Featured Videos
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Title Tracks Live At WAMU
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Thaylobleu Live At WAMU
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More Humans Live At WAMU 88.5
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Laney Jones And The Spirits Live At The Wilderness Bureau
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Mount Moriah Live At The Wilderness Bureau
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Sun Club Live At The Wilderness Bureau
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Watch: Two Inch Astronaut Detonates At WAMU 88.5
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Bayonne Live At The Wilderness Bureau
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Possessed By Paul James Live At WAMU
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Mellow Diamond Live At The Wilderness Bureau
Near and Far
Review: Michael Mayer, ‘&’
One of global techno’s boldface names pushes himself into new territories on a collaboration album stocked with dance-music’s leading lights.
On Chuck Berry’s Birthday, A Crash Course In His Music
Berry, who turns 90 Tuesday, is a rock deity, but there are many for whom he is merely a famous name. NPR’s Andrew Limbong was among the uninitiated — until now.
New Negativland Album Comes With A Bag Of A Band Member’s Remains
The forthcoming album from the experimental rock band comes with a plastic bag containing 2 grams of Don Joyce’s cremated remains.
D.C.’s Bad Brains Among Nominees For Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame’s Class Of 2017
One of D.C.’s seminal punk bands, Bad Brains, is among the 19 nominees for the class of 2017 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Citing its “unique mix of breakneck-paced hardcore punk and dubby reggae,” the Hall included the band Tuesday on a list that also proposes Tupac Shakur, Pearl Jam, Jane’s Addiction and Depeche Mode among first-time nominees.
One Transcendent Performance That Illustrates Donny Hathaway’s Musical Genius
In an excerpt of a book dedicated to the classic soul album Donny Hathaway Live, author Emily Lordi looks at the ingredients that make Hathaway’s cover of “A Song for You” such an achievement.
Strictly Ballroom: At Smithsonian, A Gay Black Counterculture Meets African Art
February 24, 1928 About 12:30 a.m., we visited this place and found approximately 5,000 people, colored and white, men attired…
RDGLDGRN: Tiny Desk Concert
The D.C.-area band crafts a striking mix of rock, hip-hop, funk, go-go and Brazilian sounds, fused with energy and humor.
15 Years At Jammin Java: Co-Owner (And Musician) Luke Brindley Does A YouTube Dive
Fifteen years after being purchased by the musical Brindley Brothers, the Vienna, Virginia, club Jammin Java has become one of…
On Debut Album, Lilac Daze Chooses ’90s Influences Carefully
Despite the ubiquity of graybeard reunion tours, not every ’90s indie/punk trope is worth perpetuating. So it’s wise for a canon-embracing…
First Listen: John K. Samson, ‘Winter Wheat’
The former Weakerthans singer returns with an album full of gorgeous, vividly detailed songs about characters whose potential doesn’t always lend them a pathway out of their own heads.
First Listen: Weyes Blood, ‘Front Row Seat To Earth’
Natalie Mering’s performances are framed in ebbing-and-flowing chamber-folk, set off by psychedelic detours and surreal manipulations of captured sound.
Review: American Football, ‘American Football’
Just like that, the emo band returns 17 years after its debut album — a bit older and a bit more introspective, yet still holding on to that teenage feeling.
Review: The Radio Dept., ‘Running Out Of Love’
The protest album is alive and well in 2016. Listen to a synth-pop record created to fight the rise of far-right nationalism in Sweden.
Review: Tanya Tagaq, ‘Retribution’
Tagaq, an Inuk throat singer, marries modern pop with deeply-vested tradition to gobsmacking effect. The songs on her new album, Retribution, encompass terror, rage, ecstasy and bone-leeching sadness.
On The First Album From D.C.’s Feedel Band, The Future Of Ethio-Jazz Is Now
Ethio-jazz combo the The Feedel Band is best known for evoking the funky, minor-chord, ’70s-era East African music collected on…
Lullabies Of Urgency And Loss From Maryland’s Infinity Crush
Infinity Crush’s Warmth Equation is almost synesthetic — you can imagine seeing the music in little sunbursts, a color palette…
‘I’ve Had A Charmed, Amazing Life’: Rick Astley On ’80s Stardom And Making A New Hit
“I think most videos from the ’80s are pretty cheesy, to be honest,” Astley says. He speaks with NPR’s Michel Martin about his career, his new album — and yes, rickrolling.
On New Solo EP, Protect-U’s Aaron Leitko Celebrates D.C., Synths, And Classic Anime
In explaining his new solo release, Wasatch Mecha, electronic musician and Protect-U member Aaron Leitko could easily geek out about…
Review: Purling Hiss, ‘High Bias’
If rock music is your salve in hard times, it helps to find something that actually rocks. For its eighth album, Philadelphia’s Purling Hiss returns with an unquestionably huge guitar record.
Review: Johnnyswim, ‘Georgica Pond’
These are songs by and for feel-big dreamers, performed with a gift for weapons-grade ingratiation by a pair of born crowd-pleasers.