Category Archives: Music

“In late June, Justin Trawick was preparing to perform for his first in-person audience in months. The show was set to take place behind a three-story house on a quiet, suburban street in Arlington.”

Washington Post

“Two years ago, Washington was in the throes of the debate about Initiative 77, which would have phased out the minimum-wage exemption for tipped employees. David Combs, guitarist in the D.C. band Bad Moves, felt the controversy acutely, having worked in restaurants for over a decade, but was shocked at how hostility over the bill had been internalized by the people it was intended to help. He even spoke about it on “The Kojo Nnamdi Show” on WAMU — but felt he had to do so anonymously. The experience stayed with him.”

Washington Post

“If you were to analyze Time Is Fire’s new album “In Pieces,” well, in pieces, you’d find bits reminiscent of music past and present, with punk, dance, dub and psychedelia, and a heavy dose of sounds from across the globe. But looking for signposts of musical forebears would be a fool’s errand.”

Washington Post

“When D.C. trio Too Free is in the studio, the jam sessions yield an abundance of ideas, from curious chunks of music to fully formed songs. But no one knows how or when inspiration will strike.”

Washington Post

“On Tuesday night, as a sold-out crowd at the 9:30 Club sang and rapped every word back at him, one thing was clear: Roddy Ricch’s present is so bright that he has to wear shades. And after such a meteoric rise, maybe wearing sunglasses at night, as he did during his D.C. tour stop, makes sense.”

Washington Post

“DaBaby had a good reason for moving his concert at Echostage from Saturday to Sunday: on the first of those nights he was on “Saturday Night Live,” performing two of his biggest hits and acting in a sketch with host Jennifer Lopez. For his TV performances, the 27-year-old brought a touch of musical theater to Studio 8H, supplementing the usual twerkers and breakdancers with choreographed playacting and even some slapstick alongside the Jabbawockeez dance crew.”

Washington Post

“The Fillmore Silver Spring was packed Friday night, the air conditioned to “frigid” and sweet with smoke. But the capacity crowd warmed right up just before 10, when Freddie Gibbs took the stage, head-to-toe in an equally cold Adidas tracksuit.”

Washington Post

“Maxo Kream is Houston, born and bred, and you can hear it in his music. From his syrup-slow, trunk rattling beats to his claustrophobic tales about the real consequences of making money with guns and drugs, the spirit of the Geto Boys and DJ Screw lives on in his paranoid street raps.”

Washington Post

“Plenty of D.C. bands have gotten kicked out of their practice spaces because of noise-averse neighbors, but only Bad Moves has had the experience animated. Last summer, the band appeared as themselves on Cartoon Network’s “Craig of the Creek” as a garage band that helps the main characters start a band of their own.”

Washington Post

This summer marked the 40th anniversary of the infamous Disco Demolition Night in Chicago. For some, that event was a shock jock’s baseball promotion that got out of hand, turning into a riot and marking the end of disco’s pop cultural moment. For others, it was a violent attack on the communities — people of color and LGBT folks — that built disco long before “Saturday Night Fever” turned the genre into a punchline.

Read more in The Washington Post.