I might as well make it official in this email: I am moving to Philadelphia next month to book at the fantastic venue Johnny Brenda's. I will continue to book the Velvet Lounge through the end of the year, so expect a full schedule of quality music in the fall. After that, it's up to my successor to continue bringing music here that other venues won't touch. In the meantime, we have some great shows this week, including Minnesota shoegazing dream-poppers Gospel Gossip with The Antiques tonight, and the legendary Richard Lloyd of Television on Thursday with local avant-jazz trio DCIC. Plus Kid Congo Powers' rock band Pink Monkey Birds with The Witch Hats from Australia. Read on:
Tuesday, August 12
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com 202-462-3213
$8, doors at 9pm, 18+
The Antiques (DC black jangle funk)
www.theantiques.org Gospel Gossip (MN shoegaze/dream-pop)
www.gospelgossipband.com The Softrocks (MN quirky indie-pop)
www.thesoftrocks.com Gospel Gossip is one of the best shoegazey indie-pop bands I've heard in a while. Definite Slumberland/Sarah worship. Noisy and delicate, the way the best indie-pop is. And this is the first Antiques show at the Velvet in months. Don't miss out!
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Special night at the Velvet with Richard Lloyd and Billy Ficca of Television!
Thursday, August 14
$10, doors at 9pm, 18+
The Sufimonkey Trio (Richard Lloyd's new power trio!)
Circles (Philly avant-indie jazz-folk-rock quartet)
DCIC (DC avant-jazz trio)
Hulk Smash (Philly bass/drums noise-rock duo)
LEGENDARY GUITARIST RICHARD LLOYD, formerly of TELEVISION, PLAYS THE VELVET LOUNGE ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 14!
www.richardlloyd.com Sufimonkey Trio (featuring Richard Lloyd & Billy Ficca of Television!), DCIC, Circles, Hulk Smash
Richard Lloyd and the SufiMonkey Trio played the Delancey Bar at 168 Delancey St in New York City in March 2008. After the remarkable performance, the group has decided to travel the East Coast playing Maine to Miami and points in between on the round-trip.
Richard Lloyd is also continuing work on his next project, The Jamie Neverts Story, which is an album of Jimi Hendrix covers and which will include extensive liner notes regarding Richard's relationship with Velvert Turner and Jimi Hendrix.
The Sufimonkey Trio currently consists of Richard Lloyd on vocals and guitar and harmonica, Billy Ficca from Television on drums, and Keith Harshtel on bass.
Please visit
www.RadiantMonkey.com to view the latest chapter in the RadiantMonkey philosophy, entitled: "How the Sun Works".
Richard continues to teach guitar students privately in New York as well as writing his monthly column for Guitar World magazine, which is entitled The Alchemical Guitarist. Each of the monthly columns comes with a CD-ROM with video instruction included. Many of these have made their way to YouTube, and interested guitarists can go to YouTube and type in my name in the search window and find quite a few of these video lessons. Even though they are tied to information contained in the columns which are only found in the magazine, they might prove to be of benefit to those who are interested in expanding their understanding of the guitar and musical law.
Don't miss this opportunity to see this legendary performer at the Velvet Lounge!
Go to
http://www.parasol.com/labels/parasol/parcd107.asp to check out Richard's latest music.
Richard Lloyd was the guitarist for New York punk legends Television; he released the solo album Alchemy in 1979 and then dropped out of sight due to drug addiction, returning in 1985 cleaned up and with a new record, Field of Fire. The follow-up, a live album recorded at CBGB's and titled Real Time, appeared in 1987. Along with ex-Voidoids guitarist Robert Quine, Lloyd next helped bring Matthew Sweet to prominence on a series of albums starting with 1991's power pop classic Girlfriend; after the follow-ups Altered Beast and 100% Fun, both guitarists departed. In addition to teaching, Lloyd returned to his solo career, forming a backing band that included bassist Peter Stuart and drummer Chris Butler. A new studio album, The Cover Doesn't Matter, was released in early 2001. Lloyd revisited his second solo album, Field of Fire, in 2005, completely redoing it, and the results were issued as 2007's Field of Fire on Reaction/Parasol, which included both the original and redone versions of the album. The all-new Radiant Monkey arrived that same year. (Steve Huey, AMG)
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Circles www.myspace.com/circlesofphiladelphia A few years back the fledgling label Brown Brothers released Gold Sounds, an album on which a studied jazz quartet tackled Pavement songs. It was a swell way to hear the iconic indie band??s balance of pervasive quirks and meandering melodies without so much shaggy-dog underachieving. Rather than sounding like jazzmen playing Pavement, the Philly foursome Circles sound sort of like Pavement playing jazz. There??s seedy country in there too ?? especially in frontman Nick Millevoi??s rambling deliver ?? and the band??s bio cites ??Hank Williams, Albert Ayler, roots, percussion and the pentatonic scale? as key influences. But Circles fall apart and rattle around as if they were a jazz band trying to squeeze onto the bill at a warehouse noise show.
