Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

After they lost their lease in the pricier part of Arlington(Clarendon near a metro), they moved to an out-of-the way Arlington location practically in Falls Church. I guess they then assumed that an Old Town Alexandria location would be more accessible. But it really wasn't.

no not at all, and the stock was always the same. i am going to go to the sale this weekend and buy the same stuff i have been eyeing for over a year.

I've got The Delgados and Malcolm Middleton of Arab Strap coming to DJ at Saint-Ex after their show at the Black Cat Tuesday, March 30th.

Cool. So I tried to buy stuff at NOW on Saturday. Got there at 12:10 and the store was closed. By 12:50 there were about 15 people waiting and the damn place hadn't opened. Their e-mail said they'd open at noon. I had other things to do so I left. No wonder they went out of business. This happened to me once before trying to go there.

We need good local bands and djs to get involved in the below:

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities invites musicians to participate in the 2nd Annual Fête de la Musique DC. The Fête is an internationally recognized music festival that marks the first days of summer. Festival dates are June 18-21, 2004 with performances throughout the afternoon and evening. The Arts Commission is sponsoring special workshops for area musicians interested in participating in the Fete and conducting live auditions for “acoustic” and “acapella” musicians and performers.

All types of musicians and bands interested in learning more can attend one of two special festival workshops. The workshops will provide valuable information on how musicians can participate and receive promotional assistance from the Arts Commission. The workshop dates are:

Dates and Times: Monday, March 15, 2004 at 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Thursday, March 18, 2004 at 12 Noon – 1 PM

P Place: DC Arts Commission, 410 8th Street NW, 5th floor

Please call (202) 724-5614 or send an email to jose.dominguez@dc.gov with any questions that you may have.

Is the Ghostly thing still on at the Warehouse Next Door on April 1st? I thought I saw something else listed there for that night in their City Paper ad. I e-mailed the label and they didn't respond back.

I don't have the ad in front of me, but I know at least one of the acts listed, Output Message, is on Ghostly.

finally checked out cafe st ex tonight. i went downstairs and had a few chimays on draft. not bad. my improv group might be playing the electric maid in takoma this weekend.

oh also does anyone have the kind of connections that would help a hardworking bartender get a job in DC?

cafe st ex has draft now? excellent

Aaron, I know the Kimpton Group properties are hiring - Topaz, Rouge, Helix.

already went to all of those places :-( i always have a hard time getting new jobs, but when i do get them, i become one of the best employees within a few months. its a frustrating process.

st ex has chimay, stella and delerium and a few more that i cant remember on draft. really nice people there. the barback, by mistake, bussed my last cigarette and matches when i went up to the bar to get another beer. when i mentioned this to the bartender, he gave me matches, a regular hooked me up with a cigarette, and a woman who was with the DJ said she was going out a cigarette run, and asked me what i wanted. i was actually confused by kindess.

hello all. my band Indent will be playing tomorrow (sat) night at the electric maid in takoma park at 236 carroll, right near the metro. sets are at 7pm and 10pm, $7. i am the drummer. come have a smoke break with me between sets and introduce yrselves. oh we are a free improv band.

No Ellen Allien DC dates for her US tour, but Ghostly e-mailed me that Mathew Dear may be coming here in the summer.

My attempts to get the DC Arts Commisssion to add more indie-rock, Latin, African, go-go and hiphop to the upcoming June 20th Free Music Fete seem to have run into bureacratical walls and lack of money. Oh well, I tried.

Yea, yea I know DC has a lack of cheap rent warehouses and is stuck with a not exactly helpful government bureacracy. But I'm still counting on Aaron with his bartending profits or someone else to create events I want to see!!!

i still need a good bartending job for bartending profits. and then there is the matter of a good venue... every time i go out in dc, i feel like there is a lot of great talent, and no place to collect it all. Tom and I went to the first floor bar of Reef last week for the open turntable night. we both DJed for a while, and had fun, but the guys who played after us were tremendous, and as far as i can tell, they usually play in their bedrooms.
i played (this is not 100% correct in order, but generally in order):
convextion "convextion" (matrix 1)
Schatrax "?" (Schatrax)
Paul Kalkbrenner (can't remember)
R is R "Nude Photo" (transmat)
K. Alexi "All for Lee-sah" (transmat)
Pierre's Phantasy Club "Fantasy Girl" (Trax)
Sleezy D "I've Lost Control" (Trax)
Jaime Principle "Baby Wants to Ride" (Trax)
Suzy Q "Two of Hearts"
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam "I Wonder if I Take You Home"

didnt mix, just having some fun. am going to see Ken Mcintyre of AACM fame tonight I think.

