with a Soundtrack: The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band. West Steps U.S. Capitol. Free.
• Girl Loves Distortion, Trophy Wife, Three Lexington Arrows, Fangs Out. Velvet Lounge. $8. +21.
• National Symphony Orchestra: “The Wizard of Oz.” Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $20–$48.

Read More “Weekend Music Round-Up” »

Medications: When Medications performed at Fort Reno a few years back, I told drummer/bassist Chad Molter that I thought his band’s new songs sounded sort of like mid-’70s Fleetwood Mac, in a good way. I’m not sure he really liked hearing that, though. At any rate, when they played Friday, at this funky art-space/theater, the new songs were a bit more heavier and more progressive. So, maybe more like Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac?

Earthless w/ J Mascis: The San Diego-based psych-rock trio, augmented here by Dinosaur Jr guitarist J. Mascis, basically improvised a 30-minute space-rock crescendo that never stopped, it just got louder and louder.

Metallica: Metallica is pretty much the last of the superhuman mega-bands, at least in my opinion. Any personal obligations that they might have as grown men with families seem totally secondary to their lives as rock stars. Metallica will always go the extra mile for rock. Like, if you’re sick and dying and you love Metallica, I feel like there’s still a chance they would show up in your hospital room and surprise you with an autographed guitar. Not a lot of bands will do that anymore, certainly not a lot of the bands playing at SXSW. But the line was long–all the way around the block–so I skipped the show.
Read More “SXSW Recap: Friday” »

On Sunday night, Pop Cesspool and I walked over to DC9 to check out the Crystal Stilts show only to be faced with a flier on the door telling us that the band had canceled.

The Cesspool was miffed by the sudden no show. So he decided to e-mail the band. One Crystal Stilts member replied. Apparently, the band’s van had broken down.

Slumberland notes that there are more tour dates so maybe you can catch the band in….Lawrence, KS on the 23rd. Or Harrisburg on the 26th.

*photo of Crystal Stilts courtesy of highrize.

In a good way, indie rock got smaller in 2008.

D.C. rediscovered its love for vinyl (the story of the year is the resurgence of the mom-and-pop record store). A neighborhood—Mount Pleasant—stood up against anti-live-music NIMBYs. Even a local band or two seemed to surprise all of us (Deleted Scenes).

There’s a new underground, a real underground, working overtime in a group house in the District, and Iowa City, and every place in between. This new underground doesn’t have much of an Internet presence (no standard wiki page, packages sold via checks-in-the-mail). This underground has started releasing hand-made tapes (again). Its fuzzy folky CD-Rs were this year’s mix tapes.

Some of the year’s best music couldn’t be labeled. Some of the year’s best music couldn’t be found on Pitchfork. I wish I could have digested all of it. I wish I could have given a deeper listen to Wet Hair, Children’s Hospital, Kria Brekkan, Ducktails, Mark McGuire, and so on. But here’s my favorite indie releases of the year so far:

1. Ruby Suns: Sea Lion (Sub Pop)

In a year where everyone copied a bit from the New Zealand sound all over again—kiwi pop was almost as big as afropop as a selling point this year—the Ruby Suns are one of the few who didn’t fall for either the tribute to Paul Simon (Vampire Weekend) or plunder the Flying Nun catalog. Leader Ryan McPhun, a Californian who has made New Zealand his home for years, combines Afropop congas, ‘80s dance beats, and even a tribute to the Mojave Desert (now, well, a tribute to Mojave, some new Microsoft thing). It’s what Neutral Milk Hotel would sound like now. I wrote about the band’s live show at the Black Cat a while ago and filmed a bit of its performance.

Listen to “Tane Mahuta”

2. The Woods: Some Shame [Tour-Only Cassette]

Here is a band that scores zero mentions on Metacritic, has gotten no reviews on Pitchfork. They release cassettes, CD-Rs and limited runs of vinyl. They put so much stuff out, they seem like an empire. They are a band for message boards and word-of-mouth. None of this means anything except that these Brooklyn DIY tapeheads aspire to real-not-virtual audiences, not hegemony or to be heard on a Gossip Girls episode. The Woods produce music that actually feels personal, and maybe even truly free sounding. Listening to Some Shame is like what it felt like to discover Weed Forestin’: ­woozy psych, bursts of noise, secret knowledge. It’s a feel-good weirdness you decode only when you can’t sleep. (For me, that’s a lot of the time.)

Listen to “Military Madness”

3. Yoro Sidibe: Yoro Sidibe (Yaala Yaala)

A Towson professor, Jack Carneal, finds himself mesmerized by the plunky, preachy sounds of ancient Malian hunters music. So he seeks out the master. What he brings back is trance music, story songs for the dance floor whether centuries ago or right now. You’ll want to crank this up. I wrote about the record for the Post.

Listen to “Track 3″

Read More “Music 2008: Indie Rock Rediscovers The Joys Of Tape Hiss” »

Josh Harkavy, owner of the record/book store Red Onion, e-mailed me this: his favorite, or some of his favorite records of the year.

Josh explains: “This is by no means a top 11 list, just 11 albums I listened to a lot in 2008.
Let me know if you need more info or anything. I hope you don’t mind that I went to 11.”

We don’t mind at all.

Irma Thomas: Irma Thomas Sings (Mississippi Records)
While it’s tough to choose one favorite Mississippi Records release, this is probably the one I play the most, especially in the store. It seems that whenever this album starts up, somebody ends up buying it.

Cotton Jones Basket Ride: The River Strumming (St. Ives Records)
This is truly my favorite discovery of the year. 300 pressed and I am so happy that I own one. Funky, folky psych from Maryland. More people need to hear this album.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Primary Colours (Goner Records)
I know the lead singer kinda sounds just like Mark E. Smith from the Fall, but that’s ok.

Read More “Music 2008: Red Onion Goes To 11″ »

The Crystal Stilts‘ Alight of Night, which was recently released, is another great album for your winter walks. High on reverb, bitter-sweet melodies that recall the best of the C86 scene, the Shop Assistants, Velocity Girl, Flying Nun, etc, and those mopey, buried vocals. The Brooklyn-based band has such a good, assured sound. I’ve been listening to this record almost every morning while I have my coffee and read the news. It’s also great to walk around with.

The Stilts LP was put out by Slumberland….So we should just take a moment to give handclaps to the once-local label’s re-birth after years of non-existence. We’ve covered the label back in the day. Just listen to this soundclip and try not to feel nostalgic for winter in D.C. circa 1992! (Soundclip after the jump).

Read More “Crystal Stilts Will Soundtrack Your Winter” »