616 Ritual

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Cathedral of the Black Goat: 616 RITUAL. This will be the first and last appearance of the legendary ACHERON in DC, as they finish their farewell live appearances in 2018. Also SLUTVOMIT from Seattle, FUNERAL OF GOD from Ohio, UNHOLY SPIRITS from New York and EXTERMINATION ANGEL and INVERTED TRIFIXION from Maryland. Copresented by Tasteless and Offensive Productions and Domestic Terror Promotions. Tickets available March 27th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cathedral-of-the-black-goat-616-ritual-tickets-44491720935

Domestic Terror Promotions presents:

A night of Thrash and Death at The Pinch!!

Sacrificial Blood (nj thrash/death)
Deathcrown (rva death)
Sangre Inedita (dc thrash)
PIPIL (va thrash)

$10, All Ages, 7pm Doors, 8pm Show

U Street Music Hall PRESENTS:
DJ Seinfeld ( at Ten Tigers Parlour)
10PM / $15 ($20 at the door) / 21+
**On sale Thursday, April 12 at 10AM ET**

DJ SEINFELD
https://soundcloud.com/dj-seinfeld
https://www.facebook.com/djseinfeld/
Armand Jakobsson is the artist known as DJ Seinfeld, Rimbaudian and Birds of Sweden. Under these aliases you?ll find sweeping emotive cuts, verdant dancefloor workouts and discerning dips into jungle and breaks. Releases have come on respected labels including Meda Fury, Ectotherm, UN.T.O and Lobster Fury: the collaborative label from Lobster Theremin and Meda Fury begun for the explicit purpose of releasing his tracks.

DJ Seinfeld?s beats are ultimately guided by an idea of authenticity, true to the spirit of the early house pioneers and the unabashed rawness the confines of their equipment demanded. A lot?s been made of this lo-fi fuzz, with many clamoring to declare it a scene, but he won?t be put into a box. His path is his own. A microphone picks up the tension and release of a singer: charged with emotion, the machine can?t handle it. The rough edges of his productions emit the same sensibility.

Footage of his gigs or their post-show reaction exemplifies the reception he gets as a DJ. Biographies often claim a DJ regularly ?sends crowds into rapture? or ?lays waste to the floor,? but in DJ Seinfeld?s case pandemonium is the default. Mixes show his deft control of build-up and feel in the booth, while his mini series for legendary London station Rinse FM in May ?DJ Seinfeld presents...?, was a master class in the kind of wonky left-field house he peppers his sets with.

Armand began making music in Edinburgh at the suggestion of a respected friend. Time spent experimenting with music and exploring the possibilities contained within his laptop was cathartic relief from the grind of finishing his studies. Later returning to his hometown of Malmo, his interest in making music would intensify thanks to encouragement from his old school friends and a the looming spectre of a 9-5 lifestyle. A move to Barcelona and the end of a relationship resulted in extended sessions watching the classic American sitcom and the music made to reflect that appeared under the name DJ Seinfeld.

Rimbaudian already had traction and DJ Seinfeld was really intended as a side-project to exorcise emotions felt at that time. At first, tracks appeared on music-sharing groups online but he didn?t claim ownership, despite the growing buzz. When his friend Courtesy?s label Ectotherm began asking who the mysterious producer was, he began to take note. Then before long, Lobster Theremin and Meda Fury followed suit.

The point of no return though came one evening spent with Ableton and a few beers. The track ?U? was uploaded to Soundcloud, and the internet went into overdrive. Sampling Bob Geldoff?s account of his split with his wife, amid soaring chants and keys wrought in heartache, ?U? is almost voyeuristic in its honesty. It?s that truth, that realness, that defines what Armand?s music is about.

U Street Music Hall PRESENTS:
Kidnap -FKA Kidnap Kid (at Ten Tigers Parlour)
10PM / $15 ($20 at the door) / 21+
**ON SALE THURSDAY, APRIL 12 at 10AM ET**

KIDNAP
facebook.com/kidnapkid
soundcloud.com/kidnap_music
Matt Relton, aka Kidnap, first gained recognition by winning the iTunes Best Electronic Track in 2012 with his release Vehl. Forever experimenting with sounds, the Sheffield producer rapidly carved out a unique and intelligent sound. In pursuit of artistic independence, he launched his Birds That Fly imprint in 2016 with ?Moments? featuring Leo Stannard. Staying true to his sound, Relton consistently releases music that evokes memories. Here is an artist who truly understands the importance of each and every sound. Through the use of vocals, intricate percussion and melodies, his productions conjure emotions from deep within. 2017 was a profound year for Relton, both personally and with his career. Having gone through a year of change and reflection, it was time to drop ?Kid? and release under Kidnap. Respected and supported by esteemed figures such as; Sasha, Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold and Maceo Plex... Kidnap is evolving...confidently and quietly striding forward.

ON SALE 4/13!
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Songbyrd and Union Stage Present
Blackbird Blackbird
Sunday June 24, 2018
D: 7:00 // S: 8:00 PM
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Blackbird Blackbird is the recording project of San Francisco-based electronic musician Mikey Maramag.

