“I just didn’t expect an acoustic version of ‘Rock ’n’ Roll All Nite.’”
— Ace Frehley
I’ve seen lots of instrumental rock bands, of varying styles, and probably wouldn’t have thought of going to see Russian Circles last week, but a friend was really excited to see them, so I was amenable. I knew them a little bit — I mentally lump them in with bands like Red Sparowes as epic, [...]
I wasn’t totally sure about going to see the Pixies — it was a show that violated a lot of my self-imposed guidelines, like “no more reunion shows” and “no more shows that cost more than 25 bucks or so” and “no more shows ever at Constitution Hall, the worst venue in the area to [...]
There are many categories of music that I like, but am only glancingly acquainted with: black metal, Nuggets-style psych, krautrock, truck-driving country, etc. One of those genres is Canadian indie pop from the oughts. There is this whole scene — a “broken” “social” scene, I guess — that I find pretty good but don’t know [...]
I went to DC9 last Wednesday on a bit of a lark to see Fuck Buttons. I had seen them before, about a year ago, opening for Mogwai, and thought their music was pretty great, and had downloaded a copy of their album Street Horrrsing which was also pretty good. But it isn’t like they [...]
[updated 12/11/09] There was a lot of stuff going on last Friday, an odd All-Hallow’s-Eve-Eve where some people were celebrating Halloween and some were not. But I wanted to check out Office of Future Plans, the newest project of J. Robbins, playing with Darren Zentek and a couple other guys. This makes, let’s see, the [...]
At a Wednesday-night happy hour with a couple friends, debating whether to do prosaic things like go to our respective homes and do laundry, I mentioned that I was mildly interested in going to the Black Cat to see Pinback and Obits. Thanks to one of those friend’s recent obsession with Hot Snakes (whose singer [...]
So I love the Raveonettes! They have to be one of my top favorite bands of the past decade or so. (Maybe I will make a list for the end of the decade… I imagine they might come in second behind Les Savy Fav.) I think their music is a perfect blend of pop music [...]
Last Tuesday I was thinking of going to see Daniel Johnston but ended up joining some friends to see a band I knew nothing about, Phosphorescent. They were a suitably bearded Brooklyn-by-way-of-the-South alt-country kind of band. I liked them at first — they reminded me of a better version of onetime DC hipster/country band Canyon [...]
I’ve been wanting to check out Buildings, a.k.a. BLDGS, for a while, so was pleased to have the chance to check them out at Haydee’s Restaurant in Mt. Pleasant — close enough to home that I could make it on a banged-up knee that has been keeping me away from shows. Plus at Haydee’s you [...]
So I think S PRCSS are pretty great. Last time I saw them I compared them to Lungfish. This time they also reminded me a little of Fugazi, what with the two guitarist/singer line-up. It is fun to see bald dudes playing jagged post-hardcore again. I have been waiting forever for a renaissance of this [...]