Andreas Tilliander and Normal Music are on tomorrow night (4/9) at DC9.

6/11 is Richie Hawtin and Magda at Cubik

here's the day-by-day linup for the once.twice festival in Baltimore...

>>>>>>>>>

avant hip-hop + twisted rhythms
THURSDAY APRIL 15TH
2549 N Howard Street
www.theottobar.com
All ages / Doors open @ 9pm / ADMISSION $10

DABRYE [ DETROIT - Ghostly International ]
GHISLAIN POIRIER [ MONTREAL - 12k / Chocolate Industries ]
JIMMY EDGAR [ DETROIT - Warp / M3rck / Audio.NL ]
NAUTICAL ALMANAC [ BALTIMORE - Heresee ]
MARC LUSSIER [ BALTIMORE ]

>>>>>>>>>

PERLON LABEL FOCUS
FRIDAY APRIL 16th
THE SUPREME IMPERIAL
223 Pearl STREET
http://www.thehush.net/supreme.htm
All ages / Doors open @ 9pm / ADMISSION $10

AKUFEN [ MONTREAL - Perlon / Force-Inc / Musique Risquee ]
DIMBIMAN aka ZIP [ BERLIN - Perlon ]
MATTHEW DEAR aka JABBERJAW [ DETROIT - Perlon / Plus8 / Ghostly ]
SOMEONE ELSE [ PHILADELPHIA - Foundsound / Musik Krause ]
BEN PARRIS dj set [ Baltimore - Once.Twice / Foundsound ]
MISKATE dj set [ PHILADELPHIA - Foundsound ]

>>>>>>>

SATURDAY APRIL 17th JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MATTIN CENTER ROSS JONES BUILDING, SDS ROOM
3400 N CHARLES ST,BALTIMORE MD
All ages / Doors open @ 8pm / ADMISSION $10

AGF [ BERLIN - Orthlorng Musork / Kitty Yo ]
+ SUE.C [ SAN FRANCISCO - Orthlorng Musork ]
CHRISTOHPER WILLITS [ SAN FRANCISCO - 12k / Fallt ]
+SCOTT PAGANO [ SAN FRANCISCO - Reline ]
MYLENA BERGERON [ MONTREAL - Oral ]
+ CAROLINE HAYEUR [ MONTREAL ]
LOADBANG [ BALTIMORE ]

I'm looking forward to this. I was at the once.twice exhibition a few years ago with Moonstealingproject/Richard Chartier/Taylor Deupree/Mokira, and it was a really nice (though obv. subdued) time. Definitely making the drive up on Friday, and possibly Saturday as well.

I've been really pleased with the ridiculous amount of good music available to us in the last month or so. Bummed about missing TV on the Radio, but Xiu Xiu were great, and the prospect of seeing Sunburned Hand of the Man + Four Tet (again, in Baltimore, Tuesday the 20th) = more excitement. Add CocoRosie on to that, and I'll be near broke.

i really really want to go to friday night's performance with dimbiman, akufen, dear, tc, but i have no ride. is anyone going?

RICH
tech house & techno

resident DJ's Milo & Daedau

every Friday starting tonight

at Saveur
2218 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Glover Park, DC
10ish-2ish
NO COVER CHARGE

nice. i need to take a night off and check it out.

Revive.

What's happening this summer? I don't think the Fort Reno schedule has been announced yet. I'm excited about the D.C. Caribbean Carnival and the related shows happening in a few weeks. Also, the Smithsonian Folklife Fest is gonna be featuring Latin and Haitian music. Anything new folks to tell me about dancehall, electronica, hiphop and go-go wise?

Sorry I didn't catch your April 16th post, Aaron. If I'd noticed, I would have offered you a ride.

