AltWeeklies Wire
The Time Dave Brubeck Jammed on the National Cathedral Organnew
On a hot July day in 2006, thanks to a connection through the music-teaching world, I got to meet the late Dave Brubeck at the Washington National Cathedral.
Washington City Paper |
John LeBec |
12-11-2012 |
Music
Tags: Dave Brubeck
Our Band Could Be Your Bandnew
How the Brooklynization of culture killed regional music scenes.
Washington City Paper |
Justin Moyer |
09-13-2012 |
Music
Da Oral History of "Da Butt"new
Put your memory in motion! It’s the back story of D.C. go-go’s biggest national hit.
Washington City Paper |
Sarah Godfrey |
04-20-2012 |
Music
Ballad of a Mixtapenew
A hip-hop gentlemen's agreement runs into musical copyright law.
Washington City Paper |
Rend Smith |
04-04-2011 |
Music
Is D.C. Shoving Go-Go Aside?new
Natalie Hopkinson’s article in last Sunday’s Washington Post Outlook section, “Go-go music is the soul of Washington, but it’s slipping,” has generated some discussion thanks to its provocative title, its subject and contentions. But some of the piece’s contentions, specifically those suggesting a causative relationship between gentrification and the diminished presence of go-go within the city, raised my eyebrows, and I wasn’t alone.
Washington City Paper |
Steve Kiviat |
04-16-2010 |
Music
Before the Cheesecake Factory, Arlington Was Home to Storied Punk Residencesnew
Collin Crowe, 26, the guitarist for Buildings, was among the final tenants of Kansas House, a tiny single-family home on the corner of N. Kansas Street and Wilson Boulevard that was among Arlington’s last underground art spaces.
Washington City Paper |
Aaron Leitko |
12-17-2009 |
Music
Reviewed: 'The State vs. Radric Davis' by Atlanta MC Gucci Manenew
Many have tried, but no other rapper quite matches Gucci’s reckless bravado and goofy charm. He’s got an uncanny ability to make light of the dazzling, chaotic storm that is his life.
Washington City Paper |
Ben Westhoff |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Vivian Girls' Struggle With Celebrity Makes for Irresistible Musicnew
The most recent Vivian Girls release is considerably more aggressive than the band's self-titled debut. Not that the Phil Spector-by-way-of-Psychocandy vibe has totally disappeared, but this time out, the very obvious pop influence is tinged with a fair amount of urgency.
Washington City Paper |
Mike Kanin |
09-17-2009 |
Reviews
Singer Gretchen Parlato Makes Every Gasp and Exhale Count on 'In a Dream'new
The foremost qualities of jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato's artistry are her breathy gentleness and sensuality -- she doesn't sing so much as insinuate. Throughout her latest, she exhibits a supple, nuanced airiness that puts the disc leagues ahead of the year’s other vocal jazz recordings.
Washington City Paper |
Michael J. West |
09-10-2009 |
Reviews
John Surman's Jazz Quartet Shakes Things Up on 'Brewster's Rooster'new
Brewster's Rooster is more of an outlier than it might seem. Granted, aside from the occasional skronk, the album is rather tuneful and approachable. But, in a genre that is contracting rather than expanding, what could be more radical than a musician who sees the entirety of jazz as part of a single lovely continuum?
Washington City Paper |
Brent Burton |
08-27-2009 |
Reviews
Dirty Projectors is as Obscure as Ever on 'Bitte Orca'new
Dirty Projectors auteur David Longstreth has made a career out of working on the far-right edge of pop music's pretension continuum -- toiling in that special place reserved for musicians who slave over the placement of every note and seed their stuff with enough clever obscurities to almost warrant an annotated guide.
Washington City Paper |
Mike Kanin |
06-18-2009 |
Reviews
Dinosaur Jr. Refines the Sound of its Heydaynew
The lackadaisical manner that characterized the band during the '80s hasn’t carried over to Farm. The songs are more expertly orchestrated, and to some extent, the tighter, more mature Dinosaur Jr. sounds strongly reminiscent of another lumbering grunge band of yore: Pearl Jam.
Washington City Paper |
Aaron Leitko |
06-18-2009 |
Reviews
Crystal Antlers Twig Out on 'Tentacles'new
Tentacles, the first full-length from Crystal Antlers, is the rare psych-punk record that tempers raucousness with rue. Both traits are apt, given the circumstances surrounding the album's release.
Washington City Paper |
Brent Burton |
04-02-2009 |
Reviews
Repetitive Strain: Vetiver's 'Tight Knit'new
If any band benefits from Robert Christgau’s rule that an album should always get a minimum of three listens, it’s the San Francisco–based folk band Vetiver.
Washington City Paper |
David Dunlap Jr. |
02-12-2009 |
Reviews
Loose Control: Matthew Shipp's 'Harmonic Disorder'new
Harmonic Disorder is something of a flip through the jazz yearbook for connoisseurs, and for initiates it’s a glimpse of the piano’s range within the genre. For both parties, though, it serves notice of the lies behind both the title and the name above it: Shipp is a musician of scholarship and precision, harmonic and otherwise.
Washington City Paper |
Michael J. West |
01-29-2009 |
Reviews
