Featured

BYT’S Official Guide to the 2019 Oscar Nominations

Alan ZilbermanJanuary 22, 2019

Not a great group of nominees, but it could have gone a lot worse...

FeaturedFilm & TV 014 min read

Best Weekday Bets

Brandon WetherbeeJanuary 22, 2019

Counting down the days to Opening Day...

FeaturedStuff To Do In DC 54 min read

Ramen & Pho Guide

Kaylee DuganJanuary 21, 2019

Pairs well with a bomb cyclone....

Eat & DrinkEvergreen GuidesFeaturedGuides 118 min read

Why “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” Doesn’t Spark Joy In Me

Megan BurnsJanuary 18, 2019

Am I alone on this one?...

FeaturedFilm & TVStaying InStyle & Shopping 05 min read

MLK Day of Service Volunteer Guide

Kaylee DuganJanuary 18, 2019

Way better than a brunch guide....

FeaturedGiving BackGuidesStuff To Do In DC 04 min read

Shutdown Guide

BYT at largeJanuary 17, 2019

Making the best of a bad situation ...

FeaturedStuff To Do In DC 04 min read

DC Best MLK Weekend Bets

Brandon WetherbeeJanuary 17, 2019

Maximum fun, minimum stress ...

FeaturedStuff To Do In DC 713 min read

Everything in Existence @ Artechouse Photos

Clarissa VillondoJanuary 17, 2019

A gentle reminder that we are all a part of something bigger. ...

ArtFeaturedPhotosStuff To Do In DC 18 min read

41 Funny People on How 2019 Will Be Funny

Matt ByrneJanuary 17, 2019

From The Daily Show to Handmaid's Tale: The Musical to Wham City, 41 funny people on what will make this year funny ...

FeaturedFunny Stuff 018 min read

DC Theatre We’re Excited for in 2019

Tristan LejeuneJanuary 15, 2019

The shows you'll be raving about ...

FeaturedStuff To Do In DCTheatre & Dance 04 min read

Best Weekday Bets

Brandon WetherbeeJanuary 14, 2019

Cinderelly, Cinderelly / Night and day it's Cinderelly ...

FeaturedStuff To Do In DC 54 min read

Best of: Murder Mysteries to Binge Watch NOW – 2019 Edition

Svetlana LegeticJanuary 11, 2019

From British classics to strong female leads to subtitled gems and true crime, we got all your murder viewing needs covered...

Evergreen GuidesFeaturedFilm & TVGuidesStaying In 558 min read

Words and Phrases We Hope To Never Hear Again in 2019

BYT at largeJanuary 10, 2019

Words and phrases to put in the dumspter fire, including dumpster fire...

FeaturedFunny Stuff 011 min read

Three Non-Alcoholic Cocktails for Your Sad Non-Alcoholic January

Ruben GzirianJanuary 9, 2019

We're still withdrawing from 2018...

Eat & DrinkFeaturedStaying In 04 min read

19 for 2019: BYT’s Picks and Hopes for the New Year

BYT at largeJanuary 8, 2019

We made a vision board ...

BooksCute StuffEat & DrinkFeaturedFilm & TVMusicSports(?) & FitnessStaying InStyle & Shopping 021 min read

19 DC Bars & Restaurants To Look Forward to Opening in 2019

Kaylee DuganJanuary 4, 2019

2019 tastes good....

Eat & DrinkFeaturedRestaurants & Bars 024 min read

Filter Events

23jan7:00 pm9:00 pmFree Weekly Bar Bingo w/ Maddy's Bar7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Maddy's Bar

23jan8:00 pm10:00 pmTake Flight: Whisky Tasting at The Watergate Hotel8:00 pm - 10:00 pm The Watergate Hotel

24jan6:30 pmKacey Musgraves - Oh, What A World: Tourw/ Natalie Prass6:30 pm The Anthem

24jan7:00 pmWindhand9:30 Presents ... 7:00 pm U Street Music Hall

Event Details

w/ Genocide Pact.