I'm excited about a few DC-area shows coming up in the month of June. MF Doom w/Talib Kweli at the 9:30 Club, Sunday June 13. Madvillain has finally clicked for me, you have to listen to it as a series of vignettes ... looking forward to the show. I've seen Decembrists and Neko Case before, so I'll probably skip their shows the next two nights in order to check out Acid Mothers Temple at the Ottobar in Baltimore, Thursday the 17th. Two good acoustic shows at Iota in Virginia the next week: Iron & Wine, Tuesday the 22nd, and Devendra Banhart Thursday the 24th. I'm from Florida orig., and really looking forward to hearing Sam Beam(Iron & Wine)'s voice live.

schedule is much tighter now as i work monday, tuesday, thursday, friday and saturday but i would love to go to some shows with more advance notice. and thanks for the retroactive ride offer :-)

Are there any new go-go bands that anyone likes? Are go-go bands just doing covers of rap hits mostly these days?

No Fort Reno free indie rock shows schedule posted the last time I looked.

the fake accents are playing the black cat backstage tonight. we... i mean... THEY... are a pretty awesome fun indie rock quartet. some of their stuff sounds like one or more of the following:

the fall
early superchunk
unrest
the wedding present (fast strummy guitar)
pavement
the strokes

and theyre all TOTALLY nice awesome kids. and this hardcore band, kudzu wish is opening.

ALL FOR $5!!!

so, if you wanna party like its 1995, come to the black cat backstage tonight.

hey so coming up in the next couple of months...
scissor sisters, faint w/ tv on the radio, mouse on mars w/ junior boys. i am going to try to attend most or all of the above.
also, my band might be playing with avant-hop groop Dalek sometime in September, i will give heads up when date is confirmed.

So is there any d.j. in d.c. playing the stuff Paul kennedy is spinning in NYC:

bubblecrunk, grime, ragga, favela funk, 2step, neukÖln, soca, ardkore jungle, lover's rock +

I missed Mathew Dear at club 5. Did anyone go?

Also, anyone been out to the Crossroads or other joints that feature dancehall?

Are the Medications the most exciting Dischord band these days?

I've listened to that latest Q and Not U cd and imho their punk-funk w/ falsetto vocals pales compared to the circa '81 stuff, and even to the best DFA singles.

Yo Aaron, and other D.C. folks, what do ya think?

bump

(x-post on all this)

At my night at Saint-Ex, SALT (1st Wednesdays monthly), I generally play a fair amount of grime, dancehall, crunk, and german goodness. But that's only around half the playlist, and we vary quite a bit month to month. We've going to have another grime focus night coming up (our 4th!), this summer Dizzee and Wonder were there after their DC show.

Matthew Dear was very disappointing. Tracky techno with little personality, and the bass was a little overwhelming (and not in a good way). It had nothing on the Jake Fairley live set at Andalu a couple of months ago.

I'm pretty happy with the new Q & Not U, but I haven't heard The Medications yet.

And in case anyone doesn't know, Kingpin burned down. It's maybe the only place in the city I'd ever been where you knew anyone could have a great time anytime. There were a lot of good DJs that played there, too, though not as recently.

Cool re: your d.j. night, but for me alas, Wednesdays are not good. Oh well.

Thanks for the other stuff.

There are a couple other D.C. threads floating around right now.

washington dc record stores?

Hey d.j. Brian Miller:

Please get in touch with me before Monday. I need to talk to you about a City Paper thing...-Steve

Got your email, Steve - I'll be sending you a list of responses this weekend.

Also, if anyone's interested, The Arc@de F!re is going to be doing a low key post-9:30 club show DJ set at S@int-Ex on Sunday the 30th.

yo yo yo! I still dont have a computer etc etc etc but...
1. everyone go to SALT tommorrow! Dammit!
2. the dc scene is exceedingly small. a year of drinking too much at esl, local 16, asylum, pharmacy bar, st. ex, and i might know everyone who is not too famous to be in dc all the time like me.
3. i have switched jobs and have a relatively more flexible schedule so (brian, anyone) please call when someone like jake fairley comes thru.
4. german techno can be found at CD Warehouse in Georgetown of all places. Since I happened in a few weeks ago, I have bought or been given copies of the new superpicther mix, the new triple r mix, the new lawrence record, the new lali puna, the new t raumschmere (spelling obv wrong), and poker flat volume 4 (fucking uptempo tech/micro/whatever comp of year so far methinks). Go spend money there.
6. That being said, anyone who wants to venture to Baltimore for vinyl: let's coordinate. It gets lonely eating hot dogs at the train station ;-)
5. Is anyone else here proud of Raheem DeVaughn?
6. Sounds of Kaleidescope might be the most consistent local band not famous yet. I am biased though because I know some of them, but maybe I'm not. The CD Release party at the black cat should be good though I wont be there :-(

