Canada

Sports Park: DC United vs. Vancouver Whitecaps @ RFK Stadium, 4/9/16

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DC United's New LogoSeason Record: 0-2-3 (3 points)

Well, well. Not a prodigious start for DC United. Five games into the 2016 season, and they have zero wins. In 2015 they started strong, with a 3-1-1 (10 points) record after the first five games.

This Saturday they play the Vancouver Whitecaps, who are no slouches, and need a result to start to turn the tide. Vancouver finished in 2nd place in the Western Conference last year and are in 6th place this season with 7 points.

The only offensive bright spot for the United so far is Lamar Neagle’s one goal and one assist. They only have three goals total.

This upcoming game also comes amid some controversy with the supporter groups (DC United recently banned a fan for a year for using smoke during the March 26th game.)

It’s not time to panic, but it is time to rise up and really play some football (or soccer).

Get your tickets here.

See the full season schedule.

MLS: Vancouver Whitecaps at DC United
RFK Stadium
Saturday, April 9, 2016
5:30pm
$20-55
All ages

Music Park: Junior Boys @ Black Cat — 3/29/16

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Jeremy Greenspan sings at the Black Cat on March 29, 2016.

“This place is like a time capsule,” said Jeremy Greenspan between songs at the Black Cat on Tuesday night. “It hasn’t changed in 15 years.”

Jeremy, vocalist and guitarist of Canadian synthpop duo Junior Boys, recalled playing perhaps his second show ever in the United States at the Black Cat soon after it took up residence at its current location in 2001. On Tuesday, Junior Boys appeared again to perform songs from their alluring new album, Big Black Coat, released last month via City Slang to critical acclaim.

If the Cat hasn’t changed much, the music of Junior Boys at least has matured in some interesting ways.

The new album is the first from Junior Boys in five years, and the time off seems to have been really good for them creatively. Jeremy and synthesizer player Matt Didemus enthralled a very full room at the Black Cat with their blend of technopop and R&B, giving the new songs their opportunity to shine alongside established favorites.

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Don’t Miss: Junior Boys @ Black Cat, 3/29/16

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Junior Boys (Photo by Tom Weatherill)

Techno duo Junior Boys released a new album, Big Black Coat, via City Slang on Feb. 5, and they have launched a tour in support of it. That tour stops at the Black Cat on Tuesday, March 29.

The new record is the first Junior Boys album in five years, and on it, Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus meld electropop with techno with a firm hand.

The first single, “Over It,” demonstrates the light, glittery touch the men from Ontario, Canada, bring to the album. Pitchfork’s Cameron Cook really digs the new stuff, saying, “On Big Black Coat, you hear some mid-era Kraftwerk, a big debt to Detroit techno, that sweet spot in the mid-’70s when krautrock met disco, several of Arthur Russell’s many house aliases, and even Prince circa Controversy.”

Watch the official music video for “Over It” by Junior Boys on YouTube:

Jeremy produced the latest effort from alt R&B musician Jessy Lanza, who hails from the Junior Boys hometown, and she comes along as an opener for this show. Dark electronic artist Jason Borys (aka simply Borys) is also along for the ride.

Tickets are available online.

Junior Boys
w/ Jessy Lanza and Borys
Black Cat
Tuesday, March 29
Doors @730pm
$15-$18
All ages

Music Park: Young Empires @ U Street Music Hall — 11/25/15

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Matthew Vlahovich of Young Empires at Royal Athletic Park during Rifflandia/BreakOut West on Sept. 19, 2015 (Photo by Tyson Elder/Used with permission/See more of Tyson’s photos)

Vocalist Matthew Vlahovich has some charisma to spare, and he was ready to share it as he danced to his own music at U Street Music Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

Matthew and his band Young Empires performed as openers for Canadian trio Dragonette, providing a smooth, soulful counterpoint to the sparkling house compositions of their countrymen. Technically a trio themselves, Matthew, bassist Jacob Palahnuk, and drummer Taylor Hill toured as a quintet with the support of a touring guitarist and keyboardist.

The total group produced waves of deep sound that benefited the numbers on the debut album by Young Empires, The Gates (released in September) — numbers that generally were uplifting electropop punctuated by worldbeat rhythms and carried by Matthew’s pleasing voice.

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Don’t Miss: No Joy (Opening for DIIV) @ Black Cat, 11/7/15

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No Joy (Photo by Allison Staton)

Canadian shoegazers No Joy have released a new album, More Faithful, and the quartet are on tour to promote it, opening for DIIV this Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Black Cat.

Singer and guitarist Jasamine White-Gluz and guitarist Laura Lloyd bring a rush of lush guitars to the album, augmented by the rhythm section of drummer Garland Hastings and bassist Michael Farsky. Jasamine and Laura also are fond of sadly sweet lyrics that set the mood for the ambling guitars. Overall, everything about No Joy could have fallen into our laps from the United Kingdom in 1989 and bands like Lush.

The song “Judith,” for example, combines sadly sweet music with lyrics about aging, and the video, which cleverly depicts a bedroom drama, examines moments in a “joyless” marriage (… they are “No Joy” after all, eh?).

Watch the official video for “Judith” on YouTube:

Overall, No Joy are perfect openers for fellow shoegazers DIIV, who I caught in DC not long ago appropriately opening for RIDE at the 9:30 Club on Sept. 17. This is the perfect show for you if you’re in the mood for an evening of shoegaze, presented with various flavors from female- and male-fronted bands.

Tickets are available online.

By the by, we also have been recommending amazing synthpoppers YACHT that same night at U Street Music Hall. With their doors at 7pm, you easily could roam between the two venues for a very full evening of music, indeed!

No Joy
(Opening for DIIV)
Black Cat
Saturday, Nov. 7
Doors @9pm
$18-$20
All ages