His warm, textural synth pop and distant, dreamy vocals recall acts like Four Tet and Washed Out, though Maramag's roots are actually in metal and hardcore. Originally hailing from Hawaii, he relocated to Northern California and began his career as the drummer for Bay Area hardcore band Murder Practice. He left the band in 2009 to attend the University of California in Santa Cruz where he took an interest in electronic music and became enamored with artists like Aphex Twin and Modeselektor. While away at school he began recording under the alias Bye Bye Blackbird, eventually tweaking the name to Blackbird Blackbird after encountering another band with the same name. He released various singles before issuing his debut album, Summer Heart, in mid-2010. His blissed-out, sunny dream pop was well-received and he signed with San Francisco indie Lavish Habits to release his follow-up EP, 2012's Boracay Planet. Tours of the U.S. and Europe followed as he continued to evolve his live set-up and in 2013, it was announced he had signed to prominent San Francisco electronic label Om Records who released his second LP, Tangerine Sky, in June 2014. ~ Timothy Monger

ON SALE 4/6!
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Songbyrd Presents
Field Medic with Derek Ted
Friday June 15, 2018
D: 7:00 // S: 8:00 PM
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Field Medic is the lo-fi folk project of Kevin Patrick. His first release on Run For Cover Records, Songs From the Sunroom, compiles material he?s recorded and released over two years from a small sunroom in San Francisco which doubled as his bedroom. At eighteen, Patrick discovered the music of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, who changed his perspective on what a song could be and led to him developing his own style which he describes as ?freak folk/post country with an emphasis on finger style guitar and lyrics.?Patrick initially embraced lo-fi because he felt that his home recordings were a truer method of expressing what hewas creating than anything he could do in a studio. Drawing inspiration from new wave and rap, Patrick pushed the boundaries of what a folk song could be, incorporating new elements in each subsequent release from analogue drum machines to Casio keyboards to banjo.

The immediacy of that recording process and the freedom of experimentation inherent within are central to Field Medic?s character, extending through his music to his freestyle, improvised mixtapes and his poetry. The tracks on Songs From the Sunroom were recorded during a heightened creative period and released as an almost non-stop flurry of EPs, albums, and singles, all of which have been shared via Bandcamp since 2014. As Field Medic, Patrick has released every song he has ever recorded, a conscious decision summed up in his philosophy that ?all expression is valid?.

?I don?t believe in perfection, I learned that perfect wasn?t real? he explains, continuing ?To me [the tracks on SFtS] aren?t demos, they?re the finished songs because no one was waiting on any other versions, so why would I??This past January, Patrick gave up his sunroom in San Francisco to travel around the country playing music. Along the way he has joined up with acts such as Pinegrove and The Neighborhood as well as appearing at Outside Lands 2017. The coming year will find Field Medic recording his debut full-length for Run For Cover Records and touring heavily.

ON SALE NOW!
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Songbyrd Presents
Kevin Krauter
Wednesday June 20, 2018
D: 7:00 // S: 8:00 PM
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Useful Solitude.

That?s the phrase Kevin Krauter uses to describe Toss Up, his upcoming full-length debut on Bayonet Records?both the conditions in which it was created and the prevailing theme of these nine iridescent indie-pop songs. In between tours, the Indiana musician spent long hours in his basement, guitars and vintage keyboards his only company, and tested out ideas, explored new sonic avenues, savored new sounds, and taught himself how to play a few instruments.

?I would wake up and have a cup of coffee, then I?d come up with a song or a melody and just sit and play it literally for three or four hours straight. Then I?d try to find new ways to play it, or do it with different notes or on different instruments. I don?t want to call it meditating, but it was pretty meditative to sit there by myself and play the same thing over and over and over and over.? The riffs and melodies became mantras, repeated back to himself until they became the rhythmically intricate, melodically bold, and emotionally complex songs on Toss Up. An insightful songwriter with a lyrical style that is both economical and evocative, Krauter crafts unique soundscapes that scramble a range of influences: ?60s flower pop, ?70s easy listening, ?80s New Wave, ?90s alt-radio, ?00s indie rock.

A gentle melancholy pervades the album, but it?s far too imaginative to sound morose or mopey. ?You?re singing all alone and you?re dancing all alone,? he sings on ?Who Do You Know,? as the guitars crackle and the synths fizz around him. As Toss Up proceeds, Krauter fills the songs with more and more people: a lover in the unabashedly sweet ?Keep Falling in Love;? a friend in the album-closing title track who becomes an audience of one. Music becomes the bond between Krauter and the world: ?Take my hand ?cause we?re really alone in this world,? he sings on ?Toss Up,? but adds a poignant promise: ?I can carry you home.?

Best known as one of several guitar players, songwriters, and vocalists in the Hoosier indie-rock band Hoops, Krauter has been making music all by his lonesome for much longer. He grew up in a family heavily involved in local musical theater, even appearing in three productions of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He played in high school bands, but didn?t get serious about writing and recording until he enrolled at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. His first efforts -- recorded in his dorm room -- weren?t intended for any kind of audience, but a friend asked him to record a few tracks for a class project. Eventually those sessions became 2015?s Magnolia EP, a short collection of gentle, gauzy songs that reveal his early obsession with one of his first musical heroes, Vashti Bunyan.

It was his first taste of the music business, and the experience left a huge impression. ?I?d never put any music out under my name. I?d never put out a tape before. It all came together quickly.? Krauter began recording and releasing music prolifically, first with Hoops and then on his own. The Changes EP, released in late 2016, showcases his deft guitar playing, mixing soul-baring songwriting with bossa nova rhythms and intimately lo-fi production. It was supposed to be a low-key release, but Changes became a word-of-mouth hit that amassed a small but avid cult behind it. ?I didn?t think it was going to make any huge waves for me, but a lot of people told me they were still listening to it a year or more later. They were living with it, and I thought that was cool.?