Author Archives: Olivia

How can I explain?/ When there are few words I can choose/ How can I explain…

…HOW MUCH I LOVE ERASURE. The synth-pop duo start off their Tomorrow’s World tour today, which hits 9:30 Club for two nights next week, Tuesday (9/6) and Wednesday (9/7). We have a pair of tickets for you to win, and you get to choose which night you want!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uttV1VZUgQQ

Vince Clarke (whom you may remember from some other UK band called Depeche Mode) and Andy Bell have been making glorious new wave music together for twenty-six years now, with notable hits “Chains of Love,” “A Little Respect,” (both from The Innocents LP) and “Always” (from I Say I Say I Say) during the ’80s and ’90s.

Their fourteenth studio album Tomorrow’s World will be released via Mute Records on October 4th, and the first single from the album, “When I Start To (Break It All Down),” was just released as a download on Monday.

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The Rock and Roll Hotel was in full party swing last Friday night in celebration of the Hotel’s 5 Year Anniversary, and who better than Raleigh’s The Love Language to kick off the weekend’s festivities, with their infectious lo-fi indie pop rock. Despite the torrential rain earlier in the evening, the crowd was undeterred and cheerful, and The Love Language returned the sentiment with recognizable pleasers, the kind of songs you’ve been playing all summer at weekend barbecues and during long car rides to the beach.

While they did play a couple of new tracks towards the end of their set, including a song dedicated to Cody Votolato of Telekinesis (and The Blood Brothers), with whom they just toured last spring, the majority of the night was spent showcasing favorites from both their eponymous debut album and last year’s excellent Libraries release.

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Was it The Sopranos or Glee that is responsible for Journey’s resurgence in the American consciousness? Either way, just start singing, “Just a small town girl, livin’ in a lonely world” in practically any bar in this city, and you’ll be greeted with “She took the midnight train goin’ any… where” by your neighbor. It works; I’ve tried this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQIPVqLMUg

What would it feel like to sing this with thousands of other people? Well, we have a pair of Pavilion tickets to give away to the show on Sunday (8/28) at Jiffy Lube Live so that you can find out for yourself.

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When photographer Sarah Gormley and I arrived at the Red Palace last Sunday, the steady rain and August humidity made for an unusually quiet H Street scene, as if we were actually at a deserted movie set that had been abandoned during the recession. We were dismayed to have missed openers The Alternate Routes and Paul Dempsey due to prior commitments, but were lucky enough to arrive at the Red Palace just before indie rockers Scattered Trees took the stage.

The red-tinged room was half-filled with cheerful and earnest fans despite the weather, and the Chicago quintet returned the sentiment. After breaking a string during the very first song, front man Nate Eiesland quipped that he had done it on purpose so that he could borrow Eric’s (from The Alternate Routes) “really sexy guitar” (’twas indeed) and then told a couple of bad jokes to amuse us while he tuned.

While prepping for this show, I revisited the video for “Four Days Straight” on YouTube, and skimmed through the comments. I thought one suggestion that the band “should stick to videos of their live gigs” was particularly prickish, but now… I’ve got to agree.

This band is so much better live than a recording can possibly convey.

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Vinyl Vision is an original weekly series produced by AmusicChannel.tv.

Maybe it’s the smell of the record coming out of the sleeve or the analog sound coming off the turntable. Whatever it is, AmusicChannel.tv has fallen hard for vinyl and is sharing the love right here weekly at TVD. 

The people that understand and appreciate vinyl today aren’t your casual music listeners. These people are the people that know what they like—the artists, musicians and collectors that know the difference the sound of a needle on an album makes. Good Records in Dallas, TX opened up to serve those people, and owner Chris Penn has a pretty good idea what they’re looking for.

We already gave away tickets to see the legendary Bob Dylan, but… SURPRISE!… We got our grubby little hands on some more. The lineup now includes openers Drive By Truckers in addition to Leon Russell. All of the previous entries will still be considered to win another pair of lawn tickets, and the deadline for entry is now Friday (8/12) at noon.—Ed.

