Disc Image – Icheb
Wes Swing – In a Station of the Metro
Soccer Team – Mental Anguish Is Your Friend
Fat Kneel – Hoarse Siren
Tony Kill – Being Considered [EP]
brushes – Mary
Tone – Bright Angel Falls
Rex Riot – Birds and Bees Feat. Misun
Melanie’s Magic Mellotron – Parasite
Wytold – Summersaults
Jail Solidarity – Lights Out
Joshua Rich – Rain
airøspace – Ikigami, the Ultimate Limit (prod. Budamonk)
Stephen Allen Kochersperger – The Quest
ᴇʟᴅʀ. – Glitter Gloo
Pax Musicana – Sixteen Nights
Fort Knox Five – Swinging On a Rhyme (Instrumental)
Smoke n’ Mangos – Birds
STROMA – Not My Chair
Tomás Pagán Motta – Love In Her Lies

Six years later, the project is back. The short explanation, Clark says in an email, is that “Matt and I missed it!” There’s a new collaborator — Politics & Prose bookstore — and less dependence on a single venue. The first show in the rebooted program will be Sunday evening at Busboys and Poets’ Takoma location, but Clark says future events might be elsewhere.

Sunday’s event will feature author Bill Beverly, who teaches at Trinity University in D.C. and has a new novel, Dodgers. The band will be D.C.’s Soccer Team, which released Real Lessons In Cyncism in the fall.

Byars deserves the “true credit” for sparking the revival, Clark says. The venue might be different, but the goal is the same.

“I still see Story/Stereo as a special opportunity. You get to meet these great writers, people who are going to be tomorrow’s Don Delillos or Alice Walkers. And plus you get to experience a cool band in a really nice, dignified setting,” he says. “I don’t mean ‘dignified’ like ‘fancy.’ I don’t care about fancy. I mean, we take music seriously as an art form and we hold it on parity with literature as a medium. I think the bands can feel that vibe … and they play in a way that reflects that spirit.”

Clark says this is the first Story/Stereo event for which the author and the band are already acquaintances. The others have been “kind of a blind date,” he says.

“Bill is excited about the new Soccer Team album and Melissa Quinley [of Soccer Team] just texted me the other day how much she loves Dodgers. So that’s cool,” Clark says. “Beyond that, I think there is a tactility to both artists’ work … a kind of dry presence and ‘rawness.'”

Clark also reveals that the first run of Story/Stereo had big personal meaning for him. The project sprang from his recovery from open heart surgery in 2008. Audiences probably weren’t aware of what he was going through, he says.

“Stepping onto the Story/Stereo stage to introduce the artists was a physical challenge for me, but I felt I could pull it off. … Speaking for myself, it served as a way to stay active and engaged in the D.C. creative community during a time when I might otherwise have been more reclusive,” he says. “It was a nice way for me to express my passions — writing/art/communication — without any focus on my work. I was happy to feature the work of other people. It felt good.”

Story/Stereo takes place May 22 at Busboys & Poets in Takoma. 

The two captains of Soccer Team have been making music together for more than a decade, and their forthcoming album, Real Lessons in Cynicism, is a testament to the value of working as, well, a team.

Nelson and Quinley finish each other’s sentences, both in conversation and music. Nelson — who handles vocals, guitar and drums — brings an analog grit to Soccer Team’s sound. Quinley’s airy vocals lighten things up, while her bass keeps the band on strong rhythmic footing.

Nelson and Quinley met in the ‘90s, when they were both working at famed D.C. punk label Dischord Records.

“Melissa and I were sort of joined at the hip almost right away,” Nelson says.

Quinley, who moved to D.C. in ‘95 to work at the label, found a musical peer in Nelson.

“I very quickly realized that I trusted his recommendations,” Quinley says. “He was one of the few people I was comfortable around. I remember singing the first time and I was mortified — and he left the room and just let me do my thing.”

So Quinley kept exploring music with him. The duo took a break while Nelson attended school in Michigan for five years, but when he returned, they found their creative chemistry still intact.

“Right when Ryan came back, we put our 7-inch out, applied to South by Southwest, and started playing again,” Quinley says.

After Soccer Team released its debut, the 2006 LP “Volunteered” Civility and Professionalism, they had a few songs left over, Nelson says. They began recording Real Lessons in Cynicism in 2013. It’s expected out Oct. 27 on — what else? — Dischord Records.

For this album, Quinley and Nelson are joined by longtime collaborator and friend Jason Hutto (of The Aquarium) and Quinley’s husband, drummer Dennis Kane.

