Bluebrain Cherry Blossom Boombox Walk

I submitted music for this Bluebrain boombox project and was really excited to hear who else was participating (WOAH! Check the flier!). It all goes down this Saturday, April 3rd, at 5:30pm. Details here:

Also, check out a write up and footage from last year's here!
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Collin from Buildings Sends Update

Main Sockets bro Collin Crowe (from Buildings!) just sent in a massive update on stuff he's involved with as well as a few Buildings show updates:

1. I Collin Crowe will be djing for money for the first time ever as a guest star for We Fought the Big One. It's this Friday, April 2, at 10pm @ Marx Cafe in Mt. Pleasant Washington, DC. It's not so much a dance night as it is cool music to chill to. Expect a lot of strange sounds from different genres/times/places/dimensions along with fine belgian beers.

2. Totally bizarre but someone did a buildings remix. This kid (James from Disclosed MP3s) also did remixes of other local bands including Hume, Laughing Man, and True Womanhood and is working on releasing a CD soon of all the remixed tracks.

3. Upcoming shows at Big Bear:
-April 15: Untied States, Bubbling Well (x antelope), Connect the Dots
-April 16: Buildings, CAVES (from Brooklyn), Ziggurat (from DC -mem of laughing man/shock diamond)
*shows at big bear run from 7:30-10pm and are all ages
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Extra Life Splayed Flesh Remix EP Cover

The wait is almost over! The Extra Life Splayed Flesh Remix EP. Oh boy. This one is going to be good. Here's the cover art drawn by Lauren Bahr. Woah! So good!
Here is the tracklist for Splayed Flesh, plus a peak at the Tyondai Braxton remix:

1. "Head Shrinker" - album version
2. "Head Shrinker" - Tyondai Braxton RMX
3. "Head Shrinker" - Caley Monahon-Ward remix
4. "Made Flesh" - album version
5. "The Body is True" - album version
6. "Made Flesh / The Body is True" - JG Thirlwell remix
7. "Made Flesh" - Justin K. Broadrick remix
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Cheniers Thursday at Black Cat

One of my favorite DC bands, The Cheniers, is playing this Thursday, April 1st at the Black Cat. So, if you're feeling like taking in a good show, make sure to head over and catch the band open for the Smith Westerns!
Smith Westerns
Cheniers
So Cow
@ Black Cat
1811 14th St. NW DC
8:30pm
$10
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FORGOTTEN VINYL: Flowers "After Dark"

“After Dark”
Flowers
Mutant Pop 78/79
Released on Fast Product, 1980

DOWNLOAD "After Dark" by Flowers (zSHARE, 256 KBPS)

This compilation has some big names on it, including Gang of Four, Human League, and The Mekons. But my favorite track from the compilation is this one by Flowers called “After Dark”. I'm surprised that this band toils in obscurity compared to the rest of the post-punk bands of the early-1980s era. Flowers are most definitely on par with the bands named above. This track is pretty crucial for gearing up to go out.

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Cephalopods and Lo Moda

Last night's show at the Velvet Lounge was great. It was packed full of people early on and each of the bands were tight. I had never heard Lo Moda, but after the first three songs I was hooked. Please check them out. Also, Cephalopods played their first show, which I thought was pretty great. Here are some blurry iphone pics for posterity:

Lo Moda

Cephalopods

Didn't take any pics of the other two bands, but Busses (from Philly) and Imperial China kicked ass too. Imperial China played a new jam and it was some next level shred!

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Sockets in Austin: SXSW Update 4

Here's my last update from SXSW. Actually, these are just some photos I wanted to share from the toy store my friend Jeff took me to in Austin. This was on Sunday, the day after things wrapped up. I got overwhelmed by the shear number and variety of toys. It was pretty amazing:


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Two Great Shows Tonight (Friday 3/26)

Imperial China and Cephalopods at Velvet:And Future Times at the Cherch:


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Forgotten Vinyl Returns Tomorrow!

