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."
TUESDAY: Kooky actress, throwback rocker chick, and hyper-energetic performer Juliette Lewis brings her Ziggy Stardust-inspired road show to the Rock N Roll Hotel. In support of her new album, Terra Incognito, she's left The Licks in her dust and has hit the road with her new band, The New Romantics.
This is her first collaboration with The Mars Volta's mad scientist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and the results are as eclectic as you'd expect — shades of Janis Joplin, dreamy rock, and 80's synth melodies abound.
Her raspy, quirky voice was memorable on film, and after hearing her sing, her melodies will stay with you for days.
» Rock 'n' Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; Tues., Sept. 22, 8 p.m., $16-$18; 202-388-7625.
Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images
FROM ROCK HEROES of the '70s to London sensations barely out of their teens, from a band with an unpronounceable name to one made up of cartoon characters, this is one heck of a music season we're looking at. It's a great time of year to welcome back some old voices, hear some new ones or even get your world beat on.
Start here: "Hail, Tartancore!: Young Musical Bravehearts Are Defining Scottish Indie," featuring We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Twilight Sad, and then see our 14 other selections below.
Addison Road