The Cutters release debut album, ram knife through D.C.'s heart.

D.C. punk band The Points defiled serious punk rock in the nation's capital. Frontman Geo (George White) spat beer on his audience. He wrote hooky songs about girls, and how they suck. Following years of Dischord rock music built on questioning the rules—about society, social strata, and sincere things like that—The Points declared a ban on the rules of punk rock.  (Quite directly, in the song "Rock n Roll, No Rules.")

Now, White has a new band based in Houston, Texas, where punk doesn't really need his help. Nevertheless, White, who still lives in D.C., should be commended for his message control. On their new eight-song release on Sinkhole Texas, The Cutters—White's fivesome including members of Talk Sick Brats, Cop Warmth, and others—stick to the basics: chicks, shit that sucks, drugs, and apathy.  It's an ass-kicking debut, and available, naturally, through Dischord distro.

DOWNLOAD: The Cutters – "Make It Up to You"

How anyone keeps a new record label afloat in 2010 is beyond me, but the former drummer of the recently disbanded The Points, Travis Jackson, seems to be doing it right. Windian Records hones in on no-bullshit, party-loving punk and keeps pressing small runs of high-caliber wax for their lo-fi rock and roll. Today, five new singles hit the shelves, and if you joined the label's new subscription series, you're getting the tracks on very limited colored vinyl. No doubt it's a niche market, but Windian sure knows how to make their 7-inch collectors feel special.

This batch features new music from D.C.'s Maybe, Babyn along with M.O.T.O. from Chicago, San Diegans Jungle Fever, Lover!, and Superdestroyers from New Orleans. They're all strong tracks, but the most ferocious of the bunch has got to be Jungle Fever's "Cryin' Blood." Clocking in at just over one minute, the female-fronted trio gets in and out in record time and doesn't bother with bridges. The verse-chorus-verse-chorus attack relies on conviction, confidence, and sheer velocity, none of which are in short supply. Preview the track below and head over to Windian to pick up a copy and join the singles club.

LISTEN: Jungle Fever – Cryin' Blood

THANKS FOR THE GOOD TIME. OVER AND WAY OUT. THE POINTS.

YEAH, WE BROKE UP. THERE ARE NO PLANS FOR ANOTHER POINTS ALBUM. WE ARE MOVING ON TO OTHER PROJECTS.

More as I hear it, but this is truly a bummer. The group had been scheduled to play a Halloween show at DC9—which, clearly, won't be happening anyway. As of this summer, the group was making progress on its second album. If you don't own the first, you should probably make that happen. The group also released a 7-inch on Jackson's Windian Records last year.

UPDATE | 11:10 a.m.: A bit more from Jackson:

IT WAS JUST TIME. FIVE YEARS OF PEAKS AND VALLEYS...MOSTLY VALLEYS. IT SUCKS, WE LOVED THAT BAND, BUT ITS JUST DONE. PARTIED OUT. I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GOOD TIME.

WINDIAN RECORDS IS ALL I DO. 5 NEW SINGLES OUT NOVEMBER 30TH AND OUR FIRST LP OUT IN MARCH. I ALSO HAVE A BAND IVE BEEN WORKING ON CALLED SOCIAL PROBLEMS. IM NOT SURE WHAT [frontman] GEO IS DOING, I WAS TOLD HE IS MOVING SOMEWHERE TO RECORD A SOLO ALBUM. DANNY QUIT THE BAND A FEW WEEKS AGO, AND I HAVENT REALLY HEARD FROM HIM, SO I HAVE NO IDEA.

Most appropriate YouTube clip after the jump:

If anyone refuses to be pushed around, it's Iggy Pop. With "Raw Power," Iggy's heroin-propelled middle finger extends as far as ever, and The Stooges hold it down behind him.

Henry Rollins knows what you're feeling, and he's pissed, too. In fact, if anyone has ever been  anger incarnate, it's him. Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown" ought to sum up your concerns.

Before you light that match to take the whole building out (maybe you saw Office Space one too many times), consider letting D.C.'s The Points take it down for you. "Rock N Roll No Rules" has enough unbridled punk rock fervor to set the whole place on fire. See for yourself at The Velvet Lounge on Friday, but leave the gasoline at home.

The DJs confirmed at the moment are a less high-profile bunch than the last (which included Ian MacKaye, Geologist, and Kid Congo Powers), but it's still a pretty exciting lineup: Fort Knox 5, DJ Dredd, Alec MacKaye, COBRUHHH (of the Points), and music scribe John Foster.

Located in Blagden Alley, the Shaw warehouse—a home to skateboarding as well as art shows, live music, and parties—will host its final show this Saturday with performances by Cloak/Dagger, Maybe, Baby, Ambition Burning, and local party-punk mainstays the Points, the venue's longtime house band.

"It’s more or less politics," says Travis Jackson, the drummer of the Points. "They leased the whole building and the lease ran out."

The warehouse was a hub of the city's skate scene, and was well-known—in whispers—for its Wednesday-night skate sessions, for having one of the largest indoor bowls on the East Coast, and for its raucous underground shows and parties, which generally cost $15 for admission and unlimited beer.

