Blogs

Since Dominican-Brazilian singer, Jarina De Marco, debuted last spring on Wyclef Jean‰'s mixtape, April Showers, intrigue has grown considerably over her bright, hypnotic style. Born in the Dominican Republic, De Marco was raised in a musical family; her mother is the...

Last week, I wrote about The Velvet Underground‰'s groundbreaking debut and mentioned that it was the foundation for a myriad of new genres. One of the most obvious offspring is The Jesus And Mary Chain‰'s Psychocandy. Psychocandy is an experiment in aesthetic and...

Last Tuesday evening, fellow WVAU Assistant Events Coordinator Joey and I had the opportunity to interview The Dodos before their show at The Black Cat. We caught up with the band an hour before the show started and learned what the band is all about. Our talk with...

At just sixteen Lorde has accomplished the impressive feat of topping the UK, US and NZ alternative charts, with the video for her single “Royals” being exactly what you would expect from a 16-year-old. Vapid and self-obsessed, Lorde‰'s video does little to engage its...

Hot Sugar released his third EP, Made Man, this past Tuesday. I downloaded Made Man last night and it blew my mind. It is addicting, unrelenting and resembles an all-star rap mixtape. You can download the EP for free from his Bandcamp. For those of you who don‰'t...

Everything about British pop singer Natalia Kills is bold: from her eyebrows and style to her lyrics, she‰'s not one to fade into the background. Designer Jeremy Scott is a huge fan of the regular front-row fixture. A darling in the fashion industry, Kills is also...

Danny Brown has developed into something of a Jekyll-and-Hyde character; the persona that receives the attention nowadays is the maniacally-laughing party monster whose GIFs already span far across the internet. On the other side of the coin is the “old‰” Danny Brown:...

In the midst of midterm mania, it seems as though relaxation and calmness cease to exist. The stress of studying and not having enough time in the day to complete homework often destroy our sense of motivation (or sanity) and can leave us in a state of discouragement...

When Brian Eno proclaimed, “I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies [of The Velvet Underground & Nico] started a band. So I console myself thinking that some things generate their rewards in a second-hand way,‰” it would become one of the most...

From the days of Video Toaster, editors have found themselves with piles of unrelated footage and nothing to do with it. From this stems the idea of found footage compositions, something that has thrived with access to endless amounts of data. A found footage music...

Le1f began his Tree House tour at U Street Music Hall this past Wednesday. He put on a high energy, sex-oozy show and left me in awe of his dance skills. The opening acts DonChristian and Lakutis went on stage before 7:45pm. Unfortunately, my clique missed their acts...

Nothing Was the Same is pendular: the vocals swing steadily between R&B melodies and verses of straight-up rap. Drake‰'s third studio album features guest appearances by Sampha and Jay-Z, and brings an hour of solid pop music to the world September 24. “This is...

When you‰'re a family of nine, Sunday Mass requires some serious logistical planning. Matching outfits have to be laid out the night before, multiple military-style wakeup calls have to be made, seating arrangements planned in advance to minimize fighting and goofing...

Last year, Tyler, the Creator tweeted, “Coco O has the voice of an actual angel‰” and there are few who would disagree, especially since some of her fans include Adele, Mark Ronson, JAY-Z and Pharrell. Part of the Danish soul duo Quadron, Coco Maja Hastrup KarshÌüj,...

Alternative Rap is considered to be both an influence and related to underground hip hop. This is due to both the musical style and lyrical discussions that focused on the outskirts of hip hop in the early 1990s. Alternative rap originated in the early 1990s with the...

With 2000‰'s American Don, Pittsburgh natives Don Caballero have crafted the most technically and artfully advanced math rock album, perfecting the little-traveled genre that they helped pioneer seven years earlier as the bastard child of post-hardcore. Members at the...

In her new video, Kitty shows that all the bad intentions in the world cannot create an engaging music video. The video for her song “Hittin Lixx” tries to capture the “bad girl” vibe in a dark warehouse, concentrating on debauchery throughout. She ends up with a...

This Thursday, our very own DJs from Ham & Bangers will be performing at Casa Fiesta. Make sure to stop by! RSVP here:åÊhttps://www.facebook.com/events/164448163755333/   Latest Ham & Bangers’s Cloudcasts on Mixcloud

  Le1f released his latest mixtape, Tree House, this past Tuesday, and it is the realness. Le1f, nÌ©e Khalif Diouf, is a queer New York native who broke into the scene by producing “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell‰” by Das Racist. His music video “Wut‰”...

With bold personal style and a voice that‰'s equal parts velvet and golden spikes, all eyes are on 23-year-old Etta Bond, the London-based chanteuse who released her second EP, Meds, just last August. Originally from Cambridge, Bond grew up around siblings who were...

As indicated in the title, the sublime dons a shroud of darkness in the Crystal Stilts‰' long-anticipated third studio album. In Nature Noir, released September 17, the Brooklyn-based underground-rock veterans focus on the complex relationship between humanity and...

San Fermin – San Fermin (Downtown) Dirty Projectors chamber pop with Matt Berminger‰'s voice. Take whatever you like about Dirty Projectors, then everything that you like about chamber pop (if anything), then everything you like about Matt Berminger of The National’s...

Pavement‰'s 1992 debut, Slanted & Enchanted, was an underdog record from the start. Recorded at the home of local hippie legend Gary Young (who was also recruited to drum on the album), the album was a melting pot of abrasive lo-fi guitar, sloppy drumming and...

Jazz, among other things, is music for the individualist. It bends musical rules forward and backward and refuses to conform to rigid structure and organization. Jazz values inconsistencies and imperfections and radiates a carefree energy through the disembodiment of...

This week, I’ve decided to take a look at the first video on MTV which launched a million Teen Moms, “Video Killed the Radio Star”. The Buggles’ barely remembered hit has a particularly uninspiring video to go with it. The poppy new wave track focused on the dual...

  The new single “Chamakay‰” by Blood Orange is nothing less than a masterpiece. The day-old track is characteristically heartfelt, complex and catchy. DevontÌ© Hynes aka Blood Orange travels to Guyana, which is his mother‰'s hometown, to pay homage to his roots...

Julie Holter is coming to the Rock & Roll Hotel Thursday, Sept. 26 and we’re giving away two (count ‘em, TWO) free tickets to the show! Enter here:åÊhttp://t.co/phRoZbVobY Contest ends September 18th.

Dent May – Warm Blanket (Paw Tracks) Summer slipping slowly away… Warm Blanket, the third studio album by Paw Tracks understudy Dent May, feels like his grab for the spotlight. He is clearly cut from the Paw Tracks/Carpark cloth, recalling Toro Y Moi‰'s soft grooves,...

This past Saturday, Mauro Remiddi and his dream pop project, Porcelain Raft, took to the stage at Rock and Roll Hotel to support their new album, Permanent Signal. Like its 2012 predecessor, Strange Weekend, the album is a wonderful showcase of Remiddi‰'s gifts with...

  It’s everyone’s favorite time of year again, with the start of sweater weather season and the sweet smells of burnt dorm food filling the air. That’s right, a brand new semester has begun! Whether you’re having a pre-graduation crisis or looking forward to...