Featured Shows of the Week! June 25th
Monday June 25 2012
MMOTHS @ DC9
Jack Colleran doesn’t sleep, and it shows. The 18-year-old producer, who goes by the name MMOTHS, has embraced endless nights and bags beneath his eyes in exchange for something more; a uniquely ethereal sound that’s entirely his own. Disregarding genre conventions, the Ireland-based artist and producer mesmerizes with sparse synths dripping in reverb, transforming digital soundscapes into organic songs, equally fit for both a night on the town and one spent indoors in the company of candlelight. He showcases this on his 2012 self-titled debut EP for SQE Music, where no sound, vibe, or texture is off limits.
Tuesday June 26 2012
Fiona Apple @ Warner Theatre
A late-1990s overnight sensation, Fiona Apple was cast as the antidote to packaged pop divettes like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Considering her angst-ridden lyrics and her propensity to shock interviewers, some critics classed her among such provocateurs as Alanis Morissette and Sinéad O’Connor; others, listening to her jazz-tinged, full-throated, accomplished debut, compared her to Laura Nyro and Nina Simone
Wednesday June 27 2012
Listen Local First DC presents Dance for the Dying @ Kennedy Center (Millenium Stage)
Dance for the Dying is a synth-driven dance-rock quartet that effortlessly fuses the joyful with the melancholy to craft infectiously catchy tunes. Based in Washington, DC, the group was formed after drummer Chris Link found inspiration on a trip to India that set him on a musical mission. Through the power of the internet and mutual acquaintance, he recruited guitarist Joshua Hunter and vocalist M.C. Wolfe in 2009 and the three began crafting original songs while searching for a fourth member to solidify their sound. The band found their man when Guitarist-turned-Bassist Brad Cantor joined the group in 2010. The band has a distinct sound of 80′s and 90′s goth and pop with fast paced rock rhythms. Simply put – Dance for the Dying creates songs you could roller skate to on laser night.
Dance for the Dying has continued to write new music while playing live shows for the past several months and will be returning to the studio to record new material in Spring, 2012.
Sometimes, listening to Exitmusic, it’s hard to tell whether the goosebumps you’re getting are from the parts that are chillingly beautiful and melodic or the ones that are aching and guttural or the ones that are creepily sparse and disembodied. The New York City duo – Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church — doesn’t care when the chill runs down your spine, they just hope their music provokes some kind of primal feeling. Church explains, “It’s like what Aleksa sings at the end of ‘The Sea’: ‘And you turn your back to life… Oh, sorrow.’ We want our music to confront people in a gentle but powerful way, to make them feel something.”
Thursday June 28 2012
The Head and the Heart @ 9:30 Club
Composed largely of transplants to the Seattle area, The Head and the Heart write and play songs that speak to the newness of a fresh start, of the ghosts left behind, of moving forward, all brimming with a soulfulness and hope for a better life than the one we’ve all been sold.
Stylistically, think a folksy Beatles or Crosby Stills Nash & Young with more instrumental force. Catchy piano melodies stand side by side with a tight trio of harmonies, and solid minimalist drums, groovin bass, and plenty of hand percussion and foot stomps make the live show inspiring and really goddamn fun.
The band’s eponymous first album was self-released at the end of June 2010.
Friday June 29 2012
Moonshine Society @ Bayou
Now featured on many major, college, internet and XM stations, Black Betty delivers aggressive yet graceful vocals, and shows that girls can be every bit as strong as guys while growling, crooning, and sweetly serenading. When asked what makes her group different, she says, “We’re not trying to copy or sound like anyone else. We might be young, but we have deep roots in older music- It goes a long way. Our band is comprised of players from all over the world who came together in their love for this sound. At a show, you’ll see burlesque performers, bikers, college kids, blues afficienados, metal heads, hipsters…it’s just awesome that our music and live show speaks to all of them.
Jukebox the Ghost’s third album Safe Travels marks a period in the band’s career that’s steeped in change, both personally and professionally. Relationships dissolved and crumbled. Loved ones passed on. The band themselves relocated from Philadelphia to New York City and played over 200 shows since the release of their last album in 2010. In the midst of so much change, the band spent months in the studio creating what would become “Safe Travels”, a record that represents a shift in the band’s creative trajectory.
Sunday July 1 2012
The Lumineers @ Rams Head Live!
In 2011, an eponymous, self-recorded EP led to a self-booked tour, and before long The Lumineers started attracting devout fans, first across the Western US, then back in their old East Coast stamping grounds. Young, old and in-between, they’re drawn by songs like “Ho Hey” and “Stubborn Love,” Americana-inflected barnburners in the vein of the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. They’re drawn by songs like “Slow it Down” and “Dead Sea,” slow, sultry ballads that suggest the raw revelations of Jeff Buckley and Ryan Adams. They’re drawn by the live Lumineers experience—a coming-together in musical solidarity against isolation, adversity, and despair.
The roots revival of the last few years has primed listeners for a new generation of rustic, heart-on-the-sleeve music—the kind that nods to tradition while setting off into uncharted territory. The Lumineers walk that line with an unerring gift for timeless melodies and soul-stirring lyrics. It will all be on display soon, on the band’s first full-length album, due April 3rd via Dualtone Records.
Born out of sorrow, powered by passion, ripened by hard work, The Lumineers have found their sound when the world needs it most.
Comments are closed.