“On Saturday night, the scene at the Anthem, in Southwest Washington’s new Wharf development, was set: a bare stage, adorned not with instruments but with a folding table, a wooden chair and a fake brain. It felt more like a production in a black-box theater than the site of a rock concert. But when a beaded curtain rose and David Byrne emerged — gray-suited, barefoot, with that unmistakable shock of gray hair — it all started making sense.”
“In 1990, 2 Live Crew fought the powers that were with “Banned in the U.S.A.,” a Springsteen-sampling paean to the First Amendment. Nearly three decades later, fellow Floridian rapper Bhad Bhabie paid tribute to Luther Campbell and company — whether she knew it or not — with her Bhanned in the U.S.A. Tour, stopping at College Park’s MilkBoy ArtHouse on Tuesday night.”
“DJ Taye didn’t always dream of being a musician. “I used to want to be an astronaut,” he explains, “until my auntie told me I couldn’t do that. Like on some ‘if you go, you won’t ever make it back’ type of shit.” He laughs at the memory now, and he has no regrets about the vocation that never was. “I can just be in space in my music.”
“For Screaming Females frontwoman Marissa Paternoster, songwriting isn’t about eureka moments. “A lot of people are under some misconception that when you write music or make paintings or execute any creative act, you’re struck by inspiration. I have never found that really to be true,” she says. “It’s kind of like banging your head against the wall until something comes out.”
“One of Jenna Camille’s first musical memories is learning to sing “You Gotta Be,” the 1994 smash hit by Des’ree, at 4 years old. “My mom tells me I was all over the house singing it,” says the 27-year-old singer-songwriter. “That was the first song I fell in love with.” It certainly influenced Camille, and not just musically: Its hook — “You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser” — is a message of self-confidence that Camille clearly took to heart.”
“Across Nils Frahm’s dozens of albums, collaborations and soundtracks, there’s often a high concept uniting them all. On “Felt,” the Berlin-based composer, pianist and producer attached felt to the strings of his piano; on “Screws,” he performed with just nine fingers because there were four screws in his broken thumb.”
“When asked to define “slizzatrism,” the philosophy of his collective, the Washington Slizzards, and the title of his most recent mix tape, Ras Nebyu reels it off with ease. “Slizzatrism,” he says, “is the art of finessing good energy to work in your favor by way of meditation, pure intent and acknowledgment of your ancestors.”
“It was uncharacteristically busy in the D.C.-area music world Thursday night. Fans of R&B might be seeing Kelela at the 9:30 Club. Hip-hop heads had ASAP Ferg and friends at the Fillmore. Country music came to the Rock & Roll Hotel via Tyler Childers. But if you were looking for the future-present of club music, you had to be in the subterranean confines of Union Stage to see Bad Gyal.”
“Having kept downtown’s time-crunched workers well fed for nearly 30 years, it’s no surprise that locals hold restaurateur Kostas Fostieris in high esteem. One time that well-earned appreciation managed to shock the proprietor of the District’s iconic Greek Deli was during a traffic jam caused by the all-too-D.C. experience of government officials zooming about with a security detail.”
“At his best, Tyga is the hole in the donut, surrounded by more compelling collaborators and paramours. Whether as the voice of DJ Mustard’s career-making hit Rack City, as one half of a duo with Chris Brown, or as the ex-boyfriend of Kylie Jenner, Tyga has never been quite been talented or charismatic enough to hold his own. Now, for his sixth commercial album the ex-Young Money artist has thrown something of a curveball with Kyoto – a self-described “singing album” that finds him tackling AutoTuned rap-warbling.”
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