Monthly Archives: August 2010

Review: Jaill, That’s How We Burn

Posted by on August 17th 2010 0

jaill-thats-how-we-burn


by Mark Waterman

Michael Chabon, musing on the possibility of a totally original novel, said that “All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.” The same is true in the world of music. This review will not be able to tell you whether or not Jaill’s new album sounds like The Soft Pack has a crush on XTC, or of what it is “reminiscent.” Nor will it contain a lengthy analysis (with spreadsheets and percentages) that charts the band’s influences from their toddler days, when they were big into Raffi to their teenage years spent idolizing Joe Strummer. This review is, in fact, significantly more concerned with how the name of the band is pronounced (I alternately envision the word ‘jail’ pronounced with a Southern drawl or a Jamaican saying ‘ja! ill!’) and the fact that one of the members is named Ryan Adams. Read More »

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Review: Ty Segall, Melted

Posted by on August 17th 2010 0


Ty Segall
Melted
7/10


Melted, the third album from Norcal-based rocker Ty Segall, is a solid effort at summery fuzzy punk, well-done in some instances (“My Sunshine”) and somewhat off-beat in others (the muggy “Mike D’s Coke.”) Even the album’s title offers a glimpse at how it feels, listening — it’s hot, humid and hazy music for days of the same kind.

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Mystery Train: Requiem (And a Playlist) For a King

Posted by on August 16th 2010 0

by Caroline Klibanoff

Today marks the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. It’s been 33 years since he died rather famously, the stuff of legend, at age 42. I have met people that have never listened to Elvis. This astonishes me, though perhaps it shouldn’t; his music can seem dated today, his story told and re-told so many times it’s now less like a legend of rock ‘n’ roll than a tired old movie plot rehashed again and again. It becomes one of those snoozefest tales your dad tells you while he’s driving somewhere and you’re literally subject to his will and his memory, trapped as you are in the front passenger seat by a seatbelt and the car’s velocity. Read More »

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Did the Intern Show Up? Vol. 4: DJ Turn The Music Up

Posted by on August 15th 2010 1

Dear KFN Resident DJs,
You used to scare the shit out of me, way back when I thought you were all the coolest dudes around. Rolling into the bar right around the time the headlining band would be wrapping up their set and preparing to clear off the stage with your cases of records and confident smiles, you had me convinced that your job more or less involved a) looking cool; b) giving lots of high fives; c) being excellent at partying; and d) the whole spinning records thing. So yeah, far be it from me, the lowly intern, to think I was rad enough to hang out with any of you.
Then, of course, I actually got to know you. Ha. Now I’m going to introduce you to everyone else, at least as well as I can given the limitations of the internet (and my vocabulary, because wow, all eloquence seemed to go out the window with the rest of my dignity on the El ride home last night). Just kidding about that last bit. Hi, Mom.
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Review: Wild Nothing, Gemini

Posted by on August 14th 2010 0

by Scott Lensing

Hailing from Blacksburg, VA, Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing does not shy away from the dream association; instead, he welcomes it from the very first track, “Live in Dreams.” With Gemini, Tatum constructs a musical world saturated with shimmering synths and reverberating guitar, creating the blissful mood that never falters for the duration of the album. His voice floats and drifts, sometimes for several seconds, seeming both all-encompassing and completely out of reach at any given moment.

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District Dialect: Moving the Tradition Forward

Posted by on August 14th 2010 0

District Dialect: Moving the Tradition Forward by igorgerman

Igor explores the history and development of Bluegrass Music in DC, focusing on some of the challenges the genre is facing as the demographic of Bluegrass listeners begins to shift. He interviews some Bluegrass hosts from WAMU as well as local musician, Bob Perilla.

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Review: Halsted, Life Underwater

Posted by on August 14th 2010 3

Halsted
Life Underwater
5 medium-size strong-hold binder clips out of 10
Please understand my situation here. In need of a job, any job, for this summer, I somehow found myself as an intern at a construction company. Not only an intern, basically an accounting intern. Accounting would probably rank somewhere near the bottom five of any list of my most desired professions. For most of the day, I do things like split up a $4 lunch purchase between three different cost codes and then file it in five different places. Sometimes they let me match the owner’s receipts for stretch limousines to the credit card bill! Anyway, before I offend our numbers-loving reader base, let me get to my point. Anything to pull me from the monotony, like a good record, is manna from heaven. Nonetheless, Life Underwater, the latest release from Halsted, failed to impress even my stimulus-starved senses.
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Our Top 30 Albums of the Week

Posted by on August 13th 2010 0

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