I just finished recording a bunch of tracks for another installment of Forgotten Vinyl. If you remember, Brit Powell came by and brought some of his favorite records to record and we shared them in a bunch of posts late last year. Well, I finally got a new needle for my turntable and took some time out to record a few of my favorite tracks from my record collection. With all of the blogs posting full albums and vinyl rips, I can't imagine I'm charting new territory. But these are songs that really stick with me and I'm excited to share them.
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Washington City Paper Review Extra Life's Made Flesh

The Washington City Paper just posted a review of Extra Life's Made Flesh LP. Here's the quote that got me: "Extra Life exudes an exuberant and visceral sound missing from many of the band’s artier peers, yet maintains a musical complexity and intelligence in every song." That's what I'm talking about! The remix EP is going to be so good. Cannot wait for it!

Stay tuned for more updates regarding the release in April.
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The Vinyl District Imperial China Ticket Giveaway

Head over to the The Vinyl District blog for a chance to win two tickets to this Friday's Imperial China show, as well as a t-shirt and CD. Wow, that's a pretty great package. Seriously, why are you still reading this!
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Buildings Live Review

David Hintz over at DC Rock Live posted a review of the Buildings show from last Sunday. Here's a snippet of what he had to say:

I last saw this trio at the Sockets Records showcase and thought they were the highlight of the night. Nothing tonight changes my opinion, but rather firmly enhances it as I think this is one of the finer bands in the area. The drumming is powerful, the bass playing fast and adept and the guitarist lays down circular rings of melody.

The rest of Hintz's review can be found at this link.
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Imperial China | Cephalopods | Busses at Velvet Friday

This is going to be a pretty dope show on Friday at Velvet Lounge here in DC. Imperial China is joined by Cephalopods (including Hugh McElroy, Fiona Griffin, and Wells Bennett), Busses (I went to high school with a member of this band!) and Lo Moda (from Baltimore). This will be Cephalopods first show, which I'm really excited about. Also, Imperial China just got back from tour, so they are tighter than ever:
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Sockets in Austin: SXSW Update 3

So here's the truth: I really didn't get to see as many bands as I wanted. At all. I think it was a combination of things, including it being my first time at SXSW, disorganization at venues, and basic physics. Nevertheless, I got to see some DC bands do their thing, including Laughing Man:

This was the scene at Beauty Bar late Saturday night. I couldn't tell if it was Nick Catchdubs (from Fools Gold Records) or Bird Peterson. Either way, it was a pretty amazing continuous thud of dance music:

This guy was at the AM Only party, the same night as the pic taken above. This stuff was straight up rave music. And I kinda enjoyed it. I got to relive the parties I never went to when I was growing up in the sticks in New Jersey. This music had that continual rise of melodies over the incessant bass beat/hi-hat sound. Uh, Stts, Uh, Stts...

I didn't get in to the Yacht show, but the fence was pretty close to the stage, so I hung out for a little while and caught a few songs after leaving the Fader Fort. Yacht killed it. I haven't seen them since the early days when it was just that one guy:

One of the bands I was really itching to see was Tanlines. They just released a pretty great set of songs on True Panther Sounds (the label with which we released The Fly Girlz). The music was played over a pretty terrible PA, but they sounded pretty close to the record, so no surprises there:


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VIDEO: The Cornel West Theory "Patriotic Me"

Here's the debut video from The Cornel West Theory. It's for the song "Patriotic Me" and was directed by Matt Echave for LS Films:

"PATRIOTIC ME" THE CORNEL WEST THEORY from L. S. Films on Vimeo.

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Sockets in Austin: SXSW Update 2

Some deep bathroom graffiti at SXSW:


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Sockets in Austin: SXSW Update 1

Woah. I've been in Austin, TX for the last five days attempting to understand the beast that is SXSW. I thought it would be easy to get pics up and give a run-down of each day, but that proved difficult. Apologies for the lack of posts

I caught up with a lot of DC folk and saw a ton of new bands. I had the distinct feeling that I was missing so much at any given moment… I soon learned that this feeling is the crux of SXSW.

