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Rusko Interview @ The 9:30 Club (4/30/11)
It was the just past midnight during the late show at the 9:30 Club on Saturday night. Doorly was groovin’ from a small booth beside the main act’s battle-station, and from the balcony I could see the people on the main floor bouncing in unison as the venue neared capacity. I stepped into a seemingly large, although empty, back room with seasoned English DJ and producer, Rusko. He locked the door with one hand, simultaneously placing his drink on the counter behind him, and we began to talk.
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Needless to say, he killed it at the 9:30 Club once again, and I’d be lying if I said nobody got hurt, because someone did. Rusko was forced to host a 10 minute intermission while they took care of that wounded party animal. But he wouldn’t let us go before unleashing a final five minutes of bass-god fury.
Thanks Rusko,
-Matt of Music & Greens, Wednesdays 8-10pm
Buckwheat Groats Interview on WRGW (4/20/11)
We recently had the fortune of speaking with international hip-hop sensations, the Buckwheat Groats, and were given an exclusive sneak peak of their latest hit, “Arbor Day Party,” which dropped this past Friday (Arbor Day…duh). We’ve been witholding this prized recording for fear it would incite riots and cause some to spontaneously combust, but as the Groats would say, “f*ck it.” Just, brace yourself…
Watch all their videos at http://www.funnyordie.com/buckwheatgroats
-Matt of Music & Greens, Wednesdays 8-10pm
Girl Talk 2/1/11 in DC
- Confetti Rains Down on the 9:30 Club
I was fortunate enough to nab a few tickets for Girl Talk’s first of two shows here in Washington D.C. at the 9:30 Club. The highly anticipated set had the whole venue brewing with energy. As the lights dimmed, Mr. Gillis, aka Girl Talk, crawled to his dual-computer set up, and proceeded to hop on the table to a crowd of swaying hands and screaming vocal chords. After a few short words, the music started and jaws dropped. It seemed like he started with pieces of “Once Again,” the opening track off his album Night Ripper. At first I was like “YES,” but then I wondered, how good could a set of just pre-recorded mashups be? My questioning was shortly answered. It was so much more than just his album tracks. The set was filled with sing-a-longs, a mind-blowing back drop (as pictured), and more treats in the form of confetti and balloons than a kid can dream of. Every beat was accompanied by a custom light show, and the crowd continuously bounced for the full 55-minute set.
- Greg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, on a Tuesday Night
After a request from him to “take it to the next level,” Girl Talk upped the ante and made sure no one went home questioning his ability to put on an insane show. After a fast 15-minute set, including a lot of his novelty mash-ups, balloons flooded the venue. People were not ready to leave. A 15-minute encore set, an “improv,” he stated, ended with Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure. Glorious? Yes. Four thumbs up – fingers and toes. If you ever get a chance to see him – act fast and get tickets, it will be well worth it.
-Ben Klein
BK – Have It My Way! - Tuesdays from 2-4 p.m.
This Friday’s Dance Party w/ Ra Ra Rasputin
- DC’s dance/rock quartet: Ra Ra Rasputin
This Friday night’s show at the 930 Club is jam-packed with five great acts filling the bill, including two of our favorite local groups, The Dance Party and Ra Ra Rasputin. Some of you may have came out to see these two play back-to-back at our Friday Night Live event on campus Halloween weekend and know they can even turn a 7Eleven into a dance floor. They will be joined by Wallpaper(experimental/funky dance), K-Flay(hip-hop maestress), and DC hip-hop/soul duo lowercaseletters.
Tickets to the party: HERE
Released in September, Ra Ra Rasputin’s self-titled debut is heartfelt and danceable making each of its seven tracks noteworthy. Here’s a brief breakdown:
- The album begins with “Stereocutter,” a synth-bass driven dance beat that got my head bobbing immediately.
- Even though it’s winter, “Neon Scythe” feels like you’re driving off into the sunset after a long day at the beach, top down, wind blowing through your hair, “going on and on and on through the night.”
- The pulsating synths of “The Day Of” really prove Ra Ra Rasputin has “got love for you if you survived through the 80′s, the 80′s.”
- Female vocalist, Anna Rozzi, leads the chillest song on the album, “Electricity Through The Heart.” They’ve offered up this track to be remixed by producers/DJs so we may have something great to look forward to very soon.
- “Montroy”s piano driven chord progression reminds me of a cross between MSTRKRFT’s “Heartbreaker” (feat. John Legend) and DJ Mehdi’s “Pocket Piano,” which really makes it a contender against both.
- “Fit Fixed” has an LCD Soundsystem-like rhythm that builds very well but with the bonus of mystical melodic singing.
- They put their hearts out on the closing track, “Accumulator,” letting synths go wild and leaving you pondering your own troubles with love.
Listen, enjoy, and see them live this Friday at the 930 Club!
Morgan Z Doesn’t Want You To Go Without Hearing Of Sigmund Droid (and neither do we;)
- Sigmund Droid’s lead vocalist/bassist, Sol Gezari, doin’ his thing
Toilet Records’ suitably dirty bass/drum duo Sigmund Droid released their second album, Maximum Grind, in August of 2009. The album introduced a new dimension to the Sigmund Droid sound by featuring their friend David Tobias, guitarist of the late Apes & Androids. A friend of mine has been fortunate enough to get some practice space at Toilet Records’ studio in Brooklyn where his band (stay tuned…) has apparently been getting some love from another ex-Ape & Android aliased as Morgan Z. Once upon a time Morgan put out a solid remix of Datarock’s Princess, which wound up on their myspace page. Now he’s thrown down an incredible remix of Sigmund Droid’s I Don’t Want You To Go, full of epic bass and dance power I just can’t get enough of. Do yourself a favor and wrap your head with a big pair of bassey earmuffs for this guy:
