Of all the DC based indie heroes that have come and gone – J. Robbins is my personal favorite. Today I picked up the latest offering from the mastermind behind Jawbox and Burning Airlines – Waiting For The Next End Of The World the debut full-length from his new band Channels.
Channels is a trio composed of Robbins on guitar and vocals, Janet Morgan (J.’s wife) on bass and harmony, and former Kerosene 454 drummer Darren Zentek.
Waiting… is a terrific return for Robbins to the DC music scene.
This album bares Robbins’ trademark guitar-style (albeit with a few deeper riffs than usual peppered through-out) and his vocal delivery is still as impassioned as his lyrics are poetically vague. Zentek’s drumming on this album flat-out destroys, the guy has still got it, that’s really the only way to put it. While those elements make Waiting… a truly rocking album the real highlight of the album for me is Janet Morgan’s harmonizing with both Robbins’ voice and his guitar.
Robbins’ has worked some pretty great call-and-response into his songs in the past but I would say that the harmonizing on Waiting… is some of his best. Maybe it has something to do with Robbins’ wife being his partner on this one – all those unspoken signals between a husband and wife expressed beautifully in sound – or maybe I’m just being a romantic sap. But hey, that’s what Robbins’ music does to me.
Pick up Waiting For The Next End Of The World by Channels at your local record shop.
And don’t forget to catch Channels live at the Black Cat on October 6th with Medications and Victory At Sea.
Originally published on September 27, 2006.
This was a short-lived project because J. and Janet's son was diagnosed with a rare illness shortly after this post. J. has since resurfaced with an excellent project called Office Of Future Plans.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Deafening Silence
Last year I left the Wall of Sound Festival with my ears a-ringing from all the shoegazer glory. This year I found myself making the hour drive back from Fredricksburg at 3am with less of a lingering ringing and more of a seething rage.
What a cluster-fuck.
What was potentially the best day of American indie-shoegaze all year fizzled out thanks to a mismanaged time schedule resulting in the two headlining bands being asked not to play. I’m serious – Alcian Blue and Ceremony weren’t allowed to play!
The festival ran over its time-limit and at 1:15 the club pulled the plug – right after Alcian Blue and The Antiques did an incredible dual-band cover of Slowdive’s “Primal” to transition from one band’s set to the other. Their band team-up was definitely the energy high-light of the event and got everyone in the crowd extremely pumped for the Alcian Blue set to end all sets. But it wasn’t meant to be. After that song Jake had to make the announcement that the gig was done.
I know a lot of folk travelled to see this fest and to miss two of the headliners is a huge disappointment.
Looking for an explanation for the time overage I recieved some reports that another DC band (who I’m sorely tempted to name but won’t) pulled a lot of rock star shenanigans which derailed the day by a good hour or so. Of course that’s hearsay but it isn’t going to make me any any less pissed at them.
As anti-climactic and generally sucky it was to have the fest end that way there were a few bright shining moments earlier in the day. A Place to Bury Strangers destroyed as they always do when they blow through the area, Chicago’s Star played a great set of off-kilter muted wash that resulted in a spontaneous dance party, and Soundpool from New York just owned – they are a top-notch outfit to keep an eye on.
Originally published on September 25, 2006.
What a cluster-fuck.
What was potentially the best day of American indie-shoegaze all year fizzled out thanks to a mismanaged time schedule resulting in the two headlining bands being asked not to play. I’m serious – Alcian Blue and Ceremony weren’t allowed to play!
The festival ran over its time-limit and at 1:15 the club pulled the plug – right after Alcian Blue and The Antiques did an incredible dual-band cover of Slowdive’s “Primal” to transition from one band’s set to the other. Their band team-up was definitely the energy high-light of the event and got everyone in the crowd extremely pumped for the Alcian Blue set to end all sets. But it wasn’t meant to be. After that song Jake had to make the announcement that the gig was done.
I know a lot of folk travelled to see this fest and to miss two of the headliners is a huge disappointment.
Looking for an explanation for the time overage I recieved some reports that another DC band (who I’m sorely tempted to name but won’t) pulled a lot of rock star shenanigans which derailed the day by a good hour or so. Of course that’s hearsay but it isn’t going to make me any any less pissed at them.
As anti-climactic and generally sucky it was to have the fest end that way there were a few bright shining moments earlier in the day. A Place to Bury Strangers destroyed as they always do when they blow through the area, Chicago’s Star played a great set of off-kilter muted wash that resulted in a spontaneous dance party, and Soundpool from New York just owned – they are a top-notch outfit to keep an eye on.
Originally published on September 25, 2006.
Fly the Flag
To answer Metroblog reader Rosemary’s question about what the U.S. Capitol flag office does on a daily basis I did a little google work.