Bob Dylan tickets go on sale Friday (at 10am), but one of you will already have a pair of lawn tickets to the August 16th show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in your name on Friday because we’re giving them away!

If you read TVD, you surely can already appreciate being given the opportunity to see this living legend, whose accomplishments include winning eleven Grammys and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but just in case, 5min.com has a nice little (five-minute) recap of the life of the folk-rock-poet-political-activist.

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All Photos: Sarah Gormley

Last Friday at 9:30 Club, DC’s own rock royalty U.S. Royalty hit the stage in their first headlining show there. Charismatic frontman John Thornley was the picture of androgynous excess in faux fur, sequins, and reptile cowboy boots. With this and his usual wild gyrations, Thornley was reminiscent of a rock star from another era as he launched into “Hollywood Hollows” and then “Fool to Love (Like I Do)” from their debut full length Mirrors, released last January.

Later, as they played “the first song we ever wrote,” the summer anthem “Every Summer” from the Midsommar EP, I was reminded of one of the first times I saw this band, when they opened for The Almighty Defenders (King Khan, BBQ, and members of the Black Lips) a few years ago at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. It was the Sunday after CMJ, so it was not surprising that the crowd showed up late, exhausted from a week-long overindulgence of late night shows.

While the venue was packed for the headliner, U.S. Royalty opened to perhaps four people. It didn’t matter, as I distinctly remember that Thornley was a pink-shirted (and back then, he had a beard) whirling phenom, jumping off the stage and surprising the couple of us standing up front and not at the bar.

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I was thrilled to find out that DC’s own U.S. Royalty would be playing 9:30 Club this Friday (7/29). So of course… I had to get you all some tickets to join in the fun. We have a pair of tickets to give away.

Charlottesville, VA’s Birdlips and DC’s True Womanhood are supporting, so it’s your chance to hear three great (relatively) local bands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stsfiBDM5d0

I could tell you for the 800th time about how U.S. Royalty has made all the Best Dressed lists, and I could compare them to Fleetwood Mac like everyone else again (no really, listen to “Monte Carlo” below, and you can’t deny this), but instead, I’m going to get a little sentimental for a moment.

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The Blackberry Belles‘ Album Release Show will be this Friday, July 29th, at the Black Cat Mainstage with Ugly and Spoonboy and The Papas. The event is also doubling as a benefit for Girls Rock! DC. TVD has a pair of tickets to give away, but first, the Belles’ Tony Ferrari muses about a couple of the first albums he loved, before he had his own.

The Blackberry Belles have just released our self-titled debut album. It was recorded at Inner Ear with TJ Lipple, and it’s a dream come true.

Much of my youth was spent listening to music, lost in the images on the covers of records, CDs, and cassette tapes. I vividly remember sitting in a bamboo birdcage chair in my parents living room, wearing what must have looked like giant novelty headphones on my 12-year old self, listening to Appetite for Destruction on vinyl.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/19813877″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=000000″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

The Blackberry Belles | Listen Baby

How I got from Axl Rose to MC Lyte is an entirely different story, but somewhere in my 13th year I became a rapper. I met up a guy with some turntables, and before I knew it, all of my paper route money was spent on 12″ maxi singles.

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You know the deal. We preview the 9:30 Club shows you should be checking out. You can enter later this month for a chance to win tickets to each of them.

…Perhaps even today? Or maybe… tomorrow?

Wanda Jackson and Imelda May, Tues 7/26

Whether you know The Queen of Rockabilly from her work since the ’50s and ’60s or just recently discovered her through her last couple of albums on Jack White’s Third Man Records, Wanda Jackson doesn’t need any introduction. She’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, dated Elvis, and has been touring for longer than many of her current fans have been alive. She swings by the club tomorrow with Irish rockabilly princess Imelda May, so you Wanda Jackson fans maybe should check back here… soon. Very soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnULGVbhPcY

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You know the deal. We preview the 9:30 Club shows you should be checking out. You can enter later this month for a chance to win tickets to each of them.

