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Homemade: District of Columbia

Alli Vega
September 30, 2014

Despite its Etsy-esque sounding title, “Homemade” is not ÛÓ as one might think ÛÓ a DIY crafts column. Instead, each posting explores the developing music scenes of a city, and features its up-and-coming local bands. Each week will be a different city, and will focus on several “hometown heroes” of varying popularity from the area.

“Homemade” is your reminder that it’s important to support your local music scene, and I hope it will serve as a guide of where to start discovering new music in your city. Seeing as this is the inaugural posting, I figured it would be fitting to have the first featured city be the place that many of us will call home for the next four years: Washington D.C.

Home to several influential punk bands, DC’s music scene rose to prominence in the 80’s when hardcore bands like Fugazi and Minor Threat formed; Ian MacKaye formed Dischord Records and began encouraging kids to draw X’s on their hands, essentially singlehandedly starting the straightedge movement (also did you know Ian MacKaye went to Wilson High School? Yes the one in Tenleytown. I know, I was also surprised to learn that anything punk came out of that school.)

From then on DC became a mecca for hardcore music, straightedge punks, and DIY shows. Venues such as the 9:30 Club and Black Cat became staples for national touring acts to stop at. Subgenres such as emo, post-hardcore, and electronica began to spring up around the city, as well as many other great record labels.

Over time DC’s music scene has evolved into so much more than punk and hardcore, but the DIY attitude and loyalty amongst local music fans remains stronger than ever.

Listed below are some of the up and coming bands from DC who I believe deserve some serious recognition.

Courtesy of Clash Music.

RDGLDGRN
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

A fusion of indie, hip-hop, go-go, and punk, RDGLDGRN is a genre-bending band filled with musical distinctions that has drawn the attention of not only the local rock community, but has received attention outside of DC as well. RDGLDGRN may not be from urban DC (they’re from Reston, VA), but that certainly hasn’t stopped them from creating a large fan base for themselves inside the district. Having received national attention after releasing their video for “I Love Lamp” in 2012, the band began to receive national acclaim, earning an opening spot at the 9:30 Club for Chiddy Bang. Since then, RDGLDGRN have soared into the spotlight, and are headlining at 9:30 Club on October 23.

Courtesy of Deleted Scenes.

Deleted Scenes
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

Nearly impossible to categorize into one single genre, DC’s beloved Deleted Scenes is an art rock band who’s most recent release “Lithium Burn” is packed with both unearthly synths and soothing guitar melodies. It’s members met in high school, and after separating for a few years to attend college, reunited in DC to form Deleted Scenes. Recently the band has split its time between DC, Brooklyn, and Omaha but DC fans still claim the most ownership over the band, making Deleted scenes a truly beloved local staple.

Courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.

Priests
BANDCAMP

If I’m being honest, I don’t listen to Priests’ record very much. However, their stage presence is virtually unmatched by any other local act. After seeing them at Black Cat backstage I have to say they have put on one of the best shows I’ve seen in DC so far. The way their lead singer Katie Greer snarls and growls her way through the songs onstage pulsates through the crowd and charges everyone with an energy unlike anything I’ve ever seen before at a punk show.

Courtesy of Paperhaus.

Paperhaus
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

If you’ve been involved in anyway with the DC DIY scene the past few years, there’s a high chance you’ve heard of Paperhaus. Both the name of the psychedelic indie rock band as well as the DIY show space, Paperhaus has made strides in reviving the DIY scene in DC by uniting the creative community and as a result, causing other DIY spaces to spring up around the city. Drawing their influences from Radiohead to Talking Heads and everything in between, Paperhaus is releasing their self-titled full length January 2015.

Courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.

Typefighter
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

Although it seems like they stepped right out of the 90’s, garage pop band, Typefighter released their first full-length album The End Of Everything last spring. Filled with fuzz tinged guitar riffs and booming drums, The End of Everything is the perfect album to turn the volume up, dance and scream until your lungs give out.

Courtesy of Brightest Young Things.

Young Rapids
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

Young Rapids is an art rock/indie pop band that has played almost every venue in DC (DC9, Kennedy Center, you name it.) Their thunderous drumming and melancholy guitar riffs blend perfectly to form a genre of rock not commonly heard these days. They have been raved about in almost every DC media source (Washington Post, DCist, All Songs Considered, etcÛ_), so if you haven’t seen them yet, they’re playing a show at Comet Ping Pong October 16th that you should go see (after all, there’s nothing better than pizza, music, AND ping pong.)

Courtesy of MTV.

Teen Mom
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

If Typefighter sounds like they stepped out of the 90s, then fuzz-pop trio Teen Mom sounds like they time traveled in a Delorean from the 80s. Guitar riffs reminiscent of The Cure and fuzzy, warm distortion pedals make for two really killer EP’s as it turns out (go check them out on Bandcamp).

Courtesy of Bliss Pop.

Honest Haloway
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

Formed by DC songwriter Tim Kratzer, Honest Haloway is an indie/electronic trio that layers synth textures and fuses them with fast paced beats that will be sure to get anyone out of their seat and onto the dance floor.

Courtesy of WAMU.

Baby Bry Bry
BANDCAMP | FACEBOOK

It was an accident that I discovered Baby Bry Bry, but since then I have not been able to stop listening to his EP Is It Anything Or Is It Everything?. Currently one of my favorite songs off the EP (and in general) is “Hear, My DearÛ, but apart from that the entire EP is filled with toe-tapping indie punk riffs and heartbroken lyrics with upbeat hooks.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

There were over 80 bands that I researched to consider for this week’s “HomemadeÛ, and while I liked many of them, I was wary of making the column too long. Therefore, here are some of the bands that I think deserve shout outs: