Premiere: New Music From Some Excellent D.C. Noise-Pop Bands

By Ron Knox

D.C.'s Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists, along with three other noisy pop bands, have new music on a tape from Chimes Records.
D.C.'s Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists, along with three other noisy pop bands, have new music on a tape from Chimes Records.

This Sunday night, a reasonable $15 will get you into U Street Music Hall to watch a faction of D.C.’s increasingly impressive pop-rock scene on the same stage.

flyer-uhallD.C. acts Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists, BRNDA and The Sea Life have more or less cornered the city’s market for noisy, oddball pop that delves into all varieties of other stuff, from The Sea Life’s hazy lo-fi to Baby Bry Bry’s throwback garage punk. They’ll be playing with kindred spirits What Moon Things, the “dreamo” ensemble based in New York.

For Sunday’s show, the bands and their cohorts at The Sea Life’s label Chimes Records will release an eight-song cassette (plus a download card) with two new songs from each of the bands. The label produced 200 tapes for the show, which will be given out free to the first 200 folks who turn up. All these bands plus a tape for $15? Not bad.

“All of the bands on the bill this Sunday are buds, so our excitement about finally getting to play together made us want to make the show feel as special to the audience as it is to us,” says Baby Bry Bry frontman Bry (Bryan Gerhart). A tape giveaway is also a pretty good way to fill up a club on a Sunday night.

Today Bandwidth premieres four songs from the limited-run tape — one from each of the bands. But don’t let that excuse you from hitting up the show this Sunday and nabbing your own copy.

Warning: Some explicit language.

Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists, “Reluctantly Inspired”

BRNDA, “Serious Band”

The Sea Life, “Let Me Out” (Live Demo)

What Moon Things, “Insturment”