in the pines

The limited copies of Shya's new album have come and gone almost as quickly as the month of March. And no surprise after the generous album premiere on The FADER, in addition to pleasantries from United Cassettes, Austin Town Hall, and Very Tiny Songs.

"catchy as hell... the beautiful thing about this album is that the ephemeral nature of Sher's musings seem to have been captured in a pure state... an anthem for acknowledging loneliness and the need for human connection" - The FADER

The band will be down in Harrisonburg, VA for MACROCK XIX tonight along with Mal Devisa, Hemlines, Bless, Dogs On Acid, Wolf Eyes, Container, and a bunch of other great bands for the first night of two awesome days of music.

Meanwhile in the DMV we've got a couple things to look forward to in the first week of April:

Sunday, April 3 at Hole In The Sky

Escape From DC Brunch XII: Philadelphia Collins, Snail Mail, and Dove Lady

(click flyer to RSVP)

Thursday, April 7 at The Crown in Baltimore

Jowe Head, Olivia Neutron John, Expert Alterations, and Nice Breeze

(click flyer to RSVP)

With the next release right around the corner, I'm immensely thrilled for what's to come, but for now I'd like to leave you with a look back to that time Laser Background played my house:

 

trying

First off, my apologies for totally slacking on the blog front. Things have shifted into the next gear and while it's great that there are plenty of fun things to share (see below), plastering them on the antiquated blogspot has fallen down my list of priorities. Now with that being said, here's a look at the goods...

[DZ21] Mal Devisa is the project of Deja Carr from Northampton, MA in which she conjures up a soulful mix of driving bass melodies, funk-laden chord progressions, and hypnotizing harmonies to create her own uniquely sincere and entrancing musical poetry. In conjunction with her phenomenal new full-length album Kiid, DZ TAPES is releasing this self-titled compilation cassette that collects her two 2014 EPs along with some previously unreleased tracks.

You can catch Mal Devisa at the Women’s Jazz Festival in New York, NY on 3/21 with Alicia Hall Moran, and at MACROCK XIX in Harrisonburg, VA on 4/1 with a slew of great acts including Shana Falana, Abdu Ali, Dogs On Acid, Container, The Obsessives, and more.

[DZ22] Shya is Nate Sher from Oberlin, OH, and his debut long play "Trying" is a mellow yet emotive slacker rock gem. This bedroom pop project is teeming with candid lyricism and luscious chord progressions that will surely rouse your heart from the doldrums of winter just in time to soak up the bittersweet sadness of springtime. The full album will be released later this month, but for now you can check out "Food Poisoning" which premiered on ThrdCoast just a few weeks ago.

Shya will be hitting the road to play a few out-of-town dates later this month, stay woke:

3/20 in Athens, OH w/ Yours Are The Only Ears, Frozen Lawn, and Wasted Champs
3/22 in Boston, MA w/ We Can All Be Sorry, Ricecrackers, and LINA
3/24 in Philadelphia, PA w/ Joy Again and Addie Pray
3/25 in Washington, DC w/ Swings, Long Beard, and Fraternal Twin
3/26 in Kenyon, OH w/ Food Court and Teddy Farkas

* * *

Big Hush are also busting out into the wild for a spell in March, touring the coast and going as far west as my alma mater in bobcat country.

3/11 in Baltimore, MD w/ Outer Spaces, Bless, and Which Magic
3/12 in Richmond, VA w/ Pinkwash, Mad Existence, Burn/Ward, and Conflation
3/13 in Athens, OH w/ Governess, Just Curry, and Pasture Weeds
3/16 in Brooklyn, NY w/ Teeth People, WVFRMS, and Adios Ghost
3/17 in Easthapmton, MA w/ Digital Prisoners Of War, Halfsour, and Temple Cats
3/18 in Philadelphia, PA w/ Marge, Hot Tears, and Lonesome Leash
3/20 in Washington, DC w/ Mercury Girls and Airhead DC
3/25 in Washington, DC w/ Wildhoney and Expert Alterations

* * *

And finally, here's a few more DC gigs coming up to close out the last couple weeks of winter. Check back soon for more goodies in the near future~

3/11 at St. Stephen's - Hemlines w/ Pinkwash, Valencia, and Mirror Motives
3/13 at Hole In The Sky - Escape From DC Brunch XI w/ Big Huge, Bleary Eyed, and Kid Claws
3/17 at The Lilly Trotter Tea Lounge - Beverly Tender, High Bloom, Foozle, and Golden Papi
3/19 at Songbyrd Music House - Nice Breeze w/ Puff Pieces and Jack On Fire

born in a thunderstorm

DZ21 is just around the corner, but there's plenty of cool things to cover for now, like

• this awesome Positive Force benefit show for Casa Ruby LGBT Community Center on Saturday, February 13 at St. Stephen's w/ Aye Nako, Governess, Didi, and Chimp Suit (click flyer to RSVP)

