Blogs
So Many Wizards ÛÒ “Night Chills / Daydream” 7” (Lolipop)
Indie rock that will resemble a lot of your favorite bands “Night Chills” is the A-side of So Many Wizards' newly released 7Û, and is the more upbeat tune of the two. It begins with a very heavy bass backing, and is quickly joined by a dreamy guitar riff quietly...
Breton – War Room Stories (Believe Music)
Newish Foals sound, except more low-key Breton is a five piece London band that formed back in 2007 and have released several EPs as well as one album prior to their new release, War Room Stories. The band's sound is experimental indie rock with some...
Cibo Matto – Hotel Valentine (Chimera Music)
Ghost-themed Japanese-American artpop Hotel Valentine is an “avant-pop” concept album about love between ghosts who haunt the hallways of a hotel, but if you can get over that it’s also an album full of jazzy, trip-hoppy pop tunes. Cibo Matto’s sound is...
Marissa Nadler – July (Sacred Bones)
Airy, simple, ambient It is hard to describe this album as dark and dreery, because while Marissa's sound is ghost like and spacious, it leaves you with a certain amount of consolation. With airy vocals spread generously over a soft guitar and occasional faint...
Priscilla Ahn – This Is Where We Are (Universal)
Yin and yang of a soft female voice and electronic beats From the first sound of Priscilla Ahn's voice, you think this is going to be another mildly charming indie acoustic female song writer type noise. The polished sweetness of Priscilla's voice demands...
Snowmine – Dialects (Mystery Buildings)
Be proud to like this “indie” band Brooklyn quintet Snowmine has found indie-pop perfection with their sophomore album Dialects. Subtle yet effective use of fluttering flutes and pianos can be traced throughout the album most notably on it's opener “To Hold an...
Water Liars – Water Liars (Big Legal Mess/Fat Possum)
Emotionally-charged, genre-blending mellow indie rock With shades of their Southern roots and a specific brand of melancholy, Mississippi-based band Water Liars' new self-titled album has huge ambition, and rightfully so. The album is full of contrasts, going...
PT Walkley – Shoulders (Bathing Suit)
Quirky and creative indie pop that is always at a high point PT Walkley's newest album, Shoulders is the epitome of perfect indie pop. From the album opener “LeechesÛ, with the cutesy and creative line “I'd rather let leeches treat me like a milkshake than...
New Madrid- Sunswimmer (Normaltown Records)
Relaxing and ambitious experimental noise rock with a hint of indie New Madrid's newest album packs a lot of sound into just seven songs. The first half of the album features several rolling, low-fi indie tunes that manage to be catchy and fuse in noise rock...
Holy Wave-Relaxed (Reverberation Appreciation Society)
60’s psych, again Holy Wave are not trying to hide their influences here. If I wanted to, I could just skip the review and list off 60's rock bands for a whole paragraph, and honestly it would be a better descriptor of what they sound like than what I'm...
The Traps-Boom Pow Awesome Wow (Burger Records)
Garage reissue falls flat The description of this record on Burger Records website tells me that this is a long lost gem from the 2003-2004 noise rock scene. Cool and exciting as this may sound, The Traps, for all their noise and heaviness and loud guitars, are...
Burial-Rival Dealer (Hyperdub)
Selfie-advocate AND talented Burial's material is so scarcely released that, at this point, every EP, every single, every selfie, is followed with a firestorm of coverage from every corner of the electronic' music community, and rightfully so. His string of...
Sun Club-Dad Claps at the Mom Prom (Goodnight Records)
Baltimore group steps up their game I've always known Sun Club to be messy, totally unorganized, and entirely unreliable live. Sometime in the past few months, however, these Capital Punishment alum's have really stepped up their game, releasing an EP with...
Minutia: The Replacements – "Answering Machine"
For a band best known for their pubescent humor and alcohol-drowned performances (which occasionally were just meltdowns), The Replacements left quite the mark on alternative rock, gathering citations as one of the forefathers of the now uselessly broad genre of indie...
Under the Tide: Tony Sly
I'm not one to mourn when someone who doesn't have a discernible effect on my life passes on. When one of the lead singers who belonged to a band which I used to listen to a fair amount in high school died unexpectedly, it's fair to say that I didn't react the...
