Parklife DC

Don’t Miss: Burn It Up @ Villain & Saint, 11/11/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 3, 2016

Don’t Miss: Burn It Up @ Villain & Saint, 11/11/16

Burn It Up (Photo courtesy the band)

Ska rock band Burn It Up mix it up with hard rock refrains and ska melodies. These six high energy guys from Rochester, NY, have released a new album, Toys, in October.

Now they have joined the Get Amped Tour, which is visiting Villain & Saint in Bethesda, Md., on Friday, Nov. 11.

Vocalist Joe Harmon summed up the band: “We spend a lot of time trying to explore the boundaries of what genres like ska, reggae, rock and punk can do, mixing in elements of jazz, funk, and classic and progressive rock. We all have a wide range of tastes and influences, and bring those influences in to the writing process and our performances.”

Burn It Up certainly succeed in exploring those boundaries! Hear for yourself as you listen to Toys by Burn It Up on Bandcamp:

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=684927146 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

In addition to Joe, the band includes Mike Frederick (guitar), Justin Lloyd (trumpet), Dan Carter (bass), Evan Dobbins (trombone), and Alex Bochetto (drums).

Burn It Up was formed by members of Mrs. Skannotto, which released three full-length albums and toured with names like Less Than Jake, Mad Caddies, Reel Big Fish, The Toasters, Flatfoot 56, and A Wilhelm Scream. They are sure to be entertaining at Villain & Saint, where they are joined on the Get Amped Tour by We Were Sharks and North 11.

Tickets are available online.

Get Amped Tour
Burn It Up
w/ We Were Sharks and North 11
Villain & Saint
Friday, Nov. 11
Show @9pm
$10-$12
All ages

Music Park: Aurora @ 9:30 Club — 10/31/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 3, 2016

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Music Park: Aurora @ 9:30 Club — 10/31/16

Aurora performs at the 9:30 Club on Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Aurora Aksnes was fighting a cold. But she was feeling scrappy, and her voice sounded strong, so she barreled ahead at the 9:30 Club Monday night.

At one point, the petite but determined Norwegian songstress shook her fist in defiance, as if to rally against her cold although she was truly rallying against emotional distress, as depicted in many of the songs from her debut album, All of My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend, released by Glassnote Records earlier this year.

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Don’t Miss: Careless Memories @ Dodge City — 11/10/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 2, 2016

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Don’t Miss: Careless Memories @ Dodge City — 11/10/16

Peter Hook, formerly of New Order and Joy Division (Photo by Mark McNulty)

Peter Hook and The Light are coming to the Howard Theatre on Wednesday, Nov. 23, to play a lot of great songs by Hooky’s former bands New Order and Joy Division. So we at Parklife DC are dedicating our monthly party Careless Memories to Hooky, New Order, Joy Division, and Factory Records and calling it Factory Records 202. (Read more about the upcoming live show by Peter Hook.)

Celebrate with Careless Memories as we give away *five* pairs of tickets to see Peter Hook and The Light live at the Howard Theatre. You can win these tickets by showing up between 8pm and midnight to the next Careless Memories on Thursday, Nov. 10, at Dodge City (917 U St. NW, DC).

I’ll give away a pair of tickets every hour during Careless Memories — likely at 8:30pm, 9:30pm, 10:30pm, and 11:30pm.

Watch Peter Hook and The Light, accompanied by a 16-piece choir, perform “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division at Manchester Cathedral on Nov. 15, 2011:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U08U2RbqFi8]

Thankfully for your Careless Memories host, the following day (Nov. 11) is a Veterans Day federal holiday. So perhaps you too can stay a little later and request your favorite New Order or Joy Division song?

At our Factory Records 202 evening, we’ll play tunes mostly by New Order and Joy Division, but we will also give some love to a few of their Factory Records labelmates — like Section 25, The Wake, The Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, and others — as well as their fellow Manchester UK bands that set the scene — such as The Buzzcocks, The Chameleons, The Fall, and yes even The Smiths.

RSVP for Careless Memories on Facebook, or simply come out that night! Admission is free. Don’t miss your chance to win a pair of tix to see Peter Hook and The Light at the Howard Theatre on Nov. 23!

Factory Records 202
Careless Memories: A New Wave Party
Dodge City
Thursday, Nov. 10
Show @8pm
Free
21+

Don’t Miss: Swallow the Sun @ The Fillmore Silver Spring, 11/7/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 2, 2016

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Don’t Miss: Swallow the Sun @ The Fillmore Silver Spring, 11/7/16

Swallow the Sun (Photo by Jussi Ratilainen)

About a year ago, Finnish doom metal band Swallow the Sun released their sixth studio album, Songs from the North I, II & III, via Century Media. It was extremely well received! Metacritic aggregated its overall critic score at 78/100 and AllMusic rated it 4.5/5 stars.

