Monthly Archives: February 2012

This is what you do in sixth grade with your friends at the mall on a Friday night in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

You go to Spencer’s Gifts and look but never buy and wonder if you’re allowed to be there, among the grotesque and fantastic. You buy a ticket for the PG movie, Ice Age, and sneak into the theater for The Panic Room since you’re still twelve and wholesome and even-keeled at heart, but starting to nurse a healthy budding discontent. You take your sweater off in the murky fluorescent light of the empty food court because NO RULES and NO PARENTS and spaghetti strap tank tops are in. You slink into F.Y.E, the record store that no longer exists and which stood for For Your Entertainment, and flip through the CD racks, the muted smack of plastic on plastic, while someone tries to buy The Eminem Show but is thwarted by a Parental Adivsory sticker and a bored, dreadlocked cashier looking to enforce the law. Read More »

If you’re looking for some good dance music, you’ve come to the right place. The Knock’s new EP, “Magic,” consists of six songs designed for the sole purpose of getting you up and moving. Admittedly, the first time I heard The Knocks was at 11 pm on a Thursday night at U Street Music Hall so obviously I thought they were great. But, even outside of such a setting, their new EP is enjoyable.

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Every now and then there is that “game changer” of an album in the metal world. An album that is so revolutionary that it becomes hard to imagine what metal sounded like before it. Unfortunately, Lamb of God’s newest release, Resolution, is not such an album.

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Rating: ★★★★★

If the 54^th Annual Grammy Awards taught the public anything, it is that Rock has now been hidden by every other genre in existence. That is why Animal Joy, the eighth album from Shearwater, brings a sound that has been missing from today’s mainstream music since the early 90s.

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WGTB is co-sponsoring a SILENT DJ battle so lace up your dancing shoes and come on out to Bulldog Alley this Friday, February 24, from 10PM-1AM. There will be two DJs spinning mixes and, using your headset, you pick which one you want to listen to! You could be grooving to the Bee Gees (is that what the kids listen to these days?) while that cutie across the dance floor is jamming to Bieber. And you’ll never have to know. We’ll be bringing our best socially unaware flailing, so come put us to shame with your moves. Maybe we’ll even have a dance off. It’s a guaranteed good time for low low cost $free.99, so stop by and bring your friends. Let us know you’ll be attending on the facebook event and invite all your friends. Read More »

What happens when a next-big-thing becomes just a big thing? Judging by Smith Westerns’ performance on February 1 at the Black Cat, going from a ‘cool young band’ to a band that can maintain an audience’s interest through a forty minute set involves major growing pains and maybe even some whining. Read More »

I’m not sure exactly how indicative this is of the quality of Hospitality’s debut album, but for the life of me I cannot think of a single feature striking enough to grace the first line of an album review. Don’t get me wrong – this was a thoroughly pleasant album to listen to, full of many interesting layers and the occasional endearing third person narrative reminiscent of Belle & Sebastian. Of particular note was the general cadence of the track progression, which delicately balanced the subdued and contemplative with the careless and silly. Read More »