Velvet Lounge/611 Florida/Clavius Productions schedule

Clavius Productions presents:

Sunday, July 22
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
$7, 21+, doors at 9pm

Unorthodox (legendary MD doom metal, ex-Spirit Caravan)
Tides Within (NYC sludgy art-metal a la Neurosis/Isis, ex-Agnosis)
Stifling (NoVA bass/drums sludge duo, ex-Valkyrie)

Clavius Productions presents an all-out punk-rock guitar assault from Radio Birdman's legendary Denis Tek:

Wednesday, July 25
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
$8, 21+, doors at 9pm

The Last of the Bad Men (mem. of Radio Birdman/Exploding Fuck Dolls)
Albert Strange ('90s DC rawk)
The Spoils of NW (DC '60s-inspired pop-psych/garage, ex-High Back Chairs/Pussy Galore/Tuscadero)


The Last of the Bad Men
http://www.thelastofthebadmen.com/

The Last of the Bad Men are an international group whose members are considered outlaws by some and heroes by others. This is an alliance brought together by a common sense of urgency: there is NO SECOND CHANCE! It's not TV fashion time! Get out of line, this is warfare, no time for love or hate, let the leaders pray for gas, it's your time, it's our time! Scrape yourself off of the city streets, quit sniveling, get back into the deep end, and try again! The end is near and we're not goin' out without a fight! The sun is going down and the final hour is upon us. Who's gonna lead the way? Be ready to kill or be killed. These are the ones to join, grab your weapons, sticks, rocks, skateboards, guitars, drums and basses. Scream your guts out and be a part of…The Last of the Bad Men.

Radio Birdman proto-punker Deniz Tek, a couple Exploding Fuck Dolls, and some skateboard guy comprise the ranks of the awesomely named Last of the Bad Men. All of 'em are spread out in various hotspots all over the world – Australia, Cleveland, Nowheresville – but they convened in Vancouver, where they recorded these tracks, presumably under a cloud of cigarette smoke and alcohol fumes. So it's a "project," really, and thusly lacks the road-worn cohesion of Birdman or the Fuck Dolls, but kicks are kicks, and "Nowhere Is Safe" provides plenty of 'em, in a US Bombs-y gruff-punk sorta way. Tek tosses out some classic glam-punk riffs on this 'un, especially on anthemic "Get in Line" and the Pistols packin' "Free Wheeler," and the slashing closer "City Pigs" is an authentically disgusted slice of pogo-ready punk rock snarl. Not quite as villainous as their name would imply, these Bad Men, but still plenty mean. I'm sure this'll sound great blasting out of the boombox while you wait for the paramedics to show up and put your shattered kneecap back together after grinding the Charlie, or whatever you skater creeps call it." (Sleazegrinder)

This is straight-up old-school punk played by a serious rag-tag lineup. Deniz Tek (Radio Birdman), Art & Steve Godoy (Exploding Fuck Dolls), Danny (Factory 13) and the bassist from the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets create a serious melting pot of styles. Fom Sham 69 and the Stitches to the Boys. Fans of Hostage records will shit all over themselves when they hear rippers like "Tail Block" and "Free Wheeler." The guitars on this album blaze as Tek and Godoy share lead duties with neither party overdoing it. Curbslappys frontman Danny sounds like a surf nazi who ate a fucking truckload of angel dust and is ready to rape an entire pet store, he says "fuck" 13 times in a row in one of these selections. About as close to the real deal as you will get. (Absolute Underground)


The Spoils of NW
http://www.spoilsofnw.com

The Spoils of NW is made up of former members of the High Back Chairs (Peter Hayes, guitar, vocals, keyboards, harmonica); Tuscadero (Phil Satlof, bass); Cleveland's the Revelers (Joel Kaufman, guitar); and Philadelphia's Pteradactyl (Bill Brown, drums). Bill and his two sons, Charlie and JJ, are in another amazing band called Eyeball Skeleton. The Spoils play heavy, melodic rock with echoes of '70s psych, blues and soul.

Clavius Productions presents:

Thursday, July 26
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
http://www.claviusproductions.org
8pm, $5 suggested donation
202-360-9739 for info
BYOW!

Thee Ultimate VAG (DC guitar/percussion improv duo, mem. of Kohoutek/To Live and Shave in L.A.)
Neg-Fi (NYC experimental/noise duo, mem. of Branca-Bloor Quartet)
This Is My Condition (one-man band from Lawrence, Kansas)
FFFFs (DC solo guitar/electronics, Sockets)


Thee Ultimate VAG
http://www.claviusproductions.org
http://www.myspace.com/accidentswithmagnets

Dreamy moonlit melodies as imagined by axeslinger Chris Grier (To Live and Shave in L.A./Sean McArdle Band/ex-Mungo Jerry) and skinpounder Scott Verrastro (Kohoutek/Insect Factory/Sequence Chair/ex-Ozark Mountain Daredevils). Setting a course for the heartland of America, this duo contructs ribald ditties derived from ancient Lithuanian ballads translated to these modern, not-so-chaste times. Bring your lambskin.


Neg-Fi
http://www.myspace.com/negfi

sounds like: a burlap sack of tin and aluminum scraps falling down a cast iron spiral staircase, highly amplified.

"In the '50s, a time of postwar optimism and faith in science, there was Hi-Fi. In the '90s, an era of slackers and diminished expectations, there was Lo-Fi. In the '00s, a time of neanderthal government and outright contempt for the arts, there is Neg-Fi. A watershed moment in the history of art and music – some might say sub-nadir… " (Tom Moody, art guy)

"One very memorable one for me was a presentation by a group named Neg-Fi, and it was great because I forget who was on either side of them but it was some fairly high-tech sophisticated stuff, and what they brought in were these little cardboard boxes they had assembled that sort of crackled if you plugged something into them. And their band is named Neg-Fi, which is a pretty great name. So they just put these little boxes on the table and sat behind it and it was very stark and they were very kind of serious and they made these little crackles and they were being serious on purpose because it was funny." (Douglas Repetto, founder of Dorkbot and Artbot, in an interview in WIRED NEWS)


This Is My Condition
http://www.thisismycondition.com/

This Is My Condition is a one-man band in which Craig Comstock plays guitar, drums and sings all at the same time. In the tradition of noise rock this music is heavy, tough and intense, while at other times very free and unstructured. This Is My Condition deals in power, spontaneity and passionate lyrics. Coming from a background of experimentation, repetition and angst in Many Series and Black Calvin, Craig takes things in a new direction by going solo and performing on-the-spot improvisations of the same ilk.

Craig was working on a new project after his trio with Brandon Brown (guitar/vocals in Teriyakis) and Ryan Johnson (drums in Floyd the Barber and others) fizzled out. His search for a drummer who had the desire and skill to play improvised hardcore and art rock failed to succeed. He started applying himself to learning how to be the drummer he was searching for. In the midst of this, somehow, he placed his guitar over his drums and found he could actually play both at the same time. This resulted in his first show at the Replay Lounge with Pixel Panda and My Name Is Rar Rar (who failed to show due to a broken down van in Utah). A day or so before the show he went up to KJHK and played a song acoustically on Plow the Fields and billed himself as Comstock, in the tradition of Dokken, Dio, Bon Jovi and Van Halen. And while the phrase "Less Talk, More Comstock" was screamed by the crows at several of the first shows, it was not to stick. Feeling a bit overly egotistical Craig decided to change the name to This Is My Condition, knowing that the name would always apply regardless of his current condition.

When TIMC opened up for Lightning Bolt in Kansas City, this was a defining moment. Craig challenged Lightning Bolt to a duel. Of course, it was not a duel of volume, Lightning Bolt clearly had the advantage there. Unfortunately the duel didn't happen, but TIMC got to play to a large crowd of enthusiastic kids from KC and learned that the bass player from Lightning Bolt secretly wished he could do something similar.

TIMC took a hiatus from shows during Winter 2003 and found time to record several songs at Chubby Smith's studio in a barn in the countryside outside of Lawrence.

After a couple more shows and delving into more of the experimental improvisational side of TIMC, Craig was invited to play a Seminar at the UMKC school of Music. He played to a group of 30 or so Music Composition students and played just as loud and as intense as at a normal show. Most everyone covered their ears and nodded in approval. The discussion centered around "context" in the music, something that doesn't get discussed much at a regular venue.

Currently Craig has his sights set on playing in far away cities with old friends and honing his skills of improvisation, song-smithing and rocking.


FFFFs
http://www.myspace.com/scdr

FFFFs is Sean Peoples' solo project. Non-ornamental, melodic loopworks, pure and clean. It explores the various impact of vocal loops and otherwise unconventional noise loops in a controlled and song-based environment. Songs contain atmosphere usually tending toward ambient but also including beat and minimal synth-oriented material. I also use found sound recordings. My music taste is all over the map – beat-oriented, tape loop noise, accessible, experimental. The music tends to reflect that wide-reaching map.

