Under his own sobriquet this summer, Outputmessage did an album-length collection of remixes of his 2010 record Autonomous, but I really like where the singer-producer is going with his newest two songs, which premiered on the Blisspop blog today. "Apple" is a slightly tortured paean to temptation that culminates in a massive, whirlwinding bridge. "Game Over" is even better—it's a gurgling, even-keeled break-up jam whose emotional payoff finds the typically silky-voiced Outputmessage (aka Bernard Farley) dropping into baritone range for the lament, "YOU'VE RUN OUT OF CHANCES."

Both songs appear on Outputmessage's upcoming Game Over EP, out Nov. 1 on Output Noise Records.

Artispheric Cloudiness: The attendance at Saturday's party probably should have Artisphere's leaders worried. Also in the Post, Mark Jenkins has an update on the Rosslyn arts center's troubles, which include lower-than-expected attendance and lower-than-expected revenue. WCP's Alex Baca wrote about those issues back in June; Jenkins adds some recent developments, including the hiring of a new director of programming.

Because I Want to Aggregate From Places Other Than The Post: Here's a funny picture of Ian MacKaye and Henry Rollins in 1984.

Today on Arts Desk: Lots of gallery reviews! An STPP postscript! More!

"We grew up in vastly divergent places, but we all grew up with the disco sound ingrained deeply," says Wisconsin native Will Eastman, one third of local production team Volta Bureau (mentioned on this blog a couple times recently). The trio, which includes Philippines-born Micah Vellian (Miguel Lacsamana) and New York-born Outputmessage (Bernard Farley), kicks off a busy fall schedule with a DJ set at Eastman's club, U Street Music Hall, this Saturday. Original headliner Gui Boratto postponed due to visa problems.

Volta Bureau usually works with a BPM between 114 and 120, a range familiar to fans of nu-disco. On his Jack mix, released earlier this week, Eastman slowed classic house cuts down to that range. The mix includes a slowed-down version of John Tejada's "Sweat (On The Walls)," Nadastrom's remix of  Laidback Luke and Diplo's "Hey," and of course, Volta Bureau's track "Hope." In this format, says Eastman, "There's more space for the bass to breathe, more room for the melodies."

Volta Bureau makes its live debut October 8 at Artisphere's first anniversary party. "We all DJ and love it, but Volta Bureau's live performance is also at the top of our agenda right now," says Eastman. "I'm excited for what we can become as a live group."

Jack DJ Mix by Will Eastman

"The combination of tech house, deep house, and nu disco in one night works out in a pretty awesome way—vibes and energy tonight will be deep, sexual, and weird," says Adams Morgan resident Morgan Tepper, aka DJ Lxsx Frxnk, about tonight's Lost and Sound party at U Street's Velvet Lounge. DJs Chris Nitti and Matthew "Mr. Bonkerz" Lipsit started the biweekly Tuesday party at the start of the summer to mix disco and deep house to "create a unique, weird sound and see how people reacted." U Street Music Hall co-owner Will Eastman recently spun at the party, which has regularly packed the venue's cramped dance floor.

Nu disco differs from its '70s predecessor in that it's a slower and percussively stronger sound, which allows it to blend well with the heavier edges of deep house. All the DJs on tonight's lineup, which also includes Nicole "Spaceagent" Patten, contribute to Eastman's Blisspop blog. Tepper says, "we're huge music nerds, digging for new forward-looking sounds."

Tonight, Chris Nitti says to expect DJs "playing all the strange and wonderful music we love, without compromise." Lxsx Frxnk's promo mix gives us a preview of tonight's soundtrack, and it sounds like a combination of Aeroplane, Maya Jane Coles, Maceo Plex, and the Motor City Drum Ensemble.

http://soundcloud.com/lxsxfrxnk/lost-sound-teaser

Lost and Sound takes place from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW. Free.

Volta Bureau

Listen:

Volta Bureau – Love Cubed by Volta Bureau

Will Eastman

After Eastman remixed a Dmerit track and Dmerit remixed an Eastman track last year, "it became clear last year we all have similar musical interests and a good work rapport," Eastman writes in an e-mail. "The good thing about having three producers is there's lots of ideas, lots of creativity, and a good deal of checks and balances in terms of quality control."

Eastman once worked at the National Museum of American History, so I'll assume the group's name is his doing: The Volta Laboratory and Bureau, a national historic landmark, is a structure in Georgetown built by Alexander Graham Bell as an educational center for deaf persons. I'll not be pointing out any ironies.

