DeVotchka, Los Campesinos, Bishop Allen, Junior League, The Speaks and Others Play DC's U Street Concerts This Weekend
Friday, May 16, 2008
DeVotchka performed tonight at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC
The U Street Weekend Concert series in Washington, DC kicked off tonight with performances from artists Devotchka and Los Campesinos. Bands and artists including Junior League, The Speaks, Alice Smith, Bishop Allen and Yo Majesty will also perform this weekend at various venues in the nation's capital.
DeVotchka, a four-piece multi-instrumental band blending rock with eastern European influences, performed for a packed crowd at Washington, DC's legendary 9:30 Club. The opening act was Basia Bulat.
Los Campesinos!, the Welsh seven-piece indie pop-rock band, played the Black Cat with the Aquarium and Pash tonight to a pumped up crowd.
Check out Los Campesinos official web site for more music, merchandise and tour dates.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
DC's own rock quintet, The Speaks, who are big in Asia, will perform at the 9:30 Club on Saturday night with opening artists Monako and Dreaming of Eden. The show starts at 6 pm and tickets are $12.
Bluegrass and country folk artist Junior League will play the Black Cat starting at 9 pm. Tickets are $10.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
R&B, soul and jazz singer Alice Smith, a local DC artists, will sound-off with her powerful voice and back-up band Sunday night starting at 7:30 with opening act Res. Tickets are $18.
One of Brooklyn's favorite indie bands, Bishop Allen, will perform at the Black Cat with the War on Drugs and Deleted Scenes. Tickets are a deal at $12. Doors open at 8 pm.
This is the band's last U.S. performance before launching their spring European tour on May 23 in Gothenburg.
Check out Bishop Allen's MySpace page for more music and tour dates. Bishop Allen is widely known for their song "Click Click Click Click" , which was featured on a Sony camera commercial last year.
Lastly, the all female electro-rap jam band Yo Majesty will take the stage Sunday night at DC9. Opening band Innerpartysystem will open the show at 9 pm. Tickets are $12 a pop.
With a catchy name and unique sound that combines indie rock-pop and Afro influences, New York's collegiate 'indie' sensation Vampire Weekend have managed to become one of the the hottest bands during the past two years, selling out shows, performing on Saturday Night Live and garnering a massive amount of buzz in the mainstream press and on countless music blogs.
But there are disadvantages of being so popular; there are music fans who absolutely love the band, and there are others who declare VW are vastly over-rated.
Yet the soaring popularity of the band appears to be unabated. That can be a good and a bad thing, as we’ve seen so many times before. Nonetheless, I’d bet my Cadillac that many record labels are in a bidding war for these guys right now.
The band has toured relentlessly since early 2007, and there is no sign that they intend to take a break. In fact, VW are booked solid through the end of September when they will play at the famous Austin City Limits festival.
Here's Vampire Weekend's tour dates for the next four months. It seems as if they are playing nearly every music festival this summer, not just in the U.S., but worldwide:
If you'd like to see the band live, it is strongly recommended to get tickets once they go on sale, since tickets have regularly gone for double and triple the price on eBay and other third-party ticket auction sites.
One of the most interesting things about a band from New York City is that they have a number of songs about Massachusetts in their limited music repertoire ("Boston", "Ladies of Cambridge" and "Cape Cod Kawasa Kawasa")
The band describes their sound as “Upper West Side Soweto” - a reference to their early gigs playing at frat and literary parties for NYC social elites where people began to take notice of their unique blend of joyous indie rock infused with melodic Afro-beat rhythms.
Vampire Weekend's band members are Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Rostam Batmanglij, and Chris Tomson. The group derived their name from a college film project shortly after forming in 2006.
Their first release, the EP Mansford Roof, caught the attention of music critics, including The New York Times. Word spread quickly about Vampire Weekend's unique sound and lyrics (the track "Oxford Comma" refers to a comma use in a list of three items), buoyed by the band's self-released EPs, which they recorded in locations spanning their Columbia dorm rooms to a family barn.
The buzz around Vampire Weekend reached a feverish peak in 2007; that summer, the band embarked on a seemingly endless tour in 2007, made several appearances at that year's CMJ Music Marathon, and eventually signed with XL Records that fall.
Since then, Vampire Weekend has continued to grow in popularity, evidenced by the fact that most of their shows for this spring and summer have already been sold out.
Some worthwhile VW links, including audio and video performances:
Summerfest 2008 Adds New Artists Blondie, Three Dog Night, CCR, Pat Benatar, Cheap Trick and More
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Hailed as the 'world's largest music festival', Summerfest 2008 organizers have announced the line-up for the 'classic rock' stage which will be located at the south end of Henry Maier Festival Park and sponsored by Milwaukee FM radio stations 97.3 The Brew and My 95.7.
Here is the line-up of artists set to headline the M&I Classic Rock Stage during late June and early July:
June 26 - 9:00 pm - Three Dog Night June 27 - 10:00 pm - Think Floyd June 28 - 5:30 pm - Daryl Stuermer June 28 - 10:00 pm - Blondie (see video below) June 29 - 10:00 pm - Dickey Betts June 30 - 8:30 pm - A Tribute to James Brown featuring Bootsy Collins along with The Original James Brown Horn Section & Long Wilson, Bobby Byrd Band (featuring Mrs. Vicky Anderson Byrd), Escapism (featuring Venisha Brown), iCandi, Freekbass, Djizzle, ZienPlanet10 July 1 - 8:30 pm - Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo July 2 - 9:00 pm - Creedence Clearwater Revisited July 3 - 10:00 pm - Kansas July 4 - 10:00 pm - Mountain July 5 - 3:00 pm - The Zombies July 5 - 10:00 pm - Cheap Trick July 6 - 9:00 pm - Earth Wind and Fire
This is the official music video for Blondie's 1979 smash hit "Heart of Glass":
DJ James Pants Emerges from the Forest to Release Welcome
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Infusing elements of dance, hip-hop and funk, Spokane, Washington's one-band and DJ James Pants (born James Singleton) has released his debut album Welcome.
MP3: James Pants - "We're Through" from the album Welcome on Stones Throw Records
If you like what you hear, purchase Welcome from iTunes. After meeting Stones Throw Records head Peanut Butter Wolf, Pants' recording of "Do A Couple of Things" was included on Wolf's compilation Chrome Children.
Pants has a penchant for recording humorous and fun mixtapes, which have been the catalyst behind much of his popularity in the indie music underground.
In 2007, Pants has released a 12" EP titled Kash and a follow-up single track "Murder" on Chrome Children, Vol. 2.
Recently, Pants has toured as a DJ with Peanut Butter Wolf and Jamie Lidell.
Thursday Indie Rock LinkStorm - Vampire Weekend, The Black Keys, Adaline, Ryan Tedder, BSS, Ryan Lott, Brendan Canning
Thursday, May 08, 2008
The video above features Wolf Parade performing "This Heart's on Fire"
There's always too many indie rock articles and items of news and never enough time to write about them. So, as an antidote, IRC has come up with the 'linkstorm' concept to deliver to you the best in what's happening in the indie music world. Enjoy.
Akron, Ohio's The Black Keys cover 70's icon Captain Beefheart in the song "I'm Glad" (via Stereogum). Get the MP3 while you can because it could expire at any time.
DeVotchka performed tonight at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC 
One of Brooklyn's favorite indie bands, Bishop Allen, will perform at the Black Cat with the War on Drugs and Deleted Scenes. Tickets are a deal at $12. Doors open at 8 pm.
