Earlier this year, Bluebrain member Hays Holladay decided to shut down Iguazu Sound, the Arlington recording studio he'd operated since 2010. Before he locked up for the last time, Holladay put out a call to local bands interested in recording a single song in three hours. "The goal is to come up with unexpected results utilizing all [...]

Given Bluebrain's proclivity for free one-off events, no one would ever accuse the experimental-pop duo of not giving back. But members Hays and Ryan Holladay also have day jobs, the kind that pay—which is, you know, kind of important when you give away much of your art gratis.
This month, however, Hays will be handing out some [...]

2011 was the year that Bluebrain, thanks to its much-buzzed album-app projects, became one of D.C.'s most notable musical exports, but you could say that everything started for the band with a more primitive technology: the boombox. In September 2009, the experimental pop group inaugurated its intriguing series of one-off musical experiments with "Cakeblood," a [...]

For the second time this year, D.C. experimental-pop duo Bluebrain has released a "location-aware album"—an app that uses the iPhone's GPS function to create a dynamic work of music that changes as you walk around a predetermined space. Back in March, the band created music for the National Mall. The app released today, Listen to [...]

Hays Holladay, one-half of  electro-pop wunderkinds Bluebrain, released his first solo album, Life Swap, as a free download today. The eight-track LP, which Holladay began recording last year between various Bluebrain projects, is mellower and maybe a bit more sprawling than Bluebrain's output. Holladay's blend of synths, drum machines, and looping software have created a [...]

If you didn't see it, Washington City Paper is now a-tumblin'. Why should you care? Well, for starters, I'll be posting an mp3 by a local act on our Tumblr every weekday. Some you'll recognize from our site, like Hays Holladay's "It's a Boy" from yesterday, and a hot Munchi track from the day before. [...]

Aaron Leitko leads off this week's arts section with his look back at the making of Emergency & I, The Dismemberment Plan's classic, recently reissued 1999 album. Ryan Little reviews the debut album of D.C.'s Laughing Man, while Steve Kolowich checks out the latest Decemberists full-length. In theater, Trey Graham reviews Studio Theatre's Marcus; or [...]