By Erin Coulehan, Contributor, DC Music Live

Photo Courtesy of Cold War Kids

Disillusionment has hovered like the sad dark cloud following Charlie Brown from Peanuts for decades, and it’s not news that the market for self-help books, advice blogs and ads are becoming increasingly popular. If you  follow this set of rules, read these sorts of books and do these kinds of things, then you’ll be set! In an age where the gestures, attitudes and expressions of the individual have evolved into commodities and social media has enabled new forms of isolation, California rockers Cold War Kids take inspiration from Modern Literature and remind us of meaningful connections that have been displaced.

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By Erin Coulehan, Contributor, DC Music Live

Photo Courtesy of Frightened Rabbit

When we last saw Frightened Rabbit it was early autumn and the band was encouraging listeners to shed restrictive clothing and get more comfortable in sweaters. [READ MORE: Frightened Rabbit Rocks Black Cat] The lovelorn and often lugubrious lyrics backed by vocal hubs are completely conducive to a melancholic mindset, but it’s spring now, and with that comes a reawakened sense of life, as well as a new album and tour schedule for the burly Glasgow-based band who stopped by 9:30 Club on April 7.

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By Rachael Bohlander, Contributor, DC Music Live

Mission South will be at the Bayou on April 13!
Photo courtesy of Mission South.

So you and your two best friends, who you’ve known since elementary school, have all graduated from your respective colleges.  What to do?  Find an apartment?  Get a job?  Stay in-touch with the occasional text or Facebook message?

Or do you follow your dream, take your college band to the next level, penning songs, hitting the studio, and commandeering the “corporate van” – groupies in a smaller support vehicle trailing behind (we think they are joking?) – along a 50-date tour to celebrate the release of a new record?

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By Erin Coulehan, Contributor, DC Music Live

Local Natives, we want you back…back…back.

Los Angeles rockers, Local Natives, breathed life into 9:30 Club this past weekend with two sold-out shows featuring 100-minute sets with songs off its recently released sophomore album, Hummingbird, and old favorites from debut, Gorilla Manor.

Songs from Hummingbird not only translated well from the album, but seemed to transcend the space of the venue entirely; sometimes you just have to be there.

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By Mike Shomaker, DC Music Live

The Wonder Years KILLED it recently at Empire in Springfield, VA.
Photo by Mike Shomaker, DC Music Live

Pop punk is alive and well, despite rumors that it’s slowly dying off like a herd of buffalo on the open range. Just last week, absolutepunk received 250,000 unique impressions when it previewed The Wonder Years’ new single, “Passing Through A Screen Door,” enough to crash the site for several minutes , i.e. an eternity in cyberspace. Since their formation in 2005, the Philly-based pop-punkers have strived to continuously outdo themselves, an arduous task for a group that has already put out some of the best hooks in the business. Their highly anticipated record, The Greatest Generation, which they call their best work to date, is set to release in May and already has fans biting at their heels.

From the front seat of their van—the pop-punk rock outfit’s version of a dorm room, Dan “Soupy” Campbell elaborates on his feelings about TGG.

“We always want to step up our game. On a whole, I think it’s lyrically stronger, it’s more personal. Melodically, I concentrated on trying to space out some of the vocal lines to give it some room to breath.”

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By Rachael Bohlander, Contributor, DC Music Live

Wovenhand will be at DC9 on April 14.
Photo courtesy of Sounds Familyre Records

Apocalyptic.

Not the usual word associated with folk music, but “apocalyptic rustic folk” was exactly the way David Eugene Edwards and Wovenhand’s music was once described by David Malitz of the Washington Post.

And for the intensely powerful, raw emotion that defies easy musical categorization, it may be the most accurate.

Loosely termed “folk”, country, punk, blues, industrial, and rock permeate roiling guitar riffs, pounding beats and delicate piano notes.  Exotic melodies, pulled from traditional music of cultures from the Middle East to South America to Native Americans, wind and weave through the roiling confessionals that is Wovenhand.

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