If RJD2 were a chef instead of a prolific and eclectic hip-hop DJ, musician, and producer, he’d kill it on Chopped.  For those not familiar with that cooking-competition TV show,…

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,…