Kevin Pace Trio – 7524
PREE – Alvin
Nick Hakim – Heaven
Griefloss – łłł
Projected Man – Raspberry Jam
CrushnPain – Forms Of Relaxation
Max D- Bubblegum
Three Man Soul Machine – Kiki
RDGLDGRN – Hangout
Cheick Hamala Diabate – Diamonds and Gold
Todd Simon – Amalgam
Lands – Sometimes
Sligo Creek Stompers – Cuckoo’s Nest
small craft – of the mountain
Aztec Sun – Get Up
Boat Burning – RM1
Smoke Bellow – Patient Belongings
Corm – Then I Built My Own Violin (Instrumental)
Calm The Waters – Stay
Olivia Neutron-John – 16 BEAT

Charles Road – Mass Appeal
Dr Neanderthal – Introduction
NarkotroniK – Excarnation of the Living
East Ghost – Tobacco Teeth
STROMA – SC Jam
#KNO-1 – Super Star
Adam Stamper – Voyage of the Funnel Frogs
Country Gentlemen – Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
Jordan Clawson – Yes You Can
Kindlewood – Mon Ami
Aaron Agre – Know-Say
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen – Chief Taghkanic
Outputmessage – Pillars (Will Eastman Remix)
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Oh Rosetta
The Grit Pushers – Last Call
Disco Muerte – Lullaby
Gorazde – Nomad Codes
Cheick Hamala Diabate – Djiri Mardje
Higher Hands – Re​-​Introduction
Ronny Smith – City Groove

Sam Redd – Sam’s Blues
Cheick Hamala Diabate – Djiri Mardje
Demetrius Zozul – Afield
Taiwo Heard – Front Page
TRU Band – The Road Unknown, Yet Known
Gordon Withers – Memories Of The Future
Mission South – Helicopters
Throwing Wrenches – Just Another Day
Fort Knox Five – Cinco to the Brinco (Instrumental)
Bumper Jacksons – Five Foot Two
Projekt Eins – Denouement
Higher Hands – That Shank
Jacob Gemmell – Let It Go
Disco Muerte – Descending
Ronny Smith – City Groove
The_Acorns – Oak Follies
Diggs Duke – The Pinnacle Of Class & Taste
Title Tracks – All Tricks (Instrumental)
Ken & Brad Kolodner – John Brown’s March
Paul Swartzel – My Father Knew Colonel Sanders

Redline Graffiti – Junior June
Sunwolf – Let It Out (Instrumental)
Astronaut Jones – Outta Time Chime
FAR EXP – Write to Brag
Sri Rama – Dendeliens
The Dwindlers – Heart Trip
Carni Klirs – The Slowly Turning Heavens (Part 1)
Brian Settles & Central Union – Bison
Gully Waters – Morgan St. NW (Demo)
Poppy Patica – B: itziar
Fulton Lights – Am I Right Or Am I Right
Speedwell – This Is Us
Cheick Hamala Diabate – Prudence
Laurence Baer – Slicing the Crests
Daniel Barbiero & Chris Lynn – Grisaille v.2
The Lower Delta – Delta Rising
Jan Knutson – Blink
The Evens – Cut From the Cloth
New Canada – Breathing Exists
The Grit Pushers – Two Snakes

Redline Graffiti – Beauty Mark 1
Elijah Jamal Balbed – What Matters Most
Griefloss – Void
Lands – Down By the Riverside
Drop Electric – Waking Up to the Fire
Fulton Lights – Breathe In, Breathe Out
Astronaut Jones – Turkey Grease
Justin Jones – Christmas Night
Bossalingo – Django
Anchor 3 – False Start
The Greatest Hoax – Opus no. 18
Dr Neanderthal – Introduction
Sunwolf – Big Feelings (Instrumental)
The Dwindlers – Pickering’s Hyla
Atoms Apart – Turnaround
Fellow Creatures – Expectations
Sri Rama – Beastles
The Grey A – In Remembrance
June Gloom – Get Free
Cheick Hamala Diabate – Fatou (Sol Power Remix)

WAMU’s Hans Anderson chatted with Diabate about the griot life for last week’s “Global D.C.” edition of Metro Connection. They met up at D.C. lounge Bossa, where Diabate regularly performs with a band.

Diabate talked to Anderson about the esteemed but solitary role of being the D.C. region’s only Malian griot:

I remember, a long time ago, they called me the griot of the Congress because every time when any president came from Africa they invite me to go sit down and play my n’goni — bring peace — for everybody. I’m the only griot here.

There’s a million, million people in our culture and we put together good music. I’m here. I miss my family. I miss other griot. It’s not easy, but that’s my life. So, God sent me here. It’s very difficult but God is big. When I go to many university they ask me, “Cheick, I want to be griot.” I tell people, “You’re born griot. You don’t want to be griot. You’re born griot.”

Listen to the rest of the story on metroconnection.org. Want more? Check out Diabate’s 2013 Tiny Desk performance below and catch him every Tuesday night at Bossa in Adams Morgan.

Organized by ex-Tropicalia booker Jim Thomson, Capital Fringe’s music lineup threatens to be almost as out-there and eclectic as its theater slate. So… what to hear?

Tonight

Stop by Fringe’s famous Baldacchino Tent Bar tonight and you’ll catch “Transglobal Express,” a promising showcase featuring the locally based Malian griot Cheick Hamala Diabate. Pop sensualist, trombonist and nudity champion SMOOTA—recently interviewed by Bandwidth—rounds out the bill with New York’s Karikatura and D.C.’s Sol Power All-Star DJs. 7:30 p.m. Free.

