Parklife DC

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May 27, 2016

Yumi Zouma (Photo Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR)

Yumi Zouma comes to DC9 on Wednesday, June 8th, bringing an effortless, breezy dreampop sound.

From New Zealand, the band includes Christie Simpson (lead vocals), Sam Perry, Charlie Ryder (guitar) and Josh Burgess.

Their new album, Yoncalla, came out today, May 27th, just in time for their US tour (started on May 25th in San Francisco). I recommend you buy yourself a copy quick, on iTunes or even a vinyl copy.

Songs like “Barricade (Matter Of Fact)” and “Keep It Close To Me” are the perfect complement to our newly found summer (or is it going to rain again?). Light, airy and completely catchy.

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Yumi Zouma
DC9
Wednesday, June 8
Doors 8:30pm
$10
All ages

Don’t Miss: Firefly Music Festival @ The Woodlands of Dover, 6/16-6/19/16

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May 27, 2016

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Get excited for Firefly 2016!

The fifth annual Firefly Music Festival (June 16-19) is fast approaching. The full schedule is now available here.

With seven different stages and 134 bands and artists over four days, each day of this year’s festival will bring an impressive display of musical power.

Some highlights I’m looking forward to include; Ellie Goulding, CHVRCHES, Florence + The Machine, Silversun Pickups and Mumford & Sons.

Single day passes are also available if you can’t attend the full festival.

In addition to all the music you can handle, the food and alcohol options look promising. Nearly 30 restaurants will be available, from tacos to schnitzel to curry to BBQ to chicken and waffles and more.

Of course, since the festival is in Delaware, the partnership with Dogfish Head Brewery continues in the form of a grand tent, The Brewery. This year, the specialty beers are:

Alternate Takes #1: a double IPA (ABV: 7.8)
Alternate Takes #2: a Belgian-style brown ale (ABV: TBD)
Biere de Provence: a summer saison (ABV: 8.3)

Firefly Music Festival
The Woodlands of Dover (Delaware)
Thursday, June 16 through Sunday, June 19
See full schedule for set times
$119 Single Day Pass ($319 4-Day Pass)
VIP: $699 4-Day Pass (Super VIP: $2499)
All ages

Music Park: Moogfest 2016 Pt. 2 (of 3) (Durham, NC) — 5/20/16

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May 26, 2016

Art pop diva Grimes sings at Moogfest 2016 in Durham, NC, on Friday, May 20, 2016.

The sun was shining in Durham, NC, last weekend, and Moogfest 2016 was well underway! There were shows to review at this, the premiere music festival dedicated to the synthesizer, and I hopped straight to reviewing them.

I spent a lot of my time at Moogfest around what I guess would be the north end of the central downtown area in Durham, as Motorco Music Hall and its adjoining Motorco Park hosted a lot of the most interesting shows on the agenda. And it was well situated near other bars and the best downtown barbecue restaurant, The Pit.

While at Motorco Park on Friday, May 20, for the second day of Moogfest, I was introduced to Los Angeles noise rock trio HEALTH.

“Wow,” I said when I saw them. “That guy is playing his synthesizer ON THE GROUND.”

Music Park: Gary Numan (The Pleasure Principle) @ Moogfest 2016 — 5/20/16

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May 26, 2016

Gary Numan sings at the Carolina Theatre during Moogfest 2016 on May 20. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Whereas on the first night of his Moogfest residency Gary Numan played a lot of guitar, on the second night, he played a lot of synthesizer. With as much passion as ever, Gary threw himself across a Virus TI imbuing warmth into crystalline synthpop.

Hewing mostly to the tracklist order, Gary continued his Moogfest residency with a night dedicated to his album The Pleasure Principle at Fletcher Hall in the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC, on Friday, May 20. The Pleasure Principle, the second of three albums in Gary’s “Machine Trilogy,” is easily the most universally recognized of his early records in part because of the still-ubiquitous hit single “Cars,” which he performed with as much fervor as ever at the midpoint of his set.

Music Park: HEALTH @ Moogfest 2016 — 5/20/16

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May 26, 2016

HEALTH perform at Motorco Park for Moogfest 2016 on May 20, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

“Wow,” I said. “That guy is playing his synthesizer ON THE GROUND.”

And indeed John Famiglietti of HEALTH switched up from bass to synth, swinging the bass around to his back to swoop down on the synthesizer rig in front of him, laid flat on a plastic crate. As a man fond of big cinematic flourishes, he may have been the star player in this specific show by his band HEALTH, performing at the Motorco Park in Durham, NC, on Friday, May 20.