My good friend Jeff (we go all the way back to the 6th grade) was gracious enough to let me crash at his place during the festival and thanks to him I ate a ton of great Mexican food. Despite being overwhelmed, I think it was great to get out of DC for a long weekend. I'm ready to be back though!

Here are some pics (more to come soon!):

Miike Snow at the Spin show

Veggie Rito!

The dude from Fucked Up right before he hugged half the audience

Me and Ben Kronberg

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Julianne Barwick at the Panache party

Aa at the Panache party

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Buildings and Magik Markers on Sunday

Make sure to check out Buildings and Magik Markers this Sunday at the Black Cat Backstage. Here are the details in list form:

Magik Markers
Buildings
Black Cat Backstage
1811 14th St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
9pm
$10
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DCist Reviews Phosphenes

DCist reviewed Imperial China's new CD Phosphenes yesterday. Check it out. Here's a little snippet:

Within the first 30 seconds of Imperial China's debut LP, Phosphenes, it's clear what sounds are going to dominate the record: dance-ready samples, squealing dissonant guitars and percussion. Their use of these elements make good on the promise of their first release, the Methods EP: that the trio can effectively combine the elements that defined Dischord's most prominent bands without sounding like they're stuck in a time warp.

Make sure to read the rest of the review here.
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Imperial China St. Louis Photos

Corey Woodruff just sent us a few shows he took of the band at its show in St. Louis this weekend:



Check out the rest of Corey's photos here. They are pretty great.
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Imperial China Writes In From The Van: St. Louis, MO

Imperial China is currently on tour and here is the band's update from its show in St Louis, Missouri @ Ciceros:

One of the best things about out of town shows is meeting amazing people. St. Louis was no exception. Our friends, Paige and Evan, from Sleepy Kitty set up a show for us and put us up for the night. Sleepy Kitty is a two-piece (drums, guitar, and keys) that plays a powerful and melodic brand of pop that focuses on song writing and creating layers of sound using loops. Watching Paige harmonize vocally with herself using loops is truly inspiring, and not just because of the high level of difficulty to pull it off live.

As a band that relies on live loops ourselves, we know how difficult to be to effectively use them them live, especially when trying to write somewhat complex music. Sleepy Kitty has mastered this element in their live show. I kept thinking, “God damn, he’s just such a pro drummer.” Evan was the drummer in Bound Stems of Chicago, who we’ve played with and put up when they came through D.C. Evan also played in Harvey Danger. There’s truly no substitute for repetition and experience.

After the show, we went back to Evan and Paige’s place with Matt, who runs local St. Louis music magazine, Eleven, and did a guest performance with Sleepy Kitty. We hung out and talked about music and the St. Louis scene.

In addition to being in a band, they also free-lance graphic artists with a screen printing business. Running out of space at their Chicago studio, they moved to St. Louis over a year ago looking to expand in a new place. They found an amazing space at an old Brewery, in which they now both live, work and write/practice. They focus on screen printing and they do beautiful work. In fact, check out the beautiful poster they did for our show:


Their printing company goes by the same name as the band, Sleepy Kitty. They seem to include all of their creative endeavors under the umbrella of Sleepy Kitty. I think this is a great idea for a number of reasons, not least of which because people will associate their name with multiple artistic mediums and any attention brought to one of their endeavors will ultimately draw attention to all their endeavors.

Paige and Evan are both amazing, positive and creative people and we wish them the best of luck in St. Louis. We’ll leave you with some pictures of their space, which is a a work of art in and of itself.






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Terry Riley's In C Last Night in Baltimore

Brit (HUME) convinced me to go to Baltimore last night and experience a performance of Terry Tiley's In C composition - written in 1964. I'm really glad I went. It was amazing. Not sure how many musicians exactly, but close to 30 in all playing keys, xylophone, guitar, saxophone, strings, laptops, and more at the Copy Cat space. Here are some pics:






More info on musicians and organizers here.
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