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Everyone have their tickets? The big weekend is nigh.
Back in the fall The Dismemberment Plan announced the opening acts for its three shows in Washington this weekend. And if you’re wondering who will be warming Black Cat and 9:30 Club audiences ahead of the main sets, don’t worry, Arts Desk has you covered.
Friday, Jan. 21, Black Cat:
- Tereu Tereu, the jangly, noisy, indie-pop band fronted by City Paper contributor Ryan Little released its debut album All That Keeps Us Together in 2008, and Little, in a recent post on the band’s blog, hopes to have a fresh EP very soon, perhaps even in time for the show Friday. From All That Keeps Us Together, “Beyond the Coast” is classic D.C. post-punk touched up with the occasional string or horn section and soaring backup vocals.
LISTEN: Tereu Tereu — “Beyond the Coast” [audio:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2011/01/03-Beyond-The-Coast-1.mp3|titles=Tereu Tereu — “Beyond the Coast”]
- Bluebrain: We like these guys. A lot. But if the inventive electro-pop duo of Ryan and Hays Holladay is indeed D.C.’s most interesting band (our position: they are), then their gig opening for The Dismemberment Plan is plenty deserved and the biggest mystery of all the opening acts this weekend. Bluebrain’s past live shows in enclosed venues (i.e. The Fridge or the Artisphere) have included audience participation via iPhone and 3-D light shows. When I spoke to Bluebrain last month, they were in the early stages of prepping for this gig, which Ryan Holladay called “a huge honor.” In the mean time, here’s a snippet of the Cherry Blossom Boombox Walk they curated last spring.
Saturday, Jan. 22, 9:30 Club:
- The all-woman percussion group Batala features upwards of 60 drummers banging out samba, reggae, and Afro-Brazilian rhythms. The pan-cultural drum corps is one segment of a global social music collective with groups on four continents.
LISTEN: Batala — “Batala Hey” [audio:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2011/01/Batala_Hey.mp3|titles=Batala — “Batala Hey”]
- Dismemberment Plan guitarist Jason Caddell produced his band Poor But Sexy‘s forthcoming LP Let’s Move in Together, due out next month on Tastey Bite Records. Last November they released one of the new tracks, the funk- and prog-imbued “Cherry Delicious,” which Ryan Little likened to “Prince‘s Revolution as fronted by Daryl Hall.”
LISTEN: Poor But Sexy — “Cherry Delicious” [audio:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2010/11/Cherry_Delicious.mp3|titles=Poor But Sexy — “Cherry Delicious”]
Sunday, Jan. 23, 9:30 Club:
- Andrew Spencer Goldman has lived in the District before, but spent most of the past decade in Brooklyn. He left Hipster Central in 2008 and decamped to Baltimore, ostensibly attending law school but also performing as Fulton Lights. The AV Club called Fulton Lights’ 2009 album Healing Waters a blend of Beck, Modest Mouse, and Tom Waits, with a dash of Brian Eno for texture. “Everybody’s Running From Something,” from the 2008 album The Way We Ride, stacks fuzzy vocals beneath moody guitars beneath straining horns, aptly meeting that heady description.
LISTEN: Fulton Lights — “Everybody’s Running From Something” [audio:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2011/01/09-Everybodys-Running-From-Something.mp3|titles=Fulton Lights — “Everybody’s Running From Something”]
- J. Robbins has played with too many bands to recount in a single blog post. His latest venture, Office of Future Plans is gunning to drop its debut single “Harden Your Heart” in time for its date with Dismemberment Plan this weekend. To raise the cash for a vinyl pressing, Leor Galil reported last month, the band offered to cover any song requested by anyone willing to pony up $1,000. The Kickstarter campaign blew past its $2,550 goal in less than four days, the band wrote on its website earlier this month.