Volta Bureau – Let Go by Volta Bureau

We're not big on retrospective articles for their own sake, but it's worth noting that tonight is U Street Music Hall's first anniversary. Jesse Rose, Justin Martin, and hometown heroes Nadastrom are spinning tonight at 9 p.m. And so we bring you this encore showing of "Big Bang Theories," a little film we made last April to examine the club's more, erm, destructive possibilities.

If you've been to U Street Music Hall over the past few Saturdays you've surely noticed that there's been a change in the crowd – more bad behavior and less respect for other patrons. In an effort to curb this, as of Friday, February 18th we'll be admitting patrons 18-20 years of age by advance ticket only on the weekends (ticketfly.com). If you're over 18 but under 21 and you come to U Hall to hear great music then we still want you to be able to see your favorite DJs and bands, but what we don't want is to be the hot underage party spot just because our doors are open.

Our weekdays will remain 18+ at the door, this change only applies to Friday and Saturday nights. And if you ever see anyone of any age at U Hall acting like an asshole, feel free to mention it to our staff and we'll take care of it. Without a great crowd it's not a great club.

This follows an incident Saturday in which a rowdy Steelers fan was kicked out of the club and was banned for life and caused his team to lose the Super Bowl after he requested that a DJ spin Wiz Khalifa's Pittsburgh-repping "Black and Yellow" after it had already been played. Rebuffed, the patron slammed the DJ's laptop shut. Interesting! Fucked up! But not necessarily a big deal.

Except that the not-very-serious item I wrote on the incident generated a decent amount of traffic. And now the changed age policy has merited a medium-length article on The Washington Post's Going Out Guide blog. People really care about what happens at UHall.

In his GOG Blog item, Fritz Hahn starts getting to why:

Last Saturday was the tipping point, [Will] Eastman says. I was there, and it's easy to understand his frustration. Outside, I watched a woman try to use her George Washington University student ID to get into the club. When the bouncer refused to accept it because it didn't have a date of birth on it, she responded, "But you let in people who are under 21, right? Just mark me as being under 21."

At the bar, a friend and I watched as a guy (clearly over 21) took off his coat — and also tried to slip off the wristband identifying him as being of-age so he could hand it to the under-21 woman who was with him. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't smooth enough, and the bartender saw what he was doing.

As someone who has been going to U Hall since it opened, the crowd just felt ... off. Many of the people were more dressed up for a velvet-rope style place than the casual U Hall.

D.C. has a history of smart DJs with punk values—think Dava Nada, or Tittsworth, one of UHall's owners. Tittsworth and Will Eastman and the other owners of U Street Music Hall almost said as much when they opened the space—the idea was a club that was inclusive and unpretentious but for people who are serious about music. City Paper wrote at the time: "The vibe is largely populist—there are no reservations and no bottle service—to the point that the space is unfriendly to benchwarmers. 'The club is for dancing, not for sitting,' says Tittsworth."

As I think most followers of the scene agree, D.C. has no shortage of "high-minded" DJs—a term I frequently hear in reference to UHall. "Black and Yellow" notwithstanding, you'll almost never hear Top 40 at UHall; many of the DJs that spin there have large, serious, world-spanning fanbases.

And yet: If the music moves, often it'll move the masses. Punk openness works for punk shows because not everyone wants to hear punk music. The distinction between "high-minded" electronic music and the bland house and Top 40 you'll hear on K Street is huge if you know about that stuff. But I'm guessing to most people, U Street Music Hall is just a hot, newish spot with low covers and long lines. If you want anyone, you might get everyone—especially in a nightlife scene that's not exactly huge.

UHall remains one of my favorite spots in the city, and I applaud any and all moves meant to repel douchebags. I also wouldn't be surprised if many of those douchebags turn out to be over 21, and aren't disappearing anytime soon. Oh well.

Check out this amazing series of Twitter rants from UHall co-owner and noted Packers fan Will Eastman regarding a clubgoer who interrupted Sinden's DJ set with repeated requests for Wiz Khalifa's hometown-repping "Black and Yellow," this after it was already played once. Then the clubgoer slammed Sinden's laptop shut.

The anti-asshole policy is one of several reasons why I love U Street Music Hall. More from Eastman:

It keeps going:

And then the next day...

It keeps going after that, but the point is it's encouraging that the dudes behind one of the city's best spaces have their heads in the right place. Also, if you are a dick, your team will lose in front of 1 billion television viewers.