Emma Forster

It takes something special to stand out in the ever-deepening sea of mashups, remixes, and revampings that seem to have taken over the airwaves and internet-streams. It isn’t enough anymore just to play a few songs simultaneously—reworking a track is an art that should subtly enhance the original, while also bringing something new to the table, resulting in a unique, superior hybrid. A couple weeks ago when I first heard Labyrinth Ear’s souped-up rendition of Arthur Russell’s “This Is How We Walk on the Moon,” I felt like they accomplished just that. Read More »

Let’s face it: Washington is better known for its monuments and political snafus than its happening music scene. Obama must have put something in the water, though, because recently D.C.-based music duo Bluebrain has lent the District some clout as a hub of aural innovation. This month, Bluebrain has not only announced the upcoming release of a site-specific album, they have also collaborated with Sockets Records to create something the likes of which not even the hippest city has seen: a vinyl with a “C side.”

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Having officially released their first album just one day before, Middle Brother could not rely on a dedicated fan base to pack the house at the 9:30 Club on Wednesday night. But, even though most people may not have known every word to every song, the buzz generated by the side-project of Delta Spirit’s Matt Vasquez, Deer Tick’ s John McCauley, and Dawes’s Taylor Goldsmith was plenty to draw a crowd in the middle of the week. McCauley and Goldsmith both pulled double duty opening with their own bands, but it didn’t take long for the band-name barriers to break down into a Last Waltz-esque indie folk free for all.

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Last week, while browsing through shelves packed to the gills with old CDs in WTGB’s studio anteroom—a chamber amicably dubbed the “womb room”—I came across a stray radio relic: a WGTB Record Review Slip. Before WGTB went big time with our infiltration of the Internet, we had a quaint system of writing a few comments and an overall grade for each album on a post-it which would then be slipped into the CD case and tucked away on a shelf, rarely—if ever—to be dusted off and spun once more. Every once in a while, however, when I am late for class or have a huge paper due and need to find a great way to procrastinate, I like to go into the womb room and peruse the vast collection that is our Rotation.

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