Set times for this thursday?

i never have exact set times at 611, but it'll roughly be this:

ffffs: 9-9:30
this is my condition: 9:45-10:15
neg-fi: 10:30-11:00
ultimate vag: 11:15-11:45

all bands will play half an hour or less, the vag might play for 35. it'll be over by midnight for sure, and the metro's right by the house.

Clavius Productions presents:

Sunday, August 12
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
http://www.claviusproductions.org
6pm, $5 suggested donation
202-360-9739 for info
BYOW!

The Wayward (Magic Bullet Rec., ex-Carrion)
The Conformists (St. Louis heavy math-rock, mem. of Yowie, 54 40 or Fight Rec.)
Durga Temple (NoVA sludge rock)
Motreb (NoVA improv experimental psych guitar/drums duo, mem. of Contact Contact)


The Wayward
http://www.geocities.com/wearethewayward
http://www.myspace.com/theewayward

The Wayward was formed in Summer 2004 by two ex-members of Carrion, just four months after the breakup of that band. After three months of songwriting and local shows, The Wayward began touring the eastern half of the US, playing w/ the likes of Battles, Mastodon, Breather Resist, Ed Gein, Anodyne, Baroness, and many more.

After quickly selling out of a pressing of self-recorded, hand-numbered cd's, a second, more hi-fi home recording, the Not Showing the Past EP, was released, sold out, and repressed. In September 2005, a self-titled 7" was released on vinyl on Black Box Recordings.

Meanwhile, The Wayward continued to tour relentlessly, including a 9-week run in late '05 that saw them play with Kayo Dot, Dysrythmia, Stinking Lizaveta, Forensics, The Dream Is Dead, and many more.

The Wayward's debut full-length, The Wayward, is set for release on June 6, 2006, on Black Box Recordings.

Hailing from Fairfax, Virginia (and currently in Baltimore), it's kind of amazing to consider that THE WAYWARD collectively have but a mere six arms. Simply put, there's a LOT going on with the band's music. Slabs and slabs of riffs uncoil at a frenetic pace courtesy of Nicholas and Jesse Skrobisz, a hypnotic concoction brewed from years of brotherhood and shared experience. One-swinging-guy Nathaniel Simms powers his way through the hot choppery, finding rhythms eschewing both harmonious conviction and technicality.

Having looped the U.S. numerous times already, the band will set out this October and November yet again. Overexposure, their second full length and Magic Bullet Records debut, will be in tow on both CD and LP formats.


The Conformists
http://www.theconformists.com
http://www.myspace.com/theconformists

For once it seems as though all the â??sounds likeâ? listed in the biography are right on the nose: Don Caballero, Unsane, US Maple, Slint, and the Jesus Lizard. Yup, theyâ??re all here. The Conformists are hardly what their name suggests, which is surely another shot of irony to the rock and roll world. There are lots of solid ideas here, many of which never seem to go anywhere. For example, once you can get past the stupid opening of the track "Black People," the latter part of the song totally kicks ass. Itâ??s got an intense forward march approach with the guitars, sounding like they came out of the Steve Albini school of rockinâ?? (hey, whaddya know! Albini recorded the album!) with vocals that bellow anger and chaos and the inability to break free. On "Meredith Knezvitch," the opening line "Youâ??re the big man now" had me waiting for one more word (dog) in the hopes that it was a tribute to one of Sean Conneryâ??s finest works, "Finding Forester." But alas, it never came. Instead, the band continued to pound out haphazard beats, wild vocals, subtle basslines and off the wall guitar chords. Thereâ??s something going on here; something I really like but thereâ??s also something else keeping me from totally getting into this. I like me some math rock, but this is like drunk math rock on cocaine. Strangely enough, I think I mean that as a compliment. (Kurt Morris, 54 40 or Fight!)


The Conformists have been twisting guitar music into new shapes for over ten years. Like Oxes and Shellac they take something pretty inaccessible and make it somewhat less inaccessible.

Three Hundred is an angular, abstract mess that will put off three times as many people that will love it. It is an album that will frustrate as many people as it pleases. In fact it would be a frustrating album even for those it pleases. The Conformists no doubt themselves take great pleasure in this. They are thoroughly non-conformist in their approach to laying out their post-rock grooves.

Despite the bandâ??s bizarre attempts to sabotage their own record Three Hundred is just about successful. They just about avoid novelty rocking. There are moments of playful self-indulgence and moments of pointless self-indulgence. How much is pretension and how much is pissing around is hard to discern at times. This is something else that probably brings a smile to the faces of these weirdoes.

Guitar, bass, drums and the odd vocals are all used as weapons to confuse the listener. They take you down dark, dank paths and up febrile, enchanting trails. The abrasive, staccato "Are These Flowers" dares to teach Shellac a lesson in musical misanthropy. It is both harsh and yet strangely alluring. The epic "Youâ??re Welcome" wanders about intensely looking for trouble. Guitars bristle with an almost tangible tension. "Tax Deduction" is a prickly affair reminiscent of Slint at their most eerily wiry and passive-aggressive.

"Black People" has a great title but starts off with an endless series of climaxes before launching into a muscular piece of rocking post-hardcore. The smart arse likes of "Stairway To Heaven" and "Laundry Hepburn" are fun for a few listens but are too slight and end up as essentially inane filler.

Not many people will love them but The Conformists are an endearing band if you happen to like your music difficult and filled with sarcasm. (Nadeem Ali, New-Noise.net)

Find out more about the Conformists here: http://www.riverfronttimes.com/Issues/2000-07-12/music/music.html

Clavius Productions presents the first New American Folk Hero DC showcase:

Wednesday, August 15
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$7, doors at 9pm, 21+

Kohoutek Dashin Gassoudan (Music Fellowship/Sockets, all percussion set!)
Mike Tamburo (Music Fellowship, solo experimental guitar/hammered dulcimer from Pittsburgh)
Tusk Lord (New American Folk Hero, solo experimental folk/psych from Pittsburgh)
The Cutest Puppy in the World (New American Folk Hero/Sockets, DC improv psych duo)


Kohoutek Dashin Gassoudan
http://www.claviusproductions.org/kohoutek/index.html

Improvised psychedelia ranging from atonal noise to delicate melodies, with a keen focus on spontaneous composition, inspired by the likes of Can/Amon Duul 2/Krautrock, Acid Mothers Temple/Ghost/Japanese psych, Bardo Pond, Dead C, Skullflower, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Sun Ra/Art Ensemble/free jazz, Sonic Youth, MBV/shoegaze, drone, doom/sludge metal, etc. Textures and mood over technical proficiency.

For this set, Kohoutek will be strictly percussion-based, with all sounds electronically manipulated via contact mics, filters, and pedals, somewhat akin to the solo percussion experiments of Tony Oxley, Paul Lytton, and Henry Cow's Chris Cutler.


Mike Tamburo
http://www.miketamburo.com/
http://www.myspace.com/miketamburo

Hello, I was born on March 30, 1977 in New Kensington, PA. When I was around 15 months old I was diagnosed with Otitis Media. My ears had filled with fluid and I was unable to hear correctly for several months. I had surgery and was sent to ear specialists that introduced me to the world of test tones and perceptual challenges.

Music has always been a part of my life. My father played guitar and sang me Beatles songs and sometimes his own self penned songs when I was young. My Grandmother and Aunt also played piano and sang Italian influenced songs. They all seemed happiest or at least at peace when they were playing music. I guess perhaps through imitation I decided I wanted to play music as well. For as long as I can remember I was playing something, hitting something, making some kind of noise. I first started out playing chord organ and toy xylophone. I can still remember holding out long tones on the chord organ. I remember that I loved to just hold down the chord buttons for as long as I could. Oddly enough one of my first musical performances was for Ralph Nader. I was probably around 5. My mother was doing a video interview with him. I was on the floor underneath them banging on my toy xylophone. I doubt he was impressed. In school I took up clarinet and played with the school band. At the time I hated it, but now looking back I realize that I learned the fundamentals of music on a B Flat clarinet.

Aside from various art projects I took up, I don't remember ever wanting to do much other than just being in a band. I started my first one when I was 13 or 14. I met some local kids that were playing together. I ended up singing for them. We were called Lurch. A very strange, I guess emo-type, band that included a bass player with a hunchback. This went on for a few years, until guitarist Chris Pecoraro and I decided we wanted to be a little freer and more experimental. I was still singing and I took up drums. Chris still played the guitar. This became Eskimo 88. We did this for the rest of our high school careers. We recorded and released to cassettes Open Your Ears and Hear a Sound and Inside Outside.

