No, not together, although that would be kind of funny.

The Points—pictured here, covered in beer and spit—recently posted five new demos on their MySpace page. Three chords used to be all The Points could handle, but these scuzzy, blown out recordings prove that the band’s aesthetic has evolved a little bit over the last year. “Now I Want It” has at least six chords.

Also, The Points are playing Friday, Oct. 16th.
@ Quarry House Tavern

Is Antelope broken up? Hard to say for certain. It’s been a minute since the band’s full length LP, Reflector, came out and they haven’t performed a show in almost a year. Then again, Antelope (which includes City Paper contributor Justin Moyer) has never really been in a hurry. Reflector came out two years after the band’s last 7″ single. Not exactly a hot-on-the-heels-type situation.

Whatever the status of Antelope may be, singer/guitarist/drummer Bee Elvy has been keeping busy. He recently posted some new material to his Website. Three video clips find him chanting over some house music-inspired synth bleeps.

Perhaps you’ve heard there’s a lot of free shit going down this weekend. If you haven’t, well, there’s a lot of free shit going down this weekend. Most of it revolves around the Kia Soul Collective tour, which has set up shop in a warehouse at 3330 New York Ave. NE, with free parking as well as a free shuttle from Union Station. Wale performs in the space tonight at 7 p.m., with DJs Stereofaith, Reed Rothchild, and Chris Burns spinning from 4 p.m. Tomorrow night belongs to Dan Deacon, The Creepers, and Nouveau Riche DJs; the music starts at 8 p.m. And MGMT is headlining an 8 p.m. show Sunday night following DJ sets by DJ CA$$IDY and Dave Nada. To get tickets to this last concert, however, you have to test drive a Kia first, which you can do all weekend, if that’s your thing.

Read More “End-Of-The-Week Music News, Free Stuff Edition” »

“We’re trying to have fun right now and not make it too serious,” Travis “Cobruhhh” Jackson, the drummer of D.C.’s noisiest party punkers The Points said yesterday, discussing the pitfalls of long-distance rock ‘n’ roll — Jackson moved to Blacksburg, Va., not long ago, and his bandmate, guitarist and singer George “Geo” White, now lives in Chicago. The geographic disruption may mean more planning, fewer shows, and less spontaneity, but to hear Jackson tell it, the band’s hard-partying (and, more centrally, hard-drinking) ethos remains the same.

The Points dropped a new seven-inch single this week on Jackson’s own Windian Records (City Paper’s own Aaron Leitko recently reviewed the six-minute song “Shout” for Pitchfork), and Geo and Cobruhhh are celebrating tomorrow night at DC9. After the jump, my condensed interview with Jackson.

Read More ““We’re Alcoholics”: A Quick Q&A With The Points” »

Yeah, it’s kind of low budget, but the video’s alleyway setting and the slightly off-kilter lip-synching serve the band’s trashy vibe. The Points show up, they do some wall jumps, they clobber a trash can, they mug for the camera. Then (spoiler alert!) they drink a beer and the bass player shows off his grill. Sounds about right to me.

Video by Broken Square Media

Dan Deacon needs some interns says Pitchfork. He’s paying real cash money–$15 per hour to transcribe his latest compositions.

Dischord says remastered copies of Fugazi’s “7 Songs” EP are now available.

Gypsy Eyes need to update its news page. We know the label is hosting an inaugural-themed event at Comet. Just can’t find the details.

I’m really digging The Points.

Your Must Purchase: Sublime Frequencies has a another vinyl-only Tuareg guitar record out.

The Vinyl District revisits some classic Replacements tunes.

Truth be told, this Page Six Magazine item that ran back in November probably isn’t going to forever alter your perceptions of DC social cliques. Billed as “An Insider’s Guide to Washington”, the article lumps the entire local population into NW-centric groups of journalists, lobbyists, politicos, and hipsters.

Nonetheless, it’s blowing my mind–if only a little bit–by placing a mug shot of The Points‘ drummer Cobruh in direct juxtaposition to a photo of Senator Ted Kennedy. On one side we have the second longest serving member of the senate and an respected member of the Democratic Party. On the other, we have man who once described the bruises that he and his band mate suffered after being choked-out by a Virginia Beach bouncer by saying “It looked like we had hickies all over our necks.” Yet the layout of this article suggests that these two powerful men are the beloved representatives of their respective social circles and thus should be perceived as equals.

Congratulations to The Points on their rapid ascent of the DC social ladder.

That’s right. Check them out at the top of the page, sharing the limelight with quirky jazzbos The Bad Plus.

I’ll admit, the arts section of the New York Times isn’t the first place I turn when looking for the vanguard of loud and filthy rock music. For chrissake, they wouldn’t even print Pissed Jeans‘ name.
But New York Times critic Ben Ratliff had some genuinely kind words about The Points new album.

“Their record has poor sound quality, bad graphics and crooked typesetting, and it’s nearly perfect,” says Ratliff.

The Points are, of course, no strangers to adulation from the press–having been covered in The Washington Post, The Onion, and this very publication you are reading now.