“Each disc is a separate album, though all were conceived, written, and recorded as a single project with the band exploring different aspects of its sound. What unites them musically is a pervasive melodic sensibility, no matter the setting,” said AllMusic critic Thom Jurek.

Swallow the Sun produced a music video for “Rooms and Shadows,” a song from the first of the three discs (a disc subtitled “Gloom”). Watch it on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_veG-Hv4I8]

Vocalist Mikko Kotamäki really growls with gusto in this epic song of loss! And his bandmates guitarists Juha Raivio and Markus Jämsen, bassist Matti Honkonen, keyboardist Aleksi Munter, and drummer Juuso Raatikainen, trully fill your very blood with their roiling, dynamic melodies. Kerrang! rated Swallow the Sun’s latest effort 5 stars (or 5 “K”), hailing it as “one of doom metal’s finest moments to date.”

You can see how the six men come together so well yourself, as Swallow the Sun are on tour, opening for fellow Finnish metalmen Sonata Arctica, who released a brand new album last month. The tour comes to the Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday, Nov. 7 with a very full bill, but you’ll want to pace yourself to make it there for Swallow the Sun!

Tickets are available online.

Swallow the Sun
Opening for Sonata Arctica
Fillmore Silver Spring
Monday, Nov. 7
Doors @5pm
$30-60
All ages

Ticket Giveaway: Two Door Cinema Club (w/ Broods) @ Echostage, 11/17/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 2, 2016

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Two Door Cinema Club (Photo courtesy Glassnote Records)

Northern Irish post-punk trio Two Door Cinema Club keep upping the ante with a very good third album, Gameshow, released last month via Glassnote Records in the United States.

Since dancing into our ears with their debut album Tourist History in 2010, Alex Trimble (vocals, rhythm guitar, beats, synths), Sam Halliday (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Kevin Baird (bass, synths, backing vocals) have managed to totally sound like themselves while also keeping it interesting. With Gameshow, Alex told NME, “The two biggest influences for me were Prince and Bowie — both total pioneers who straddled that line between out-there pop and avant garde craziness.”

Well, that’s great inspiration all around indeed! Over the summer, Two Door Cinema club released the first single from the new album — “Are We Ready? (Wreck).”

Watch the very amusing official music video for “Are We Ready? (Wreck)” by Two Door Cinema Club, which sends up advertising and consumerism, on You Tube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrJZJtY6u7o]

Prior to the new album’s release, Two Door Cinema Club played a very sold-out show at the Black Cat in June. Now, they are returning to DC to perform in a bigger space with Echostage on Thursday, Nov. 17, and Parklife DC is giving you a chance to win a pair of tickets to see them! To win, simply leave a comment on this blog. You can leave any comment but perhaps tell us your favorite song by Two Door Cinema Club!

For the rules of this giveaway–

Comments will be closed at 5pm on Thursday, and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours, or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner. We will email you instructions on claiming your ticket. Good luck!

If you don’t win, tickets also are available online.

Oh wait — before we go, did we tell you that Broods — the incredibly talented siblings from New Zealand — are opening for Two Door Cinema Club? The trip hop duo recently played their *own* sold-out show at the 9:30 Club on August 1! (Read our Parklife DC review of that show.) It’s almost a question of who would you rather see — Two Door Cinema Club or Broods? Well, why not see them both?

Two Door Cinema Club
w/ Broods
Echostage
Thursday, Nov. 17
Doors @7pm
$40
All ages

Music Park: S U R V I V E @ U Street Music Hall — 10/28/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 1, 2016

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Music Park: S U R V I V E @ U Street Music Hall — 10/28/16

Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of Survive perform at U Street Music Hall on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

The very full house at U Street Music Hall stood politely for more than an hour Friday as they traveled over rolling, melodic sonic landscapes.

That travel was made possible by synthpop band S U R V I V E (which we will now simply call Survive), who visited U Hall fresh off a career-making success with their summer soundtrack to the Netflix hit Stranger Things.

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Don’t Miss: Foals @ Echostage, 11/3/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 1, 2016

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Foals (Photo by Neil Krug)

The last time Foals rolled through DC, they played to an extremely packed house at Lincoln Theatre less than a year ago.

After that show, I wrote, “With their new material, the Foals have shook off some of their punk leanings toward shorter, louder songs in favor of psych’s longer, jammier numbers. As it’s been a slow transition into such performances anyway, the transformation sits upon their shoulders pretty well. Yannis [Philippakis] is a confident frontman, and even in a seated venue like the Lincoln, people seemed drawn to him, magnetically pointed to true north like compasses in their seats.”