In 1995 I went away to Edinboro University. Instead of going to class I spent all of my time reading and writing music. I decided to try to learn the guitar. I made over 200 recordings of myself trying to learn the guitar. I was reading as many books on 20th century composition that I could find and then after trying to figure out what it all meant, I tried to apply it to guitar.

I dropped out of school at the end of the semester. I came back to Pittsburgh and started playing with Ken Camden and Brian Camphire. This was the start of Meisha. Shortly after Brian left, Pete Spynda joined. We recorded several times and released Meisha, Meisha Returns, Meisha Forever, The First Lessons in New Era Time: The Universal Orchestra of Pituitary Knowledge Sing Om to the Disturbed Onlookers, Who were Meisha and Robin Anyway?, The Fourth Lesson In New Era Time: The Republic of Meisha, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Meisha Machine Music, and A Celebration of Life.

I returned to Edinboro University to study and make films. While there Pete Spynda and I formed Arco Flute Foundation with Matt McDowell, Rob Dingman and Jeff Komara. We recorded and released The Second Lesson in New Era Time Exploring the Possibilities of New Wave Villains; And What of Boy?, The Third Lesson in New Era Time: Running Slow-Motion Marathons With Purple Rejoice; Who Killed the Party House?, Everything After The Bomb Is Sci-Fi, Everything After Everything Is The Bomb Is Sci-Fi, I Ate Tony Conrad's Pierogies, The Fifth Lesson in New Era Time: The Unconsciousness of Yukon Steve. We also created a new system of time that was 3 hours and 14 minutes behind Eastern Standard Time.

Both bands did several tours and imploded leaving the shattered ashes for all to see. I now play alone and am always recording, painting, making films and video, listening to music, studying Enthobotany, thinking or watching T.V.


Tusk Lord
http://www.myspace.com/tusklord

Tusk Lord is the recording vehicle of New Kensington, PA native Mike Kasunic, and the perfectly titled Familiar Trails is the first widely available release Iâ??ve heard under the name to date. Coming to us courtesy of Mike Tamburoâ??s New American Folk Hero, Kasunic fits in well among the eclectic roster of experimental noise and primitive sound artists that NAFH has come to exemplify. Like label owner Tamburo, Kasunic combines distortion and drone with rustling acoustic ragas that prove highly worthy of your time if enraptured by the current (free) folk renaissance and the new noise scene at the same time.

Opener â??Swordâ? slices through the ether on ferocious electric currents that gracefully give way to the delicate raga of â??Grassy Summitâ? and the mind-cleansing medieval vibe of â??Wayfarer.â? â??Cold Airâ? spreads out a bit longer on the glistening lo-fi currents of a post-industrial waterfall, while longer tracks like â??No More Sunriseâ? and â??Sky Burialâ? conjure moods of foreboding and solemnity respectively.

While it could be argued that Tusk Lord isnâ??t doing anything particularly innovative in the free-primitive-whatever-the-heck landscape, the one man ensemble has a voice and a perspective that demands attention from anyone with even a modicum of interest in such things. [iFamiliar Trailsâ? is a solid journey through primitive folk noise abstraction, plus an excellent opening salvo in what looks to be a promising, unfolding musical journey. Very nice. 8/10. (Lee Jackson, Foxy Digitalis)

"Though Tusk Lord began as a continuation with Mike Kasunic's grimy, ghastly work as part of the duo Slices, he's more recently exited the grimy underground tunnels that birthed the dark and foreboding work of his self-titled debut, and wandered into new realms. Slices, a band of both ear-searing electronic squall and massive guitar/drums plodding thunder, dissolved just as they entered a new phase of existence. And while the Tusk Lord moniker and Kasunic's solo work were birthed during Slices' short lifespan, it was after the duo were no more that Tusk Lord became Kasunic's main vehicle, and the receptacle for the bevy of ideas that Kasunic so eagerly soaked up from various corners of the musical spectrum. Tusk Lord's self-titled debut CD-r is an album heavy on inner ear torture and ugly sounds, though not without signs of the about face that Kasunic was soon to make. Familiar Trails finds Tusk Lord in a decidedly different mode, making largely acoustic music in a more meditative, mildly psychedelic manner. The sun-speckled tracks that make up the disc may not boast the forceful impact of Kasunic's earlier work, but Familiar Trails finds Tusk Lord in perhaps his most confident delivery yet. This is the music of unexplored forests, clouds gathering on the horizon, and rocky foothill paths, all viewed through a filter that lends an unnatural veneer to the terrain. It's music of the earth, imperfect and unpolished, and all the more beautiful for it." (Adam Strohm)


The Cutest Puppy in the World
http://www.questionthetruth.com/noise/cutestpuppy/
http://www.myspace.com/thecutestpuppyintheworld

The Cutest Puppy in the World is Bryan Rhodes (of Baltimore) and Layne Garrett (of Washington, DC). We explore emergent forms, extremes of saturated and empty space, scorched remnants of the familiar. We play electric piano, analog synthesizer, combo organ, guitars, found-object percussion, thumb piano, bass clarinet, styrofoam, whatever is within reach. Our music is all improvised.

Since the summer of 2005, we have performed extensively in DC and the mid-Atlantic region. Highlights include: creating improvised soundtracks for experimental films by DC artists Heather Levy, Christopher Lynn, and Jay Rees; several appearances at the Electric Possible experimental music showcase at George Washington University; the 2005 Sonic Circuits Festival in DC; and a 2-hour pyrotechnic-enhanced set in the middle of the night at Soundquilt Music Festival last summer. We've had the pleasure to play alongside a number of spectacular musicians, including: Jack Wright, Reuben Radding, Andrew Drury, Nate Wooley, Mazen Kerbaj, Mike Bullock, Vic Rawlings, Joseph Hammer, Sayo Mitsuishi, Michael Thomas Jackson, Hans Buetow, Ben Hall, John Dierker, Matt Weston, Charalambides, Volcano the Bear, Kohoutek, Na, Green Milk from the Planet Orange, Whelp, Insect Factory, Big Cats, Zach Mason, Tone Ghosting, WZT Hearts, Echolalia, Piasa, Mass Movement of the Moth, Slim Castle, Cash Slave Clique, FFFFs, etc!

In 2005, we self-released a CD-R entitled ::shut in the basement::. It made free103point9's Top 150 of 2005. Sockets put out Finfolk in early 2006, with cover art by Joseph Mills. The record received critical praise from Terrascope, Fakejazz, and Noiseweek, among others. Apotrope is due out in April on New American Folk Hero.

"What fundamentally seems to set The Cutest Puppy so far apart from the larger portion of the experimental scene is that for all their variations and stylistic diversity, they still seem very much concerned with the making of music, with all its robustly humanistic implications….The Cutest Puppy allows their pieces to flow together organically, taking in melody and discord in whatever quantities that might instinctually seem to be right….through their unpretentious, wildly humanistic ministrations on this release [FINFOLK], The Cutest Puppy in the World does succeed in underscoring some of the impressive potential that experimental music regularly fails to live up to. This record demonstrates in brilliantly unassuming terms that experimental music can not only exist without all its intellectual poses, but can also beat and shake with all the delicate passion and warmth of a heart and a soul." (Germ Ross, ArtNoise)

"The DC-Baltimore duo sound like the soundtrack to a soap opera by David Lynch." (Bob Massey, Washington Post Express)

"[The Cutest Puppy in the World's] Shut in the Basement is a walk through a macabre circus sideshow, each booth revealing another bizarre character, another dark vision that laughs with joyful madness." (The Ptolemaic Terrascope online)

"Cutest Puppy in the World's songs are like Calder mobiles, made of wire, string, and dense, sweet-smelling wood." (Molars)

Roughly how late will the Religious Knives/Ultimate Vag show go? 1-ish?

that's about right. i doubt any of the four sets will be longer than 35 minutes, except for maybe the religious knives.

Four shows in a row this weekend…

Thursday, August 16
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$8, doors at 9pm, 21+

Caution Curves (DC electro-acoustic improv ensemble)
Capillary Action (Philly instrumental experimental genre-hopping prog-psych)
Zdrastvootie (Holy Mountain, prog weirdness from CA)


Caution Curves
http://www.thecautioncurves.org

A cosy electro acoustic combo comprising Amanda Huron, drums and percussion, Tristana Fiscella, vocals and guitar, and Rebecca Mills on her laptop, hailing from Washington DC, who's music is refreshingly nice (as opposed to nasty).

"Lemons" begins with a yawning sleepy start from vocalist Tristana Fiscella…something about liking lemons?

A slightly neurotic potpourri of naive noises…the music flittering about dangerously like moths round a candle, but hanging together on thin threads. A change comes half way through as Ms Fiscella tries desperately to stay awake as she sings some "proper verses" over simple, understated drums.