The heroes of last week’s security breach work in the bowels of the Capitol building processing requests by citizens for the flags that are flown daily over the Capitol building. You too can own a genuine U.S. Capitol American flag. All you have to do is contact your local Senator or Congressman and for a fee (around $28) they will have the flag office fly a flag for you on your date of choice. Your flag will then be certified and shipped to you.
You can read all about it here on Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s website.
Originally published on September 25, 2006.
The link in this story has since gone inactive.
The heroes of last week’s security breach work in the bowels of the Capitol building processing requests by citizens for the flags that are flown daily over the Capitol building. You too can own a genuine U.S. Capitol American flag. All you have to do is contact your local Senator or Congressman and for a fee (around $28) they will have the flag office fly a flag for you on your date of choice. Your flag will then be certified and shipped to you.
You can read all about it here on Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s website.
Originally published on September 25, 2006.
The link in this story has since gone inactive.
Confluence of Events
On this day, 1 year ago, I noted here that there was an unholy amount of good things to do in the DC area over this very weekend.
Here I am one year later about to write the same thing. What is it about this weekend that makes everyone schedule their awesome events during it? Could it be the last hurrah of summer?
This weekend we’ve got 3 album release parties and two festivals lined-up.
1. Tonight @ the Black Cat - the Soft Complex & Cedars album release concert – $10
2. Saturday night @ DC9 - the Two If By Sea album release concert – $10
Both of the above concerts featuring my adorable sister-in-law on Cello.
Then we’ve got -
3. Saturday night @ the Market 5 Gallery – the Curly & Rocket “Electricshow” release party that our boy Wayan pointed out – $20
Plus -
4. All day Saturday in B’More – The Virgin Festival featuring all kinds of festival circuit standards like the Chili Peppers, The Who, and Gnarls Barkley – $97.50! (outrageous!)
And then my pick for the winner of the weekend -
5. All day Saturday in Fredricksburg – The second annual Wall of Sound Festival featuring the best in underground American shoegazer – 23 bands for $10!
Read my brief review of the first Wall Of Sound Festival here!
Originally published on September 22. 2006.
Here I am one year later about to write the same thing. What is it about this weekend that makes everyone schedule their awesome events during it? Could it be the last hurrah of summer?
This weekend we’ve got 3 album release parties and two festivals lined-up.
1. Tonight @ the Black Cat - the Soft Complex & Cedars album release concert – $10
2. Saturday night @ DC9 - the Two If By Sea album release concert – $10
Both of the above concerts featuring my adorable sister-in-law on Cello.
Then we’ve got -
3. Saturday night @ the Market 5 Gallery – the Curly & Rocket “Electricshow” release party that our boy Wayan pointed out – $20
Plus -
4. All day Saturday in B’More – The Virgin Festival featuring all kinds of festival circuit standards like the Chili Peppers, The Who, and Gnarls Barkley – $97.50! (outrageous!)
And then my pick for the winner of the weekend -
5. All day Saturday in Fredricksburg – The second annual Wall of Sound Festival featuring the best in underground American shoegazer – 23 bands for $10!
Read my brief review of the first Wall Of Sound Festival here!
Originally published on September 22. 2006.
“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.”
STOP THE PRESSES!
Just found out that there is going to be a showing of Wes Craven’s 1984 horror masterpiece “A Nightmare on Elm Street” tonight at 8 at the Hoffman Center in Old Town and also at Ballston Commons.
The screening is part two of a 2-night promotional event for the remastered Freddy DVD. The film will be accompanied by another short-film entitled “Freddy’s Best Kills” – a montage of the best nightmares from the series.
Oh yeah – I’m all over this!
“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. / Three, four, better lock your door. / Five, six, grab your crucifix. / Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. / Nine, ten, never sleep again.”
Originally published on September 21, 2006.
Just found out that there is going to be a showing of Wes Craven’s 1984 horror masterpiece “A Nightmare on Elm Street” tonight at 8 at the Hoffman Center in Old Town and also at Ballston Commons.
The screening is part two of a 2-night promotional event for the remastered Freddy DVD. The film will be accompanied by another short-film entitled “Freddy’s Best Kills” – a montage of the best nightmares from the series.
Oh yeah – I’m all over this!
“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. / Three, four, better lock your door. / Five, six, grab your crucifix. / Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. / Nine, ten, never sleep again.”
Originally published on September 21, 2006.
Mass Casualty
I went to see Tony Jaa in The Protector tonight.
Holy living hell.
The man is immortal. I mean Ong Bak was a decent movie with pretty mind-blowing low-budget action. But in The Protector - the man takes it to another level. He is the Bruce Lee of the modern age - there is no question about it now.
