Lollapalooza 2009 Lineup Announced

My brother is getting married this fall to his lovely fiance Krista and for his bachelor party weekend his friends and I are taking him to Lollapalooza in Chicago – excuse me, Dougapalooza – and the lineup was announced this morning. Check it out.

US Royalty at Rock and Roll Hotel with Lissy Trullie TONIGHT!

DC native sons US Royalty are playing a huge show tonight at Rock and Roll Hotel. These guys just recently rocked SXSW and did me a huge favor by bringing the house down at my birthday party two weeks ago (check out the photos here). The band, a group of great guys and very talented musicians, have a raw but approachable sound and put on a crushing high-energy live show. Tonight will be something not to miss. DC to NYC transplant Lissy Trullie is opening. Check her out too – she has a nice cover of Hot Chips Ready for the Floor and some other sweet tunes. The guys are also having an after party at Jimmy Valentine’s.

Here’s some recent quotes about US Royalty:

“These kids sound like a garage-band Beach Boys…but not stupid enough to neglect pop-culture chords and drum beats that let you dance.” – NYLONMag.com

“U.S. Royalty is (fittingly) a Washington, D.C.-based outfit that specializes in swaggering, soul-infused indie rock; imagine Cold War Kids if you replaced their pseudo-gospel sermonizing with dizzily descending guitar lines and a brighter outlook on life.” – SPIN.com’s Buzzcatcher feature

“The svelte, shaggy-haired foursome is a little Killers and a little Okkervil River, with smooth chord progressions and harmonies reminiscent of early American Bandstand.” – Modern Luxury Magazine

DJ Hut to close brick and mortar store – shift to online only…

A staple of the DC music community, DJ Hut, was the bearer of bad news yesterday in a message to its fans on Facebook:

Dj Hut friends and customers,

We have some sad and disappointing news to share with you. Dj Hut can no longer battle the dual headwind of the demise of the music retail industry and the economic downturn. As a result, we are forced to shut down the store and go strictly online at the end of April. Effective immediately, all vinyl records, CDs, DVDs and books will be liquidated at the rate of 20% off the regular price.

We would like to thank you for your support over the last 7 years at the store and we look forward to your continued support in the future online.

Best,
Dj Hut Crew

I am not a DJ but am a big fan of DJ Hut, as a collector of vinyl/owner of a record player, and fan of the turntablism craft. I would also work with my homies Seth and Saj to rent tables from those guys for them to play at parties we would put on around DC. The guys there were always mad cool, like Stylus Chris and the crew. Be sure to stop by before they close and continue to support online. It’s a sad rainy Friday. And only a couple weeks away from Record Store Day on April 18.

Grizzly Bear: New Record, Tour Dates, Appreciation

A re-invigoration of blog buzz, a recent appearance at SXSW and track leaks abound, Grizzly Bear is at it again and I couldn’t be more excited. They have recently released a tour schedule is support of their forthcoming album, Veckatimest (out May 26) that includes a stop at DC’s 930 Club on June 1 with Here We Go Magic. Veckatimest was produced by the band’s own Chris Taylor and was named after an island in Massachusets the band visited while they were recording. It will have guest appearances including Beach House’s Victoria LeGrand.

I have been a fan of this band since I saw them at the Reykjavik Art Museum at Iceland Airwaves in 2007. Followed by adoration of Yellow House and a captivating show at 6th and I last year, the band is coming back into my situation. After the jump, there is videos of some performances of tracks that have been around for a bit but are on the new album – While You Wait for the Others and Two Weeks on Letterman and the entire tour schedule.

N.A.S.A @ RnR: Grooves and Alien Go Go Dancers

Here is a review from Veronica, who checked out the N.A.S.A show last weekend while I was on a snowboarding trip in Colorado. As you will soon find out in seems I missed out on an intergalactic musical adventure. Video for Money featuring David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge and & Z-Trip with the artwork of Shepard Fairey at the end of the post.

I’m not 100% sure, but I’d take a guess that if you gave Alice In Wonderland a Quaalude directly after a day-long Futurama marathon, her next trip down the rabbit hole would be a lot like last Saturday night’s N.A.S.A. show at the Rock & Roll Hotel. Or at least that’s how I feel about it.

I’d been anticipating this show for several months now on a tip from Wix—who knows a thing or two about Getting Real on the music “steez.” And even more so since the release of the duos 5-years-in-the-making The Spirit of Apollo album a month back. Boasting artistic collaborations with the likes of David Byrne, Tom Waits, RZA and the late/great Ol’ Dirty Bastard (among others), Squeak E. Clean (DJ Sam Spiegel & brother to Spike Jonze) and DJ Zegon’s (Brazilian pro skater Ze Gonzalez) musical mastery is nothing to shake a stick–or light saber– at. Set to Brazilian Funk and old-school beats, these hip-hop magicians put together a set list of mashups to make any hipster put down their PBR tall-boy and embrace their inner extraterrestrial on the dance floor. And I’m not kidding. That’s exactly what I did.

Although the N.A.S.A. acronym stands for North America South America– and more specifically the convergence of musical influence and art across styles, genres and borders– the space connotation was not spared in the least. I must admit I was skeptical at first, wondering how the two masters of coalescence would pull off a show without the help of the albums revered artists. But they pulled into town on a spaceship, and the outcome was beyond STELLAR—chock full of one-eyed break dancing aliens, orange space jumpsuits and jumbo visuals of galactic imagery. It may have been the full day of preemptive Irish car bombs and bar-crawling leading up to the show, but one thing is for certain, two tracks into the gig and I was already seeing green– pig-tailed, body-painted, silver-bikini-clad, stripper-esque alien/go-go dancers– that is. In fact, these guys stage presence earned them a spot on the space-meets-music themed line-up right next to George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars (circa Smokin’ Grooves 1997) and the Beastie Boys 1998 Grammy winning “Intergalactic” (a track that was melded into the show seamlessly).