It’s July (how is summer passing by so quickly?), the Friday before a three-day holiday weekend, and this is the last thing I have to do before going on vacation for a week. That is all that I think I need to say to introduce the first half—because there are always so many—of our JULY 9:30 CLUB TICKET GIVEAWAYS… Drum roll…

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We had such a good time with Fort Knox Recordings last month at U Street Music Hall that we decided to do it all over again, and this time we’re joined by Capitol Hemp to present… THE BIG BOOM. Sunday, July 3rd, cause we like to spend every holiday weekend throwing back some dranks and throwing down some beats with our Fort Knox brethren. Celebrate your freedom with us!

The Big Boom artists will be taking over TVD all next week. We’ll be featuring all of them, and of course we’re going to share in the fun by giving away some tix and some wax.

The Big Boom
Sunday, July 3rd
9pm – 3am
U Street Music Hall
$10.00
Tickets available through Ticketfly
Ages 18+

Featuring:
DJ Nu-Mark
Fort Knox Five
Asheru & Mustafa Akbar
See-I
Rex Riddem of Nappy Riddem

The legendary DJ Nu-Mark is making a rare appearance at this show! This world-famous producer and turntablist is best-known as one of the members of Jurassic 5, and since their breakup, has remixed songs for Nas and Damian Marley, created songs for The Lonely Island, and released his own debut solo album Broken Sunlight. He’s also continued innovating by DJing with children’s toys. For real. And it’s incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb4etMWgEyU

The other Big Boom artists are all no strangers to TVD because they are all dangerously high-caliber DC superstars. This is, after all, The Big Boom.

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The “un-Googleable” BOBBY have been busy touring lately with Thao & Mirah, but I had the pleasure of seeing them a few months ago when they opened for The Low Anthem.

From my seat in the reverent space at 6th & I,

I happily confirmed that BOBBY wasn’t just an ephemeral mist, but composed of real-life persons, although Molly Sarle’s (Mountain Man) soaring melodies could have been something out of a dream I once had, that I couldn’t hold onto. Her voice twisted and filled the cavernous space, which was dimly-lit with fluorescent candles.

Bobby | Groggy

I have been looking forward to their album release since then, and it’s today, via Partisan Records, and we get to give one away to a lucky reader!

Bobby | Sore Spores

For a chance to win the vinyl, tell us the name of another un-Googleable band. I am going to go with Girls.

The winner will be chosen next Tuesday (6/28) and must have a mailing address in the continental US or Canada.

BOBBY’s Upcoming Tour Dates

Jun 21 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah (w/ Thao & Mirah)
Jun 22 – Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar (w/ Thao & Mirah)
Jun 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
July 28 – New York NY @ Mercury Lounge (w/ Mountain Man)
July 29 – Hudson NY @ Club Helsinki (w/ Mountain Man)
July 30 – Northampton MA @ Iron Horse (w/ Mountain Man)

It’s not surprising that the birthplace of Black Country Communion was Guitar Center’s King of the Blues event back in ’09 in LA, during a performance by legendary frontman and bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath) with blues rock guitar virtuoso Joe Bonamassa. Hmmn, if you are Glenn Huges and Joe Bonamassa and are thinking of forming a band, whom do you ask? Oh, maybe Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner) on the cans or Derek Sherinian (Alice Cooper, Billy Idol) on the keys. Nbd.

These four rock gods will be at 9:30 Club this Sunday (6/19), and we have a chance for you to win a pair of tickets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy6WLBvBXaI

The band released its debut album Black Country last September, which was produced by mastermind Kevin Shirley (Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin). Whatevs.

The band name and the album both refer to the part of England where both Hughes and Bonham were born and raised.

To win the tickets, tell us in the comments below, another song or band that refers to a place, real or imaginary.

I gleefully choose Styx!

The winner will be chosen Friday (6/17) at noon and must confirm the tickets via email by 5pm that day.