John Davis’ new project, Title Tracks, makes some mean power pop, and it covers some, too. Davis, who played in the defunct Georgie James and Q & Not U, recently posted some quick-and-dirty demos to his MySpace: ”I Can’t Hide,” one of the catchiest teenage anthems by the influential ’70s band The Flamin’ Groovies, and “I Stand Accused,” a similarly themed ditty by the mostly forgotten British Invasion group The Merseybeats.

Davis’ band, which plays tonight at the Black Cat, occasionally covers both songs live. Davis wrote in an e-mail that he recorded the covers in his Brookland practice space with Michael Cotterman and Andrew Black, who play bass and drums in the band’s live incarnation (Davis plays every instrument in the studio).

“I think they were just songs that fit in with what we were doing overall,” Davis wrote. “We were actually playing that Flamin’ Groovies song on the final Georgie James tour in Europe last year (Michael and Andrew also played with me in GJ), so it was something we knew and just thought we’d bring back and do again.”

Read More “Hear (Groovy) Title Tracks Covers, See Title Tracks Tonight” »

DC’s BLDGS (pronounced Buildings, or so I hear) and The Andalusians will be performing tonight at Big Bear Cafe over in Bloomingdale, and I would encourage people to check it out, although I realize now that I can’t reliably say what it’s going to sound like.

I’ve dropped the ball on seeing BLDGS thus far, although I’ve had myriad opportunities to do so, so I can’t really say much about the band beyond mentioning that I enjoyed the trippy crescendo jams that are posted on its Myspace page. But they’ve been through a lot of guitarists, bassists, and singers lately–so really your guess is as good as mine.

As for The Andalusians, the ever shifting line-up of songwriter Basla Andolsun’s band makes it hard to accurately predict who’s going to show up beyond, well, Basla. It will probably be pretty punk though. I also remember conga drums being involved, somehow.

The Andalusians, BLDGS, The Caribbean, Kenny Hamilton
7:00pm – 10:00pm
Big Bear Cafe
1700 1st St NW

Show up on time!

Stephen L Ponce
http://www.myspace.com/kennybryanhamilton (Richmond)