• the Big Hush gig on Friday, February 19 at Above The Bayou w/ The Goodbye Party, Hothead, and Scanners (click flyer to RSVP)

• the Nice Breeze show on Saturday, March 5 at Above The Bayou w/ Two Inch Astronaut, Kal Marks, and BRNDA (click flyer to RSVP)

• the other Big Hush jaunt on Thursday, March 10 at The Lilly Trotter Tea Lounge w/ Real Life Buildings and The Red Lines (click flyer to RSVP)

• this new Romantic States video for "Take My Hand And Run"

• and the beautiful streaming experience of Blithe Field's new album via http://theshadowswillfallbehindyou.com/

plus some other cool shit I probably missed in the rush to get this post up. Check back for more goodies coming soon, and stay sound~

take my hand and run

Plenty of good shows coming up, so let's take a look at what's going on with the DZ crew in the next few weeks, but ICYMI Romantic States have just put out a fantastic new 7" on Nebraskan Coast, which you can stream/download below. The band is playing a few gigs this weekend to support the release, so make sure to check them out if you're on the East Coast!

Thursday, January 21 at The Candy Barrel in New Brunswick, NJ

w/ Rita Fishbone, Halfsour, and Lil Nae Nae & The Jegadone Boys

(click here to RSVP)

Friday, January 22 at Alphaville in Brooklyn, NY

w/ Lame Drivers, Halfsour, and Summer Saints

(click here to RSVP)

Saturday, January 23 at The Crown in Baltimore, MD

7" Record Release w/ Wildhoney, Halfsour, and Quitter

(click flyer to RSVP)

Friday, January 29 at Songbyrd Music House in Washington, DC

Big Hush w/ Soda and Kid Claws

(click flyer for details)

Saturday, January 30 at Bathtub Republic in Washington, DC

Nice Breeze w/ Go Cozy, Grace Vonderkuhn, and What Moon Things

(click here to RSVP)

Saturday, February 6 at First Unitarian in Philadelphia, PA

Two Piece Fest IX w/ Romantic States and more

(click here to RSVP)

Sunday, February 7 at Black Cat in Washington, DC

Two Inch Astronaut LP Release w/ Hemlines and Laughing Man

(click here to RSVP)

More fun things are in the works for the coming months, but for now I just want to send a final thank you shout out to Post-Trash, Wake The Deaf, Circuit Sweet, and DC Music Download for the kind press on some of the DZ homies~

universal friend rays

Starting off 2016 with another new cassette - The UVF Rays, DC's scion of psychedelia Ryan Witt, is back with a fresh batch of introspective bliss. This new elixir takes the listener for a guided meditative exploration On The Sense Of Self, both shining down from the swelling sun as serene beams of reflective poetry and rising up from tranquil depths as euphonious waves calmly crashing on far distant shores of the imagination.

Each translucent purple tape has its own unique cover and was hand-dubbed-with-love right here at DZ HQ. Come celebrate the release with Adult Mom, Jawbreaker Reunion, Bad Moves, and Julian on January 6 at Above The Bayou in DC (click flyer to RSVP).

Here's a couple more shows coming up that should be on your calendars:

Friday, January 8 at CD Cellar in Arlington, VA

The Final Shows (R.I.P.) w/ Nice Breeze and more

(click here to RSVP)

Sunday, January 10 at Hole In The Sky

Escape From DC Brunch X: Long Beard, Lunch Cult, and Pisca

(click flyer to RSVP)

Wednesday, January 13 at Comet Ping Pong

Romantic States w/ Free Cake For Every Creature and Boon

(click flyer to RSVP)

2015 was great for music, and the final year-end accolades have trickled in. Special shout out to WAMU Bandwidth and Gimme Tinnitus for including some DZ artists on their lists of favorite songs from last year, and to Nooga, Post-Trash, and Washington City Paper for their recognition as well:

"Big Hush, with “Who’s Smoking Your Spirit?”, have cemented their status as one of the most exciting, moody and intricate bands to come out of the DC scene in recent memory. It is not often that a band can almost entirely change, speed up and distort their sound but remain entirely entrancing to listeners. Fans of ‘Wholes’ may need a little time to adjust to Big Hush’s new sounds but it is worth the wait." - Post-Trash 

"[Big Hush] knows how to submerge a great melody in a viscous slick of crunchy guitar riffs and thundering percussive blasts, while still allowing it to rear its head from time to time without throwing off the balance of the music. Everything is cranked up to 11, but that doesn't mean they've forgotten how to be subtle in their own raucous way. Despite their punk exuberance, these songs reveal themselves fully only after repeated listens. There are movements and slight shifts in rhythmic perspective that can be easily overlooked because of the ferocity of the band's creative drive, but they're able to maintain a cohesive melodic determination without sacrificing their heady and often-unexpected interpretations of their collective influences." - Nooga

