Music section: Metro Weekly

Belting It Out

Jewish Music Festival offers the opposite of a dry lecture about showtunes

Published on May 2, 2013, 5:06am

''It's a wonderful way to think about the rich tradition of so many Jews who were key to writing beautiful music for Broadway,'' says Carole Zawatsky, CEO of the DC Jewish Community Center. She's talking about one event at this year's Washington Jewish Music Festival focused on the tunes and the tunesmiths of the Great White Way. But's it not a dry, academic exercise, or even a standard song-and-dance show. In ''The Big Broadway Sing-Along,'' everyone's a performer -- aided ...[more]

Rapping Bear

Chicago's Big Dipper is twisting hip-hop's machismo conventions

Published on April 25, 2013, 2:30am

The raunchy gay bear rapper known as Big Dipper has gained a reputation as a sexual provocateur. ''Every venue I go to, after my show, the space really transforms and everyone just sort of goes much harder,'' he says, with patrons making out and grinding. It's not just a function of Big Dipper's sexually charged swagger and rhyming. It's also his antics, including a ''Dick Bounce'' competition, named after one of his raps. ''It's a dance competition,'' he explains. ''Instead ...[more]

Saturday Night Euphoria

The band The Presets promises a concert with the energy of a dance party

Published on April 25, 2013, 2:27am

''Some bands are definitely more hetero. Some bands aren't gay enough,'' says Kim Moyes, chuckling. ''Whereas we definitely have our fair share.'' Moyes is one-half of the Australian synth-rock duo The Presets, which this year became the first band to ever play the famed Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The Presets have also twice played San Francisco's gay fetish bacchanalia Folsom Street Fair. ''The music we make, house and techno, is a big part of the gay community,'' Moyes ...[more]

Sweetlife Sensations

The Sweetlife Festival features a bounty of music and food delights

Published on April 18, 2013, 9:29am

Last year, just before the band ''fun.'' became a mainstream pop sensation -- and an eventual Grammy winner -- the trio appeared at the Sweetlife Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion. ''It's been exciting to see all of the success of fun. and ASAP Rocky and Kid Cudi,'' says Sweetlife's Laura Rankin, citing three pop acts that have played the festival in the past few years, and all before they garnered significant mainstream appeal. This year's impressive festival lineup includes many ...[more]

Girlyman's Womanhood

Tylan Greenstein emerges as a ''serious'' rootsy solo artist

Published on April 11, 2013, 7:11am

''I'm learning so much about myself as an artist, and just learning a lot about singing and performing,'' says Tylan Greenstein. Of course, none of that is new to the 38-year-old, who spent the last decade as part of the queer folk group Girlyman alongside Doris Muramatsu and Nate Borofsky. But Greenstein had never worked as a solo artist until a few months ago. ''Doris and I grew up together so we just kind of came of age as this ...[more]

The Seven Year Itch

Alice Smith proves worthy of a seven-year wait with the astonishing She, as sharp and surprising as they come

Published on April 11, 2013, 7:07am

In 2006 a new indie soul/pop singer-songwriter quickly seduced me with her sophisticated sound and amazing talent -- registering like a more refined Christina Aguilera, and a sultrier Beyoncé. But after months, then years, of repeated listens to her marvelous tour-de-force debut album, I grew eager to hear new material. Or even just, you know, news about her. But instead it was all quiet on the Alice Smith front. Smith slyly references the seven-year wait and delayed gratification that is ...[more]

Disco Ball

New York's ''disco orchestra'' Escort gets the party started at the 9:30 Club

Published on March 21, 2013, 3:16am

A reporter recently asked members of the band Escort if any of them are gay. Turns out, unbeknownst to co-founder Eugene Cho, at least one is. ''Because there are so many of us, we don't really know everybody that intimately,'' Cho says, recalling the interview. ''Our trombone player said, 'Oh yeah, I'm gay.''' Obviously, Escort isn't your typical band -- and not just because it features a gay trombone player. Escort is a full-fledged disco orchestra, featuring a roster of ...[more]

Diverse Folk

Catie Curtis returns to Wolf Trap for a charming folk ''hootenanny''

Published on March 21, 2013, 3:15am

Ask Catie Curtis if her uplifting, anthemic song ''Another Day on Earth,'' complete with a ''whew-ew-ew'' refrain, is a crowd-pleaser, and she confirms so in her customary funny, genial way: ''It's a hoot. A folk singer's version of a hit. A hootenanny.'' As recorded for her charming 2011 album Stretch Limousine on Fire, ''Another Day on Earth'' offers a message of perseverance, with a nod toward diversity. ''It's all right, it's okay, we can make it work,'' she sings. ''Up ...[more]

Pushing Forward

The pop/folk lesbian trio The Pushovers gears up for a big 2013

Published on March 7, 2013, 3:26am

''This time we're really excited because we get to be in an actual theater,'' Mara Levi says. The past two years at the Atlas Intersections Festival, Levi's band The Pushovers has performed in the lobby, where they had to watch their volume. ''We're a rock band and we like to be loud,'' she says. {The Pushovers (Photo by K.K. Ottesen)} So the third time is definitely the charm for The Pushovers, who graduate to a full-fledged show this Saturday, March ...[more]

Coming Around Again

Rich Morel masterfully guides the new Deathfix, as Tegan and Sara mine new, more mainstream material

Published on February 28, 2013, 12:49pm

''I'm, out of my mind. It's taking me over,'' Rich Morel sings in the bridge of ''Low Lying Dreams.'' And the song might have the same effect on you too. It's both beautiful and eerie, a piano-based, string-swept ballad in the psychedelic/electronic rock mold. And there's plenty more where that came from on the self-titled debut from Morel's new band Deathfix. In addition to Morel on vocals and keyboard, the band includes vocalist and guitarist Brendan Canty, previously known as ...[more]

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