As a film the movie itself is 80% good - even the elephants work somehow - you actually care about the elephants. Of course there is a little Asian movie weirdness - got to have a gang on roller blades or something to muck-it-up. But other than that slight awkwardness of that one skating gang (which has amazing action so I'm not complaining too much) and some bad editing in the beginning - the movie is martial arts gold.
Tony Jaa is the man - he is a human wrecking machine. Meaning he wrecks humans - that is all he does through the entire film - oh yeah that and yell "Where's my elephant?!"
What really puts Jaa on the map for me as possibly one of the best movie martial artists ever is the obligatory mass casualty scene. Jaa is no dodge 'em Jackie Chan type - he is a "kill every last muther in the room" type of mass fighter.
One man versus many - a ridiculously super-human number of foes.
The two that come to mind for comparison are Kill Bill 1 and The Chinese Connection.
The sword fight in Kill Bill 1 gets a lot of accolades as the best mass casualty fight in modern movies. I think that's a load of crap and I'll tell you why. Because of The Protector. Tony Jaa in this movie's mass fight scene makes Uma and her stunt double look like a pair of hobbled cows doing jumping-jacks in a field of cow-pies.
The mass fight in The Protector rivals the scene in The Chinese Connection when Bruce Lee takes on the dojo. I shit you not. The dojo scene in The Chinese Connection is arguably Bruce Lee's best mass casualty fight. To me it set the standard for one man against many and that standard has never been matched (See what I mean by watching the dojo fight here). Other movies have great mass fights - don't get me wrong (Streetfighter, several Jackie Chan movies, some Jet Li) but none come close to creating a new precedent for martial arts films. The Protector does.
Tony Jaa destroys about 40 guys. I mean really destroys them. It is exhilarating and gut-wrenching and it goes on for ever. I loved it. I cheered. The whole frigging crowd cheered and hollered and ohh-ed and ahh-ed. It was in-fucking-credible. Best mass fight (well ass-kicking really) in modern movies - bar-none.
Aside from the mass-casualty fight - Jaa is on fire through the rest of the movie as well. I can't believe how fast that guy is or how hard he hits.
Seriously - any of you martial arts flicks fans out there - get your ass to the theater to see this thing. The moves are too incredible to miss on the big screen.
Originally posted on September 21, 2006 on Myspace.
Holy living hell.
The man is immortal. I mean Ong Bak was a decent movie with pretty mind-blowing low-budget action. But in The Protector - the man takes it to another level. He is the Bruce Lee of the modern age - there is no question about it now.
As a film the movie itself is 80% good - even the elephants work somehow - you actually care about the elephants. Of course there is a little Asian movie weirdness - got to have a gang on roller blades or something to muck-it-up. But other than that slight awkwardness of that one skating gang (which has amazing action so I'm not complaining too much) and some bad editing in the beginning - the movie is martial arts gold.
Tony Jaa is the man - he is a human wrecking machine. Meaning he wrecks humans - that is all he does through the entire film - oh yeah that and yell "Where's my elephant?!"
What really puts Jaa on the map for me as possibly one of the best movie martial artists ever is the obligatory mass casualty scene. Jaa is no dodge 'em Jackie Chan type - he is a "kill every last muther in the room" type of mass fighter.
One man versus many - a ridiculously super-human number of foes.
The two that come to mind for comparison are Kill Bill 1 and The Chinese Connection.
The sword fight in Kill Bill 1 gets a lot of accolades as the best mass casualty fight in modern movies. I think that's a load of crap and I'll tell you why. Because of The Protector. Tony Jaa in this movie's mass fight scene makes Uma and her stunt double look like a pair of hobbled cows doing jumping-jacks in a field of cow-pies.
The mass fight in The Protector rivals the scene in The Chinese Connection when Bruce Lee takes on the dojo. I shit you not. The dojo scene in The Chinese Connection is arguably Bruce Lee's best mass casualty fight. To me it set the standard for one man against many and that standard has never been matched (See what I mean by watching the dojo fight here). Other movies have great mass fights - don't get me wrong (Streetfighter, several Jackie Chan movies, some Jet Li) but none come close to creating a new precedent for martial arts films. The Protector does.
Tony Jaa destroys about 40 guys. I mean really destroys them. It is exhilarating and gut-wrenching and it goes on for ever. I loved it. I cheered. The whole frigging crowd cheered and hollered and ohh-ed and ahh-ed. It was in-fucking-credible. Best mass fight (well ass-kicking really) in modern movies - bar-none.
Aside from the mass-casualty fight - Jaa is on fire through the rest of the movie as well. I can't believe how fast that guy is or how hard he hits.
Seriously - any of you martial arts flicks fans out there - get your ass to the theater to see this thing. The moves are too incredible to miss on the big screen.
Originally posted on September 21, 2006 on Myspace.
