In the District, Aaron Thompson has made a small name for himself recording emotional, indoor-kid laptop folk, but over the last year—during which time he moved to New York City—the singer has stepped more and more outside. His strong 2010 full-length and instrumental commissions were mostly delicate and womblike, with lots of glitchy ambience gurgling [...]
It would be hard to find a documentary more cinematic than Revenge of the Electric Car. Framed as a thriller, following the personal struggles of four charismatic men and their automotive creations, its scenes of corporate deliberations are shot with such intimacy that it’s hard to believe they weren’t scripted and staged. Through an astonishing level [...]
You might ask yourself, "Is there a spiritual component to Far Out vs. Hot Dang?" The answer is no. You might note to yourself, "in a cosmological sense, the use of the words 'far' and 'hot' creates a mild paradox." You might be right. And y'know what, D.C.? We're glad you're thinking about us all [...]
We're back, and we are obviously not refreshed. Because, really, look at the Hot Dang side of this week's Far Out vs. Hot Dang. There's a lot of disappointment there. This whole "serotonin levels" thing is a bitch. Or maybe we're just reflecting the zeitgeist? Maybe we're totally healthy and society is sick? Where's the [...]
The latest Hume release contains five songs, stretches to 40 minutes, and is a gorgeous document of melty, psyched-out indie prog. It's also one of my favorite things to come out of D.C. all year. And now it can be yours! Sockets Records just put copies up for sale online, and also posted some shots [...]
“Do not. Remove. The matchbox.”
That was the advice Aaron Leitko, Hugh McElroy, and Sean Peoples received five years ago when they bought their white, nearly windowless 1995 Ford Econoline 150—a hulking, utilitarian shell of a vehicle that had spent much of its previous decade hauling some of D.C.’s most tour-hardened indie-rock outfits across the country.
Here’s [...]
On Friday night, Sockets Records will celebrate its fifth anniversary on the mainstage at Black Cat with a five-band bill featuring Hume, Imperial China, Big Gold Belt, Buildings, and the Cornel West Theory. It will be quite the local-music blowout.
But getting to this point took a lot of work. No, really, it took a lot [...]
There's more to life than gigs.
A handful of area musicians are keeping that notion in mind this weekend, stepping outside their comfort zones for collaborative, one-night-only performances. There's Zomes, the drone-y project of Lungfish's Asa Osborne, which performs tonight at the Writer's Center in Bethesda as part of the ongoing Story/Stereo series. For the performance, [...]
While gathering info for my piece "Beats Working" (featured in this week's 2008 Music and Arts in Review issue), I spoke with several DJs and promoters who had very interesting things to say, though space constraints prevented their quotes from making the print. Good thing we've got this spacious Internet to stretch out in.
Over the [...]
Sean Peoples, founder/czar of the SocketsCDR label, dropped us an email to answer questions and to dish about Little Women, Sonic Circuits, and "hip-hop from the future."
This past year was busy. I can't think of much by way of disappointments, but the following stood out and really made 2008 for me:
Dmerit is a DJ/production duo [...]