This time, Foals are giving us the opportunity to abandon all seats and dance across Echostage as they perform there on Thursday, Nov. 3.

Watch the official music video for “Birch Tree” by Foals on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFkGvVFdx-o]

Foals offered up “Birch Tree” in January after the release of their fourth studio album, What Went Down, in August 2015. The band have been touring the world relentlessly since dropping the new album, and they are on track to wrap it all up in the United States with a Nov. 9 date in Chicago.

This is a great opportunity to catch Foals before they undoubtedly take some time off the road to work on their next album! Brooklyn post-punkers Bear Hands and California experimental rockers Kiev open for Foals.

Tickets are available online!

Foals
w/ Bear Hands and Kiev
Echostage
Thursday, Nov. 3
Doors @7pm
$43.45
All ages

Don’t Miss: Dark & Stormy @ Black Cat, 10/31/16

Mickey McCarter

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October 31, 2016

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Don’t Miss: Dark & Stormy @ Black Cat, 10/31/16

Good times await at Black Cat on Halloween! (Photo by Kevin Harber)

It’s Halloween Day!

Many of us may have celebrated Halloween over the weekend, but there’s nothing quite like celebrating a holiday on the actual day of the day, right? But Halloween falls on a particularly peculiar day this year — a Monday! What ever happens on Monday?

Well, the Black Cat has an answer for you, my friend, with a special Halloween edition of Dark and Stormy, its electro, proto-goth dance party. The party gets a new twist as DJ Mike Kangal, who always did a great job with a related kind of thing as founding DJ at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (still occurring over at Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar on H St. NE), takes over.

DJ Kangal only recently has taken over Dark and Stormy, so it’s hard to gauge exactly what he’s got up his sleeve. Here’s what the party says on its Facebook event page:

“Join DJ Mike Kangal for a night of dancing to your favorite electro, goth, industrial, and other dark dance sounds. Free promo CDs and other treats from Storming the Base and Metropolis Records!”

Well, sounds perfectly dark and stormy to us — and what better day to be so than on Halloween?

Get out to a rare Monday night dance party, and hit up Dark and Stormy. Mmmmm, that reminds us that a dark rum and ginger beer sounds pretty good too!

Hey, and if you were out on the weekend, this is a perfect opportunity to break out that costume one more time. Tickets are available at the door.

Dark & Stormy
Black Cat
Monday, Oct. 31
Doors @9pm
$5
All ages

Stars and Bars: Grand Re-opening @ Miracle on 7th Street, 11/25/16

Stars and Bars

Mickey McCarter

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October 31, 2016

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Stars and Bars: Grand Re-opening @ Miracle on 7th Street, 11/25/16

A Christmas-themed cocktail: Gretchen, Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen (Photo by Joy Asico)

Last Christmas, Derek Brown had an idea! A clever idea!

Derek got a wonderful, amazing idea!

(To be fair, he borrowed the idea from a friend in New York City.)

He would make Christmas even better! And so away he lept with Angie Fetherston and Drink Company and they magically transformed their bar Mockingbird Hill into the super-festival Miracle on 7th Street (named in equal parts for its address at 1843 7th St. NW, DC, and a movie about holiday shopping at the Macy’s department store, Miracle on 34th Street.)

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Don’t Miss: Dilly Dally (Opening for Grouplove) @ Echostage, 11/9/16

Live Review

Jeremy Bailey

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October 28, 2016

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Don’t Miss: Dilly Dally (Opening for Grouplove) @ Echostage, 11/9/16

Dilly Dally at Rough Trade on January 6, 2016 (Photo Credit: Paul Hudson)

If you’re planning on hitting the Grouplove show on Wednesday, November 9th at Echostage, make a point to get there early and catch the opener, Dilly Dally.

Even if you don’t currently have designs on the Grouplove show, still give Dilly Dally a listen and see if that 1-2 punch doesn’t change your mind!

Dilly Dally’s latest EP is titled fkkt, a remix of many of their songs from their debut album, Sore.

These alternative rock Canadians (from Toronto) haven’t been around long, they released Sore in 2015 but band members Katie Monks and Liz Ball were first connected in high school. Some have likened their sound to Sonic Youth or Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but either way it’s loud and growly, yet manages to include a pop-like sound, as evidenced by “Desire”.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMrZi0whVpM]

Should be a good time for music discovery, so buy your tickets before it’s too late!

Dilly Dally (opening for Grouplove)
w/ Muna
Echostage
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Doors 7pm
$44.45
All ages