who's smoking your spirit?

ICYMI: The new Big Hush EP is out now in a limited run of 100 gorgeous goldenrod cassettes! After all the pre-orders and tapes that were snatched up at the release show (which received some kind words in the Washington Post), there are less than 10 copies left in the merch store, though you can still get them directly from the band at all upcoming gigs. ✌

"Who's Smoking Your Spirit?" has already received some solid coverage from the likes of WAMU Bandwidth, Post-Trash [1] [2], Washington City Paper [1] [2], and DC Music Download [1] [2].

"[Who's Smoking Your Spirit?] exposes the band’s knack for infectious hooks. On “Cold Shoulder,” pulsing guitar and bass ride distortion to the front of the mix, while the dual vocals seem to exist on another plane entirely. Then, more than two-and-a-half minutes into the track’s gurgle and feedback, a pop song breaks out, with Ludwig momentarily winning a battle with the music, long enough to deliver the album’s catchiest refrain. It’s just a moment, of course. Big Hush still dabbles in shoegaze even when the drift and reverb seems to be holding a decent pop song’s head underwater." - Washington City Paper

"The EP’s five tracks, which merge together like ingredients in a murky stew, sound like an updated version of [My Bloody Valentine]" - WAMU Bandwidth

"Halfway between shoegaze and surf guitar is Big Hush, a DC band that makes a lot more noise than their name would suggest." - Black Cat 

"Mournful, sighing melodies sink deep as they play with surf and post-rock rhythms, while shoegaze feels more and more limited as a descriptor with every release." - Washington City Paper

Thanks to all the publications above and to everyone who has supported the release thus far! Stay tuned for more gigs in the near future, and don't miss these great lineups coming to the District:

Saturday, December 12 at Songbyrd Music House

Hemlines w/ The Effects, Wing Dam, and Wet Brain

(click flyer to RSVP)

Sunday, December 13 at Hole In The Sky

Escape From DC Brunch IX: Princess Reason, Go Cozy, and Airhead DC

(click flyer to RSVP)

Sunday, December 20 at Songbyrd Music House

Rick (from Pile), Snail Mail, Mattress Financial, and Charlie Down

(click flyer to RSVP)

And if all that weren't enough, there's one more bit of happy news coming out of Romantic States' camp. The band was able to raise enough money from fan purchases to adopt a manatee through the Save The Manatee Club! Margarito is an endangered West Indian manatee, known for being very curious, friendly, and social. He can be identified by a number of scars from watercraft strikes, and from his missing left flipper, which he lost after it was badly entangled in fishing line. Please dispose of your fishing line properly and be kind to animals!

windjammer

Now that In It Together Fest 2 is behind us (more on that later), it's time to look forward to more fun in the setting summer sun:

Beginning tomorrow Romantic States will be joining Beach House on tour around the Northeast to help celebrate the release of their new album Depression Cherry on Sub Pop, and will have a limited second run of yellow tour-only cassettes at the shows!

The final show of the tour is an all-day Windjammer at Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore with additional performances by Future Islands, Dan Deacon, Ed Schrader's Music Beat, and more. Best of all, the event is a benefit for Living Classrooms' Believe In Music program, serving to uplift Baltimore City students academically, culturally, and spiritually, while promoting self-expression and community awareness through music education. Tickets for that one are long gone, but check out the full tour schedule here for your chance to close out the summer with a bang.

Meanwhile back in DC, the second In It Together Fest was a wild success, and though we're still working to finalize the total amount of funds raised for our partner organizations, preliminary calculations suggest we'll more than double last year's numbers! Stay tuned for more details as things fall into place, but for now enjoy some of the moments that made the second In It Together Fest an incredible weekend of artistic expression, community building, and progressive action.

Two Inch Astronaut (courtesy of Echo Bay)

Bless (courtesy of Matt Dunn)

Cayetana (courtesy of Matt D. Cohen)

Wildhoney (courtesy of Andrade)

Thou (courtesy of Sharon)

RDGLDGRN (courtesy of Matt Dunn)

Chester Hawkins (courtesy of Matt D. Cohen)

Wing Dam (courtesy of Xaq)

June Gloom (courtesy of Sharon)

Mark Andersen of Positive Force with DC Councilman David Grosso

Until next time, keep a curious eye on things to come. DZ17 and other fun news is just around the corner...

swingin'

In It Together Fest planning is coming along well and we've got lots of fun in store for those of you lucky to be in DC from July 30 to August 2! So far we've got 15 different events planned throughout the city featuring over 40 bands and counting. Some new additions to the festivities include Leapling, Kal Marks, Vundabar, Wing Dam, Hurry, Clique, and Big Hush. More info will be announced later this week, so be sure to check out the facebook and twitter for more details.

In the meantime, there are two DZ artists playing shows tonight that you should check out if you're in DC or Baltimore. Click the flyers below for more details:

Big Hush w/ Nude Beach, Outer Spaces, and Chain Rank at Saint-Ex in DC

Romantic States w/ Alter, Blessin', and Retired at The Crown in Baltimore

Those of you searching for something new from these two bands, here's a sneak peak of one gorgeous new Big Hush track plus live archives from DC's show scene on the latest episode of In Yr Basement Radio and a brand new song from Romantic States on a compilation celebrating the now-defunct KEITH house in Baltimore.

If you miss out of these gigs, don't sweat too hard - Big Hush will be playing with The Swirlies at Black Cat on July 6 (click flyer below for details) and Romantic States have some exciting show news to be announced in the very near future~ :)

sneak peek

There's a lot of fun things coming up in the near future, and to kick things off here's a sneak peek of DZ16~

More about that later, but for now here's whats going on with the fam:

Big Hush are back at it this Friday, April 10 at 453 Florida Ave NW, playing alongside Wing Dam from Baltimore, Big No from Richmond, and a new project called Howling Void, featuring from members of Pygmy Lush and Sad Bones (click flyer for details).

On Sunday, April 12 at Hole In The Sky will be the first of a new installment of monthly anti-brunch shows featuring emerging local talent. Come out to the first gig and catch long-time favorites Two Inch Astronaut perform with supergroup Polyon, and be sure come on time to catch the first show by sludgy stoner fuzz rockers Green God (click flyer for details).

A little further down the line, and a bit north of here, Romantic States will be playing two different "last show" events at The Foxhole and KEITH in Baltimore. More recently, Gumshoe and Pop Perfect had some nice words for their self-titled release. Only a handful of copies are left in the store, so be sure to pick one up before they're all gone~

"[I] was immediately attracted to the way the music finds experimentation within it's lo-fi, stark song arrangements...It has become an album that I find myself continually returning to." – Gumshoe

Wednesday, April 22 at The Foxhole with Bellows, Sharpless, and Soft Cat (click flyer for details).

Saturday, May 9 at KEITH with Quitter, The Spirit Of The Beehive, and Soft Bats (click flyer for details).

Sitcom released a new collection of songs recorded live at a show earlier this year by yours truly. You can check out "Sock Draw" below:


And last but certainly not least we have Adam Torres performing "Voices From The Top Of The Mountain" live on The Trundle Sessions. The track is the first off the upcoming Nostra Nova re-release, due out on vinyl April 21 by Misra Records.

A full stream of the album can be found over at The A.V. Club. Enjoy the album and pitch in for a pre-order if you can! There will be more news from Adam in the coming months, so be sure to stay tuned for that and a big announcement from DZ HQ and the DC DIY show scene soon~ ✌