One of the Venn diagrams you could draw of the diverse and sometimes bewildering Washington, DC music scene would include one circle representing funk and breaks gurus Fort Knox Five,…

I had to wait for a rainy day to listen to Getting Closer, the new album by CLOSE (out now on !K7 Records).  On a day that the sky was low, and cloudy,…

You may not have seen a license plate from Washington, DC, but for more than a decade the tags from the Nation’s Capital have been available with the slogan, “Taxation…

It’s always wonderful how hearing certain music can take you back to a specific place and time, calling up all kinds of memories and associations from your subconscious.  For me,…

“Beautifully sad, tortured but sweet” – the LA-based downtempo trio UNA sketches that melancholy aesthetic on “The Astronomer,” the opening track from their new EP, The Laughing Man .  The…

If you’re lucky in this life, or maybe if you’re just faithful to the things you love, then apparently you can go from being a skater/comics enthusiast/science fiction geek to…

Toddla T: Watch Me Dance – Agitated by Ross Orton & Pipes “Yo, you know what time it is, any time me and Toddla link up – straight-up party animal…

Økapi: Opera Riparata The mind tends to wander when you’re listening to Opera Riparata, the new album (out now on Illegal Art) from Italian turntablist and sample cutup artist Økapi…

Jazzanova: Funkhaus Studio Sessions Raise your hand if you’re feeling a bit parched.  In most parts of the U.S., anyway, it seems like it’s been a long, hot summer already,…

Lorn: Ask the Dust It all starts with the deepest kick drum I’ve heard in a while, on Ask the Dust, the second album (but debut on Ninja Tune) by…