ALBUM REVIEW: BRNDA’s Total Pain

ALBUM REVIEW: BRNDA’s Total Pain

Four years after releasing their last album Do You Like Salt?, local art-punk four-piece BRNDA returns with the phenomenal Total Pain, a 12-song LP that blends the DIY sounds of D.C. punk and 60s Art Nouveau aesthetics with lyrical explorations of food, animals, and the relationship between pleasure and pain into one of the freshest projects of the year.
ALBUM REVIEW: Jeffrey Lewis’s The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis

ALBUM REVIEW: Jeffrey Lewis’s The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis

More than a story about the healing power of music, “Inger” captures The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis’s theme of legacy. Notably, the singer he describes looks a lot like Lewis himself. Taken with the album’s homage to Bob Dylan’s most famous record in the midst of the current Dylan renaissance, it's clear Lewis is reflecting on his career. Capturing the way relationships shift and identities evolve, Lewis pays tribute to the past, reasserting his value at a particularly opportune time.
PHOTO ESSAY: BEESON W/ MANNEQUIN FIGHT @ Pie Shop 2/20

PHOTO ESSAY: BEESON W/ MANNEQUIN FIGHT @ Pie Shop 2/20

Coming from Utah for their first east coast tour, Beeson rocked pie shop with their indie-west born sound. The opener of the concert was mannequin fight which began the night on high vibes. Beeson maintained the energy with their optimistic guitar pics and light lyrics. The band— with Jane Beeson as the lead singer and Carson Ripley and Avery Davis on guitar—seems to have a bright future; at least the concert goers at Pie Shop seemed very pleased with their night.
CONCERT REVIEW: Crafted Sounds Special 2/20 @ Cousin Danny’s

CONCERT REVIEW: Crafted Sounds Special 2/20 @ Cousin Danny’s

The portal to the Crafted Sounds Special was the scariest door of all time. A cigarette smoking musician had to point it out to us. It was snowing and the gray graffitied door with a lock didn’t seem right, for a second we thought the gig was gonna be in the side yard of the house because of the huge “COUSIN DANNY’S” poster hanging outside. 
Local bands have a ball at Mosh Madness

Local bands have a ball at Mosh Madness

I spent the Saturday before starting my last semester of college watching a bunch of out of shape local musicians play basketball in a church gym in Takoma, MD. It was the first ever Mosh Madness, a half-court single elimination tournament organized by Ian Donaldson and Reid Williams of Dorinda. Fourteen bands competed while five bands (three of who also balled) – Flowerbomb, Pretty Bitter, Massie, Pinky Lemon and Spring Silver – played sets during the matches. The event raised over $2,600 for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Flooded in stale lighting, the smell of sweat growing exponentially worse each hour, you could barely hear conversation because the acoustics of the room weren’t prepared to host some of the DMV’s best and loudest. After whining through a semester abroad with no real live music, this was the perfect scene homecoming.