June 1 - I Was A King @ The Black Cat *
June 2 - White Rabbits @ Rock & Roll Hotel *
June 3 - Rock Central Plaza @ The Black Cat
June 5 - Like Bells @ The Velvet Lounge *
June 7 - The Hold Steady @ 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)
June 10 - Santigold @ 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)
June 11 - Jenny Lewis + Deer Tick @ 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)
June 11 - AA Bondy @ Iota
June 12- Bill Callahan (formerly Smog) @ The Black Cat *
June 14 - Sunset Rubdown @ The Black Cat
June 15 - Laura Gibson @ The Black Cat
June 16 - John Vanderslice + The Tallest Man on Earth @ The Black Cat *
June 16 - Vandaveer + Lost in the Trees @ DC9
June 18 - Metric @ 9:30 Club
June 18 - Cotton Jones @ Iota
June 19 - New York Dolls @ 9:30 Club *
June 20 - Justin Jones & The Driving Rain @ Iota
June 21 - Camera Obscura @ 9:30 Club *
Junes 21 - Phoenix @ Rock & Roll Hotel (SOLD OUT)
June 23 - We Were Pirates @ The Black Cat *
I Was A King - Norman Bleik
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Bill Callahan - Jim Cain
We Were Pirates - The Wolf
Ticket Information:
9:30 Club
Black Cat
Velvet Lounge
DC9
Iota
** SOLD OUT
*** I'm going, I'm going... probably
Labels: concert, DC street cred, summer 09
I fell in love with Phoenix after the release of It's Never Been Like That in 2006, and when I first heard "Listomania" and "1901" a few months ago, I wrote them off assuming another one of my favorite bands had self-destructed via a misguided experiment with electro-pop (think The Shins: Wincing the Night Away made me want to die inside, slowly...). Fortunately, my dear friend Daniel* turned me around.
With Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the french pop quartet is pretty much making the same music they always have: melodic rock that's perfectly put together. I guess what I'm saying is: if my life were a movie and Phoenix was on the soundtrack, I'd have to be a lot less of a dork and my life would have to be pretty fantastic.** The difference is that the songs are a bit less solid rock numbers; the album is more intricately mixed and has more pep. And, by far, its the band's best album yet.
Feel the love! (everything here is highly rec'd!)
from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix:
Phoenix - Lasso
Phoenix - Listomania
from It's Never Been Like That:
Phoenix - Long Distance Call
Buy Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix from Amazon.com
Phoenix's website/myspace
Please ignore the results of too much caffeine below.
* Daniel is also entirely responsible for my Frightened Rabbit obsession.
** If the soundtrack to your life is Frightened Rabbit, your life sucks and it's kind of scary that you're laughing about it ("I cut out all the good stuff / yeah, I cut off my foot to spite my leg" ???). If the soundtrack to your life is The National, your life sucks but you're still pretty awesome, in a Richard-Nixon-meets-Chuck-from-Gossip-Girl sort of way.
Here's a live performance of "Blue Lips."
Far will be released on June 23. So far only two tour dates have been announced, so I'll be on the lookout for more.
Regina Spektor - Blue Lips (highly rec'd!)
Regina Spektor - Laughing With (download or die!)
Regina Spektor's website/myspace
Labels: music video, regina spektor, upcoming
"No one showed up for my pity partyAdam Balbo's music, is to say the least, adorable. He'd fit in with the entirety of the Juno soundtrack alongside Kimya Dawson's folksy irony.
except for you
And you even brought cake."
I realized today after going through my inbox that we've exchanged some very charming e-mails, which is why it's a shame that this wonderful, wonderful song I'm posting is the one that spurred me into action. It made me recall one unofficial pity party of mine - and though I scarcely remember it, I'm glad one amazing friend and uninvited guest attended.
Adam Balbo - The Girl At My Pity Party (highly rec'd!)
Buy Fix at CD Baby
Adam Balbo's myspace
Labels: adam balbo
It's finals, and yes, I'm on twitter.
0 Comments Published by Kate on Thursday at 5/14/2009 02:46:00 PM.Quick Update: I'm seriously obsessed with The Kills and Frightened Rabbit (yes, Midnight Boom and The Midnight Organ Fight aren't exactly recent releases, but I don't care) and I've been getting some pretty nifty submissions, and I can't wait to listen and share!
For now, a sample of music I'm enjoying (everything is at least highly rec'd):
The Kills - M.E.X.I.C.O.C.U.
Kevin Drew - Lucky Ones
The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want
Spoon - Black Like Me
Frightened Rabbit - Old Old Fashioned
Eef Barzelay - Lose Big
The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard ***
***My favorite part of the song? The way Joe Genaro says "We gotta blow up those things we don't understand!"