City Paper's Dave McKenna recounted the club's history in April 2007, not long after it shut down:

Fight Club’s genesis goes back to the shuttering in late 2004 of Vans Skate Park, the massive corporate-sponsored outdoor bowl in Woodbridge that had won over the generally anti-establishment skating community.

Skateboarders are a lot like ants: Knock down their home, and they won’t spend much time fretting. They’ll get right to rebuilding. Ben Ashworth and Anthony Smallwood, both longtime skateboarding activists, immediately began brainstorming for ways to replace what Vans had meant to their scene.

And they thought large.

“Anthony thought how great it would be to have a place where people could skate and listen to music,” says Ashworth. “There wasn’t anything like that around here.”

Smallwood confessed his dream to Dan Zeman, a local arts patron and friend to the skating community. Zeman was leasing, but hadn’t yet filled, space in adjoining warehouses not far from the new convention center. Zeman, not knowing he was about to become the Andy Warhol of an incredible underground scene, green-lighted the project. Among his only demands were that skaters not blab about what was going on behind the walls and barbed wire.

By City Paper's account, the space closed in 2007 because the skaters "feared law enforcement, regulators, and neighbors, all of whom they’d successfully fended off despite two years of massive, all-night, diverse, and wholly un-Washington parties, were closing in." Smallwood, in a phone interview today, said it that because the skaters were essentially squatting, with no lease, there was no heat or water. When they reopened the space some months after closing it, "we ended up working out a really good lease with the landlord." Donations from show attendees and skaters kept the space open. (Zeman, who continues to run the space, did not respond to a request for comment.)

The first Fight Club party after its reopening was for Halloween 2007, Jackson says. "The great memories were all the Halloween parties—the whole punk attitude about the place, it was kind of like a GG Allin live-fast-die kind of attitude."

In recent years Fight Club began hosting more touring bands and occasional art shows. Jackson estimates the Points played there 35 to 40 times.

Although he visited Fight Club less often in recent years, Smallwood documented it since its founding. He recently edited around 17,000 photos, he says, and has about 70 or 80 hours of video footage. He plans to compile a book and documentary film, an intention he's had for a while, he says, but one that didn't feel right while the club was still operating. And while Smallwood says he's sad to see the space go, he isn't heartbroken. "It always sucks to lose a good social spot," he says. "Fight Club is first and foremost a skate spot. Skate spots, they’re never meant to last."

Once again last night, the Washington Area Music Association’s 24th Annual Wammies at the State Theatre in Falls Church exhibited the inspiring and  troubling aspects of  this self-described “umbrella organization of Washington area musicians, concert promoters, lawyers, recording engineers, managers, graphic artists, and related businesses working together to address areas of common concern.” Hosted by WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi, XM-Sirius’s Bill Wax, and Westwood Radio’s Jim Bohannon, the lengthy program featured nine acts performing multiple songs plus numerous local musicians presenting awards. Categories included Best Electronica Vocalist (Bob Mould won) and Artist of the Year (Patti Reese won).

The most positive aspect of the night was the fairly diverse live roster. While the lineup slightly overemphasized veteran roots and Americana performers, it’s hard to quibble too much with a bill that included the mountain stream vocals of bluegrass combo the Dede Wyland Band, the upbeat charismatic flow of rapper Tabi Bonney, the powerful hornwork of the Afro Bop Alliance, the bouncy Afropop of Elikeh, the roots twang of singer Marti Brom, the funky go-go of Be’la Dona, and the country rock of the Rosslyn Mountain Boys.

Unfortunately, a handful of the awards given out last night, and the noticeable absence of certain artists from the nominations, demonstrated some of the same problems the Mike Schreibman-run WAMA has struggled with since its 1984 founding. While WAMA occasionally consults “experts” (critics and others involved with local music) to suggest nominees, it largely relies on suggestions from its paid membership, who also then vote in the various categories. In 1998, I wrote an article for the Washington City Paper on WAMA, in which I pointed out some of the problems related to its approach—a singer who bought memberships to the organization for friends for the purpose of getting votes; the neglect of certain genres; and several artists winning awards again and again and again.

Confession time: In 2009, after several years of e-mailing WAMA board member and singer Janine Wilson regarding my more recent complaints about the Wammies, I was contacted by Wilson shortly before this year's nominations were announced. She asked me for some ideas.  Alas, many of my suggestions—Ethiopian vocalist Hana Shankute; Latin outfits Zeniza Allstar, Orquesta La Romana and  Joe Falero and the Latin Jazz Allstars—did not make it, even as nominees. A quick look at the nominees displays many other omissions. While I am a fan of Richmond, Va.’s Bio Ritmo, it seems odd that WAMA would nominate two of that group's members for best Latin instrumentalist while leaving out the likes of Dan Sheehy and his fellow bandmates in Mariachi Los Amigos.  Maryland’s southern soul Hardway Connection won a 2009 “Carolina Beach Music Award” but were not nominated.  Southern soul combo Jim Bennett and Lady Mary did not make it. The critically acclaimed afropop band Extra Golden (with members from D.C. and Kenya) were also overlooked. WAMA’s longstanding failure to follow the area's indie/alternative/experimental rock scene meant that it did not find room in its Modern Rock category for the likes of  Screen Vinyl Image, the Shirks, the Points, Rustbuckit, Title Tracks, or any metal or hard rock bands. WAMA’s omissions year after year suggest that critics like me are not merely nitpicking; we're pointing out structural flaws in the nomination methods.