On "Leslie", a naïve ambling clattering of drums, percussion and twangy guitar floats along nicely. The sun is out, it's spring, and squirrels hop from branch to twig, until after a deep breath, a moaning and a wailing hails drums building and falling, against a feathery warm duvet of laptop gurgling. The track sinks into colder regions, the sun is obscured by dark clouds and guttural words can be made out as bassy low bit drones fill out the space�as the voice soars, we quiet down to almost nothing as Tristana pleads, please please please please, please Leslie come home!

Maybe it's the sound of Tristana Fiscella's voice or the lemony nature of the first track, but this awakens something in my severely damaged memory and, on hands and knees I finger my way along my vinyl shelf until I dust off Danielle Dax, and more specifically her early work in the Lemon Kittens (hence the lemons). This was a pleasant reminder of the lovely Ms Dax, and the observation that experimentation when in feminine hands is simply and wonderfully NON-po-faced and refreshingly UN-nerdy!

And there is something feminine and charming about The Caution Curves, that is pastoral and free. The warmness of the laptop sounds that fill the air are delightful, the voice is improvised and happily carefree and unselfconscious. The drums although nicely recorded, are verging on the amateur, and it takes a while for me to decide whether I like them like this or whether someone needs a few lessonsâ?¦but finally I decide that I not only like them like this, I love them like this…don't changeâ?¦pleaseâ?¦

As my favourite German improvisers, Can once saidâ?¦ I want moreâ?¦ (furthernoise.org)


Capillary Action
http://www.capillaryaction.net/

For all intents and purposes, Capillary Action is Philadelphia native and Oberlin College junior Jonathan Pfeffer accompanied live by keyboardist Sam Krulewitch, drummer Ricardo Lagomasino, and bassist Spencer Russell.

The music is hard to describe in simple terms: on Capillary Action's 2004 debut, Fragments (Pangaea Recordings), Pfeffer demonstrated an uncanny ability to dip into everything from melodic death metal rave-ups, fractured no wave-inspired crescendos, Latin rhythms, video game music, lazy alt-country pop, lounge jazz, new wave synths, and mathy melodies – sometimes all within the same song.

But on Capillary Action's sophomore effort, Cannibal Impulses (Pangaea Recordings), Pfeffer discards the eclectic math rock stylings of Fragments for something completely fresh. Incorporating influences ranging from the meticulous nature of early 20th century classical and the satisfying crunch of chip tunes music to the insistent melodies of Javanese Gamelan and the heavily orchestrated soundscapes of Japanese noise artists, Cannibal Impulses is a harsh and challenging expedition into Jonathan Pfeffer's warped psyche.

"Fragments is a nifty guitar record that plays well with different moods and feels, making for a cohesive whole that flows from track to track in an almost suite-like fashion. It's an assured debut, and Pfeffer is a clearly talented musician who bears watching to see where he'll take his craft." (Joe Tangari, Pitchfork Media, #46 on Joe Tangari's Best of 2005 List)

"It's impressive that Pfeffer managed to make an instrumental guitar rock record with a lot of genre-changing and without a single style to call its own (there is no Capillary Action sound in the same way that there was a Don Caballero sound), all without ever entering jam band territory. Pfeffer's songs are compact, and they're full of unexpected changes rather than endless repetition." (Charlie Wilmoth, Dusted)


Zdrastvootie
http://www.myspace.com/zdrastvootie

"Holy Mountain, the label that has so far essentially been home to only two artists, Six Organs Of Admittance, and Steven Wray Lobdell (and of course his Davis Redford Triad) has finally drawn new blood, seeking psychedelic sustanence from outside their very elite holy land. Coming soon, massive, lugubrious psych drone from OM (ex-Sleep!) but first stop, Santa Cruz, and the curiously named Zdrastvootie. The minute we threw this on, we immediately thought: Polvo plays Torch of the Mystics (the Sun City Girls classic). And we haven't really been able to come up with a more apt description. Angular guitars woven into dreamy post-rock soundscapes, occasional Greg Ginn-like psychedelic squalls, all with a very Eastern raga-like hue. Rollicking and shambolic one moment, shimmering and pastoral the next. Riffs explode into full-on rock mode but immediately decay into splattery, spare ambience. Chaotic skronk and skree implode into propulsive Krautrock mesmer. Really fucking great." (Aquarius)

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Friday, August 17
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$8, doors at 9pm, 21+

Religious Knives (Troubleman, mem. of Double Leopards/Mouthus/White Rock)
Thee Ultimate VAG (DC improv guitar/percussion duo, mem. of Kohoutek/To Live and Shave in L.A.)
Woods (mem. of Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice/Meneguar, Fuck It Tapes/Release the Bats)
Twilight Memories of the Three Suns (DC experimental acoustic sounds, mem. of Kohoutek/Piasa/Alzo Bozsormenyi)


Religious Knives
http://www.doubleleopards.org
http://www.heavytapes.com

Religious Knives is Maya Miller, Michael Bernstein and Nate Nelson. They spend a lot of their time playing in bands like Double Leopards, White Rock, and Mouthus, and running labels like Heavy Tapes and Our Mouth. This recent incarnation of Religious Knives has been compared to Goblin and Popul Vuh, which is chill, because who wouldn't love that? Electric piano, guitar, drums, percussion, tapes, effects, and plenty of singing, moaning, and screaming all find themselves together at last in Brooklyn, New York. Come and love with them today.

The circle-jerk noise-rock scene has ensured that you've probably never heard of Religious Knives. The New York trioâ??consisting of members of more "popular" groups Mouthus and Double Leopardsâ??originally issued the recordings collected on Remains on limited-edition CD-R and vinyl, and the group is more likely to mount an art-gallery installation than a conventional tour. The five instrumental tracks on Remains make an argument for Religious Knives' promotion from the avant-garde minor leagues, and if one of Paul Bowles' surrealist desert novels ever gets adapted for film, the score is already finished. From the krautrock/industrial groove of the 16-minute "Bind Them" and the muezzin-call drone of "Electricity And Air" to the Scott Walker-in-Morocco murk of "Wax & Flesh," the sonic equation is easy to figure out: East Germany meets the Middle East meets the East Coast. (Matthew Fritch)


Thee Ultimate VAG
http://www.claviusproductions.org
http://www.myspace.com/accidentswithmagnets

Dreamy moonlit melodies as imagined by axeslinger Chris Grier (To Live and Shave in L.A./Sean McArdle Band/ex-Mungo Jerry) and skinpounder Scott Verrastro (Kohoutek/Insect Factory/Sequence Chair/ex-Ozark Mountain Daredevils). Setting a course for the heartland of America, this duo contructs ribald ditties derived from ancient Guatemalan ballads translated to these modern, not-so-chaste times. Bring your lambskin, earplugs, and a box of chocolates.


Woods
http://www.fuckittapes.com/woods.htm

Woods began in the woods, at the foot of Bear Mountain. In the earliest days it was a collaborative improvisational group with two core members and several guests, known as "woodsists." Shortly thereafter, Jeremy Earl and Christian DeRoeck emerged from the woods, dusted themselves off, and began to walk upright. The two woodsists immersed themselves in human culture, learned to craft a melody, to wield a tambourine, to construct a crude phonograph from spare bicycle parts. They learned the value of a cassette. Jeremy and Christian returned to the woods and shared their newfound knowledge with the other woodsists. The result was Woods, songs and improvisations by outsiders, inspired by the human experience.

"Spawn of the holy Meneguar are The Woods and their completely rad debut. Originally put out on The Woods' own Jeremy Earl's Fuck It Tapes label as a double c20 near the end of '05, Release the Bats has now done it up as a proper CD. Sometimes, the four short sides seem like an advantage, giving the short album a distinct pacing and more proper feel but others I just feel like I'm flipping stuff over too much too often. The sound quality here sucks but the scratchy cassettes fit this band perfectly. I can only hope that the Release the Bats CD doesn't clean it up a terrible amount. The album founded mostly in acoustic guitar-led folkiness with the duo laying down massive vocal hook after massive vocal hook in reedy falsetto but the influence of Fuck It is evident: the pop songs are visited frequently by noise, tape trickery, massive psych guitar, retarded classic rock soloing, glockenspiel and, on one occasion, larynx-ruining hardcore vocals. The lyrics here deal with the oft-trodden grounds of love and loss but the boys' singing voices give them an abstract feel; as if you have no idea what they're singing about even though you know exactly what's going down. All the songs here have any extremely unified feel, making discussing them individually useless. An album doesn't have to be varied to be great. Didn't Loveless teach you that?" (Fakejazz)

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Clavius Productions presents the debut of Not Bullshit, a DJ night – first Mondays at the Velvet Lounge – for people who hate DJ nights. And to show you we're not full of shit, we are celebrating with live sets by a couple of kickass noise-rock bands and a couple of brain-raping noise acts. No spinning during music sets allowed!