Maybe it??s the blurts of trombone issued by Sonic Liberation Front??s Dan Blacksberg on Circles?? new album Weighs a Ton. Or maybe it??s the fact that there are two drummers (Robert Ludington and Julius Masri), just like in Pavement. In the end, though, figuring Circles out gets harder with each song. ??Get Down!? surveys reggae before slinking off on a jam-y tangent, ??Slow Death? devastatingly matches its title to a T, and ??Creep Creep? goes from a march beat to a goofy rock gem that could almost pass for Eels.
Out on the Connecticut/Wisconsin label Wooden Man, Weighs a Ton is the follow-up to Circles?? 2005 debut When the Big River Floods. Over the course of 10 shambling songs, the band loiters in alien intersections of free jazz, indie rock, country, punk and blues, leaving Millevoi??s castoff storytelling to stitch things together. (Philadelphia Weekly, Doug Wallen)
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Saturday 8/16: Pink Monkey Birds (featuring Kid Congo Powers of Gun Club/Cramps/Bad Seeds/Congo Norvell), The Witch Hats (Aussie swamp-punk in the vein of The Scientists), The Electricutions (DC punk), Six Gun Lullaby (Nashville blues-punk trio) $10, doors at 9pm, 21+
Sunday 8/17: Insect Factory (DC improv drone-psych), Projection:Zero (NYC/Germany sax/guitar improv duo), Mind Over Matter Music Over Mind (DC spacy experimental improv trio with synths/laptop/turntables), Dan Friel (solo electronics, mem. of Parts & Labor)
$8, doors at 9pm, 21+
Monday 8/18: Digital Leather (Goner Records), Panther (Kill Rock Stars, ex-The Planet The/31 Knots), Troll Tax (mem. of Partyline/Hott Beat, ex-Mess Up the Mess), The Shudders (femme-punk from Oakland) $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Tuesday 8/19: High Five for Suicide, Half Gorilla (grindcore from Milwaukee), Emesis (VA metal), Lobo (ex-VOG/Piasa) $7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Wednesday 8/20: Yndi Halda (Burnt Toast Vinyl, atmospheric post-rock in the vein of Explosions in the Sky/Mono/Mogwai), Dark Sea Dream (VA psych/shoegaze/noise-rock), Plums
$8, doors at 9pm, 21+
Thursday 8/21: Screen Vinyl Image (ex-Alcian Blue), Realicide (grind/noise from Cincinnati), Abiku (Baltimore noise-pop duo), Tik///Tik $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Friday 8/22: Earthride (Southern Lord), King Giant, Black Tusk (stoner/doom from Savannah), Stifling (ex-Valkyrie) $10, doors at 9pm, 18+
Saturday 8/23 (early show): Low End String Quartet (mem. of DCIC) $7, doors at 7pm, 21+
Saturday 8/23: (late show): Argos, Stymphalian Birds, A Troop of Echoes (Providence post-rock), Nursehouse $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Sunday 8/24: Space Whales (ex-Alcian Blue/Parlour Scouts, mem. of The Antiques/The Coats/This Bag Is Not a Toy), Navajo Spring Break $7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Monday 8/25: Teething Veils (mem. of The Antiques), Oblisk (Detroit psych/shoegaze), Acheronian (VA noise), Bete Tete (experimental noise-pop from China) $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Thursday 8/28: Adventure (Carpark), EAR PWR (Asheville electro-pop) $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Friday 8/29: Timberwolf Division (ex-Ropers/Sounds of Kaleidoscope/Snuff Project/Fretblanket/Owls & Crows), Relay (Bubblecore/Fat Cat, Philly shoegaze/psych-pop), Girl Loves Distortion (CD release!), Himalaya (NYC shoegaze/psych, ex-Three Four Tens)
$8, doors at 9pm, 18+
plus much more at
www.velvetloungedc.com...