"What’s most impressive about Big Hush’s Who’s Smoking Your Spirit? is the band’s fierce drive to reinvent itself. On last year’s Wholes, the local quartet explored a twangy, reverb-heavy sound, as if it had just completed a Ph.D. dissertation in shoegaze. With a shoegaze revival in full swing, it’d be easy for the band to keep milking that sound, but instead it forged ahead, exploring new sonic soundscapes that are far noisier—and poppier—than anything it’s done before." - Washington City Paper 

"In 2015, Hemlines glowed from its pedestal as one of the best bands in years to hoist the flag of feminist punk in D.C. Its blistering five-song EP, All Your Homes, announces the band and vocalist/guitarist Katie Park as an artery pulsing with rage and power. There’s real dexterity here; Hemlines shifts from easy to rough, from sunnier no-wave guitar work from Park and fellow guitarist Ian Villeda, to roaring distortion and big chords, all backed by Dana Liebelson’s bass high in the mix and the rock-steady drums of scene veteran Julie Yoder." - Washington City Paper

Since we last spoke, the Big Hush and Hemlines tapes have both sold out from the merch store, so before signing off, one more huge thank-you goes out to all of you who have supported the label as it approaches its five-year (!) anniversary in 2016. To show my thanks, I've picked 15 lesser-known releases from 2015 that I enjoyed and made a playlist - don’t let the year end without checking these out if you haven’t already (click image below to download).

Cheers to another trip around the sun set to a soundtrack of fantastic new music! ツ

dead alive

And without skipping a beat, I'm happy to announce that DZ18 will be the first release for DC's Nice Breeze. The veteran three-piece stir up lo-fi, surf-tinged punk cuts that weave droning hooks with laconic, off-the-cuff vocals and take you for a buoyant ride on an ever-cresting wave inside the bonzai pipeline of your mind.

 

"Schroedinger's Cat's Grave" is out November 14, with the release show that night at Hot Tub House with manatee mommies BRNDA, the first-ever live performance from Scanners, as well as Vile Creature and Bakerman from up north. Don't miss this chance to grip the garish gold cassette before it ships - click here for details.

The week before on November 8 at Showtime, just as the need hot and hearty stews is picking up, the DC Rock'n'Roll Chili Cookbook will be released, featuring an awesome cassette compilation and chili recipes from some great local bands, including new additions to the DZ family Nice Breeze and Hemlines. All proceeds from the project go to benefit local non-profit Bread For The City, which aims to provide vulnerable residents of Washington, DC with comprehensive services, including food, clothing, medical care, and legal and social services, in an atmosphere of dignity and respect.

Continuing further back in time, just earlier that day the eighth installment of the Escape From DC Brunch show will be going down at Hole In The Sky (click flyer for details). Come out to see WYDYDE, Great Smokey and Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists, then grab some chili down the road.

Since their own release show last month Hemlines have been staying busy, with progressive coverage in WAMU Bandwidth and another gig lined up for November 21 at Rock & Roll Hotel, the band continues its roll with relative ease.

Now that DZ HQ is up and running at HITS, I'm hoping to get more projects out on a consistent basis. Part of that hurdle is going to be catching up with the backlog of recordings from the monthy (anti-)Brunch shows. Thankfully, we've started picking up the pace, and I'm happy to share with you this video of Big Hush performing "Walk On" earlier this year:

Before signing off, I need to give thanks to the Washington City Paper for their recent shout-out, and to send some love to The Sweets and Pool Holograph, who have both released new full-length albums this month. Check out their new work below, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for more goodies from DZ HQ in the very near future.

stay sweet

This first month of the year packed quite the punch and things are showing no signs of slowing down. We've got two great shows lined up next week - click the flyers to RSVP.

On Friday, January 23 at the Communiverse with Baltimore babes Et Al. and Boy Spit pairing up with local lovelies Passing Phases and Nice Breeze.

Then the very next night, Big Hush share the stage with Wildhoney, on tour supporting their debut full-length album Sleep Through It on Deranged Records. The bill's filled out by Expert Alterations and Myrrh Myrrh.

The final lists from last year were slow to trickle in, but GoldFlakePaint bestowed its honors upon the Wholes EP, naming it one of their Favorite Tapes of 2014, pointing to the release's "tight instrumentation and seemingly effortless harmonies bundled with powerful songwriting." Echo Bay caught the band live on VHS in the wild performing an unreleased track titled "Walk On" at the Rocketship show, check it out!

If you missed the Daytrotter session by Adam Torres, make sure to take a listen to his new material and updated renditions of old favorites.

And finally, I'll leave you with some photos from last week's show at The Beehive, featuring Emperor X, Sitcom, Trunkweed, and Br'er. Thanks to everyone who came out and to Alex Schelldorf for the pics!

Emperor X

Sitcom

Br'er