Saturday, August 18
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$7, doors at 9pm, 21+

Catacombs of Rome (garagy synth-punk from Milwaukee, in the vein of Drive Like Jehu/Devo/Silver Apples/Chrome/Brainiac)
Tenement (Wisconsin punk rock!)
Byron House (noisy scum-rock duo from Tampa FL)
Oubliette (solo analog noise/tape loops from GA)
Haves and Thirds (five-minute walkman-and-guitar set, from Tampa FL)

plus DJ sets by members of Kohoutek and The Points!


Catacombs of Rome
http://www.myspace.com/catacombsofrome

Sounds like: If Devo smoked a J laced with katnip, then performed a Herniorraphy on an Arena Rock band (such as .38 Special). Maybe throw a conjoined twin or two in there and you have our sound.

About: We don't take ourselves too seriously, which has helped us play music together for 5 years. We sweat a lot. We released a split EP with Jackalope in March of 2006 called "Chapter 1: Talking On the Telephone." We write songs about people. Bill Hicks saved our lives, so did Hot Snakes. The Jerk is the best movie ever made. We tend to watch the show Cops a little too much. We'll play in your living room if you want us to.


Byron House
http://www.cephiastreat.com/

A two-piece guitar/vocals/drums noisy scum-rock band. Have been playing for the past five years. Performances include self-induced hysteria, irrational momentum and "crazy eyes". Based out of Tampa, Florida.


Oubliette
http://www.myspace.com/0ubliette
http://www.obelisksounds.hostrocket.com

Dude from the back woods of Clyo, Georgia. He plays broken analog equipment and hand-sliced tape loops. He usually enjoys playing with his upper torso covered in barbed wire.


Haves and Thirds

One man band who performs with an old '80s hood and aviator sunglasses over his face to build the mystery. Plays the most blissed-out, body-moving balm music you've heard in just five minutes. Just a walkman and a guitar. Tampa, Florida.

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Sunday, August 19
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$7, doors at 9pm, 21+

Jack Wright (improv solo sax from PA)
Safe (DC analog electronics/tapes/shortwave radio duo)
Scott Allison (of Kohoutek, solo electronics/guitar textures/field recordings)


Jack Wright
http://www.springgardenmusic.com/jackbio.html

Over the past twenty-five years Jack Wright has been a bold saxophonist, as well as an influential musical personality. Either on tour or organizing the next one, he has played in virtually every venue available to experimental improvised music in the US, and many in Europe as well. In 1982 he created Spring Garden Music as a vehicle for organizing an improvisational music community, with a home base at his house in Philadelphia, now a residence for improvisers. He has been called the Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation for his encouragement to young players. As a musical explorer as well, his music passes through radical shifts of style and approach from one year to the next, yet always somehow identifiable as his own. These days he is playing mostly alto and soprano saxophones, in every possible direction, sometimes even recognizable as such. He lives in Easton, which enables him to commute easily to NYC and Phila. He is also increasingly active in Europe, touring both sides of the Atlantic with European musicians.

The Washington Post once allowed this to be printed: "In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king." And a German publication, Bad Alchemy, had this to say of his solo: "Wright does not make music, he embodies it, he transforms it with a naiveté of another order. It grows into a sound river, he is part of the diaphragm through which the heterogeneous whispers."

Jack has over sixty partners around the US and in Europe with whom he plays on his travels and records. His most recent tours have been with Fabrizio Spera and Alberto Braida in Italy; with Agnes Palier and Olivier Toutlemond in France, Switzerland and Germany, with Michael Johnsen and Sebastien Cirotteau in Europe; with French soprano sax player Michel Doneda and percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani in Japan, France and the US; Carol Genetti, sound vocalist of Chicago, and Jon Mueller, percussionist of Milwaukee; cellist Bob Marsh of the Bay area; Nate Wooley, trumpet, of NYC in Europe; Michael Griener percussion and Sabine Vogel flute of Berlin; Reuben Radding, NYC bassist; and Phil Durrant, English laptop musician.


Safe

The new improvisational collaboration of Tyler Higgins and Dave Vosh. Employing assorted electro-acoustic devices and modular synthesizer, they focus on the sound emitted by machines, sounds derived from radio and slowly evolving noise. Dave has been experimenting with electro-noise music since the early `70s and this project with Tyler is among the first things he`s done since escaping the basement last year. Tyler has been creatively misusing technology alongside other musical pursuits since high school, recently focusing on very direct ways of producing and manipulating sound.

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JUST ANNOUNCED! Sunday 9/2 @ Velvet Lounge:

Eugene Chadbourne & Jimmy Carl Black (original Mothers of Invention member, the Indian of the group!)

Clavius Productions presents:

Thursday, August 23
611 Florida Ave NW
http://www.claviusproductions.org
8pm, $5 suggested donation
202-360-9739 for info
BYOW!

Blues Control (Holy Mountain, guitar/synths psych duo from NYC, mem. of the SB/Watersports)
Pink Reason (new Siltbreeze!, lo-fi trashy garage/psych from Columbus via Green Bay)
Little Claw (Ecstatic Peace, two guitars/drums psych trio from Detroit)
Damian Languell (solo experiments by mem. of Kohoutek/Piasa/Twilight Memories of the Three Sons/Siberia)


Blues Control
http://www.holymountain.com/bluescontrol.html
http://www.myspace.com/bluescontrol

"The duo of Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse have somehow found a hazy but powerful common musical thread between Conrad Schnitzler's jabbering electronic workouts, the gauze of Locust Abortion Technician-era Butthole Surfers, and the more unicorn-saddling moments of Jan Hammer. Or perhaps in fact they are driving off in the car piloted by mid-period ZZ Top." (Brian Turner, WFMU)

"Duo guitar/tapes and harmonica/piano jams from Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse that generate celestial, watery progressive/psych stuns and beautiful puffs of minimal melody while drums churn like flinty boulders wrestling in a deep bucket. Some of the piano sounds a little like Michael Rother's Neu work, and there's a nice lost/teutonic feel to much of this muzzy beauty." (Volcanic Tongue)


Pink Reason
http://www.myspace.com/secondculture

Pink Reason is always Kevin DeBroux and practically never anyone else. The self-released Pink Reason debut seven-inch from 2006 was an itch of such beguiling psychic ache that all the inhabitants of Siltbreeze Island scratched it until they bled. On this first full length, the (former) resident of Green Bay, Wisconsin, continues to ooze muzzy melancholia by the bucket, ably and formidably clearing house in Sanguine Manor, whose previous tenants include Royal Trux, The Jacobites, Phantom Payne, Black Vial, and other marginal inhabitants whose sticky fingers glimmer in stoned adulation.

Dominated by creeping synths, stark strums and rickety percussive splats that complement De Broux's heartscraping vocal catharsis, Cleaning The Mirror journeys far beyond any known perspective, practically insinuating an alternate otherworld where Tim Buckley's Lorca and Jandek's Ready For The House have been hybridized into a ripe-for-plucking masterpiece. Or, shunning hyperbole in favor of acronym, Pink Reason's modern day DIY is very FYI that you should check out PDQ.

Look for Pink Reason live via land, sea and air throughout 2007.

Check out this interview:

http://www.smashintransistors.homestead.com/murkshuffler.html


Little Claw
http://www.myspace.com/littleclaw

This eight-song Little Claw debut is the kind of thing every town needs; noise and scree for ADD-addled kids and people too oblivious to pay attention to three-minute pop. It's the kind of shit that's resurfaced in indie music of late, where you spray-paint your own record sleeves and play shows whenever and wherever for those in need.

With a debt to Sonic Youth's feminine side, Kylin plays guitar like it's her first time, and she sings as if she's in full amazement of her voice. She's full of the kind of childish abandon where every little squeak pulsing out of the amp or the vocal mic is only there to make her face beam. Spindly guitar lines tip-toe in the air while underneath primitive drumming sounds like long lost hunting calls sent out by ancient warriors. With the sax wailing on "Shoplifting Cart," it's easy to imagine the songs by this trio being recorded in New York circa 1980, not Detroit circa 2005. Coupled with bands like the Genders, Little Claw is scratching that certain No Wave itch that's been lingering in Detroit. Thank God. (Detroit MetroTimes)

Yeah, so there's a bunch of good shows going on in town tonight. I advise going to see Spectrum (Spacemen 3's Sonic Boom!), with The Antiques opening (and myself on drums). Sonic Boom rarely plays DC, so this is your chance to get your Spacemen 3 freakout on. If $10 is too much, there's a good show at the Velvet Lounge with excellent Bay Area bands Replicator and Rahdunes. Here's the info:

TONIGHT!
Black Cat
1811 14th St NW WDC
http://www.blackcatdc.com
$10, doors at 9pm, all ages

Spectrum (ex-Spacemen 3)
The Antiques (DC black jangle post-funk, Safranin Sound)

Spectrum
http://www.sonic-boom.info

When Sonic Boom aka Pete Kember formed Spacemen 3 (with J. Spaceman of Spiritualized fame) back in the mid-80s, he was ahead of his time. When he went on to form his prolific band Spectrum in the 90s, he was so far out there that it became apparent that time had no meaning for this dude. Kember's exploration of astral-dust ballads, minimalist rock, and songs that toggle between celestial bliss and swarming menace continues with the recent completion of a new Spectrum album. Come out to this show to hear the new stuff plus old favorites from Spacemen 3 and E.A.R. Sonic Boom may be out there, but hey, what genius isn't?

