These United States is a perpetual disappointment. Here is a band that has all the right ingredients for a good country-rock act—one foot in Washington, another in Kentucky; Jesse Elliott’s disinterested yowl; skilled musicians, and, lest we forget, blog buzz—and yet, this new album, and their last one, are absolutely yawn-inducing.
For the record: I am [...]
Either he's generous or he's crazy, but David Isaacson’s passion for independent music eclipses any financial incentives. While still in high school, Isaacson created IndieMuse, a blog whose slightly redundant mission is to be “a place where people who are as passionate about music as we are can come together to listen and talk about [...]
Not sure if the band has officially announced this release yet, but the promo's been sitting in our office for at least a few days, so I figure it's fair game: The prolific, polymathic D.C. and Lexington, Ky., alt-country band These United States is set to drop its fourth album, What Lasts, on July 20 [...]
In a dour turn of events, independent radio stalwarts WOXY bewildered music fans by closing up shop today around 10 a.m. due to financial problems. The digital-only station was a beacon of fresh, new music since it began rocking the FM airwaves in 1983. WOXY was kind to a number of D.C. bands, often playing [...]
The new chairman of the Kennedy Center, financier David M. Rubenstein, told the New York Times that he wants to attract "people who don’t have hair color like mine" (read: young people) to the institution. Also, Democrats and Republicans, preferably at the same time. More: WaPo.
The buzzy, skuzzy, poppy Dum Dum Girls' upcoming cassette-only compilation [...]
Tabi Bonney:
-the plane is not the same as de plane. I'm just putting it out there cuz that could be a serious issue.
-Hand me a airplane barf bag young. This grown man was walking down the street with long flowing hair & a hoola-hoop. Thought it was a lady!
-I think it's something awkwardly strange [...]
Hello! Hirshhorn Director Richard Koshalek wants to put a giant bubble on top of the museum. Wuh?
Writing in the New York Times, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff details a plan for a blue, 145-foot inflatable structure (he describes it as a multipurpose meeting hall) that would bloom from the museums's central courtyard twice a year and [...]
The Washington, D.C./Lexington, Ky., alt-country outfit These United States is wrapping up a national tour early next month, and has documented much of the trek for BlueComet.tv as the Web site's artists in residence. The final installment of the video tour diary recently went online, and it brims with road-warrior signifiers, from open highways and [...]
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Also, this video for "Everything Touches Everything," directed by former Let's French guitarist Max Sorensen, slipped through the cracks. Find it after the jump:
Salome, one of the few metal bands that performed at this year's CMJ.
For D.C. bands, the takeaway from CMJ seems to have been this: It will not pluck you from obscurity, but it can't hurt. Also: Don't believe the hype.
"The myth that you can land the perfect agent or manager at a place like that—I don’t think [...]
