Kicks! is thrilled to be partnering up with The Vinyl District to be the Official Afterparty on Record Store Day! So once you pick up some vinyl jewels on the 17th, swing by the Black Cat backstage from 10 pm to 2am for Kicks! As an added bonus, John Davis of Title Tracks will be joining regular DJs Sara and Kim that night. Kicks! is a monthly dance party held in the Black Cat backstage geared to providing a hullabaloo of a good time. We throw a mix of garage, punk, powerpop, girl groups, and psych into our cauldron to whip you up a dance night of sing-along fun and tail-feather shaking. And the best part about it – it’s free! For the last two years, Kicks! has been happily holding down a monthly spot at the Black Cat, one of our favorite places to see bands or hang out. The goal of Kicks! is to provide a fun, low key dance night to hear songs you love or to discover new bands. The Washington Post may have said it best: "Kicks is one of the more user-friendly DJ nights on the Black Cat's monthly calendar. From Queen to the Cold War Kids, Cheap Trick to the Vivian Girls, the Ramones to the Rolling Stones, it's a night of pure fun rock and roll, mainly from the '70s and '80s, that begs you to have a couple of beers and jump around on the backstage. Just when you think you're ready to leave, DJs Kim and Sara drop "Rebel Rebel" or "Teenage Kicks" and you find yourself saying, "Okay, one more song," and then the next thing you know the lights are coming up and it's time to go home, even though you meant to leave 45 minutes ago. Whoops." Kicks! began its inception as a night called Pow Wow held weekly at Felix in Adams Morgan and for a time monthly at Rock and Roll Hotel. Adam, who started Pow Wow, left DC for Los Angeles, and now runs the Pow Wow Podcast. The Podcast is free and updated weekly, and much like Kicks!, features a range of music depending on the week – expect to hear everything cool from the 60’s on. One week may feature krautrock from La Dusseldorf and Faust, the next a sampling of shoegaze from My Bloody Valentine, Moose, and the Boo Radleys, or it may be all new bands like Grass Widow, Young Prisms, and Brilliant Colors. We hope to see some new faces on the 17th!
Here are some sample tracks of some of the bands we like to play: Teenage Head – Picture My Face | The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet | The Human Beinz – Nobody But Me | The Real Kids – All Kindsa Girls | Flamin’ Groovies – Shake Some ActionKicks! Sampler (Mp3)
Y'know, we really don't ask you guys to come out for much. Oh sure, there's been four Record Fairs to date and some event here or there we were high on, but beyond these we typically leave it to the other blogs to shoulder that burden.This time however, we've got a good cause that we'd like you to leave the comfort of your turntable for. Just for a few hours. You can do it. Be strong.
Saturday, April 17, 2010 is Record Store Day as any reader of this blog knows. It's a day set aside to promote the history and longevity of DC's—and the nation's—indie record stores.In conjunction with Record Store Day this year, Olivia Mancini, Paul Michel, Tone, and New Rock Church of Fire are playing in support of another DC landmark, the outdoor summer concert institution, Fort Reno. The event runs from 8:00PM - 10:30PM at St. Stephen's Church which is located at 1525 Newton Street, NW, in DC.Tickets are just $10.00 with all proceeds going toward the overhead for Fort Reno's Summer 2010 Season.
Those of you who patronize one of our local independent record stores on Record Store Day will receive half off the price of admission with the presentation of a store receipt dated Saturday, April 17, 2010.(A reminder: this is a dry event. Please join us as you would any Fort Reno concert.)
Ok, so...back awaaayyy from the turntable now...c'mon...and join us.If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP right here.
UPDATE: ...we've extended the entry date to this Friday, 4/23!You've been sufficiently brainwashed, right? You hear and obey and will be hitting up your local independent music shops tomorrow in celebration of Record Store Day 2010...right?We thought so.I'd say our work is done here for one year, but the rest is up to you, friends. I don't care what corner of the globe you're tuning us in, you've got a mom and pop shop on some corner whose doors are wide open for your arrival tomorrow and they're flush with a myriad of exclusive RSD2010 vinyl releases for you to take home and slather with affection.Click here to download the entire list of RSD2010 releases.And we have two of those exclusive platters of vinyl on offer as our very last giveaway of our Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Giveaways.
First up, One AM Radio's 'Credible Threats' limited edition (500 hand-numbered copies) 7" on colored vinyl.“I’m never sleeping, I’m too busy keeping track of all the ways they say I might die.” That’s how Credible Threats opens: from the perspective of a fraught narrator tuned into his daily fears and nightly news. Caught somewhere between wry self-deprecation and full nervous breakdown, this is a dance song for Marshall McLuhan, or a pop anthem for Jack Gladney and his family in Delillo’s “White Noise.”The 7” comes with a 3D music video directed by Andrew Huang, and old-school 3D glasses to watch it. The vinyl’s B-side is a remix by the Mae Shi, who slow the song’s frenetic pace down and re-create it with the gang vocals of a disorganized mob. The video and both tracks also come digitally, along with a bonus remix by Jogger. The limited-edition, hand-numbered 7“s include a code and a link to download all of the files.The song’s second verse begins, “I’m never sleeping, I’m too busy keeping track of all the things that could go wrong.” But this isn’t a song to go to sleep to. When the apocalypse comes, at least you’ll be dancing.
Next we have Chuck Ragan's Daytrotter Session on 10" vinyl. These songs were recorded in the summer of 2009 at The Horseshack studio in downtown Rock Island, IL by the fine folks at Daytrotter. They were the featured Daytrotter Session on August 25, 2009.
The rules can't be any simpler for our last week of RSD2010 Giveaways. All you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to this giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win this week's vinyl.Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.All winners will all be notified on Monday, 4/19!
