First Listen: The Antlers, ‘Familiars’
Each of Familiars‘ deliberately paced songs sprawls to between five and eight minutes, and each takes a thoughtful journey in the process. The result mixes subtlety, grandiosity and beauty.
Category: Music
First Listen: Boris, ‘Noise’
The Japanese experimental outfit has always had the capacity to stun. On Noise, it surprises, too: Boris subverts expectations constantly, while retaining the core values of a heavy band.
First Listen: Popcaan, ‘Where We Come From’
The dancehall singer’s proclivity for the positive and his producer’s ability to pull synth-filled R&B through the prism of dancehall makes for an uplifting album.
What D.C. Shows To Hit Over The Next Seven Days
Every Thursday, Bandwidth contributors tell you what D.C. shows are worth your time over the next week. A Sound of…
Rabbl Roused: Is Rabbl Promoting Pay-To-Play?
Door polling and old-fashioned pay-to-play are already controversial enough. Now the practice of “opener promotion,” a service offered by San Francisco company Rabbl,…
Video Premiere: Spoonboy, ‘Free Yer Mind, Square’
David Combs, D.C.’s longest-serving pop-punk bandleader, found the idea for one of his new songs in Redwood National Park. It…
First Listen: Mary Gauthier, ‘Trouble & Love’
Gauthier works her way through stages of grief over a relationship, depicting each one as an all-consuming, transformative experience and stumbling onto blue notes that didn’t exist before.
First Listen: Clipping., ‘CLPPNG’
Let the band and album names be a warning for this industrial act featuring copious rapping. You are about to receive rough treatment, heavily stylized.
First Listen: Jose James, ‘While You Were Sleeping’
The soul singer keeps reinventing others’ songs and himself. James’ new album is more direct than his earlier material in some ways, and more experimental in others, but grounded in a soulful groove.
First Listen: First Aid Kit, ‘Stay Gold’
The Swedish sister act got its start playing feather-light folk-pop confections. But Stay Gold is a statement of staying power; a collection of bright, smart, substantial songs that stick around.
Of Note: Channels, Chelsea Wolfe, And Other D.C. Shows To Hit
Every Thursday, Bandwidth contributors tell you what D.C. shows are worth your time over the next week. Channels, Soccer Team,…
Eager For Listeners, Some Hip-Hop Artists Turn To Pay-To-Play Websites
You’re an unknown hip-hop artist trying to get your name out there. You don’t have any connections at traditional media….
Track Work: The Urban Cartel, ‘While We’re Young’
With a sound it’s described as “indie-rock stylistics matched with hip-hop and R&B spirit,” local ensemble The Urban Cartel formed…
First Listen: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, ‘Only Run’
Only Run expands on the band’s simultaneously soaring, jittery and joyful sound in surprising ways. The result reflects a relentless pursuit of invention and reinvention.
First Listen: Gabriel Kahane, ‘The Ambassador’
The composer and singer-songwriter’s new album is a set of 10 vignettes about buildings in L.A. Throughout The Ambassador, Kahane speaks many musical languages fluently and beautifully.
First Listen: Joe Henry, ‘Invisible Hour’
Henry’s new album examines the complexities of commitment, coupling gloom with streaming daylight and gilding his saddest observations with joy and awe.
First Listen: Parquet Courts, ‘Sunbathing Animal’
The Brooklyn rock band still wind-sprints with deadly efficiency. But the slower moments on Sunbathing Animal locate the essence of heartache in unexpected ways.
First Listen: Meshell Ndegeocello, ‘Comet, Come To Me’
The iconoclastic singer’s 11th album is the sort of rich work that keeps changing inside the listener’s head — an often-quiet set of songs with intense staying power.
First Listen: Taylor McFerrin, ‘Early Riser’
Teeming with stream-of-consciousness scatting, ethereal exploration and frenetic features, the beauty of the producer-composer’s debut lies in its carefully orchestrated ebb and flow.
Track Work: Mattress Financial, ‘I Do That Good’
When Silver Spring band Two Inch Astronaut released its searing, herky-jerky LP Bad Brother in 2013, it attracted predictable, but fair, comparisons to D.C’s…