Friday

Avant-rock trio Heavy Breathing evolved from one of the most thrilling live acts D.C. had in the early aughts: Apes. The trio—consisting of Apes members Amanda Kleinman, Erick Jackson and Jeff Schmid—seems to take seriously the art of a wild performance (not to mention insane music videos). Friday, the envelope-pushing ensemble plays the tent bar alongside silly cover act The Dangles and D.C.’s Mundy. 7 p.m. Free. Note: The Fringe website lists the wrong time. This show begins at 7 p.m. tonight, not 5 p.m.

Saturday

Saturday brings a fantastic-looking left-field electronic-music show called Cybertrax, which will host the New York-based “cosmic synth” outfit Forma in addition to two local acts: Rory O’Connor’s chillwave-esque Nitemoves and (my pals) Protect-U. 7:15 p.m. Free.

Thursday, July 17

For those put to sleep by folk music: Um, have you tried turbo folk? That’s the kind of mania peddled by Baltimore ensemble Orchester Praževica, which borrows its ideas from a handful of traditions, particularly Hungarian czárdás, Slovak folklore, gypsy swing, American jazz, and good ol’ fashioned drinking music. In the tent bar next week, the band plays a show billed simply “Turbofolk.” 9 p.m. Free. Note: The Fringe website lists the wrong time. This show begins at 9 p.m., not 7 p.m.

Saturday, July 26

D.C. “crime-rock” band Chain & the Gang, returned recently from a European tour, plays the Baldacchino Tent Bar the night before its show at Black Cat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen singer Ian Svenonius play a boring show—not in this band nor his previous ones I wasn’t too young to see—and the chance of a funny, spirited performance from the city’s most magnetic frontman seems about as inevitable as a swampy August in D.C. 8:30 p.m. Free.

See Capital Fringe’s complete music schedule at capitalfringe.org.

Megafaun and Grandma Sparrow
Thursday, May 1 at DC9, $14

Before Justin Vernon recorded as Bon Iver, he was in a Wisconsin indie-rock band called DeYarmond Edison. Vernon’s three former DeYarmond Edison bandmates, now based in Durham, North Carolina, are the psychedelic rock band Megafaun. Merging vocals reminiscent of Fleet Foxes with off-kilter instrumentation and a lo-fi aesthetic, the trio might not be quite as famous as their former bandmate, but Megafaun’s folk/post-rock style is well worth hearing. Opening the show is the psychedelic Grandma Sparrow.

Nakatani Gong Orchestra
Friday, May 2 at tBack Alley Theater, $12

Friday, acoustic sound artist Tatsuya Nakatani leads a group of 11 local musicians in a large gong ensemble. These instruments, both bowed and struck with mallets, produce a sound both melodic and percussive; Nakatani’s last visit to D.C. saw him performing at the Kennedy Center, so the DIY feel of the Back Alley Theater will give this ensemble quite a different feel. Preceding the ensemble performance, Nakatani will perform a solo percussion set.

The Whigs and Nikki Lane
Friday, May 2 at Rock & Roll Hotel, $15

Athens-based garage rock band The Whigs blend their noisy riffs with some serious pop-influenced hooks—not surprising influences for a band that’s toured with acts ranging from Kings of Leon to Band of Skulls. The fuzz and distortion that permeates their music is perfect for a sweaty Friday night. Opener Nikki Lane has a distinct country point of view; her sassy twang is reminiscent of early Neko Case.

The Funk Parade
Saturday, May 3 on U Street NW; free

Coordinated by the folks behind Listen Local First, the inaugural Funk Parade is an all-day street festival with a participatory parade (from their web site: “Get up, get into it, get involved!”), dance performances and workshops. At night, the funk moves into many of U Street’s top music venues—DC9, Tropicalia,  U Street Music Hall, Patty Boom Boom, and Twins Jazz, among others—with free-admission performances by performers including Cheick Hamala Diabate, Elikeh, and Sugar Bear and EU.

Kohoutek, Taiwan Housing Project, Tulsa
Sunday, May 4 at Velvet Lounge, $8

Kohoutek used to be a D.C.-based band, and the group’s drummer, Scott Verrastro, regularly put on DIY shows at his home on Florida Avenue NW. Those days have passed now that Verrastro has moved to Philadelphia, so Kohoutek’s improvised psych-noise shows in the District are a much rarer occurrence than they used to be. Verrastro still knows how to put together a killer lineup, though: joining Kohoutek are Taiwan Housing Project (a collaboration between Kilynn Lunsford of Little Claw and Mark Feehan of Harry Pussy) and Tulsa, a band featuring members of the psych-shoegaze band Dark Sea Dream.

Jessy Lanza, Ricky Eat Acid
Monday, May 5 at Black Cat Backstage, $12

This week Stereogum declared that R&B-tinged electronic music—inescapable for the last three years—had reached its saturation point. I can’t disagree, but I’m not quite ready to take Jessy Lanza’s electronic-meets-R&B album “Pull My Hair Back” out of my headphones. The whispery Canadian vocalist and producer is too good at earworms. A live video she recently recorded for KCRW is entrancing, particularly her deft performance of “Keep Moving,” a highlight from “Pull My Hair Back” (and my running playlist). Monday night, she’s supported by College Park, Maryland’s own Ricky Eat Acid. (Ally Schweitzer)

Also recommended this week:
Heavy Metal Night at Port City Brewing and Foul Swoops, Flesh Panthers, and Neonates at The Dougout (tonight); Typefighter, Shark Week, Sunset Guns, and Teen Mom at Rock & Roll Hotel (Saturday); A Minor Forest and Two Inch Astronaut at DC9 (Sunday); The Dead Women and Nice Breeze at Galaxy Hut (Monday).

These and other show listings can be found on ShowListDC.