WEDNESDAY: Baroness' new album, "Blue Record," has garnered near-universal acclaim for the way it smoothly weds hard rock, intricate metal, delicate acoustic passages and more twists than a tornado. Leading the charge is guitarist-vocalist John Baizley, who possesses a remarkable amount of creativity and imagination: He's also an amazing illustrator whose work has decorated the covers for numerous metal albums and band T-shirts.
After the jump: Stream the entire "Blue Record" and check out the video for the album's first single, "A Horse Called Golgotha."
» Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with Earthless and U.S. Christmas, Wed., Nov. 18, 8 p.m., $12; 202-388-7625.
Photo by G.L. Johnson
SUNDAY: Are you too hip for your elbow patches? Well, hold on to your slim volume of T.S. Eliot, because the District's first Tweed Ride is about to land.
Tweed-clad cyclists will congregate on H St. NE and pedal leisurely through the District, winding up at Marvin on 14th and U St. for a post-ride shindig. Stay tuned to the event's Facebook page for updates, or follow its Twitter feed. Or hey, just watch for smoke signals.
Even if you don't have a bike, feel free to come to the party afterward. It starts whenever the ride gets done, around 3:30 p.m. Although, if you're going to crash the bash sans wheels, at least wear a respectable volume of tweed.
» Meet at the corner of 8th and H streets NE; 11 a.m., free.
Photo from 2009 London Tweed Run
MONDAY: Singer-songwriter Lenka has said her music is a mixture of the Beatles, Burt Bacharach and Bjork. Like the first two she shares a good ear for bouncy melodies, but Lenka and Bjork are alike only in that they both evoke pixies. But the Australian singer has a voice as cute as her face (that is, very), and her sweet 2008 debut, "Lenka," spawned the ultra-catchy pop song "The Show," which Old Navy used in a major campaign.
After the jump: See the video for "The Show" and several other songs.
» Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with Colin Smith, Danni Rosner, Mon., Nov. 9, 7 p.m., $15; 202-388-7625.
Photo courtesy Big Hassle
MONDAY: King Khan's backing band may change (BBQ Show, The Shrines, etc.), but the jams he kicks out are always the same: "The kind of music that we do is really pure rhythm-and-blues and gospel," Khan told Express last April. This Indian-Canadian dynamo's live shows are giant spectacles of rock-and-roll awesomeness, and his band murders soul music like Kobayashi kills hot dogs.
Check out four King Khan video clips after the jump.
» RELATED: "All Hail!: King Khan & The Shrines" interview [Express, April 2009]
» Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with Brazos, Mon., Nov. 2, 8 p.m., $15; 202-388-7625.
Photo courtesy The Windish Agency
Continue Reading "Garage Explosion: The King Khan & BBQ Show" »
THIS WEEK: The Palace of Wonders has always seemed a little out of place in Washington. Burlesque, belly dancers, sword swallowers — it's just so weird. But the good news is that there's one day a year when weird is encouraged, and it's almost here.
Spend Thursday night with Legs Malone and RunAround Sue at the "Sugar Shack Burlesque Halloween Show." Break it down with Shortstaxx, the MC, on Friday night at "The Tilted Torch Spook-o-rama." Saturday night (Halloween) will be the "New York Nightmare on H Street Halloween Burlesque Show," and will feature Kenny Law, NYC's Ms. Tickle and Peekaboo Pointe's Fastest Tassle-Twirler from East to West.
Be sure to make the happy hours from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. for some cheap beer and rail drinks before the show!
» The Palace of Wonders, 1210 H St. NE; Thu., Oct. 29, 9:30 p.m., $10. Fri., Oct. 30, 10 p.m., $10. Sat., Oct. 31, 9 p.m., $20; 202-398-7469.
FRIDAY: Make up for that Halloween candy by burning calories at Thriller on H Street. Joy of Motion is leading a workshop ($20 adults, $10 kids) at 1207 H St. NE at 7 p.m. this Friday so anyone can learn the choreography, then perform at 9:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: The Welsh band Future of the Left features folks formerly of McLusky, which means nothing to 99 percent of you. The one percent who know, however, will beat you silly with the brilliant "Travels With Myself and Another" CD, which brims with sarcastic ragers that evoke The Fall at its most perversely rocking.
» Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; Thu., Oct. 29, 8 p.m., $14; 202-388-7625.
Photo courtesy Beggars Banquet
AFTER MORE THAN two years of playing Vancouver, B.C., as hard as possible and toiling away as an independent band, Japandroids was finally ready go for broke. Guitarist Brian King quit his full-time job, moved out of his house, put his possessions in storage and was ready to embark on the band's biggest tour yet.
Three days in, tragedy intervened.
King had to be rushed to the hospital because of a perforated ulcer, leaving the band — and the ambitious tour — sidelined for weeks.
"I canceled my phone, I moved out of my house, I quit my job, so my whole life was in, basically, a van, and I managed to go less than a week before I was back home in Vancouver with no home, no job and not able to fucking move," King said. "It was a pretty surreal experience."
CANCELED
WEDNESDAY: D.C.-bred, New York City-based musician-artist DJ Spooky is a brilliant cultural theorist who backs his erudition with bumping beats, dub-steeped mixology and a restless avant-gardist's aesthetic. His new economic-meltdown-inspired CD, "The Secret Song," incorporates all that with help from Thuston Moore, Jungle Brothers and The Coup.
» RELATED: "Versioning History: DJ Spooky, 'Rebirth of a Nation'" [Express, Feb. 2009]
» Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; Wed., Oct. 7, 8 p.m., $15; 202-388-7625.
Photo courtesy DJ Spooky
FOR MONO'S FIFTH album, "Hymn to the Immortal Wind," released in March, the Japanese quartet took wind as a symbol and applied it musically.
"Wind symbolizes that which we cannot see but we know exists — traces of memory left in the soul, traces of the energy and movement of the universe," band leader and guitarist Takaakira Goto said via e-mail. "It is like what people can feel but not understand, and do not question until the moment of death."
Guitars swell and drums pound as most Mono songs build, inevitably reaching a triumphant climax. It's instrumental music at its finest: emotive and expressive despite the lack of vocals.
"We're really just trying to tell a story through melodies, and since our songs tend to be meditative, it opens up room for listeners to feel a wide range of emotions," Goto said. "I want to be able to communicate to the listeners through our music."
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