much luv dc massiv

I wanted to recommend my friends Manhunter, who are fucking awesome and have a record coming out on Ghostly in the fall. They're playing tomorrow night at Alchemy and at the Warehouse Aug. 5. Also whatever, lame though it may be I gotta hype my own band, the Fake Accents - we play around pretty often, did Ft. Reno a few weeks ago, and will be at the Warehouse Aug. 22, plus July 12 at the Talking Head if you feel like going to Baltimore.

DC is small, but I like it - and there's a ton of folks who go to shows and do nifty stuff that aren't part of the scene per se. It could use some fuckin record stores though - we've got some sorta OK ones but seriously, for a city of this size it's ridiculous. Luckily the gf lives in Bmore so I'm there all the time, powering the capitalistic engine that drives this great country.

i expect the people who arent part of the "scene" are doing a LOT of nifty things as drinking at a bar all the time makles it difficult to get things done. yet ill probably go to yellow fever after work tonight anyways :-( ;-)

Aaron, I'll totally go to Bmore for record shopping once I've gotten situated in DC. (I don't live there now, will be back.. soon.. once I have job/place to live). But I am really curious to know what's happening outside of "the scene," which.. in my encounters with it.. has always been rather uptight + hostile.

Daria:
Who is uptight and hostile? People involved in the political world, or elsewhere?

Zack:

What do "Fake Accents" sound like?

Aaron:

I listened to Raheen DeVaughn's finally released cd in Tower and was impressed. I wonder if he'll get any national r'n'b exposure.

I haven't made it to Fort Reno this summer. What have been some fave shows?

I did make it to Fort Dupont for the first time in ages. I saw old-school soul act the Dramatics.

Go-go club Deno's has finally closed for good. I missed the fishfry Deno had down there last weekend as a farewell to his hand-dance and go-go customers.

Has anyone been to any of those dance clubs opening up on NY Avenue--'Avenue' and I forget the name of the other ones. The "Going Out Gurus" on Washington Post.com write about such places...

No one whose name I remember, unfortunately, but it has just been my bad luck that every time I've been at a gathering involving DC or Baltimore indie scene, people have been unfriendly and standoffish. Nowhere else have I gone to a party and had the "host" just kind of stare at me and not make the least effort to be welcoming, or had some smug fuck tell me my taste in music sucked.. Christ, I had a friend who was a big scenester in DC and she was still freaking out all the time about making sure her hairstyle was cool enough and her belt white enough to be in the orbit of the Make*Up.

I don't worry about appearances like I used to, but I worry about encountering bad attitudes and bad vibes when I move back to DC. I am going to try hard to keep an open mind, though. Also to see different kinds of shows, not just whoever's at Black Cat, Fort Reno, etc.

Some things never change. This old guy remembers those 'coolness' issues in the Dc scene back in the '80s. Don't worry about it. Seeing different kinds of shows has always kept music fresh and vital for me.

steve - the fake accents are (is) a band, comprised of zack, me (i just subtly changed my normal ILX handle...), washington post going-out-guru dave, and our favorite friend mai. we're ripping off a lot of good bands these days. zack should chime in with his two cents, but if youre curious, come out and see us at the warehouse on the 22nd.

Where's a good place to see Go-go live? I've just moved into the area and can't make heads or tails of the listings in any of the papers.

The band that I play the drums in, the Franchise, is playing at the Black Cat next Tuesday (8/16)--not that anyone cares.

We all care! Is your band pop, or psychedelic, or country, or industrial, or Gang of 4 sounding or what?

The most complete go-go listings are at the Take Me Out to the Go-go website. Uh, various go-go clubs have have had violence take place in or near them, and the shows start real real late at night. Sometimes go-go bands play at non-go-go clubs. Chuck Brown has done shows at the Warner Theatre and he's playing a birthday party for himself at the 930 Club on Aug. 27th.