There are few people, except maybe the late Olâ?? Dirty Bastard, whoâ??d be able to embrace a stage name like â??Sonic Boomâ? with a straight face. Then again, since Pete Kember is usually hiding behind a pair of black shades, weâ??ll never know how seriously he actually takes himself. What isnâ??t up for debate is his musical pedigree, particularly his membership in the pioneering â??80s drone band Spacemen 3. After Spacemen 3 split in 1991, Kember was left to his own psychedelic devices, collaborating with shoegazer Kevin Shields on the ambitious ambient offshoot Experimental Audio Research, otherwise known as E.A.R. But Kember is clearly more invested in Spectrum, which continues Spacemen 3â??s tradition of churning out space jams to accompany acid-fueled journeys into inner space while still flirting with pop. Over the last decade and a half, Spectrumâ??s released a slew of singles and EPs as well as three studio albums and two extensive live chronicles. This year, Kember is expected to continue making music to take drugs to by releasing a new studio album. Its working title: On the Wings of Mercury. Spectrum performs with the Antiques at 9 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $10. (202) 667-7960. (Maggie Serota, Washington City Paper)


The Antiques
http://www.theantiques.org
http://www.safraninsound.com

If you've been searching for the right sound to accompany your all-black attire and the cloud of gloom that follows you around, look only to DC's The Antiques. Lock yourself in your room and listen to "Closed Curtains". The dark baritone of the male vocals, followed by the scathing and piercing female part, gets magnified by the accompanying organ, making for a sadistic breakup song to cry alone under the sheets to with the lights off and the stereo cranked to 11. Where the organ reaches into the internal depths of despair, the reverb of the guitar in "Tied To Nowhere" provides a reprieve. Still despondent, but less "the sky is falling" and more "let's tear it down."

Not one to be victimized throughout, singer Greg Svitil stands up on "You're Everything I Don't Need" and walks away from someone who is "everything I don't need and nothing I can use." The bright and jangly guitar of "You're An Act That Can't Be Followed" brightly underscores the story of a would-be suitor who throws himself at the object of his desire, only to be ignored. This is followed by the murky "Brown Balloons", charged by drums and bass and phased guitars. Echo and reverb effect dilute the vocals of this almost-love song.

Stepping wildly outside the confines of gloom-pop on "Bedsit Bones", the guitars funk up a hook reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. II", opening up the blinds just a bit and letting the sunshine in.

Sewn With Stitches is deeply cynical, rife with self-loathing, forlorn, and absolutely quaking with unrequited love. Fortunately for the Antiques, if found that love would be their demise. They'll have to go on suffering to bring more of their shoegazing, hopeless-yet-glimmering pop." (Any Given Tuesday)

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TONIGHT!
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
$7, doors at 9pm, 21+

Sean McArdle (DC stark folk/psych-rock)
Replicator (Oakland angular noise-rock a la Jesus Lizard/Devo/Six Finger Satellite/Shellac/Drive Like Jehu, new record produced by Unwound's Vern Rumsey)
Rahdunes (San Francisco psych guitar/drums duo)
Lakes (Australia psych)


Sean McArdle
http://www.seanmcardle.com/
http://www.myspace.com/seanmcardle

Sean Terrence McArdle was born a Gemini in Oakland CA Kaiser hospital on June 3, 1976. He has done many things in his life, including but not limited to accidentally putting thirty earwigs in his mouth at once. He now resides in Washington, DC where he is an up and coming DC songwriter. With insightful lyrics backed by meticulous and dynamic arrangments, he sings sparse insomniac ballads, and has been described by the Washington Post Express as "gentle, queer and quirky". DCist called him "sweet". Some would say the content of his lyrics suggest a darker sensibility.


Replicator
http://www.replicator5000.com
http://www.myspace.com/replicator

live review from Phoenix New Times:

Itâ??s always a shaky proposition when nerds form rock bands: sometimes you get â??Columbian Necktie,â? and sometimes you get â??Particle Man.â? Itâ??s just the luck of the draw. Fortunately for you, me, and Dupree, Replicator (from Oakland CA) seems to be of the former variety. Yes, they write songs about computers, time travel and nanotechnology, with over-the-top titles like â??Delicious Fornicake,â? â??Assloads of Unrespect,â? and â??Login with my Fist,â? but they also throw their goddamn weight into the aggro-chunk destructo-thing. Aggressive, self-aware vocals, lots of noise and feedback, with a hard and heavy rhythm section. The drummerâ??s an animal, and their bass sound had a nice rounded heft. â??Devo via Fugazi!â? I thought sensationally. They had a good sense of theatrics, knowing just when to thrash around and just when to drop everything and stare straight ahead in machine-like M. Mothersbaugh fashion, and guitar player Conan Neutron jumps on tables and tips over chairs and generally makes trouble. (I talked to him later and he enthused about Chrome, the Melvins, Black Sabbath, the Jesus Lizard, Bon-Scott era AC/DC and I nodded to the cosmic rhythm.)


Rahdunes
http://www.myspace.com/mindzoo666

Prophets of the impending music apocolypse are multiplying like bunny rabbits; among them my pick of the week is San Francisco duo RAHDUNES. If the violently abrasive are the ones howling fire and brimstone from the mass-release pulpit, then RAHDUNES are meditating in a monastery with a few cd-r gospels. Within them are slow, reflective builds, eerie drones, hypnotic throbs, vague tribal rhythms and enough ragged electricity to remind us again that this is indeed a vision of the post-music world. It's also a blissful gray you can get behind. (Michael Byrne)

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Monday, August 27
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
$7, doors at 9pm, 21+

Facemat (DC improv noise)
Double Muslims (Knoxville experimental guitar/cello/sax/drums quartet)
Stymphalian Birds & White Stags (DC solo bass drones and distortion a la Thrones)


Double Muslims
http://www.doublemuslims.com

"Great instrumental outfit from Knoxville, Tennessee. On their debut 7" they do something like a hybridization of Sun City Girls and
Minutemen (at their most Beefhearty). Which is not to say that all the music occurs at quite that level, but the intent is certainly there and the delivery is not far behind." (Byron Coley, The Wire)

listen to them here:
www.doublemuslims.com/twicebutonce.mp3
www.doublemuslims.com/errors.mp3

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Wednesday, August 29
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
$7, doors at 9pm, 21+

Plums (DC instrumental post-rock/psych, mem. of Hat City Intuitive)
Mass Shivers (Chicago post-punk/psych trio)
True Womanhood (DC improv psych)


Mass Shivers
http://www.massshivers.com/
http://www.myspace.com/massshivers

Guitarist Brett Sova and bassist Andy Johnson probably donâ??t tell a whole lot of drummer jokes in the Mass Shivers tour van. If they did, they might piss off drummer Sean Wilke, and then the band would be completely screwed. Wilkeâ??s propulsive, tom-heavy beats form the basis for most of the songs on Ecstatic Eyes Glow Glossy, the Chicago trioâ??s second full-length. On tracks such as â??Quinine Peninsula Pt. 2,â? the band is content to let Wilke ride out the same beat for almost three minutes, with only some squelching feedback and droning vocals to accompany it. Sova and Johnson provide plenty of Captain Beefheartesque riffs throughout the record, but Mass Shivers is all about percussion -â?? they even use a second drummer for live shows in their hometown. Mass Shivers performs with the Plums and True Womanhood at 9 p.m. at the Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW. $7. (202) 462-3213. (Matt Borlik, Washington City Paper)

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Sunday 9/2 @ Velvet Lounge: Eugene Chadbourne & Jimmy Carl Black (of the original Mothers of Invention!)/PRV Trio (mem. of Kohoutek/The Bang/Janel & Anthony/Contact Contact)/Max Ochs (legendary fingerpicker on the first Takoma Records comp in 1967)
$10, doors at 9pm

Monday 9/3 @ Velvet Lounge: Not Bullshit DJ night – come to the Velvet to hear members of The Points and Kohoutek play psych, garage, noise, and whatever they feel like

Tuesday 9/4 @ Velvet Lounge: Cakes of Light (mem. of George Steeltoe Ensemble, solo folk/psych)/Hairizona (DC improv noise-rock) $7, doors at 9pm

Thursday 9/6 @ Velvet Lounge: Wretched (mem. of Earthride, MD doom)/Devil to Pay (Indianapolis doom metal)/Black Canary $7, doors at 9pm

Friday 9/7 to Sunday 9/23: SONIC CIRCUITS DC 2007!
http://dc-soniccircuits.org/2007/

Stay tuned for last-minute additions and announcements, and be sure to check the Velvet Lounge website as we are adding many great shows every day.

