Parklife DC

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October 7, 2015

Lane 8 (Photo courtesy Pitch Perfect PR)

Deep house composer Lane 8 released his debut album Rise in July, and he’s launched a supporting tour including a stop at U Street Music Hall on Thursday, Oct. 15.

Lane 8, born Daniel Goldstein, hails from San Francisco, but he’s been living in Leipzig, Germany, and he’s signed to Anjunadeep, the house label established by English progressive trance trio Above & Beyond.

As you can hear in his lead single “Ghost,” which features vocals by Patrick Baker, Lane 8 favors dreamy melodies and soothing vocals.

Watch the official music video for “Ghost” by Lane 8:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG5huIYWuoY]

Lane 8’s 10-track debut album offers a journey across melodic instruments and dreamy electronics, and it inspired remixes by ODESZA, Eric Prydz and Above & Beyond.

New York-based DJ duo whiteowljaguar open for Lane 8. Tickets are available online.

Lane 8
w/ whiteowljaguar
U Street Music Hall
Thursday, Oct. 15
Doors @10pm
$12
18+

Music Park: FFS @ Lincoln Theatre — 10/5/15

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October 7, 2015

Alex Kapranos flanked by the Mael Brothers — Russell and Ron in DC on Oct. 5, 2015.

Starting from the very opening lines of Franz Ferdinand’s “Do You Want To?”, you could easily imagine the 2005 second album lead single as a classic Sparks song.

“When I woke up tonight, I said I’m…/Gonna make somebody love me!”

Consider songs from Spark’s 1983 opus In Outer Space — songs like “Popularity” and its similar glam/post-punk beats:

“I like you and you like me a lot/And it’s nice to be all alone with you too”

In hindsight, it’s little surprise that indefatigable Franz Ferdinand and the trailblazing Sparks also saw the synergies and combined forces to become the supergroup FFS (which of course is a shorthand for Franz Ferdinand Sparks… and not “for fuck’s sake” as some member of the audience called out on Monday night much to the amusement of singer Alex Kapranos).

FFS struck glam gold in a thunderous performance Monday night at the Lincoln Theatre in DC, charming an ecstatic audience who were clearly hyped to see the smooth blend of old school meets new school and the resulting theatrics.

Food Park: The Last Truckaroo in 2015 @ Fairgrounds, 10/9/15

By

Jeremy Bailey

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October 6, 2015

Tacos are good (Far East Taco Grill)

Food Trucks were all the rage in 2011 and 2012. And as some of the good ones came and went (like the Fojol Brothers’ three trucks) and new ones took their place, the allure of newness, the beat of a trend started to fade.

Just because food trucks aren’t the latest and greatest fad, doesn’t mean there aren’t still good eating options available.

Quite the opposite. Many of the food trucks parlayed their success into brick and mortar establishments. Like DC Empanada and TaKorean at Union Market or Chupacabra Taqueria or Sol Mexican Grill on H Street NE or Far East Taco Grill on the edge of Capitol Hill NE. Hint: Tacos. Invest in tacos.

There is no better forum to explore the current crop of food trucks in one place then at the monthly Truckaroo festival held at the Fairgrounds (near Nationals Park). Even though the Nationals’ season has ended, there is still at least one reason to head down to this SE neighborhood.

This Friday, October 9, marks the last Truckaroo of 2015.

Don’t miss out. There will be music and games and look for some of the good options among the 20+ trucks, like:

BONMi
Korean BBO Box
Tapas Truck
Red Hook Lobster Pound

and one I’m curious about: Urban Poutine.

Truckaroo
Fairgrounds (M St and Half St SE) near the Nationals Park
Friday, October 9
11am-11pm
Free Admission (pay for food and beverages)
All ages

Don’t Miss: The Zombies @ Lincoln Theatre, 10/8/15

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October 6, 2015

Tickets are available online!

The Zombies (Photo by Andrew Eccles)

Several years ago, English rockers The Zombies came to DC to play at The Howard Theatre as part of an annual tour the band now undertakes.

Their last show here, on August 9, 2012, was a smashing success. Writing for the blog We Love DC at the time, I observed, “Best known for orchestral arrangements of their classic rock songs, The Zombies played stripped down versions of their own classics, pleasing the audience of roughly 250 or more who came out to see them for a seated show at The Howard. The audience was positively pleased for folks who looked like they had been waiting for the opportunity to see the veteran rockers for some time. They were pleased enough to deliver a standing ovation after ‘Hold Your Head Up’ [originally by Argent] in particular.”

Now organist and vocalist Rod Argent along with lead vocalist Colin Blunstone are coming back to DC to perform at the Lincoln Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 8 with their bandmates guitarist Tom Toomey, Jim Rodford, and Steve Rodford.