Mauled
I went to the mall tonight, Pentagon City Mall. I rarely go to the mall but after a heavy dose of 80′s nostalgia upon re-watching the immortal film Heathers and recently finishing the Tricia Sullivan novel Maul – in which a gang of Sailor Moon types run rampant in one with Uzis – I guess I got the subconscious hankering to subject myself to the shopping mall hustle-n-bustle that I loathe so much.
So tonight I went – in search of two things. A couple of everything dog’s at Frank-n-Stein and a few overpriced DVD’s at SunCoast Video. Much to my dismay both establishments are gone.
These store changes are probably old news to all you Mallrats reading out there, but I haven’t been to P.C. in over a year. SunCoast is now some kind of puzzle store – as in “we sell puzzles only” – which leaves me puzzled. Can a puzzle store really exist in Pentagon City? Isn’t there already a bitchin’ game store on the third level? Seems more like Landmark Mall fare to me.
Meanwhile Frank-n-Stein is now a mom-n-pop Texas BBQ place run by Koreans. Which I decided to try. Hoping for some kind of Austin Brisket/Pul-Kogi hybrid – I instead got a platter of mediocre fatty roast beef, dry rice, and drowned corn. Food received only after an ordering ordeal reminiscent of that russian roulette scene from Deer Hunter - with the gruff Korean granny shouting non-sensical orders at me, whilst the woman in line behind me is screaming for some “gawd-damned hot sauce”, and the grill chef is waving around a rib and laughing like he just poisoned Dr. Jones.
Now that SunCoast and Frank-n-Stein are gone I really don’t have any reason to return to Pentagon City Mall. And I can’t really say I’m going to miss it. This parting between me and the mall has been a long time coming.
I never forgave Pentagon City for kicking out The Wall music store – whose famous “replace any damaged album adorned with a Wall sticker” policy I never got to cash in on. I still have that scratched copy of Ministry’s Twitch and everytime I look at it, the now-defunct Wall sticker mocks me.
Then there was that time I almost died on a bench on the second floor of Pentagon City, when my mono fever dehydrated me so bad that I collapsed and laid there unconscious for who knows how long (I guess that one isn’t really the mall’s fault).
But the worst offense Pentagon City is guilty of – was closing the smelly old Loews Movie Theater. That old theater rocked the secret advanced screenings circuit. I got to see all the good ones there before their release. But alas no more. It was a gravy train with biscuits wheels and I guess it couldn’t last forever.
PS – to any Frank-n-Stein fans – you can still get your Frank’s fix down in L’Enfant Plaza if you don’t mind eating with the morlocks.
Originally published on September 20, 2006.
So tonight I went – in search of two things. A couple of everything dog’s at Frank-n-Stein and a few overpriced DVD’s at SunCoast Video. Much to my dismay both establishments are gone.
These store changes are probably old news to all you Mallrats reading out there, but I haven’t been to P.C. in over a year. SunCoast is now some kind of puzzle store – as in “we sell puzzles only” – which leaves me puzzled. Can a puzzle store really exist in Pentagon City? Isn’t there already a bitchin’ game store on the third level? Seems more like Landmark Mall fare to me.
Meanwhile Frank-n-Stein is now a mom-n-pop Texas BBQ place run by Koreans. Which I decided to try. Hoping for some kind of Austin Brisket/Pul-Kogi hybrid – I instead got a platter of mediocre fatty roast beef, dry rice, and drowned corn. Food received only after an ordering ordeal reminiscent of that russian roulette scene from Deer Hunter - with the gruff Korean granny shouting non-sensical orders at me, whilst the woman in line behind me is screaming for some “gawd-damned hot sauce”, and the grill chef is waving around a rib and laughing like he just poisoned Dr. Jones.
Now that SunCoast and Frank-n-Stein are gone I really don’t have any reason to return to Pentagon City Mall. And I can’t really say I’m going to miss it. This parting between me and the mall has been a long time coming.
I never forgave Pentagon City for kicking out The Wall music store – whose famous “replace any damaged album adorned with a Wall sticker” policy I never got to cash in on. I still have that scratched copy of Ministry’s Twitch and everytime I look at it, the now-defunct Wall sticker mocks me.
Then there was that time I almost died on a bench on the second floor of Pentagon City, when my mono fever dehydrated me so bad that I collapsed and laid there unconscious for who knows how long (I guess that one isn’t really the mall’s fault).
But the worst offense Pentagon City is guilty of – was closing the smelly old Loews Movie Theater. That old theater rocked the secret advanced screenings circuit. I got to see all the good ones there before their release. But alas no more. It was a gravy train with biscuits wheels and I guess it couldn’t last forever.
PS – to any Frank-n-Stein fans – you can still get your Frank’s fix down in L’Enfant Plaza if you don’t mind eating with the morlocks.
Originally published on September 20, 2006.
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