I highly recommend Replicator!

Originally posted by snailhook:
If $10 is too much, there's a good show at the Velvet Lounge with excellent Bay Area bands Replicator and Rahdunes.

The Antiques were good, despite not being able to discern any vocals from the rest of the glorious noise.

Spectrum just wasn't my thing.

usually, you can't discern greg's vocals anyway, they are so drenched in reverb. i thought we played pretty well, though i fucked up a few times, but nobody seemed to notice. i enjoyed spectrum, but it wasn't quite as good as i was hoping it would be. i talked to sonic boom for a while after the set and he was really cool.

Clavius Productions presents a rare visit to DC by avant-garde maverick Eugene Chadbourne and original Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group):

Sunday, September 2
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$10, doors at 9pm, 21+

Eugene Chadbourne & Jimmy Carl Black
PRV Trio (improv guitars/percussion trio, mem. of Kohoutek/Thee Ultimate VAG/The Bang/Janel & Anthony)
Max Ochs (legendary fingerpicker on first Takoma comp in 1967, played with ESP's Seventh Sons)


The Jack and Jim Show: Think 69

In 2007, Jimmy Carl Black will have his 69th birthday. Dr. Eugene Chadbourne is happy to present his best friend and musical associate in a series of performances featuring Black's favorite musical combination, The Jack and Jim Show.

Chadbourne's knowledge of Black began the first time he saw the cover of Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention, circa the second half of the '60s. Staring at the picture of Black and bandmates in a record store, the youthful Doc Chad was approached by an old woman who ran the music store. "Don't look at that record!" she warned him. "You're a nice boy."

Within a year Black's famous comment "Hi boys and girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian of the group" had become an in-joke among teenagers in Eugene's hometown of Boulder, Colorado.

Every day when the fascistic gym coach took attendance, someone would always repeat Jimmy's comment, totally irritating the coach who had no idea what it was all about.

Dr. Chad finally met Jimmy in the early '90s when the former had a chance to invite 11 musicians of his choice to the improvisation project at the Moers Jazz Festival. When he found out Jimmy and his wife were moving to Europe, the Doc proposed they begin working as a duo, and so the Jack and Jim Show was born.

Eugene became "Jack" based on a painting Captain Beefheart had done of Jimmy Carl Black, at one point one of the drummers in Beefheart's Magic Band.

The picture was of an Indian man and a jackrabbit, Beefheart entitled it "Jack and Jim." Having already stolen alot from Beefheart, Chadbourne decided stealing this title would be allright, especially since it tied in with his lifelong love of rabbits.

The Chadbourne family allow wild rabbits to live in their backyard and the Doctor has often irritated music journalists by insisting his main aesthetic influence is Bugs Bunny.

The Jack and Jim Show has toured in Europe, the United States and Canada ever since and has released 17 CDs of which the latest is "Hearing is Believing" , to be released in March of 2007 by the Boxholder label. A series of DVDs are also coming out on the New York City based Straw Into Gold series.

In the winter of 2001 Jack and Jim invited British keyboardist and electronics player Pat Thomas to join them for a special tribute to Jimi Hendrix organized in Reggio di Emila by Walter Pratti.

The threesome hit it off very well and have done several tours since then, including the Kongsberg Jazz Festival in Norway and Action 2005 in Nancy, France.

CDs featuring the trio include "Jimi II" , the double "We'll Be Together Again" and the aforementioned "Hearing is Believing."

The Jack and Jim Show play a wonderful combination of styles associated with both players, in most cases creating a transformation into something else. "Willie the Pimp" of Zappa becomes an oldstyle country blues, for example. Jazz, psychedelic rock, standards, blues, country and western, bluegrass, native American Indian music and folk rock are all part of a typical evening with Jack and Jim. Eugene plays guitar, banjo and sings. Jimmy plays drums and sings.

Eugene Chadbourne
http://www.eugenechadbourne.com/

A seemingly endless – and endlessly eclectic – series of releases made the innovative guitarist Eugene Chadbourne one of the underground community's most well-known and well-regarded eccentrics. Born January 4, 1954 in Mount Vernon, NY, Chadbourne was raised in Boulder, CO, by his mother, a refugee of the Nazi death camps. At the age of 11, the Beatles inspired him to learn guitar; later exposure to Jimi Hendrix prompted him to begin experimenting with distortion pedals and fuzzboxes. Ultimately, however, he became dissatisfied with the conventions of rock and pop, and traded in his electric guitar for an acoustic one, on which he began to learn to play bottleneck blues.

Perhaps Chadbourne's most significant formative discovery was jazz; initially drawn to John Coltrane and Roland Kirk, he later became an acolyte of the avant excursions of Derek Bailey and Anthony Braxton. Despite the huge influence music exerted over his life, however, Chadbourne first studied to become a journalist, but his career was derailed when he fled to Canada rather than fight in Vietnam; only President Jimmy Carter's declaration of amnesty for conscientious objectors allowed the vociferously left-wing Chadbourne to return to the U.S. in 1976, at which time he plunged headlong into the New York downtown music scene. After releasing his 1976 debut, Solo Acoustic Guitar, he began collaborating on purely improvisational music with the visionary saxophonist John Zorn and the acclaimed guitarist Henry Kaiser.

Quickly, Chadbourne carved out a singular style, comprised of equal parts protest music, free improvisation, and avant-garde jazz, topped off with his absurd, squeaky vocals. A complete list of Chadbourne's countless subsequent collaborations and genre workouts is far too lengthy and detailed to exhaustively document, although in the early '80s he garnered some of his first significant attention as the frontman of Shockabilly, a demented rockabilly revisionist outfit which also featured the well-known producer Kramer. Following the group's breakup, Chadbourne turned to his own idiosyncratic brand of country and folk, accurately dubbed LSD C&W on a 1987 release, the same year he joined the members of Camper Van Beethoven for a one-off covers project. In addition, he recorded with artists ranging from Fred Frith and Elliott Sharp to Evan Johns and Jimmy Carl Black, the original drummer in the Mothers of Invention; in between, he continued exploring unique styles inspired by music from the four corners of the globe, all the while issuing a seemingly innumerable string of records, most of them on his own Parachute label. (Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide)

Jimmy Carl Black
http://www.jimmycarlblack.com/

Jimmy Carl Black is an unusual figure in American rock music as he achieved lasting fame primarily for a single ad libbed line on the third album by the Mothers of Invention: "Hi boys and girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian of the group." Of course there was more to it than just this line, as bandleader Frank Zappa exploited the eccentric character of this Cheyenne Indian musician, realizing that his personality would be fascinating to certain listeners and quite a departure from the usual rock stars of that day. Black also has roots as a Texan, hailing from a town on the border of that state and New Mexico. This birthplace was almost a symbolic indicator of how Black would straddle different musical geographies.

Although famous for his avant-garde work with Zappa, he is really more of a roots musician and has worked extensively in blues, Tex-Mex, and country-rock. He comes from a generation of musicians for whom working in a rock & roll band meant playing for strippers, four or five sets per night with more than one version of "Wooly Bully." All this would change in 1964 when his band the Soul Giants auditioned a young man named Frank Zappa for lead guitarist. Zappa could smell change in the wind big time and eventually suggested the band quit doing covers and let him write some songs specifically for them. The idea was to create an image of the band as the ultimate set of freaks, to cash in on the peace and love hippie era while simultaneously making fun of it, and everything else that came to mind. Zappa also envisioned himself as an avant-garde composer creating works along the lines of Edgar Varese. It was all a tall order but with the band's name changed to the Mothers of Invention and the 1965 release of the first double album in rock history, Zappa's twisted dream became a reality.

Black went from backing up bumping and grinding to playing at Royal Festival Hall in a few years, but was dumped back out on the street when Zappa decided to disband his original group of Mothers and embark on a solo career in 1970. By then Zappa and the band had released their first and only full-length commercial film, 200 Motels, in which Black was prominently featured in what came to be one of his signature songs, "Lonesome Cowboy Burt." Black and several other of the Mothers rebounded with a new band, Geronimo Black. The group's direction was less of a freak out and more rock and blues, and Black wrote several classic native American protest tunes for the band's debut album.

