As if sensing an opening for gloomy, expansive, fuzzy art rock, the e-mail featuring a new version of "The Grey Man" (the song was on a 2008 demo recording) was billed as "your monthly True Womanhood fix." This latest song from the D.C. outfit once again features singer and guitarist Thomas Redmond's voice garbled by [...]
Local label Sockets Records has been a D.C. fixture for more than half a decade now, but 2010 has been a banner year: A handful of strong releases, a live showcase last January, a pretty awesome zine. And yesterday, its latest seasonal mix.
It draws from the label's regular roster as well as other locals, from [...]
Ian Curtis, the enigmatic and iconic Joy Division singer, took his life 30 years ago today. A lot of people are writing about it. Philadelphia Weekly even interviewed his ghost.
But I wonder: Joy Division's morose post-punk casts a pretty long shadow over the genre, but never so much in this punk town (we had other [...]
D.C.'s Shock Diamond is kind of like health-care reform: He's got big plans for 2014.
On his Bandcamp page, two of his releases are dated 2014—you can download and stream both, though.
But first, you'll want to listen to DC Re:MIXtape, the only item on the page dated 2010. On it, Shock Diamond turns songs by local [...]
If you were hoping to catch some live music tonight, you're probably out of luck. Yet while today's hazardous conditions may make getting to venues difficult, they won't stop local artists from making music—including, lest I forget, the guy who lives across the street from me and plays sax for what must be 13 or [...]
Good morning! Last night: the Grammy Awards! I probably should've watched the show, seeing as last year's was the most enjoyable Grammy ceremony since, well, ever. Instead, I'll be Tweet-sourcing today's roundup, courtesy of @citypapermusic. A few highlights:
Lady Gaga AND Elton John? Be still, my beating heart. #grammys
And the winner of Song of the Year goes [...]
Tomorrow, D.C.'s True Womanhood will finally release its debut EP, Basement Membranes, on the Baltimore-based label Environmental Aesthetics. Recorded in at least three different studios—Brooklyn's Death By Audio, Magpie Cage, and at home in D.C.—over the course of a year, the EP's six songs are caked with haunting sonic gloop. Guitars drone, drums pound, and [...]
Good morning! Vampire Weekend, the world's most beloved/most reviled/only Ivy League Afro-pop band, is releasing its much-anticipated sophomore record, Contra, next week. Press copies just went out, and the band posted the entire disc to its MySpace page yesterday—meaning, a lot of you probably have this on your hard drive already. The band was smart to [...]
Tabi Bonney performs at Fat Baby last night in New York City.
The thing about CMJ is, not all of it's CMJ. There are the unoffocial day parties—free, sometimes invite-only events sponsored by record labels, PR firms, and media. There are the more exclusive parties at night. And there are the shows that, although not nominally [...]
Pressing a record is a pain in the ass. Really, it is. You have to record the music, get the tracks mastered, press the records themselves, have them shipped from the pressing plant and so on and so forth.
So after taking the better part of a year just to get the music part right, it's [...]
