Stout Cortez Performs at WGTB Student Showcase

Posted by Catherine on April 26th 2010 0

Stout Cortez, aka Justin Hunter Scott, performed at WGTB’s Student Showcase earlier this semester along with 7 other Georgetown University bands. We will be posting some of the video from this concert on the blog via YouTube.

Check out videos from the performance below:

Take Cover: Take a Good Look, Billy Bragg

Posted by Catherine on April 26th 2010 0

For the record, “Tracks of My Tears” is the best go-to karaoke song probably ever, and I’m calling dibs for whenever WGTB holds our first karaoke contest. While the genius (and steeeez! check out their uniforms in the video below) of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles is hard to top, it has become a popular song for artists to work into their live catalog, especially as a convenient segue into another song: see Gavin DeGraw’s “Cupid” and Elvis Costello’s awesome rendition of “Alison” with the London Philharmonic. And I can’t deny that I harbor a secret love for the Boyz II Men version. Seriously, it is smooth, even if their dance moves are ridiculous. Read More »

Review: MGMT, Congratulations

Posted by Catherine on April 23rd 2010 0

MGMT

Congratulations

B+

Before I begin to elaborate on MGMT’s new and long awaited album, Congratulations, allow me to first explain that this is the band’s second album. The first album, of course, was the unofficial anthem of summer 2008. It was catchy, electro-rock, trippy, youthful, and wait for it, from Brooklyn! In short, listening to Oracular Spectacular was an invincible way to ingest LSD by way of one’s ears. In fact, the keyboard intro to “Time to Pretend” was iconic enough to trigger flashbacks to sunny car rides and summer gambols.

As former Wesleyan students, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden understand the difference between Freshman and Sophomore years, it is important for fans to come to terms with this as well. Freshman year is intimidating as one must adapt to a new environment and blindly feel around for better ways to navigate the obstacles ahead. This inevitably leads to a compromise between acting the way one perceives others expect of him/her to and the way one would like to express oneself. In MGMT’s case, they were two young guys based in Brooklyn who went to Wesleyan, and dressed in the most randomly assembled rainbow rags of vintage clothing. What did the public (the record company) want from them? Music that will accompany similar kids as they go on road trips, camp out at music festivals, smoke cigarettes, bum around Brooklyn, tribal dance on beaches, surf the galaxies, ride cats…you know, MGMT activities. Thus, Oracular Spectacular was MGMT’s debut and they were successful in delivering an immediate crowd pleaser.

Bike Club Performs at WGTB Student Showcase

Posted by Catherine on April 23rd 2010 0

…Better late than never. We have some sweet video from our Student Showcase in March, and will be posting it as it comes in on Youtube and this blog. First up is set opener Bike Club. Watch their whole set below!

Real Estate, Family Portrait, City Folk Rocking Bulldog Alley

Posted by Catherine on April 23rd 2010 2

Saturday night WGTB brought you the first installment of our Spring Cleaning concert series, featuring New Jersey’s beachy rockers Real Estate, DC locals Family Portrait, and Georgetown’s own City Folk. Check out photos from the show below, let us know what you thought of the concert in the comments, and be sure to head to Spring Cleaning part II this Friday night as the Hood Internet mashup duo prepares to melt faces, with openers Rafter and Stout Cortez.

WWYC of the Week

Posted by Catherine on April 22nd 2010 0

Why didn’t I think of it before? Incubus! Emotional, accessible, vaguely obtuse, and an anthem for the casual pot smoker, what a perfect blend for some horrendous covers! EyonDreams here thought he ought to give the song, “Dig” his best shot. And thank you, EyonDreams, for playing the song through your headphones so that we could really imbibe the quality of your voice. I especially like how you did the runs; they came from the heart, and we here at WGTB appreciate that. And you let us sit quietly during the instrumental break. That was good, because I needed some time to think. You care about the listener experience, and that makes you a true artist.

Next up for EyonDreams: realization that he’s the one that, ‘…digs at us.’

Review: Murder by Death, Good Morning, Magpie

Posted by Catherine on April 22nd 2010 0

Murder by Death

Good Morning, Magpie

I’m just going to go ahead and say it: for the majority of this album, I was confused. Plain and simple. Murder By Death – which, by the way, is an incredibly terrible name, but that’s another discussion entirely – has produced a record with so many genre influences it’s nearly impossible to keep track of them all. The introduction, a thirty-four second bit espousing someone’s love of “sweet Kentucky bourbon,” calls to mind the image of smoky saloons and grizzled old men strumming away on their guitars. When the song that follows immediately after is essentially an ode to the wonders of whiskey, the album is starting to look like an alt-country one that moves its way through my great-grandfather’s liquor cabinet. But oh, how wrong that assumption would be. From that point onward, the band introduces horns, harps, and an electric cello, of all things, with the only apparent goal being confusing the hell out of anyone listening. Sometimes Good Morning, Magpie leans toward a sound that would be wildly applauded at stops along Warped Tour, sometimes it walks the fine line between rock and metal. Read More »

Review: Harlem

Posted by Catherine on April 21st 2010 0

Harlem

Hippies

Harlem is a trio from Austin by way of Los Angeles by way of Nashville by way of Tucson. Their genre follows suit with their geography, Harlem is punk? garage rock? retro garage pop? R&B? proto-punk? etc etc. While their genre remains elusive, I think they explain their sound best: “When kids are jumping on the bed playing tennis rackets like guitars. We are the music that is playing in their brains.” Harlem’s newest release, Hippies swaggering, exuberant, unpretentious jaunt of an album. Hippies opens with the unavoidably catchy “Someday Soon” is a headbopping little number about “letting that shit burn”. Though Harlem certainly has a distinct sound, each of the 16 tracks bursts in its own unique way, alternating between heavy percussive surges and sweet and mellow throwbacks. There’s something disarming about the charm of Harlem’s insouciant take on whatever genre gets pinned on them. “Friendly Ghost” is yet another highlight, with winsome lyrics of, well, what the title suggests. Finally, I’d suggest checking out “Gay Human Bones” a welcome jolt of clear sound in a thickly distorted album. Overall, Hippies is the perfect thing to get you through the last searing days of classes and into the much needed lackadaisical days of summer.

– Tiare Dunlap

“Girl Please,” Fridays 4-6 pm on WGTB

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