For a band who traffic in measured, unhurried riffage, Richmond’s WINDHAND have moved awfully quickly over the last few years. Founded in 2009, the VA quintet have been making waves since the release of their 2010 practice space demo, a two-track CD that garnered the band comparisons to artists like Electric Wizard, The Devil’s Blood, and Black Sabbath. That auspicious start was further realized in March 2012 when the band released their self-titled debut, which quickly became an underground hit and sold out of multiple vinyl presses in a matter of months.
A year later, the band officially signed to Relapse Records. After a steady touring schedule, the band collaborated with Richmond brethren Cough on a split entitled Reflection of the Negative, which was released on Relapse in April 2013. Pitchfork deemed the split WINDHAND’s “best music to date,” and the record’s positive critical reception helped pave the way for WINDHAND to release the highly anticipated album Soma in September 2013. Stereogum, Spin, and the LA Weekly featured Soma prominently on their overall best-of lists. The album was heavily represented in countless metal publications including Revolver, Invisible Oranges, MetalSucks, and Metal Injection. Rolling Stone, NPR, and Pitchfork all took note of Soma as well; the former considered the album the third-best metal release of 2013.
Soma was no flash-in-the-pan internet phenomenon. In 2013 and 2014, the band embarked on a series of support and headlining tours across North America, Europe, and Australia, sharing the stage with the likes of Sleep, High on Fire, Dead Meadow and Kvelertak. In addition, Windhand appeared at major festivals including Roadburn, SXSW, Scion Rock Fest, Day of the Shred and Maryland Deathfest. Windhand also took the time in October 2014 to follow up Soma with a brief two-track Halloween split alongside Swedish doomsters Salem’s Pot (released on Riding Easy Records). Noisey liked the record so much that they declared the band “must have definitely sold their souls for their new split.”
WINDHAND returned in 2015 with their third full-length, Grief’s Infernal Flower, a multifaceted slab of thundering stoner doom that Noisey has called “doom metal’s most anticipated album of the year.” Produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana, High On Fire, Soundgarden, etc), Grief’s Infernal Flower is massive, heavy, and personal, a modern testament to the power of doom and stoner metal’s legacies. One sees the urgency the band have displayed over their career reflected in their music – long-canonized tropes are reimagined and reinvented, Windhand convey an irrepressible sense of motion even within the slowest of songs. Front woman Dorthia Cottrell firmly establishes herself as one of the best vocalists of the genre by perfectly balancing beauty with enormous power, and the twin-guitar attack of Garrett Morris and Asechiah Bogdan weaves together nine songs of perfect riffs and fuzzed-out bliss. That often-delicate splendor is all tempered by the colossal rhythmic mastery of bassist Parker Chandler and drummer Ryan Wolfe, whose lower-register expertise serves as the backbone of the new record. Though the first two WINDHAND albums were underground classics, Grief’s Infernal Flower stands to see WINDHAND cementing themselves as one of the premier metal bands of our time.

Time

(Thursday) 7:00 pm

Location

U Street Music Hall

1115 U Street NW Washington, DC, 20009

Cost

$15

Learn More

Calendar GoogleCal

24jan7:00 pmSuper Diamond7:00 pm 9:30 Club

25jan(jan 25)7:30 pmThe Disco Biscuits7:30 pm Lincoln Theatre

25jan8:00 pmLinda Eder8:00 pm The Barns at Wolf Trap

25jan8:00 pmGusterw/ Henry Jamison8:00 pm 9:30 Club

Event Details

w/ Henry Jamison

Look Alive is our 8th album. The bulk of it was recorded in a vintage keyboard museum in Calgary AB, during a January stretch when the temperature reached 30 degrees below zero. We ended up in Canada because our British producer, Leo Abrahams, couldn’t turn around an American work visa fast enough, and we feel lucky to have discovered Studio Bell at the last minute. Despite having access to room after room of well-maintained analog keys, Leo gravitated to a cheap Ensoniq Mirage synth from the 1980’s that made Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation-era sounds from floppy disks. Leo spent countless hours poring over these floppy disks while the band gawked at the mellotrons, harpsichords, and other vintage equipment housed at Studio Bell. It was the beginnings of a stylistic clash that would ultimately play out beautifully. Our band had always gravitated to “warm” sounds. Leo would introduce us to “cold” sounds and the way they challenge us as listeners. He was the perfect complementary piece for Guster.
After working with the late Richard Swift four years ago and discovering a more raw and vintage sound on Evermotion, we fully embraced studio production with Leo this time around. The sheer amount of production on Look Alive grew into its own statement. There is a lot to unpack.
One day in Calgary we arrived at the studio to discover that Leo had put in a few extra hours on our song “Summertime.” He’d built an entire new intro using the Ensoniq Mirage overnight and played it for us. The band reaction wasn’t too kind. Our beautiful song now had a jarring, harsh, disruptive introduction, instead of the soft mellotron flutes we’d known. After some days of light bickering about it, Leo finally shed his proper British diplomatic side and belted out that “the world doesn’t need another fucking Beatles pastiche!” This would eventually become a rallying cry for the album as we strove to make something new and powerful together.
Title track “Look Alive” is an ominous, processed sonic collage with haunting words about waking up and becoming active in the midst of hollow words and fake heroes. “Hard Times,” written in the studio, came out more like the dark pop of Peter Gabriel / Depeche Mode / Tears for Fears than what people might think of Guster. “Overexcited” felt like classic Brit-pop and so Ryan sang it with a British accent over an Ensoniq marimba. Some of Guster’s critics will say “but you can’t do that” — and that’s something we’ve heard our entire career. We don’t subscribe to the same musical ideology they do and never have.
Writing songs for the second straight record with multi-instrumentalist Luke Reynolds (who joined the band in 2010) has been a key to our evolution. Working with artists like Leo Abrahams, John Congleton, and Collin DuPuis proved to be inspiring and adds to a “brain trust” that bolsters the songs. With Look Alive the plan is simple. Grow our musical community. Write better and better songs. Keep our minds open. Never repeat ourselves and create a legacy of music that is undeniable.
– Brian Rosenworcel, drummer of Guster