dance

Don’t Miss: Electric Six @ Black Cat — 10/2/16

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , .

Electric_Six_credit_Cortney_Armitage
Dick Valentine vamps it up. (Photo by Cortney Armitage)

Detroit dance funk band Electric Six are celebrating Halloween in October with the release of a new album — Fresh Blood for Tired Vampyres, out Oct. 7 via Metropolis Records!

Electric Six frontman Dick Valentine sure seems like he’s going to live forever given the way his band knocks out a new album every year. And with this new album, Dick and company have strived to group all of their past lives in one place by combining electropop, R&B, dance and more genres into one album.

And with the new album comes a tour! Electric Six return to the Black Cat this Sunday, Oct. 2!

Listen to “I’ll Be in Touch” from the new album by Electric Six via YouTube:

Fresh Blood for Tired Vampyres covers a lot of ground from the Grandmaster Flash-inspired “Number of the Beast” to the smooth tour of the NYC outer boroughs “Mood Is Improving” as well as radio-ready pop tracks “Dance with Dark Forces” and “I’ll Be in Touch.”

And never fear! The Electric Six have long memories, and after 12 albums they still remember how much everyone loves their 2003 debut, so we may well hear “Dance Commander” or “Danger! High Voltage” or “Gay Bar” also!

Tickets are available online.

Electric Six
w/ In the Whale
Black Cat
Sunday, Oct. 2
Doors @7:30pm
$15
All ages

Don’t Miss: Pete Tong @ Soundcheck, 9/22/16

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , , , .

Pete_Tong_463
Pete Tong (Photo courtesy Infamous PR)

Pete Tong has seen it all — as radio host, producer, and DJ. The man was there at the start of acid house, and he famously signed Run DMC and Salt-n-Pepa to landmark record deals with London Records.

The Englishman recently began a new chapter of his life, relocating to Los Angeles. He helped Clear Channel Entertainment to launch Evolution dance while still maintaining his popular BBC Radio 1 programs. In addition to being a radio host and a producer, Pete also maintains his tremendous presence as a DJ, taking up no less than three residencies in the United States. He maintains an All Gone residency at Sound Nightclub in his new home of Los Angeles, while he also visits Miami regularly to DJ at Story and SLS Las Vegas at new club LiFE.

In addition to that, the All Gone Pete Tong brand has gone worldwide with festivals like the Winter Music Conference, Creamfields, TommorrowWorld, and SW4.

Well, you don’t have to travel the world to see Pete Tong, because Pete is coming to DC to spin at Soundcheck on Thursday, Sept. 22. What a brilliant opportunity to see a living legend in an intimate space right in our own city!

But in this case, hearing is believing. Become a believer, and listen to what Pete has been doing on Soundcloud:

“The electronic dance music scene in the USA has reached a critical mass and the opportunities for our world are taking us into uncharted territory. I feel now it’s essential to be in the middle of all that,” Pete said in a recent press release.

Sail into uncharted territory with Pete this Thursday! Tickets are available online.

Pete Tong
Soundcheck
Thursday, Sept. 22
Doors @10pm
$20
18+

Around Town: H Street NE Festival, 9/17/16

Posted on by in Around Town and tagged , , , , , , , , .

H Street NE View of H Street NE (Photo by IntangibleArts)

This year’s H Street Festival takes place on Saturday, September 17th and will feature over 250 vendors, plying their food, drinks, wares and activities.

It will span a lengthy 10 blocks (bigger every year) between 4th St. NE and 14th St. NE.

Look out for the music, the beer gardens, a pie eating contest, dance performances, fashion shows, a DC Comics superhero costume contest and much more.

The festival won Washington City Paper’s Best Community Festival six years running. It does get quite crowded, with estimates of 125,000 adventurers from last year!

There is also a handy app from H Street Main Street you can download, to ensure you don’t miss anything. Search for and download ‘H Street Main Street’ from the iTunes App Store or Google Play.

UPDATE on 9/15/16: The Festival app has been updated with performance/music stage locations, lineups and times. Looks like there will be nine stages and something for everyone. Download the app now. You can also find the schedule of performances here.

H Street Festival 2016
H Street NE (between 4th St. and 14th St. blocks)
Saturday, September 17, 2016
12:00-7:00pm
Free (pay for food, drink and shopping)
All ages

Don’t Miss: Dash Berlin @ Echostage, 8/19/16

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

DashBerlin01
Dash Berlin (Photo courtesy Armada Music)

Since breaking through with “Til the Sky Falls Down” in 2007, Dash Berlin has been a man on the move! He’s become a mainstay in the Armada Music roster, signed by Armin Van Buuren himself, and consequently went on to win a number of top DJ awards, including honors from DJ Mag.

Well, Dash Berlin (aka DJ Jeffrey Sutorius) has been busy making new music recently, and the Dutchman comes back to DC to spin some trance, progressive house, and more with a stop at Echostage on Friday, August 19. (That’s tomorrow!)

Listen to “Without the Sun,” a new single from Dash Berlin & Luca Perra on Soundcloud:

Get ready to dance to some uplifting dance music from a DJ master of the craft. Joining Dash Berlin is Pierce Fulton, an American prodigy in electro house and downtempo electronica.

Tickets are available online.