Nelson says he’s proud that on this album, “you can really hear a lot of each individual person’s contribution.” That’s especially true of “Friends Who Know.” Its lyrics are difficult to parse — Nelson calls it “one of the weirder songs on the record” — but the musical mojo is unmistakeable.

“So much of the stuff that Ryan writes, I immediately hear melodies,” Quinley says. “That doesn’t happen a lot.”

For years, “Friends Who Know” existed as fragments in Nelson’s mind, without lyrics.

“I feel awful but I’m just going to say it. If you ask me about any song on the record, I could tell you volumes about what the lyrics are about — with the exception of ‘Friends Who Know,’” Nelson says. “It’s crazy, but this song, it was pieces and fragments of other melodies that I had started and didn’t finish. Pieces just kept falling into place.”

Quinley agrees. The song sounds disjointed, but it possesses a strange magic.

“Everything to me aligns and works perfectly like it should,” the bassist says. “It is really beautiful… and the bass chords at end sound so badass.”

Soccer Team plays an album-release show Oct. 18 at Comet Ping Pong.

Stream “Too Many Lens Flares,” another single from Soccer Team’s second LP:

Channels, Soccer Team, Bells≥
Friday, May 30 at Rock & Roll Hotel, $12

Baltimore rock band Channels features J. Robbins (from Jawbox and Burning Airlines) alongside bassist Janet Morgan and drummer Darren Zentek of Kerosene 454. Their recorded output in their 10-year career has been relatively minimal (one album and one EP), and their live shows seem even more rare, so this is an excellent chance to check out these almost-locals. They’ll be joined by D.C. rockers Soccer Team and Brooklyn instrumental band Bells≥. (Catherine P. Lewis)

Foul Swoops, Nic Fits, Anchor 3, and Luke Reddick
Friday, May 30 at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, $5 to $10

St. Stephen’s doesn’t host benefit shows as often as it used to, but it’s back at it this weekend with an all-local lineup that will benefit UNICEF’s work to help Syrian children. The show features Arlington rockers Foul Swoops, D.C. punkers Nic Fits, D.C. indie-pop band Anchor 3, and Alexandria’s Luke Reddick (of Dudes). (CPL)

Eels and Chelsea Wolfe
Saturday, May 31 at Lincoln Theatre, $35

This is Chelsea Wolfe’s “acoustic with strings” tour leg, which I hope means the gothic-folk/rock artist plans to perform a whole set of gorgeous tunes like this special version of one of her best songs to date, “Flatlands.” Wolfe’s last album, the synth-infused Pain Is Beauty, had plenty of memorable moments (especially the thunderous “We Hit A Wall“), but I always return to the seething, lower-key Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs. Here’s hoping Saturday’s show (with headliner Eels) coaxes out more of that understated beauty. (Ally Schweitzer)

Outputmessage, Paperhaus, and The Effects
Saturday, May 31 at 945 Florida Ave. NW, free

A solid lineup of local performers, free admission, and dogs? I can’t think of many reasons to miss this show, co-presented by DCist.com, which takes place Saturday in the parking lot that formally hosted District Flea. Electronic wizard Outputmessage and indie-rock mainstays Paperhaus top the bill, but new band The Effects is worth an ear, too, featuring members of Medications, Buildings, and Deleted Scenes. The dogs come courtesy of Metro Mutts, which hosts a “Canines and Cocktails” happy hour before the show. (AS)

Priests, The Shondes, and Pinkwash
Monday, June 2 at Black Cat Backstage, $10

Local punk band Priests isn’t one for social media, but it’s all over the press, both locally (on Bandwidth and in the pages of Washington City Paper and the Washington Post) and nationally. The group finally drops its debut EP Tuesday—a step up from its previous cassette releases—but its DIY ethos still rages on. Opening group The Shondes joined this lineup after being booted from the Washington Jewish Music Festival because of their support of Palestine. (CPL)

Also recommended this week:
Internationally Known Global Hip-Hop Showcase at Tropicalia (Friday); Drop Electric, The Walking Sticks, and The Raised By Wolves at the Howard Theatre (Friday); Janel Leppin’s Volcanic Ash at Twins Jazz (Friday and Saturday); Queering Sound at Pyramid Atlantic (Saturday); The Menzingers, Lemuria, Pup, and Cayetana at Rock & Roll Hotel (Sunday); Br’er, Wei Zhongle, Three Brained Robot at the Paperhaus (Monday); Louis Weeks at Anacostia Arts Center (Wednesday).

These and other show listings can be found on ShowListDC.