Parklife DC

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May 3, 2016

Amanda X perform at the Black Cat on Saturday, April 30, 2016.

Rockers Amanda X have popped down to DC from Philadelphia a few times in recent years, usually to appear with nationally touring bands that find them an appealing opener.

Wherever they go, you should definitely give them a listen!

Most recently, Amanda X visited the Black Cat on Saturday to open for The Thermals, another trio with a penchant for lo-fi guitars. I think this was the first time Amanda X visited DC since the release of a two-song EP, Hundreds and Thousands, via Self Aware Records last September. And it was certainly the first with their new drummer.

Ticket Giveaway: VinoFest @ Yards Park, 5/7/16

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May 3, 2016

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Jon Batiste and Stay Human (Photo courtesy VinoFest)

VinoFest, the DC metro’s top festival for bringing together music and wine, returns for a third year this Saturday, May 7, from 3-10pm at Yards Park. And you have a chance to win a pair of tickets to go with Parklife DC!

VinoFest DC Wine and Music Festival has been at a different location each year so far, first at Union Market, then at Storey Park, but its new home in the attractive and well-maintained Yards Park is the best location for the festival yet! Yards Park is big, clean, and easily accessible by public transportation.

The 2016 edition of VinoFest also features its most ambitious music lineup to date, with the likes of The Original Wailers, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, and Trouble Funk, among others, providing the festival’s entertainment! And of course, guests enjoy eight 2-ounce wine tastings from a selection of 20+ vineyards with their admission.

Here is the full VinoFest music lineup:

Jon Batiste and Stay Human
The Original Wailers
Trouble Funk
Paperhaus
Tigers are Bad for Horses
Anastasia Antoinette

You can buy tickets online, but Parklife DC is giving you a chance to win a pair of general admission tickets right now!

For your chance to win these tickets, simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between now and 5pm on Wednesday, May 4. Feel free to leave any comment, but perhaps share your favorite song from the festival musicians! One entry per email address, please. Tickets for VinoFest are also available online.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will close on Wednesday, May 4, at 5pm, and we will randomly select a winner. 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.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the check-in desk at VinoFest 2016. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to drink (21+ years of age as of Friday, May 6). You can see the full list of wine offerings on the VinoFest Eventbrite page.

Good luck!

VinoFest
Yards Park
Saturday, May 7
3-10pm
General admission $55
VIP $99
21+

Music Park: Suuns @ DC9 — 4/27/16

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May 2, 2016

Suuns perform at DC9 on Wednesday, April 27, 2016.

The song starts with a low hum that rises, but not too high. The beat hits a skip-along gait, but the song remains ominous in tone. Vocalist Ben Shemie starts softly singing? talking? chanting? into his microphone.

As the song winds down, just when you thought it might get truly going, Ben repeats an end mantra, “Do it… Do it…” and with those words Suuns begin their show at DC9 on Wednesday, April 27.

Snapshots: John Congleton and The Nighty Nite @ DC9 — 4/27/16

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April 29, 2016

John Congleton and The Nighty Nite perform at DC9 on April 27, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Renowned producer John Congleton won a Grammy for producing the fourth studio album by St. Vincent in 2014, and he also produced the latest effort from Suuns, a dark neo-psych group from Montreal. Suuns launched a tour, and John jumped onboard as the opening act, including a stop at DC9 on Wednesday.

Not one to stick to any one thing, John also has been a recording artist, notably as a musician in the Texas band The Paper Chase. He has a new project with his former The Paper Chase bandmate Jason Garner called John Congleton and The Nighty Nite, and the duo released an album, Until the Horror Goes, on April 1 via Fat Possum Records. In concert on Wednesday, they performed songs from the album with John on vocals and guitar and Jason on synthesizer.

Don’t Miss: Parquet Courts @ 9:30 Club, 5/12/16

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April 29, 2016

Parquet Courts (Photo by Ben Rayner)

Parquet Courts clearly feel the creative urge to be on the move and make new music—and that shows through in the immediacy of the band’s live performances.

In 2014, the New York post-punk quartet released two albums in a single year. Hardly pausing to take a breath, Parquet Courts released their latest, Human Performance, on April 8 via Rough Trade. Upon the album’s release, Parquet Courts immediately launched a tour, and they are coming to the 9:30 Club on Thursday, May 12 to play a show for us!

The band have issued singles from the album like “Berlin Got Blurry” and “Dust” like challenges set to the beat of a punk Western. The songs on the album are insanely catchy.

Watch the official music video for “Berlin Got Blurry” on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv0bBjMc6FY]

Vocalists and guitarists Andrew Savage and Austin Brown, along with bassist Sean Yeaton and drummer Max Savage, call Human Performance “their finest record,” and critics agree.

“Human Performance is the moment where they jump to another level, where they find powerful and particular ways to express weirdly universal sentiments that you don’t often hear in music,” said Stereogum.

New York punk rock quartet B Boys open for Parquet Courts. Tickets are available online!

Note this is an early show. Man, 9:30 Club has been busy lately with the doubling up of early shows and late shows lately!

Parquet Courts
w/ B Boys
9:30 Club
Thursday, May 12
Doors @6pm
$20
All ages

Interview: Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing @ Black Cat, 5/11/16

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April 28, 2016

Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing (Photo by Shawn Brackbill)

In February, Wild Nothing released a new album via Captured Tracks — Life of Pause, the band’s third after Nocturne in 2012. Wild Nothing is the brainchild of Jack Tatum, a Virginia native who now lives in Los Angeles, and he took inspiration from some fresh sources on the new album. Although Wild Nothing is still very much a dreampop act, Jack was very influenced by Philadelphia soul music when crafting the record.

