The A-side, "Warble Factor," has one of those surging 4/4 rhythms (call it "the post-hardcore head-nod") and Ian MacKaye's quick-chop guitar playing is gratifyingly familiar. But Amy Farina's vocals are the show here: She's passionate and serious, befitting what seems to be a meditation on somebody's death. What's that line at the end? "Look at [...]
I reported last week that the Occupy D.C. encampment seems to have become something of a DIY space. It turns out it's a pretty good DIY space. Local acts Priests, Lenorable, and The Cornel West Theory some other groups gathered for a generator-powered show in McPherson Square, and attracted a pretty solid crowd [...]
Art Overload: Lenny Campello reviews the ongoing Artomatic Frederick, and offers a theory as to why critics—other than him, of course—are so quick to dismiss the entire enterprise. (Ahem.) Campello writes, "The real reason that most 'regular' critics don't like AOM is because they lack the formation and depth to see beyond what is hanging [...]
It's been five years since the last record from Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina's low-key punk-folk duo The Evens, and they're back on Nov. 21 with a new 7-inch on Dischord. The A-side is called "Warble Factor" and the B-side is "Timothy Wright." (Could the latter be about the late gospel singer? Cool.) According to [...]
Bureau of Awesome: WaPo's Megan Buerger hits up Saturday's Artisphere party, where she declares Volta Bureau's live debut a success. The group features local DJ-producers Will Eastman, Outputmessage, and Micah Vellian. Extra props to the vocals, courtesy of Outputmessage (aka Bernard Farley). Buerger writes: "Toward the beginning, Farley’s digitally teased voice was so soft — a [...]
At last, parenting advice from the post-hardcore scene! That's the gist we're getting from a new compilation from Rad Dad, a child-rearing zine that tries to "explore parenting as political territory." The new book, Rad Dad: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Fatherhood, contains anecdotes and advice from the likes of Ian MacKaye, Mark Andersen,Ta-Nehisi Coates, [...]
For last week's cover story, I talked to a lot of people about their experiences at Fort Reno. Henry Rollins was among them, offering a brief but honest recollection of his time watching The Evens play there. In his most recent column at LA Weekly, which is quite appropriately over-the-fucking-top, he recounts the last Fort [...]
“Hello, this is John Maus. Please listen to my new album on Spotify.” Direct and chipper, the in-house advertisement was nevertheless an ominous thing to hear between songs this week, a few days after the Minnesota electro-pop singer created an indie-rock controversy by telling Pitchfork he’s glad so many record stores “have little ‘closed’ signs on [...]
For this week's issue, I reported a lengthy oral history of the annual concert series at Fort Reno in Tenleytown. This summer's shows conclude tonight with sets from The Evens and Laughing Man.
For years, Fort Reno regulars have circulated rumors of a ban against go-go (and even hip-hop) at Fort Reno. Certainly, no one seems to [...]
Click Track says it's the "Year of the Fugazi Cover", now that TV on the Radio's brilliant live rendition of "Waiting Room" at last weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival is all over the Internet. (Full disclosure: Hearing the song's bass intro after battling the heat all day cheered me right up.) The year is barely past [...]