That’s not to say that John could do this show single-handedly! He was capably met, and balanced, by frontman Jake Duzsik, who sang in a manner occasionally evocative of New Order’s Barney Sumner and also played some dazzling guitar. Side by side, Jake and John present quite the team, effortlessly merging dynamic rock with sweeping electronics. (Drummer Benjamin Jared Miller was good as well!)

And so it was that Los Angeles noise rock trio HEALTH brought flair to Moogfest 2016.

Snapshots: Grimes @ Moogfest 2016 — 5/20/16

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May 25, 2016

Grimes charms at Moogfest 2016 at Motorco Park on Friday, May 20, 2016.

Having released her fifth album, Art Angels, late last year, Grimes has officially hit the mainstream. She sold out the 9:30 Club in DC about 10 days ago, hit the Sweetlife Festival locally, and proved a big sensation on the second day of Moogfest 2016.

For Moogfest, Grimes performed at Motorco Park in Durham, NC, on Friday, May 20, 2016, and the place went insane. People clamored for a better view of the awkward, shy singer, who has become more and more musically accessible throughout her career.

Music Park: Bloc Party @ Echostage — 5/19/16

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May 25, 2016

Bloc Party (Photo Credit: Rachael Wright)

“Back home, we call that a banger.”

Kele Okereke, lead singer of Bloc Party, fired up after performing the trance-like, free flowing “Ratchet” during their 4-song encore smiled, “I told you we still had a few more rockets in our pockets!” Then they proceeded to shroud the Echostage multitude with a loud, devilish rendition of “Helicopter”.

Bloc Party started in London in 1999 and in the current formation include Kele, Russell Lissack (guitar), Justin Harris (bass) and Louise Bartle (drums). They are an alternative rock band with a heady mix of dance and post-punk. With Hymms, Bloc Party’s fifth album, they’ve lowered the decibel level, but not the intensity of their songs. Much of the new material explores personal reflections on faith and grace.

Music Park: Moogfest 2016 Pt. 1 (of 3) (Durham, NC) — 5/19/16

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May 24, 2016

Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange performs at Motorco Park in Durham, NC, on Thursday, May 19.

As I disembarked a shuttle to downtown Durham outside The Carolina Theatre, the sounds of a protest against North Carolina’s House Bill 2 greeted me last Thursday. A group on the corner shouted out against a new law they saw as discriminatory against sexual identity.

As I peered up and down the street, a growing yet small southern city unfolded before me. I wasn’t in DC any longer.

Moogfest, the premier music festival dedicated to the synthesizer, moved across North Carolina to a new home in Durham this year for four days of performances, classes, talks, and exhibits over May 19-22, 2016, and it drew me there largely to cover many of its concert performances. But it’s impossible to ignore the time and place of such a festival, particularly when the Moogfest organizers themselves protested the passage of HB 2 and particularly when the attendees for the “festival of the future” are as diverse as those descending upon Durham.

Music Park: Gary Numan (Replicas) @ Moogfest 2016 — 5/19/16

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May 24, 2016

Gary Numan sings at Motorco Music Hall in Durham, NC, on Thursday, May 19, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Like a colossus astride from stage to stage, Gary Numan, indeed a giant in electronic music for many, walked out onto that stage at Motorco Music Hall on the first night of Moogfest 2016.

Visiting Durham, NC, for three nights of Moogfest, the first of Gary’s shows for the festival focused on his album Replicas, most famous for the UK #1 hit “Are Friends Electric?” — a song that awoke the world to the potential of a new generation of synthesizers in pop music.

Interestingly, Gary stuck largely to the guitar on this first night on Thursday while others in his band very capably provided the synths (this was Moogfest, after all). But Gary came to the stage more than ready to play, and he absolutely burnt the hall down in a fiery rock ‘n’ roll rendition of Replicas that would have convinced you he was the biggest, best, and brightest rock star on the planet.

Sports Park: The Nationals’ Homestand vs. the Mets & Cardinals, 5/23-5/29/16

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May 23, 2016

(Teddy with life-size Max Scherzer bobblehead)

11 things to look forward to on the Nationals’ homestand from May 23-29.

Get your tickets here.

1) The battle for first place! Your Nats are in 1st by a mere 1.5 games over the 2nd place Mets. It may still be early but division games matter (May 23-25). Now.

2) The Cardinals have started slowly in the NL Central, a division currently being decimated by the Cubs, so the Nats should roll (May 26-29).

3) Gain a free Max Scherzer No-Hitter bobblehead on Monday, May 23rd! Part 1 of 2. (Remember when Max straight owned the Tigers on May 11th with a MLB-record tying 20 strikeouts? Yes, yes you do. Now, own him in small form!)

4) Watch the presidents! Teddy has six wins in President Races this season. Good for 1st place over Hoover by one victory. #LetTeddyWin Keep track here.