At the Lincoln, The Zombies will perform their seminal 1968 album Odessey and Oracle in its entirety! –something they never have done in the United States prior to this tour.

Watch The Zombies perform “Time of the Season,” one of the long-enduring hits from that album, at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin, Texas, during SXSW 2013 on March 16, 2013:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY2rTqD3dhk]

The Zombies
Lincoln Theatre
Thursday, Oct. 8
Doors @6:30pm
$45
All ages

Music Park: MS MR @ 9:30 Club — 10/1/15

By

Jeremy Bailey

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October 6, 2015

1

“God damn, it feels good to be back in DC!”

Bounding on to the 9:30 Club stage with fiery red hair and a silver jacket on Thursday, Oct. 1, Lizzy Plapinger’s energy was barely containable for MS MR’s opening song, “Reckless”. She danced so furiously to the uptempo beat, that one could only assume it would take weeks of recovery to heal.

‘Furiously’ is probably the wrong descriptor anyway, as Lizzy’s radiant smile hardly ever leaves her face. Let’s go with ‘enthusiastically’.

MS MR, from New York, is Lizzy (MS) and Max Hershenow (MR) with accompanying band members on bass and drums. Lizzy and Max met at Vassar College and formed a perfect union that metes out infectious, yet often dark-themed, music.

On their newly released second album, How Does It Feel, they often take it down a notch, with a few more introspective slow jams than their first album.

Music Park: Drenge @ U Street Music Hall — 10/1/15

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October 5, 2015

Drenge (Photo courtesy Press Here)

The song “We Can Do What We Want” is a snarling 3-minute banger that tells the listener to fuck off.

It gets straight to the point, but man, you sure can dance to it as well. Is it a dash of The Clash? A bit of Ramones?

Whatever it may be, it involved a whole lot of youthful energy from the three-man band Drenge, fresh to the United States from Sheffield, England, where the gents have refined their mastery of blistering punk beats over the course of two records. Drenge are touring in support of the second record, Undertow, and they stopped by U Street Music Hall in a sold-out show to open for Wolf Alice as a stop on the tour.

I don’t know if the crowd was expecting an opening act as kinetic as Drenge, but I do know that Drenge was expecting a crowd. From the start, drummer Rory Loveless served as a spokesperson and announcer for the band, addressing the audience in crisp accented English. His brother and guitarist/vocalist Eoin Loveless followed his lead to engage in a bit of banter here and there, but Rory kept the show moving.

Stars and Bars: Second Anniversary Party @ Atlas Brew Works, 10/3/15

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October 2, 2015

Atlas Brew Works at Spring Beer Fest (Photo by Thomas Cizauskas)

This Saturday, Oct. 3, from 1-5pm, help Atlas Brew Works celebrate their second anniversary!

From Atlas Brew Works and On Tap magazine:

“Forget the rain, we’ll be partying inside and it will be pouring awesome beer and music at this party! We’ll have a beer trailer with nothing but fresh Atlas brews, Cap Mac and Carnivore BBQ will be serving up their specialties and Bumper Jacksons, South Rail and Justin Trawick & The Common Good will take the stage for an afternoon of great live music.”

Your $10 ticket includes admission to the fest, your first beer AND a donation to Lucky Dog Rescue. Additional beers can be purchased at the party. Saturday, October 3, from 1 to 5 pm at the brewery – 2052 West Virginia Ave. NE, Washington, DC. Must be 21+ with valid ID.

Get your tickets now at http://tickets.ontaponline.com. Tickets are limited, and last year the event sold out.

For more information on Atlas Brew Works, visit http://www.atlasbrewworks.com.

Atlas Brew Works Second Anniversary Party
2052 West Virginia Ave. NE, DC
Saturday, Oct. 3
1-5pm
$10
21+ (Valid ID required)

Music Park: FIDLAR @ Black Cat — 9/28/15

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October 1, 2015

Zac Carper demonstrates his likely reaction to most things while in Boston on Oct. 23, 2013. (Photo by digboston)

FIDLAR are a certain kind of punk band — the kind that wants to have fun and thumb its nose at everyone else while doing so.

Fans of the band already knew this dating back to FIDLAR’s self-titled 2013 debut album, which captured a very big slice of California living in terms of sun, fun and girls. But mostly on the fun — consisting of cocaine, cheap beer, etc. — and what a pain in the ass it is to have to wait around, or worse yet work, while waiting for fun to happen.

Well, fun is happening on the FIDLAR tour in support of their second album, Too, released only a month ago, and the band lit up a lot of smiling faces who came to thrash along at the Black Cat in DC on Monday night.

Don’t Miss: Drenge @ U Street Music Hall, 10/1/15 (Opening for Wolf Alice)

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October 1, 2015