Heavy Rotation Highlights
HAPPY FRIDAY! Check out these five favorite artists on the rack reviewed by the ballin’ music staff. Of course we’ve got a look inside Sam Smith’s EDM soul, static from Montreal’s Solids, darkness from NOTHING, “mahogany vocals” from Ane Brun and Snowmine with indie...
The Looking Glass: Album Review – St. Vincent’s "St. Vincent"
Monday night Annie Clark released an advance listening of her new album St. Vincent. It is a rather welcomed movement back into the landscape of Marry Me (2007). The album, which unfolds quite dialectically, back into and out of the conventions of social alienation,...
Feedback: Light and Heavy
Another song detailing the deep inner pain of the singer comes up on shuffle. Another quivering voice metes messages out for my ear by belt and whisper. Music, really any art form, carries some crazy burdens. Folks cannot go wandering around screaming half mad about...
Shaken Not Stirred: Springtime Playlist
In what seemed to be the longest, coldest, most dreadful winter this year, D.C. finally experienced a day of bright sunshine and glorious heat this past Wednesday. So what better way to celebrate the beautiful weather than with a pre-springtime playlist to make the...
Fanfarlo- Let’s Go Extinct (Blue Horizon)
Indie-pop Latin-synth This five-piece London group got their name from a Baudelaire poem, reference Chuck Palahniuk, and make music as contrasting as their literary allusions. Let's Go Extinct sounds like some Brits stole a Cuban jazz band and decided to sing...
Leading Ladies: London Duo AOSOON a Must for Rainy Days
From left to right: Marisa Hylton and Manny Folorunso of AOSOON. Courtesy of Sodwee. In other “music that has flown under the radar in 2013” news, AOSOON released their debut EP What Is This About last summer to quiet but appreciative murmurings. The young...
DCIFF Film Review
The DC Independent Film Festival is happening from the 19th-23rd throughout the DC region and includes a host of speakers to check out. Recently, two of our Staff Writers got the chance to view two of the films playing, Brothers Hypnotic and 3 Mile Limit. Brothers...
Live in the Hive: All Dogs
Columbus, Ohio pop-punkers All Dogs stopped by the WVAU studio for a quick two song set before their show with Waxahatchee. Listen below to learn more about their songwriting process, being on the road, and hear an exclusive new untitled song! Make sure to catch All...
Nathan Roberts & The New Birds ÛÒ Nathan Roberts & The New Birds (Self-Released)
Laid back Wilco-style indie rock The debut album from this Toledo three-piece is clearly inspired by the less-adventurous but no less pleasant corners of Wilco's catalogue, a la Being There or Wilco (The Album). Featuring melodic vocals and fairly prominent...
Rainy Day Music #1: Yellow House
As I explained last week, this column will explore the favorite rainy day albums of a group of music-loving friends of mine. The first Rainy Day Album is the pick our very own GM, Max Tani: Grizzly Bear's Yellow House. Grizzly Bear's first album as a four-piece,...
Minutia: Hop Along ÛÒ "Get Disowned"
Courtesy of Ally Newbold Photography Hop Along's 2012 debut album, Get Disowned is a collage of gorgeous vignettes that trace heartbreak, joy, and wide-eyed curiosity as they transcend childhood and adult life. Frances Quinlan's lyrical stories hit everything from a...
Under the Tide: Greg Laswell
Ingrid Michaelson is probably a name everyone has heard at some point of their life. The focus though, isn't on this pop belle who has charmed many of our hearts. Her significant other, Greg Laswell, has an extensive repertoire that has charmed my heart more than...
Angel Olsen ÛÒ Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar)
A beautifully crafted masterpiece that will take you on an emotional ride. Listening to this album from beginning to end, in its intended order, is the way Angel Olsen's artwork is meant to be experienced. Burn Your Fire For No Witness, being the epitome of this. Her...
Ticket Giveaway: Diarrhea Planet @ Rock N Roll Hotel
“If you measure a live show’s success by how happy to be alive it makes you, than Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet have the greatest live show on Earth.” – Pitchfork Love the quadruple-guitar shenanigans of Diarrhea Planet? Want to witness the Nashville punks’...
633 Ashland Ave.: A Not So Valentine’s, Valentine’s Day
If you're like so many of us singles, or “playas” if you prefer, that don't really enjoy seeing couples exchange sweatshop teddy bears or bitter-tasting heart shaped candies on Valentine’s day, you’re in luck. Without further ado, here are four movies to watch...