Critics hailed the album as a shift in sound for Wild Nothing, with NME calling it a “significant step.” Jack and Wild Nothing are touring in support of the album, and they visit the Black Cat in DC on Wednesday, May 11. (I am excited to report that their opener is Charlie Hilton of Blouse, touring solo without her own dreampop bandmates!) Tickets are available online.

Parklife DC chatted with Jack about his inspirations, his touring process, and being true to yourself. Me being me, we also chatted a little about David Bowie.

Don’t Miss: Ought and Priests @ Black Cat, 5/10/16

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April 28, 2016

Ought (Photo by Colin Medley)

For my money, no professional music critic “gets” post-punk more than Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone (the man wrote a heart-breaking autobiographic account of his first marriage and love of music in “Love Is a Mix Tape,” after all).

And as such, it came as absolutely no surprise to me that he would love Ought, a Montreal-based quartet that draw comparisons to the Talking Heads and other bands that Rob has saluted in his various essays. Rob picked Ought’s song “Beautiful Blue Sky” as his #2 song of 2015, praising the song for its lyrical bravery.

Said Rob, “The Montreal postpunk kids lock into a staccato guitar groove and stretch it into a beautiful long marquee moon of a thing. Tim Darcey starts out sneering easy-target buzzwords (‘Warplane! Condo!’) and then the kind of phony clichés people say in cartoons (‘Fancy seeing you here! Beautiful weather today!’) then his own awkward confessions: ‘I am no longer afraid to dance tonight, because that’s all that I have left.'”

The song appears on Ought’s sophomore album, Sun Coming Down, released on Constellation Records in September 2015. Have a listen to it via Soundcloud:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/212246903″ params=”color=ff5500&show_artwork=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Ought are touring in support of their new album, and the band stops locally at the Black Cat on Tuesday, May 10.

I first discovered Ought when I saw them perform at DC9 on Oct. 16, 2014, touring in support of their debut LP, More Than Any Other Day. At the time, I said, “Ought opened with ‘Today More Than Any Other Day,’ an amazing tribute really to living one’s life. It’s a bit like lyrics by [David] Byrne superimposed over melodies that could have come from Television. Musically, Ought could have sprung straight from 1977 via New York City.”

This show already is amazing enough, but it becomes even more amazing because DC punks Priests join Ought on the bill! In fact, Priests jump onto the Ought tour starting next week in Boston on May 4 and stick with them throughout the month.

Priests have a number of dynamic and great songs — and like Ought, they are a “must see” live band. When I last saw Priests at the Black Cat in February, the band performed a number of new songs they have been honing over the past year or so — songs that sit well with the Priests’ published catalog even if they aren’t always as frenetic.

This is one of my most anticipated shows of 2016. This concert will brim with vitality, intellectualism, and damn good music from both bands in a way that strikes me as if a young Talking Heads and Blondie were to have dropped by about 40 years ago (and that is the highest compliment I can think of!). Tickets are available online.

Ought and Priests
Black Cat
Tuesday, May 10
Doors @730pm
$15
All ages

Don’t Miss: La Sera (Opening for Titus Andronicus) @ 9:30 Club, 5/12/16

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Jeremy Bailey

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April 27, 2016

La Sera (Katy Goodman and Todd Wisenbaker) (Photo Credit: Julia Brokaw)

The indie rock band, La Sera, comes to the 9:30 Club on May 12th, opening for the heavy rockers, Titus Andronicus. This will be a late show after the Parquet Courts performance.

La Sera, currently based in Los Angeles, is Katy Goodman (lead vocals) and husband, Todd Wisenbaker. Katy (formerly of Vivian Girls) formed the band in 2010.

They are touring for their fourth studio album, Music for Listening Music To, which was released in March of this year and produced by Ryan Adams.

Songs like “I Need an Angel” and “High Notes” are upbeat little ditties with a back beat that gets your head nodding along. “High Notes” even goes twangy and Katy claims that she “can’t sing it for you just the way you want me to” as she says goodbye. Katy’s vocals are often subdued, and almost reminds me of a quieter Neko Case.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqJ3RUPwIQ]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVkuV6GyBQw]

May 12th looks like a good night of music at the 9:30 Club. Buy your tickets now!

La Sera (Opening for Titus Andronicus)
9:30 Club
Thursday, May 12
Doors @ 10:00pm (LATE SHOW)
$20
All ages

Interview: Joaquin Pastor of James Supercave @ Black Cat, 5/1/16

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April 27, 2016

Joaquin Pastor of James Supercave (Photo courtesy Riot Act Media)

We at Parklife DC have spent the last few days listening to the debut album by James Supercave — an album called Better Strange published via Fairfax Recordings earlier this year. It’s a great psychedelic dance record, so I was pleased to catch up with James Supercave vocalist Joaquin Pastor to ask him about the making of the record.

James Supercave are on tour in support of the album, and they are opening for funky psych duo Wild Belle at the Black Cat on Sunday, May 1. Tickets are available online!

Meanwhile, it’s worth mentioning that James Supercave have two dates coming up in New York City as well — a sold-out show with Wild Belle at Music Hall of Williamsburg and a date of their own. If you’re in Brooklyn, catch James Supercave headlining on Friday, April 29, at Our Wicked Lady (153 Morgan Ave., Brooklyn, NY). (At $5/$7, that’s a steal.)

I chatted with Joaquin about his band’s sound, the debut record, and David Bowie.

Mickey McCarter: How’s the tour going?

Joaquin Pastor: It’s going well! We just played Pittsburgh, and we are finally starting to kick. It’s our third night with Wild Belle, who are fantastic. It’s going to be a real pleasure to watch them over the next month.