Dash Berlin
w/ Pierce Fulton
Echostage
Friday, August 19
Doors @9pm
$30
18+

Don’t Miss: Broods @ 9:30 Club, 8/1/16

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , , , .

broods
Broods (Photo courtesy The Windish Agency)

Brother and sister musical duo Broods have come a long way in a short time! Hailing from New Zealand, Georgia and Caleb Nott released their debut album in 2014 and then toured extensively. Now they’ve returned with a second album, Conscious, and they are performing at the 9:30 Club on Monday, August 1.

The sophomore album, released June 24 via Capitol Records, boasts a few key collaborations, including a guest appearance by Tove Lo on “Freak of Nature” and co-writing from fellow New Zealander Lorde on “Heartlines,” the upcoming next single from the record.

The first single, released in April, is “Free,” a pounding R&B-tinged synth track. Watch the official music video for “Free” by Broods on YouTube:

Broods recorded the new album in Los Angeles and New Zealand with production assistance from Joel Little (Lorde, Ellie Goulding, Jarryd James) as well as Alex Hope (Troye Sivan) and Captain Cuts (Halsey, Tove Lo).

Speaking of Jarryd James, the Australian alt-R&B singer is opening for Broods on this tour! Last month, he released a new single called “1000x,” which features a guest appearance by Broods! Give it a listen on Soundcloud, and turn up early to see Jarryd:

Tickets are available online.

Broods
w/ Jarryd James
9:30 Club
Monday, August 1
Doors @7pm
$27.50
All ages

Music Park: Christine and the Queens @ 9:30 Club — 5/31/16

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , , , .

Christine Queens 06 Héloïse Letissier aka Christine and the Queens performs at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday, May 31, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

“I don’t quite fit. It’s like Tetris, and I’m the wrong piece,” said Héloïse Letissier, known by her stage name Christine and the Queens, in her sold-out show at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday.

But that is okay by Christine and the Queens. And in fact, the musician has a mantra, tattooed on her arm: “We accept you.”

Continue Reading

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

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , , , .

Bloc Party 2015Bloc 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.

Continue Reading

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

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , , .

Dragonette-2015-by-Mackenzie-Duncan-lores
Dragonette (Photo by Mackenzie Duncan)

If your goal was to let loose and enjoy a night on the town before Thanksgiving since you were still in DC anyway, you could have done no better than to start famously at the U Street Music Hall. 

Martina Sorbara and Dan Kurtz, of Dragonette, were on hand to make you dance, in every way possible. With Dan’s keyboards and Martina’s golden voice, they electrified the crowd with a frenzy of their songs played to match the DJ-inspired venue, as house and club beats. 

Dragonette hails from Toronto originally, and also includes Joel Stouffer on the drums.

Let’s call much of the crowd’s response to their infectious songs, the ‘super dance’, bouncing up and down in unison.

The crowd grew to a respectable size (almost full), given that you might expect many potential revelers to be out of town for the holiday.

Continue Reading

Don’t Miss: YACHT @ U Street Music Hall, 11/7/15

Posted on by in Live Review and tagged , , , , , .

YACHT-Tomboys
Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans (Photo by Ricky Tompkins)

Disco-punk duo YACHT are about to release a new album, I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler, via Downtown Records — their third full-length effort operating as a band rather than as a solo project by founder Jona Bechtolt.

After the new album’s release on Oct. 16, YACHT will appear mystically at U Street Music Hall soon after on Saturday, Nov. 7, in a tour stop to support the album.

The new album finds Jona and his songwriting partner Claire L. Evans concerned about the quality of life and the future of mankind — two themes that preoccupied them in previous albums See Mystery Lights and Shangri-La, which lyrically assessed topics like the lack of an afterlife and utopia, despite mostly being earnest dance records. Aside from being an arresting performer, Claire is also a science journalist, writing and blogging about science for the likes of National Geographic, OMNI and Vice.

The first single from the new album “L.A. Plays Itself” is a love letter to their adopted city, inspired by the 2003 Thom Andersen documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself and incorporating 163 production location signs.

Watch the video for “L.A. Plays Itself” on YouTube:

YACHT cites a mind-boggling array of influences on The Future Would Be Cooler — including 80s Japanese electronic reggae (Sandii & The Sunsetz, Haruomi Hosono), 70s and 80s post-punk and no wave (Family Fodder, The Waitresses, Suburban Lawns, Killing Joke, A Certain Ratio, Devo), Norwegian disco (Todd Terje, Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas), and Grand Royal Records-era alternative music (Cibo Matto, Luscious Jackson, Money Mark).

Tickets are available online.

YACHT
w/ Larry Gus
U Street Music Hall
Saturday, Nov. 7
Doors @7pm
$20
All ages

Interview: Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds (@ U Street Music Hall, 9/26/15)

Posted on by in Interview, Live Review and tagged , , , , , .

18812-The_20Mynabirds_20photo_20by_20Bliss_20Braoudakis
Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds (Photo by Bliss Braoudakis)

Laura Burhenn’s project The Mynabirds released their third album Lovers Know via Saddle Creek on August 7. Laura once called DC home before she migrated to Los Angeles to start The Mynabirds, and she’s returning for a hometown show at U Street Music Hall on Saturday, Sept. 26, as part of her tour in support of the new album (which starts tonight in San Diego). Parklife DC had the sincere pleasure of chatting with Laura about her new stuff, her DC roots, and subversive pop songs.

[The transcript of this interview has been edited lightly for the sake of brevity in spots.]

Continue Reading