WAMA's voting history and the omissions from its nominations taint some of this year’s actual winners, deservedly or not.  Should bar-band roots rocker Patti Reese have beaten out Wale and others for Artist of the Year, and should she have won Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and three roots rock awards as she did?  Oh, and did I mention that her label, Azalea City Recordings, tied with Smithsonian Folkways for Best D.C. Label?  Should all five blues/traditional R&B awards have gone to white musicians? Was Bob Mould an electronica vocalist in 2009 even though he used his guitar somewhat? Should singer Margot MacDonald have won three out of four of the modern rock awards? Are Hotspur, a Killers-style pop-emo band, really the Best New Artists? In addition, the noticeable absence of many of the winners at the event, as well as the loud conversations among audience members while trophies were handed out, demonstrated that after 24 years, these awards are still struggling for respect. I recognize, as WAMA board members have pointed out to me for over a decade, that the organization has good intentions, but perhaps it's time to reconsider the selection and voting process, and use that good will in a more productive manner.

Photo of Tabi Bonney courtesy of Jan Keskinen.

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.

And Future, Army Of Me (in an acoustic iteration), Laughing Man, and The Mighty Heard are all performing outdoors at the H Street Festival on Saturday, all along H Street NE. Brightest Young Things is also hosting a free party that night in the Rock & Roll Hotel's upstairs bar. Baller.

Dischord Records is now distributing releases by Windian Records, a new label started by The Points drummer Travis "Cobruhhh" Jackson. The band's new Beat In Hell 7", whose 6-minute B-side is about four times longer than every other Points song, is available now.

This is a few days old: Dischord and DeSoto Records are rereleasing Jawbox's 1994 career highpoint For Your Own Special Sweetheart, and they've included a few bonus tracks from the very rare Savory+3 EP. The remastered album drops Nov. 23.

The Velodrome dance/not-dance party is back from summer vaycay this weekend.

Local way-beyond-left-field hip-hop band The Cornel West Theory has a release show at Liv next Friday for its new album, Second Rome, and apparently the eminent Princeton African American Studies professor and group namesake will be there.

Image courtesy of Dan Deacon's MySpace page.

"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.

Washington City Paper: Every time I read about The Points, there’s always something about how hard you rock and how hard you drink. But what do you do when you’re doing neither of those things?

Travis Jackson: Well [he laughs] I guess people say that because, you know, the fact that we’re alcoholics. We definitely, you know, when we’re not playing in the band or having beer, well, I dunno. Life is a celebration.

Washington City Paper: The song “Shout,” at 6 minutes long, is unique for you guys. When you wrote it, did you want to make something so, well, epic? Or did it just come out that way?

Travis Jackson: It kind of just ended up that way. We’ve had a couple of other songs that were six minutes or over, from band practices … When it feels right, you don’t want to stop. We’re not always thinking up three-chord wonders or anything like that.

Washington City Paper: Tell me about writing “Shout.”

Travis Jackson: The song was written a while back. We recorded it and we never put it on any of records because it never really matched up with anything else — the more Ramones-sounding, two-and-a-half minute songs. So I started a label and I pretty much just wanted to get these songs that we really, really liked but that we had pushed aside in the past onto a record.

Washington City Paper: What about the rest of the seven-inch?

Travis Jackson: “Beat In Hell” is more a percussion-heavy song. It’s got a really cool guitar riff, and it’s pretty primal. … It’s a pretty bad, mean song. And “F. Dali” is probably the fastest song we’ve recorded. And it’s about Salvador Dali and how much we hate seeing his posters everywhere. We’re art fans, but you know…

Washington City Paper: ...but Surrealism isn’t for you?

Travis Jackson: Well, really, it’s just from being around art schools and seeing Dali on all the dorm walls.

Washington City Paper: How did Windian Records come about?

Travis Jackson: Out of sheer boredom. Geo moved to Chicago and I’m in the mountains. … We can pretty much only practice once a month and I still wanted to focus heavily on something rock 'n’ roll, so I started a label to put out singles. I’m doing a Two Tears single in October, and Personal and the Pizzas, from Hoboken, N.J., want to do a seven-inch this winter.

Washington City Paper: What else do The Points have planned this year?

Travis Jackson: We're going to be recording our next record here in the next two or three months. We've got about 10 songs ready to go for that, and I guess we're going to be putting it out on Mud Memory, with [label owner] Justin Moyer, the coolest guy ever. And after that, in 2010, we're going to tour to support that. Hopefully we'll get to Europe this time. We didn't do it this year, for, you know, money reasons. But we really want to go to Europe and keep, you know, rockin'.

(An apology: One-third of the interview recording came out as intelligible as the vocals on a Brainiac album, so you've been spared the more discursive moments.)

Photo courtesy of The Points' MySpace page.