The Runaway, a DC burger joint open for about a year and a half in Brookland, has been playing host to synthpop and goth shows. Case in point, The Runaway hosted Los Angeles’ Spike Hellis recently in a show presented by Vanguard DC and EBM Worldwide, two promoters who seem they are going to be booking acts there for a long while!
We dropped by that show to catch opener Void Vision, the Philadelphia-based project of musician Shari Vari.
GRAMMY award-winning global icon Seal is now on a massive 30th Anniversary Tour across North America. Produced by Live Nation, he teams up with longtime producer and trusted collaborator Trevor Horn, who will take on the role of musical director for the run of shows. Additionally, Horn’s acclaimed new wave band The Buggles open the show as special guest performers.
Seal performs with special guests The Buggies at The Anthem in DC on Wednesday, May 10.
So many musicians had offered some of their greatest work just prior to the onset of the pandemic or some saw their efforts to promote new recordings thwarted by the worldwide dilemma that hampered far more than just artist endeavors.
Andy Shauf released one of his very best albums — Neon Skyline — in early 2020, right before touring became unfeasible, especially so for an artist based in Western Canada. But that didn’t stop listeners far and wide from gravitating to his one-of-a-kind sound; even former US President Barrack Obama gave Andy a shoutout on one of his influential seasonal playlists.
Still, DC concert goers had been outright deprived of time with Shauf https://parklifedc.com/2022/04/07/live-review-andy-shauf-black-cat-3-30-22/over the course of 2020 and 2021. He, like many, had to cancel a show, then had to cancel another, and only last spring finally made his way back to the nation’s capital for a performance with a smaller version of his band.
Some songwriters are too good to ever stop sharing their talents with the world. And in an age when so many of the best have created wide networks and established their own brand of music, there’s essentially a system in place to encourage artists to stay at it even when their plans might change.
Even so, what a relief it was last fall when Scott McMicken shared that he was not only signed to ANTI- records, but that he had formed a new band of his own — Scott McMicken and THE-EVER-EXPANDING.
Heartless Bastards frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom celebrated the 10th anniversary of the band’s beloved fourth studio album, Arrow, last year with a special edition of the album.
Now, Heartless Bastards perform at Union Stage on Tuesday, May 9.
There’s something to be said for a rock concert in a large venue: the loud guitars, the booming bass, the thunderous drums, the “Hello, Cleveland!” There’s a lot of energy, a lot of noise, a lot of sweat. And I love that, most of the time.
But I also love a small, intimate show. I love sitting down at a table, ordering food and a drink, and being able to talk to whoever I’m there with in a normal speaking voice. A Vienna Teng show is the latter. Just as it takes a lot of confidence and charisma to front a raucous band, it takes just as much to sit alone behind a keyboard.
When listening to M83, the synth-driven cooperative headed by multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez, you may grasp for a comprehensive characterization. Are you listening to psychedelic music? New wave? Synth-wave? Dreampop?
As circular as you can be with those listening experiences, M83 defies convention with their big post-rock orchestration. To embrace each M83 song as its own unique missive is the key to understanding what you are hearing.
That said, M83 placed the guitar squarely at the center of the band’s new album and recent concert performance at The Anthem in DC, and so let’s begin by pondering their music through the lens of the guitar.
Ms. Jackson is back and coming to a city near you! Today, the five-time GRAMMY Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, Janet Jackson, has announced her highly anticipated return to the road after four years with her ninth concert tour, Together Again.
Janet Jackson performs at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia, on Saturday, May 6.
Saturday night’s early show at the 9:30 Club was something of a homecoming for Eric D. Johnson and his band, The Fruit Bats.
Not literally, as Eric is from Chicago. If you listen to the Fruit Bats’ track-for-track cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, you can hear how his vocal style is influenced by Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkings, another Chicagoan, and I could hear it clearly when they covered the Pumpkins’ “Today” toward the end of their set.
“Back in the day,” Eric said, “when we first hit the road, DC was the first place we played.” They’ve come a long way: After playing “Absolute Loser,” he told the audience, “This goes a lot better than we used to play to 10 people at the Black Cat.”
A path to success in music could very well originate from a trust in one’s own vision and the patience to nurture ideas into a full body of work.
The most thoughtful artists establish their early sound like planting a seed, and the bold ones grow their catalogue by way of inventive, deeply personal songs and with a confidence that fans will always welcome new material — even it takes a few listens.
Ruban Nielson believes in the songs he’s been crafting as the leader of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and by instilling an authenticity when he formed the band in 2010, the New Zealand native propped the group for longevity and put it on a trajectory to become one of the most thrilling and pleasurable acts recording and taking the stage today.
UMO packed 9:30 Club on back-to-back nights last week, and in playing two sold-out shows in the nation’s capital, Nielson and his squad showed they are indeed thriving on their patented psych rock-acid pop-fantasy R&B recipe, as are the band’s growing number of fans.