Black and the group were based out of California up until 1973. A shift in record company management led to the band being dumped, beginning several decades of struggle for Black as he moved around the western United States, almost always having to work at some job other than music in order to survive and support his five children. For Black being impoverished wasn't just a private matter. His former boss Zappa had recorded band meetings and arguments, inevitably about money and the lack of it, and had edited these spoken word bits into several Mothers releases. This material had an enlightening effect on many young listeners who thought all rock band members were rolling in amassed wealth and had not a care in the world, certainly not the worries that plagued middle class adults raising families.

But no matter how hard times became, Black always remained involved in some kind of musical project. From 1973-1982 Black lived in New Mexico and Texas. He performed in a group called the Lotus Family with the banjo player Jim Bowie. Other Black groups from this period were Captain Glasspack and the Magic Mufflers and Big Sonny and the Lo Boys. In 1975, Black joined the band of another avant-garde rock legend Captain Beefheart as one of a set of double drummers. He stayed with the group for less than a year, performing on the Chicago-based Soundstage television program and at the Nepworth Pop Festival in the United Kingdom. He was asked to do some guest vocals on a Zappa album in 1981, producing the off-color country song "Harder Than Your Husband." But this friendly association with Zappa ended when most of the original Mothers decided to sue for unpaid back royalties, winning the case but not allowed to discuss the outcome with the press.

In 1982 he moved to Austin, TX, a town with a promising music scene that led to some new relationships, including one with the British singer Arthur Brown, another individual attempting to survive on a few moments of '60s fame, in his case a bizarre hit single entitled "Fire." That Black and Brown would eventually combine their talents as house painters as well as musically says more about the lack of sufficiently paid musical employment in the Austin area than it does about these men's versatility. Throughout this period there had been attempts to revive the original Mothers, sans Zappa, as the Grandmothers. Most frequent partners in these ventures would be keyboardist Don Preston and reed player Bunk Gardner.

While living in Austin, Black also began a Texas-based version of the group, and began to incorporate not just senior ex-Mothers but young Zappa fanatics eager to take part in a repertory company of Zappa music alongside their hero's former sidemen. In 1991, Black and Preston were both invited to perform at the Moers Jazz Festival in a 12-piece grouping of musicians from different genres organized by guitarist Eugene Chadbourne. One year later Black had the opportunity to relocate in Europe when his wife was offered a job teaching on a military base in Vicenza, Italy. The army wasn't particularly fond of the Blacks and wanted to send them back to Texas, but they opted to stay in Europe, relocating to the Stuttgart area of Germany where, in collaboration with the Muffin records company, he began an intensive effort to expand work possibilities for the Grandmothers.

At the same time Black continued his relationship with Chadbourne. The two formed a duo named the Jack and Jim show after a painting Beefheart had done of Black with a jackrabbit. Black began getting enough work in Europe to survive as a musician, backing up a variety of blues singers in a band led by guitarist and harmonica player Rick Farrell and also appearing from 1994 onward as a guest vocalist with the British band the Muffin Men. Concentrating more on singing than drumming, Black became known as one of the best interpreters of classic Zappa and Beefheart material. Despite threats of legal action from Zappa's widow Gail, the Grandmothers have continued to increase their activity. In 2000 the band embarked on a two month tour of the United States, playing 60 shows in 66 days. Black continues in the life of a journeyman musician. "I'm famous, but I don't have a pot to piss in," he is fond of saying. The University of Liverpool Press planned to publish a biography of Black in 2002, to be written by Black and Rod Gilliard of the Muffin Men. (Eugene Chadbourne)


Max Ochs
http://www.tompkinssquare.com/max.html

Max Ochs was featured on the very first Takoma Records compilation, Contemporary Guitar, Spring '67, and has since been criminally unrecorded. He was born in Baltimore, is Phil Ochs' cousin, was responsible for turning Robbie Basho on to folk music, and played in the seminal, if obscure, ESP raga band Seventh Sons. Admittedly enamored with Pete Seeger, Ochs until recently operated Annapolis' 333 Coffeehouse, where he occasionally performed. More information on Max can be found in this interview:

http://www.bayweekly.com/year04/issuexii12/lifexii12.html

Monday, September 3 @ Velvet Lounge: Not Bullshit – a DJ night for people who hate DJ nights. FREE, 9pm-2am. Come listen to members of Kohoutek and The Points and their friends spin psych, garage, noise, punk, folk, free jazz and whatever they feel like. Where else are you gonna hear some Chilean psych?

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Tuesday, September 4
Velvet Lounge
915 U ST NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$7, doors at 9, 21+

Cakes of Light (straight-up songwriter project covered in noise and free-form improv, from NYC, Heat Retention Records)
http://www.myspace.com/cakesoflight
http://www.heatretentionrecords.com
Phil Duarte (of Pup Tent, solo guitar-noise and vocal excursions)
Hairizona (free improvisational psychedelic punk from the District of Columbia)

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Thursday, September 6
Velvet Lounge
915 U ST NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$7, doors at 9, 21+

Wretched (MD doom, mem. of Earthride)
Devil to Pay (Indianapolis doom metal)
Black Canary


Devil to Pay
http://www.deviltopay.net/

Formed in early 2002, Devil to Pay was conceived as the antithesis of strangulated modern rock radio. With a distinct lean towards '70s heavy metal, a love of proto-grunge, and a deep reverence for the stoner rock and doom metal underground, the band continues to torch it's own path to rock and roll glory.

Since their inception, Devil to Pay have won a Battle of the Bands, released two albums, charted on metal radio, toured the country several times, shared the stage with their heroes, and picked up numerous accolades and new friends along the way. Now knee-deep in writing mode for album number three, Devil to Pay is gearing up for the biggest year yet.

"If you dig serious characters plyin' two-ton slabbage with technical precision, then brother head Midwest." (Sleazegrinder)

It's safe to say that anyone who's landed on Peacedogman and is reading this article right now is enjoying this current resurgence of rock as much as we are. So for a band that encompasses the spirit of the new rock resurgence, look no further than Indianapolis' DEVIL TO PAY. After conquering their own local scene and receiving rave reviews for their debut album Thirty Pieces of Silver, they're back with a killer platter of plastic called Cash is King that showcases everything that rock should be: heavy, tight, dirty, dark and dangerous.

From the first track "Kill Everything", one thing is crystal clear: these guys have balls. Vocalist Steve Janiak is truly something special, and his soulful style mixed with gruff screams is a wonder to behold – man, check out those screams in the chorus of that first song! The guitars are C-tuned but manage to steer clear of muddiness, and the perfect amount of fuzzy distortion gives them a sound that's both classic and modern at the same time. The riffs themselves reinforce the marriage of old and new, rivaling anything HELMET or FIREBALL MINISTRY could come up with. Throughout the album, the mood switches seamlessly between the upbeat fist pumpers ("Born to Rue", southern-fried "The Bottom Line") to the brooding grinders ("Shake Hands with Death", "Belial") to somewhere in between ("Swallow the Fish", "A King's Bounty") and back again. As an added bonus, there's the whole forbidding, slightly arcane feel this guys give off with song titles like "Little Horns", "Over the Coals" and "Niflheim". Still, these tight, rockin' riffs are for everyone, and bring to mind other PDM modern rock heroes like PRIESTESS, AUTOMAG or THE ILLUMINATI. The most important thing is that by the time the 1 hour and 10 minutes of this CD are up, the listener will feel that they got their money's worth, and that's all we ask for around here. So just pick this one up already, because DEVIL TO PAY is due to cash in some well deserved success sooner than later. (Peacedogman)
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And Sonic Circuits DC 2007's opening weekend:

Friday 9/7 @ Velvet Lounge w/ Franz de Waard, Gilles Aubry, Jack Wright & Michael Johnsen, Ben Owen, Brown Wing Overdrive, Buck Gooter, & RDK
$10, doors at 8pm, 21+

Saturday 9/8 @ Warehouse Next Door w/ Humcrush, Christoph Heemann, Goem|FDW, Naila Borensztein, Noveller, Pink Communoids, Element Kuuda, The Cutest Puppy in the World, This Bag Is Not a Toy, Twilight Memories of the Three Suns $15, doors at 7pm, all ages

Bios and more information can be found here: http://dc-soniccircuits.org/2007/

i now need physical therapy after using my scroll wheel to get the bottom of this page.

well, you can't say that you nothing about my shows. the information's all there!

certainly is! don't get me wrong, i was just being silly. i'd rather have more information than less. definitely better than having to consult a half-dozen google'd sources to get an overview of a band.